The Maintenance Thread

[FluffyChix 17,415]

4 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

LOL, thanks, but: My ARMS!!! My SIDE-BOOB!!! (and that bikini pic had the wrinkled fabric look above my belly button hidden with a tube top ) Once I get closer to my surgery date, I'll post some Before Pics for posterity. Though I will concede that I came out the other side of this weight loss thing much better than I anticipated I would, skin-wise (thank you, universe).

P.S. though don't get me started on the state of my butt...

I think you look beautiful, but gosh I totally get it. You hide it well, though, just so you know!!! And arms/side boob and saggy booty...yeah. Big yeah.

I think you came out of the other side looking amazeballs. (hope you head fits through the doorway now...)

[ms.sss 15,726]

7 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

(hope you head fits through the doorway now...)

Just barely.

[Sheribear68 3,201]

On 11/19/2019 at 09:20, 2Bsmaller18 said:

I put in a call to my nut. to check in and ask about macro percentages now. in the meantime I came across this study:

http://bariatrictimes.com/carbohydrate-fat-and-protein-what-do-we-know-about-the-macronutrient-composition-of-the-diet-following-bariatric-surgery/

I am now at 1500-1600 calories. I seem to bounce around between 126-127 pounds but still have trending down so my guess is at this rate I will be 125-126 in the next few months unless I can increase my calories a bit. I am logging everything with an updated goal of 1600 calories.

I had a goal of 1500 calories for the past month but would really like to stay closer to 128 pounds and not drop to 125. I am anticipating plastics in the spring and the 3 surgeons I saw said I don't have a lot of fat left and what I thought was still fat ie love handles was just loose skin. I am anticipating I would lose another few pounds after plastics too.

So at 1600 calories my marco goals are: 40% carbs (159g), 30% Protein (120 grams but usually hit closer to 110), and 30% fat (53g) but seem to go over that due to whole milk and high fat nuts just to get calories in.

I am going to ask the nut. if that Protein is too high. I eat a lot of high calorie nuts to get calories and protein in vs lean protein.

Any thoughts? Does that seem like a lot of protein? The carbs seem so crazy high since 3 months ago I was at less than 40 grams of carbs a day. I am actually eating a little bit of triscuit crackers or granola type of cereals to get Fiber and carbs in.

Interesting.
Omg, I just have to say that the idea of eating even 40gm carbs day gives me severe anxiety, much less eating close to 100!

[2Bsmaller18 436]

22 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

As an aside, if you don't have much fat left, don't count on losing much after plastic surgery. Skin doesn't weigh very much. A lot of people lose less than five pounds unless they had a lot of fat (and therefore a lot of lipo). I only lost 2 or 3 lbs (I had very little fat left, too)

I have heard that too. My thinking is that they might remove 4-5 pounds of skin/fat however initially you swell so you can't see that on the scale then when you do get an accurate weight a few weeks later it might be only 1-2 pounds lighter. My theory is that your body adjust to stay at a set weight so you may have lost 4 pounds from your tummy for skin removal but you gain a few pounds and it is probable distributed everywhere else.

[Sheribear68 3,201]

Woo! Finally busted through another “decade”.
I hit GW of 155 on oct 12, and I’ve been solidly between 150-151.4 for the last 17 days.
Today was my weekly weigh-in (I’m almost always semi-constipated and no poo for 3 days) and weighed in at 149.2.

Goal for December 2 (trip to DC) is to weigh in at 148.0 to give myself 2-3 pounds flex gain.

[rs 1,473]

Woo! Finally busted through another “decade”.
I hit GW of 155 on oct 12, and I’ve been solidly between 150-151.4 for the last 17 days.
Today was my weekly weigh-in (I’m almost always semi-constipated and no poo for 3 days) and weighed in at 149.2.

Goal for December 2 (trip to DC) is to weigh in at 148.0 to give myself 2-3 pounds flex gain.

Congratulations! It sure is exciting to cross into every new decade isn't it?

[Recidivist 1,141]

Quick update: My weight has been consistently fluctuating between about 134 and 138 for over a week, which seem ideal. I'm still struggling with feeling a bit sick a lot of the time due to eating too much, but that's also improving with practice. I think I may have found my sweet spot!

[ms.sss 15,726]

5 hours ago, Recidivist said:

Quick update: My weight has been consistently fluctuating between about 134 and 138 for over a week, which seem ideal. I'm still struggling with feeling a bit sick a lot of the time due to eating too much, but that's also improving with practice. I think I may have found my sweet spot!

YESSSSS!

I'm happy that you have started to find your groove...when the anxiety/stress/worry starts to abate there is nothing left but to ENJOY how awesome everything is ❤️

[Moa 34]

I posted this question on another thread because I'm not sure if I'm in the "still losing" or "maintenance" part of my journey...not sure how to know when one is done and the other begins! So, here's my question and I would love any advice...thanks for the others who did answer on the other thread!! And, thanks in advance to anyone here!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm trying to decide if I should continue trying to lose more weight or be satisfied with where I am. I will be asking my doctor in a few weeks, but curious what you folks think.

Had VSG surgery in Aug, 2018 and lost about 90# in the first 6 months; have lost another 5# during the next 10 months. Am 66 yrs old, 5' 2", BMI=26.2, currently weigh 143# but my goal has been 130# because I weighed that for 30 years before I got overweight. The "normal" BMI for me (24.9) is below 136#. I now wear a size 4-6, exercise every other day (1 hr of fast power walking & 1 hr of weight lifting) and eat about 800 kcal/day. My bad knees won't allow me to run. I have excess skin under my arms, thighs, butt and abdomen but I don't have any way to know how much it weighs...easily hidden by clothing. I'm pretty muscular but not sure how much that weighs either. It just seems crazy that I'm still in the "overweight" BMI category and I'm just not sure what more I can do to lose another 7-13#. Any thoughts from those more experienced than me?

[Sheribear68 3,201]

On 11/25/2019 at 04:34, Recidivist said:

Quick update: My weight has been consistently fluctuating between about 134 and 138 for over a week, which seem ideal. I'm still struggling with feeling a bit sick a lot of the time due to eating too much, but that's also improving with practice. I think I may have found my sweet spot!

Awesome!

Okay, so I got to my “goal” of 2 pounds worth of fluctuation.
I’ve finally decided that for now I want to defend 145-150 and I weighed in at 148.0 this morning.
Hit the goal exactly 1 week before I needed to.
Bring on vacay in 7 days.....

[catwoman7 11,221]

6 minutes ago, Moa said:

I posted this question on another thread because I'm not sure if I'm in the "still losing" or "maintenance" part of my journey...not sure how to know when one is done and the other begins! So, here's my question and I would love any advice...thanks for the others who did answer on the other thread!! And, thanks in advance to anyone here!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm trying to decide if I should continue trying to lose more weight or be satisfied with where I am. I will be asking my doctor in a few weeks, but curious what you folks think.

Had VSG surgery in Aug, 2018 and lost about 90# in the first 6 months; have lost another 5# during the next 10 months. Am 66 yrs old, 5' 2", BMI=26.2, currently weigh 143# but my goal has been 130# because I weighed that for 30 years before I got overweight. The "normal" BMI for me (24.9) is below 136#. I now wear a size 4-6, exercise every other day (1 hr of fast power walking & 1 hr of weight lifting) and eat about 800 kcal/day. My bad knees won't allow me to run. I have excess skin under my arms, thighs, butt and abdomen but I don't have any way to know how much it weighs...easily hidden by clothing. I'm pretty muscular but not sure how much that weighs either. It just seems crazy that I'm still in the "overweight" BMI category and I'm just not sure what more I can do to lose another 7-13#. Any thoughts from those more experienced than me?

a lot of PCP's now seem to be of the mindset that those of us "older adults" (and that would include me....) should weigh somewhere in the 23-27 BMI range. According to this train of thought, we need a little cushion for if/when we get sick. So if you go by this, you're fine where you are.

if you want to know your percentage of fat vs bone vs muscle, see if there's any place around you that does those sports or commercial DEXA scans. The ones at the doctor's office only measure bone density, but the commercial & sports ones also measure body composition. I had one at 146 lbs because I was planning to lose more weight and wondered how much further I was from my goal. My fat measured 22% on that scan. OK - but on the lean side. So basically, I was already at a good goal without even knowing it! The scan technician - and my PCP - both told me it was time to stop. Who knew? But anyway, that might be a helpful gauge for you...

[sillykitty 10,776]

40 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

a lot of PCP's now seem to be of the mindset that those of us "older adults" (and that would include me....) should weigh somewhere in the 23-27 BMI range. According to this train of thought, we need a little cushion for if/when we get sick. So if you go by this, you're fine where you are.

if you want to know your percentage of fat vs bone vs muscle, see if there's any place around you that does those sports or commercial DEXA scans. The ones at the doctor's office only measure bone density, but the commercial & sports ones also measure body composition. I had one at 146 lbs because I was planning to lose more weight and wondered how much further I was from my goal. My fat measured 22% on that scan. OK - but on the lean side. So basically, I was already at a good goal without even knowing it! The scan technician - and my PCP - both told me it was time to stop. Who knew? But anyway, that might be a helpful gauge for you...

Agree with all of this!

[Sheribear68 3,201]

On 11/25/2019 at 10:17, catwoman7 said:

a lot of PCP's now seem to be of the mindset that those of us "older adults" (and that would include me....) should weigh somewhere in the 23-27 BMI range. According to this train of thought, we need a little cushion for if/when we get sick. So if you go by this, you're fine where you are.

if you want to know your percentage of fat vs bone vs muscle, see if there's any place around you that does those sports or commercial DEXA scans. The ones at the doctor's office only measure bone density, but the commercial & sports ones also measure body composition. I had one at 146 lbs because I was planning to lose more weight and wondered how much further I was from my goal. My fat measured 22% on that scan. OK - but on the lean side. So basically, I was already at a good goal without even knowing it! The scan technician - and my PCP - both told me it was time to stop. Who knew? But anyway, that might be a helpful gauge for you...

I am so going to get one of those sports scans soon.
I had one from the dr office that tells me my bone density is in the 90% for my age so I have that, but I truly don’t know my muscle to fat ratio

[ms.sss 15,726]

2 hours ago, Moa said:

I posted this question on another thread because I'm not sure if I'm in the "still losing" or "maintenance" part of my journey...not sure how to know when one is done and the other begins! So, here's my question and I would love any advice...thanks for the others who did answer on the other thread!! And, thanks in advance to anyone here!

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I'm trying to decide if I should continue trying to lose more weight or be satisfied with where I am. I will be asking my doctor in a few weeks, but curious what you folks think.

Had VSG surgery in Aug, 2018 and lost about 90# in the first 6 months; have lost another 5# during the next 10 months. Am 66 yrs old, 5' 2", BMI=26.2, currently weigh 143# but my goal has been 130# because I weighed that for 30 years before I got overweight. The "normal" BMI for me (24.9) is below 136#. I now wear a size 4-6, exercise every other day (1 hr of fast power walking & 1 hr of weight lifting) and eat about 800 kcal/day. My bad knees won't allow me to run. I have excess skin under my arms, thighs, butt and abdomen but I don't have any way to know how much it weighs...easily hidden by clothing. I'm pretty muscular but not sure how much that weighs either. It just seems crazy that I'm still in the "overweight" BMI category and I'm just not sure what more I can do to lose another 7-13#. Any thoughts from those more experienced than me?

I *think* your maintenance weight will be the weight that you are at when you stop eating weight loss calories.

Theoretically (though there are some that can), one cannot sustain a forever diet of 800 cals or less. Once you get to some caloric level that you can stick to for the long term/forever AND your weight remains stable (this is with any regular exercise factored in), then you are in maintenance.

[Sheribear68 3,201]

Hmmm.
Well that’s interesting bc I literally physically *cannot eat >800-900 calories daily if I’m eating food I want/need to eat.
I mean, yeah I could hold 900 calories of chocolate cake, or mashed potatoes, or candy (although probs not in one sitting), but if we are talking about typical things that I eat now, I have nowhere near the capacity to hold over 800 unless I drink a few glasses of wine. Heck even 2-3oz bourbon has at most 150 cals.

This makes me think that even though I consider myself more or less in maintenance, I’m basing that off of my BMI and goals that I had set.
Wow, my mind is blown thinking about this.....