The Maintenance Thread

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

1 hour ago, Sheribear68 said:

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.....

When you want to increase calories and your restriction is tight, the solution is sliders. Sliders before your dense Protein. They don't trigger restriction and are the easiest way of adding additional food/calories to your meals. i.e. creamy Soup as an appetizer, a few avocado slices, nuts or even chips if they act as a slider for you. This is how you eat "around" your restriction, which is terrible during the weight-loss phase, but often necessary once you hit maintenance.

[ms.sss 15,726]

35 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

When you want to increase calories and your restriction is tight, the solution is sliders. Sliders before your dense Protein. They don't trigger restriction and are the easiest way of adding additional food/calories to your meals. i.e. creamy Soup as an appetizer, a few avocado slices, nuts or even chips if they act as a slider for you. This is how you eat "around" your restriction, which is terrible during the weight-loss phase, but often necessary once you hit maintenance.

Yep, and more frequent eating...fasting (intermittent or not) is more conducive to weight loss than maintenance or weight gain.

But again, only if one wants to and/OR is ready to stop weight loss and for reals get into maintenance.

Edited November 25, 2019 by ms.sss

[catwoman7 11,221]

1 minute ago, ms.sss said:

Yep, and more frequent eating...fasting (intermittent or not) is more conducive to weight loss than maintenance or weight gain.

But again, only if one wants to and/OR is ready to stop weight loss and for reals get into maintenance.

yep - a lot of us automatically seem to gain 10-20 lbs during year 3. I'd be careful with trying to put on weight, to be honest....

[ms.sss 15,726]

10 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

yep - a lot of us automatically seem to gain 10-20 lbs during year 3. I'd be careful with trying to put on weight, to be honest....

I agree. Trying to stop weight loss is one thing, but purposefully trying to gain weight so soon after weight loss phase is another, as a part of the natural course of things will (most likely) be a little bit of rebound gain. Why pre-load your weight card now?

Edited November 25, 2019 by ms.sss

[Cheeseburgh 3,080]

I am 15-16 months out and in the last month I’ve noticed I can gain a few pounds VERY easily. I cannot stray far from 1200 calories, good news is so far I can rein it in.

I wouldn’t recommend trying to gain weight this early either unless it was an unhealthy weight.

[GreenTealael 25,439]

2 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

yep - a lot of us automatically seem to gain 10-20 lbs during year 3. I'd be careful with trying to put on weight, to be honest....

I still really would like to know why, Any insight?

[sillykitty 10,776]

1 hour ago, Cheeseburgh said:

I am 15-16 months out and in the last month I’ve noticed I can gain a few pounds VERY easily. I cannot stray far from 1200 calories, good news is so far I can rein it in.

I wouldn’t recommend trying to gain weight this early either unless it was an unhealthy weight.

Does the weight stick if you bounce up?

[Cheeseburgh 3,080]

I don’t know, I’m guessing it would. I weighed 130.4 one day which really caught me off guard. I weigh myself about once a week and I’m always 125-127. I cut my calories and upped my exercise the past 4 days and I’m back to 126.8-127.4. I was 130-129 for 3 days.

The only thing I did differently that week was one night out for my birthday dinner and I ate Peanut Butter on multiple days. I think it might be the pb, it is hard to measure!

Edited November 26, 2019 by Cheeseburgh

[Sheribear68 3,201]

Yeah, I had an epiphany of sorts myself today.
I realized that I truly don’t want to try to eat over 800 calories daily ATM.

I’m quite comfortable with my routine and it seems counter intuitive to try to eat more intentionally at this phase.
If I get “ too skinny” then I guess I get thinner until it stops.

Lol, there’s always year 3....... I’ll get back to a “normal” weight then.
🤣🤣🤣🤣

[Cheeseburgh 3,080]

2 hours ago, GreenTealael said:

I still really would like to know why, Any insight?

Dr Weiner has a video on YouTube about it I believe. It has something to do with your metabolic set point. I’ll look around tonight if I have time and post it .

[GreenTealael 25,439]

8 minutes ago, Cheeseburgh said:

Dr Weiner has a video on YouTube about it I believe. It has something to do with your metabolic set point. I’ll look around tonight if I have time and post it .

Oh I've seen it, all of his stuff actually. But I meant why everyone says its sure bet to gain in yr 3+... from a patient who has. Some do some dont. (I'm hoping not to of course 😂)

[catwoman7 11,221]

41 minutes ago, GreenTealael said:

Oh I've seen it, all of his stuff actually. But I meant why everyone says its sure bet to gain in yr 3+... from a patient who has. Some do some dont. (I'm hoping not to of course 😂)

it's not inevitable, but A LOT of people do. As in most. I was thinking about how to answer your question while I was at the pool. I've heard different possible reasons, but that set point thing that an above poster mentioned actually popped into my mind. I had a DEXA scan when I was at 146 to see how much more weight I needed to lose. My body fat at that point was 22%, which is OK but pretty lean for women. I was told not to lose anymore weight, but I eventually dropped down to 138 without really trying. Around year three, my weight started gradually going up until I hit 150, and it seems to have settled there. I've been there for 1.5 years, and can maintain it without too much effort. I think 138 was just too low for me and I would have had to have fought my body tooth and nail to stay there. My set point seems to be 150. If I eat less for awhile and lose - or eat more for awhile and gain, then I'll eventually get back to 150. My body seems to be at equalibrium - or whatever - there.

some other factors people have speculated are the ending of malabsorption (this would only apply to RNY'ers, though), diet fatigue (which can mean going off plan more often and/or not monitoring yourself as closely), introducing more things into your diet that you would have never touched while in weight loss mode (e.g., more carbs. I still don't eat a lot of them, but I definitely eat more carbs than I did when I was in weight loss phase).

SOOOO....I don't know if they know exactly why, other than it's very common. We were even told that during the pre-op classes.

[GreenTealael 25,439]

5 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

while I was at the pool

You said a lot of great stuff but this was all i could focus on 😂 I'm absolutely jealous of everyone enjoying warm weather

Also Can you tell a different between 138 & 150?

[catwoman7 11,221]

1 hour ago, GreenTealael said:

You said a lot of great stuff but this was all i could focus on 😂 I'm absolutely jealous of everyone enjoying warm weather

Also Can you tell a different between 138 & 150?

LOL - it was an indoor pool - I live in Wisconsin!!

I don't know that I feel any different (138 vs 150), but some of the clothes that fit me at 138 are tight on me now, and I don't look as wrinkly and bony. My husband was just telling me over the weekend that he saw a picture of me from 2017, and he thinks a look a lot better now. Who knew???

[GreenTealael 25,439]

7 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

LOL - it was an indoor pool - I live in Wisconsin!!

I don't know that I feel any different (138 vs 150), but some of the clothes that fit me at 138 are tight on me now, and I don't look as wrinkly and bony. My husband was just telling me over the weekend that he saw a picture of me from 2017, and he thinks a look a lot better now. Who knew???

This is a good measure of improvement 🏆. No none wants to hear they look worse over time