The Maintenance Thread

[AZhiker 2,252]

Love your attitude and determination! You soooo have this!

[sillykitty 10,775]

20 hours ago, Sheribear68 said:

Update:
Third day back from hedonistic holiday/vacay episode and I’m down 2.6 of the 3.4 that I gained.

And........ no BM since the day I got back, so the last 0.8 pounds should come in the next 2-3 days.

For the first time ever in my life I was able to regather myself after letting loose for a couple of weeks and it’s so empowering. No more spending the next few days/weeks telling myself “I’ll start Monday on a healthy eating plan.

Started it with a 23 hr fast and within 2 days I’m back to pre-holiday/vacay eating.
I also got right back into Pilates and treadmill.
In the meantime, I’m not allowing myself any holiday beverages or food until the last of the regain is off.
Fingers crossed that by Sunday morning I get there, because we’ve got tickets to a Christmas Carol and drink/dinner plans with friends.

I’m bound and determined though that this is one bright line in the sand I WILL NOT CROSS.

either all of the regain comes off, or I eat a big-ass salad with iced tea for our night out. 😭😭😭

On 12/11/2019 at 8:54 AM, Sheribear68 said:

So I’m officially under GW and have lost >100% of my excess fat.

Playing devil's advocate here.

You are under goal weight and according to your nut, have lost 100% of your excess weight.

Why are you depriving yourself of celebrating the holidays with friends? Isn't the goal of WLS is to be able to fully enjoy our lives? You have already established that you can go off plan, have some small gain, and then come back, knuckle down and lose again.

For me, this is exactly where I wanted to be in life. To just live and eat like a normal weight person. I just put guardrails up on a high weight and with logging. But otherwise I just want to enjoy my life, including dinner and drinks during the holidays with friends.

I think it's easy to get hyperfocused on losing weight, and we can lose sight of what the end game is, to be happy, healthy and relaxed in our own skin.

[Sheribear68 3,200]

On 12/14/2019 at 08:36, sillykitty said:

12/11/2019 11:54 AM, Sheribear68 said:

So I’m officially under GW and have lost >100% of my excess fat.

Playing devil's advocate here.

You are under goal weight and according to your nut, have lost 100% of your excess weight.

Why are you depriving yourself of celebrating the holidays with friends? Isn't the goal of WLS is to be able to fully enjoy our lives? You have already established that you can go off plan, have some small gain, and then come back, knuckle down and lose again.

For me, this is exactly where I wanted to be in life. To just live and eat like a normal weight person. I just put guardrails up on a high weight and with logging. But otherwise I just want to enjoy my life, including dinner and drinks during the holidays with friends.

I think it's easy to get hyperfocused on losing weight, and we can lose sight of what the end game is, to be happy, healthy and relaxed in our own skin.

All very good points.
For me, it’s about that scary, slippery slope.
I let myself lose it for a couple of weeks and WHAM.... here comes 4 pounds. Gaining that much in such a short time scared me a bit, TBH.

In the past, those 4 pounds would turn into 2, then 3, then another 4 for the sheer heck of it and I’d find myself in a self-hate cycle where I’d “failed” yet once again to live life like “normal” people.

This time I decided that I was gonna own up to every single one of those 4 pounds and drop them before going back into a maintenance mindset.

So that being said, I’ve got great news! I got on the scale this morning and they’re gone.
Plus an extra 0.2 went away with it.
I truly want to defend 145-150 (for now) and it makes me feel sooooo much better knowing I’m just under mid-point.

So guess who gets to eat,drink, and be merry tomorrow?
This girl! Because I worked my butt off this week ditching the “celebrations”

[Sheribear68 3,200]

Also, does anybody else notice that “whoosh” that hits about day 3-4 of severe carb restriction?
Even though I’ve experienced it more than once on this journey, it still kind of surprises me when it happens.

[summerset 5,265]

1 minute ago, Sheribear68 said:

Also, does anybody else notice that “whoosh” that hits about day 3-4 of severe carb restriction?

With glycogen goes Water. It's normal. It's also normal when someone who usually restricts carbohydrates gains weight quickly when introducing them back.

[GreenTealael 25,353]

On 12/12/2019 at 2:08 PM, 2Bsmaller18 said:

So if we eat too much Protein our body converts it to carbs? I try to get 1500 calories with 40% carbs 30% protein and 30% fats. That means 150 carbs per

On 12/12/2019 at 5:28 PM, catwoman7 said:

I thought any excess protein was just stored as fat (??). At any rate, I wouldn't count excess protein as carbs. Your body will burn whatever it can for energy if there aren't any carbs available....but I wouldn't count excess protein as part of your carb intake.

P.S. I should add that I am NOT a dietitian or any sort of expert on this, but this just doesn't sound right to me.

On 12/12/2019 at 2:20 PM, summerset said:

If in need of glucose, this is possible, yes.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glucogenic_amino_acid

day! That was hard to get over mentally but it also means 112g of protein and 50g of fat. However, to get in 1500 calories a day they have to come from something and I don't want to increase fats. I rarely hit that mark for protein.

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4258944/

[2Bsmaller18 436]

Volume question. I am 10 months post RNY. I can drink a shake in 10 minutes without issue or 5 oz yogurt with a 1/4 cup of granola on top in 10 min or less the same with an egg, 1/4 or slice of cheese and cup of spinach cooked in it but it takes closer to 15. At dinner I can eat maybe 2oz if meat with maybe 1/3 cup veggies and sometimes can’t finish that.
I am estimating I can eat 1/2 cup of food not much more.
I’m trying to maintain and have to eat sliders and carbs to get calories so I’m not eating much fir healthy veggies.
When were you able to eat more volume? I have read a cup of food at the 1 year mark.
I don’t want to force it but I hate creating bad habits to get calories in.

[FluffyChix 17,415]

I was eating 1cup of food at 7-9 months and I worked to try to keep it at around 3/4cup to 1cup. But I've always had bigger capacity I think? I eat now between 1cup to 1 1/2cups or 2 cups if there is some slider veg included. A lot of raw veggies for me are sliders (cuz of high Water content).

[ms.sss 15,600]

4 minutes ago, 2Bsmaller18 said:

Volume question. I am 10 months post RNY. I can drink a shake in 10 minutes without issue or 5 oz yogurt with a 1/4 cup of granola on top in 10 min or less the same with an egg, 1/4 or slice of cheese and cup of spinach cooked in it but it takes closer to 15. At dinner I can eat maybe 2oz if meat with maybe 1/3 cup veggies and sometimes can’t finish that.
I am estimating I can eat 1/2 cup of food not much more.
I’m trying to maintain and have to eat sliders and carbs to get calories so I’m not eating much fir healthy veggies.
When were you able to eat more volume? I have read a cup of food at the 1 year mark.
I don’t want to force it but I hate creating bad habits to get calories in.

For me, it depends on the day, they type of food, and/or how much time I have to eat my meal. There are days I can easily eat 2 cups of food if you give me an hour and a half to do it. There are other days when I can't/won't eat 1/2 cup of food in the same amount of time.

Overall though, on a "normal"/"average" day, it takes me about 45 mins to 1 hour to eat one one of my "regular" salads, which generally consists of 75-100g of salad greens, 2-4 oz of some Protein or other, and some toppings. Been doing this since about August-September this year, so at about the 10 month post-op mark, same stage as you are right now.

Now, the foods that fill me up faster/longer are: shiratake noodles, pork (cooked any way but especially when grilled), sashimi. So if eat any of these during a meal my ability to eat anything else is reduced.

Every day is really different. I just go with it.

[Moa 34]

On 11/27/2019 at 9:09 AM, ms.sss said:

Are you still looking to lose more weight?

Sorry it took me so long to get back...this website wouldn't accept my password and it has taken me awhile to get back in.

To answer the question, yes...I have 13# to still lose to get to my goal, but am unsure if I can get there, so I'm not sure if I'm technically in maintenance-mode or should I keep trying to lose more. I chose my goal because I weighed that weight from age 18-40! So I know that I can get there, but my body doesn't seem to be responding. I eat 800 kcal/day, no more than 1 c. food/meal, no carbonated drinks, obey all the eating rules, low carbs, low fat, at least 65gms or more of protein/day and take Multivitamins, B12 and Calcium. I exercise for at least 2 hrs every other day (1-1.5 hrs of power walking and 45-60 minutes of weight training). I wear a size 4 or 6, medium-small (at surgery I wore a size 26, 3XL).

I saw my doctor last week and discussed this issue with him. First, he said that he thinks I look great and doesn't think I need to lose more, but said that if I want to keep trying then it's ok. He said that I'm doing everything right and didn't have any suggestions to try (did warn me NOT to go below 800 kcal/day, above 1,000 kcal/day and to keep my carbs very low). Since I'm only 16 months postop, he said that I might still lose more if I keep up my current regiment. He said that most people gain back some weight by 2-3 yrs postop, but that if I continue my plan (especially the exercise) he doesn't think I will gain any back.

I am very happy at the success I've had and am trying to stay focused on enjoying life now, but still wonder if I'm in Maintenance Mode or Losing Mode. Here are 3 recent pics and one from shortly before surgery.

[catwoman7 11,212]

2 minutes ago, Moa said:

Sorry it took me so long to get back...this website wouldn't accept my password and it has taken me awhile to get back in.

To answer the question, yes...I have 13# to still lose to get to my goal, but am unsure if I can get there, so I'm not sure if I'm technically in maintenance-mode or should I keep trying to lose more. I chose my goal because I weighed that weight from age 18-40! So I know that I can get there, but my body doesn't seem to be responding. I eat 800 kcal/day, no more than 1 c. food/meal, no carbonated drinks, obey all the eating rules, low carbs, low fat, at least 65gms or more of protein/day and take Multivitamins, B12 and Calcium. I exercise for at least 2 hrs every other day (1-1.5 hrs of power walking and 45-60 minutes of weight training). I wear a size 4 or 6, medium-small (at surgery I wore a size 26, 3XL).

I saw my doctor last week and discussed this issue with him. First, he said that he thinks I look great and doesn't think I need to lose more, but said that if I want to keep trying then it's ok. He said that I'm doing everything right and didn't have any suggestions to try (did warn me NOT to go below 800 kcal/day, above 1,000 kcal/day and to keep my carbs very low). Since I'm only 16 months postop, he said that I might still lose more if I keep up my current regiment. He said that most people gain back some weight by 2-3 yrs postop, but that if I continue my plan (especially the exercise) he doesn't think I will gain any back.

I am very happy at the success I've had and am trying to stay focused on enjoying life now, but still wonder if I'm in Maintenance Mode or Losing Mode. Here are 3 recent pics and one from shortly before surgery.

I think you look fine. You don't look like you need to lose any more weight.

[Moa 34]

7 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

I think you look fine. You don't look like you need to lose any more weight.

Thank you...I did forget to say that my doc thinks that I likely have 5-10# of excess skin (not bad enough to justify skin removal surgery as I can hide it fairly well), so that my "actual" weight may be 133-138#. But technically my BMI of 26 has me still in the Overweight category. I need to be below 24.9 to be in the Normal weight category, which starts at 136#.

Edited December 24, 2019 by Moa

[catwoman7 11,212]

7 minutes ago, Moa said:

Thank you...I did forget to say that my doc thinks that I likely have 5-10# of excess skin (not bad enough to justify skin removal surgery as I can hide it fairly well), so that my "actual" weight may be 133-138#. But technically my BMI of 26 has me still in the Overweight category. I need to be below 24.9 to be in the Normal weight category, which starts at 136#.

based on your photos, we look like we're roughly in the same age category. There are a number of physicians now who think their "older adult" patients (I assume they mean 50+ or 60+) should be in the 23-27 BMI range. So basically at the higher end of their BMI range to maybe 5-10 lbs overweight. Supposedly it's the healthiest range for us as it gives us a little cushion in case we get sick. My PCP freaked out when I got down below a 22 BMI. I now sit right around a 25 and she's happy as a clam. So anyway, what I'm trying to say is, you're probably at an optimal weight right now (and you look it!) - and yes, you may actually be a bit lighter if you factor in the excess skin. I think you look perfect!

[Moa 34]

On 11/30/2019 at 7:34 AM, FluffyChix said:

But this journey and my tool reassure me that regain will only happen with MY HELP. I have to aide and abet for it to happen (barring some medical catastrophe).

I love this!! So true...any weight gain isn't going to be an "accident"...it will only happen if I help it happen. I am in control over my future health and weight status. Thanks for that motivating thought!

[Moa 34]

On 12/2/2019 at 8:09 AM, mousecat88 said:

I've lost some weight (I am 124) but I also just had that skin removal so I'm sure that has to do with it, too. De-swelling slowly overtime.

How difficult is this surgery and recovery? My doc doesn't think I need it, but I'm considering it. Getting rid of the excess skin on my abdomen would make me very happy, but I probably won't have it if it's a really rough.