Sleeve Maintenance Weight - Macros?

[momof3_angels 465]

For those who have been sleeved and are in maintenance phase... has your nutritionist told you what your goal macro percentages should be for Protein, Fats, and Carbs? Would you mind sharing what you are doing there? I got detoured for a bit and need to dig up my notes as I work to get back on track But I am also curious to compare what others are doing.

[Creekimp13 5,840]

Nope. I do 1400-1600 calories a day to maintain. I eat tons of complex carbs, but avoid overly refined sugars and white flour. I get 50-60g of protien a day and 25g of Fiber. I eat fruit, Beans, potatoes, nuts, veggies, healthnut bread, whole grain english muffins, and of course...protien, but I try to get at least half from plant sources.

Basically, I just stay within my calorie goal and I do great. I love the flexability of an occasional treat if the rest of my day is balanced.

I eat pretty much anything I want. In moderation and balance with the rest of the day. Maintenance has been incredibly nice. No major weight fluctuations in over two years. Few pounds up and down here and there. If I go more than five pounds up, I see the bariatric therapist and it does the trick....helps me get refocused pronto. Getting much better at identifying my eating triggers and the triggers that cause me to self sabotage. Therapy has been an incredibly useful tool:) Very glad to have extreme diets behind me.

Edited March 19, 2021 by Creekimp13

[Arabesque 7,331]

I was only told to keep my Protein at 60g a day (1.2g per kg of weight) & to slowly increase my calories until I reached an equilibrium. My dietician just reviewed my diet every month for about 4/5 months after I hit goal. She suggested a couple of alternative food choices, like adding some Beans, lentils & some powdered milk to enrich my milk if I wanted but said I was on the right track.

I added a second serve of whole/multi grain to my diet. Increased my vegetable intake. Added a second serve of fruit & slowly increased my serving sizes - generally still under the recommended serving size. Avoid sugar, sugar alternatives & artificial sweeteners where possible & no bread, rice, Pasta or potato. I eat about 1200 calories give or take now. That’s me. You may need more calories to maintain the weight you’re happy at. I don’t take any supplements or Vitamins. My blood work is very good.

Honestly, I found finding the right balance difficult & kept losing for about 12 months. My medical team was concerned but were happy with my weight & that I had finally stabilised at my last appointment in January.

If you would rather have more guidelines, give your nutritionalist a call. At the very least ask if they could review your diet or provide you with some sample meal plans. I don’t have appointments with mine anymore but I can contact her whenever I need.

Good luck & congratulations on your weight loss.

[catwoman7 11,215]

I'm RNY, but the diets are pretty much the same. I haven't worried about any macros except for Protein since I hit maintenance. We do have to meet protein requirements for the rest of our lives, but beyond that...?? I just try to stay within my maintenance calorie range at this point - and have for a long time.

[momof3_angels 465]

Thanks! Yes, I know I always have to meet my Protein goal first. That would be a minimum of 60 grams. Veggies second. Other foods after. But we also discussed Macros.... and while I can find most of my other paperwork... I haven't come across this note yet! LOL I know she wanted me to keep a lower percentage of carbs, and wasn't so concerned about fat as long as it was healthy fats. Anyhow, I am pretty sure I remember the macro ratios I was doing, but when I program them into myfitness pal... it has me eating WAY more protein than I know I can eat in a day lol.... so thinking maybe the carb ratio I remember was from when I was eating lower calories than I know I need to maintain. Perhaps we discussed macros when I was at lower calories and not when I had to raise calories for maintenance? Before I got off track, I was at roughly 1200-1300 calories per day.

Anyhow... I do know what foods I an allowed to have and which ones I can't. For protein I have a mix of animal/plant Proteins. With carbs my nutritionist has me avoiding the same things Arabesque avoids: No rice or bread and MINIMAL pasta/potatoes. Of those, potatoes I eat a little more frequently. Very small amounts. For alternatives, she prefers I eat whole grain crackers and low carb tortillas which I use for my breads most of the time. And then of course, I try to stick with healthier fats.

Ugh... my appointment two weeks ago was with the FNP at the surgeons office. We discussed weight, nutrition, and all... but not the same as when I do it with the nutritionist lol. Might have to schedule an appointment with her soon. She had to quit when she had to be home with her kids during COVID.... but I saw her in the office as I was leaving... so I think she is back! If not, I am sure they hired a new one... but I prefer to stick with Kasey.

Edited March 19, 2021 by momof3_angels

[ms.sss 15,664]

My NUT said 50% veggies, 25% Protein, 25% starch, and to aim for .6g of protein for every lb of body weight (for me at my current weight that is ~65g).

With that said, I'm doing my own thing: Aim for 60g of protein (which I reach maybe 80% of the time) and total calories around 1800-2000 calories during "normal" times*. I no longer concern myself with carb nor fat amounts. Though truth be told, I don't think I was ever really concerned about fat amounts, so long as I was under whatever calorie level I was aiming for at any given time.

*Am currently attempting to find am acceptable calorie level as I have been out of commission on the exercise front for about a month due to injury. Am going on about a month of ZERO exercise and in an attempt to avoid any weight gain, reduced calories to about 1200-1400...but this is too low as I lost 6lbs in the last 4 weeks. Still trying to figure it out.

P.S. I'm a sleeve, 2.5 years out from surgery, and almost 2 years into maintenance. I've maintained my weight +/- 5 lbs this entire time.

Edited March 19, 2021 by ms.sss

[momof3_angels 465]

15 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

My NUT said 50% veggies, 25% Protein, 25% starch, and to aim for .6g of Protein for every lb of body weight (for me at my current weight that is ~65g).

With that said, I'm doing my own thing: Aim for 60g of protein (which I reach maybe 80% of the time) and total calories around 1800-2000 calories during "normal" times*. I no longer concern myself with carb nor fat amounts. Though truth be told, I don't think I was ever really concerned about fat amounts,

Thanks! Yes, 25% Protein seems more in tune with where I should be with a higher calorie diet to maintain that 60 Grams. I think I had been told 35-40% but I am pretty sure that is when I was eating way less calories... so it made more sense. When I plug those percentages now it gives me an unachievable protein amount, which is why I came here to ask since I don't have an appointment yet with the nutritionist. I think as I get back on track with my diet, I might start out with 25% protein (that is 63 grams), and 25-30% fats and 45-50% (approved) carbs... focusing of course on healthy carbs. I will track a few weeks and see how that goes. That would be less protein and more carbs than she originally told me... but again... I had to have been eating fewer calories when she told me macro goals. And the more calories I eat, I have never been able to consistently eat more than 60 grams of protein lol. IF this plan isn't working, will definitely schedule an appointment with the NUT.

I stopped measuring and counting a LONG time ago, when I was doing a great job "eyeballing it" lol. I hit maintenance at 7 months post-op and did a great job maintaining until recently when my life got excessively hectic making it difficult to stick to what had been an excellent diet/exercise routine. My low was 124 (I even hit 123 on a couple occasions but not enough to really call that my low lol) and while I maintained there for a while, my normal weight range settled at 124-128 with normal fluctuations. And then recently I started to creep up to 129-134 range... and then several days ago on a very bloated day the scale temporarily hit 138 (only 1 day) and I took that as my warning to get back on track. I had already known I needed to, but it was the last straw "do it now" signal for me. And I started my plan immediately. Back down to 127.1 today. But going forward I need to get back to my good habits. I recently passed the 18 month mark post-op.

Hope you are healing from your injury! I know it is tough when we have to suddenly stop activity.

[ms.sss 15,664]

4 hours ago, momof3_angels said:

I stopped measuring and counting a LONG time ago, when I was doing a great job "eyeballing it" lol. I hit maintenance at 7 months post-op and did a great job maintaining until recently when my life got excessively hectic making it difficult to stick to what had been an excellent diet/exercise routine. My low was 124 (I even hit 123 on a couple occasions but not enough to really call that my low lol) and while I maintained there for a while, my normal weight range settled at 124-128 with normal fluctuations. And then recently I started to creep up to 129-134 range... and then several days ago on a very bloated day the scale temporarily hit 138 (only 1 day) and I took that as my warning to get back on track. I had already known I needed to, but it was the last straw "do it now" signal for me. And I started my plan immediately. Back down to 127.1 today. But going forward I need to get back to my good habits. I recently passed the 18 month mark post-op.

Hope you are healing from your injury! I know it is tough when we have to suddenly stop activity.

I find that even with what a person is advised, there is still some tweaking to do at the individual level. There really is no one-size-fits-all method. I got to goal in 7 months as well (yay, goal sisters!), and it took me about 3-4 months to figure out what my maintenance calories were, eventually dropping another 12-15 lbs until I did. Granted, I have no real intention to get back up to that original goal weight, so am totally fine with losing those extra few lbs.

For me, I credit my figuring stuff out by tracking everything (I recognize this isn't for everyone). Its in my nature to track/gather data, discover trends/patterns, fine tune stuff, etc....I'm anal like that. I figure i'll always have to be making adjustments (or make acceptances) and its just part of life. Always learning, always changing. Weight maintenance is no exception.

Case(s) in point: I thought I knew what my no-exercise maintenance calories were, but obvs not. I also track my activity (well, at least when I had activity, sigh), and I realize I have greatly overestimated how many calories I burn during dedicated exercise....so PSA to those out there, don't but blind faith into your fitness trackers to tell you what your energy expenditure is. I also learned that ultra-low-carbing made little (if any) difference in my weight in the long term. All that my body seems to care about is total calories (though my stomach does still care about volume).

In any case, kudos to you for recognizing an opportunity to tweak your behaviours and acting upon it. Eventually it will be second nature...until you have to tweak again. ❤️

Edited March 19, 2021 by ms.sss

[momof3_angels 465]

@Arabesque Yes, tracking is critical, especially during transitional points or at times when you are "losing your way". I wish I had been able to resume tracking a couple months ago, but I just had way too much on my plate. I did what I could with the resources and energy I had at the time and at the end of the day, I know I honestly couldn't do even one more thing... even so simple as logging food. And it truly took me a couple months to recoup and get the rest of my life back on track. And overall I really didn't do so bad... but I do know that if I stayed on that trajectory there may be no coming back. Anyhow... I am proud of how my pre-op and first year post-op went. There was a learning curve for sure, but I feel I did very well and stayed on track. And I am even proud of how I managed to get through a public health crisis that put me on the frontline of fighting COVID within my work population of nearly 1000 people at 10 locations (what a nightmare the fall was!)... and that while my diet plan did get derailed.... I didn't allow it to get derailed to the point of no return. So here I am... ready to get back on track and more than willing to put in the work. And yes... I will be tweaking my macros and my carbs until I find my new sweet spot. Once I find it, can't promise I will always track... but I am always willing to go back when I need to.

[ms.sss 15,664]

8 hours ago, momof3_angels said:

Once I find it, can't promise I will always track... but I am always willing to go back when I need to.

And that is all we can really ask of ourselves. You've got the right attitude ❤️

P.S. Thank you for all your efforts in battling this pandemic for us...and to all the other front-line workers out there. Mwah.