18 months out & still loosing

[rjan 164]

I had my sleeve in early 2020. I didn't start out as heavy as some - about 210 - which is a BMI of 35. I reached my goal weight of 149 at 11.5 months after surgery, which is a normal <25.0 BMI. During months 6-12, my weight loss was slowing down. The last ~6 lbs came off pretty slowly over 5 months. I felt like I was slipping into maintenance, and I was very happy that I was doing that at about a normal weight. I only counted calories for the first 4 months after surgery to make sure I was getting enough Protein. I haven't been tracking my eating since then, and I don't want to. Obsession with my food/weight is one of the things I wanted to escape with this surgery.

But since reaching my goal weight, I've continued to lose at about that same rate: a little more than a pound a month. I'm now 140, BMI 23.3. I'm kind of surprised that it hasn't slowed down much, let alone stopped. I've certainly allowed myself more dietary indulgences over the past 9 months or so. On the other hand, a lot of my routine has remained the same. I still start the day with my Protein Powder latte, which comes in at 30 g of protein. I also still eat 2 eggs nearly every day, though I've added an 1/2-1 english muffin. I also average ~6000 steps a day. These things are easy for me to maintain because they were things I already liked - I've always enjoyed walks and my morning latte and vegetables. My family were backpackers, and usually had a garden.

I'm certainly not complaining that I've been so lucky with my results. It was always really frustrating before when people would assume I was sitting on the couch eating pizza and ice cream all day just because I was fat. I always knew my weight problems were more of a diabetic nature, since it clearly runs in my family and I've been diagnosed with PCOS. And the vast majority of the weight came off my belly, as my loose skin can attest.

I do wonder if I should make any effort to change things, or if I should just keep going with the flow. I don't really feel like I need to lose any more. (I'm still getting used to the weird way my ribcage sticks out way more than my stomach, despite the loose skin.) And it wouldn't be hard to increase my appetite a bit - I know very well that sugar still does that. But I also hear that weight regain is likely, so I also feel like it might not hurt if I let myself go lower to give myself more safe room.

I am curious how those of you who are more like 3-4 years out got into maintenance mode. Did it just happen, or did you do it on purpose? In retrospect, do you have any regrets about how you handled it?

[GreenTealael 25,385]

Congratulations on making it to your goal!

It’s not uncommon for people to be able to lose at 18+ months out. I cannot speak for every experience but it sure seems like most people do not stay at their lowest post WLS weight at 3+ yrs out (without working on it)

I wouldn’t suggest forcing premature maintenance when you may eventually gain a little back anyway.

Since you like your routine, have good habits, active , have indulged periodically, don’t want to focus heavily on tracking perhaps try just going with the flow and letting your body workout where it wants to be weight wise.

You still have wiggle room especially since you in the healthy not underweight rage. If you start to effortlessly drop into that area without any signs of weigh loss slowing down then definitely consult your team.

[catwoman7 11,216]

of course, that's totally up to you. Regain is unfortunately very common in year 2 or 3 - most people put on 10-20 lbs, so you might want to factor that in (I swore I'd never be one of them, but...it happened!). If you don't want to lose any more weight, you can always increase your calories a bit. I just kind of let mine keep going until it naturally stopped - and in retrospect I'm glad I did because I did experience a 20 lb regain.

[Recidivist 1,141]

7 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

of course, that's totally up to you. Regain is unfortunately very common in year 2 or 3 - most people put on 10-20 lbs, so you might want to factor that in (I swore I'd never be one of them, but...it happened!). If you don't want to lose any more weight, you can always increase your calories a bit. I just kind of let mine keep going until it naturally stopped - and in retrospect I'm glad I did because I did experience a 20 lb regain.

The same happened to me. I ended up 18 pounds below my goal weight before I stopped losing. Honestly, I looked a little skeletal, and I posted here at that time that I was afraid I wouldn't be able to stop losing weight. Well, I did--and I gained 15 pounds. I stabilized there and have been able to maintain without too much work for the past year.

[Elidh 240]

Hi rjan, I enjoyed reading your post. I was sleeved in July 2020, having a SW of 200# at 5’4”, similar to your stats. I am losing weight at a REALLY slow pace at this point. It has taken me 8 mos. to lose the last 10 lbs!! I figure it’s due to 1) a relatively low starting BMI, 2) my age (68), and 3) having the sleeve vs. the bypass. But your post is personally encouraging to me; I’ll keep plugging along!

Edited August 18, 2021 by Elidh

[ms.sss 15,665]

I made efforts to get into maintenance on purpose after reaching goal (127). I still lost another 10-ish lbs after that anyway during the transition. Im 115 now (+\- 5 lbs), and have basically been here for over 2 years.

I did get down to sub-110 for a couple months a year and a half ago, but that didn’t last long and i made no real effort to get back to 115. Also went up as high as 120 a couple times, which also didn’t last long, but it did take a small effort on my part to get back to 115.

I’ll be 3 years out in October.

p.s. I started off with a BMI of 43 (am BMI 21 today). I’m 5’2”.

[rjan 164]

On 8/18/2021 at 5:31 PM, Elidh said:

Hi rjan, I enjoyed reading your post. I was sleeved in July 2020, having a SW of 200# at 5’4”, similar to your stats. I am losing weight at a REALLY slow pace at this point. It has taken me 8 mos. to lose the last 10 lbs!! I figure it’s due to 1) a relatively low starting BMI, 2) my age (68), and 3) having the sleeve vs. the bypass. But your post is personally encouraging to me; I’ll keep plugging along!

Yeah, my weight loss has basically been like yours; really stable at about a lb a month for about a year now. It seems like it's a good idea to make changes slowly and mostly try to make good eating habits we got used to right after surgery into a lifestyle. For me, I sought out bariatric surgery because I was pre-diabetic and had gotten to the point where I was absolutely starving all the time. It made it so hard to stick to a healthy diet over the long term. Taking that ravenous hunger away made it so much easier to make a permanent adjustment to my diet over a long enough time period where it really became habit. But I also was able to add in a bit more carbs daily and eat sugar once or twice a week, and still keep up this slow but steady pace.

I enjoy food so much more now that I feel in control!

[rjan 164]

It's now been nearly 3 years since my surgery (34 months), and a year and a half since this post, so I thought I'd post an update. Mostly, I'm still gloriously happy with my results! I still have my Protein powder latte most mornings, and eat 2 eggs about every other day. I still aim for 6000 steps a day and get them about 2/3 days.

I did indeed lose and then regain. When I made this post at the 18 month mark, I was 140 lbs (down from 208 before surgery). I hit my low point of 136 lbs at 23 months. I'm currently 142 lbs. (Though a few lbs might be holiday/too-cold-to-walk weight - 139-141 lbs has been my usual for the 6-8 months.)

But curiously, I also went down a pants size in the past year as I was slowly regaining - from size 6 to size 4. So I expect that a few pounds of the regain could be muscle lost during the rapid weight loss phase right after surgery. One of my friends told me I look better now than I did a year and a half ago. I'm not sure that I can tell any difference from looking at my photos though.

May 2021, 14 months post, 142 lbs

Feb 2022, 23 months post, 136 lbs. Face does look a little thinner.

Dec 2022, 33 months post, 142 lbs. A tad less cheeky compared to the previous one at this weight, but mostly my skin looks better.

Edited January 7, 2023 by rjan