Share Your Keys To Success! How did you maintain your weight loss (Stay In Maintenance). Come on spill your secrets!

[Mspretty86 311]

As we all know loosing the weight after bariatric surgery can be quick and easy, but I have noticed throughout various bariatric groups, That maintenance seems to be the hardest. What were some of your Keys to success that helped you maintain your goal weight over the years? What was steadfast and True?

[ms.sss 15,664]

for me: (1) continuing to track my food intake (via MFP) and weighing myself daily...and making adjustments when a moving weight trend shows up in either direction i dont really want.

also, (2) regular exercise (which morphed into a love for exercise)

and (3) striving to maintain an angst-free existence: understanding that i am not perfect, that nothing is forever, that i believe i can and will adapt, accept OR change, whatever the circumstances.

i am 6 years post op next week and have maintained below goal weight this entire time, following my own advice above.

i know that my M.O. is not for everyone...but i also know that each one of us can figure out what works for us (and what doesn't) and act accordingly, if we choose to.

[SpartanMaker 784]

I'd suggest taking a look at The National Weight Control Registry at http://www.nwcr.ws/. This is a long term list of over 10,000 successful "losers" that have lost weight and kept the weight off for long periods of time.

If we dig into the data a bit, a few things seem to come to light as keys to successfully maintaining weight loss:

• 78% eat Breakfast every day.
• 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
• 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
• 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day

Of course, another thing you'll see in the data is that there really is no one size fits all model for success. While the trends above are helpful for most people, there are people that are successful that don't exercise, that never weigh themselves, and don't eat breakfast.

The point is that ultimately you have to find out what works for you.

[Mspretty86 311]

Love it! Great points, successes and Data.

[Arabesque 7,332]

Almost 5.5yrs post sleeve and also have maintained below goal.

• I try to eat regularly & to a schedule. Helps me avoid unnecessary snacking and making poor choices because I’m overly hungry.
• I try to meet Protein & fluid goals every day.
• I don’t track but check ingredients & nutritional content of new foods & recipes where I can and do random checks to ensure I’m not overestimating portions or calories, etc.
• I try to ensure I eat meat (yep I’m a carnivore), vegetables, fruit, dairy, and complex multi/whole grain carbs everyday. Add Beans or lentils to various meals at times.
• I adopted a way of eating (not a diet) that is working for me & is sustainable. It doesn't stop me socialising or make it a challenge to make food choices.
• I do some sort of exercise almost every day (about 20 minutes a day total & not traditional ‘exercise’ but stretches & resistance bands).
• I weigh myself at least a couple of times a week.

I can’t control every aspect of my life every day so I don’t beat myself up if I go off piste or decide to treat myself or can’t follow my regular schedule or can’t meet my goals or whatever. As long as it’s not the norm and a regular occurrence, I’ll be okay. And if something changes (ill health, the crap life throws at us, etc.), I’ll look at my options, make changes where I can or just work with my new reality.

[summerseeker 2,168]

I am 3 years out this month. I track my food religiously every day.

I try to eat clean and cook almost all of my food. My calories are on average 1500 a day and as this was my first trial number at maintenance, I was lucky. I don't restrict myself to diet foods. I eat full fat versions. It eat good quality food, even chocolate.

I weigh myself every few days. My exercise is limited to walking a few miles, a few times a week. Oh and window shopping in town, once a week.

I also stay on this site and read it almost every day as it seems to keep my focus.

[Mspretty86 311]

1 hour ago, summerseeker said:

I am 3 years out this month. I track my food religiously every day.

I try to eat clean and cook almost all of my food. My calories are on average 1500 a day and as this was my first trial number at maintenance, I was lucky. I don't restrict myself to diet foods. I eat full fat versions. It eat good quality food, even chocolate.

I weigh myself every few days. My exercise is limited to walking a few miles, a few times a week. Oh and window shopping in town, once a week.

I also stay on this site and read it almost every day as it seems to keep my focus.

Wow what a coincidence In my early post op bariatric group sessions, A good dietitian who helps bariatric patients Told us to start eating "Full fat items" she went on to state how you will stay fuller longer. She stated how "low fat" and "reduced fat" will have more complex ingredients which is a true statement low fat ingredients list are always funky. Full fat items are straight forward like sour cream may just say Whole Milk, Heavy cream. we were all complaining about still being hungry. She helped us thankfully. Switching to Full fats was everything for me. Keeps me fuller and more energy! Awesome glad you are maintaining 🏆.

Edited October 23 by Mspretty86

[Spinoza 1,403]

22 hours ago, SpartanMaker said:

I'd suggest taking a look at The National Weight Control Registry at http://www.nwcr.ws/. This is a long term list of over 10,000 successful "losers" that have lost weight and kept the weight off for long periods of time.

If we dig into the data a bit, a few things seem to come to light as keys to successfully maintaining weight loss:

• 78% eat Breakfast every day.
• 75% weigh themselves at least once a week.
• 62% watch less than 10 hours of TV per week.
• 90% exercise, on average, about 1 hour per day

Of course, another thing you'll see in the data is that there really is no one size fits all model for success. While the trends above are helpful for most people, there are people that are successful that don't exercise, that never weigh themselves, and don't eat Breakfast.

The point is that ultimately you have to find out what works for you.

OMG this is absolutely fascinating. Thank you so much for sharing that link. 🌟

[Spinoza 1,403]

I am coming at this thread from a slightly different perspective. I'm not a long termer (whose experience I know you were asking for) so please do place more weight on those people's posts. I do rely SO MUCH on the stalwarts here to be my guiding stars and four of them have shared their wisdom already.

I have struggled a bit to maintain my loss.

I reached my original goal weight about a year after my surgery.

The second year or so I lost much more slowly but ended up about 20lbs under my goal.

In my third year I slowly regained 16lbs.

I eat pretty well I think. I cannot, and never have, eaten Breakfast. coffee only before about 11am. Looking at the link above I do wonder whether I should just start stuffing something down.

I think my regain has been due to bits of sneaky sugar creeping in, and alcohol (totally empty calories - if you can do without then this is the smart way forward, I simply cannot completely LOL).

I reached a point a couple of months back when I was unhappy, thought I'd gone beyond the well known third year rebound and decided to cut out the sugar and (mostly!) the alcohol. Since then I've lost 10lbs of the 15 I gained. Still loosing now.

My maintenance calorific intake seems to be 1500 or a little less. I am pretty tall and moderately active. It's weird because I lost large amounts of weight consistently on much more than this a year ago. I think some people get blessed with a new set point weight that is easier to maintain with a much higher calorific intake and some get cursed with a lower set point so that inhaling a random breath of air containing just a whiff of bacon can disrupt. Sadly I appear to be in the latter category now.

Take home message - everyone's weight loss in the initial and the maintenance phases seems to be individual to them.

Yes we can look for patterns and try to emulate those in order to maximise our own losses, but it doesn't mean our own loss will follow any particular trajectory.

Sugar and alcohol are our enemies.

I wish you all the best after your op OP. Keep posting, it's endlessly fascinating to hear others' experiences.

[Arabesque 7,332]

9 hours ago, summerseeker said:

…

I try to eat clean and cook almost all of my food. My calories are on average 1500 a day and as this was my first trial number at maintenance, I was lucky. I don't restrict myself to diet foods. I eat full fat versions. It eat good quality food, even chocolate.

….

I also stay on this site and read it almost every day as it seems to keep my focus.

Yes, I forgot to add that I, like @summerseeker, cook most of my meals. There are some that I buy but they aren’t a major part of my regular eating. Like I’m not mucking about to make gyoza which I may have on the odd Sunday night so I have a bag of frozen ones. And yes, I don’t eat ‘diet’, low fat or low sugar anything, unless I accidentally pick it up at the grocery store. The only exception is peanut paste where I do buy lite but it’s a taste thing and not for an ingredient or nutritional reason.

And, finally, also stay here to keep me honest, motivated , to continue to learn and to support others like those who supported & continue to support me.

[Lilia_90 491]

Sorry to butt in as I'm only a little over 10 months post GS but I feel I can share a little of what I'm doing to maintain.

I reached my initial goal 3 months post op and continued to lose until about 9 months post op, went much below goal weight and stabilized (I think as I've been the same weight with one +- 1KG fluctuation for 1.5 months).

I lost weight very rapidly and the weird thing is, during weight loss I never tracked, I would only check my calorie intake once every 2-3 weeks to see where I'm sitting at but the whole theme was barely eating to survive and insane restriction. Now that I've stabilized I track my intake 3-4 times a week to know where I am at and what daily average intake is. There are non hungry days where I don't bother to track (plus weekends) and days where I'm ravenous and I make sure I track to know.

I have also picked up the habit of weighing myself at least a few times a week, sometimes daily or twice a day (during weight loss I weighed once a week only), now at maintenance I weigh more often and only because I never did pre WLS and my weight kept creeping up and I refused to face reality (if I didn't know then it didn't happen). I also believe that what gets measured gets managed.

I cook most of my food and eat out about twice a week, I prioritize Protein 90% of the time and eat fairly well. I get in at least 140 grams of protein a day but I also don't deprive myself of anything. I eat bread, rice, Pasta ,dessert and everything else really, just not in substantial portions and usually after I've gotten my protein in.

I workout a lot. Always have and always will and I believe this has been a huge factor in my success so far. I built back all the muscle I lost and I believe my muscles are allowing me to eat much more without worrying about weight gain (I eat between 1500-1900 calories a day, depending on how hungry I am). I walk between 8k-10k steps a day too.

Lastly, I have worked out a wriggle room for myself, If I do gain a little of weight then it is no big deal, it does not distress me and I will deal with it when/if it happens. I try my best everyday and I accept that I am not perfect nor do I set unrealistic standards for myself.

I also believe maintenance is a mindset shift as much as it's a physical adjustment. Portion Control, constant check-ins, daily movement are great habits to build, but also liberating ourselves of food fear and relinquishing the all or nothing sentiment.

Edited October 24 by Lilia_90

[Mspretty86 311]

14 hours ago, Spinoza said:

I am coming at this thread from a slightly different perspective. I'm not a long termer (whose experience I know you were asking for) so please do place more weight on those people's posts. I do rely SO MUCH on the stalwarts here to be my guiding stars and four of them have shared their wisdom already.

I have struggled a bit to maintain my loss.

I reached my original goal weight about a year after my surgery.

The second year or so I lost much more slowly but ended up about 20lbs under my goal.

In my third year I slowly regained 16lbs.

I eat pretty well I think. I cannot, and never have, eaten Breakfast. coffee only before about 11am. Looking at the link above I do wonder whether I should just start stuffing something down.

I think my regain has been due to bits of sneaky sugar creeping in, and alcohol (totally empty calories - if you can do without then this is the smart way forward, I simply cannot completely LOL).

I reached a point a couple of months back when I was unhappy, thought I'd gone beyond the well known third year rebound and decided to cut out the sugar and (mostly!) the alcohol. Since then I've lost 10lbs of the 15 I gained. Still loosing now.

My maintenance calorific intake seems to be 1500 or a little less. I am pretty tall and moderately active. It's weird because I lost large amounts of weight consistently on much more than this a year ago. I think some people get blessed with a new set point weight that is easier to maintain with a much higher calorific intake and some get cursed with a lower set point so that inhaling a random breath of air containing just a whiff of bacon can disrupt. Sadly I appear to be in the latter category now.

Take home message - everyone's weight loss in the initial and the maintenance phases seems to be individual to them.

Yes we can look for patterns and try to emulate those in order to maximise our own losses, but it doesn't mean our own loss will follow any particular trajectory.

Sugar and alcohol are our enemies.

I wish you all the best after your op OP. Keep posting, it's endlessly fascinating to hear others' experiences.

I agree Sugar is the devil for me plus I'm diabetic. Due to WLS I'm no longer on any meds (whooo hoooo 🎉 ) and I have avoided processed/ white sugars like the plague if I even start to indulge my food addiction will lead me down a slippery slope to hell 😂. In other news obesity as a disease is life long and I assume we will be working a lifetime to stay in maintenance..tweeking this and that.

Edited October 24 by Mspretty86

[BigSue 1,389]

I'm 4 years out and have maintained a stable weight for over 2 years. I've taken a lot of cues from the WLS veterans on this forum because I'm acutely aware that a lot of WLS patients experience significant regain, and I live in fear of that because I've gone through a lot to lose 200 pounds and I don't ever want to go back to obesity.

I learned early on that one of the keys to long-term maintenance is closely monitoring and tracking weight, and taking action promptly if it starts to creep up. I weigh myself on a daily basis (usually more than once a day). My weight can fluctuate quite a bit, sometimes by 5 pounds within a single day, so I consider my normal weight range to be 135-140 pounds. As long as I'm within that range, I don't give it a second thought. I may be outside of that once in a while, but I don't worry about it too much unless I stay outside that range for more than a couple of days.

I've continued to track everything I eat and stay within a calorie limit. Five years ago, I would have been horrified to imagine tracking my food long-term, but I actually think it makes weight maintenance more sustainable. I could probably get away without tracking at this point because I habitually eat healthy, low-calorie meals, but much like having a financial budget, having a calorie budget allows me to prioritize and make conscious decisions about what I want to consume. If I'm tracking my food, I know whether I have room in my budget for a treat today, or if I want a specific treat, I can make sure to leave room in my calorie budget. I think this is really important because I don't have to go off track or have an out-of-control "cheat day" to eat what I want.

I eat healthy foods most of the time (with the occasional treat within my calorie budget), and I've completely overhauled my diet. I've gotten the sense that one of the pitfalls that can lead to regain for WLS patients is that we can rely on our restriction for the first year or so to limit our calorie consumption, but if we continue to eat high-calorie foods like fast food and highly processed snack foods, once the restriction is weaker, we can eat enough calories to regain the weight, and/or eat around the restriction by having multiple smaller portions of high-calorie foods. I eat a lot of vegetables and salads, lean Protein (chicken, pork loin, seafood), and legumes, and avoid sugar, refined carbs (rice, Pasta, bread, crackers), fried foods, and other calorie-dense foods like cheese. I've discovered a lot of healthy foods that I love eating, so I don't feel deprived with delicious low-calorie meals.

Initially, I was very strict about weighing and tracking every bite of food, but I've gotten much more relaxed about it and I just eyeball things that are negligible. I still weigh and measure things with higher calorie density like meat or oil, but I don't measure lettuce because even if I underestimate, it will be a 10-15 calorie difference at the most, and I log half a Tomato instead of weighing the exact number of grams. This is another reason that weighing myself is key -- I know that if I'm maintaining a stable weight, my guesstimates must be close enough.

Exercise wasn't a huge part of my weight loss strategy; I didn't do any exercise at all for the first 75+ pounds, and then I just did YouTube videos at home. Exercise has become a huge part of my lifestyle in maintenance, though. Not only do I do cardio at home on a daily basis and a minimum of 15,000 steps per day, but I also take fitness classes including strength training a few days per week.

[GreenTealael 25,383]

7 years out this November (I can’t believe it’s been that long!)

1. The surgery did all of the work. I didn’t wake up hungry, I didn’t feel like I could eat more than recommended. I didn’t have any (initial) complications that slowed the weight loss process.

2. I was really strict and followed every rule pre and post op. I was super serious because I absolutely needed this to work. My motivation remains for medical reasons first and aesthetics second.

3. I limited calories from liquids.

4. I am finally ready to admit that I have a narrow palate. I don’t like most food and definitely not most fast food but in a pinch I will eat it *some* things. I cook the vast majority of my meals and most are very boring by foodie standards.

5. I was converted from VSG to RNY at my goal weight (GERD etc) and I’m sure the durability of RNY has made a difference in maintaining.

6. I was given a higher BMI range by my surgeon and thank goodness because getting any lower would have been a real struggle without added benefits.

7. I invested in plastics. I shouldn’t make sense or a difference but I didn’t want to mess up the work I had done plus removed skin and fat cells are gone forever.

8. I address the smallest regains IMMEDIATELY adjusting behavior and intake. I’m not ashamed of it or ignore it, I weigh often to stay accountable to myself.

9. I found what works for me and focused on that, adjusting as needed. I try very, very hard not to compare myself with anyone else. I never attached self worth or morality to weight (gained or lost). I think it helped immensely that no one ever bothered me about weight. I realize it maybe a different story if this wasn’t the case.

10. I check in yearly with my bariatric team.

Edited October 24 by GreenTealael

[AmberFL 813]

I am a baby in my journey 10months today actually, but I reached my goal weight at 6months and I creeped down a touch more for about another month. I have maintained +/- 3lbs for the past 3ish months.

I track every single day (eating 1700-2000cal a day), I prioritize Protein (hit 150-200g a day) although lately its more like 225g of protein and that is WAY too much my stomach hurts lol so I am adjusting, keeping fat low (under 90) keeping carbs under 200g.

I lift heavy (3 days lower and 2 days) along with cardio (running, incline walks, stair master), then 1 day where I do 40min HIIT work out then 30min of cardio. I have 1 rest day.

I meal prep every week so all my meals M-F from pre-workout snack down to my last snack before dinner is prepped and tracked. I know what's for dinner every day as I make sure to plan for those. All the food I make is now lower in fat, higher in protein and the family doesn't even notice! Weekends I "indulge" I still track but notice I do not eat as much those days. I eat protein ice cream using my Ninja Creami or sneak in a few bites of my hubby's Ben and Jerrys.

I do eat chips, fries, lettuce wrapped burgers, fried chicken **gasp!!** very small amounts but I do not deprive myself. This is a LIFESTYLE change not a diet. So I wanna go buck wild and get back to where I was but I also don't want to be a bird and never enjoy all the yummy treats. MODERATION IS KEY!! Eat healthy 85-90% and stay active, you won't have any issues!