Tuesday's question

Since some of us are vey close to goal, how do you plan to stop loosing weight? or are you just going let your new pouch/system take its course? I ask this because so far I have lost 130 lbs and only want to loose another 10 lbs, nothing more than that. I am already wearing a size 12 and do not want to wear anything less than that. I am 6 ft tall and anything less than a size 12 for me is not good. So, how do I stop the weigh loss? Beatriz

Hi, I just had this conversation the other day. I am not planning to stop losing, I want my pouch/system to just do what its gonna do. Of course, if I get too low, I would say in the 120's, I will probably start to actively try to stop it. Some of the ways I have been told would be: add some complex carbs to my diet, drink with meals, add more calories. You could also speak with a nutritionist about what to do in this case, I would not do it alone, because I wouldnt want it to backfire on me, use some of the resources here--maybe on the grads board, nutrition board or even on the main board to see what others have done who wanted to stop or slow the weight loss down. I still have about 13 more pounds that I want to lose but will be ok with losing 20 knowing that I will have a little regain. Good luck to you. Angela

Well as you know B this has been a concern of mine lately. I have talked with the PA at my office and she 100% assures me that it will stop when its ready to (my set point) and that will not be an underweight place for me she says. She wants me on 1000 cals till 1 year then bump to 1200 for life. I am starting to slow down though (i think). On my anny Nov 4th I was 147 now I am 144.4. so less than 3 lbs in 2 weeks. I usually drop a few before my period so it might start to become smaller and smaller. My personal goal is 140 but now I can tell that 130-135 would be ok too. As my PA said our bodies get really smart and the colon compensates for the bypassed portion creating more villa and those villa (finger like things) grab onto more calories (just not vitamins go figure!) and at that point we actually can get a "bounce back" and its usually 10-15% of our body weight. EEK! So I am thinking 130-135 would be good to land me at 150-155. I love where I am not around 145 and would hate to go above it honestly. I am just gonna keep doing what I am doing. I am becoming less freaked out (even though I lost 11 last month) because I truly do think its starting to slow down, guess the next 2 weeks will tell me for sure. I have been weight training too so I am sure I am building some muscle as well.

Hi Beatriz! Good question. I ditto Angela and Melissa's answers. I am just letting my body decide where it wants to be and am using my surgeon and nut's guidelines for calories now that I am at maintenance. I am to stay between 1000 and 1200 calories for life now but they don't have any hard-and-fast rules about carbs so I am sort of winging it and trying to keep it around 100 or less. Am iffy about fat grams, too...like Angela I find it is a real balancing act just getting enough fat and the right quality so that my skin stays hydrated and not saggy feeling. I can really tell in my face when I haven't gotten enough fat grams in the preceeding days. You might change your mind about that size 12 issue. I was the same way about size 12, size 10 and size 8. Now I am in a size 6 and like it just fine. I'm 5'4" so the smaller sizes are more flattering to my frame but at this point I just don't have enough fat left to have any womanly curves so my body is pretty much just bouncing around the 130's now. Molly

I think that the only thing I'd disagree with is increasing the "bad" stuff... Talking about increasing fat and carbs... I don't know, guess I'll have to ask my nutritionist. I would think that if you could increase the amount of the good stuff - adding another "meal" even if it's not as big as the main three but larger than a "snack". I would think that would be better for you. Especially if what you add was more protein than anything else. Protein from food is always better than protein from shakes and supplements, so adding more protein in-between meals should slow your weight loss a little. As long as you're not blowing your total calories out of the water, you should be good. But, as always, the best advice comes from your Dr. and your nutritionist - and I'm sure that they're happy to help! Good luck to you and to all of us!

I still have about 20lbs to go to my 'dream" weight so it will be a while before I switch to maintenance mode. I have an appetite of a small elephant even post-op so i don't anticipate any difficulty in stopping weight loss. in fact, i am really looking forward to it because it means i get to gradually up my calories to 2000 or however many my body needs to maintain and/or cut back on exercise a bit. I'm sure there will be a challenging period of adjustment when i will need to learn what i need to do to maintain but not re-gain.