Moving Into Maintanence #2 - To Food Journal or Not to Food Journal

I also weigh myself daily and feel it gives me the best handle on the normal ups and downs of my weight loss and I can see the trends more clearly.

I see you're a NYMom, where in NY do you live?  I'm on Long Island. 

I am in South Setauket. There is a great support group that meets in both Nassau and Suffolk for WLS patients from any doctor/hospital. Called Long Island Post-Operatives (LIPO) look them up on Facebook. Great group.

Too damn lazy here. I acknowledge food journaling might work for many but I acknowledge my personal weakness and unwillingness. What I at 5 1/2 years do here is go by daily weights- I keep myself in a four pound pen. I have an unused lovely journal- want it?

PS In addition to my 4lb pen, I religiously speed walk at least 2 1/2 miles daily. Does the trick for me.

Plus pay religious attention to the quality and quantity of what I eat. But no journaling.

Sounds great to me!!!  Thanks for your responses.

Sorry, but I do not want your empty journal - I reminds me too much of all those years on conventional diets. 

I watched Dr Phill the other day and people made fun of this lady who said she had post-diet stress disorder.  I didn't because that is how I feel.  I saw my first bariatric doctor at AGE 6, so by 57 I was traumatized by the conveyor belt of conventional diets.  Thank God for WLS surgery, I hope it keeps getting safer with fewer side-effects.

I am 7 years out and at goal. I used to journal religiously when I got to maintenance until I got a good feel for what and how much I could eat and still maintain my loss. Now I weigh myself daily to keep track of my weight. If I am up more than 3 pounds, I journal until I lose it again. I have not had to track my food in about 8 months.

The further we get out the more we can eat. Sadly, the majority of us who have been morbidly obese have no idea what a serving looks like. We fool ourselves into thinking we eat less than we do. It drives me insane when people post here asking for help in losing regain, but they refuse to measure and track their food. They think the surgery was supposed to be "magic" and they do not have to do any work. Maintenance is so much harder than the losing phase.

Oh, you said it Laura. They gain, but insist they are not eating any more than while they were losing. If you aren't tracking, you can't know for sure. Logging food costs nothing but a couple of minutes per day.

Laura, using smaller plate or saucer for portions helps me maintain serving sizes without journaling...That simplifies it for me. If it doesnt fit on a saucer, and i am trying to loose, i don't have it... and on maintainence i use a desert/salad plate.