Tips for prolonging weight loss after WLS

I'm 16 months out from surgery and almost to my huge main goal of 202 pounds lost which would put me at just under an overweight BMI and at 175 pounds. But ideally I would like to lose more and I feel like I can do it. But my weight loss is slowing down obviously, which I know is normal and I'm not concerned or anything. I'm proud of where I am and how far I've come but I would love to go farther.

So - those of you farther out than I am, any tips to prolong the weight loss?

Or is it really just a matter of keeping the calories/carbs down? Which I'm still doing. I'm always below 800 calories and am super low carb - I don't keep track of carbs anymore, but I don't eat rice, pasta, bread, crackers, anything like that. I'm very aware of what I put in my mouth every moment!

I know the honeymoon period for me is coming quickly to a close and I want to get the most out of it I possibly can. I know there is no magic bullet here lol, but if I'm missing anything someone else did that I didn't think of than I don't want to kick myself for that later :)

The honey moon lasts as long as you want it to. Nothing magical changes with our bodies except that as we get smaller, we burn less, and it is some what harder to lose but keeping calories low is still important. 

Move managed to lose 60 lbs over 6-7 months and I'm 5 years out so it really depends on how hard you are willing to work for it. 

With RNY, sadly, there is a honeymoon period that ends at roughly two years out. Our re-routed guts get smart and grow back the villi that "help" us absorb calories. After our "good" malabsorption ends, we get more of the calories that we eat than we did earlier out. We get the bonus of malabsorbing nutrients forever...haha. ( but I still love my RNY, I promise! ) 

I don't know many things for sure but I feel pretty confident that with RNY there is the honeymoon period from everything I've read voraciously over the last 2 years (leading up to the surgery too). Glad that I'm not alone in my thinking lol.

I love my RNY too - just want to maximize while I can!!

Many people quote the villi grow theory - even doctors.  However, there are no published medical studies that show this for anyone - RYNers or bowel cancer survivors.  I've contacted university researchers in the field who say - no, villi do not regrow - we can't even find drugs to make them regrow.  If you find any peer reviewed research that shows that villi regrow, please send me the reference.  I will go review it for new learning. 

Your destiny is in your hands - we can fight those creeping calories.

With RNY there is definitely a honeymoon.  The intestines start absorbing food again and your body fights to regain.  I saw a big difference starting at 30 months out.

You have done fabulous and the only advice I would give is too keep up what you are doing.  After a lot of trial and error, I concluded that for me it is a matter of keeping the calories low.  Also I weigh daily.  Any time I slack off on the scale I start to gain weight.

I weigh weekly, daily makes me...kinda obsessive and crazy unfortunately. I get to the point where I'm not thinking about anything BUT food and it's not healthy at all. Weekly is my compromise. But that's good to know that it can keep me in check too.

I was hoping someone would be like - wait you haven't done THIS and I would be like YES lol. Not so much :)

How about a revision??? 

Just kidding!! 

You're killing it, M. Truly...you are doing fabulously! You're doing exactly what you need to do. My weight loss slowed way down after my first year out, but I hit my personal goal at 19 months out. It took me like 4 months to lose that last 3 lbs. Looking back, I was probably eating too many calories and those dreaded simple carbs. 

 The revision comment made me snort out loud.

The main thing I've found is to stay focused. At about 3 years I got complacent...figured I'd had surgery, I'd reached my goal so I wasn't as disciplined as I had been. I allowed more carbs in my diet, I was drinking with meals at times, I grazed. And sure enough, I gained. Luckily I "woke up" before it got too much out of hand, but losing regain is more difficult for sure.

Good luck to you in your journey.