Transitioning to Maintenance

I'm close to that point myself. The one thing I've been doing is to expand my menu's to have more
variety and more vegetables. I've been trying to be mostly protein up to this point.

Pete

Wow glad to hear from ppl also less than a year out who are hitting goal and concerned.  I bypassed MY goal last week and the weight keeps pouring off..   i was at Nornal bmi after my rny for 1 yr and honestly do not want to be that skinny again.  My dr said whatever my body winds up at is what i wins up at.. but i dint buy that..  a friend of mine had surgery 2 weeks before me and has only lost half what i have and i believe she was heavier than i. Does That mean she is stuck weighing more. .  My bmi is 32. My goal is 29 (10lbs).  When my bmi was 25 i was 18 percent body fat which is almost too skinny. . So it's hard to judge where i should be. I am starting to be concerned only cause i am only 9 months out and i am sure no dr is going to care i don't want to look like i did back than..

Hi Cheryl,

  I didn't mean to mislead. I'm at that point weight wise but I am at about 2 years out. While I had some apprehensions about shooting past my goal I don't really see that as happening for me. Still I'm looking for the right maintenace plan that lets me maintain - I certainly don't want this to be an excuse to go backwards.

Pete

I lost 158 lbs in thirteen months! Trying to stay where I am! Dr. Roslin suggested to buy soy crackers and eat a couple of   them in order to stop losing! I try to eat the soy crackers   but I rather have peanuts/ fish/chili/red meat then soy crackers!! My BMI is 18.8. One day  at a time !  

Congrats on getting to goal in 8 months!!!!

What's it like the first year?? I am assuming you eat protein, protein, protein and good fats to keep from constipation??? But what are your bowels actually like? Is there a lot of gas and/or diarrhea even on a strict diet.

For oldies, once you start adding more veggies is it just trial and error...meaning you have to have a blow-out to know you can't eat *that*. LOL. 

Just curious what it's like the first year and several of you that responded to OP are newer.

Thanks!

Hi there, I will respond the best I can, for how things have worked for me.

Q: Whats it like the first year? - A: challenging. In ways I never imagined. Not necessarily all bad, not all good. Early out I got an infection and it caused me to have to basically throw my eating progression out the window (really hard to care when no matter what you end in the bathroom all day). After that was cleared up I got back on plan. After about 6 months I started being able to eat a little more, but some foods still fill me up very quickly, and some still cause stomach upset/gas. Carbs really give me gas and cause general problems but they haven't seemed to hinder my weight loss. I do try to avoid them but I am a carb addict which make it hard. I can typically eat most food I want now, or well, most non carby food. I started eating a lot more bacon - usually at least 2 pieces a day. I eat a lot of almonds and various mixed nuts. I tend to crave a lot of salt (or chocolate) so I eat pickles almost nightly. Some dairy gives me gas/upset but usually only things with added sugar (aka carby).

Q: I am assuming you eat protein, protein, protein and good fats to keep from constipation? A: This seems to be very individualistic. Calcium constipation is real. Maybe Brandy will chime in on what she was able to find to help her. I am still trying things out to see what works for me. I know Pete has also posted what works for him before. I tried adding fiber supplements, but benefiber causes me to have terrible gas, psyllium husk (which I would not recommend for real new ops due to expansion) seems to help and I take some nightly with about 48 oz of water. Oh I drink a TON of water - but it doesn't help with constipation. I just like it, and I like adding MIO - sometimes it helps me avoid sweets. I drink at least 120 oz a day.

I eat at least 90 grams of protein a day. I religiously track via myfitnesspal. Not for calories (I can care less if I get 700 or 1500 right now) but for protein. I also like to keep an eye on my carbs. When I am doing good and sticking to plan I only get about 40 total carbs a day or less. When I am extra hormonal that shoots up to about 60-80 total a day. After the spike it takes me a few days and then I get on track again. The graph I use in myfitnesspal says I get about 50g average a day over the last 90 days.

As far as fat, I really dont care how many grams I get a day. Looking through myfitnesspal reports for the last 30 days I eat between 50-110 grams a day (My report says 100 is my average)

Q: But what are your bowels actually like? Is there a lot of gas and/or diarrhea even on a strict diet. A: I tend to have at least one to two BM's a day. Used to be first thing in the morning, now its mid morning. When my constipation is under control the BM is one very large one. Honestly, i'm not even sure how it is possible most days. I have not had diarrhea since having C-Diff. Some days I wouldn't mind (because i'm constipated) but not even super strong coffee does it anymore. As far as gas, most days it isn't bad - if I stick to low carb (my husband and I call them carb farts because they are BAD smelling). On a normal day i'm not usually bad at all.

Whew - that was a lot. Hope it helps. Let me know if you have anymore and i'll see what I can do :)