For those on maintenance....

Hi everyone.

I am finally approaching my goal weight and in order to have plastic surgery, I've been told I need to maintain that weight for 6 months before the plastic surgeon will see me.

My question is, when you reach the maintenance phase, does the doctor take some of the fluid out of the band so you stop losing or do you just try to increase the amount of calories and keep the band where it is?  My portions are actually much bigger now than they were 8 months ago, but I am still losing weight, albeit very slowly these days.  I don't want to have to cut my exercise time down, so how do you get more calories in to maintain the weight?

Thanks in advance for your replies!

I just upped the calories. Semi skimmed  milk instead of fat free, butter on my potatoes, sauces on my meat etc.. A small piece of cake with (after!!) my coffee in a coffee shop! Two glasses of wine instead of one when I go out.

Kate

No fluid removal for me.

I attend Weigh****cher's meetings -- and when you get to goal with them, you basically increase your daily calorie allowance by about 100 calories per day.

You weigh in weekly, and if you are still losing, you add another 100 calories a day.  If you gain, you cut back the 'extra' calories by 1/2.

100 calories a day is not much --- a piece of cheese, or a switch between 'real mayo' and 'light mayo'

I found that if I keep my 'bonus' food to something high in protein/fat (cheese, nuts, peanut butter), that I do not have cravings for carbs/sweets.
When I add 100 calories a day of pretzles or baked chips, I start to crave more and more of them.

I just can't eat processed carbs without cravings -- sad, but true.