Moving from weight loss to maintenance....

Ok, question for those guys who are far out post op, and have successfully maintained weightloss beyond year 1. I'm at the point where I would ideally like weight loss to taper off and or stop. I know i'm not at the 'medically accepted' ideal body weight, (which would be WAY to small for me, imo), but i can honestly say if i never dropped another pound, i'd be completely happy where I am. (well, 1 more pound, but you get what i'm saying). The last thing I want is to get too small and look like a bobble head or something.

My concern is playing the maintainance game. I know if i don't want to continue to lose weight, then i need to begin to increase my calories. I mean at the end of the day, it's simple math right??? calories in need to equal calories out to maintain. I know i won't have a "perfect" formula, because it's hard to know your exact calories burned from just daily walking around or whatever, but there are estimates i can look to online.

So through searching a couple of sites and using a couple of calculators, if i want to maintain a weight of 180 pounds, with light to moderate excersize during the week (because i refuse to stop working out), then i need to increase my calories to around 2500 - 2800 a day.

Is it me, or does that seem absolutely INSANE to anyone else?????? That seems really high, and i'm scared to death to begin adding that many calories back to my diet. I'm afraid that i'll get lax and used to eating too much, and balloon back to 361 one day. I'm currently eating around 1200 calories a day, and have no issues being content there. But that leaves me with a deficit of around 1000+ calories a day if i work out on those days, therefore, weight loss of around 2+ pounds a week. (give or take right now). I plan and document every calorie i take in everyday and the excersize, etc. I plan on doing that from now on, just ot keep myself accountable for what i'm doing.

Sorry i'm rambling....but bottom line, should i just continue doing what i'm doing and let my weight settle where it's gonna settle, (and fear looking like skin and bones eventually), or do I take the brave road of increasing my calories in an attempt to learn how to maintain the weight I want to be at ?

Any suggestions or help?

Congrats on your success.  You've done phenomenal.  Now the really hard work begins.  Maintenance IMO is much harder than losing the weight.  There's no simple answer to that question of balancing intake vs burn rate.  I am much like you.  I work out very frequently, 4-6 times a week.  I purchased a body media bodybugg (aka GoWearFit) to help me keep track of my caloric burn.  Its a pretty cool little device.  Check them out on Amazon.com.  On a heavy workout day I have burned 3400 calories, on non workout days, around 2500 calories.  I am 2 years postop and have pretty much been stable between 182 and 190.  Total weight loss is around 280 lbs.  Water weight fluctuations are fairly common in the 5-10 lbs range for me, especially if I consume too much sodium.  My intake average is 2200-2400, although at this stage of the game, I have consumed 3000 calories by eating slider garbage like crackers, candy, and liquid calories.  Too much fat still tends to bother me but sugar, not so much.  I treat sugar like a trigger food and basically dont eat it often, but there are times when you just say what the hell.  I'm human and I do want to live a little.  Moderation and exercise are crucial in my plan.  When I was a year out, I was consuming 1200-1500 calories a day.  Your volume will increase a little more over the next year.  By the end of 2 years, you should be able to consume a fairly normal size meal without much difficulty.  ie 4-6 oz protein, 6-8 oz vegetables, 2-4 oz of some carb, total volume somewhere in the 2 cup range. Your pouch should be fairly mature and stable in size at 24 months.  If you have hit goal and don't want to lose anymore, like you said, its all math.  The easiest way to get your calories in at your stage is through liquid.  Protein shakes are the best because they give you the water and protein that your body needs.  Over time, the protein shakes can be replaced by slightly larger meals.  For me, I eat 3 normal meals in the 400 to 500 calories range, 2 protein shakes a day (morning and afternoon), and a nightime snack of around 200 calories, sometime an addtional afternoon snack.  In between all that, I drink drink drink.  Even though my intake is less than burn on most days, if I get enough protein in (I shoot for 200+ grams a day), I seem to be fairly weight stable.  If I drop my calories to 1700 or less and keep my burn rate up through exercise, I begin to drop weight quickly.  You just need to work on finding the formula that works for you.  Over time, you will figure it all out.  Just take it slow and dont push your pouch too fast.  Hope this all makes some sense.  Good luck to you.

Dalton

Thank u very  much for your detailed response.  And i'm going to look into that bodybugg device you mentioned.  And adding more protein drinks is a great idea.  That way i won't feel like i'm eating a bunch of food, and yet increasing my calories to help maintain.  Thanks....

Ditto to everything that Dalton said.  

I'm only a little over a year out so Dalton's got more experience at this than I do, but my approach has been very similar to his.  I hit my goal last September (6+ months out) and I had to adjust to a couple of new goals as I tried to figure out this maintenance thing.   However, I've settled in around 170 and I've been within 2-3 pounds on either side of that since November.  I figure the 100 calorie deficit really just takes in to consideration the inaccuracies in my portion estimating and the inaccuracies in the gowearfit measurements.

I use a GoWearFit and try to shoot for about a 100 calorie deficit each day.   I had to "find" that point by gradually adding some calories to what I was eating -- converting a snack to a meal, trying some higher calorie protein bars, adding a protein shake, etc.    Anything less than the 100 calorie deficit and I gradually put on weight, anything more and I continue to lose.

If I do NOTHING on a given day, my gowearfit shows I burn about 1800 calories.   For example, I was sick all day last Thursday (stayed in bed, only got up to go to the bathroom, only 258 steps all day) and I burned 1853 calories.  On normal workout days, I'll burn 2300 - 2500.  On heavy workout days or extremely active days (e.g. helping a friend move or putting up Christmas lights), I've burned 3200 - 3400. 

Good luck to you.

Keep doing what you are doing and let your body settle.  I was at the point where I thought I was at the perfect weight 3 times.  My waist was 36, then 34, 31 and now 32.  When I got too light I could feel it and I added a small meal every day to gain 10# back and that is where I feel right.  But I know that weight is right for me because I went past it, you should too.

My key to success in maintenance is that I found a ballance between protien and fiber.  I don't count anything.  I basically eat the same amount of protien, veggies and carbs every day and if I use more calories I add a snack or a meal depending on how hard I worked.  The hardest part of maintenance is getting in the right amount of fiber to keep things moving along. 

Hopefully by now most of your bad habits are gone and when you catch one sneaking back in you recognise it right awayand take action.

Read your post...didn't read with other guys said...12 hour work day yesterday...go back at it tonight.  What I have seen and heard and experenced myself is that you can up your calories somewhat with no problem.  Here is where most men and women mess up...CARBS!!  Good carbs (complex carbs-whole grain crackers, fruit) are to way to go.  If you go for simple carbs you'll be kicking yourself over and over again...  I wish I had never gone back to things like sugar and chips.  Or going with things like Pepsi (it's just a few oz...what can it hurt??), breads, cakes, candy.  You listen to the men on this site and over and over again the ones who never went back to simple carbs are the ones who keep it off long term.  Also carbs are very very addicting.  We can try and grab the candybar for the quick sugar ru**** still works, but not like before...But it becomes a bad cycle, hard to get off of.  Enough preaching!!  Stay away from simple carbs and you'll maintain well with moderate exercise.  Brian

I think it was a wise lyrical orator named Suga Free that put it best: "if you stay ready, you ain't got to get ready...".

The point is, you know what you're supposed to be doing and what has worked for you up until this point. Just keep doing that and you'll be fine. If you start to slip up from time to time, step back and compare what you're doing at that time from what you know you're supposed to be doing and see what the difference is.

As the other "Brian" mentioned, a lot of what stumps us is the simple carbs, myself included. Watch out for the sugar and snacks, they will get you. And the more you eat it the more you'll want it.

Good luck to you...