It's been 13 years since my RNY surgery and I am a non drinker of alcoholic beverages because just a few sips of something like rum punch has me feeling drunk for about 15 to 30 mins. I still dump after 13 years. I have been blessed to still have my weight at 122 to 125 from 225.

My weight loss slowed down at about 7 months, but I was able to get it back on track without feeling deprived. I've been losing at a nice clip ever since then... and I'm still going strong at 15 months out from surgery. I'll tell you what I did.

I took a good hard look at my diet (tracking everything I ate). I examined the foods I ate most often to see if there were small tweaks I could make that would reduce calories but wouldn't make me feel deprived. A slight reduction in calories to something you eat frequently can matter a lot more than a big reduction to something you don't eat very often. For example, as a vegan I have a lot of non-dairy milk. I switched from a brand that had 26 kcal/ml to one with just 13 kcal/ml. No difference in taste to me, but if I had 500 ml I saved 65 kcal.

I also focused on finding foods that were more filling. I had been eating a protein bar each day, but I found I was hungry again shortly after eating them, so I reduced them to once a week. Veggies, on the other hand, seem to stay in my stomach for a long time. There's a mediterranean-style cauliflower "rice" that I buy. One packet is only 100 kcal but leaves me feeling full for hours (and it's yummy too). Someone recommended I add protein powder to oatmeal -- very filling and very yummy with some berries.

I also discovered that protein powder with a little cocoa added to ho****er makes a delicious hot chocolate, and also helps me get my 2liters of fluid in per day. Also, protein powder is great in coffee.

With these few tweaks to my diet, I reduced my average daily calories from 950 to 800, and started losing weight again. The best part was that I was actually more satisfied on my new meal plan.

Finally, I made sure I was getting plenty of fluid. Fluid is necessary for weight loss. If my weight loss stalls, drinking extra water usually ends the stall. And I've learned that usually when I feel hungry, drinking fluid makes the "hunger" go away. (What I thought was hunger was really excess stomach acid.)

I usually skip breakfast, and don't eat anything until I've taken in a litre of fluid. My first meal of the day tends to "wake up" my stomach, and I get hungrier in the evenings, so I prefer to save most of my calories for then.

Measure everything you eat. Otherwise it's too easy to take one extra bite, and those extra bites add up over time.

Awe thank you!

Sparkling flavored water and coffee helped me kick the soda cravings. Listen to your cravings - do you want caffeine or bubbles? Ween yourself off the bubbles by setting a max per day (for me it was 1 with lunch and 1 with dinner - AFTER I had an entire glass of water first). I found I did not want the soda after a few weeks of cutting back. Black coffee, unsweet tea and water are pretty much my only drinks anymore.

yep - it does get a lot harder the further you get out!! I did manage to lose another 40 lbs during year 2. I was up around 1000 calories/day by then, but I pretty much stuck to that and the weight did continue to come off, albeit VERY SLOWLY....