Almost 16 month Update-This and That

Wednesday will be 16 months for me.  Not doing too bad.  I finally feel like I have figured out maintaining.  Been in the same 3 or 4 pound range for nearly 3 months.  I'm pretty comfortable with the way I am eating.  I really don't want to add more food at this point but I do notice I am able to eat more.  My weight doesn't really bother me too much until I feel my ribs sticking out or my collar bones.  I haven't gotten any more comments so I think people are getting used to seeing me this thin.  I still expect to have that bounce back.  My BMI is about 17.7 on my scale, still underweight but not terribly.  I just know my history and the way I have gained in the past and I'm not in a hurry to do that intentionally.  I will see my surgeon on Dec. 1 and see what he has to say.  I have been getting close to 2000 calories a day.  I average between 1850 and 1950, maybe more since my portions tend to be generous.  I eat 8 times a day and for me that is my limit.  It seems like I am always eating or planning to eat or finishing eating.  Between eating all day and drinking all day I always have something in my mouth.
I think I have figured out what to do about my doctor situation.  I haven't been able to find another PCP to work with that will take my insurance and who works with a hospital that does bariatric surgery so I decided I am going to go back to my previous PCP and tell her the situation and ask her if she will do my labs for me but I will still be a patient at my current PCP's practice.  That way if there are any issues that come up related to my WLS I will be able to use the hospital where I had my surgery and where all my records are.  I also see another doctor in the practice for my meds and I don't want to change that.  I hope that she will agree to do that.  I want to be able to have my labs done every 6 months and they just refuse to do them for some reason.  I have been sick for the last 2 weeks and I'm worried that my resistance is low due to some deficiency problems.
Thanksgiving plans are at my son's house.  They asked me to bring the cranberry sauce and some rolls but I am also planning on bringing a few things.  I am going to make mashed cauliflower and a sugar free, gluten free cheesecake.  At least I hope I am, if they turn out OK.  I could eat the mashed potatoes but I actually prefer mashed cauliflower.
I hope everyone has a great Thanksgiving!

Your doctor situation make me so angry, Tazz.    What morons!  Anyway, I'm glad you do your research and stand up for yourself now.

Have fun at Thanksgiving. I'm having mashed cauliflower too. Love that stuff. lol

--g

Tazz, glad things have stablized for you.  I can't imagine eating 2x what I do but that is about what you are having to do.  I seem like most days I barely get all mine in.

Have a great turkey day with your family.

Tazz

Glad to hear that you're maintaining well.  I can relate to your feeling of trying to eat / drink all the time.  I need an absolute minimum of 70 oz of water to be hydrated, and my doc wants me to eat a lot more protein. 

Enjoy  Thanksgiving and your mashed cauliflower - I'll have to try that soon, as it sounds like something I can eat.

Glad to hear that you are doing better!

Hope you have a great Thanksgiving!

Love mashed cauliflower too!

Glad to hear you are getting into a routine and things are calming down a bit. I like that most of your menus are still based on Protein. 

If you do start absorbing and gaining some weight back do you think you will have a hard time cutting back?  If I had to eat more than I do I know I'd fall back into bad habits. 

Happy Thanksgiving!
I

That is what I am worried about.  It is hard to put the genie back in the bottle, you know?  The good thing is I have a lot of room to play with.  I would be perfectly fine weighing 135 to 150 lbs so I have a long way to go before I would worry about having to lose again.  My bigger concern is just losing control, eating whatever I want, whenever I want and not being able to stop.  That is what got me to morbidly obese, not eating 2000 calories a day.  I am just trying to keep some structure in my life when it comes to food.  If I ate the same way I am now and I started regaining, while I am sure I would hate seeing the scale go up, it would be fine because I have some structure in my eating.  
As hard as it is to add more food back into my plan I am sure it would be even harder to have to take food out of it, too.
This maintenance thing is harder then it looks, isn't it?

Tazz, I've had to deal with the "always eating" thing when I was first losing and training so much. It does get easier. You learn little tricks to add calories that you can stop if you start gaining.

For example, I put a banana in my morning shake when I need to eat 2000+ calories a day and take it out when I need to cut back.

I put whipped cream on my protein hot chocolate when I'm losing and leave it off when I'm gaining.

I might bring 3 cheesesticks to work for my afternoon snack instead of 2. I can eat 2-3 at a time so cutting back to 2 is no big deal.