Maintence Help

 Admittedly I am a lightweight... When I started my journey a year ago I was at 238.... At surgery I was 219... Today 8 1/2 moms later 124... My goal weight was 130.... At my 6mon f/u I heard the swords we all dream about hearing while a little scared with what they really mean... You've done it... Your a healthy weight with a healthy BMI.... You are no longer obese.... Now time to enjoy your new life and maintain.... I received many suggestions that day... Eat more often, drink while I eat... Eat pretty much what I want as long as I tolerate it...well I tried and then I became frustrated.. People arOund me made me feel guilty because not everything I was eating was " healthy" by their standards...I am still very conscious of what I eat, how I eat and portion control... And yet in the past 2 mons I've managed to lose another 10lbs.. No I'm not complaining.. As ironic as that is I'm just concerned because I am so little now... Any suggestions on maintenance?

Many of us are finding that what we did to lose weight is what we need to do to maintain weight. You might still be in your honeymoon period so your body is still going to lose until it's good and ready to stop. Don't panic and don't try to fix it. The bounce back will come and then you'll wish you'd stuck to your plan and not tried to stop losing when you did.

--gina

i went a lot under my first goal and 10 lbs under "normal BMI" before I stopped losing.  Then I just stopped.  I have come back up some but am still below the 124 for the top of normal range BMI.  I continued to lose until 18 months then started rebounding a little.

There are a bunch of us learning maintainance on this board.  Most of us are eating high protein, like over 100 and pretty low carbs, at least trying to keep the white carbs out of the picture.  Join right in.  We post on Miles and Menus daily, weekly weigh in on Sundays, Maintainance weekly post and anywhere else.  Hope to see you around.

 Thank you for your reply.. I will definetly join in on the weekly check in's... It's nice to know there is others on the same journey I am...

 I am right there with you.  Almost the same stats. I'm at 6.5 months out.   I have 4 lbs to go to normal BMI and still dropping weight pretty rapidly.  2 pounds last week.  1 pant size in the last month.  I'm already eating fairly normally.   I know it's ok to go a little below so I will bounce back to just right, but I am a little anxious.  I bought small tops and size 6 pants this weekend.  I don't want to get any smaller.  Glad to know I'm not alone.  Thanks for posting.  BTW had to reschedule my 6 month check up so it is now a 7 month one and scheduled in 2 weeks.

 Thanks for all the responses.. 
 @ Tonya... I could have written your post.... We're about a month apart and apparently taking the same journey.... I'm enjoying the weight loss and am waiting for the pause and rebound to happen... I can pretty well tolerate anything except milk and sweets.... So I am very aware of what I eat at all times.... I can only take in 6 to 8 ozs at a time if I go over I definetly know the difference.... I'm in 6s and wearing small to med. as well....

I separated from my DH 2 months ago and during this period I indulged in chocolate.  Unfortunately it hasn't made me dump.  However, last night I had a root beer float with 2 small scoops of real, full fat, full sugar ice cream and a diet root beer.  Before I could fini**** I experienced dumping!  I was soooo sick.  My surgeon was correct, it didn't kill me I just wished I was dead for about an hour till I finally fell asleep.  Woke up fine this morning.  Holy crap that sucked!!

Congratulations on your success.  I would not worry if you go a little lower than your goal weight.  I would only worry if you go below a Normal BMI.  You will bounce some and your weight will also redistribute some.  I think at our low we all look a little bad in the face, but it feels back out.

I would try not to pick up any bad habits such as drinking with your meals or eating bad carbs to try and gain weight.

Are you exercising?  You might want to add on weights if you are not doing this to help build muscle mass.

Good luck and I look forward to watching your maintenance phase of your journey.  I try to post a maintenance post each week, hope you will join us on that.

Linda

Additionally, YOUR goal weight might not be what your BODY wants to be.  

I'm almost 5'7" and got down to 115 at my lowest which was too low for me.  I felt I looked  my best at 120 but most other people felt I was too thin, but they don't have to live in my body and as long as I'm happy with my weight that is all that matters.  

Since then I started working out a lot more and have probably gained a good 5lbs of muscle BUT I have also gained 10 lbs of FAT    that just will NOT go away.  Thankfully all my new clothes with the exception of 1 pair of shorts still fit.  But things definitely do not fit the same as when I was 125.  

Yasmeen,
Do you think you gained the 10 pounds of fat from working out or from eating more because you are working out more?  I am going to start back to the gym, but I certainly don't want to gain 15 pounds!!  I know if I increase my muscle mass I will probably gain some pounds along with that and I'm ok with 3-5 but not more than that.
Just curious!!
Linda