Colonies in Maintenance

I am only 6 months post op and eating around 900 calories a day. My weight loss has slowed dramatically and wondering if I'm eating too much. I feel hungry a lot and seem to eat more than I used to in a sitting. I do weigh and measure and use myfitnesspal, but I want to lose as much as I can during this phase so I don't deal with bounce back that makes me too heavy. May I ask how many calories you typically eat in a day? Lately I've been addicted to Quest bars and est 2 a day, and sometimes eat 1 as a meal for a total of 3 a day, but this is rare. I get in all my protein grams, vitamins and exercise, but the scale seems stuck. And advice is appreciated.

It might be worth experimenting with eliminating the Quest bars for a few weeks and see if that shakes things up. I think 900 calories is fine but I've only ever counted carbs and kept them very low in my losing phase. If you stop the Quest bar perhaps add a couple of hard boil eggs in their place. Also keep the plain water going in and add a protein shake. Something about that combo seems to help folks bust a stall.

--gina

It was around 6 months that my weight loss changed and slowed a lot.  I found that I could eat the same number of calories / protein but with less carbs and keep the scale moving. I would stay around 30 net carbs a day. Not as fast as the beginning, but moving.  I try to get 20 oz of fluid (water, decaf tea or coffee, protein) between each meal and I still have 4 meals a day.  That helps with the hunger. 

I do think protein bars are addictive and I would stay away from them for a while longer.  Then limit them to every so often, not many times a day.

Join us posting on Miles and Menus and get some help from the others.

 

Ummmm....here to tell ya', Quest bars are probably the culprit for slowing you down.  That's a LOT of protein bars to eat in one day, frankly.  I found that when I did Quest bars that they would effectively stop by weight loss in its tracks.  Using 1/2 of one for an emergency, or a full one in a real pinch, is fine.  Regularly eating one a day - as you are finding - is going to be an issue.  And you have admitted to two a day and sometimes more! 

900 calories a day shouldn't be slowing you down that much -- it's the carbs in the protein bars that's doing it to you.  Some people can get away with it, but you (and me!) obviously can't.  

 

900 calories sounds about right for 6 months.   I still eat small meals 5 to six times a day, with protein included each time.  That seems to help a lot. I have never had a quest bar, and stay away from protein bars in general.  they scare me!  Try eating things like hardboiled eggs, greek yogurt, cheese, cottage cheese, lean meats for your snacks instead of the quest bars

Anne

I keep my carbs under 20 grams right now. I keep my calories under 800-usually get 500-600. I eat only protein and still drink protein shakes. I am seven months out and determined to get rid of these last 30 pounds. My menu is boring to others but it satisfies me😳

Hey Tex - wow you are low on calories. I think I would get too hungry. You are doing awesome!! My menu is boring, too. I eat the same thing as leftovers for about a week, then move on to something different. Thing is, I like eating the same thing - I don't like variety all that much. When I have to travel on business and eat in restaurants, it completely derails me emotionally.

These are all great ideas - I'm not much of a cook so easier is better. I forget about HB eggs, which I love. I do see where each Quest bar has 24g of carbs - YIKES. But I am sooo addicted to them. They are my only sweet treat. Appreciate everyone's thoughts on total calories - my NUT tells me to try to up my calories, but I feel very comfy right around 900 a day. I'll try to work on reducing my carbs and see if this helps - I am so close to reaching my 2nd goal, but reading about maximizing this time, I may try to get to the lower end of normal BMI while I have the chance. Hubby already thinks I look too gaunt and he is starting to watch what I eat and wants me to gain weight. I hear that this is normal, tho - that we look a little gaunt during this stage. Thanks all!

The fiber in quest bars does trigger insulin production in some people just like they were made with sugar. I would be very careful of eating them every day. 

As for 900 calories, that's pretty typical for 6 months out so I would look at other things - exercise, fluid consumption, carbs, protein and see if there is anything you can improve there.

I love the Quest bars, too, but they cost too much to eat often.  I do occasionally have a Think Thin bar or an Atkins are, which are pretty low in carbs, but not really on a regular basis, just in a pinch when I am low on protein and don't have time to eat.  Anyway, you are so close to goal, it seems, and weight loss really slows down the closer you get to goal.  When I was getting close to goal I was practicing how I would eat to stay there, basically trying to find out the level of calories in vs calories burned to find that magic number.  Of course, I found that that isn't a stable number and seems to change over time.  Three years since I hit a normal BMI and I am still trying to figure out this maintenance thing.

Maybe cut back to one bar a day or every other day.  I have had some foods that I thought I was getting too attached to and I have cut back for a while and found that I eventually forgot about them, mostly because I found a new food to become attached to.  My eating changes and evolves over time.  My only real constant is avoiding sugar and gluten, other then that I go through periods where I eat the same things every day and will change out things gradually until a month later I am eating totally different things.  It's all a learning process, although my breakfast has been pretty much the same for a long time.  Not much into eating in the morning so I have been getting by with protein coffee and Greek yogurt for a while.  But lunches and dinners, and snacks, have all changed over time.  I have learned not to buy too much of something because that is a sure fire way for me to get sick of it and move on to something else...and be stuck with a boatload of stuff I'm no longer into.