Music to my ears

Ok, don't throw rocks at me but today no less than FOUR people told me i had lost enough weight and shouldn't lose any more. Some were SKINNY people. Gotta admit I never thought in my entire life I would hear such words. I am now about 9 lbs below where dr C told me i should stop and lord knows i don't want him mad at me. so i guess i gotta start taking this gradual calorie increase thing more seriously.Bmi 21.4.  This is harder than i thought, having previously demonstrated a lifelong tremendous gift for consuming excess calories and gaining weight. I have had no plastics so nothing to do with that.

I find that if i don't get those extra calories and protein in during the early part of the day i can't stuff them all in later on like once was my habit. The new post op eating habits are so deeply ingrained that i am not quite sure about what things to eat to get an extra 100 to 200 calories short of just eating fudge and doughnuts and i sure am not going to do that. I eat almonds a lot and plan to eat more full fat cheese which i adore. how have you other long termers handled this? I find that if i get the extra calories i am often short on protein.  D

Hi Diane. I'm sure this stage is a challenge. My curiosity about what you stated brings up a question. You say that 4 people & your Dr have said you should stop, but you don't say if you feel you should stop. Do you accept these opinions and do you see a bmi of 21.4 when you look in the mirror?

I am curious about this as a few people have told me to stop losing and I'm 2 bmi points from being "normal". I don't agree as I have lots of fat and can stand to lose some more weight, plus my bmi is not where I want it to be, in the upper normal range.

I wish you luck upping your calories in a healthy way. Hugs!

Hmmmmm, good question. I do feel quite good at this weight and am fine with what i see in the mirror except for the saggy skin which is not so cool but i can live with it. I definately don't want to lose any more and wouldn't care if i had a pound or two back but just want to find some balance. seems i have never been at a stable steady weight in my life - always going up and down and up and up. some people seem to weigh the same for years. never for me. just have worked for this and want to keep it right. ok, back to my protein coco. D

Yeah, lots of people tell us we are getting "too skinny" because we're smaller than they imagined we could get. Very rarely are they correct. I found that when people started saying that to me that I was getting close to being just right.

I doubt at a BMI of 21.4 that you are at unhealthy weight and I bet Dr. C will be thrilled that you've got a little extra room for bounce back.

As for how I stopped losing, I started doing a lot of nuts and I also started eating more often. I just couldn't get the calories in doing 3 meals and 1 snack a day. I also started doing more carbs... not necessarily junky stuff, but having things like lasagna or baked ziti once in a while instead of always having lean protein and veggies.

oh yum, a bit of pasta once in a while. gotta say i have done a little pizza here and there in small doses and its wonderful. thanks for the thoughts. D

I never had that problem. Once I hit 130 which was my goal, I had no trouble adding in a couple extra snacks. One mid afternoon and my evening snack. I started bouncing between 129 - 132 and never kept losing past where I wanted to be. I stayed that way until this past fall when gaining became more of a problem.

I'd rather go back to the way it was, just eating normally and not gaining or losing.

i have never been a stable weight i constantly go up and down, i dont know if ill ever stay at one weight??? or if its normal to bounce around.. i just have set an upper weight limit but for me i think salt affects me pretty bad so i know if i eat ham or something like that to expect a bounce up.

to add calories you can eat things like pea nut butter, advacado, nuts as you do, or you could add things like coconut oil to food.

It's absolutely normal to fluctuate within a range. My range tends to be about 4 pounds and I don't worry if I'm within that range.

I was at a stable weight for years at the high end and I had a 4 pound fluctuation back then too.

I had trouble increasing my calories which were around 600-700 on average. I got good suggestions from other sleevers and since then I've been able to increase my cals to as much as I want. Some days when my sleeve feels tight, I still only get around 800 calories. But yesterday, for instance, I got 1,400 calories. (pizza and sicky bun, yummy). But typically on days where I'm eating clean, I'm up to 1,000 calories a day, roughly. I've been increasing gradually so I don't have a jump in weight.

Easiest way to increase cals: fats. Celery or apples dipped in peanut butter = yum. Or sometimes I will eat peanut butter on a half slice of whole wheat toast. I cut back on my super lean meats like turkey breast. If I eat chicken, it's always with an added fat (sauce, dip, etc). I also started adding in some carbs. For instance, i used to just eat tuna salad straight. Now I eat it on 1/2 slice of whole wheat bread. Bread is not very filling for me, so this is easy to do. Sometimes I'll add cheese to it (tuna melt or cold). I eat more nuts than I used to. Usually once a day as a snack.

Not sure if you do shakes but....
If you are short on protein because you add carbs, you can add a shake or a protein bar. I drink two shakes a day...one with 24g of protein plus ground oats, and one with 54 grams of protein. You can add peanut butter to a shake. Or make your shake with milk rather than water. I eat 1/2-3/4 of a protein bar almost every day.

Keep in mind my protein goal is high - I shoot for around 130 grams. There is no way I could get that from food alone.

Diane, I was exactly where you are now.  At first, it is hard to increase your calories, but in no time at all you have the opposite problem.  My guess is you are not losing very much any more, and your body will find a good place to stop.  Don't add in too many carbs, it really starts things moving in the wrong direction.  If I had to do it over again, I would not have actively tried to increase my calories, but just let it happen naturally over a longer period of time.  You will not get unhealthy or too thin, you will find the right balance by just continuing to eat as you have but being a little bit less strict.