Just joined !

I just joined your group as I reached my goal weight this morning ! Of course, after coming down from my scale-victory high, I have tons of questions, concerns and fears.. I had WLS out of the country so I got most of my information on nutrition from OH site and books. I reached my goal by eating 1000 cal a day on average and shooting for 50 grams protein.. But now I'm completely lost in what I should do to maintain my weight ! And help from you experienced folks would be greatly appreciated !

Congrats on reaching your goal weight and welcome to vsg maintenance. And BTW, people need not have reached goal to join this group. It certainly pays to begin thinking and learning about maintenance ahead of time.

YOu will find great information in this group. The truth is that there is much less in the way of  formulaic guides for maintenance that there is for the weight loss phase. Everyone ultimately finds what works for him or her. Scary, isn't it? But you will find people here who are maintaining and who will tell what they do. So we are all sharing this phase of our journey even though our methods may vary. So take the time to read the threads ; particularly one from Elina on regain, and you will begin to wrap your mind around this complex subject. If you dieted and failed before wls, you know that the maintenance and regain problems were harder than losing the weight. With our sleeves, i am not sure that that's the case here, but it definately is a challenge because its a lifelong goal and not a fixed project with a beginning, middle, and end.

So welcome to our world. Hope you post your thoughts and questions and insights along the way.

My surgeon says start maintenance by raising calories 100 per day and seeing how that goes for a few weeks. don't dive into the white flour white sugar carbs. those increased calories should be healthy stuff. and keep the protein up for life. my surgeon says 70 a day for life and i am trying to do that. gl and check in often.   diane

welcome to the board, im sure any question you ask someone will try and answer good luck as you move into maintenence this is where the fun really begins.

Welcome to the group and congratulations on achieving your goal.  May I suggest that without a moment break you make a new goal of maintaining your weight loss for a full year.  I suggest that you stay just as engaged and motivated to achieve this new goal as you did to lose the weight in the first place.  in my opinion this first maintenance year is critical in cementing your new habits and getting to know what your body and mind need to maintain for life.  For me it is helpful to have a plan of action.  You need to decide how many calories you are going to eat a day, how much protein, how many carbs.  Every body is so different you need to figure out what works best for you and stick with it as long as it works.  If you have been journaling your food, this is a good time to continue that practice.  If not, this might be a great time to begin doing it as you will be making changes to your eating plan and it helps to have the data the journal provides to make the best choices.  Brandilynn has a number of books she recommends, I think they would make a good read for you right now.  Just look up her posts and the books are there.  I would recommend only making small changes to begin with, like adding 100 cals a day for a month and tracking your weight to see what happens.  If  you are still losing, add in another 100 cals. and so on.  Stay connected to this group, there are many wonderful, knowledgeable and caring people on this board.  You can learn a great deal and make some friends too.  We are also eager to learn from your experiences. 

From a purely nutritional standpoint, may I suggest you keep carbs low but start added in more protein then fat until you stop losing? I wouldn't add more carbs unless they are veggie carbs.

Oh no! I guess I had better "un-join!"   Cause I.......  ain't at Goal' yet!  Welcome......this is a great place for info, and support.

Thanks for all your info and support.. @Jim: just meant I joined the maintenance phase of my journey.. I know it's not a requirement for this group . Thanks for the welcomes ! I look forward to learning and growing in this second phase of my journey !

This is what I've found about maintenance... it's just like losing only I can eat a little bit more. That sounds simple but it took me a while to figure that out.

Once I got to goal, I was still losing at the calories I was eating so I did start upping them. I upped them about 100-200 at a time and then I waited at least two weeks to see if that new level would stop the weight loss.