Losebig

I've been in maintenance for just under a year and had hit goal really quickly (6-8 months), so still had a large restriction when I started. I switched my diet to nutrient dense foods and try to eat stuff that I really like.
Even now I'm still very restricted (5 oz of solid stuff max per meal and if it's like meat it takes a long time to digest (~hour). I'm really active so I have to get in enough calories or I lose weight and if I move off my current weight I just don't feel good. My BMI is still on the high side, but I'm not a good BMI body type (lot of muscle) so the DR's are very happy with me at this weight.
food wise I'm consuming about 2300 calories per day with a range of maybe 1500 - 3k depending on what I'm doing. I tracked in great detail for the first year. Now I still track but only spot check days here and there. My big tracking is a weekly weigh in and as long as my weight is within a 5 lb range I'm happy. If I'm low I make an effort to eat a little more, if I'm high I make an effort to eat a little less or more lean stuff. Foods for me consist primarily of Protein with limited carbs and very minimal fruit and vegetables (I would love to eat these, but I don't have time / room and if I eat them then I don't get enough calories).
I generally eat when I feel hungry and this works out to 3 meals and 3 Snacks per day. Here's an example of what I might eat on a normal day:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 slice american cheese, 1 bagel thin with butter ~10am snack: Apple fritter (450 calories - yeah not the greatest...) lunch: 4 oz chicken salad with light mayo, 1 bagel thin with butter, sometimes 1 oz of crackers or pretzels ~3pm snack: 10 crackers and 3 oz of cheese slices Dinner: steak 4 oz (or 1 sausage or repeat lunch or breakfast) ~8pm snack: Plain popcorn with salt or bagel thin, or crackers and 3 oz of cheese or italian ice or if I worked out a lot or am starving repeat a meal I shoot for 64 - 100 oz of Water I don't eat every snack / meal every day and on days when I'm running a few miles, biking or other calorie intense exercise I'll eat more. If I get busy I forget to eat or run out of time so am low on calories. If I feel like I'm eating too much I'll have something that fills me up quickly like 1/4 cup of rice or steak or something else that makes me full and won't let me eat additional foods. I generally don't eat potatos, Pasta or rice as I'm immediately full with these and can easily end up in pain.
Great thread and hope this helps someone. I'm really happy with my new lifestyle and don't feel like I'm missing out on anything food wise and generally just eat when I'm hungry.

If I'm creeping up to the top of my maintenance range I try to eat stuff that will very quickly fill me up and keep me full so I can't eat more without feeling sick. Steak is good for this, 4 oz and it's like a rock in my stomach for an hour+, you could also eat a little something that's pretty solid and have a few ounces of Water, that does the same thing - but use extreme caution with this.
You still have the restriction, so you can use it to your advantage by eating stuff that will keep you full so you can't snack. Resetting is a good idea, I don't know that I'd go back to liquids because that will be very hard, but maybe back to just simple Protein and no carbs for a while. The protein will fill you up and after a week of that a lot of the cravings and hungriness should subside a little.
Good to see you on here again and good luck!

Good point on the carbs. I used to do almost none, but when I would go for a run or other exercise I would get light headed and kind of shaky. The nutritionist had me start eating more carbs and that made a huge difference with energy level and endurance training exercise. I do try to have the carbs in the AM with the pastry being my largest carb intake of the day, usually i work out right after having that because it's an instant energy boost. If not working out I skip it

I think part of it depends on body type, activity level and muscle mass. If you're very active or a larger body type / muscle mass getting calories can be hard with the restriction. I also think some people have more mal absorption than others with the sleeve, I can definitely tell I don't absorb stuff the way I used to. If I eat fatty stuff it goes right through me and isn't being absorbed, so much so that I need to be really careful or bad things happen (fried food is OFF the menu). Others don't have this issue. Not sure if its related to sleeve size, how the procedure was done or just the luck of the draw. I've had dumping with the sleeve a couple times (it was absolutely horrible), which is pretty unusual too

I've been in maintenance for just under a year and had hit goal really quickly (6-8 months), so still had a large restriction when I started. I switched my diet to nutrient dense foods and try to eat stuff that I really like.
Even now I'm still very restricted (5 oz of solid stuff max per meal and if it's like meat it takes a long time to digest (~hour). I'm really active so I have to get in enough calories or I lose weight and if I move off my current weight I just don't feel good. My BMI is still on the high side, but I'm not a good BMI body type (lot of muscle) so the DR's are very happy with me at this weight.
food wise I'm consuming about 2300 calories per day with a range of maybe 1500 - 3k depending on what I'm doing. I tracked in great detail for the first year. Now I still track but only spot check days here and there. My big tracking is a weekly weigh in and as long as my weight is within a 5 lb range I'm happy. If I'm low I make an effort to eat a little more, if I'm high I make an effort to eat a little less or more lean stuff. Foods for me consist primarily of Protein with limited carbs and very minimal fruit and vegetables (I would love to eat these, but I don't have time / room and if I eat them then I don't get enough calories).
I generally eat when I feel hungry and this works out to 3 meals and 3 Snacks per day. Here's an example of what I might eat on a normal day:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 slice american cheese, 1 bagel thin with butter ~10am snack: Apple fritter (450 calories - yeah not the greatest...) lunch: 4 oz chicken salad with light mayo, 1 bagel thin with butter, sometimes 1 oz of crackers or pretzels ~3pm snack: 10 crackers and 3 oz of cheese slices Dinner: steak 4 oz (or 1 sausage or repeat lunch or breakfast) ~8pm snack: Plain popcorn with salt or bagel thin, or crackers and 3 oz of cheese or italian ice or if I worked out a lot or am starving repeat a meal I shoot for 64 - 100 oz of Water I don't eat every snack / meal every day and on days when I'm running a few miles, biking or other calorie intense exercise I'll eat more. If I get busy I forget to eat or run out of time so am low on calories. If I feel like I'm eating too much I'll have something that fills me up quickly like 1/4 cup of rice or steak or something else that makes me full and won't let me eat additional foods. I generally don't eat potatos, Pasta or rice as I'm immediately full with these and can easily end up in pain.
Great thread and hope this helps someone. I'm really happy with my new lifestyle and don't feel like I'm missing out on anything food wise and generally just eat when I'm hungry.

Have this issue too and am about 18 months out. The key is energy dense foods. I eat a lot of nuts, fattier meat (I.e beef and pork more than chicken) and more Snacks (6 meals / snacks a day). I'm very active though and if I get busy I start to drop weight again so have to pay attention. You can and will stop, just track food and calories and find your sweet spot.

if you are really struggling do a bigger treat that is calorie rich (I may do ice cream or a 400 cal pastry if I'm running for example to boost calories)

Top advice is to follow your plan and make sure you are doing everything you are suppossed to. Make exercise an important part of your day / week and keep it up. For me it replaced eating for stress relief to some degree, which is great.
The biggest thing I would change is to take stool softeners and maybe see if you can do Miralax immediately following the surgery... the first poop a week after was memorable and also completely horrible.... I probably have PTSD from it.
For me this proceedure was life saving and has completely changed how I view, use and interact with food. I followed the plan EXACTLY to the letter and made losing the weight my #1 priority over everything else until it was gone

I think part of it depends on body type, activity level and muscle mass. If you're very active or a larger body type / muscle mass getting calories can be hard with the restriction. I also think some people have more mal absorption than others with the sleeve, I can definitely tell I don't absorb stuff the way I used to. If I eat fatty stuff it goes right through me and isn't being absorbed, so much so that I need to be really careful or bad things happen (fried food is OFF the menu). Others don't have this issue. Not sure if its related to sleeve size, how the procedure was done or just the luck of the draw. I've had dumping with the sleeve a couple times (it was absolutely horrible), which is pretty unusual too

Good point on the carbs. I used to do almost none, but when I would go for a run or other exercise I would get light headed and kind of shaky. The nutritionist had me start eating more carbs and that made a huge difference with energy level and endurance training exercise. I do try to have the carbs in the AM with the pastry being my largest carb intake of the day, usually i work out right after having that because it's an instant energy boost. If not working out I skip it

I've been in maintenance for just under a year and had hit goal really quickly (6-8 months), so still had a large restriction when I started. I switched my diet to nutrient dense foods and try to eat stuff that I really like.
Even now I'm still very restricted (5 oz of solid stuff max per meal and if it's like meat it takes a long time to digest (~hour). I'm really active so I have to get in enough calories or I lose weight and if I move off my current weight I just don't feel good. My BMI is still on the high side, but I'm not a good BMI body type (lot of muscle) so the DR's are very happy with me at this weight.
food wise I'm consuming about 2300 calories per day with a range of maybe 1500 - 3k depending on what I'm doing. I tracked in great detail for the first year. Now I still track but only spot check days here and there. My big tracking is a weekly weigh in and as long as my weight is within a 5 lb range I'm happy. If I'm low I make an effort to eat a little more, if I'm high I make an effort to eat a little less or more lean stuff. Foods for me consist primarily of Protein with limited carbs and very minimal fruit and vegetables (I would love to eat these, but I don't have time / room and if I eat them then I don't get enough calories).
I generally eat when I feel hungry and this works out to 3 meals and 3 Snacks per day. Here's an example of what I might eat on a normal day:
Breakfast: 2 eggs, 1 slice american cheese, 1 bagel thin with butter ~10am snack: Apple fritter (450 calories - yeah not the greatest...) lunch: 4 oz chicken salad with light mayo, 1 bagel thin with butter, sometimes 1 oz of crackers or pretzels ~3pm snack: 10 crackers and 3 oz of cheese slices Dinner: steak 4 oz (or 1 sausage or repeat lunch or breakfast) ~8pm snack: Plain popcorn with salt or bagel thin, or crackers and 3 oz of cheese or italian ice or if I worked out a lot or am starving repeat a meal I shoot for 64 - 100 oz of Water I don't eat every snack / meal every day and on days when I'm running a few miles, biking or other calorie intense exercise I'll eat more. If I get busy I forget to eat or run out of time so am low on calories. If I feel like I'm eating too much I'll have something that fills me up quickly like 1/4 cup of rice or steak or something else that makes me full and won't let me eat additional foods. I generally don't eat potatos, Pasta or rice as I'm immediately full with these and can easily end up in pain.
Great thread and hope this helps someone. I'm really happy with my new lifestyle and don't feel like I'm missing out on anything food wise and generally just eat when I'm hungry.

Recent (12/12), but down 30 though not focusing on it. Pants are falling off. I've got a lot of clothes that didn't fit in my closet and now they do so I've suddenly got a wide selection of clothes. I've noticed a bit less back pain too

I had my surgery exactly a year before you 12/12/17. Hopefully it's a lucky date. Almost a year out looking back it was an amazing life changing decision. I was just over 300 lbs to start and by June (6 months) had lost just under 100 lbs and was running miles at a time, biking etc. since then I've been trying to maintain around 200 and struggling a bit to not keep losing (a high class problem). Good luck, great things are to come and in a year you will feel totally different!

No regrets other than having to have it in the first place

No regrets other than having to have it in the first place

Recent (12/12), but down 30 though not focusing on it. Pants are falling off. I've got a lot of clothes that didn't fit in my closet and now they do so I've suddenly got a wide selection of clothes. I've noticed a bit less back pain too

I had my surgery exactly a year before you 12/12/17. Hopefully it's a lucky date. Almost a year out looking back it was an amazing life changing decision. I was just over 300 lbs to start and by June (6 months) had lost just under 100 lbs and was running miles at a time, biking etc. since then I've been trying to maintain around 200 and struggling a bit to not keep losing (a high class problem). Good luck, great things are to come and in a year you will feel totally different!

I had my surgery exactly a year before you 12/12/17. Hopefully it's a lucky date. Almost a year out looking back it was an amazing life changing decision. I was just over 300 lbs to start and by June (6 months) had lost just under 100 lbs and was running miles at a time, biking etc. since then I've been trying to maintain around 200 and struggling a bit to not keep losing (a high class problem). Good luck, great things are to come and in a year you will feel totally different!

I had my surgery exactly a year before you 12/12/17. Hopefully it's a lucky date. Almost a year out looking back it was an amazing life changing decision. I was just over 300 lbs to start and by June (6 months) had lost just under 100 lbs and was running miles at a time, biking etc. since then I've been trying to maintain around 200 and struggling a bit to not keep losing (a high class problem). Good luck, great things are to come and in a year you will feel totally different!

I had my surgery exactly a year before you 12/12/17. Hopefully it's a lucky date. Almost a year out looking back it was an amazing life changing decision. I was just over 300 lbs to start and by June (6 months) had lost just under 100 lbs and was running miles at a time, biking etc. since then I've been trying to maintain around 200 and struggling a bit to not keep losing (a high class problem). Good luck, great things are to come and in a year you will feel totally different!

I had my surgery exactly a year before you 12/12/17. Hopefully it's a lucky date. Almost a year out looking back it was an amazing life changing decision. I was just over 300 lbs to start and by June (6 months) had lost just under 100 lbs and was running miles at a time, biking etc. since then I've been trying to maintain around 200 and struggling a bit to not keep losing (a high class problem). Good luck, great things are to come and in a year you will feel totally different!

I was on the beach the other day and wanted to get somewhere fast so started running... and kept running not out of breath at all for half a mile. I’ve never been able to do that. I went for a short jog this morning and this afternoon plan to see how a mile or two feels.

Recent (12/12), but down 30 though not focusing on it. Pants are falling off. I've got a lot of clothes that didn't fit in my closet and now they do so I've suddenly got a wide selection of clothes. I've noticed a bit less back pain too

My dr and nutritionist said BMI is useful for classifying large groups of people and useless for individual weights. For me I would need to lose another 40 lbs. at this point 32” pants are getting loose and I’m in a medium shirt. Bones in my shoulders are clearly visible and ribs are when I lay down. Another 40 lbs to the ‘normal’ range and I would have serious issues. Body fat is a way better method if you can get it tested.
I’m just happy I’m never the fattest person in the room now (yes I used to keep track of that!)

My dr and nutritionist said BMI is useful for classifying large groups of people and useless for individual weights. For me I would need to lose another 40 lbs. at this point 32” pants are getting loose and I’m in a medium shirt. Bones in my shoulders are clearly visible and ribs are when I lay down. Another 40 lbs to the ‘normal’ range and I would have serious issues. Body fat is a way better method if you can get it tested.
I’m just happy I’m never the fattest person in the room now (yes I used to keep track of that!)

Well the good news is that weight is a huge contributor to cancer and other major health issues... so if you drop the weight you are way ahead regardless of what type of diet. I don’t know the percentages or stats, but I’m guessing if you lose weight but eat mostly animal Protein you are still probably at less risk than having not done anything.
Unfortunately human nutrition is not as well understood as other things (it’s REALLY complex). I bet in 50 or 100 years people might look back in horror at the stuff we put in our bodies today