At Goal Weight! Now what?

[jdj52 1]

So I had the vsg in June and just reached my goal weight. Started at 307 now at 180 . Do the incisions ever go away? What do you eat/do to maintain the weight loss?

[AvaFern 3,516]

Now you get to spend everyday of the rest of your life making sure you stay at goal weight. Sounds exciting right? The incisions fade, but don't totally go away. I had an abdominoplasty so most of my incisions are gone. I have maintained within a few pounds of goal since April and the only way for me to do this has been to wake up, weigh myself every single day, and log my food.

[Babbs 14,680]

You know the guys we used to watch on TV who would try to balance as many plates on their faces as they could without breaking them all? Yeah, maintenance is kind of like that.

It's all about balance. In other words, finding the perfect amount of calories where you're not gaining or losing anymore. I'm trying to figure that out right now, but I'm still losing slowly. I hear that's pretty normal up to the first 18 months, though. I'll get it dialed in. It's also about holding yourself accountable, like @@AvaFern said. I, like her, weigh daily. I'm a believer in you can't measure what you can't see. But I know some who rely on how their clothes are fitting. In my case, I will have a 5 pound buffer, and if I go over, it's back to work and back to the basics. Others find if their pants are getting too tight, same thing. Back to work and back to basics.

Although I'm VERY new to maintenance, it's actually kind of boring. No more excitement of seeing the scale consistently moving down. No more being motivated to work out and watch what you're eating with the reward of seeing the scale go down. People get used to seeing the new, thinner you, and the compliments fade. It's just....living life now. Exciting, hu?

You will have to find new motivators to help keep you on track. Mine is clothes (so shallow, I know) and how I feel when I work out consistently. Also, using the tool given to you to manage the every day stresses of life that can derail us eating wise. You'll figure it out. Just like I will

And people think losing the weight is the hard part. Ha!

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

@@jdj52

Congratulations on hitting goal! You can check out the maintenance and veterans forum on BariatricPal.

Its a good idea to monitor your weight on a scale, fine tune your food and activity level. Give yourself a gain scale number. If you hit that number go back to weight loss phase to get it back to where you are comfortable.

After a year of being focused on weight loss. You might find it strange to let go of the old phase.

[LetItGo 73]

What does your typical day of eating look like? I'm only two weeks out but I'd like to know what life will be like once I am on solid foods.

[Babbs 14,680]

What does your typical day of eating look like? I'm only two weeks out but I'd like to know what life will be like once I am on solid foods.

Your typical day will look VERY different from a maintenance typical day! I am eating up to 1400 calories a day at 15 months out. You won't be able to eat that many for quite a while

You will probably be eating 600-800 calories for many months. I upped my calories to 1000 at around 7 months, then slowly increased until I hit 1200. Now I'm increasing a little more for maintenance. You just physically won't be able to eat that many until some time passes and healing is complete

My typical day is still very low starchy carb, high Protein and mostly clean. I DO still have a Protein shake every morning just because I find it more convenient. I eat lean meats, veggies, and fruits and try not to eat processed food. I mostly stay away from crackers, bread and Pasta. I'm very sensitive to carbs, and will crave them more and gain weight when I eat them. I've gone off the rails with them a couple times, so I had to scale back a little.

That's just me. Like VSGAnn says, others mileage may vary

[CowgirlJane 14,259]

Congratulations! And now....the real work begins.

[jane13 2,256]

@@jdj52 - Congrats! and good luck. I am not there yet, maybe by spring.