When and how to start maintenance?

[Hello new me 153]

Ok, so I am 10 months out from my gastric sleeve surgery. I am 5 foot 6 and currently weight 149lb. I am 4lb away from my stretch goal. I am still losing about 1/2 lb per week. I consistently get 70-80 grams of Protein in. I keep my carbs around 50 grams. I drink 70-80 oz of Water per day. I eat around 1,200 calories per day. I also get in around 10,000 steps per day with strength training 3 days per week. My question for the veterans is should I start moving towards maintenance yet or wait until I get to my stretch goal? If maintenance is in my near future, what should I do? I was self pay, so don't have any great resources such as a nutritionist. I also recently had all of my labs done. No issues there. Everything in the high end of normal range.

[Inner Surfer Girl 12,015]

I am not a veteran or near maintenance, but I just wanted to say congratulations! It must be so exciting to be in the last leg before maintenance.

I was going to suggest that you find a NUT to talk about a good maintenance food plan. I am sure there are some folks here who can give you some help.

I am not a veteran or near maintenance, but I just wanted to say congratulations! It must be so exciting to be in the last leg before maintenance.

I was going to suggest that you find a NUT to talk about a good maintenance food plan. I am sure there are some folks here who can give you some help.

[Babbs 14,680]

Honestly? I would let your body lose as much as it wants until it just stops or you absolutely don't want to lose anymore. I'm a big advocate for going as low as you can possibly go because of the 'bounce' gain of 10-20 pounds that seems very common a few years out. At not even 2 years out, I'm fighting a 4 pound gain that won't come off. It's getting me uncomfortably close to my highest end of my bounce range, and if I could have lost more I wouldn't have been stressing 4 pounds as much, if that makes sense?

[James Marusek 5,244]

In general, your weight loss will begin to slow down and level off and you will quite naturally slide into Maintenance phase. It is a very natural thing.

I am 3 years post-op RNY and I leveled off around my 6 or 7th month. Sleeve patients lose weight at a slower pace but the weight loss phase is longer.

[Kindle 8,667]

I agree with Babbs. I let myself keep losing till I got to the point I was feeling a little too thin. I actually started upping calories in the form of more fruit, fat and whole grains when I hit my personal goal, but still dropped another 10 pounds. It was just a matter of continuing to increase calories until I reached a balance and quit losing. I'm glad to have that extra bounce, but wouldn't want to go any lower.

But on the flip side, I've stayed here for so long (over 1 1/2 years) that I now consider this my goal weight. If I went back up to my original goal I would have to kick my own ass. Not that it wouldn't be a perfectly fine, healthy weight, but I'd have to buy all new pants.

[Thinkingthinner1109 485]

I feel getting into the maintenance stage was the hardest thing for me to do. My head said if you stop losing you will gain. February 2015 I hit and surpassed my stretch goal. I am 5'9 and weigh 124 pounds. I was scared to eat or add anything to my diet. I still struggle with it every day. My hunger has returned 10 fold so I have to make very careful choices. Or I could be back in the same boat as when I started this journey.

[Hello new me 153]

Thanks all of the replies. I will just continue the course and see where my body decides it wants to go. I do want a bounce range to stay within my stretch goal, so that I have a little play room for vacations and holidays. It has been an incredible journey so far. Don't regret my surgery at all. Really enjoying this new life that I have been handed!

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

Regardless of which weight you think you're ready to stop at, you may be interested in learning what worked for me in transitioning to maintenance. (FYI, I'm 21+ months post-VSG and have maintained at or below goal for over a year; I currently weigh 135 pounds).

* I designed a maintenance eating plan based on all the data I had about my weight loss, e.g., how much I'd lost, how long that took, how much I ate (I recorded all that in MFP), how many exercise calories I had burned, etc.

BTW, I'm going to completely spit-wad this and say that if you're still losing a couple of pounds a month that your maintenance daily calorie budget will likely be north of 1500 calories/day. FYI, mine is 1700 - 1800 calories/day, depending on my activity levels.

* After I hit my weight goal (150 pounds) I gradually, and I do mean gradually, raised my daily calories by 100 calories each week. I tried to add mostly healthy foods, not junk food or sweets.

* Adding more food was harder than I'd expected. My sleeve protested a bit. My mind protested more. I realized I didn't have to force anything. But I also knew I didn't want to live on 1200 calories/day for the rest of my life if I could help it.

* Eventually I also experimented with foods I'd previously avoided and with some treats (mostly sugary) foods. For me, that meant I was flirting with trigger foods. I realized that was actually a good thing, because I had to start to learn how to coexist with my trigger foods, which clearly aren't leaving Planet Earth. I learned that I can control some foods I was afraid of and that I couldn't control easily my intake of others. I made mistakes. I learned. I made more mistakes. I kept learning. I'm still learning.

* And then there was this shocker -- over the next 8 months I kept slowly losing weight, dropping another 15 pounds down to 135 pounds, which is where I have stabilized for nearly 6 months now. :)

I came to understand and accept that, for me, maintenance is about making food and drink choices that satisfy three lifetime goals:

(1) Keep my weight normal and stable,

(2) Feed my body the nutrients it needs to be healthy and

(3) Enjoy and Celebrate life.

Very best to you!

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

@@Hello new me

Make your maintenance goal what ever you feel healthy at. Give yourself about a 10 pound bounce range weight to maintain. After you reach your goal weight, Your dietician will give you instructions on how to eat in your maintenance phase.

Maintenance is not a one size fits all instruction. Its finding what works for your body and fitness level.

Transferring your mind set to maintenance, may be strange at first. You have invested your time and had focused on the weight loss process. Its hard to let go of that comfort zone.

congratulations all your hard work

[Hello new me 153]

Regardless of which weight you think you're ready to stop at, you may be interested in learning what worked for me in transitioning to maintenance. (FYI, I'm 21+ months post-VSG and have maintained at or below goal for over a year; I currently weigh 135 pounds).

* I designed a maintenance eating plan based on all the data I had about my weight loss, e.g., how much I'd lost, how long that took, how much I ate (I recorded all that in MFP), how many exercise calories I had burned, etc.

BTW, I'm going to completely spit-wad this and say that if you're still losing a couple of pounds a month that your maintenance daily calorie budget will likely be north of 1500 calories/day. FYI, mine is 1700 - 1800 calories/day, depending on my activity levels.

* After I hit my weight goal (150 pounds) I gradually, and I do mean gradually, raised my daily calories by 100 calories each week. I tried to add mostly healthy foods, not junk food or sweets.

* Adding more food was harder than I'd expected. My sleeve protested a bit. My mind protested more. I realized I didn't have to force anything. But I also knew I didn't want to live on 1200 calories/day for the rest of my life if I could help it.

* Eventually I also experimented with foods I'd previously avoided and with some treats (mostly sugary) foods. For me, that meant I was flirting with trigger foods. I realized that was actually a good thing, because I had to start to learn how to coexist with my trigger foods, which clearly aren't leaving Planet Earth. I learned that I can control some foods I was afraid of and that I couldn't control easily my intake of others. I made mistakes. I learned. I made more mistakes. I kept learning. I'm still learning.

* And then there was this shocker -- over the next 8 months I kept slowly losing weight, dropping another 15 pounds down to 135 pounds, which is where I have stabilized for nearly 6 months now. :)

I came to understand and accept that, for me, maintenance is about making food and drink choices that satisfy three lifetime goals:

(1) Keep my weight normal and stable,

(2) Feed my body the nutrients it needs to be healthy and

(3) Enjoy and Celebrate life.

Very best to you!

Edited June 2, 2016 by Hello new me

[Hello new me 153]

VSGAnn2014: Sorry answering from my iPad doing weird thing.

This is great information. I would say that I am looking forward to adding more calories, but scared at the same time of what will happen. I know all of us fear gaining back the weight that we he all worked so hard to lose. A lot of what we are doing is just as much mental as it is physical. My capacity is still very small, so trying to figure out how to increase calories is difficult. I still have a Protein Shake a day. My MD likes for us to do this for the first year. I do indulge from time to time now. My idea of indulging is a bite of a cookie or 4-5 chips. I still have good control, but I know that will change as time goes on. I hope that I can be successful in the maintenance phase as those who have responded. When you guys are adding calories is it in the form of nuts, peanuts butter, fruit, etc? These are mostly things that I still stay away from right now. Suggestions on easy things to increase calories in a healthy way would be great (as I said in my OP, I was self paid. I don't have the resources of a nutritionist without paying a bunch out of pocket).

[VSGAnn2014 12,992]

You're welcome.

I added things like high Fiber, high Protein crackers (really missed the crunch during the losing phases), more full-fat cheese, more whole grains (brown rice), more fats (full-fat salad dressings and butter), apples, carrots, sweet potatoes, etc.

I eat nuts and Peanut Butter RARELY -- since they're both semi-trigger foods for me.

BTW, ice cream is a big-time trigger food. Can't keep that stuff in the house at all.

The treats I've added are dark chocolate (hey! it's got antioxidants!) and a single serving of wine or single-malt scotch most days.

BTW, your stomach's capacity will slowly increase a little so adding more food eventually won't be impossible.

FYI -- at 21 months post-op I still drink a Protein shake for Breakfast most (not all) days.

[BestDayEver 418]

This maintenance phase is a bit tricky. I met goal 4 months ago and had surgery 13 months ago. I keep losing and I'm starting to feel a bit concerned about it. My dad called me a scarecrow today (thanks dad). I can see my bones in my chest, shoulders and back. I don't want to lose any more weight but I struggle to get my calories above 1200.

I've started to add some foods I was really strict on not eating before like toasted bread or even the occasional bowl of Cereal. Part of the problem for me is that I stopped eating carby/sugary foods after surgery and now they don't really taste that good to me anymore. I literally traumatized myself last week by eating a really doughy donut and it sat in my stomach for about six hours. I was so grossed out it impacted my appetite for days. Blech.

I'm sure I'll figure this all out in time. I never thought I could lose this much weight. Now I have to figure out how to eat and maintain. Best wishes to you on this crazy VSG journey.

[summerset 5,261]

There is so much talk about regain (makes me quite anxious to be honest) and/or not reaching goal weight despite eating as little as 1000 cals a day.

It's nice to see some maintainers my height and sex who don't exist on 1000 cals or less and are still overweight. Thanks.

[Daisee68 2,493]

I am at goal but really as small as I want to be. Trying to figure out how to increase my calories to get it to stop. (It stopped for 6 weeks and then all of a sudden I have dropped 7 more pounds in the last 2 weeks!) @@VSGAnn2014 - Thank you so much for this list of tips. It is very helpful! Do you track your food? If so, just curious about your macronutrient breakdown. (Mostly trying to figure out how many carbs or maybe what % of total calories is carbs. Those are the things I still keep fairly low but not sure I can increase calories without increasing this as I am already getting 100-125g of Protein so I can't increase there.)