I am just over 9 months out and have found a definite shift in my weight loss journey. The goal for the first 6-8 months was to get enough Protein and Water. Now those goals seem to be easily attainable, and my focus has had to also include watching calories. i am still loosing, but it is definitely at a slower rate and I do have to be even more mindful of how much I eat. Grazing is also challenging. Any tips/tricks you have learned to keep the calories down and stop grazing? i don't like to log foods and have been able to avoid it so far. My nut says my diet is good and as long as I keep loosing then not to worry about that. Just trying to stay ahead of the challenges. How did you deal with this shift?

Not what you want to hear and you are further a Long than me --- but I find logging my food is so eye opening. When I have a " tiny little snack" that little snack adds up so quick

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I have been logging and journaling since the beginning of my six month pre-op diet program in March, and no food or drink has gone into my body without being weighed, tracked, and recorded. Honestly, I cannot imagine not doing that, and I consider it to be central to my success pre- and post-op.

As others have said, the best way of keeping track of calories is to keep a log. The least painful way of doing this is through an app and I find the MyPlate app is very helpful, it works everything out for you, not only calories but fat, Protein and carb content.

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I work in an extremely quiet office and I am also very self-conscious, so if I ever brought food in to eat before or after lunch, where people would hear me opening packages, I always think that they will think: "Of course she's eating again so soon after lunch". That has stopped any grazing at work.

So, probably not a good idea, but I have 1 meal between the time I wake at 7 am until I get home around 5:30. When I get home I will eat 2 times before bed unless my meal is a dense Protein like chicken or turkey, then it's just one meal. I am working on fixing this though. Can't get enough protein if I only eat 2 meals a day!

I'm at a similar point and am finding my calories creep upwards. Excited to hear what others say.

Things I'm trying

Planning out my meals ahead of time. Make a calorie/protein target and meal plan for each day. Have a rule that if it isn't on the plan, don't eat it. Just put it down. You can always adjust the plan on another day.

Just came across this tip and it is helping. I am planning things out the night before and it doesn't take long. It has helped me stay on target but I haven't been trying it long.

Mindful eating. Making sure I chew everything 20/30 times or until something like applesauce.

Keep reminding myself about something my surgeon wants me to remember. If a person drives a car hauling 2000 lbs of stuff to Florida they are going to use less gas than if they haul 100 lbs of stuff. As we loose weight our bodies use less calories to do the same activity.

Our weight-loss is going to slow down. This is a normal part of the process. Frustrating though it may be. I feel like I have to remind myself of this all of the time!

Shifting focus. I'm focusing more on being consistent in my healthy habits than on the scale. Things like being consistent in my workouts, meditating and focusing on my eating. Setting up a reward system for myself on getting my exercise consistent.

Good luck and I hope you find what works for you!

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Thank you for the great responses. Logging may be in my future if I find that I am not loosing without it. I've done it before, but I love to cook and mix things and it becomes very difficult to try to figure out things that aren't listed, or things with multiple ingredients that I didn't weigh first. I just went over my monthly weight loss from November, December and January, 8, 3 and 6 respectively. And 2 this morning. I agree about the consistency of workouts and meditation also. I think slowing down and focusing on our next steps is helpful. Will keep these tips in mind. Thanks again

Keep it simple if you do start logging. I did a stir fry last night. Instead of listing each ingredient, I will list "mixed veggies" or "stir fry veggies". Or "mixed salad" and list the high calorie ingredients if I'm doing salads. Don't make it any more painful than it has to be. I personally enjoy it, and found out around month 5 that I was nearly 400 calories above target due to calorie creep...That was my biggest stall. Have logged religiously since then and it's done wonders for me.

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I've been ritual eating the same stuff. I don't get tired of it for some reason. My sf ice pops I'm addicted to. My evening obsession. My husband is starting to eat them too! Walmart has these slush pops that are sugar free.


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I do prepackage and freeze some foods, like crustless quiche and ground chicken with vegetables. I need to mark the bags with the calorie content before freezing them. I agree about the ritual eating. Many of the foods I eat are the same over and over, so maybe a master list of the items and their calorie count will be a good idea. Sometime it helps just to talk these things out. Thanks for the input

I'm at a similar point and am finding my calories creep upwards. Excited to hear what others say.

Things I'm trying
Planning out my meals ahead of time. Make a calorie/protein target and meal plan for each day. Have a rule that if it isn't on the plan, don't eat it. Just put it down. You can always adjust the plan on another day.

Just came across this tip and it is helping. I am planning things out the night before and it doesn't take long. It has helped me stay on target but I haven't been trying it long.

Mindful eating. Making sure I chew everything 20/30 times or until something like applesauce.

Keep reminding myself about something my surgeon wants me to remember. If a person drives a car hauling 2000 lbs of stuff to Florida they are going to use *more* gas than if they haul 100 lbs of stuff. As we loose weight our bodies use less calories to do the same activity.

Our weight-loss is going to slow down. This is a normal part of the process. Frustrating though it may be. I feel like I have to remind myself of this all of the time!

Shifting focus. I'm focusing more on being consistent in my healthy habits than on the scale. Things like being consistent in my workouts, meditating and focusing on my eating. Setting up a reward system for myself on getting my exercise consistent.

Good luck and I hope you find what works for you!



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Sooo Im at like 7 months right now... I'm at a weight that's very comfortable for me so if I can slow my weight loss to about 5 lbs a month I'd be satisfied!!! My goal was 140--- Now I feel like 160 might be it for me... I'm 167 currently. I'm not concerned about slow weight loss. SO... I keep my routine going. I don't count calories AT ALL!!!!!! I'm more focused on food groups. I still have something light for breakfast- a fruit and veggie smoothie, or a Protein shake, or fruit and yogurt or Breakfast meat but I eat something preferably something with protein but sometimes I just want a smoothie.

Grazing is life!!!!!! I bring or purchase a grazebox at work so my Snacks are already ready to go. My grazebox usually contains 4 items it could be 8 cheese cubes, 10 cucumber slices , 15 grapes, and 1/4 cup of mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans, peanuts) Its in a divided container so it fits perfectly. I have other combinations like cheese, apple slices, hummus and celery, or Nuts, pineapple, carrots and strawberries. Anyways I graze on this ALL DAY at work starting at about noon.

My lunch is usually 1 item. Today it was 4 lemon pepper wing dings, Tomorrow it might be a mini garden salad with grilled chicken. It might be a leftover baked porkchop or lobstertail from last nights dinner. By 3 oclock I'm back snacking on my grazebox and I usually still have food left over by the end of the day. I take it home and add it to my grazebox for the next day. Sometimes I can easily skip lunch because the grazebox keeps me satisfied. Its all about what you are grazing on.

I usually leave work about 430-5pm I have to pick kids up and stop by the store sometimes I snack on what remains of the grazebox or whatever was left from lunch but I don't typically eat after 6pm and I'm not hungry. Now 1-2 times per week I may eat out with the family, or join a friend for drinks but that is the only instance where I may really eat past 6 or 7pm. Sometimes I might just purchase food eat a few bites of salad and carryout the rest.

Find what works for you... I personally see nothing wrong with grazing. Just watch the carbs and make sure your activity levels are where they should be. You know what that is... what works for you may not work for me and vice versa. I was going to the gym 4-5 days a week but I wasn't pushing myself so I started taking kickboxing classes, boot camp and classes that would push me to my physical limits.

I've been finding myself in the same boat, partly because when my surgeon said I could eat up to 1000 cals a day, my brain "you can eat a 1000 every day, and how difference is there between 1000 and 1200?"

My brain and I don't get along so well on the subject of food.

So I get my main meals and afternoon snack in, and if I have cals left over, I tend to fill them. I like rice cakes and sugar free fudge bars the occasional sweet treat.

It's a process: I'm figuring out what I can eat again AND control myself with. No chips or salty snacks. No regular ice cream. I like things that come in regular servings. But yes, grazing becomes a temptation, and head hunger becomes a real problem.

Ultimately, I think it's about shaping your environment to the extent possible - you can keep the cookies out of the office, but you can keep them out of your home - and straight will power (which sucks). But that got me this far. Probably you m, too, so I bet we can keep going.


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Sooo Im at like 7 months right now... I'm at a weight that's very comfortable for me so if I can slow my weight loss to about 5 lbs a month I'd be satisfied!!! My goal was 140--- Now I feel like 160 might be it for me... I'm 167 currently. I'm not concerned about slow weight loss. SO... I keep my routine going. I don't count calories AT ALL!!!!!! I'm more focused on food groups. I still have something light for breakfast- a fruit and veggie smoothie, or a Protein shake, or fruit and yogurt or Breakfast meat but I eat something preferably something with protein but sometimes I just want a smoothie.

Grazing is life!!!!!! I bring or purchase a grazebox at work so my Snacks are already ready to go. My grazebox usually contains 4 items it could be 8 cheese cubes, 10 cucumber slices , 15 grapes, and 1/4 cup of mixed nuts (cashews, almonds, pecans, peanuts) Its in a divided container so it fits perfectly. I have other combinations like cheese, apple slices, hummus and celery, or Nuts, pineapple, carrots and strawberries. Anyways I graze on this ALL DAY at work starting at about noon.

My lunch is usually 1 item. Today it was 4 lemon pepper wing dings, Tomorrow it might be a mini garden salad with grilled chicken. It might be a leftover baked porkchop or lobstertail from last nights dinner. By 3 oclock I'm back snacking on my grazebox and I usually still have food left over by the end of the day. I take it home and add it to my grazebox for the next day. Sometimes I can easily skip lunch because the grazebox keeps me satisfied. Its all about what you are grazing on.

I usually leave work about 430-5pm I have to pick kids up and stop by the store sometimes I snack on what remains of the grazebox or whatever was left from lunch but I don't typically eat after 6pm and I'm not hungry. Now 1-2 times per week I may eat out with the family, or join a friend for drinks but that is the only instance where I may really eat past 6 or 7pm. Sometimes I might just purchase food eat a few bites of salad and carryout the rest.

Find what works for you... I personally see nothing wrong with grazing. Just watch the carbs and make sure your activity levels are where they should be. You know what that is... what works for you may not work for me and vice versa. I was going to the gym 4-5 days a week but I wasn't pushing myself so I started taking kickboxing classes, boot camp and classes that would push me to my physical limits.

Awesome. I am a snacker pre-op and will be a snacker (or grazer) post-op. I appreciate your response here. I don't intend to or plan to count calories. Did it many moons ago and won't do it again. Too time consuming. I don't want to worry about numbers either. That's why I don't bother to weigh myself either.

Grazing or not, if it works than great. If it doesn't, then great. Find what works for you. We're all different.

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The less you weigh and the less you have to lose. The slower the weight loss.

Eat dense Protein. I can't graze if I am eating 3 to 4 ounces of steak every 2 to 3 hours. There is no room and my restriction is working.

Dense protein. It will keep the calories down, protein up and eliminate the ability to graze.