The Maintenance Thread

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

12 hours ago, ms.sss said:

For me, I guess I am still doing alot of the aspects of the weight loss phase (tracking macros, Portion Control, healthier/mindful eating, water/protein goals, meal prep/cooking, exercise/activity quotas), but just not for the goal of losing weight anymore. So all that still is a large part of my everyday life.

I would think it is a good thing to continue with the habits formed during weight loss phase, just loosen the reigns a little.

Though I know this is easy to say. I had a bit of a minor crisis when I first got into maintenance mode. I think it was based mostly on fear of regain/failure. It's so cliche, but true: time makes everything better. It's been almost 2 months now since I decided to stop losing weight, and during that time, I've learned to trust myself more and relax. I'm still pretty vigilant though, but the stress/anxiety first associated with it is almost non-existent (almost).

Happy to see your update.

Its good to talk through the anxiety freakout moments. The transition is not easy.

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

10 minutes ago, Cheeseburgh said:

I posted pics in another thread, here is 138

138 looks great on you. Congrats on your upcoming first anniversary. Did you ever think one year would go by so quickly????

[Cheeseburgh 3,075]

1 hour ago, Healthy_life2 said:

138 looks great on you. Congrats on your upcoming first anniversary. Did you ever think one year would go by so quickly????

Thank you, I’m 5 pounds less but I think I look the same which is fine with me. I have zero aspirations to be a model lol.

In hindsight it did go by very quickly but around February and March it felt like time stood still. My weight loss had really slowed down and I wasn’t certain how much and what to eat. Once I cleaned up my diet and joined a gym it started gelling for me again.

[Losebig 508]

On 7/9/2019 at 6:58 PM, Oct517 said:

Sorry to dip in here but I've been feeling incredibly light headed/dizzy lately. I read thinking it had to do with Water intake but now I'm thinking it may be carbs. Did your NUT mention what a good carb ratio looks like?

Sent from my SM-G960U using BariatricPal mobile app

Sorry for the slow reply, I've been on vacation for a few weeks and not online. She didn't say what a good ratio was, just to have complex carbs if I was going to work out (she suggested oatmeal for example). One other thing that helped me a little with light headedness was to have a beverage containing electrolytes at least once a day. For me that became a 20 oz Powerade zero, its way too sweet for me, but I religiously have at least one bottle a day and that does help.

Honestly though I still have days when I nearly pass out when I stand up quickly - especially if I'm really exerting myself. The DR's don't have any answer for that and I did have a full cardiac work up shortly after surgery due to a complication, so there's no issues there. My theory is that you have a lot of extra vascularity when you're heavy (more blood vessels to feed all that fat) and when you get thin the blood vessels don't go away. No one has been able to tell me if that is the case or if they go away over time - but in my case my blood pressure went from borderline high to on the low side, but my resting heart rate has also increased even though I'm in good shape.

TLDR: Try an electrolyte beverage to see if that helps and have complex carbs before a workout - a lot of other stuff could be going on too and the DR's don't have all the answers unfortunately.

[Losebig 508]

On 6/23/2019 at 9:23 AM, ms.sss said:

EXERCISE.

I'm assuming that the long term successful maintainers have some sort of exercise routine incorporated into their lives. How much of it do you do now, and what do you do? Tips?

I know that the loose skin is a fact of life now, but have you noticed any firming up of the post weight-loss sag?

It's crazy that I actually like getting up and about and moving now. I feel like something is missing on those rare days when I don't at least get my daily 6k walk in. This morning I went for 10k and actually RAN the last 2k!! Madness. I do need to invest is some tighter clothes though as I can feel myself "jiggling" in the back...that and my pants kept slipping down over my butt.

I made exercise a big part of my weight loss and have tried to keep that up in maintenance. I'm not great or super formal about it, but I try to be active most of the time. When I was closely tracking I would work out on average 3 - 4 days per week, usually cardio oriented exercise like running, biking, walking, hiking, or vigorous yard work. Now I have less time, but I try to incorporate exercise into little stuff - making dinner for the kids? Lets see how fast you can do it! Or bringing out the trash? Great Run! After you do it enough it becomes a lot of fun. I for example used to HATE running, now I love it. In fact I find myself running anytime I can and it's socially acceptable. Its great stress relief and for me at least is key for sanity

[ms.sss 14,782]

11 hours ago, Losebig said:

I for example used to HATE running, now I love it.

Same!

[Healthy_life2 8,319]

12 hours ago, Losebig said:

Its great stress relief and for me at least is key for sanity

15 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

Same!

My husband says I am a much better person to be around when I run. 😉

[DeeberLee 300]

I just noticed last week that I made my goal that I set when I first started my journey.

On 6/4/2019 at 12:22 PM, ms.sss said:

How long have you been below your desired weight?

I was stalled for so long, I decided not to worry about losing. I stayed consistent with my exercise and changing up what I ate. Then the scale moved! I'm going to set a new goal, 5 lbs less and see what happens.

[ms.sss 14,782]

2 minutes ago, DeeberLee said:

I just noticed last week that I made my goal that I set when I first started my journey.

I was stalled for so long, I decided not to worry about losing. I stayed consistent with my exercise and changing up what I ate. Then the scale moved! I'm going to set a new goal, 5 lbs less and see what happens.

🏆🏆

[Wendyfm 494]

I’ve been in maintenance for about four years. I lost a total of 100 pounds and currently weigh around 175 which is still considered obese. My body just decided to stop losing at this weight. I currently eat around 1200 calories a day and excercise an average of five times a week. I weigh myself daily and still track what I eat, how much I eat and how many calories I eat. Although I have relaxed some.

[icebarbie 9]

I need this!!

[ms.sss 14,782]

19 minutes ago, Wendyfm said:

I’ve been in maintenance for about four years. I lost a total of 100 pounds and currently weigh around 175 which is still considered obese. My body just decided to stop losing at this weight. I currently eat around 1200 calories a day and excercise an average of five times a week. I weigh myself daily and still track what I eat, how much I eat and how many calories I eat. Although I have relaxed some.

That's amazing. I'm so encouraged when I hear of long-term maintainers keeping the weight off years later ♥️

I'm also convinced and committed to weighing daily and food tracking for life. I really believe it leads to long term success (and you are a prime example). ♥️

[Cheeseburgh 3,075]

53 minutes ago, DeeberLee said:

I was stalled for so long, I decided not to worry about losing. I stayed consistent with my exercise and changing up what I ate. Then the scale moved! I'm going to set a new goal, 5 lbs less and see what happens.

I think we were separated at birth.

[sillykitty 10,708]

I appears that my body has found the weight it is happy at. I have been maintaining within 4 lbs for 4 months now (13.5 months post op). Recently my weight range has been even narrower, within 2 lbs.

I wish I could say that this was all purposeful, but it just kinda happened, once I stopped "bariatric eating"

Edited July 21, 2019 by sillykitty

[sillykitty 10,708]

Just for fun, here is my graph starting w my WLS