The Maintenance Thread

[Sheribear68 3,200]

On 02/18/2020 at 04:13, Recidivist said:

So, what about coffee? Before surgery, I had a 5-Diet-Coke-per-day habit, but I was not a coffee drinker. I stopped Diet Coke cold turkey before surgery and abstained from caffeine in any form for about eight months after surgery. However, I've gotten into the habit of drinking two lattes with skim milk and sweetener every morning, which I really enjoy. (The milk provides an extra boost of protein.)

What have you been told by your doctors about caffeine at this point? Is it harmful?

I have coffee (hot and iced) all the time. Full caffeine even.

I also take acetaminophen/caffeine pain relievers (excedrine Migraine without the aspirin) regularly because I’ve suffered headaches all my life.
I fully admit I’m a caffeine addict, but I have noticed I don’t use it as much as before. Those headaches though.... really was hoping that WLS would help with those as my blood sugar is so much better now and I know I’ve eliminated many of my insulin spikes with a low/slow carb diet, but alas..... still get headaches almost daily.

On the upside, my stomach is better able to handle the acid from the coffee (as long as there is milk/protein shake in it) and the caffeine doesn’t increase reflux, which has almost disappeared PO, so as long as I don’t notice an increase in reflux/acid/stomach pain, I’m keeping my caffeine in my diet.

[Sheribear68 3,200]

Lol, so I weighed myself again this morning (gasp! TWO DAYS IN A ROW???) and I’m down another 0.8 pounds to 136.6, which is currently my all-time low PO. I REFUSE to panic or react to that number because I’ve come to a head space where I’m going to do my thing and trust my body to do the right thing.
This kind of trust has been something that’s taken me months to come to grips with, but through group and individual therapy, I’m learning to trust that my body won’t actually let me become deathly ill/or die from malnutrition.

I’m still 10-12 pounds over my adult low weight of 125-ish pounds from my college days.

Wow. When I think of how “fat” I felt whenever I got >125 and then would diet and exercise like a maniac to get below that magical number, I realize how messed up our ideas of body perfection truly are.
Back in the 80’s/90’s a woman weighing over 125 was considered “too fat” to be good partner material, even at a height of 5’7”.

Now we wonder why so many of us in my age range struggled with MO as we dieted ourselves into that condition trying to reach this fairly unrealistic goal.

[Sheribear68 3,200]

Another weigh in and I’m down to 135.4

Looks like maybe I was in a 2-3 week holding pattern and now my body is still inching down.

It’s weird doing 5:2....
I’ll have a couple weeks where I lose/regain the same 2-3 pounds, then I’ll go super low carb for a couple of days and I get a 3-4 pound “whoosh” and then start defending a slightly lower weight and still do the 5:2.

It will be interesting to see where my bod decides to “stay put”.
Just when I think I’m finally and forever in maintenance, I drop a smidge more weight and we start the cycle over again.

[Gottanewlife 32]

On 2/20/2020 at 4:34 PM, Sheribear68 said:

It’s weird doing 5:2....and still do the 5:2.

What is 5:2???

[Sheribear68 3,200]

On 03/03/2020 at 22:25, Gottanewlife said:

What is 5:2???

It means 5 days weekly I’m closely monitoring my calories and macros and practicing intermittent fasting.
2 days a week I relax a bit, let myself have a couple glasses of wine and open my eating window (if I want) to 10-12 hours

[AJ Tylo 1,398]

Going to jump in on this one. This part of the journey is harder then losing weight. One week i do great the next week i lose 4 more pounds. Gotta admit never saw this coming. I am getting way to skinny and this is pissing me off

[catwoman7 10,922]

4 hours ago, AJ Tylo said:

Going to jump in on this one. This part of the journey is harder then losing weight. One week i do great the next week i lose 4 more pounds. Gotta admit never saw this coming. I am getting way to skinny and this is pissing me off

that won't last forever. A lot of us start gaining weight during year 3. I, too, thought I was too skinny during year 2 and thought I'd never gain weight. Ha! Now it's a daily battle to stay within a normal BMI range...

[FluffyChix 17,410]

14 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

that won't last forever. A lot of us start gaining weight during year 3. I, too, thought I was too skinny during year 2 and thought I'd never gain weight. Ha! Now it's a daily battle to stay within a normal BMI range...

Can you tell me if the regain so many experience starts after your 2nd surgiversary or if the "year 3" you describe is after the 3rd surgiversary? TY hon! I've never understood that one...it's the whole concept of how old are we? Cuz you know we spend 9 months in our mom so...technically when we're born, we're about 40weeks old...and we're finishing up "year one." And when we Celebrate our first birthday, we start living our 2nd year...TIA!

[catwoman7 10,922]

9 minutes ago, FluffyChix said:

Can you tell me if the regain so many experience starts after your 2nd surgiversary or if the "year 3" you describe is after the 3rd surgiversary? TY hon! I've never understood that one...it's the whole concept of how old are we? Cuz you know we spend 9 months in our mom so...technically when we're born, we're about 40weeks old...and we're finishing up "year one." And when we Celebrate our first birthday, we start living our 2nd year...TIA!

I can just answer this for me (although I know a lot of people report that they start gaining weight during year 3), but I hit my lowest weight exactly two years after my surgery date (I just checked my Excel spreadsheet). I maintained there for about six months, and then it gradually started going up (admittedly, I needed to gain back about 10 lbs, because my weight had gotten way too low for me). I'm now up 20 lbs from my lowest weight and would like to lose 10 lbs....but it is a BEAR!!! When I weighed over 300 lbs I used to roll my eyes at these normal weight - or slightly overweight - women who moaned and groaned about how hard it was to lose 5 or 10 lbs. HA! I get it now!

[ms.sss 14,782]

Just me, but I'm not sure that there is a finite amount time post op that people start gaining weight (2yrs, 3 yrs, etc), I think it is more a period of time AFTER one's weight stabilizes.

Some people hit their weight goals (or just stop losing weight) earlier, some later. So I would assume that the folks in former group start weight gain sooner than the latter group...and not so much because of loosening of tummies (which is a factor, yes), but more because of the loosening of eating habits.

With that said, I think that it would follow that if a person were to stay on course for perpetuity (and continually adjust* as needed), he/she would never gain unwanted weight. *Noting of course that some people would need to adjust more than others.

[catwoman7 10,922]

7 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

With that said, I think that it would follow that if a person were to stay on course for perpetuity (and continually adjust* as needed), he/she would never gain unwanted weight. *Noting of course that some people would need to adjust more than others.

could be true, BUT - it seems to happen to a majority of us!

[AJ Tylo 1,398]

Definatly not waiting till year 3 Gotta throw the Anchor on weight loss out now. High calorie good foods here i come! Dammit that wont work i hate eating, Do they make a calorie pill? JK

Getting a whole new plan this month from the Nutritionist she says she can fix this!

[ms.sss 14,782]

16 minutes ago, catwoman7 said:

could be true, BUT - it seems to happen to a majority of us!

I have zero real evidence and am just talking based on simplistic view of cause and effect (i.e., out of my ass), but I think the weight gain is because of habit changes? I'm not sure if there is anyone out there who gained those 15-20-30-40 lbs years out can say that this happened while staying vigilant with the habits employed to lose the weight in the first place? But if there is, I would love to hear from them. It would be interesting/educational to do a deep dive into that person's lifestyle choices AND health/physicality to see how they could gain weight without changes in habits, right??

I know this is a touchy subject for many, so I am hesitant to post this. I hope I don't offend.

Edited March 4, 2020 by ms.sss

[catwoman7 10,922]

6 minutes ago, ms.sss said:

I have zero real evidence and am just talking based on simplistic view of cause and effect (i.e., out of my ass), but I think the weight gain is because of habit changes? I'm not sure if there is anyone out there who gained those 15-20-30-40 lbs years out can say that this happened while staying vigilant with the habits employed to lose the weight in the first place? But if there is, I would love to hear from them. It would be interesting/educational to do a deep dive into that person's lifestyle choices to see how they could gain weight without changes in habits, right??

I know this is a touchy subject for many, so I am hesitant to post this. I hope I don't offend.

with bypass, there's also the ending of malabsorption around the year 2 mark.

also, once you gain weight it is REALLY tough to take it off, even after you return to your pre-gain habits. The difference between maintaining a weight of 140 vs a weight of 150 is about 50 calories a day. Which is like - a peach. Or half a Light & Fit yogurt. So if you do some heavy eating over the holidays and gain five pounds, you really have to go on a strict diet rather than just revert to the way you were eating before you gained the five pounds. Else at a 50-calorie deficit a day, it would take you 70 days to lose one pound. So almost a year to lose five pounds. The trick is to pretty much never let yourself gain weight. Yes - there are people who manage to defend their lowest weight, but an awful lot of us have "bounce back" weight...

(it didn't seem to work this way when I weighed almost 400 lbs, but boy, it sure does now...)

p.s. you are talking 15-20-30-40 lbs. I would say those last two numbers definitely ARE due to not being vigilant. But it is SUPER common to have a 10-20 lb bounce back after hitting your lowest weight. There are people who don't, but they seem to be in the minority.

Edited March 4, 2020 by catwoman7

[FluffyChix 17,410]

3 minutes ago, AJ Tylo said:

Definatly not waiting till year 3 Gotta throw the Anchor on weight loss out now. High calorie good foods here i come! Dammit that wont work i hate eating, Do they make a calorie pill? JK

Getting a whole new plan this month from the Nutritionist she says she can fix this!

AJ that's a slippery slope attitude. I know you're prob just meeting this challenge with your tongue in cheek humor, but it quickly turns around! I really hope you will seek out a trainer/nutritionist who understands bariatrics and lean gains. Cuz it isn't just a matter of going back to Fatty McFatterson food choices. Right?

Add calories strategically. If you are getting the amount of Protein you need to build muscle, and have enough carbs in your life to lend energy (if you're a carb burner), then add calories through adding healthy fats). Organize your meal events even if you aren't hungry. Cuz bottom line, to stop loss with a semi healthy metabolism, it will take very little extra calories (if you're not an endurance athlete or involved in lifting to gain strength). @BigViffer @BlueCrush @Healthy_life2 are all athletes and have figured out how to build muscle and stop weight loss! Maybe they'll hop in here with advice for you.

Mine just "magically" stopped by adding in a day or two of higher cal eating (1200-1500cals), 2 days a week.