So thought I'd start this thread for those who are currently in maintenance (or are trying to be ), there are not as many active maintenance-ers on here, but I'm hoping for the ones that are, they can chime in and impart their wisdom for those are trying to achieve that coveted balance of weight stability.

...or we can just chat about whatever. LOL.

CONGRATS , what colors are in your capsule wardrobe? I have a LOT of black and white

My base pieces are black, white and beige. My accent pieces are baby blue and green. I have one rocking long red leather trench coat.

Still wish I had your tailoring skills.

Sent from my SM-G930T using BariatricPal mobile app

9 minutes ago, Healthy_life2 said:

My base pieces are black, white and beige. My accent pieces are baby blue and green. I have one rocking long red leather trench coat.

Still wish I had your tailoring skills.

Sent from my SM-G930T using BariatricPal mobile app

Thanks! I cant wait to see that red leather coat!

2 hours ago, Healthy_life2 said:

. I have one rocking long red leather trench coat. 

I now need one of these. I have a coat fetish.

On 9/22/2019 at 7:33 AM, ms.sss said:

I basically proved to myself that I can switch on to low-cal/weight-loss mode relatively easily and will be able to lose any vacay gains should the need arise. Knowing this seriously eases my anxiety!

Honestly, I feel the same way, and it is so d@mn freeing!

On 9/23/2019 at 6:22 AM, Healthy_life2 said:

whoosh! six pounds of vacay bounce down in two days. (water weight) Wedding photos. I wore a repeat outfit from my capsule wardrobe…nothing exciting.

What day are you leaving for your trip?

Dang woman! I lost the lottery! Two days? That's got to be a new record. Congrats on TCB and nipping the vacay bounce in the bud!!!

Ok, so this was my first official birthday in maintenance! I'm pleased to report that after eating in birthday celebration mode (and drinking) for the past 2 days, I'm right back smack at goal. Scale this morning showed a very reassuring 130.6lbs. Yay Tiny Tool!!! Woot!

Oh and we saw Downton Abbey yesterday and my sissies gave us pedis, lunch, and dinner! Wowza! Happy Birthday! Right? But today it's back to TCB. I'm eating lean and mean and green today cuz we have a business event tonight. This is gonna be an interesting week cuz we have another business event tomorrow night!

Oh forgot to add, I had a non-WLS surgery with IV on Friday and was only up 4lbs from it. Then am back down to goal weight today including the 2 days of celebratsions!

Edited September 24, 20196 yr by FluffyChix

Ugh, it was a short lived celebration. LOL. After this non-birthday weekend, I'm now up to 135.4lbs this morning. Gah! Didn't take long to get to the top of my weight window. Back to IF and abstemious TCB today. LOL.

Had my DEXA scan last weekend. It has been a crazy week, so sorry for the delay!

I'm overall really pleased with the results, especially from a health perspective!

Summary

My body fat is 25.4%, about the 19th percentile for my age (40's)

My fat is well distributed, again especially important from the health perspective. I have 0.4 lbs visceral fat (around the organs, correlates to a lot of negative health conditions), under 1 lb is considered healthy, according to the DEXA tech. Also have a majority of my trunk fat in my Gynoid region vs. Android 9lower torso vs. upper torso). That type of ditribution also is shown to have health benefits.

My bone density is in the 95th percentile or so. Super pleased about that. Bone density is a concern of mine considering my family is long lived, and because I drink a lot of diet soda.

I'm a little disappointed my arms and my thighs have a higher fat % than my trunk. I am having plastics, but not removing any fat from those regions, but will be removing fat from my stomach. My arms and thighs also have a significant amount of sag, so getting leaner will exacerbate that.

I don't if excess skin is considered lean or fat mass. The two techs gave different answers, so I don't trust either one.

Silicone will show up as bone mass in a DEXA. It is denser than lean mass, so gets categorized as bone. I'm glad I got this base line before plastics, so I know my bone mass is in good shape.

@sillykitty Thanks for sharing the results of your scan. Very interesting. I think I need to find a place to have it done!

Wow.
Okay so I’m having a dexa tomorrow, but only to check for bone density. Kind of a “baseline” for me to have on record.

Saw my PCP last week and the dexa I’m having is covered by insurance.
Can’t wait to see what kinds of data it provides and I’ll for sure talk to the imaging place tomorrow to see if I can pay OOP for something more like what you’ve had done.

Okay so I’m asking for advice ladies (and any men who might happen to be lurking)

I’m learning that carbs freak me out. As in if I log over 20gm carbs in a day I’d probably cry kind of way.
This morning I weighed 156.4– which quite frankly stuns me bc I struggled for 3 weeks to go from 162 to 159, and then I go from 159 to 156 in 4 days, but that kind of thing had happened before.
Now that I’m under 2 pounds from goal, it’s becoming more real.
One thing I know my brain won’t handle well is any kind of bounce once I get to under 155.

I’m asking for help in transitioning. I don’t want to end up with any food phobias and want to stay focused on health first.

Here is an example of my typical work day (11 hr shift) meal.
Loads of Protein and it’s easy (I can gulp down cottage cheese while on the fly and filling a jillion Rx/hour while not getting a single break).
The Premier Protein is in the form of half PP, half iced coffee and I sip on that mid-afternoon.
The coffee gives me much needed energy and the protein gives me stamina and keeps the hungries at bay when my cortisol levels from work are through the roof.

Edted t add:  

First column is fat, then carb, then protein. Not sure why it cut off on SS

1 hour ago, Sheribear68 said:

Here is an example of my typical work day (11 hr shift) meal.
Loads of Protein and it’s easy (I can gulp down cottage cheese while on the fly and filling a jillion Rx/hour while not getting a single break).
The Premier Protein is in the form of half PP, half iced coffee and I sip on that mid-afternoon.
The coffee gives me much needed energy and the Protein gives me stamina and keeps the hungries at bay when my cortisol levels from work are through the roof.

Edted t add:

First column is fat, then carb, then protein. Not sure why it cut off on SS

first, you might want to try to go 10 lbs or so UNDER where you want to be. Bounce back is real. It's not inevitable, but it does seem to happen to the vast majority of us.

secondly, once you get there, you'll have to figure out your maintenance level of calories. Go up about 100 calories/day. If a couple of weeks go by and you're still losing weight, go up another 100. Rinse and repeat. Once you get to the point where you're not gaining and not losing (for a lot of us, it's a range), you're in your sweet spot. Then your goal is to keep within that range every day.

@sillykitty Thanks so much for sharing your DXA results!!! I'm really thrilled at your results!! It shows you're very balanced for the most part and to the extent you do have more in one area, it's in the so-called "preferential" area from a metabolic/all-cause-mortality health consequences perspective! Ziggy zoggy ziggy zoggy Oi Oi Oi! Wooohoooo.

(I can say, it kinda made me squint and cross my eyes with all the # and %s and advanced math. But it's also good to know if ever caught in a trap, which extremity would be the best one to cut off in order to escape or to make a weight goal...just sayin. hehe

@Sheribear68 I think what you are going through is very normal and it's a process. But I think you also realize that you have to have a plan for how you approach it. I know scientifically without doubt, that you will analyze the situation, sit down and figure it out. Cuz that's how you roll mamacita!

Congrats on being 5lbs from goal. I'm beyond excited. It's been such a privilege to watch you shrinky dinking. Your focus and drive are humbling and inspiring!

Thanks SO MUCH for those kind words and for everyone putting up with me and my neurotic obsessing during this process.
Catwoman7, I definitely hear ya on the bounce thing, which is why my stretch goal is 145 instead of 155. I’m all about giving myself some wiggle room. So anyway, sometimes I have these 2 goals in my head,but yeah... increasing calories is going to be both an adventure and a trial.

I plan on doing the same-old-same-old for the next 2 weeks, then after my bday I’ll start to come up with a plan to incorporate more complex carbs—in moderation— and see what that looks like.

Today at work I did have 2 different customers ask me when I was finally going to stop losing weight. As difficult as it is for me to truly see myself as normal weight now, it’s impossible to see myself as “almost too skinny”.
It’s gonna be tough to figure out how to deal with some of the dysmorphia, but thankfully there is the OOTD thread I’ll be using to keep me accountable