I’ve been able to lose weight from diet and exercise, my problem comes with keeping it off. At my lowest weight I got down to 173 and couldn’t lose another pound. But to maintain that weight I had to exercise at least 25 hours a week and eat no more than 1000 calories a day. I kept it off for a few years but eventually gained it back because that’s obviously not sustainable. If I get down to that weight with surgery should I expect to have to do the same things to maintain that weight as I did before surgery? Or will it be easier?

it's easier (I could NEVER maintain before - now I can), but that's not to say it's not a struggle. It IS a struggle. But I don't want to go back to 300+ lbs again, so I do what I have to do to stay where I'm at. Luckily, although it can be a challenge, it's do-able for me.

I've only been in maintenance a few months, so I'm not an expert. But so far I am finding it easier to maintain after the surgery because my appetite has never rebounded to where it was before the surgery. I definitely eat more now than I did immediately after surgery, but nowhere near what I ate before surgery. So portion control is a lot easier than it used to be. In the past, for me "portion control" really meant "get up from the table hungry". I couldn't sustain that for long. Right now I walk almost every day and I do a very basic strength training routine three times a week (15 minutes). That's it for exercise and so far, I'm maintaining without a struggle. I also think it depends on how much weight you lose. All of our bodies have a comfortable weight range and if you push it much below that, it fights you to get back into the preferred range. I think right now I am at the lowest weight that I could easily maintain.