So I saw my surgeon today for my six month appointment.. I can't BELIEVE it's been 2 years since my surgery. My life has changed so much for the better in so many wonderful ways.

Anyway, I'm about to start maintenance. I figured I was close to finished with weight loss because it's been pretty slow for a while, and I feel good and happy with the 205 I have lost. Most of my weight was lost the first year. I have lost 42 since this time last summer, and most of that l lost in those first 6 months.

The dietitian recommended I start adding 50 to 100 calories a week of carbs or fat. I currently eat 1300 calories a day. I usually get about 100 of protein (I had the Loop DS).

So I'm supposed to start adding gradually to get my calories as high as I can without gaining.

I'm excited but SO nervous. I know people have a 10 to 20 lb. rebound gain quite often and I really want to stay as close to my weight now as possible. I weigh 187. I'm 5'3" so that's still pretty much for height but considering I started at 393 I'm pretty happy. I wear a size medium or large which I'm thrilled with. I never cared about being skinny. I have always been a curvy person. I just wanted my health and life back, which I have! But I would like to stay under 200 pounds, so I don't have a lot of room for gaining any back.

I know I'm rambling here but I just need some encouragement from those of you who are farther along than I am.

How was maintenance for you?

Congratulations on your weight loss!

Yay. Congratulations on reaching maintenance. Just go slow and you will figure out right where you need to be.

Maintenance is a bit of trial and error. You’ll get to where you need to be and you can always reduce calories back down if needed to lose a few pounds.

You can do it!

I'm particularly impressed by your weight loss during your second year! I'm not familiar with the Loop DS procedure, but in my case (gastric bypass), it became very difficult to lose weight after the first year and I had to start watching my food intake pretty carefully--so you are clearly doing something right.

I had a 20-pound regain fairly quickly in maintenance (the beginning of the second year). However, I actually lost too much during the first year and needed to gain about 15 pounds so I didn't look so skeletal. (Sorry.)

I have found maintenance pretty easy by sticking basically to a high-protein, low-carb, low-fat diet. If you are getting 100 grams of protein a day, that's great! You can definitely eat more that 1300 calories without gaining weight. However, it really can be terrifying after eating so little for so long.

As someone mentioned, it really is trial and error. I'm able to eat some sugar, have an occasional glass of wine and high-carb treat without too much trouble. You are clearly very disciplined, and you know your own body better than anyone. You'll figure it out. Good luck!

Congrats on your tremendous success!

I'm exactly 10 months out from surgery today, and my weight has been pretty stalled for the last few months. I know I COULD eat less, but I often don't feel like I have the mental bandwidth to think about every calorie. I eat between 1200-1800 calories a day.

I'm the same height and have gotten as low as 159.8, but I've been about 160-163 recently. I'd be happy to stay here. I'm also in a size medium. I feel like if I could eat the way I eat now and stay this weight for the rest of my life, I'd be thrilled... except that my waist is too big! It seems to be getting bigger, which is so odd.

Thank you SO much for this comment. It actually brought tears to my eyes when you said clearly you are doing something right. After so many years of failed weight loss attempts I have do much fear failure. Your advice is so helpful and just what I needed to hear! [emoji4]

Congrats on your tremendous success!
I'm exactly 10 months out from surgery today, and my weight has been pretty stalled for the last few months. I know I COULD eat less, but I often don't feel like I have the mental bandwidth to think about every calorie. I eat between 1200-1800 calories a day.
I'm the same height and have gotten as low as 159.8, but I've been about 160-163 recently. I'd be happy to stay here. I'm also in a size medium. I feel like if I could eat the way I eat now and stay this weight for the rest of my life, I'd be thrilled... except that my waist is too big! It seems to be getting bigger, which is so odd.

I hear you on the waist being too big! I know when I've been this weight at a younger age my waist was smaller. What a drag it is getting old. Lol
I feel pretty good with what I'm eating but I do notice I'm a little more hungry than I was the first year and a half or so, which I feel like is a signal that I'm ready for maintenance. I need more food! [emoji23]

Congratulations @STLoser. This is an amazing achievement.

As @Starwarsandcupcakes said maintenance can be a lot of trial & error. It took me a while (another 11months) to finally stop losing & for my weight to stabilise. I wasn’t eating a lot when I reached my goal (about 900+/- calories) & it took time for my portion sizes to get closer to a recommended serving size. (I also still wasn’t hungry.) I added snacks - like eventually 5 a day. It seemed crazy & I felt like I was eating all day but it was the only way I could get in those extra calories I needed to slow then stop the loss. (I did this with my dietician.) I don’t eat as many snacks now - usually 3 - because I can eat more at a meal. I stabilised at 1300 calories for a year. I eat more like 1400 now because I had to up my protein to 70g (protein absorption issue). Thanks to also needing a higher dose HRT at the same time I put on 2kgs very quickly but have been steady again for 6 months. Fingers crossed.

Just take it slowly as you work out what else you can add to your diet. You may have to keep adjusting until you discover what works for you. So expect some ups & downs. Initially I slowly added extra serves of whole/multi grains (went from 1 to 3 but only about 2 now), a second serve of fruit (1 again now), some extra fat (also reduced some), a few extra vegetables, etc. Kept to my very little sugar/sweet foods & no breads, pasta or rice I established while losing.

All the best.

Thank you Arabesque! This is so helpful. I was thinking that I'm pretty satisfied with this amount of calories and I can't imagine eating too much more, but I guess I may need to add snacks or something. I'm sure I'll figure it out through trial and error. It reassures me to hear the experiences of you and others here.
I'm panicking a little inside at the thought of eating more!
I am also excited about it, especially getting to add some healthy carbs, which I've limited a lot. I had an apple today! Ha ha

Congratulations [mention=385446]STLoser[/mention]. This is an amazing achievement.
As [mention=376265]Starwarsandcupcakes[/mention] said maintenance can be a lot of trial & error. It took me a while (another 11months) to finally stop losing & for my weight to stabilise. I wasn’t eating a lot when I reached my goal (about 900+/- calories) & it took time for my portion sizes to get closer to a recommended serving size. (I also still wasn’t hungry.) I added Snacks - like eventually 5 a day. It seemed crazy & I felt like I was eating all day but it was the only way I could get in those extra calories I needed to slow then stop the loss. (I did this with my dietician.) I don’t eat as many snacks now - usually 3 - because I can eat more at a meal. I stabilised at 1300 calories for a year. I eat more like 1400 now because I had to up my Protein to 70g (protein absorption issue). Thanks to also needing a higher dose HRT at the same time I put on 2kgs very quickly but have been steady again for 6 months. Fingers crossed.
Just take it slowly as you work out what else you can add to your diet. You may have to keep adjusting until you discover what works for you. So expect some ups & downs. Initially I slowly added extra serves of whole/multi grains (went from 1 to 3 but only about 2 now), a second serve of fruit (1 again now), some extra fat (also reduced some), a few extra vegetables, etc. Kept to my very little sugar/sweet foods & no breads, Pasta or rice I established while losing.
All the best.

Hi!

Yay for another weight loss success story! Yay, YOU!

Now, i totally get the anxiety about eating more. After reaching goal i was at a loss of how i would get up to 1500 cals after eating sub-800 for so long. I knew i just had to choose higher calorie foods since my restriction wouldn’t really allow more volume, but it was a bit of a mental exercise to get over that hump.

Like others above, it took about 4-5 months to get to a maintenance-level food intake and stop losing weight. It’s been over 3 years since reaching goal and im happy to report i’ve managed to maintain below that goal the entire time (so far!).

The one thing i will offer up is to pay attention to your calorie intake/exercise habit combination. A couple years ago i was exercising like a fiend and could take in 2300-2500 cals with no issue. I have since brought my exercise output lower to more manageable levels and had to adjust my calorie intake to about 1800.

And this is why im a proponent of food tracking and regular body mass weighing. The data I collect will tell me exactly what i need to do to tweak my routine.

Full disclosure: i do eat alot of stuff that would make some of y’all on here shudder, but it works for ME.

Good Luck! ❤️

Yes I can't do a lot of volume because of my restriction, so I guess it will be more about adding higher calorie food.
I definitely don't exercise enough for 2500 calories! [emoji23]
Thank you for sharing! It helps so much to hear about your success and everyone else's!!