10+ years maintaining weight loss - anyone here?

[sugarfree 6]

Hi all,

Anyone here willing to share their story of achieving their goal weight and maintaining it 10+ years post surgery? Thank you

[toodlerue 432]

I’m 5+ years & I still measure my food to no more then 3.5 oz when eating at home & about 1/3 of the meal when eating out.

[catwoman7 10,864]

just so you know, it's very common to have a 10-20 lb rebound weight gain during year 3, so although you may find some folks who have kept ALL of their loss off, there are definitely a lot who've at least kept MOST of it off.

that said, I'm 8+ years out. I blew way past my goal (or goals - first goal was 199, then 170, then 150 - but I ended up getting down to 138). Like so many others, I had a rebound gain during year 3, but I've managed to maintain ever since (200+ lb loss).

[The Greater Fool 1,952]

Let's see... I got down to a nice weight. I was happy. Then I stayed there.

My plan was a forever plan, so nothing much changed food-wise.

Good luck,

Tek

[Arabesque 6,478]

You may not get many replies. Not because people haven’t generally maintained after that length of time, but more that there aren’t many long timers here. People tend to be regulars for a few years then drift away. Then they pop in randomly.

I’m only 4.5 years post surgery & have pretty much maintained since I stabilised. Had a a good 2kg glitch with a medication issue at 2 years but then resettled at about 1kg (about 2lbs) above my stabilised weight after the meds were sorted. Never changed what I was doing throughout. Much like @The Greater Fool it’s a lifelong change to my habits & eating for me too.

Have you asked your surgeon if they have any knowledge about their former patients & their long term weight status?

[summerset 5,261]

On 11/11/2023 at 4:17 AM, Arabesque said:

You may not get many replies. Not because people haven’t generally maintained after that length of time, but more that there aren’t many long timers here. People tend to be regulars for a few years then drift away. Then they pop in randomly.

Couldn't have said it better.

Maybe I want to add that the people who're regulars for a few years are usually the ones who maintain (and are more often then not a normal BMI). The people experiencing regain or insufficient weight loss usually don't stick around - so there is quite a bit of an attrition bias around.

[Wildflower Bohême 31]

On 11/9/2023 at 7:28 PM, The Greater Fool said:

Let's see... I got down to a nice weight. I was happy. Then I stayed there.

My plan was a forever plan, so nothing much changed food-wise.

Good luck,

Tek

On 11/10/2023 at 10:17 PM, Arabesque said:

Never changed what I was doing throughout. Much like @The Greater Fool it’s a lifelong change to my habits & eating for me too.

3 weeks post-op here, looking for wisdom and inspiration! When you say nothing changed about your plan/eating, what do you mean? Like from the start of the solid foods stage? Do you stick to a small amount of food similar to what @toodlerue said? I know it's probably different for everyone. My dietician said my stomach would eventually stretch to be able to eat 8-12 ounces at once, but that makes me nervous.

Edited November 12, 2023 by Wildflower Bohême
mistake

[katdfitness 11]

I have kept off 100 lbs for over 20 years - Pushing a bit to finish the weight loss but still life is much better than it was pre-surgery

[The Greater Fool 1,952]

When I say nothing changed food-wise I mean nothing changed food-wise.

From post-op Day 1 until now my plan has been 3 meals a day of 3-4 oz Protein, 1-oz veggies, no Snacks. The first 6 weeks it was pureed. I never got to completing a meal anywhere consistently until after about 2 months. Even now I only complete meals perhaps 60-70% of the time. Sometimes better, sometimes worse.

I rarely press the 'I'm full' signal, even if it happens after 1 bite. Though sometimes if it happens so quickly, I'll wait a time them try again.

Nothing changed food-wise.

Good luck,

Tek

[sugarfree 6]

On 11/11/2023 at 04:17, Arabesque said:

You may not get many replies. Not because people haven’t generally maintained after that length of time, but more that there aren’t many long timers here. People tend to be regulars for a few years then drift away. Then they pop in randomly.

I’m only 4.5 years post surgery & have pretty much maintained since I stabilised. Had a a good 2kg glitch with a medication issue at 2 years but then resettled at about 1kg (about 2lbs) above my stabilised weight after the meds were sorted. Never changed what I was doing throughout. Much like @The Greater Fool it’s a lifelong change to my habits & eating for me too.

Have you asked your surgeon if they have any knowledge about their former patients & their long term weight status?

Thanks for your answer. Yes, I asked my surgeon and she seems to believe that post-surgery, there is one group that gains weight at 10 year mark, getting close to the pre-op weight and then the group that perform a complete lifestyle change, that manage to maintain weight loss at a stable level, due to lifestyle and habit changes. I hope to be part of the second group, but just at few months post-surgery, I find it challenging to manage constant snacking.

[ms.sss 14,670]

Its been 5 yrs since surgery for me.

Gonna echo the facts about there being few long timers on here as well as the tendencies for those long timers to be ones who generally have kept the weight off.

whether they kept the weight off because they stayed on here (by keeping weight loss/maintenance/all things WLS on thier radars) or they are on here because they kept their weight off (people who regain may feel bad or shy about coming in here vs the ones who don't) is something i often wondered...but i digress...

to your question:

i realize this will sound simplistic, but in honesty, i got to goal (got to 127 lbs by month 7, from 235 lbs) by eating much less than i did pre-op.

i've kept all of it off, plus a bit more (so far!) ever since. this morning i weighed in at 116.4 lbs. i was able to do this by...eating much less than i did pre-op.

earth-shattering, i know haha.

these days i eat about 1800 cals a day (made up of whatever...i dont avoid carbs or fat or desserts... i just keep track of calories)

i do minimal exercise (for me at least): i have a dance class i go to once a week, a little bit of yoga almost everyday, and some dreaded strength training (think body weight exercises in front of the tv) . recently joined a pilates gym..we'll see if it lasts, ha. oh and when the weather is nice, sometimes i'll go for a 5k, but i don't do this nearly as much as i used to)

i weigh myself every morning without fail (unless i dont have access to a scale like when im away on vacay or something)

so basically i eat an amount i know will not make me gain nor lose weight. and i know what this amount is because i keep a general track of what i eat along with what i weigh everyday (as well as how my clothes fit lol)

in the earlier days kept a keen eye on my weight fluctuations and i would make changes to my diet if i was fluctuating upwards for too long. and i'd keep making adjustments as needed. lately, like the past 2-ish years, i've sort of been on autopilot and don't seem to be making as many adjustments as i used to and my weight has thankfully stayed pretty steady.

omg i just read what i wrote and it's awfully long...oopsies, i'll stop here hahahha.

Edited November 19, 2023 by ms.sss

[KK711 6]

I am personally now looking at having gastric bypass. My sister had the Roux -en-y over 15 years ago. She looks great. She reached her goal weight and never looked back. She to this day adheres to a strict diet. She says its doable and she loves this life. She is my encouragement for sure.

[BAA624 24]

I was 10 years post-op on 9/9/23. I am up about 20 pounds from my lowest weight and working back to basics to get my weight back down! I'm almost 40 and I don't know if I will get back DOWN down, but even getting back into the 170s, I felt much better. The good news is that the diabetes, high blood pressure, snoring, etc. are all still in remission.

[Jim1967 3,569]

I was banded April 12, 2012 I weighed 488lbs. I was afraid of bypass. Didn't think I would survive being so overweight and with sleep apnea. Lap and saved my life. My weight bottomed out at 150. I weighed 150 in 7th grade. Lol. Here we are end of 2023 and I now weigh 330. January 8th the band comes out and convert to bypass. I can't speak from bypass experience but I will say you can't measure success or failure based off someone else's journey. It all takes work and discipline. Best, Jim

[Counting Carbs 2]

Hello- I am almost 12 years out and have maintained..........until recently. I have put on 50 pounds but back on track to get it off. All the reasons I did this surgery started creeping back in and that scares me. My back hurts, not alot of energy, headaches and the AC1 started to go to pre diabetes. So here I am getting back in a supportive group and knowing I will get those pounds off. I work from home now over a 2 year period and walking to the pantry just became a habit to have food to snack on all day.....hense 50 lbs. I am not hungry so no reason other than head. Going back to basics. Protein protein protein

Edited December 29, 2023 by Counting Carbs