How did you shift to Maintenance?

Hi All,

I am 10 pounds under my goal and near a normal BMI, and I know its time to shift to "maintenance"  and it scares me.  I know how to lose weight.  I don't know how to maintain.  I remember Frisco's recommendation to start adding 100 calories per day for a week, and then see repeat until you stop losing.  But where do I add the calories?

I can't add more volume to a meal.  I'm full with my 6 ounces.  I don't want to start snacking, and it seems like adding higher fat foods is a waste.  Right now I'm thinking about adding a snack or 4th meal between breakfast and lunch, as that is when I have the most trouble waiting to eat.

How did you add calories when you shifted to maintenance?  How many calories can you eat per day now?  Any tips would be appreciated.

thank you all for your support. 

Carol

add fruit.  3 a day

I think you have a good answer already. If you struggle waiting between breakfast and lunch that is a very sensible time to add in a snack, and starting with a 100 or so calories makes sense.  Don't be surprised if when you add in a few hundred extra calories you see a quick drop of several pounds. I also agree with Pete- add in something that nutritionally is not currently present in your diet.  Fruit low on the glycemic index is a good idea if you are not eating fruit, or if you are not eating veggies maybe cut up veggies with hummus dip or something. The nice thing with maintenance is that after the long period of lower calories many options open up for you.  You will find that during your regular meals you can have higher calorie options that don't require more capacity, but have higher calories.

You will get the hang of it it short order. Congrats on your stellar weight loss phase!  You are a real inspiration on the boards!

I'm a month into formal maintenance and still figuring it out, so do with it what you will. Given I was stalled from March- June, I consider that my "practice" at maintaining. All in all, maintenance seems to be a slightly different shade of a familiar color.

The thought of adding calories is scary. I realized I was subconsciously resistant to this. Once I did, and realized/reassured myself that adding calories back in was not going to equal going back to where I was, things got easier to manage. I returned to ~1250 calories, which is where I had been after my body fat test results recommended I be to continue losing (my RMR was tagged at 1750). I was at 1250 calories when I stalled so I figured it was a good first step. It's familiar and it's working well.

i am enjoying fruit lately. I also am experimenting with adding in low GI carbs which don't seem to trigger me. One of my favorite breakfasts these days is some organic oatmeal cooked with an egg white, some blueberries and some almonds. When you look at the macros for that meal, they are pretty nicely balanced, and that keeps me full till lunch. The other thing I am doing is allowing myself higher calorie things on plan - a small lean steak instead of chicken or fish, for example.

Keep tracking! This is a big thing for me- a security blanket of sorts that shows me that despite feeling like I have eaten like a horse all day, I have in fact NOT done that.

water and exercise remain important. I am playing with eating exercise calories. Sometimes I do, sometimes I don't. There really hasn't been much of an impact.

i weigh daily so I can make adjustments in real time. I set my red line weight at 164. My goal was 158 and I am comfortably maintaining at 160. It seems ok for now. Last week I popped up to 162 so I dialed back the calories to about 1000, focused on water, and within a couple of days was back to 160. It may have just been water weight, but regardless, the lesson I learned is that if I remain aware of what is going on, I can respond rapidly and make positive changes.

good luck!

laurie

Hi my sleeve sister!! 

No real advice since I haven't reached goal yet..

I just wanted to pop in and tell you

how VERY PROUD I am of you!!

Hey CappyCarol....

First, congrats on your WL...... so awesome to follow your progress !!!

I need to correct something..... It's adding 100 cals every week or so..... not everyday.

That said....... It's really not much change at all, it's not like a light switch.... more like over several months and than fine tuning.

You can increase calories three different ways "in general"......

- Increase quantity

- Increase content

- Increase frequency

My recommendation for WLS patients is always to increase "content" or "frequency" 

I choose content...... 

Still keeping to smaller meals and keeping to "under eating capacity" to preserve "life long" restriction.

For me this way has many advantages that overlap my lifestyle.

This allows for a much more varied choice of foods/food preparations and compensating for hidden calories/carbs while eating out.

Just adding a little more oil or a dab of mayo here and there is a couple hundred cals a day.

The big one for me is being able to "occasionally" eat breaded fried foods. Fried chicken, calamari, tempura shrimp are some of my planned higher calorie foods.

I would always prefer increasing calories from fats over sugars/carbs.

Adding another meal is also a good way to go if you can control the content.

Hope this helps !!!

frisco

**** I'm not a vet.... haven't reached my 5 year mark yet and received the proper documentation.

You said you are 10 lbs under your goal and at a "near" normal BMI. If I were you I would forget what your original goal was and focus on getting to a normal BMI before starting maintenance. To me, maintenance has been much more difficult than the weight loss phase. It's  much harder to get the extra pounds off that creep up when you start to get a little relaxed with your eating habits. I eat when I'm stressed and can go a few weeks making bad food choices before I put on a pound. But then when I do, it's really stressful and hard to get off. Lots of people put back on 20 or 30 lbs before realizing what it's going to take to get it off. So, I think you are not quite ready for maintenance yet. You will just stop losing when your body is at it's right weight. 

I didn't find it hard at all - I just started adding more fat.  A little avocado, a few extra nuts, some butter on my veggies.  Higher fat foods are NOT a waste, especially when we're older.  We need that fat to keep our skin smooth and our face from sagging too much.  

I think adding a 4th meal isn't a bad idea either.  Believe me, 100 calories isn't much.  I would say that I easily eat between 1200-1400 calories a day now.  And there are days when I go higher than that.  I think the reason I'm maintaining though is that I'm also exercising 6 days a week at a decent level.