For those at Goal Weight - how do you moderately eat sugar/flour products?

I come from a weight loss tradition of All or Nothing in the category of sugar/flour products.  My best diets have been those where I do a 100% total elimination of all sugar (including artificial sweeteners, Stevia, honey, man-extracted fructose, etc.), and all flour products and corn products like corn chips.  I would eat *only* fresh fruit, veggies, dense protein and unsweetened, plain dairy, and I could loose weight quickly.  But, when I started back on eating flour /sugar, I would gain all the weight back. I just went crazy with it.

In my weightloss now over the past 5 months with the Sleeve, I've tried to 'dabble' in eating in moderation both sugar and flour and corn products, like corn chips, and it has slowed my weight loss down greatly.  Clearly because my carb count was too high. I know this is the wrong way of eating during weightloss, Sliders are bad, I am crystal clear on that fact.

I am wondering if even eating sugar / flour in moderation when I reach goal weight will be detrimental to maintaining a normal body weight?  I've read on here that when those at Goal gain 5 or so pounds from eating a bit off plan, like on vacation, then they tighten up their food plan and drop the 5 extra pounds, and get right back up on the horse.  And that works. But, I am questioning if that will work for me or not...I think I will dive head first in, and end up eating candy and chips all day long....So, for me, I wonder if that will send me on an upward gain, and even gain all my lost weight back?  Basically, I question if I can ever 'safely' eat sugar / flour/ bad carbs again, once I hit goal?

If you have a particularly strong sensitivity to carbs/sugar, you may never be able to eat them in moderation.  Depends on how strong that monkey on your back is.  And it sounds like you already know that you have really strong reactions to them.  So stay away from them.

For me, I can eat them in moderation without triggering a carb/sugar binge.  A few tortilla chips with lunch, an occasional dessert, some particularly good bread.  I'm satisfied to have a taste, and then I walk away from them.  But I don't eat them often or in large amounts because I don't like how they make me feel - groggy and foggy.

The first thing I am going to tell you - get the word "Moderation" out of your vocabulary.  Treat it as the most offensive racial epithet you can imagine.  It has just as much power to hurt - both your feelings and your success.

Maintenance is no different than weight loss.  You have a plan and you execute to it.  The key difference is that you have much more room in your plan and you have a wider variety of foods you can use to meet that goal.  Its really that basic.

Why did we eliminate carbs and other calorie dense foods during weight loss?  They simply can't fit into a 600 calorie diet if you are going to meet your other goals.  There just isn't room.

SO to answer the question - how do I fit them into my maintenance diet?  I fit them in after I have met my other goals.  If I want to have fajitas at dinner I do.  But I plan ahead.  I know I will have Corn flour tortillas, but I will make sure that I get my 5 ounces of chicken in.  I know how many calories and carbs I will have with that meal.  I plan my other meals that day around that meal to make sure I don't exceed my calorie goal.

Same thing with a sandwich during lunch or a chicken wrap from Jason's Deli.  IF I am at home I will make my sandwich with my homemade bread or the Healthy Life bread if I can't bake my own.  When I go out to eat, I pre-plan my meals at the restaurants to know what the nutrition levels are.

Its a mystery to us at first, but sooner or later you realize that this is the same thing that "normal" people do too.  They may do it in their head or unconsciously out of habit or instinct, but someone whos never been obese controls their weight the same way we do.  They just usually dont have the fear of it that we do.

This is a topic I internally obsess on.  I know at this point, I shouldn't and I should just focus on weight loss plan.  I am working on it!

 BUT, I would like to note on my pre surgery program (self designed), I eliminated all processed sugars and processed foods (at least any with more than 4 ingredients), except for one night a week when our family would have pizza.  During this period I was able to do as RheaRob prescribes....it was planned, it wasn't in response to some trigger or event, it was part of my "new normal" for that time.  I lost weight consistently without feeling deprived or crazed with cravings.  This gives me hope for controlled and planned intake.

I am going to try to train my brain as this point to think this:  "today I don't have to worry about what will happen in maintenance.  I need to focus on today's plan and doing what I need to do to work it"  (...and I am good enough....and gosh darn it, people like me)

Anne

Good Going!

Love the reference to Stewart! LOL!

I will be honest with you. I do not do moderation well. I wish I did, but moderation just doesn't work well for me. My Grandpa had cookies every afternoon and a bowl of ice cream every night of his life as far back as I can remember. Even in his 90s he had his cookies and ice cream. I have that ice cream "gene", too. So does my brother. The difference is that my grandfather was a thin man with no health problems. My brother and I battle obesity.

While I can handle the occasional bowl of ice cream without incident, I can't say the same about cookies and most other baked goods. God knows I have tried to be moderate post VSG with those things. Come on, I refer to cookies as, "my beloved cookies". Can you see where this moderation thing might not work there! There is something about the fat, sugar, flour combo that can set me off like nothing else. So I avoid those things. If I have them now, I have to have planned for them and have an escape plan. (Just writing that seems ridiculous, but it's true.) But that need for an escape plan keeps me from eating baked goods 99% of the time. I've come to realize it's just not worth it to me.

I can handle chips and potatoes and rice and those types of carbs without getting major cravings later. So, yes, I will count out 10 tortilla chips at my favorite Mexican dive and eat those. I will even have a treat of bread with olive oil or even a bit of butter at a nice restaurant before dinner. I can handle that just fine.

But, I don't eat sandwiches. It's one of my rules. I can see getting back in the bread habit far too easily following that route. I won't eat a pancake or a waffle or a crepe on a plate in front of me. I can handle a bite from Ron's plate. Silly, perhaps, but if it was in front of me, I wouldn't be satisfied with a single bite. If it's Ron's, one bite and I'm done. It's an emotional game, sure. But it is a strategy that works for me.

You will have to find the path in maintenance that works best for you. Unlike WL, maintenance is very individual. I had hopes of being able to eat a little bit of everything. That's not my reality.

Clearly you know your issues with carbs. You will have to make your call on what works and what doesn't. It is trial and error, but you are far ahead of the game compared to me. I didn't even realize just how bad my carb issues were until I was in maintenance. I knew logically that carbs were bad, but now I finally "get" with the core of my being how they are bad for me.

Its funny - I have posted before about my issues with french fries...

Every now and then when Thomas and I go out to dinner I will invoke the "International Husband Law" and take a particularly crunchy specimen off of his plate.  

It's a very good law, isn't it!

Me too!  It is a great Law!