Good Morning. What works for you if you're losing or at goal?

What worked for me while losing was: 100 grams of protein in the form of protein shakes and high protein food was just extra; well under 50 grams of carbs a day with no white flour or sugar; 64 ounces of liquids using a lot of diluted diet cranberry juice; Vitalady's vitamin plan; and brisk walking of 10,000 to 12,000 steps a day.  Normal BMI reached at 6 months post-op and goal reached at 11 months.

What's working in maintenance is: 100+ grams of protein in the form of protein shakes, high protein food as just extra; around 75 or so grams of carbs a day with little or no white flour or sugar; 64 ounces of fluids using a lot of undiluted diet cranberry juice and 1/2 decaf 1/2 regular coffee; Vitalady's vitamin plan tweaked to work with my labs; and brisk walking of between 6,000 and 10,000 steps a day. I stick pretty close to this during the workweek and might splurge a bit on weekends or special nights out. 


Long Term Strategic Plan:

Breakfast- protein coffee (60g) 
Snack- high protein/low carb food and more protein coffee (30g)
Lunch- protein shake or high protein food (30g if shake)
Snack- high protein/low carb food (once a week, high complex carb)
Dinner- high protein and a few carbs, all in food
Snack- alternate days between high protein / high complex carb (30g if shake)

    

Good morning! Just got done working out, now I'm getting ready for my every Saturday shopping (groceries, wal-mart, etc.) that I do with my mom and kids. I'm in the losing phase, and it's going really fast for me. I recently had to up my calories and the weight loss has sped up again. For the first 3.5 months I did about 500 calories, 60-70grams of protein, less than 30 carbs, vitamins my dietitian told me to take plus fiber, biotin, cinnamon, walked fast on the treadmill for 35 minutes, light hand weights and crunches.

In the past few weeks I upped my exercise to 45-50 minutes jogging or power walking on an incline on the treadmill, upped the weights, hundreds of crunches, push ups, planks, and sometimes I do "circuit training" where I do 3 minute sprints and 3 minute weights alternating for an hour. I upped my calories between 600-700, protein is 80-100, and still right around 30 carbs.

I had the sleeve, so I absorb everything, I'm sure people with RNY or DS need more calories, protein, and carbs.

good morning,
im kinda still learning about all of this only being post op 2 months this mon but ive been losing every week so i guess im doing something right here is my food plan
break a protein shake
lunch high protein ( tuna , salmon, hard boiled egg)
dinner high protein and a veggie
after snack protein shake
nuts,
i do have a drop of pasta here and there ( im italian) but most of the time its whole wheat
i hardly have carbs with the exception of hidden carbs in foods im not counting like some of u yet lol i go to the gym 3 times a week work out 1 hr 30 min each time in between i walk and i am now training for a 5 k marathon for oct 3rd wahooo !!!!
im taking centrum silver plus chewable vitamin and i get all of my water in

What worked for me during losing was tracking my food daily on thedailyplate.com.  Its so REAL when you can actually SEE what you're eating and what is in the foods.  I kept myself to a high protein/low carb diet.  No/low white carbs and low fat, low sugar (I dumped on it)  I started exercising 2 months after surgery and that helped a lot.  I primarily got on my elliptical machine and used the treadmill.  I started doing the training program for the 5K and that kept me motivated. 

I drank crystal lite with unflavored protein in it for a long time - that worked well for me, then I started drinking coffee again.  That's when I started changing things up and put my protein in my coffee.  I also started drinking iced coffees and putting my protein in that.  I always had another protein drink at night before I went to bed, and one in the afternoon.  I also liked the Diet juices and would mix an unflavored protein in those too. 

During Maintenance:  Well... I could be doing better, but I'm doing pretty good maintaining where I'm at.  I still stick to a high protein/low carb mentality (that means I have the intentions, it doesn't always work like that).  I put my protein in my morning coffee and also have another double protein drink in the afternoon.  I pack my lunch for work and do very well with it.  Typical menu is:

2 protein coffees for breakfast
A protein atkins bar (peanut butter/choc) that has only 1 carb for a snack
a sandwich on wheat bread (ham/cheese), leftover chicken/steak from the night before, etc for lunch
my double protein drink for a snack
if I need another snack I have greek yogurt or a piece of low carb wasa bread with some cheese
My dinners are a challenge because I don't plan them well.

Things I need to change for maintenance:

Get more water
Plan my dinners like I do my food during the day
Stop falling prey to the carb demon - especially when I go out to eat
Start exercising again
Start logging on thedailyplate again.  I DO think that will help me identify and see what I'm doing right or wrong.
Identify why I snack at night

I am sure I should know this already...but what kind of protein do you use?

I use IDS vanilla-cinnamon for my coffee, IDS cappuccino or Nectar cappuccino in the winter months and Nectar strawberry mousse in the summer. I get them at www.vitalady.com
 
--gina

I got to a normal BMI at 6.5 months and my final weight at 10.5.

Losing:
-tracking my food (I used The Daily Plate at first and then switched to My Fitness Pal)
-exercise
-high protein/low carb diet
-only counting my weight on Mondays (I weighed more often but only Mondays counted so I didn't freak as much over the fluctuations as long as I was down from the Monday before)
-Protein shake every morning for breakfast
-Going to support meetings regularly

Maintenance:
Um, pretty much the same thing.

I do weigh myself daily still. I only change my ticker if I get out of my range (112-119) and, if I get out of my range, I do things to get back into it.

Of course, I eat more calories now and more carbs. I eat more protein too though.

I started with around 70-90 g of protein, went up to 90-100, then 100-120 and now I try to stay over 125, but preferably 140 or more.

My carbs started out around 25 g. a day, and then gradually went up. The highest they were while losing was 65g. Now I try to keep my carbs under 200 on average. (That's low for an endurance athlete)

My calories started around 450 and gradually went up to 1200 right around the time I hit goal. My calories now are 1650 plus whatever I burn in exercise. It works out to 2000-2100 a day on average.

As its been put  to me, I am "metabolically challenged".  For most wls folks this is a sprint to goal.  Not so for me, its a long arduous marathon.  Despite wls and sticking to plan I still struggle with repeated weight gain.  That being said, I manage my calorie deficit.  To do this I track both what I eat and my exercise calories burned.

I do best keeping protein at a minimum 100g daily, carbs below 50g net carbs.  While I was loosing, two workouts daily of an hour to an hou and a half.  Maintenance, six hours cardio and three hours strength a week. 

If I want something high cal/ high carb I pay it forward in exercise.  No food is off limits unless I know it would lead to over eating.  If I eat something unplanned that's high cal/ high carb, I have to pay for it with double the calories in exercise.  

My calorie count is my budget.  Exercise is like calories in the bank and every food has a cost.   

Thanks for sharing.
This really gives me a good idea of what my near future will look like.