Transitioning into Maintenance

I am 7 months out, doing great, labs are wonderful and not scheduled to see my surgeon or nut until my 1 year Surgiversary. I am getting close to my goal weight, if you talk to my pcp, it is in 10 pounds and my surgeon says closer to 20. Anyways, I am sure I will be there long before the next 5 months are up. How do you know when you are ready for maintenance, what do you add to your daily intake and how long should the transition take. When I get a little closer, I will call the office and see the nut, psych and possibly the nurse practitioner and get their advice. Just wanted to hear from the Vets out there who have gone through this. I just want to be ready when the time comes. Right now, I have a normal weight, bmi, body fat% but want to go lower, just in case of regain. I am 5' 5 1/2" tall and weight about 143. My clothing size is a sm/md top and size 6 - 8 pants. I've always said that I would listen to my body and let it decide when it feels like it is happy and ready for maintenance. I will try and post pics but I have had trouble every time I attempted it.

Also, I want to thank everyone on OH who has helped me in any way, support, encouragement, and a little butt kicking when needed. Good bad and ugly, I appreciate it all.

julie

I can tell you what my NUT told me to do to stop losing: Add healthy fats by adding some olive oil to my evening meal and slightly increasing portion size. Calorie wise no more than 200 a day and see how that works. Adjust up or down from there. Please follow what your team says though.

Pictures:

1) Add the photo to your profile.

2) Open OH in 2 tabs, one with the photo you want to post and the other to where you want to post it.

3) Right click on the photo and "copy"

4) Where you want the photo right click and "paste" (you actually have to do that twice, you will know what I mean when you get there)

Photo posted :)

I am still having trouble posting a pic, it says that the file is too large. How do I resize it smaller. I really want to put a face with my profile.

Thanks

Ugh! The profile photo is another whole issue! I can't remember how to do that but I know it involves resizing in another program. I think that this will work http://www.picresize.com/#

I use this - it's easy peasy - has to be 100 x 100 for an avatar

http://www.shrinkpictures.com/

If you continue exactly what you are doing now, your body will just stop losing one day.  For me it happened at 8 pounds under my goal.  My goal is 136, I got to 128 and stayed there until month 30 when I had a 3 pound regain.  Another 3 the following month and 3 the month after that.  That put me at 137 and I started working really hard at more exercise and less food.  The result was another 3 pounds the next month.

My doctor said it was normal bounce-back regain.  I was at least glad that I had not tried to stop my weight loss earlier.  At one point I was up to 145.  I went to Weigh****cher, the gym, the pool, walked in the park, tracked food, points and calories.  The thing that helps me the most is being obsessive about the scale.  For me maintenance is not like any other diet.  

Most people  lose about 100 pounds in the first year, then weight loss stops and stays off effortlessly until about the middle of the third year when the intestines finally learn how to absorb enough calories to cause regain.  Then there is bounce-back regain.  It is part of the process.  Many people look too skinny during year 2.  Almost nobody looks too skinny by the end of year 3.   The weight loss stops on its own and the regain and rounding out of the body also happens on its own.

Letting your body find its own level and stopping when it is ready will give you a cushion for the regain period.

Firstly, congratulations on all your success! You sound like you have a great attitude, and will adjust well to the maintenance phase. You will know you're in maintenance because it is now time to watch that dreaded scale - lol! Keep following your plan, and when the number starts to creep up, that will be your cue. You are very smart for wanting to go as low as you can (and still be healthy), because most of us do experience that bounce back. If you keep practicing the healthy lifestyle that you have learned during this honeymoon phase, your transition to maintenance will be fairly pain-free. Best of luck to you in your new healthy life!

I agree with the other vets.  Continue to do what you are currently doing and let the process work.  Congratulations on your success!