How Can I Maintain this Miraculous Weight

My surgery was Nov 14, 2012 and I've lost a total of 116 lbs.  CW = 114.4.  Miraculous, unbelievable and surreal do not adequately describe how I feel.  I can't bear the thought of any re-gain.  I've spent a TON of money on news clothes - all size 0s and 2s, and extra smalls.  I love this feeling and would not be able to deal with the "normal regain" of 10 or 15% in the coming months/years.  My NUT says that the regain will happen, and I need to be prepared (mentally and emotionally). 

I'd love to hear from people who managed to lose a lot more than their original goal(s) and, most importantly, have kept all the weight off.  If this scenario (being able to sustain a lower weight than expected) is the exception rather than the norm, I want to be the exception.  I do not currently exercise with any regularity, and I know that I MUST do so. 

I'm obsessed with the number on the scale, and my food intake.  I move between 113.8 - 116 and I freak out if I go over that.  I have to be vigilant because I know what an awful self-sabateur I can be.  I feel like this dream could all go south quickly if I return to my bad habits.  Many of my old cravings are back, and although I'm generally eating very healthy, I do indulge in things that I should not - cookies, chocolate, etc.

BTW... my NUT told me today that I really only want to aim for 60-70 g of protein/day.  I've been aiming for 80-100 g, thinking that it would be good for my body and health, but apparently that's not the case.  I strive for approx. 1,500-1,700 calories/day to maintain this weight and am generally eating very healthy and balanced meals and snacks, but sometimes go over that, with my poor and indulgent food choices.  It scares me how I can eat quite of lot of some foods (the bad ones like ice cream, crackers, cookies, chocolate, etc.) and not have my pouch rebel.  That really worries me.

I did NOT lose a lot more weight than expected (and I'm not sure why that's a criteria for you in terms of who you want answering your question) but I have managed to maintain the same weight, within a 5 pound normal fluctuation).  I am a little over six years out.

The answer to how you maintain it is that you keep doing what you have already been doing.  Plain and simple.  That's why the vets tell people not to stress over how quickly the weight is or isn't coming off... Because this ISN'T a diet where once you lose the weight you get to go back to eating the way you did before or start eating some new way... This way of eating is for life.

It also sounds lie perhaps counseling might be useful since you mention self sabotage and indulging.

I don't believe that regain is inevitable (because i know a number of people here who have not regained even a pound), but I do know from what I have seen both here and IRL that it is extremely common for people to gain 5-10 "bounce back" pounds (which is different than the 10% amount that is often cited). I do think it is smart to try to mentally separate the idea of gaining a couple of pounds as your body gets HEALTHY again after the strain of massive weight loss, and the idea of regaining a significant amount of weight. They are two completely different things.

Mine was about 4 pounds.  I got to my lowest weight at 18 months out, stayed there for a short time, and then bounced up over the course of just a few weeks. That is the weight that I have been maintaining since then. It is relatively easy for me to stay at this weight, but VERY difficult to try to force it lower. I can accept 4 pounds. 10% of my weight loss would have been 19 pounds, though, and I was NOT going to let that happen.

Lora

You have to totally clean up your diet, I mean no junk allowed, lower your calories and stay vigilant at any sign of regain.  You will not be able to eat all that forever without regaining.  I lived in that fairy tale for 4 years and then reality set back in.  So now I eat approx 1000 maybe 1200 calories a day during the week and some more on the weekends so I can have some treats.  But my diet is nice and clean, no crap, no artifical stuff, no processed stuff, mostly lean chicken and lots of brown rice.  I don't go over 45 grams of protein anymore because I am nearly 9 years out and I feel my body is somewhat normal for what and how much I absorb, although I know I do absorb things much faster and RH is a concern.

I weigh 128lbs and am maintaining here through willpower and the refusal to regain.  It can be done, but it's not easy.

"My NUT says that the regain will happen, and I need to be prepared (mentally and emotionally)."

Really?  I don't know your "nut", but it ticks me off that anyone would say that to you, after the great success you have had.  Congratulations, by the way!  You have lost about 1/2 your body weight, which was my experience as well.  I used to weigh 404 - Now I maintain under 200.

My original physician told me the same thing a couple of years ago: don't expect to keep the weight off; you will probably still be obese or overweight when you have stopped losing.  I fired that physician and found someone else for those very comments.  I then preceded to lose another 30 lbs.

Does your "nut" control how much you eat and what physical activity you do? I don't think so.  These are the two things that most impact you weight.  I lost all my weight and have kept it off.  You don't have to regain.  I remind myself every day I am not going back to being obese or even overweight.  Losing 210 lbs to achieve a normal appearance has changed my life and solved all of my serious problems.  I have no desire to go back.

If you really love the way you feel, let that be an impetus for you to be extra careful.  Log what you eat -- and be honest with yourself.  If you notice unwanted weight coming on, consciously reduce your calorie intake or up your exercise.  Search your logs and be brutally honest looking for the cause.   It is there.  You control your own destiny!  You won't need much: just a 100 or 200 calorie per day decrease in intake (or increase in output) when at equilibrium will lead to weight loss over weeks and months.

You can do it - don't accept the defeatist attitudes of others!

Start by getting all the junk food out of your house, car, office, and life!  Every time you test your boundaries on dumping you are opening doors and welcoming back into your life the very things that got you fat in the first place. If you had previously been mugged or raped, you wouldn't go in dark alleys. Similarly, don't put yourself in harm's way again with food. You really don't want to have to give away all those beautiful new skinny clothes do you? 

This would be a great time to begin working with a weight loss therapist, preferably someone with a cognitive therapy bent so you get positive influences quickly, rather than rattling around in your head for months. Best wishes for your continuing journey!

Stay diligent. I have not had any regain. I don't listen when people say "everyone has regain" because that is not true for many of us here.

What the surgeons and nutritionists are trying to tell you is that regain is very much a risk of the surgery process.  That is because the pouch grows bigger, the body learns how to absorb calories again, we get tired of our plan and try new things, we stay away from the scale and we slack off on exercise.

My doctor's goal for  me is 136. I easily dropped to 128 and stayed there for several years.  Then at month 30 I had a doctor appointment and was up to 131.  That did not seem like a big deal but a month later, I hit 134 and kept gaining about a pound a wee****il I was 142.

I joined Weigh****chers, went to the gym everyday, and tried the Weigh****chers diet instead of my food plan.  I stopped gaining, but did not lose.  I finally lost the excess weight when I cut to 800 calories a day.  That took off a pound a week.  In a few months, I was finally at 136 again and now work hard to stay there.

This is where I am comfortable, but I weigh myself everyday and am on it immediately if I see an increase on the scale.  There are people who never regain a pound and there are people *****gain sixty, eighty, one hundred or more pounds.  Twenty pounds is considered average during year three. 

If you want to be a person who never regains, then you do have to dedicate yourself to that goal.  Never go a day without weighing yourself.  Never deviate from your food or exercise plan.  Realize that you can get away with poor choices and no exercise only until the body regains its ability to absorb calories.

A good plan is to use the early part of your surgery to lose some "cushion" weight.  Even if you look too skinny it is better to be below your goal when malabsorption ends, your appetite increases and boredom sets in.  I gained weight during a summer when I did not have the scale accessible at home and only weighed at the doctor's office.  Now I make sure the scale is my first order of business every morning.

You are just starting on year two.  That was a really easy year for me. Reality took another year to hit me.

Gaining weight is not fun no matter what we weigh.  I got way under my goal, under 100 lbs which was very unhealthy for me.  I starting adding in about 100 calories at a time, all healthy things like protein, and gained about 5 lbs and stayed at that weight without fail for over 2 years and then in the last few months, without any change at all in what I am eating, I have regained about 5 lbs.  I don't mind the extra weight since I felt I was too small but I hated watching the scale go up.  If I didn't weigh myself I wouldn't have even known I had gained since my clothes all fit pretty much the same.

One thing I can guarantee you is that if you continue to eat things like ice cream, crackers and cookies and chocolate is you will regain and most likely more then you want.  I have been around for a minute and I haven't seen it fail that people who toy with the refined carbs in the first few years and think they can manage them find that it comes back to bite them.  One thing I was sure of is no matter what my weight I am not going to eat things with sugar and gluten just because I can or to put on some weight.  I really don't care what I weigh as much as I care about not being out of control with my food which is what happens when I eat refined carbs.  There are some who can eat those things in moderation but they know their limits and avoid things that they know they can't handle in moderation.  My experience is that many people who wind up needing surgery to lose weight have had some kind of issues with overeating and or carb addition.  Not all but a lot.  

Another thing to remember is the way you feel now may not be the way you feel in 5 years or even next year.  Today it may be unacceptable to put on even a pound but there may come a day when you just don't care.  I remember after my first WLS I was scared to death of regain but when I found myself gaining very slowly I kept telling myself that it was temporary and would stop.  The first few years it was only a pound or two a month, which translated to about 10 lbs a year, which seemed totally innocuous but by the end I had regained nearly 70 lbs in less then a year after forcing myself to diet to lose the regain and when I broke that diet I couldn't stop eating.

There comes a time for a lot of people when they have to make a decision about what is important to them, eating more or weighing less.  Some people would rather be a few lbs overweight and be able to eat more freely, while others would rather diet stringently in order to weigh less.  Some of us have found that that level of dieting isn't realistic or even possible and only leads to feeling deprived, which leads to rebellion and an attitude of "screw it, I'm going to eat whatever I want."  We all have to decide what we want and what we can live with.  For me I have found that my life isn't that much different when I weigh less.  I still have the same job, same house, same kids and same friends.  Yeah, I hate the idea of buying new clothes but since I get almost everything at thrift stores it won't break me and gives me an excuse to do more shopping.  I learned the hard way that there are a lot worse things in my life then being fat.  All my fat cells are still there waiting to be filled and while I hope that never happens I regained after WLS before so I know it can happen and I have accepted it and don't fear it and I just take it one day at a time.