For me it's about choices.  Do I want to eat more or weigh less?  Like others have said, if we have to deprive ourselves and starve to stay at a weight then maybe it isn't the right weight for us.

I've had some bounce back in the last 4 years.  After I reached my lowest weight (too low) I bounced back about 5 lbs and stayed there for about 2 years without much effort. 

Then suddenly I gained another 5 lbs with no apparent change in my eating.  Still an okay weight but of course no one likes to see the scale go up no matter what the numbers.

And the fear, is it going to stop?  Will it just keep going like it always did in the past?

For me it's about 2 things.  One is that I am eating right.  High protein, avoid processed, refined foods and stay away from things that I cannot manage in moderation, mainly sugar and gluten.

And two, no matter what the scale says that it is stable and consistent.  Not going up 10, down 5.  That never worked for me so I had to figure out a way to eat that resulted in a stable weight, which I seem to have done, so far.

I am so new to this maintaining thing.  I have never in my life stayed the same size for any amount of time.  For me to have clothes for 4 summers now just blows me away.  I see pictures of me wearing jeans in 2011 that I still wear today.  I've never had that experience before and I'm still feeling my way around things, and watching how others manage it.

In the end it is all about what works for us as an individual.  There is no one size fits all, so to speak.  No uniform rules that apply to everyone.  Trial and error and daily decisions and choices that lead to a routine that I can live with.

Also, you mention GI problems.  For me those are directly related to my food choices.  For some eating refined carbs can cause problems.  May I suggest an elimination diet?  Start by eliminating everything but protein for a few days, things that you know agree with you.  Gradually add things back in, one at a time so you can pinpoint anything that causes changes.  It could be lactose, as well.  I know that there are some things that if I choose to eat I will get intestinal discomfort, like sugar alcohols.  That doesn't mean I don't eat them, I just eat them knowing that there will be a price to pay and sometimes I am willing to pay that price. 

Thanks so much for your response.  Something you said reminded me of what my therapist says when I talk about this.  She says that all I really need to do is ask myself if I am happy with my food choices.  Am I eating whole protein first foods?  And the truth is, I am really not that happy with my food choices sometimes.  so I can work on that and if I lose fine but if I don't, maybe that needs to be fine too.  I am really active and eating a small amount of calories just isn't good for me.  On any level. 

It is funny that you mention the elimination diet.  I actually attribute these last five pounds directly to the elimination diet!  About 1 year ago I started trying to discover if there was a food related component to my troubles and cut out all sorts of stuff but never got rid of my symptoms, so I cut out more, and then more.  There was a three week period in there where I was on stock only.  I would have some improvement but then it would get bad again.  I really don't know what I was thinking.  I think I was trying so hard to figure it out that I didn't take into account what it was doing to me emotionally.  After months of that I started to get really loony about it.  I would stick with the elimination diet for a long time and then would lose my mind and eat all sorts of crap.  Then I would start over.  And then lose my mind.  Over and over.  I have a new GI doc who I really like and he thinks some foods might be aggravating me but even on nothing but stock and meat I have tummy troubles.  But some of those are being sorted out.  Right now I am not eliminating anything and I am on a new probiotic and immodium everyday and I am better than I have been in 18 months.  I still have the horrible bloating though and he thinks I have SIBO and I am getting tested for that.  He also found that I have pelvic floor dysfunction which messes with bowel movements and can cause all sorts of odd problems.  So I am starting physical therapy for that (and yes, physical therapy for the pelvic floor is a bit, um, intrusive).  So all that stuff is getting better. 

It can all be a little crazy making, but it is really wonderful to be able to have a forum to get support and sort it out now and then.  Thanks for taking the time to respond!

Wow, we have a few things in common.  I spent 8 years in hell due to SIBO.  That was the main reason for my revision.  I had a blind limb and no amount of probiotics would fix that.  The only thing that helped was Flagyl but of course I couldn't take that all the time.

My revision was 100% successful and I haven't had a problem with that.  Now I live with constipation, which is a whole other issues.

I also have pelvic floor issues.  I had a terrible birth experience with my first daughter back in 1987.  I joke that I haven't had a normal bowel movement since and it was months before I could pee right.

I've had surgery but that didn't help and they don't want to do any more surgery.  I have a rectocele which makes it nearly impossible to get empty.  Add to that very aggressive hemorrhoid surgery (the pregnancy left me with terrible hemorrhoids) that created scar tissue around my rectum, which makes elimination very difficult, and going to the bathroom is almost always a challenge.

I took Miralax daily and it helped in some ways but the problem was that while it made my stool very soft, it still didn't help me eliminate it and I had hygiene problems plus I needed to use the bathroom all the time.

I stopped the Miralax and it helped in some ways but caused other problems.  I can easily become impacted because of the scar tissue.  I live on fiber but that doesn't help much.  I also am prone to bowel obstructions and need to keep things moving.

Of course I don't blame any of these issues on my WLS.  But it really is hard when your life revolves around your bowels and the best thing that can happen on any given day is having a good bowel movement.  Talk about getting old.

Oh my!  Yes, that is a lot in common.  I had a really wacky labor with my first (the labor itself was 80 some hours, active labor lasted 64 and then I pushed for five hours) and it has me all miscombobulated!  I am so sick of talking about my poop!  I can't stand it!!!!!  I had a rectocele repair three years ago that totally fixed that but now they are telling me that possibly it caused this other problem.  Man oh man.  I really feel your pain.  Now that I finally have a good GI doc I am starting to see the problem.  There are at least two very distinct problems that don't have anything to do with each other, the pelvic floor stuff and then the SIBO or IBS or whatever it is.  So my symptoms look kindof weird and now I realize that certain things, like food elimination, help with some things but not others, because there is more than one thing going on.  i have my first physical therapy appointment tomorrow.  Crossing my fingers.  If I can get that problem solved a little then maybe the other problems will be easier to sort out.  On top of all this nonsence I seem to have developed eosinophilic esophagitis which the GI guy does not think is a result of allergy to any specific food, but rather a general overreaction of my immune system.  he says it is like asthma of the esophagus.  So bizarre.  All I can wonder is if the tummy stuff, IBS or SIBO or whatever the heck it is might have stressed my body and created this general inflammatory response that really stcuk in my esophagus.  Good grief! 

I think that fear is the biggest thing.  Do I really care if I gain five pounds?  Will an extra five pounds affect the way I live my life?  No.  But it's scary because what if that five pounds becomes 10?  And then 15?  And then 50?  And I would care if I gained 50 pounds.

Are you exercising?  Try picking up a body pump class for 2 months, two times a week. I did that and while my weight stayed the same, my pants sizes went down.

For me, exercise is the key.

I keep hearing about body pump!  i live in the middle of nowhere so there are no gyms here.  but I am pretty active.  I am an outdoorsy sort so I hike alot.  Snow shoe season is about to start and that is really nice exercise.  And wood splitting, stacking, and hauling.  I have split and stacked three full cord and have two to go.  My shoulders are burning!  But I think I am going to add more regular yoga, for the muscle building and the stress management.  Clearly I need it!

HI Louise,

I do not intend to argue with you or get "preachy" but my experience has shown that yoga does not cut it for calorie burning or "muscle building"  Yoga is there for flexibility and "peace of mind" (if there is a meditation aspect to it).

When my weight was plateauing, I used my heart rate monitor to determine my calories burned via several different exercises. Power yoga burned 263 calories in 45 minutes. Body pump burns 657 calories in 45 minutes.

I do not disagree that splitting wood is hard work. I grew up in northern MN.  HOwever, splitting wood works the delts, biceps and tricieps. Sometimes the rotator cuffs.  These are SMALL muscles and will not burn a lot calorically speaking.  You need to get some muscle building/calorie burning out of the BIG muscles by squats.

Please consider this advice.

Best wishes,

Skinny Scientist

Thanks for the response!  I think I have a pretty realistic sense of the exercise I am getting but I am totally open to new info and a fresh look.  I know I could get workout videos that would replicate some of the body pump circuit training sorts of workouts that are reallyl popular right now.  And I have done them in the past.  There was a long while when I was seriously into that sort of workout.  Lately I just really like outdoor stuff better and I know that I will stick with what I love so I think I will try to stay with that.  But finding ways to make those activities really work my body is a good idea.  For example, my wood stacking workout is probably more intense that I made it sound.  My wood shed is maybe 60 yards from the house (who built it there I have no idea!) and it is slightly uphill to get to the house.  so I load up the wheelbarrow, squatting with each armful, and then run up hill pushing the wheelbarrow to the house.  Then I unload.  And I do that all over again.  Every twenty minutes or so I stop and chop for a few minutes.  I am pretty trashed after an hour or two of that.  My neighbors think it is INSANE and regularly offer me their pickup.  Hehe. 

Your yoga experiences is probably true, especially from a calorie perspective.  But I love it and I do find that it tones me up nicely, especially in the upper body and even though that won't have as big an affect on weight as big muscle group stuff, when my delts are looking good I feel way better about myself :)

I think a place I could improve without hating my life is to up my hiking.  I LOVE to hike but these last few months have been rough and I haven't gone as often as I like,  When I was my skinniest I was hiking a TON, one 14-16 hr hike each week and then 2 or 3 shorter hikes of maybe 1-3 hours.  And while I don't know if that is sustainable all the time I can do more than I have been lately.  I am trying to find some each accessible short hikes really close by.  Yesterday on my way home from work I hiked a little mountain, 2 hours round trip.  I had my heart rate monitor on on the way up and I was in the 160-175 range for the hour uphill and down closer to 130 on the way down.   It was wicked steep, 1300 feet elevation gain in 1.2 miles.  so lots of big muscle groups were working hard. 

I remember reading that if you let your heart rate get too high you broke down muscle or something like that.  Do you know anything about that?  And does it change with fitness level I wonder?  I really wouldn't' want to slow down, the pace I was at yesterday felt really good to my body.  I have a trainer I work with from time to time and he specializes in functional fitness which I really like.  Maybe I could make an appointment with him and just have him re-evaluate what I am up to.  The thing is though, just like with the food, I don't want to do things that are not sustainable. 

Thanks for your feedback!

HI. ON heart rate, I hadnt heard anythign about breaking down muscle, but I will look into it when I see my personal trainer.

I know a lower heart rate is fat burning, the middle one is aerobic and the third (highest) segment for heart rate is anaerobic.

Talk to you soon. Please friend me and I will let you know. I should be seeing my trainer this week.