Weekly Maintenance Post

Jennifer, good for you for getting an eliptical.  It is a great workout.  I wrote the check last month for my gym membership and after a week of not taking it just voided the check and tore it up.  I still want to get back there because I know that I need the weights.

I love to walk/run and it has been so hot here that it makes it really difficult.  Along with us having the storms every afternoon.  Hope it cools down for both of us soon.

Exercise is a big part of the lifestyle we need to have, especially when we get further out and the malabsorption of food stops and we can eat more.  Good luck finding something that you enjoy.

Linda

What has helped me to this point?  Staying in touch with other people who have had WLS.  I know I started getting off track before when I stopped having contact both in person and online with others who had WLS.  Also remembering not to drink with meals, always 100 grams (or more) of protein a day, 100 oz or more of fluids a day.
Struggles?  Always getting in more exercise.  I did make it to the gym a few times, went swimming and rode my bike.  Need to do that more and more consistently.  My goal is to go first thing in the morning to the water aerobic class at the very least.  Exercise has always been a struggle for me.  Also carbs as in fruit such as strawberries.  I love them and since they aren't around all the time when they are I take advantage of them.  I can eat a pound every day or two if I let myself.  Also sugar free candy and ice cream.  When I buy sugar free candy I buy it from the bulk bins and put a small serving in a single bag so it is at least portion controlled and I usually only have it every few days but I have to watch that I don't become too compulsive about it.  Same with the sugar free ice cream.  I am fine with the protein ice cream I make but when I splurge and buy the sugar free stuff like I did last night I have to be careful and measure it out and make sure I don't go crazy with it and the sugar free hot fudge, too.  It is so hard sometimes for me to have a treat and not want to go crazy and have a lot of it.  Sometimes it is easier to just not have any at all then it is to try to control the amount.
Victories this week?  Like I said in the struggles, even though I struggle a lot I do manage to get in some activity and maintain some portion control even though it seems like I fight myself in order to do so.  Maybe some day it will come naturally to me.
In the end accountability is the key for me in order to have any kind of success on a day to day basis.

I'm with you on staying in touch with other people.  I know I would not have done as well if it were not for this support board.  Especially since it is the only support group I have close to me.

I could not keep any candy whether it was sugar free or not - I have no control.  I had to stop buying the sugar free ice cream because I would just keep eating it at night.

You have done good with your maintenance.  Accountability is so important.

Hope you made it to water aerobics this morning!!

Linda

I am learning the same thing about the ice cream and the candy.  Not that I have lost control but I spend too much time thinking about it and it's not worth the mental energy.  I don't think I'll buy any more when this is gone.  Oh well, it's all a learning process.  It has nothing to do with my weight right now.  Ironically my weight is lower then before.  It's about not letting the food get out of hand again and then the weight going along with it.  I finally figured out that the weight gain doesn't come first, it's the overeating that starts first, then the weight gain, so if I manage the food I don't have to worry about the weight.
I didn't make it to water aerobics this morning.  Oh well, there is always tomorrow.

I had not thought about the overeating starting first and then the weight gain, but that is so true.  I need to remember that.

Tomorrow is a new day!!

 

What helps keep me successful is what I do the first few hours each day.  I am a morning person, but my pouch is not; it wakes up very slowly.  As a result, my first two meals of the day are protein shake and yogurt, spaced several hours apart.  Those light meals usually  keeps my appetite in check for most of the day.   If I eat a more substantial breakfast, it usually sets me up for a day of consuming more than I normally do.

Struggles:  Emotional eating, sweets  and carbs remain my  greatest challenges.  The issues that brought me to WLS.  I am doing much better than pre WLS.

Victory:  I am maintaining my weight for the first time in my adult life.  I have never weighed the same weight, give or take a few pounds, two years in  a row.  I am so thankful for that.

I have to do protein drinks in the morning also.  I just don't want food first thing in the morning.

Emotional eating is a problem for me too.  I love sweets and carbs if I get started on them it is so hard to stop.

Sounds like we are a lot alike.  It is funny how different people have such different journey's. 

Congratulations on maintaining for 2 years!!  I don't think I ever did that before WLS either.

Linda