[clancythecamper]

Bree - good to hear from you! I, too, appreciate your prospective. I am def in a period of adjustment, maybe more mentally than physically~~~ I have suspected for some time that our bodies will decide for us but since I really didnt get much guidance from my doc on maintenance, I really didn't know a lot. One day at a time ~~~ Thanks!

[thumper1]

Great advice Bree, I am 1 year out and think I prob. have 20+lbs. of sagging skin but I still want to lose some more. If we will "regulate" ourselves in a few years then that should mean our bodies have healed and knows what it wants to maintain,right? Tks. Kathy

[minnesotashopper2]

"From Brees post"
(ok...after being 6 yrs out I'm gonna try hard to give you some perspective..

it just doesn't work that way...decide okay..not gonna lose more, THIS is where I wanna stay. You keep working out and KEEP LIVING THE LIFE you can live with.

That means this:
can you live a life for the next 10-15 yrs that includes the LEVEL of exercise you are doing NOW..continue on this way...

your body will decide the place it ends up. Often..far too many times we get gung ho, get going on a very very active life, then people start influencing with commenting on how 'tiny' you are, etc..aren't you gonna STOP losing now? ..

Your body decides...you WILL go to a low and then go UP again..the only ones I've met that don't go back up much at all are the ones who keep very active lifestyles OR have had extensive *(emphasis on the extensive here) plastic surgery done to remove excess fat, skin, etc..tightened up beyond belief.

Get comfortable where you are with the body you HAVE now...love it, learn to work with it, enjoy what you can do NOW that you never could do before being so obese!!

Embrace the new you and accept it..got to therapy again if that's what you need to accept the new you. )

I couldn't agree more with Brees post. Your body will have a set point, (differant for everyone), later on as you are more further out. That is why, I dont even think about it anymore. I have maintained for over 5-6 yrs. of the 9 yrs postop. I haven't changed anything for food, I still eat a small amount, I can eat some more of course then at 2 yrs. out, but am happy with the amount I can eat. Exercise, taking your multivitamins, and stay happy, all are great things that YOU will do forever.
Now as much as I am againest new postops obsessing with that darn scale, you will need to weigh yourself oh about once a week. Remember where you are at, how do your clothes fit? Have you been more lax on exercising? Going to your Dr. at a one yr checkup and every year after that, will also keep you with more encouragement, and support. Plus they will do everything to help answer any concerns that come up. This site is excellent for support, but you do need to consult your surgeons office for the occasional blood testing, etc.
And also you will find that the numbers on the scale are just not matching clothing sizes anymore. I think designers have adjusted sizing to alittle on the larger size then years ago. I still wear mostly 14 for pants, and that is ok, I didn't have any plastic surgery, so I do have alot of loose skin hanging from waist down. And I can usually wear a size small- med top. Remember on me, that upper part is alot smaller then my lower half. When I was able to get into the size 8 pants, I was weighing 153 pds. That is why I dont tell people what I weigh, as they will not believe me, when they know that I can wear 12- mostly 14 pants. Still not entering any plus size stores. The regular misses is just working fine for me.

Dont freak if you do put on some pounds, like I was at one point. For me it made me healthier, then when I was trying to stay at a size 8 in clothes. I think I looked better when I was that size, but staying the same weight all these years, is proof that I may be at a correct body weight for me. There will always be those few, that wont do something and will gain more weight then they should. Eating carbs, munching on snacks that are not nutrious, and not moving around like they did. For those of you have or are doing the great exercising, you will or should continue to do so, what a great healthy way to live. Not just for continual weight maintaining, but for all your organs, tissues, etc.

Good question asked by a few of you on what do I do now or soon, when you have reached a goal, The next goal will be to keep doing what you know you need to do. Dont change!
Also those who do tend to gain alot of weight, are missing out on what the program was gonna be for the rest of their life. If that happend you need to go back to square one, and check things out first with your MD to make sure something else isn't going on, but more then likely its YOU not the tool that fails.
And the end of another long post from me.... The wedding photo was July 28,2007 almost one year ago, still a newlywed. lol

[kimtindall]

Excellent Bree and Lori.
You guys are so great to have around with the posts. Thank you for sharing your thoughts. To tell you honeslty, I am still in the "Obese" catagory of the BMI and I couldnt be happier with myself. I am in a 12/14 in pants and wearing a Jr Large in my tops. I would have NEVER thought that I would be in either of those at any point in my life. I really do look up to you guys that are that far out and holding steady!!!

[beckamarie]

Bree and Lori I am so happy to have y'all here for support. I am 1 yr out and pretty much maintaining, I drop a pound or 2 here and there but mostly stay the same. I am happy wth me now and actually have been for about 30 pounds now. Thank you for your input it does help sooo much

[beckamarie]

BTW Lori LOVE your wedding pic you are beautiful

[mommytoj&k]

Thanks to you both for your perspectives. I have been having some of the same thoughts as I get closer to goal. I am almost 5 months out and have lost well over half of the weight that I want to lose. I am a little concerned about losing too much, but now I have some perspective on that thanks to the two of you. I understand now that my body is in control.

You ladies are great. Thanks!!

[kitty56]

Thank you Brea and Lori for the wonderful insight of what is to come once we are at our ideal body weight, where our body wants to be. My daughter said the same thing. She is eating what she is suppose to but her body wants to stay right where it is, she is sitting at about 160 pounds and just cannot lose it and she said she is comfortable where she is at becasue her body wants to stay there. My daughter maintains her weight very well, but now if she does gain a little she will get very strict with herself and get those extra pounds off in a week or so.

[angelmolly20]

Very well put Bree.....Im at the 4 yr mark. This surgery is a wonderful thing...but its also a hugh life change in everything we do.....I would love to have the not so hungry feeling again, like I had the first couple yrs. But fact is our body adjusts just like Bree said. You WILL be able to eat more.....You WILL get hungry.....and You WILL gain a few lbs here and there. (Please Please dont beat yourself up).......But you have to have a mind set that You WILL NOT let it get the best of you. Take the tools you have learned and keep your body healthy. Healthy does not always mean skinny....
I have gained 10 lbs. I hate it.....but Im a bit healthier than when I was lower weight. I had so many people say...."oh your so tiny" "its soon time you stopped losing" "Im worried about you, you dont eat enough"......thats rude......you would never never hear me say "Im worried about you, you eat to much" but people think its ok to say those things to me......

I just found this group and it has helped me alot. Im going back to the tools I learned (cause we get lazy) and Im feeling good about it.

[Perfesser]

Originally Posted by BreeChick

Embrace the new you and accept it..got to therapy again if that's what you need to accept the new you.

Frankly we often start to want to regain some in an attempt to make those around us more comfortable, those who are most close to us often become very uncomfortable with the new thin 'us'

My wife thinks I've lost too much, and would like me to regain some of it. I keep telling her that the body will decide where I stop, and so far it's come to this level looking for its set point. I happen to think it'll go up a few pounds again of its own accord. But the nut today told me I look good and am exactly where I should be! So if I changed for my wife (I love her, but she's not an expert here!) I would not necessarily be doing something in my best interest. (I'll get even next year when she has WLS and then I can tell her how skinny she looks! )

My wife has never seen me this size, and it's been a few decades since I've even been close, so the change is spooking her. I still plan to listen more to what my body is telling me than to her (but please don't tell her!!)

Originally Posted by minnesotashopper2

Also those who do tend to gain alot of weight, are missing out on what the program was gonna be for the rest of their life. If that happend you need to go back to square one, and check things out first with your MD to make sure something else isn't going on, but more then likely its YOU not the tool that fails.

Lori can tell me if I'm all wet here, but I kinda think that some of us, coming from a background of diets tried and failed, or diets tried and discontinued (like I did with Atkins) may treat this as a diet. If we relax and turn away from success, we turn towards failure. If we act as if this great post-op weight loss is a wildly successful diet, there is a risk that at some point we tire of it and get complacent, stop doing what works, and court a dramatic weight gain. This must not be so!!

I think I'm hovering somewhere around my near-term set point. I've been 170 +/- 5 for well over a month now, and it doesn't feel like a stall to me. I weigh daily because I'm a data-driven engineer, but I don't obsess over it. If I gain more than I think good, I tighten up a bit for a couple of days and I'm back. But I lack the experience of Bree, Lori & Mary Ann. They together have 19 years post-op! They must know what they're talking about!

So I'm still doing what the doc and his staff have prescribed. The body will do what it wants, and I'll try to stay up with it, but I also control the process. In 2 years, maybe it'll decide that my set-point needs re-calibration. As long as it doesn't go off on a wild spree, I'll let it adjust. But I'll be able to influence what it does by how strictly I live as I know I should. We are all being trained in our post-op honeymoon to listen to our bodies and follow wise nutritional habits. With such beautiful examples of maintenance leading us, I won't worry about the future. My everyday present will form my future.

As for me, I'm looking forward to maintaining. I'm really looking forward to stabilizing on a size for awhile. I am a professional person, but I have not one suit I can wear on those occasions when I need to look sharp! I gave 'em all away as I left them behind! It'll be nice to finally figure out what size to buy!!

CT