Have a plan and stick to it? Maintenance

[Dutchie]

Addition: My menu will be flexible, suited to the needs of my body.
When we are travelling in the Sahara desert, I will eat something completely different then when watching the Northern lights at the Polar Circle in Finland in freezing temperatures.
I get that.
Tinman? Is that probably what you are talking about?
Changing and adepting as needed?
Staying flexible and listen to my body?
I think that goes without saying.
I will probably eat a lot different in a couple of years than I do now.
I now eat a whole lot different than even six months ago.
Evolving?

[Stacey03]

Addition: My menu will be flexible, suited to the needs of my body.
When we are travelling in the Sahara desert, I will eat something completely different then when watching the Northern lights at the Polar Circle in Finland in freezing temperatures.
I get that.
Tinman? Is that probably what you are talking about?
Changing and adepting as needed?
Staying flexible and listen to my body?
I think that goes without saying.
I will probably eat a lot different in a couple of years than I do now.
I now eat a whole lot different than even six months ago.
Evolving?

Sounds pretty good. I'm off to the very north of Finland next Christmas so let me know all the food hints. I do love a herring :-)

[AnnieG]

DutchSleeve, thanks for starting this thread. I'm a ways from maintenance, and reading all this certainly reinforced what I've come to view as my plan.

I would love to meet some of the folks on here -- but NC is not a place lots of folk come often.

Your friend has lost her way, and I'm sad for her. But VGS is a tool, not a solution and tools mean work, process and then results!

[sraebaer]

Yep! "sticking to it obsessively" to me is a setup to failure. I didn't get the surgery to never eat steaks again or never eat pizza or a cookie now and again. It irritates the bejesus out of me when I see people (mostly under 6 months out or even pre-op) that say that someone will "never" eat this or that. Noooo I can eat pizza - the difference is I no longer order a large and polish it off sitting on the couch in one sitting. I eat one slice and I'm done (and it was GOOD too)

Exactly what I do. Life without pizza wouldn't be living. But "back in the day" hubby and I used to polish off a large, and now we order a small and often bring some home. (Perfect people bug me too, and I don't believe they can be perfect forever.)

[Gvn71]

I have been called naive today.
Maybe I am, I don't know.
I've asked here about the inevitabilityof regain, and I have learned here that you don't have to regain.
That is something I am totally convinced.
I do however have a friend, who had a gbp 4 years ago and she has regained over 26 pounds, up to the point she is out of a "normal" BMI range.
We are both on the same wls forum in the Netherlands.
And where I say it is up to us, whether we regain or not, she waves the inevitability card.

Now I am one of those people, who need to plan.
Not necessarily have control, but a plan nevertheless.
I came up with the following:

My plan:
- I will keep weighing myself every day
- I will go on tracking my food in MFP
- I will keep on weighing and measuring my food
- I will take care of my exercise routine
- I will keep monitoring my self care, including finding different ways to handle stress and emotional eating
- I will keep writing on this forum, it keeps me alert and you are my support team
- I will go on taking my vitamins and go for a blood test twice a year
- If I don't reallly like a certain food, it's not going into my mouth
- I will continue to make healthy choices
- I will eat my proteins first, then my veggies and fruit and healthy carbs

Sorry Ann2, I stole a lot from you, I hope you don't mind.
I wrote this on the forum in the Netherlands.
And (of course) she told me that it was not that easy...

But isn't this what it's all about?
Make a plan and stick to it?

I am still afraid of this whole maintenance thing.
I am really afraid to mess it up.
My problem is probably: I don't have a goal anymore.
I don't need to loose weight anymore.
Like I don't know anymore what to aim for.
Do I even make sense right now?
Am I the only one?

Wow. I was pondering a similar post earlier today! I also am terrified of the maintenance/regain thing. I think about it daily, and that is probably why I weigh daily as well. I watch my numbers and if they start to climb, I get back to basics really quick. If I see a 5lb increase alarms start sounding in my head.

Your plan is very similar to mine! I religiously track my food intake everyday. I was told by my Nut that I could increase my calories but I am happy still doing 1500 - 1700 daily. Why would I increase if I don't need them. Exercise is a key to my success, and if I wasn't working out, I'd likely be eating to cope with my stress. I recently saw a shrink to help deal with some PTSD I now recognize that I have and she couldn't stress enough that dealing with stress the wrong way can and will ruin good people.

I think your plan is a good one (again oddly similar). I notice we are about 1 month apart as far as surgery dates! I was Feb 2, 2017 (tomorrow is my one year surgiversery!!)

As far as not having a goal anymore, find something else that will require training your mind and body for. Climb a mountain (guide services in Europe are everywhere), run a marathon, etc, etc.... My goal went from weight loss to training for a 1/2 Ironman triathlon in Sept 2018. Should keep me busy, and I'd love to get down a few more pounds to my ideal race weight!

Keep doing what you're doing, it's working for you (and for me)!

[tinman]

Addition: My menu will be flexible, suited to the needs of my body.
When we are travelling in the Sahara desert, I will eat something completely different then when watching the Northern lights at the Polar Circle in Finland in freezing temperatures.
I get that.
Tinman? Is that probably what you are talking about?
Changing and adepting as needed?
Staying flexible and listen to my body?
I think that goes without saying.
I will probably eat a lot different in a couple of years than I do now.
I now eat a whole lot different than even six months ago.
Evolving?

Well....sorta. For the rest of your life, your body is always going to perceive that is being attacked in one fashion or another. The reason for this is because of how we eat. So, the only way your body has of letting you know what it needs, is to order room service. Cravings. You must listen to the cravings. Cravings are your body‘s way of ordering room service. It knows it has a better chance of getting what it wants, or needs, if it is in a form that gives you pleasure eat it. I’ll give you an example.

The other day, I was really craving a salad. That is very unusual for me, because I do not eat vegetables at all. I take supplements instead, so there will be more room in my pouch for the things that are important such as carbs, fat, and protein, so, I made a salad. I still had the craving. So I went to the doctor to have my blood work done as I do every six months. Sure enough, I was deficient in some of the vitamins that are found in leafy green vegetables. My body was telling me that it was about to declare war if I did not give it what It wanted.

For those on maintenance, That war would have resulted in a weight gain. For all those in the losing phase, that war would’ve resulted in a stall. I have a lot of info on my page concerning stalls. How we get them, how to bust them, and how to never get them again. Same holds true for maintenance.

So it does not matter if you were eating Chinese food in the Sahara desert, American food in Shanghai, or pizza in Canada. You must listen to what your body is telling you that it wants, and then feed the need. Just remember, we don’t eat enough of any of those kinds of foods in order to make ourself gain weight, unlless we over eat. That is the key to maintenance. Do not over eat. It doesn’t matter what you eat, but it does matter how much of it you eat.

So that is why I always say to make a plan, work the plan, own the results, and do not be afraid to make changes. One thing you will learn on maintenance. You will become comfortable with the fact that you can try different combinations of foods exercise supplements and hydration in order to maintain your weight. Those combinations will change over the years. What won’t change is the fact that you will not gain your weight back as long as you do not overeat.

I will be six years postop in August. I have followed this plan religiously. I’ve maintained my weight plus or minus 5 pounds for those six years. The reason why, is because I am flexible on how I feed the need. I’m not obsessive about it, but I am diligent,

Feel free to send me a private message if you want to learn more, I am always happy to help.

[Dutchie]

I get you now.
I understand the craving thing really well, having been pregnant twice, the same cravings can happen during pregnancy.
The real food cravings are not to be ingonered, they are to be honoured.
The body knows exactly what it needs and where to find it.
Even if it is a food you never ate or disliked.
Strange, but true.

Having said that, those cravings are not the same as a sweet tooth.
I personally, don't eat sugar, I never have, I don't care for it much.
I like savoury foods over sweet foods.
But every once in a while (maybe once in a year) I have a sugar craving.
Guess that would be when I use my brain...lol
Point is: I always give in to those craving and eat some honey or glucose.
After that I am good for another year or so.

So, it IS important to listen to your body very carefully.

As you can see, my "plan" did not include food, it is more a way of self "control", if you will.
It's more like my "approach" to my food or way of eating.
My pathway into my maintenance.
If that makes sense...

Thank you Tinman!
You made me think things over and I like that.
Food for thought, the "how"s and "why"s.
Now I crave sugar again... just kidding.