Welcome to the VSG board. :-)

I am just about 1 year out (in 3 more weeks) so you're about 6 months ahead of me.

I weigh myself every day to keep myself on track. I log my food on MFP and my exercise. I find it is the only way to keep myself motivated and committed to the last leg of my journey.

I met my original goal of 170 in March but have revised it down to 155-160 and I am working my way there. I had surgery in Mexico so this site, OH and my own will keep me going as I don't have any formal support groups to rely on.

I sent you a friend request and you can check out what I am eating. Not perfect...but pretty good most days. Cheating is not how I look at what I eat. I look at it as making what I eat fit my plan most of the time. I do a fair job of it but not 100% of the time now that I am this far out. Just being honest! :-)

Living in paradise!! Only 7 months out but 113 down with 10 to go. I have found that keeping a regular log with MFP and using a FitBit has really made it easy (and very visual) to keep an accurate track of intake and burn. Feel free to friend me and best of luck on the stretch run.

Yup..I still count carbs. I still try to stay under 40 g of carbs. That being said I have the odd day when I creep up (like Easter weekend!) and I don't sweat it. I find that around my cycle I totally crave more carbs and that is usually when I screw it up.

I honestly still think that staying low carb is what has made this journey so relatively easy for me personally. Staying away from them helps to keep the hunger at bay in my opinion.

My goal every day is to hit over 80 g of protein, under 40 carbs and 30 g of mostly healthy fats. I still have protein shakes (not every day mind you but often.) To be honest, it's not to hit my protein goals anymore as I can eat enough food to do that. It is because I like them and it's always better to mix one up than to grab some junk I don't need! :-)

Hi, I hit one year since surgery next week. I just had my one year follow up on Thursday and after talking to the doctor, he sent my wife (also a VSGer) and me straight into the nutritionist for a shake down.

We had both stopped losing. Secretly we knew why. the carbs had crept back in and we had gotten away from the tenants for losing with this tool. The nutritionist was brutally honest when we told her what we had been eating, or what we ADMITTED to having been eating.

I hear you with coffee. My vow to have the specialized coffees only once a week had flown out the window, I was eating a lot more fruit, pasta had crept back into the diet, greatly reduced from what we used to eat, but still...

Bottom line: We had started back into the path that COULD have gotten us out of maintenance to eventual gaining again.

Your doctor may have different advice but this is what the nutritionist reminded us of our program.

1) Protein first, and make it a solid protein. Eating pieces of steak, chicken, or pork will fill you up faster than ground meats, so try to stay with real hunks of meat.

2) Chew every bite 30 times.

3) No liquid with meals. Do not use the shakes (guilty) because it will go right through you and you will be hungry faster.

4) You can have meals with less than 20 carbs. NO carbs between meals. Snacks are to be protein only. (No Quest bars for snacks. Can be used as a meal replacement in a pinch.)

5) Eat your protein first. Green vegetables second. If you have room, you can have a few carb based veggies, grains or fruit.

6) Greek yogurt every day. She didn't like the brands we have chosen (Chobani and Liberte) because they have too much sugar in them. --Very probably why we like them best.

I had been on a plateau for about 6 weeks. In the 48 hours since we started following the program again, both my wife and I are down 3 lbs plus each.

I agree with the folks above. Logging, totally HONEST logging, on this site is invaluable. And while it is not face time with others who have had the procedure, the groups on here can provide valuable support.

As with all things, we get out what we put in, and I think that when I am active on the site, I actually get more back than I do put in.

You are so close, and you are asking the right questions. If you do have some journals from when you were successful, go back and look at them. Find any literature your doctor may have provided and read through it again. Journal now, modify your macros so it shows carbs in your counters. After a week, really look at what you are eating. How does it fall within bounds of your program?

Best of luck, and welcome to the boards!

Oh ya...Zumba is a pretty fun way to get back into exercise. I was doing that for a while back in the Fall. It's quite a good cardio workout.

I tend to go to muscle and cardio mixed classes now as I am trying more to tone up than lose weight at this point. Just doing as much as I can to slow down the sagging skin...ya right, I know NOTHING seems to stop it! :-)

What is pb2?

Hi everyone,
I am so glad I logged in tonight & read everyone's posts. DWARD59 - you don't know how much I needed to be reminded of everything in your post. Thank you!!

JOGAWA - I completely understand how getting near the end is diffficult. I'm almost to my one year surgiversary. I've lost 132 lbs since surgery, just 50-60 to go; but for the past month I have completely stopped doing everything I'm supposed to be doing - nutrition & exercise wise. I haven't lost a thing - in fact I've gained 4 lbs, which scares me to death. Starting tomorrow I'm going to follow all of DWARD59's suggestions which fall right in line with my original plan.

If anyone out there can offer suggestions or support, I'd really appreciate it also. I'm so scared at how easy it is to get "to busy" to take care of myself !

Answers to questions:

Ujj7 - What is PB2? Basically it appears to be powdered peanut butter that has 85% of the fat extracted in the process. I still haven't tried it, but I've heard about it for years on the WW boards when there, and sometimes on MFP threads as well.

Rief3 - Quest bars as meal replacement only. Is based purely on the number of carbs in them. If you do not disallow the fiber carbs, every bar has at least as many as I am allowed in a meal, often more than. The other concern she has is the use of alcohol sugars in the bars. She admits Quest are better than a lot of alternatives, but she wants me slowing down on their use. I was having one each day as a snack. Now, as I think I said, I am trying to have only protein at snacks, no carbs at all.

I can't complain about the results. Although it will slow again I'm sure, my body has happily shed several pounds in the five days since I started eating this way again.

edit: teachren... we don't talk about skin issues. Saggy and healthy beats fat and firm every time, imo. :-P

Living in paradise!! Only 7 months out but 113 down with 10 to go. I have found that keeping a regular log with MFP and using a FitBit has really made it easy (and very visual) to keep an accurate track of intake and burn. Feel free to friend me and best of luck on the stretch run.

What a huge success!! could you share what your exercise routine was? and what were/are your main food staples?

I'm just over a year out. For me excercise has been a much bigger factor than diet. I log my intake to keep me accountable, but really focus on meeting my protein intake instead of total calories or carbs. I weigh myself about once a week, but look for monthly trends since your weight can fluctuate greatly day to day.