Post Surgery weight Loss - NEED ADVICE on how to keep it off

The key challenge for you is to keep your protein up (around 30% of your daily intake), keep your refined sugars to a minimum and instead source your carbs from natural vegetables (not tinned ideally). In addition to that and most importantly, stay in a small calorie deficit. This is key to maintaining your body weight. The high protein content will stop you burning muscle while in a calorie deficit while the quality carbs and low calorie count will both fuel the body but not enough to store fat. Add in whatever additional exercise you can currently manage and you will be fine.

You don't need to eat fresh, whole, organic or any other specific type of food to lose weight. Just use MFP to determine a calorie goal, log what you're eating to track your calories and eat to that goal. You'll either maintain your weight loss or even lose more, depending on what's right for you.

I do agree with SueInAz, definitely track what you eat on MFP, but you do need to watch what you eat, so I do disagree with her on that. If you want to loose/maintain weight AND be healthy, it's easier if you will eat fresh whole foods. As Dannywallis said, limit refined sugars, ect. I'll add, stay away from processed foods.

IMO, you can't sit and eat chocolate all day, then stop when you hit your calorie limit. That's not healthy. Same with highly processed "diet" foods, like lean cuisine frozen meals, ect. They don't have the vitamin's and minerals you need to be healthy, plus they are filled with chemicals and preservative. Your choice, but, I can promise you, you can eat way more fresh food than you can "diet" foods, because the calorie content in fresh foods is much lower.

Personally, I'd rather eat 2 cups of leafy greens, a couple tomatoes, cucumber, and 8 oz portion of chicken breast, with a drizzle of vinegar and healthy oil to get my 400 calories for a meal, rather than one or two little chemical filled "Diet meals" or "Diet Shakes", and I'm going to feel full longer because I get to eat more volume. That's how I maintain a healthy weight anyway.

I also find that if I eat small meals, but more often, it's easier to maintain/lose weight. 3 - 400 calorie meals a day, + 3-200 calorie snacks (which is 2 or 3 cups of fresh fruits or veggies) puts me right where I need to be for calories. It' a ton of food, and since it natural foods I automatically hit my numbers for fiber, protien and carbs, and I stay below on sodium, cholesterol, ect.

BTW, My dinner will be, 2 - 6 ounce filets of grilled tilapia, 1 cup of steamed broccolli, and a cup of Quinoa and brown rice mixed. 440 calories, and so much food I can barely fit it on my plate.

mtbiker1069 wrote: »

I do agree with SueInAz, definitely track what you eat on MFP, but you do need to watch what you eat, so I do disagree with her on that. If you want to loose/maintain weight AND be healthy, it's easier if you will eat fresh whole foods. As Dannywallis said, limit refined sugars, ect. I'll add, stay away from processed foods.

IMO, you can't sit and eat chocolate all day, then stop when you hit your calorie limit. That's not healthy. Same with highly processed "diet" foods, like lean cuisine frozen meals, ect. They don't have the vitamin's and minerals you need to be healthy, plus they are filled with chemicals and preservative. Your choice, but, I can promise you, you can eat way more fresh food than you can "diet" foods, because the calorie content in fresh foods is much lower.

Personally, I'd rather eat 2 cups of leafy greens, a couple tomatoes, cucumber, and 8 oz portion of chicken breast, with a drizzle of vinegar and healthy oil to get my 400 calories for a meal, rather than one or two little chemical filled "Diet meals" or "Diet Shakes", and I'm going to feel full longer because I get to eat more volume. That's how I maintain a healthy weight anyway.

I also find that if I eat small meals, but more often, it's easier to maintain/lose weight. 3 - 400 calorie meals a day, + 3-200 calorie snacks (which is 2 or 3 cups of fresh fruits or veggies) puts me right where I need to be for calories. It' a ton of food, and since it natural foods I automatically hit my numbers for fiber, protien and carbs, and I stay below on sodium, cholesterol, ect.

BTW, My dinner will be, 2 - 6 ounce filets of grilled tilapia, 1 cup of steamed broccolli, and a cup of Quinoa and brown rice mixed. 440 calories, and so much food I can barely fit it on my plate.

No one, especially me, is advocating a diet of nothing but chocolate. I never said any such thing or that one doesn't need to watch what they eat.

The problem is, there's such a misconception that you have to eat a special way to lose weight and spend a lot of money buying high end items to do it. It's unhelpful in that it pushes people away from doing what they need to do to decrease their weight and improve their health because they think it's all too much. They feel deprived of the foods they like to eat and are more likely to give up and go back completely to old habits and weight gain.

If the main goal is to maintain or lose weight, simply eating the right calorie amount of the foods you currently eat is enough. Many people find that as simply logging and maintaining a calorie goal becomes routine they start making good substitutions for the more unhealthy, and nutritionally void items, and begin eating more whole foods as a result. The slow changes are more sustainable and less overwhelming and more likely to lead to success.

mtbiker1069 wrote: »

SueInAz wrote: »

No one, especially me, is advocating a diet of nothing but chocolate. I never said any such thing or that one doesn't need to watch what they eat.

The problem is, there's such a misconception that you have to eat a special way to lose weight and spend a lot of money buying high end items to do it. It's unhelpful in that it pushes people away from doing what they need to do to decrease their weight and improve their health because they think it's all too much. They feel deprived of the foods they like to eat and are more likely to give up and go back completely to old habits and weight gain.

If the main goal is to maintain or lose weight, simply eating the right calorie amount of the foods you currently eat is enough. Many people find that as simply logging and maintaining a calorie goal becomes routine they start making good substitutions for the more unhealthy, and nutritionally void items, and begin eating more whole foods as a result. The slow changes are more sustainable and less overwhelming and more likely to lead to success.

I didn't say you were advocating eating chocolate, I was just using that as an example. Though you didn't say the OP needed to watch what they eat, but they just need a calorie defect. That's the misconception I'm trying to clear up.

I'm not advocating buying high end items either. Fresh fruits, veggies and meats are not expensive.

I'm also not advocating cutting out and depriving yourself of the foods you like to eat either.

I'm simple answering the question the OP asked. How to maintain weight when you cant' work out? I find that it's much easier to maintain that weight when you eat fresh whole foods because you can eat more volume for the same calorie content of other processed or diet foods, which makes you feel fuller longer, which helps keep you from over eating.

Yes you are. You said "stay away from processed foods" and "Same with highly processed "diet" foods, like lean cuisine frozen meals, ect. They don't have the vitamin's and minerals you need to be healthy, plus they are filled with chemicals and preservative."

What if my lunch is a Stouffer's lasagna, a slice of garlic bread, and 2 Oreos? I'll grant you those items don't contain all the vitamins and minerals required for a human body to live on, but they aren't devoid of them and they are as filled with "chemicals" and "preservatives" as your "2 cups of leafy greens, a couple tomatoes, cucumber, and 8 oz portion of chicken breast, with a drizzle of vinegar and healthy oil".

OP, put your numbers into MFP with sedentary activity. Either log and don't eat back your walking calorie burns, or set-up as .5 pound loss per week and eat back most of your walking calories.

you have to be careful in assuming what works for you and what you like to do is the solution for everyone. Eating "clean" or whole foods only is not a solution for everyone, nor is it necessary. And it really doesn't matter what's in other people's carts, only what's in your own. I eat all of the evil stuff and I have lost 40 pounds.

If eating "clean" foods works for you, then fantastic! You can still eat a healthy diet and have ice cream too!

Ugh, double post.

OP, you'll need protein for healing so watch your macros. When I had a hip replacement last year, it was just the impetus I needed to get me back on track with nutritious eating and counting calories. I couldn't drive for six weeks, so no fast food runs, and my friends were making good homemade healthy food to help me recover. I made up healthy grocery lists for them to get for me to cook once I could get around the house. Take advantage of this time to form & reinforce good habits! I knew it would be easy for me to sit around & snack all the time & end up gaining weight, but I didn't go through that expensive surgery & painful recovery just so I could drag 20 more pounds around!