Here I am.  Maintaining my weight loss and almost nine years post-op.  I promise by June 1^st I’ll change that to in my tenth year after weight loss surgery to keep us all from getting bored.  Maintenance is really not any easier than losing weight.  It takes the work.  It takes the mindfulness.  It takes the planning, the food choices, the exercise routine.  Is it worth it?  YOU BET!!!  Never again will I be unable to see my feet, let alone tie my shoelaces, never again will I be unable to walk through a store, or down the street, or on the beach.  Never again will I be plagued with the co-morbidities like high blood pressure, sleep apnea, asthma and the like.  I have kicked these to the ground and will do what I need to do in order to maintain my weight loss.

Now I am going to step off my soapbox and share some of the challenges that I face in maintenance every day.  The biggest challenge is virtually the same one I faced before and right after surgery - GRAZING!  Grabbing a handful of almonds as I wait for the water to boil for tea, or eating out of the pot as I prepare dinner, or stopping again for another non-fat sugar-free ice blended whatever at the local coffee house, or grabbing a few chips (how many calories in a few you ask), a cookie, or some crackers while at my daughter’s house.  Even the breadstick at the restaurant while I wait for dinner to be served is grazing.  A new frozen yogurt shop opened down the street from my house (1 mile away to be exact).  Three ounces of non fat sugar free is about 90 calories so that’s not bad for a snack right?  Right, however, is there just 90 calories in the cup which is one size fits all?  I think not.  Also, if my husband calls on his way back from his daily bike ride to see what flavor I want that is 90+ calories every day.  Hmm, do I really want that?

When do I graze?  When I started my weight loss surgery journey this was critical for me to identify.  I can’t imagine why I ignore it now, except for being lazy and allowing old habits to slip back in.  My prime time for grazing is just that - during TV Prime Time.  How about you?

What do I crave?  It is alternately sweets or salty things.  If I have no crackers, chips or popcorn in the house salty things become out of the question unless I want a dill pickle spear and most of the time that does not call to me at 10PM.  On to sweets.  I always have yogurt in my refrigerator and this is a good healthy choice, right?  Yes, it is healthy, but not always a good choice.  It’s a good choice when I am physically hungry, however, having eaten dinner at 7-8 PM that is not usually the case.  Am I eating because I am tired, bored, stresses about something?  Am I eating to stuff those feelings?  If my answer is yes then even a healthy choice is not a good one.  I would rather feel the emotion, acknowledge it and work through it.  Bored?  Then Sandi, get up off your rear and do something productive even if it is as simple as taking out the trash.  Tired, go to bed, your favorite program is being recorded anyway.  Stressed, this one can be a bit trickier for me.  Many can exercise stress or anxiety or nervousness away in the evening.  I can’t.  I have a problem winding down to go to sleep.  What are my alternatives for stress?  Meditation, deep breathing, a hot bath… There are many.  I just need to make the choice to select one and follow through with it.

If you have noticed what I began noticing as I was writing this, I have “substitute” behaviors for mindless grazing to help me.  I need to stay in the present moment, be mindful of what I’m doing and then I can choose out of grazing and instead choose an alternate behavior.

So here we go.  Regardless of where you are on your journey let’s identify:

• When am I most likely to graze?
• What might be prompting me to graze?
• What foods am I wanting to graze on?
• How do I feel when I am tempted to or when I am grazing?

I can make choices here.  Do I want to eat some chips or will a pickle spear satisfy me, or, best of all, shall I just spend the next 15 minutes emptying the trash around the house, or cleaning out a cupboard, or knitting or crocheting, or phoning a friend?

So you see, it doesn’t matter where you are on your journey, starting, maintaining, or almost beginning your 10^th year after weight loss surgery, old habits can easily creep right back in if you don’t pay attention.