10 months out - eating a lot more than I used to

I am currently 10 months out and have lost 93 pounds..down to 155 from 248. I am currently 15 pounds away from my goal weight of 140. To all appearances, I am doing well. I get alot of compliments and am starting to get the "you dont need to lose any more weight" comments. What has me worried is the sleeve capacity that I currently have. I track my calories, but am having extreme difficulty keeping it under 800 calories. by mid morning, I am already at 541 - which gives me only 259 calories for the rest of the day...almost impossible! From the very beginning, i never lost my appetite, now its back with a vengance. Couple that with the fact that my sleeve is much bigger (I can actually eat an entire taco! omg) its making for havoc with my weight loss plan. The old fears are starting to come back..what if I gain all my weight back? what if I can't control myself? I am scared of getting rid of all my bigger clothing because of fear of failure, and not having anything to wear if I do gain it back. I am trying to balance out the eating with exercise, but this thought process is starting to scare the living daylights out of me. I never thought I would say this, but I remember the vets saying "you will long for the days of good restriction" well, I am longing for those days. Are these feelings normal - am I making a mountain out of a molehill? Have you guys experienced this? what did you do to balance this out? who did you deal with the increased hunger/larger sleeve capacity? I feel like I have no control, but am cognizant enough to ask for help. So there it is. HELP. I love being skinny, I dont want to go back, but dont know how to control the baser instinct that controls me when it comes to food. Any advice would be great...thank you for listening. 

I would seriously think about getting into see a counselor.  You have to get help for the fat girl that is stuck in your head.  That is the most important work you can do right now.  Stop looking at food as treats and just look at it as grams/calories, etc..... You can do this!

You sound just like me at 10 months.  I was around the same starting weight (mine was 234) and around ten months I was at 155.  My inital goal is 150 and I still haven't made it there.  It has become a lot harder to lose and a lot easier to eat more and just not exercise.  When I track my food, cook, meal plan, and exercise - I DO lose weight.  But I'm going through this vicious cycle of off again on again off again on again so I've been losing/gaining the same two pounds.  The past two weeks have been terrible and it's my TOM.

All I can say, is get back to tracking, cut the carbs and crap, and exercise as much as possible.  It works if you stick to it.  I need to take my own advice and do the same.

Step one: Burn your bridges - Donate all your big clothes now (like yesterday).  You need to cultivate the attitude of "hell no, I'm never going back".

Step two:  Maintain an active lifestyle with regular exercise.  A moderate, or higher, level of exercise minimum five times a week.

Step three:  Eat better.  Why are you eating taco's?  There are always better choices than tacos.

Just my random $0.02 for the day....

All good advice here, but I'm also curious about what you are eating that is taking you to 541 calories by mid morning.  Could you share what your choices are to see if we can make some food specific suggestions to help with your hunger?

Take a deep breath!   ahhhhhhh  Now here is my experience.  I will be 1 year on the 19th.  I have had some major life and death issues (3 of them at once)  that have arisen for me and I am trying to cope with them and I know that it playing a role in my losing weight but I have also given myself some slack.  I am 13.5 lbs from my goal and I am not giving up but I am realistic that it might take me longer to lose 100% of my excess weight if I try and get to the top of my bmi.  What I have been watching more right now than my weight is my body fat.  It keeps dropping even though the scale keeps gaining and losing the same 2-3 bls.  (Although in the past couple of days, I have hit a new low)  I know I am not drinking enough and I need to work on it but I am in survival mode and doing what I can.  I make healthy food choices though.  I am not going to let the carb monster back in.  You may need to raise your calories a little if it is bothering you that much but if you do that I would strongly suggest that you add protein to your diet and not carbs or low carb veggies.  Make sure you are getting in all your protein, drinking all your fluids and exercise if you can.  Also I notice that if I slow down my eating, I eat less and get full faster.  I also eat dense protein at each meal, including breakfast.  I don't get hungry during meals and if I do have a snack it is planned and it is turkey pepperoni or 1 oz of almonds.

You got this, keep up the good work!

Hi there!

I'm by far a mean person so please just take this as a teeny form of tough love because that really is all that this is ... if even "tough". 

I'm curious like Linda, what you are eating by midmorning that brings you at 540 calories.  I don't know but I have a feeling some of those are carb calories because even if I tried at 10 months out, 540 calories by breakfast & first snack is a little high.  If I eat straight up protein now at 2 1/2 years out, it would be difficult for me to reach 540 by midmorning.  Now ... I can eat 2 eggs at 140 calories for breakfast & a single serving of flaming hot peanuts (which I do my best to avoid for this very reason) at 290 calories and that's only 430 so far.  Even with my beloved iced coffee with SF vanilla creamer wouldn't get me to reach 540 calories by this time of the day.  Are you possibly drinking your calories? 

The taco at 10 months out is not the best choice but you already know that.  It's a slippery slope so just be cautious about what you bring back into your diet so early out.  For some insane reason, I can get fuller faster when I just eat the insides of the taco than if I eat it with the tortilla.  I think it's the tortilla because it's a slider and it just helps the rest of the food go down my sleeve. 

I don't mean to scare you but t will get harder in the next 10 months & even harder in the next 10 months after that.

I loved being skinny but that in itself will not prevent regain.  There has to be more ... staying diligent tracking food, drinking all your water & getting some form of exercise.  I also was afraid to get rid of my bigger clothes but then I bit the bullet and it was liberating ... BUT then I regained and now I have been wearing the same 4-5 stretchy dresses because my smallest jeans and pants don't fit me anymore.  It's definitely an incentive for me to make sure I don't gain more or I will be out of my size medium/size 10 dresses.  My jeans were size 8, now the 2 "new" pairs of jeans I have are a size 10 and they are HARD to button.  But if you ask me, I am glad that I got rid of my bigger clothes ... yes, absolutely.     

Your feelings are normal so don't lose sight of the big picture.  Most of us really need to be on top of our game to maintain or even lose those last 10-20 stubborn pounds.  At this stage, a lot of us are looking pretty darn fabulous and even at one point when I caught a glimpse of myself eating a cupcake in public thru a mirror, I thought I looked kinda cute ... well, not anymore.  I would cringe just thinking of that sight now.  There are reasons we had to cut the junk out of our diets in weight loss mode.  We need to change our eating habits for life.  We all know this deep down but like me, I have a hard time accepting this new way of eating forever... dang, even me typing it out "forever" is hard BUT it's doable to protect all that we worked hard for.  It's something I work at on a daily basis.  I'm trying very hard to get my head back in the game.  It's so much easier in the first year so grab the bull by the horns if you can.  Makes some changes if you feel necessary.  You are only 15 pounds away from your goal and feel skinny already!!!  You can do this!!!

Great advise Jen for us newbies! 

Yes, your capacity increases.  That's pretty normal.  Restriction is only a prop.  You still have to watch what you eat.

My guess is that you're getting more relaxed about your eating.  Dense protein first (tacos don't count as dense protein!).  I know from experience that, no matter how hungry I am, once I've got a few ounces of dense protein in my stomach, my other choices get much more reasonable.  Hold off drinking as long as possible after you eat.  I can keep a "full" feeling for an hour or more after I eat as long as I don't wash the food out of my tummy with liquids.

Considering how far out you are, you can also nudge your calories up to 1000 a day.  It may slow down the loss of the last few pounds, but if it brings you peace with eating, it's worth it.

When I find I'm pushing the envelop I go back basics, lots of water, small bites, eating slowly and stop eating before you feel full. This has helped me, as I took can eat a whole taco, but I don't I stop at about 80%, then wait and I find I'm no longer hungry. I too exceed 800 calories not every day and sometimes more than I'd like. I also eat very small protein dense meals in the morning, that way the rest of the days food looks promising. I hope this helps.