beachgurl84

Hi Everyone, I used to frequent the post-op sleeve forums daily but have gotten out of the habit. I'm now pregnant and over a year post op so I'd like to touch base with others going thru the same. A little about myself: Surgery Date: 11/14/2014 Current age: 31 Height: 5'6" HW: 310 LW: 193 CW: 214 I am 17.5 weeks pregnant with my first child. I actually got pregnant about two weeks after my 1 year surgery anniversary. I had been on a great track for losing weight, but in august of 2015 we found out my gallbladder was full of stones and sludge. I had it removed on 8/31/2015. I had asked my bariatric surgeon (different than my gallbladder surgeon) if he would remove my gallbladder at the time of my original surgery but he said that was no longer a common practice. Had I know then what I know now, I would have requested a different surgeon. Apparently rapid weight loss causes gallstones. I knew that, but I didn't know it could do it past 6 months post op. Anyways.....the ordeal of having my gallbladder out brought me from my lowest weight of 193 to 199/201ish. I stayed there pretty much from September to December when I found out I was pregnant. I have gained 12 pounds since the day I discovered I was pregnant. That's partially due to my heavy workload that required me to sit at a desk 12 hours a day with a 45 minute drive each way (7 days a week for the next three weeks!). I am also struggling with low blood pressure. My OB insist I continue eating throughout the day because I have already had one fainting spell. I have not seen my bariatric surgeon as he is in another state from my home (I had been working away from home at the time of surgery). Other than that, my docs assure me I am quite healthy and I am expected to have a completely normal pregnancy. They are sending me for a consultation with maternal fetal medicine for high-risk pregnancies just to be prepared though. Ok, there's my "quick" intro. We will find out on 4/4 if it is a boy or girl. I think it's a boy. I am not showing yet unless I suck in lol. I was able to wear a size 10 jeans before getting pregnant but I am in a size 14 maternity jean now. Thankfully what started out as additional weight on my butt has started gathering just in the baby bump area so hopefully soon I'll actually look pregnant and not go up anymore in pants size. I still try to eat healthy but I give in to the need for carbs occasionally and healthy fats. I eat yogurt, fruit, orange juice, meats (not deli), cheeses, and yes, even coffee. I usually have stuff like that throughout the day while I'm at work and then one healthy meal in the evening. I am still really restricted in the amount of food I can consume, so I have to make sure I make healthy choices. I'm not sure what I'm looking for in posting all this or coming back to this site. Maybe just to touch base with others in a similar situation. Any advice or questions, I'd love to hear. Thanks for listening.

I just learned about the PACT app. Has anyone else used it? Apparently you can get paid for doing the things we do anyway like logging our food or exercising. But as added motivation it also charges you if you don't keep your committment to your "pact". I'm going to give it a try but I'm curious if anyone else has had experience with it.

I think it was about 8 weeks out for me as well. I eat lunch meat quite often as it's easy to transport and low cal/high Protein. Unfortunately it's also high in preservatives. It's actually been one of the contributing factors to me being diagnosed with migraines recently because of the high nitrogen content. I still eat it, but with caution. Just wanted to spread the info. Good Luck

My prayers to all of you going through these rough times. No butt kicking here, just love & support. You do what you need to do to get through these times. We'll be strong for you while you get through this. Please keep us posted.

How many calories are you getting a day? Working out 6 days a week is pretty impressive and you may need more calories to fuel your workouts. I had to bump my calories up to 1000 because I stopped losing if I got less than that. When I was two months post op though, I was getting around 600-800 calories a day. It was 2.5 months post op that I hit my biggest stall and that's when I had to bump up the calories. Seems like for me I stall every 10 pounds and there's nothing I can do except keep with the program. It usually sorts itself out in 7-10 days then I'll lose another 10 pounds. Do you log your food into anything like myfitnesspal? That could give insight into what you might be able to change around to see the scales move again. Usually in a big stall, just changing things up will do the trick. Like more calories, or a different workout routine, something like that. Good luck!!

Even at 5 months post op I still battle the grazing and sweets demons. It's all in the willpower. And if you're like me that says willpower can be bs sometimes, try this little trick. When I'm hanging out at home (most dangerous time for giving in to cravings), if I start thinking about sweets or justifying some little snack in my head that I shouldn't have, I start drinking Water. Drink and drink and drink because remember, you can't eat or drink within 30 minutes of each other. So if I drink water, I've just eliminated the possibility of snacking in the next 30 minutes and hopefully when that 30 minutes is up, I've defeated the craving or found something to do to take my mind off it. It doesn't always work, I still give in sometimes. But this, along with planning my food log in the morning with myfitnesspal, keeps me on track for the most part.

I get headaches from the artificial sweeteners but sometimes I just deal with it cause it's gotta be done. I like the little squirt bottle of drink mixers. They have artificial sweeteners but taste like regular sugar and they come in many different brands/flavors. Oh you should also check out coconut sugar, great alternative.

My first 4 months post op were miserable for me as far as being cold. I would sleep in a sweatshirt, sleep pants, fuzzy socks, and 4 blankets. If I left the house, I had at least a hoodie and a jacket with me. If I was at home, I had a robe on. It's eased up the last couple weeks. I still have the occasional bad night but for the most part my body temp has regulated. So it's perfectly normal. My doc also told me my low Iron (I was/am anemic pre and post surgery) could be contributing. I would suggest he ask his doc about his blood work and I hate to say it like this, but get used to it. I think it has a lot to do with taking in less calories than we're burning so I always thought of it as more proof I was losing weight. That helped when the cold got painful. I feel for him, but it's all part of a wonderful journey.

This rant has been building for quite a while in my head. There are things happening on this forum that are driving me insane. First though, I want to point out that this is about no person in particular. If you think I'm talking about you, I probably am but not intentionally, it just means you've been doing one of these things. 1. READ PEOPLE - I have read quite a few threads lately where people are arguing with the OP or the OPs supporters and even name calling for no reason other than they can. They want attention and interrupt intelligent conversations with their belligerent views that are usually entirely irrelevant to the original topic. I firmly believe you can say anything you want, it’s how you say it that matters. Arguing with someone for the sake of argument and then calling out that it’s a free country and you can say what you want only emphasizes the fact that you have no business other than seeking attention. If your point were valid, you wouldn’t need to defend it with “because I can”. If you truly want to argue against the OP’s view point, use intelligent arguments and refrain from taking anything personally. No one is here to bully anyone else and jumping to conclusions only serves to interrupt what otherwise might be useful information. 2. GRAMMAR!!!!!! Seriously! Most people on here are pretty good about using complete sentences and proper punctuation, but there are some that make me cringe like this…… Can yall tell me what kind of Protein u drink cause my dr said I need protein and I want to lose as much as possible and Ive been slow so far so I think I need more protein and if u could tell me that would be great cause there telling me to get it from Walmart but I dunno what flavor I want BTW – that was entirely made up as an example and not quoted in any way. OMG SERIOUSLY!!! I don’t even respond to post like this because I would immediately start venting about the way it’s written.GO BACK TO SCHOOL if you think this is appropriate!I do not claim to be perfect.I am sure I have made grammar mistakes and spelling mistakes but at least I try.I proofread before I post and I make an effort to make sure my posts are readable.If your posting is similar to this, don’t expect a response from me. 3. Not doing your research – This forum has been open for years! The question you have has probably been asked a thousand times. I’m sure I even asked some of the same questions in the beginning. But, it seems like more and more lately we (I see the same group of people responding regularly) are answering the same questions over and over. What kind of protein, how much, exercise, etc. If you would just do a search for the topic you want to discuss before posting a new thread, we could keep everyone active and probably spread some great information. Instead we have 15 different people asking if they should weigh every day and we have the same people answering all 15. I do agree some threads are so old that none of the members are active anymore. However, many of the main topics are being discussed by current members and don’t need to be reiterated in a new post just because you want to be the one asking the question. If you find the thread that has your topic, just follow it and you’ll be able to access for future reference. Or unfollow it if you got what you need! Also, if you do ask a new question, don’t be vague. Don’t ask how much you should weigh if you haven’t provided your gender, height, lifestyle, etc. Google is good at vague, try that if you have no other information. There’s my rant. Just typical crap that I’m sure every forum suffers through. Thanks for reading. Edited to correct numbers

Quick follow-up.....I'm about to finish my second week using this app. So far, I'm loving it. I made $1.50 my first week so I upped my pact this week. I'll know around wednesday how much this week will bring in. I haven't had to do anything extra except make sure I "check-in" at the gym. Otherwise, I'm tracking food like I always have and working out like I need to, so nothing extra to follow the pact. I don't have a lot of room for the veggies so I'm not doing that part of the pact. All in all, loving it so far. You can't withdraw funds to paypal until you have $10 so a few more weeks and I might be able to. Stay tuned for more updates.....

Wow I'm a little shocked. I actually unfollowed this thread a couple weeks ago because it was no longer productive and I refuse to continue defending my point when most people reading it refuse to listen. I signed on today for the first time in a week and received a private message from someone who has already claimed in this thread that they are no longer involving themselves with this conversation anymore. It amazes me the amount of trouble some people go through to have the last word. I really don't care what anyone's opinion is on the matter. To those of you that took the time to think about the point I was trying to get across, and responded maturely and appropriately, thank you for your time. I'm going to continue not following this thread because it has apparently become a cesspool for the poor, unfortunate individuals that have nothing better to discuss than trying to call me a bully because I have higher standards than they do. I feel sorry for those of you that feel my rant was inappropriate because we should lower our standards to accomodate those that are too lazy to meet the standards of society. As for those incapable for one reason or another, I will, as always, continue to support the effort they make and be proud of their accomplishments. @@LipstickLady is it possible you could lock this thread?

I've only ever seen helpful advice & thoughts from @@BLERDgirl

This makes much more sense, thanks for clarifying.

I highly suggest reading more. Congrats to your mom. Sounds exactly like my grandmother that did what she needed to do and knew there was always more to learn and made the effort to make herself the best person she could be.

I've been typing since childhood so I have actually forgotten how to write cursive. I learned to write it but schools were starting to get computers then and everything had to be typed. It became obsolete for me.

OOOOOHHHH I Love when people say "I don't worry about nothing" Of course you shouldn't worry about nothing. It's everything else you should worry about.

Looking great everybody!! I can totally empathize with this dilemma. I was sorting through clothes the other day trying to get rid of anything too big (I do this about once a week) and found a tshirt I wasn't familiar with. I assumed it was one I had bought awhile back and forgot about it because it was too small or something like that. It was a brand new looking Little Big Town Concert tshirt and I really like it so I went ahead and wore it for the day. My husband came home from work and asked me why I was wearing his shirt?!? I just stared at him. NO WAY could I fit into his clothes. He's so much smaller and always has been. He weighs around 200 right now and he's about 6'. I couldn't believe I was wearing his shirt. I actually had to go in the closet and find another one of his shirts to try on and IT FIT! Not that I want to wear my husbands clothes all the time, it just amazes me that I could do that. Of course the boob area is still tight but otherwise it fit great. I don't see us being close to the same size when we're together. I still see him as being so much smaller than me. I don't know what it will take to eventually see and understand the changes that are happening and what they look like to others. For now the only reference I understand is what fits.

@@JamieLogical of course we missed you! Many thoughts here...... Sucks about the plague! Glad to hear everyone is feeling better. Any idea where it came from? Happy to hear you splurged and treated yourself. This journey is about a "normal" life and sometimes that involves ice cream I don't blame you a bit on no formal exercise. It always seems like I'm so exhausted from vacations myself because there's always so much to do. I couldn't imagine trying to exercise on top of all the running around, site seeing, rides, sickness, etc. Congrats on the recent weight loss. I use to joke that I could use a good stomach flu to lose a few pounds. Unfortunately in the past if anything like that happened I would only regain it right back. Now that we're on this healthy path, you have a good chance of keeping it off. I say that because part of it could be loss of fluids and I don't want to see you discouraged if it returns temporarily. I definitely think you'll reach the stage of contentment. The sleeve is so much more permanent than any yo yo diet any of us have done in the past. Of course you could ruin the sleeve doing the wrong things, but we know you won't do that. You are fortunate in that you have an idea of what you will look like when you reach goal. I have been overweight since I was 6 years old. The last time I saw a scale under 200 lb I was 11 years old (and that was pre-boobs). I have no clue what I'll look like when I get under 200 now. I think once you get home a few days and start working out again, and see those 2+ pounds stay off, you'll start to feel better and encouraged again.You said it before, it doesn't matter how long it takes you to get there, it's just important that you get there. Keep up the good work, you are soooooo close. Welcome back!!

I've always heard that during the healing stage (about 6 weeks after surgery) the nerve endings are still raw and healing so you don't always feel what's going on. That's why it's safest to weigh your food until you "learn" what full feels like now. If you eat till you're full, you've eaten too much.

Will definitely be checking these out!

Sounds like you're on full liquids and I've never heard of cheese falling into that category so I would assume no. Keep in mind the pre-op diet is to shrink your liver and make your surgery safer. Best to play everything safe at this point. If you get into surgery and your liver hasn't shrunk enough, your surgeon could call off the surgery. Don't take my word for it though as I'm not entirely certain, that's just my thought on the matter.

It is always ok to question anyone providing you with medical care about your own body or why they recommend something for you. And it's obvious from all the forums here that many doctors have different plans, routines, goals, or expectations. However, there are some standards across the board that most doctors follow such as high Protein, lots of fluids, and no eating & drinking together. If my doc instructed me to go against one of these fundamental rules when I already know that most other doctors in the same medical field recommend otherwise, I would question immediately. I was just curious if he gave you a reason and what that might be. It may be that you shouldn't supplement so much protein, and instead work toward your protein goals with healthy food choices. If you're almost 4 months out, you should be able to have more soft protein sources and not rely on two shakes a day. By no means am I trying to tell you what to do, I'm just trying to understand why your doctor would recommend something that goes against every other program out there.

I love Bojangles roasted chicken bites, one container last me 3 meals. Watch the carbs in it though. And if you live outside the south you probably haven't heard of Bojangles.

I don't know what to tell you. I wore a size 20 for the last 80 pounds I gained but now down 83 pounds I'm wearing a size 16. But I still have some size 20s in the closet I could wear if I needed to. I try not to because it depresses me. Old navy has some cute stuff that's not too expensive. I looked into renting clothes but that was pricey. Also, you could try Plato's Closet if you have one nearby. They are gently used name brand items and you can resell back to them when you grow out of the stuff.