Christinamo7

I can't imagine why the sleeve would impact delivery style or position. I gave birth to 9 babies - but all pre sleeve. Had to have intevention/help with a few of them, had some of them naturally without a lot of intervention. when the intervention was needed I was thankful it was available but for me, the experience was better when everything went according to plan and naturally. Always wanted a Water birth but the Dad was too scared. :-) Best wishes to you.

it does not expire or stretch. I am 10 months out - and while you can get bored and stray from the diet - and those are long term issues for anyone - the effect of the sleeve keeps me in line. I just can not eat a lot of food, especially if I am good about keeping up with my dense Proteins. the struggle for me long term is to not eat when I am not supposed to - but I am not hungry a lot of the time, and need to find other ways to keep my mind and hands busy.

one thing I do is make a mix of ground meat and seasonings. (ground turkey breast and ground sirloin) the family may make nachos, burritos or tacos with it, and I just have the seasoned meat and cheese, sometimes a dollop of sour cream. you can find a way to satisfy what you want and what they want.

often at 9 months out I have the meat and veg and they also have a starch, but I am satisfied with the parts I eat and no one feels left out.

@@proudgrammy interesting post, and valuble.

I do think it is going to depend on each person's medical profile. example: I had only recently become diabetic and the team fully expects me to not need medication again. ever. (they THINK) we will see. A1c will be tested at my yearly bariatric blood panel, as they do for everyone along with the thousand other things they check.

however, they did NOT think I would come off BP meds due to a big time family history of blood pressure, heart attacks and stroke on BOTH sides of my family, the obese and thin ones. but, for now, I don't need them. we'll see as time goes on. feels good to be off them right now. I had been on them for several years.

for me any reprieve is good - be it a year, 5 years or the rest of my life, and at my age I've learned I can't really predict this crazy body but just do the best I can. the sleeve helps my best be better.

coming off BP meds was scary stuff for me! my bariatric team had my PCP in charge of managing that, and I had an in home cuff. we kept cutting the dose and I have been off of it for a couple of months now.

I would request that they fax the verification to YOU and then you turn it in to the bariatric practice.

I weaned to Decaf in the couple of weeks before surgery (I know. crazy but at least I kept the comfort of the habit) and then as soon as I was allowed regular coffee (4 weeks in my case) I was back on the full juice. During my liquid diet post op I had decaf in my vanilla Protein shake sometimes to flavor it up. I used to take mine with half and half and sugar. do NOT give me any fake creamer. but I am now on 2/3 fairlife milk 1/3 half and half. half a cup in my 12 ounce coffee mug and stevia most of the time. my Daddy called it my baby coffee because he always took his dark, rich and black.

*edited to clarify - half a cup of the milk combo, not half the coffee mug.

I was at around 800 per day because the practice I use has us getting off Protein shakes as soon as we can tolerate whole foods. I think you are making pretty good choices.

I eat apples, cheese, eggs, almonds, cherries, blueberries, raspberries, broccoli, asparagus, brussel sprouts, some carrots, oat bread toast occasionally ruben (half a slice is a serving for me) chicken breasts, ground turkey, ground sirloin, onions, steak bites, lima Beans, refried Beans - occasionally a small serving of popcorn as a treat. so many delicious options. this is a plan to eat for life, not a diet.

my weight loss has been slower than some, but my BMI wasn't that high - and I was told when I lost Daddy that the stress would probably slow me down too - and maybe it has. I am still loosing though, so I am pleased. I do have a Protein shake when I need a grab and go meal, or feel like I need to bump up baby girl's protein intake (when I do we share one on the way to work/school - it's like chocolate milk to her, but she's getting protein and Fiber [sneaky mama]).

I am supposed to be eating whole foods, and counting my protein and fluids. I have a rough calorie range, but that is not the focus because if I am eating these kinds of whole foods there isn't really any room for junk.

when I need chocolate I have a triple chocolate Power Crunch bar. really takes care of that occasional craving

if you go to a store like whole foods they have all kinds of them in samples, some with stevia if that is a non calorie sweetener (but not artificial) you can tolerate. if you think it's the whey bothering you then you could try a vegan option.

try an unflavored Protein powder and add in what you want to get the taste where you like it. @@Babbs offered good suggestions there, in early days I often added it to unflavored apple sauce to boost my Protein intake.

your starting weight was only 247. my starting weight at surgery was 238 and I am shorter than you so I think we are pretty comparable. (the silly tracker puts my higher weight in which can be misleading but that's not my fault. that's the weight I was at my consult) I am down to 191 at 7 months. I also went into this with the expectation I would have lost weight faster, but hey it *is* coming off, and likely in a much more healthy way. There is no way I could have lost almost 50 pounds before surgery. it just never happened.

so. control what you can control and don't worry about the rest.

where are you calories supposed to be at right now? your Protein and fluids? these are all things you can control. I walk 5 miles per day almost every day - through the course of the day. I eat right, sleep well and the weight is coming off. I had to learn to make peace with the scale, my weight fluctuates a lot but is always trending down, and I only count my weigh in's on Monday, no matter how often I weigh in between.

I am looking forward to seeing your progress as you go through surgery and into hopefully a healthier 2017!

during my pre-op stage through a very high WBC discovered I had either a rare auto immune disorder (sclerosing mesenteritis) or a low grade cancer in the lymph nodes of my abdomen. they now think it is the cancer. I had to go through a lot of testing before the surgeon felt I was a safe surgery risk. Wishing you a more expeditious process - but know that no matter, it is worth it all. this has given me such a better quality of life and far greater odds of survival as the years go on when it is time to treat the probable lymphoma.

you'd have to ask them about any impact on your healing stomach, I just don't know.

does it make you feel more hungry? if so then that is something to take into consideration when you are trying to loose weight.

my morning travel mugs range from 20-24 ounces. I have 4 ounces of fairlife milk with a dash of half and half (gradually transitioning over to the milk) and stevia in mine. almost every work day, sometimes on the weekend.

more of a tea drinker on the weekend - and my pretty little teapot I hand carried back from England is two and a half tea cups, and in my tea cup I put 1 tsp of honey that lasts for all 2.1/2 cups of tea.

sorry. I just saw you wanted 1 year out. I'm only 7.5 months out from surgery, but I do not see this answer changing once I get to a year.

are you on a ppi medicine? that sour stomach feeling is how I know when I need to take one - but the first 3 months I was told to take them daily.

I haven't had any issues with spices post sleeve.

I would, however, recommend that the first time you try tuna, eggs, chicken, or beef it be without the additional spice, so that if the spice bothers you then you would know it wasn't the Protein source.

you're going to be asking a lot from your liver in the next 3 months, I'd say you can do this, but should you? I did everything I could to eat whole foods, and drink plenty of Water. I drank and ate a lot of greens, because I knew it would be a while before I had veg again, and I wanted to heal quickly and well following the trauma of surgery.

I wouldn't - but that's just my 2 c.

my bariatric team wanted us to begin to come off them at one month and get our Protein from real food. most of us in that group use them occasionally (such as when you need a Breakfast or lunch on the run) but not daily after that.

I was only in hospital one night. I wore the clothes home that I wore in since I wasn't in them very long, except for fresh panties.

I just wore the hospital gown and walked in my room, but they would have given me a second gown to wear backwards if I had wanted to walk the halls. I did not want to fool with pj's due to my IV.

We took my laptop and David and I watched movies until he went home. I had my phone and charger. some lysterine mouth spray, carmex and a hair brush.

all I did was sip Clear liquids, sleep and walk. I was pretty tired!

mine is october 17th and im finding the liver shrinking diet to be really tough! not so much the eating part but the non smoking AND barely eating AND no caffeine...i start out my day totally motivated its around this time that the idea of a cigarette and some warm coffee sound really great im trying not to self sabotage but im ready to just say f it and push back the surgery

Sent from my LGUS991 using the BariatricPal App

Hang tough. it is hard, really hard but it is worth it.

that kind of weight fluctuation is not fat, it's Water. or poo - and the goal of all of this was fat loss, not a particular weight. so you have to train yourself to not worry about it as long as you stay in a "range" of healthy weight. if you need therapy to train yourself to accept this, then no shame there!

my sister was much nicer and more supportive than that, @@bwyjunky79 but a similar issue as she was not happy to think she would not be the smallest sister. so, she has focused on eating better, and hey, really I am all for it because I want us to all be as healthy as we can be.

well, I'd prefer to think that you had a rest from the rigmarole of it all and now you're ready to hit it again! and think of it this way - you're 2 years out and have not gained back your weight! now you're ready to tackle that last bit. you are a success, not a failure!

so - go back to eating lean Protein, planning and measuring meals, veg, real fruit. whole foods.

and if the gym isn't an option make sure you're getting your 10000 steps per day and maybe add in some strength training or yoga at home. if the gym is a right now option then get planning it into your day, remember to ease back into your activity - ya don't want any crazy injuries!

I chose the sleeve surgery due to supplements that I take for ADD and healthy aging, and wanting to continue this regimen. I did not have reflux or any other issues that would have made the RNY a better option.

no longer on diabetes medication, no longer considered diabetic, and off BP meds, down about 50 pounds since surgery - I am thrilled with the results so far. a small portion of food satisfies me so I am no longer having to fight my will power to eat an appropriate amount of food.

I don't think you can "spot reduce" in terms of fat loss - but let me tell you I do an easy yoga routine that continues to pull in my abdominal area and helps a LOT. it also helps you build muscle because you are using your body for strength training.

I like the Peggy Cappy videos and can recommend them, and I also like the yoga on my wii fit.

it can also be if you have issues with certain sugar alcohols, so I would read the labels of what you are consuming to see if that could be a possible issue.

I know how rough it is since I was on Metformin before surgery and had constant diarrhea. mostly have to manage to not be constipated now.

please let us know how you are doing!