IVF, Twins, and no sleep - where do I start?

I'm about 5 years out from the sleeve.

About 2 years ago I started fertility treatment. I have beautiful 9 month old boys but I'm also really frustrated with my weight gain.

I was pumped full of hormones and yanked from the gym for months at a time. Before the boys even came many of my great habits had changed.

Then we spent two weeks in the NICU and diet was the last thing on my mind. Followed by months of very little sleep. All excused yes. But my habits are crap now.

The idea of going back to 1200 calories or less a day makes me want to cry. I feel pre-op again.

Any advice would be super appreciated.

To tackle regain - I set up a small goals for me.

• Change my eating,- drinking habits.

I eliminated, limited starchy carbs from my diet, making a goal to limit that every day. If sone carbs found a way into my mouth, I did not punished myself by eating more as I felt guilty and cried, instead I became aware what triggered the need to get a bite of something I was trying to avoid. Then thought of way to prevent that. A good for me diet is proteins+fat + non starchy veggies. As I was changing what I was eating - I did not restricted quantities. I ate when I was hungry, making sure I have veriaty of proteins and veggies available to me: chicken, beef, pork, cold cuts, fish, fats: avocado, good quality mayo, butter, olives, etc, and veggies - low carb veggies.

• Whenn I was confident I was eating foods that I was supposed to eat, I added small restriction to qty of foods and change what I ate day to day.

When I my diet was "cleaner" I started measuring and counting qty and calories. My goal was to lower the calories initially to 1200 or below on a very consistent day to day diet. Plus making sure I drink a lot of liquids, but reducing or eliminating commercial diet drinks. (Some artificial sweeteners trigger my appetite or insulin, I know I need to avoid them) my goal was to get 100-150 oz liquids per say as black coffees, tea, water, etc. As for proteins - my goal is to make sure I get 100+ grams of protein per day.

• Adding exercise as everyday movement. Increasing how many steps I took in a day. Adding extra activity for a weekend (going for a walk, even if that was window shopping in a mall)

Lastly - I often cold lose the first 10 lbs in a short time when I started being serious about my diet. After that - it was almost always a hard work. My body is smart, and for me to lose the last 5-10 lb of a regain, I had to limit my calories to app 800-1000 per day on average based on a weekly diet. I would have a day I had 1200 Cal, followed by a couple of days 600-800 Cal. Was it easy? No...but doable. And I learned that hunger is not an emergency, and I can postpone eating my meal by drinking a large cap of tea. Eating slowly, and chewing my food helped me feel full faster.

Small steps, one day at a time, one meal at a time.

Thank you.

It is crazy. We know all the steps but going from where I'm at now to following the rules just seems unmanageable.

I like the idea of just getting clean first then worrying about calories. Thank you.

I forgot to add a few important points:

• Vitamins and minerals - if you haven't, get a very detailed blood work of your vitamins and minerals, make an appointment with a doc and get it. And start correcting any deficiencies, or numbers that are low, still theoretically normal, but too low to have a quality of life. Don't just relay of the doctor telling you "All is fine", get a copy of the results and check it yourself.

I.e.: when my ferritin drops below 30, I get very tired, get cravings, foggy thinking, depression, etc. Yet for my doc anything above 11 is normal. Same apply to B12, D, etc.

• When changing from higher carb diet to lower carb diet, more proteins diet, I need to make sure I get enough sodium, magnesium and potassium. Not getting enough electrolytes - can cause muscle cramps, feeling tired, or brain fog. As a mother - you need all the energy you can get. (Don't let the poop rub you of it.. lol)
• Don't be afraid of good fat. Avocado- olives, etc. 1000 Cal per day : 100-120 proteins (400-480 calories), 30-40 carbs (120-160 calories) that leaves app 400 calories for fat - or app 45 grams of fat.by the end of the day, if I got enough proteins in my diet, and I get little hungry - I may eat 1/2 avocado,or a serving of good nuts. Fat also helps with any constipation, and it normally doesn't trigger insulin.
• I need to be very mindful about constipation. I need daily dosaged of Miralax and lots of magnesium daily. When I get constipated - I may even get a small BM every day, but if I is not a complete BM, eventually I get backed up pretty bad. Not only I would deal with pain, but also horrible gas. Last but not least - constipation allows my gut bacteria to process everything I eat, often turning fiber into simple sugars, that my body can absorb. Suddenly the fiber no longer "0 calories" but I need to count it as simple carbs...

I believe that you don't have to follow any particular plan but that you have to do something. There have been times when I have gone without protein for a month. This is a good time of year to do that. I will eat apples, oranges, pears, grapes, cherries, grapes, berries, watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, plums, peaches, tomatoes, lettuces, onions, brussels spouts, cabbages, broccoli, cauliflower, squash, and any thing that is not protein and not starch.

For me, this results in three to four pounds a week of weight loss. After a month, I go back to high protein, low carb.

I also will do Weigh****chers plan where there are lot of zero point foods.

Others have had success with Jenny Craig, Nutrisystem and other commercial plans.

Those plans did not work very well for me before surgery, but are much easier when you have had the surgery. What still does not work for me is eating high carb foods. The bread, pasta, flour, cereal, cake, cookies, candy, and sugar are still going to put weight on me, so I avoid them most of the time.

Do set goals and take baby steps. This is for life, not just until you hit your happy place on the scale.

WOW ty Uve so been there n done that .

My fiancé and I r sorta-kinda tryin 2 get Preggie using ibf ( neither one of us is REALLY on board right now I think we're each tot scared . ) also we're not yet properly married and his ( wonderful ) ( feminist ! ) awesome old Mum is insisting on marriage ... which is FINE with us but yikes ... it's too much too soon

Of course we absolutely love each other but neither of us dared have kids according 2 th normal " schedule " because we weren't ready .

His twin sis has FIVE gorgeous amazing kidz ( mostly such talented lil beaut grrlz ) you wouldn't believe how beautiful n adorable they are ( well ya prob would actually )

ive resisted IVF because of the hormones ... can U get Tamoxifen now ? Somehow ? Ull feel a lot better .

Tamoxifen is a medication used to treat cancer. Why would OP need it?

Also, why are you "sorta-trying" to get pregnant when (last we heard) you're planning to drop everything and become a personal chef to some celebrity?

Doesn't everyone try casual IVF? It's what all the cool kids do.

Prescribing Tamoxifen and /or a related estrogen blocker ( levortran ? ) are standard protocol in IVF egg banking .

It's been proven that controlling (towards the end of the retrieval cycle) the extremely high artificially induced estrogen levels necessary to stimulate multiple egg maturation actually results in higher viability of the eggs .

Blocking extra estrogen with Tamoxifen after finishing the cycle has also been proven to reduce the chances of the IVF mommy getting breast cancer . Since many women get IVF because of naturally high estrogen levels ( such as causes by the BRCAA gene ) ( and many breast cancer patients bank their eggs before getting chemotherapy and radiation ) Tamoxifen treatment as a followup to IVF artificial estrogen stimulation is a pretty common protocol .

Personally if I had the choice knowing that another popular use of Tamoxifen is " leaning out " by female bodybuilders ... and that it's been around and pretty safely used for many years I might ask my doctor to consider temporarily prescribing it . Especially if my body showed lingering extra estrogen levels by say : resistantly holding onto fat , craving dietary fats or being less than enthusiastic about exercise.

It's just an idea - of course traditional diet and exercise will eventually work but if your hormones work against you : it can be very tough to get your body back particularly if it's been artificially hormonally stimulated in the " growing direction"

My brother is 64 and has eight year old twins. His wife is 20 years younger than him. He will be close to 80 years old when those girls graduate from college, and probably in his 80's when they get married and have children.

They used IVF and did not really think it was going to work. At 36, it was considered a high risk pregnancy for his wife.