aroundhky

I started walking the day of surgery, increased the distance and pace slowly each day for the next 2-3 weeks. Then I went to the gym and did extremely light lifts and continued with cardio once or twice a week. After about 2-4 weeks of gradually building up those lifts (roughly 6-7 weeks post op), I started lifting pretty heavy and doing fairly intense cardio 1-2 times a week. But that's just me. Make sure to TRY and stick to your Dr's orders and when you do get back into it, just build up gradually.

Yeah, the running at least once a week helps me lose just a tad bit of fat. But for me, I think getting back to the weight room, and turning up the intensity even more has helped me most. And your right, it does take a lot of time and patience with the weights. For me, it's as if I have to embrace it some other way to not look for instant results. So I love the way I feel after I lift and the testosterone spike I get from it, but persistence and resolve can lead to great results if willing to stick to it and commit to it.

DANG!!!! Look at you!!! Congrats!!!

NOW you tell me!

Thanks "Wls4me".....if you remember, let me know and I'll see if I can contact him. Also, if you're in the Statesville area sometime, let me know, I'm not afraid to lift with a girl as long as she can't lift more than me.....that would destroy my ego. "Butter", same goes for you, if in the area, let me know, I can usually bring a guest for free once or twice a month.....but don't bring your joint smoking lifting buddy.......the second hand smoke would give us the munchies. Man...that's crazy!

I know I'm unlikely to find anyone in my area on here, but thought I would take a stab at it. Had a lifting buddy that has moved to another state, so I could use a lifting partner in the Statesville, NC vacinity if there is anyone on here in this area. My routine varies and I'm pretty flexible in regards to my lifting schedule as long as I can get a few of my basic compound lifts in each week. Also could use a running partner about twice a week. If there's anyone interested, let me know. Thanks!

I'm 17+ months out and could probably eat 2000 cals a day, but I'm usually around 1500, give or take 200. I do try to get a few more cals (protein and complex carbs) the days I lift weights, which is about 5 times a week. The other days I'm less than 1500. But again, if I wanted, I could get in 2000 or more in a day. My restriction is no where near what it was a few months after surgery, but still better than before surgery.

"BryJohn".....if you are used to working out before surgery like myself, you'll find the first couple of months post-op very frustrating. With that said, try not to get too discouraged like I did. I saw my strength and muscles nearly waste away before my eyes for the first 1-2 months post op. Right after surgery, I made sure to walk, walk and walk some more. Though this didn't really help preserve any muscle/strength, it did help me get back to the gym sooner than I otherwise would have. Everyone is different and has different Dr requirements. I started back at the gym slightly sooner than my Dr recommended. I went to the gym somewhere around 3-4 weeks post op (Dr suggested 6 weeks), but I went EXTREMELY light. Such as just getting the movements from my lifts in without any weight that I could really feel. Ex: Deadlifts.....I just used the barbell, practiced my technique/form and did those really light lifts for about 2 weeks. Then added a slight amount of weight each week, until around 5 months post-op, then I was back to pretty much my old max lifts. Again, everyone is different, just make sure to ease back into it really slow, and maybe even absurdly slow, and you'll be fine.....don't want any injuries to make the recovery slower than it already is. Then just make sure you get in the proper nutrition that allows you to get the most out of those workouts and keep your end goals in mind. Good luck!

6'-3" here and..... Pre-op highest................./...320 ish Day I started pre-op diet......292 Day of surgery.....................276 Post-op so far........................226 For the most part, people on here are very helpful, so just give a shout out and there are usually people more than willing to help, give advice or just listen to us rant. Good luck!

Building up to being active after surgery is a really slow and frustrating process. I just did the walking for about the first 3 weeks or so. Doing anything more than that is really taxing on your body if you are not getting the minimum nutrition (protein) in, which most of us still are not at a month or less post-op. Hang in there, get in your protein (and water) and slowly build up your activity level and at 2-4 months out you should be fine and able to try whatever you'd like.

My "after"....... or hopefully just my "so far/most recent"......

Oh, thought you were just wanting 'before' pics. My 'after' is on my profile.

Preach on Butter! I love me compound lifts, deadlifts, dips, military presses, pullups, etc! Effective AND very efficient lifts.

You are too funny! And thanks for both the clinical assessment and your way too kind personal opinion! I'm not crazy worried about them at the moment. I guess the key word in my post was "starting" to worry a little about them or notice them. As of about 2-3 months ago, I'm implementing the "extra chest work" routine at the gym to hopefully add more muscle there to hopefully fill in the little bit of space that I'm noticing is trying to sag. I really think this approach right after surgery helped with my lower torso (belly area) and has virtually eliminated sag issues there. So hopefully this continued extra focus on my upper torso will help the same way. We'll see..................

My high BP went away almost immediately. Before WLS, it was out of control even while on the max dosage BP medicine (160ish/105ish). Now it's in the normal range with no meds......makes me very happy!

I think mine are starting to think about causing me some issues..........

Those are before????

What if we want to lift say.... around the middle of the day, and save our evening energy for "evening fun"? I've lifted pretty well at lunch with fairly high intensity then and usually able to recover and "perform" when/if the opportunity for "evening activities" arise. We'll call those evening "activities" my cardio session. Haha! Seriously though, good points on the recovery and rest aspects. I make sure any muscle soreness is gone before working that particular muscle group again and that seems to serve me pretty well and I've had good experiences with that approach.

Nothing crazy or too strong....maybe some green tea or something like that. Or an invigorating chilly shower in the morning to bring you to full alertness......? Other than and the other suggestions that members posted.....I have no idea. Good luck!

Caffeine....... Will not make you stronger, but can help with focus, which can help indirectly with strength. I usually don't need it since I workout at lunch and I'm awake by then. But the rare times I've tried morning workouts, sometimes caffeine helps to kick me into an exercise frame of mind.

Desk job here too! The gym I've been going to for the past 2+ years is really good and I'm lucky to only have to pay $20 a month for my gym membership. It's a block and a half from my office, so I walk there and lift at lunch Mon-Fri. It's very convenient for me and I'm very fortunate to have a gym that's so cheap and close to work. Sitting the rest of the day makes me very eager to get out at lunch and exercise......very therapeutic for me.

I see. Like a section in photos subtitled "before & after" perhaps. Good idea

Yeah, I think my picture albums say "before" and "after", then those albums are shown on the profile page I think......... Not sure if I originally set it up that way or if it is standard on everyone's profile.