aroundhky

Hang in there! You'll be glad you did. You just have to figure out if you want enough to jump through the hoops. It's very frustrating, but in the end, I'm sure you'll be glad you stayed the course.

Congrats! Makes you look taller!

That's the first place I went to when I first started thinking about having the surgery. Make sure that you ask for everything required and all costs that you can expect. I ended up not being really happy with them and went elsewhere. Some of that's my fault for being naieve. But I also don't feel they were completely up front with me on all that was required or at least understanding of me being new to the process and being thorough with me. Not saying they are deceitful, just not sure they are aware of how much information overload it is to use prospective patients and making sure they are clear on all of the details.

The way my Dr told me was this.............. "Your sleeve should not stretch, but it will become A LITTLE more accomodating for food over time. Meaning, like an old shoe does after it's been broken in, it doesn't really stretch, but it is a little less rigid and you're able to fit more socks (a little more food) onto your feet and still get into the shoe." It took me a second to catch what he was saying, but it made perfect sense to me. I'm almost 7 months out and I started noticing this around 4-5 months for me, but still far less than I could eat before the sleeve.

On days I exercise...... about 60-80. On days I don't exercise.......no more than 40. For me, carbs can be a good thing or a bad thing depending on 1-type of carb (whole grains and slow digesting carbs are better than simple or processed carbs) and 2-when they are consumed. I eat my slow digesting carbs (beans, brocolli, nuts, etc) around my workouts. But everyone has their own unique sensitivity or lack of sensitivity to carbs. Try to find out what works best for you in consideration of your nutritionists guidelines and go from there.

In the recovery room! No, just kidding!

Haven't tried a jager bomb yet. But the few times I've had a drink, I've noticed that my tolerance is a lot less than before. Not sure if it's because of the weight loss, smaller stomach or both.

Just eat lean meats (proteins) first, then veggies and you should be fine. Once you're allowed to anyway. I'm 6+ months out and can eat a good cup and a half of food and it seems to be inching up every month. I bet I'm eating 2 cups in a few months. : ( But I'm still slowly losing, so it's all good I guess.

Baby steps. Maybe just get out and walk a couple of times a week. Then 3-4 times a week or increase the time and walk longer. It doesn't have to be plain walking in circles on a track. It can be hiking through the woods or at a lake or biking. You have to find something you're at least a little interested in to stick to it. It's always harder for me to get started back if I haven't done anything for a few days. But once I get going, I really look forward to the gym and feel like my day is not complete if I miss a day. I feel so much better when I go and I also sleep better at night. Just try and find the time to move around some and take it all in while you're doing it and enjoy it!

Congrats, wish you the best!!!

Yep, in regards to density....to put it another way....... a cubic inch of muscle DOES weigh more than a cubic inch fat. Volume...

Are you eating any food with a lot of niacin? Sometimes when I eat food that is high in niacin, I get what's called a "niacin flush" and I feel a little warm and sometimes a little red skin. It usually doesn't last long, maybe 15-20 minutes and isn't dangerous. Peanut butter does that to me. Try to remember what type of foods you're eating right before this happens, if it is high in niacin, that could be why. Of course it could be something totally different, surely worth checking into and finding out.

Abs? What are abs? I think like "Inline" stated, there will be skin issues. Also genetics plays a key role as well and how body fat is positioned around your body. I know I would like to get rid of my "man boobs", but I think genetics is working against me there. But they are a lot smaller now. I know when I was in high school, I actually had abs then, and I rarely worked abs directly. Seems body fat percentage (along with genetics) are normally the two biggest factors for showing abs, and with us on this message board, the loose skin is a big factor as well.

Any kind of exercise I'm sure is a good thing. Seems a little complicated to keep up with, so I'm sure writting all of that down and scheduling it helps. Long cardio (45+ mins) CAN deplete muscle some as your body wants to use it up for energy, so you may want to make sure to get some protein in right after the workout. Good luck with the exercise and the surgery!

Thanks you all! "coops".... I appreciate it, I'm still overweight by BMI standards, but less than I used to be. Had my body fat percentage checked the other day and on that chart, my body fat is now in the healthy range for my age.... 18.8%. So I'll go by that standard, but my doctor I'm sure will still use the BMI chart.

Oh I defineately did! Well the first week of it anyway. The 4th day I had to have some solid food, so I remember eating that grilled chicken breast and it was sooo good! Then like 2 days later I remember eating a beef patty with some cheese. After that, for the next week plus I kept to it and had only liquids. But the two times that I did cheat, I made sure to cut out the carbs, which I think is the main objective..... to shrink that liver.

Good idea to not cut out your carbs that week! I'm doing a Warrior Dash in a few weeks and I AM NOT a runner. But I've committed to it and went for about a run the other day and got about a mile in before I stopped. This race is 5k as well (along with obstacles and rope courses). So I am planning on doing about a half mile at a time and walking briefly in between. The intervals that BlackBerryJuice mentioned are also good for preserving muscle. Usually my cardio consists of sprints, high paced walking or 20 minutes on a stationary bike, so this is pretty new to me too. Also, make sure to stay hydrated. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

Congrats and you look fantastic! Way to go "Koriswlj"!!!!

Welcome! Keep those end goals in mind and enjoy the ride!

Congrats!!! Way to go!!!

If doing resistance training, you surely want to get some protein in within an hour after your workout. Also a few slow digesting clean carbs like broccoli, grean beans, etc about an hour or two after your workout. The juice idea is really good immediately after lifting and exercising, like as soon as you walk out of the gym door...... if you can. If it's a good hard workout, your glycogen levels in your muscles will be depleted and any simple carbs (sugars) you consume right after the workout will go directly to your muscles and not stored as fat or in the liver. It will also help you recover better. Just be sensible like "Pookey" said and just drink a few ounces. What I do is consume my protein shake (with just a few of those quickly digesting simple carbs) as I'm walking out the gym door. Then about an hour or so later, I eat my lean meats with veggies. But everyone is different. Experiment and see what works for you and go with it. Good luck!

In my personal opinion, I think it's good to do it before the surgery. I kept lifting a lot before my surgery and up through the first week of the liquid pre-op diet. Then I hit the wall from carb depletion and stopped working out for the last week of the liquid diet. Your muscles want glycogen to repair themselves after being broken down in the workout and with the no carb or extremely low carb pre-surgery liquid diet, you MAY do your muscles more harm than good once all of the stored carbs are gone from your liver during that last week or so of the pre-op diet. That's just my guess. It would be interesting to hear other people's thoughts on this. But lifting all the way up through the beginning of the liquid diet sounds like a good idea to me. Muscles have memory, and I think I got my strength back a lot sooner after my surgery due to this muscle memory. However, muscle size was really slow to come back. Also, after doing more research on this, I wish my Dr would have recommended also taking L-glutamine and branch chain amino acids during my weight loss. These supplements are known to preserve more muscle (along with the protein) during rapid weight loss. So that might be a good idea as well. BCAAs and Glutamine are relatively inexpensive and there are some already in many of the whey protein supplements. "Inline", it sounds like it may be worth looking into these supplements if you are a lifter. We work hard for our gains in the gym, might as well do all that we can to preserve those muscles you earned. Good luck and keep us updated!

On the more expensive side, I would say Nectar Strawberry is really good (though it's a little more expensive and doesn't mixes fizzy-like), but it's a high quality whey isolate as is Unjury. A good quality less expensive one that I've turned to lately is Body Fortress, which can usually be found at Wal-Mart as well as other places. I like their vanilla and it mixes well in blender with blueberries, strawberries, etc.

"Kayte"....some people say that you can't really get too much protein, but I would have to disagree. It is true that it takes your body more effort/energy (calories) to break down protein, but protein is still calories and doesn't have negative calories, and can eventually lead to weight gain in my opinion if consuming too many. Especially if you are getting plenty of protein from solid foods, then chugging 4-5 Protein shakes a day in addition to the solid protein. Eventually your body is going to get more protein than it can use and at some point (since they are calories), they will be stored as fat if you have too many. I think for us, it would be fairly difficult for us to get that many grams every day without drinking a ton of them. How many grams each individual needs varies and depends on factors such as overall body mass and it's composition (muscle), one's age, activity level, etc. I know for me, I don't go with the "1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day" theory like a lot of the other gym rats I lift with. I can't imagine consuming 240+ grams of protein, especially now. I don't care how lean that protein is, that's still a lot of calories. However, I probably do get in a lot more than most people on this message board. I'm guessing I get on average of 100-125 grams of proetin now. I lift weights very heavily and at a very high intensity and there is a lot of muscle broken down during my workouts, so they need the extra protein to repair and rebuild. But if I didn't lift weights or do much cardio, I would probably only shoot for around 60 grams of protein a day. But that's just my opinion as I know what works for me. Kayte, I would discuss this with your nutritionist as I'm sure he/she has a pretty good idea of your situation and needs. http://www.livestron...ou-gain-weight/

Hang in there! That regret will one day change to "I wish I had done this years ago". : )