aroundhky

Great job!!!

'ActingNurse'....yes, you sure do want to hold off on anything that may engage your core for lifting or even using them for support like squats. Just gradually build up to it over the next couple of months and you should be fine. I'm always looking for tips in the weight room, so let me know what works for ya!

I worked out (lifted) off and on for years before surgery. I thought at the time that I lifted fairly often, which was about twice, maybe three times a week. Looking back, I was not nearly as dedicated as I am now with a set plan and lifting 4-5 times a week currently. So I was kind of muscular and kind of strong, but now that I'm over a year out and weigh a lot less, I feel better and I'm now stronger than I was when I was 315-320. Also, for the first two months after surgery, I lost A LOT of muscle due to losing weight so fast. When I first went back to the gym post-op, I was really weak and it really bummed me out. So it's been a slow, but steady road back to strength and now then some. You have similar goals for strength?

Still a work in progress, but muscle really helps to fill in the loose skin. This one is from over 2 months ago, so I've probably made just a little more progress since then. But some of those core/torso muscles were starting to develop by this time. The deadlifts have really helped to keep the flab away from my tummy. Just need to start really light and get that form down before advancing with deadlifts. I've also had very little issues with loose skin on my arms as well. I would recommend targeting muscles and lifting in any area that one wants to improve loose skin or flab issues. My next goal while continuing the "ab" area is to start improving my chest area with some bench press, incline press and dumbbell flys.

My plans are for making turkey chili. I basically use seasoning or chili mix based on desired "hotness", kidney beans, ground turkey, diced tomatoes (or salsa), chopped onions and I add in quinoa as well as a couple of other minor ingredients. Lots of protein and with some good carbs (beans and quinoa). I no longer eat my chili with crackers or tortilla scoops though, but before surgery, I went that route and it was gooooood! Kind of miss that.

This is absolutely horrible. I can't imagine. If the surgeon messed up the procedure or didn't do it right.....I don't think I would be very rational with him. I hate that you are going through this.

'Sleeve_sister", if you are paying....I'm going!

Lasted 6 minutes??? Well that's the problem and why not enough calories are being burned.

My bad, I had an errand to run yesterday when I started writing that reply and was in too much of a hurry, thus not very thorough. Biceps are your front facing upper arm muscles and triceps are the rear facing upper arm muscles that a lot of people want to work on in the gym. A person would do some of the previous mentioned exercises to target these muscles. Someone doing deadlifts would target their whole body and especially the core (torso) muscles that may help with one's tummy area. Deadlifts are basically taking a weight off of the floor and standing up with it. Though it's still a very technical lift that requires good technique/form. If you've never done any kind of resistance training (muscle building/toning), you'll probably want to do a little research (as Fiddleman stated) on some of those lifts or others you may be interested in. "Mcabercrombie"....those are just a few suggestions that you may want to look into that will hopefully build a little muscle in those areas you are wanting to improve.

Not that you want to neglect the biceps, but the triceps make up 2/3 of the muscle in your arms, so make sure to work those triceps with some dips (or assisted dibs) and close grip bench presses along with bicep work. Lower belly is tough to work on unless you want to do deadlifts, squats and planks. The extra deadlifts have helped me on my lower torso (tummy and sides). If you do those, just make sure you go light at first with high reps to learn the technique. Good luck!

Dude........remarkable!!! You're living proof of what many of us do and try to do (including myself), which is taking this tool that we have and making the most of it. And you have made the absolute very most of it and going way beyond what any of us can expect!! Great job man!!

Way to go!

I didn't have a ton of weight to lose to begin with but I was still way over weight and very unhealthy. My blood pressure could not be controlled with the max dosage of meds and I had to use cholesterol meds to control my LDL, had joint pain and I was at 320 pounds about a few years ago. During the 2-3 years pre-op, I fluctuated between 280 and 315. I've lost slow, other than the first 2-3 months after surgery (see signature below). I may not get to my goal of 215, but I still haven't stopped losing and I'm almost 15 months post-op. The last several months I've probably only averaged a pound or two loss a month and I'm currently at 227 (not terribly bad for 6'-3"). But I'm also still losing inches, which lets me know the fat is dropping slowly and I'm actually adding muscle and getting stronger every month. I see this in my max lifts in the gym, so I'll take the pound or two of fat loss a month, especially if I can continue that during all of my second year post-op. If so, that would put me at my goal by the end of this second year. Also, when I put that 215 goal out there, it was just a number that I was told to give myself and to shoot for it. Sometimes goals can be measured by more than just what is on the scale. My body fat has gone from around 35% to about 16-17%, I'm off my blood pressure meds completely now with normal range BP, off my cholesterol meds, joint pain in my knees are gone and I feel MUCH better! So slow loss on the scales for me has not been indicative of my overall progress since surgery. My main goals always were to get healthier and off my meds and I have done that. Any other benefits are just gravy for me (pun intended) and I am very appreciative of this surgery even though I've not lost heaping amounts of weight.

Lifting heavy slowed my weight loss as well. But the key word is weight, which doesn't mean that fat loss slows. My weight didn't come off as fast as most on this site and at first, it bothered me. I was doing compound lifts such as deadlifts, squats, pullups, dips, etc 4-5 times a week. But a few months after surgery, I noticed that I had lost 50+ pounds and my lifts were back to the weight they were before surgery and my strength was fully back. So that tells me that my weight loss was almost entirely fat, which I was more than ok with. The body composition tests that I took backed that up. I was 35+% body fat two months before my surgery, and as of a couple of months ago, I was around 17%. "Pdxman" has had lots of experience and has a tremendous amount of insight on this stuff and if you are going full throttle or close to it as far as exercise, well timed carbs, especially complex carbs are your friends. Hang in there "vogue" and if muscle retention or muscle gain is a top goal, you'll be happy you stuck with it. Good luck! P.S. I'm over a year out now and I'm eating regular sized portions now. Not insane portions like before my surgery, and not eating like a mouse as I was the first couple of months after surgery. So you'll probably be able to eat a little more, just try and make sure those bigger portions fuel those workouts and you'll stay lean.

I was always warm before surgery, but did notice for the first month or two after surgery that I was chilly fairly often. Now I'm back to being hot all the time.

I agree, you have age on your side. Try not to get too down if you have some initially. My guess it will bounce back (tighten up) a lot sooner than for us "old farts" like Pdxman said.

I count everything as well. That said, I eat more beans and veggies like broccoli on days I lift weights (the 2 meals post workout). To build muscle, that muscle needs slow digesting carbs just as much as it needs protein. So I have as many veggie type carbs like broc and green beans as I want, with a lean protein on those workout days. I count them on those days, but I don't really limit the low glycemic carbs then, I just count them to compare my macros to my non-lifting days where I DO limit my carbs. Though I'm human, I try to avoid the simple carbs like sugary foods and drinks such as Gatorade unless I do some long insane cardio session and need it after that workout. This all works for me, but we are all so different metabolically, you may just need to find what works for you and go from there. And more than likely, when you do, your body will change.

Yes, let us know! You're peaked our interest now, so we want to know how it turns out and looking for feedback.

I've never heard of that! ArcusX is right, better to check with your Dr than risk it. Good luck!

I'm sorry, I thought you meant the pre-op liquid diet. My insurance, or surgical team, not sure which, did not require the supervised diet for months leading up to the surgery. Like most on here, I had already tried it for 15-20 years with back and forth success.

I jumped the gun just a couple of days early....once I found out my surgery date. I lost about 15-16 pounds in 2+ weeks. My Dr only required a 10 day pre-op diet.

Sometimes a light workout a day or two after the heavy workout can actually help flush out the lactic acid (one of the main causes of muscle soreness) out of those sore muscles if you subscribe to the lactic acid theory. But if you do one of these workouts while still sore, make sure you don't go at the same intensity as the prior workout and lessen the volume as well. Also stretching can help flush out some of the lactic acid. Some people think the DOMS (Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness) comes from micro tears in the muscle and need recovery days to heal back and during that healing process there is slight muscle gain or growth each time. It's kind of hard to tell which is the real reason for muscle soreness, but since we are all different, I would just try one method and see what works best for YOU. I know with myself, age has really come into play the past couple of years. I just turned 40 so I think the rest/recovery days tend to help me due to my advanced age.

Soreness from weight lifting is a good thing if it doesn't partially or completely disable you. Let's you know that you really worked those muscles. Just make sure that the soreness in those particular muscles is pretty much gone before working them again. I'll do splits on my workouts, which allows me to work a few body parts while the others are recovering.

I lift weights 4-5 times a week and do cardio 1-2 times a week. One of the cardio sessions is my weekly Muay Thai for one hour and the other I run or do stationary bike for 30-45 minutes. On my lifting (resistance training), 1-2 of those are of the HIRT (High Intensity Resistance Traning) which involves olympic lifts.....but they really kick my butt and I can't do them more than twice a week.

Good point "Catracks"! I put quinoa in a lot of stuff....turkey meatloaf, lean ground beef with a low cal sauce, chili, etc. Good slow digesting carb with the protein too! Can't find many foods like that.....it's even better than oatmeal.