mark!

Haha. I've been her my whole life, and wouldn't move out of this state for just about anything. I've thought about buying 200 acres in Arkansas we've been looking at, still might, but won't ever move up there full time, land is just so cheap there and so crazy expensive here. My family is the same, I see my older brother now, and he's about 480, making an effort to change, but I worry he'll stop caring again. We'll see.

I was scared shitless, to be quite honest babe, it's normal. Nurses kept coming and going, my room was a revolving door. My Dr. came in, shook my hand, said he was going to take care of me and do a good job for me, they gave me some chill medication, and then we were off. I remember laying on the table, then waking up in recovery. It wasn't bad at all dear. We'll all be praying and thinking of you. This is it, your new life is right around the corner!

I'm bald, and I'm completely sexy. Well, balding but keep it shaved with a razor, but none the less, sexy.

Getting dizzy or seeing stars when getting up doesn't necessarily mean anything "bad". Gravity plays a part in it. Getting up quickly can cause blood to rush from the brain and head down, and then your body recovers by pumping more blood harder in to the area, which causes dizziness and the little shooting stars. I used to jump up and have this sensation, I thought it was cool when I was young, until I went in and saw my doctor and questioned him about it. He explained it's not always something bad, could just be physics and the way your body handles that sort of issue. Obviously if you pass out or it seems to happen everytime there could be some other issues going on. I've noticed after I wake up I get dizzy easily, but after my protein in the morning I feel perfect. I keep a bottle of water on my night stand and try to drink half of it before bed to help with that.

Yup, liquid and pureed foods for me haven't caused any fullness. I did eat some ground beef and mashed potatoes today and got full quick, felt like crap and starting sliming, sucked pretty bad. I'm going to have to blend the meat up in to smaller pieces I suppose.

I could only sleep for about 2-3 hours max the first week. I'd have to get up, pee, move around or do something. I slept a lot on the couch because I just couldn't get comfortable. I'm now sleeping at least 8 hours a night, just finished up my blood thinner shots the past few days as well.

Ppi is a proton pump inhibitor or acid reducer.

I like those. I'd like them if I didn't have ogre feet, and well...socks with sandals...meh. I want some Vibrams, but my wife is against them on all fronts. I may just spring for them and buy them anyway.

Ah patience, my arch nemesis it seems. I have to find a way to get that, like the quote in your sig says, my patience wasn't removed during surgery...so...one day at a time. I think my plan to start c25k on the elliptical for the first few weeks, and just doing week 1 over and over won't be too awful bad, we'll see how it goes.

If nutritional value is on point, whey protein won't matter vs isolate. Isolate is nutritionally better for you because it's derived from a more pure form, but whey is still good to go in my book as long as the values aren't crazy off. Quest bars and Cliff bars were my go to bars before surgery and will be when I'm cleared for whole foods.

Ok all, I'm 3 weeks on Tuesday. I've started jogging a bit, lightly on a treadmill to keep impact to a minimum and have felt great. I could also use an elliptical I suppose, but don't feel like I get as good a workout. At 4 weeks, I was told I can bike, and jog as tolerated, and the hospital said I can start jogging when there isn't any pain. Here's my thought. I can start c25k Tuesday, and repeat week 1 on the following week and start very slowly. I'm getting bored with walking, and I've started jogging at 4.0 speed with no issues for the past 2 days. When did ya'll start picking up the pace on cardio?

I just got done doing cardio and was having some mild pain, was getting worried. Farted, and daggum I feel so much better. I usually try to hold them in while at work, but no stink no sound, no harm done.

The more folks from TX the better, Rowlett here. Sorry to hear about your uncle, it's always tough. I lost my mother, she was overweight, then 7 months later we found out my brother passed away after gaining about 100 pounds and other health factors. My whole family is obese, but they'be been very supportive of my choices. I hope you do well on your journey, there is some amazing information and some great people here.

That's awesome man. My best mile time is about 12 minutes, at 394, haven't really pushed myself much yet 3 weeks post op but I'm really hoping for a sub 10 minute mile some day.

Being a bigger guy, I had great interest in Chi Running. I started reading about it, read the book, watched the DVDs, and was making huge progress in my running until surgery. I haven't been able to actually run yet, 3 weeks post op, but I plan on getting back in to the swing of things. I noticed a huge difference in the impact and such when I ran, and I do like the idea of controlled falling instead of trying to propel yourself.

For me, it's been a bit of both really. Some fat friends don't talk to me as much, some skinny ones don't, but it's whatever, I didn't do this for them. I do have a good network of 3 close work friends who have undergone this procedure, a sgt I work with had it and some of the guys in investigations had it as well, so we formed a pretty tight little support group here ourselves.

I work behind a desk, on night shift and tonight has been my first night back on duty since I had surgery. I've felt fine the entire night, and went to the gym with no problems. I feel tired right now, but I pushed myself a bit in the gym, I'll sleep well today. I took 3 weeks off, but in reality, I really could have taken 8 days and been fine (only work 4 days on 3 off 10 hour days). Good luck!

I was told I'd be on an acid reducer/PPI for 6 months after surgery just to make sure all was well.

RIP brother.

No C section for me here, but the pain I had was extremely minimal. I've only taken my pain meds twice since surgery Feb 26th. The leak test was a breeze, did it taste bad? Hell yeah, but it wasn't horrible. I just wanted to get it done so I could start drinking water, I was crazy thirsty by that point and would have drank just about anything. Another leak test was done while I was under with saline and air. They gave me a patch behind my ear to help keep me from throwing up, and also some meds that helped anytime I got to that feeling. As far as the gym goes, I can go now at 3 weeks post op but only to walk and do pool stuff. No lifting for me until weeks 5 or 6 depending on how I feel.

Sleeved on the 26th, so far this morning down 25.8 pounds in 2.5 weeks, 85 overall since pre op. I'm hoping to hit 30 by my 3rd week mark.

I never felt full on liquids, but never felt hungry either. I just started my phase 3, pureed foods, and last night I felt full for the first time with pureed potato soup.

It depends, with me, on what kind of Protein I'm taking at that time. I've gotten some Proteins from a few sponsors that I felt I couldn't get in my normal amount. I don't personally follow the 1/1 ratio of grams of protein/bodyweight. When I was in the 340's and 350's competing, I stuck to about 250g to 325g protein per day, with as much coming from bison, beef or chicken as I could get in. If you're feeling like you're hitting atrophy, you could most your protein numbers around a bit. Usually on lifting days, my protein intake is way higher for obvious reasons. Are you running hard say, a day after lifting? It could be fatigue in the muscle heads causing that feeling, I've noticed I cannot even think about running after squat day or my calves and hamstrings will be screaming 10 minutes in to my cardio. Are you taking any creatine on lifting days or any recovery things? I mix creapure with my protein, and glutamine, it helps with recovery quite a bit. You could always adjust your macro-nutrients around to get 150g protein a see if that helps the feeling and recovery. For each individual it takes some tweaking of the numbers to get the right amount of protein, just depending on how you lift and run, and how your body is.

that's true, I wasn't even thinking about that, I'd be falling all over people.

Haha, it would not be a pretty sight, that's for sure.