Fiddleman

The face flush would be caused by beta-alanine or niacin. The flush is harmless as it is just your nerves waking up. Sometimes the flush will go away after a few weeks. The beta-alanine works great, especially if you take 3-4 weeks to load it. It reduces the effects of lactic acid from working out. Hence, you can workout longer and more efficiently. It is just one of the few supplements they recommend in the cross fit circles. That and creatine.

Thanks for sharing your story in this thread. I will be traveling down a very similar path soon enough. Starting weight for me was 360 and average final weight is 178. I dropped my weight in first 7 months and have been working out since. I am currently 18 months post op. The only thing holding me back from a lower body lift ( essentially same procedure as you) is the cost.

Yes and yes! You have to have the mental fortitude to be stronger then desires. It would be so easy to just have one, but one leads to 2 and 1 week of bad eating leads to 3 months of bad eating if not careful. And that is where the weight gain will occur. Be strong! Put your health goals ahead of desires. True story today. My wife and I were at an aquatic center grand opening today and their idea of refreshments was 1000s of little cupcakes and regular size Cookies. Go figure. Ignoring for a moment of how such food ended up at a place of fitness,I just want to say how easy it would have been to eat 1-3 cup cakes (bite size) and/or a cookie or two. There is not any aspect from surgery that would have prevented me from doing this. No restrictions, no slimes,etc. I had to make a decision of not indulging even though I could probably had gotten away with it due to my fitness levels. I had to leave the room. It just was not worth it to start down that slippery slope so +1 for mental fortitude. Put your health goals first before your desires and you will be strong enough for when those temptations arise.

Anyone want to do a pull-up challenge with me during January-February 2014? I found the following link: http://www.50pullups.com This looks practical enough to work through the month. You progressively work your way up to 50 unbroken strict pull-ups. A strict pull-up is all upper body and grip strength. I anticipate this might be a 2 month challenge to complete the program defined on the linked page based on number of cycles and rest days. I can do about 5 strict pull ups in a row and about 10 in a row if they are kipping. I would like to do 25 strict in a row and 100 kipping in a row. Kipping pull-ups are more about timing and coordination rather then raw upper body strength, but still require good grip strength which translates into strong forearms. It would be great to have some folks participate so we can motivate each other. I still dread the thought of a cross fit workout that calls for sets of 40 pull-ups over a couple rounds (had one last week). I want to enjoy doing pull-ups. Even if you think can't do a pull-up this is still the time to jump in and take on this challenge. It is for anyone who has some desire to get better at pull-ups and looking to build a strong upper body. Go ahead, try the challenge. You will come out the other end appreciating the fact you made it. It will be hard, but totally worth it.

Well, it looks like my max run is at 20 now that January is coming to a close. I wanted to do 50 in a run. So this challenge is definitely going through February. I do have to say my technique has improved a lot in the last month. Not so much fatigue nor do I look like a crazy wild person when doing them. Focus is on smooth control from one rep to the next and to prevent fatigue as reps climb.

you have unlimited open gym right? You can go to just 4 days of cross fit next week and you are golden. You can tame down the workout on a subsequent day if 2 days in a row is rough. Do like 60-70% effort, or less if you want to. You can do it!

Mmm, bananas and creme.....

The c4 2 scoop dosing was pretty awesome. 1. Ran a 5:05 minute mile for warmup and then 20 m mobility 2. Did 40 double unders, 30 pull-ups, 30 push ups and 60air squats for more warmup 3. PR'd my dead lift in a 10-10-8-6-4 sequence from 185 to 320 #. Completed these pretty quickly and perfect form (according to coach). Felt really good after these. 4. Completed the 100 wall balls with 20# ball in 4:41 seconds. I was shooting for 6-8 minutes, but did way better as I found good rhythm. And still had energy. Before I jumped on the pull-up bar to bust out some 20 chest 2 bar, I had to tell myself "good workout, now go home". This was still only 1 hour in the box. 1 hour is average for me in the box, but I got so much done today! Yup, c4 is a good energy and focus supplement. I like that it doesn't bring on any madness or uncontrolled energy like other sups. I still think it is primarily the caffeine of c4 that helps the energy, focus, stamina and endurance.

No madness here. Lol. I am more an athlete focusing on good technique then an animal in the gym. I want to get the best time possible on doing the workout though while keeping good technique. Wall balls suck energy though and require so much perseverance as your muscles fatigue...

I started eating them at 5-6 months post op where I was about 15 lbs from goal and I needed the energy to run 5-10 k at a time. Today I get my carbs more from steel oats and fiber one, but these energy squares work well also.

Given your definition of when you use assault and when you use c4, which would you use for over 100 wall ball throws. Curious because that is my workout today and I will be needing staying power and explosiveness. Is it more of an assault workout or a c4 workout if it were you? And in case you are wondering, a wall ball is a combination of a deep squat and a push press, almost like a thruster I guess but maybe more explosive.

Here are some energy squares from nuts.com: http://www.nuts.com/snacks/energy-squares/ My favorite are chocolate paradise: http://www.nuts.com/snacks/energy-squares/chocolate-paradise.html It has been a little while since eating some, but I think an order is in the near future.

Every day. Fiber from fiber one Cereal helps the most for me. Second best remedy is caffeine (it stimulates the smooth muscle for bowel movement). Just be careful about depending too much on caffeine for a daily BM as your body will down regulate after a while. Occasionally, I will miss the regularity despite doing the right things. I either wait it out or use Miralax. If still having trouble, I will drink some MoM.

Caffeine has different effects on different people. Perhaps take less if you are super sensitive towards the caffeine. I am not so tend to dose on the higher sides. The caffeine is what makes Amino Energy a good pre workout supplement. If you just want aminos before a workout without any caffeine, go with a product like catalyst. I used to take this and like the clean results that came from it in terms of stamina and energy. Catalyst has a different set and type of aminos than xtend that are designed for energy. The aminos in xtend are designed more for recovery.

What do you think of those pre workout drinks like c4 and assault? Assault ranks as #3 and c4 as #6 on the 2013 best pre workout drinks for men: http://www.bestworkoutsupplementsblog.com/top-10-pre-workout-supplements/ I find that c4 used to be a pretty good drink, but does not work that well for me any longer no matter how long I cycle off it. Assault same sort of thing although I only used it once or twice. Some of these drinks taste like soap to me also for whatever reason. I would not mind the taste if the performance made up for it, but, alas, it does not. Maybe these drinks truly are designed for lifting alone and not metabolic conditioning workouts. I would like them to work for me, but they turned into more of a money pit. Maybe you have a different experience with them. It has been a while since I have used a store pre workout drink. Instead I just go with items from the following list: http://www.muscleandstrength.com/articles/supplementation-crossfit-athlete I think caffeine is the biggest game changer in being able to release the longest and cleanest amount of energy for those stamina and endurance needs of metabolic conditioning, running or rowing. Just be sure to drink a lot of Water. Beta-alanine also helps, but does take a while to load (1month). You have to also not mind the skin tingling. They day it goes away after a few weeks, but I still get it months later. Not really sure how much it helps over the other stuff, but I appreciate being able to perform at high levels of fitness.

I find sometimes a snack like a baby bel satisfies more than, say, almonds or a protein shake. The fat from the cheese triggers satiety in the brain. I am not supposed to be eating cheese on my paleo diet, but I do appreciate actually turning off the need or desire to keep eating after already eating a protein or low carb snack by eating just one baby bel. Quite strange.

Now I am confused. I was just looking at the ingredients on the xtend bcaa product I take and it is full of electrolytes in the form of a special blend and levels of potassium / sodium. http://www.amazon.com/Scivation-Intra-Workout-Catalyst-Watermelon-Servings/dp/B005CH0DT4/ref=sr_1_sc_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1390482765&sr=8-1-spell&keywords=Xyend I drink a lot of this stuff so I must be getting my electrolytes daily. Hmm..

German engineering? I guess you mean like this one: http://www.athleticx.net/products/german-creatine Here is a study on the effectiveness and purity of German engineered creatine: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0308814610010915 Does 3.5% impurities in the standard creatine products make a difference? Or is this mostly marketing...

Interesting. So you think there may be some water toxicity happening? Like I said above, my diet is pretty much void of anything but lean protein, veggies and some low glycemic carbs. I will have to see about balancing out the electrolytes and water without radically changing my diet as not looking to suddenly start eating high glycemic fruit like bananas. Drinking large quantities of water is so habitual for me now it would be strange to cut back on it.

So I talked to my insurance (UHC) yesterday about what the eligibility is for these procedures considering they are cosmetic and not medical. Interestingly enough, they said in network was 100% covered after 200 dollar deductible and out of network 80% covered. This is the same coverage as the VSG itself. They said the decision depends on provider used and is case by case, whatever that means. This is exciting news that the procedures may be covered at 100 %. However, I would have to make sure provider is in network and, unfortunately, this might exclude dr Harris at PSSC. Isn't insurance fun ?

It was/is just a problem during longer workouts and most likely is attributed to dehydration. I probably did not get enough water this morning, which is a bit strange because I always drink 120+ oz of flavored water by afternoon. I just had a huge panel of blood tests for the WLS center and everything was in range. No problem there. I am going to see if cutting back on some caffeine will help with dehydration that occurs from time to time on the long metabolic conditioning (met con) workouts.

Thanks, I will up my potassium levels.

Yup- throw in some intense workouts, low carb and drink lots of water over 1-2 weeks and it is easy to drop 5-10 lbs. I think it has something to do with the high rate our BMR is now set to. It requires some careful attention to meal timing in terms of eating the right quantity of the right food types at the right time of the day. Once you zone into the metabolic sweet spot of your body, losing is quite "easy." At least that has been my experience in the few months to quickly drop 5 lbs here and there when it creeps a little.

Yes, mix it into a puree.

Yeah, no kidding. That is the one gripe I have with the ON Amino Energy product.