Fiddleman

I remember someone saying a while ago this is related to the anesthesia or pain medicine used for surgery and/or recovery. It should work itself out soon.

I am out a ways in maintenance mode and this amount of calories of 1800 stabilizes my weight at goal weight of 180 for height 5'11" per the activities I do during the week (about 1 hour a day). The key is to eat a small amount every few hours, focusing on protein and good carbs. Start early when you rise and end when you go to bed. Every 3 hours is also when I get hungry so don't have any hunger issues. Since insulin levels are well balanced due to timing and clean quality of food, I never get the munchies or anything of that sort. It is golden. I hit this calorie amount of 1800 at around 1 year post op. At 6 months I was eating 600-800. At 3 months, 400-600. At one month, 300-500.

Here is a typical day for me. 6am- premier Protein and 1/2 cup steel oats 9am- 4-5 oz of chicken and 1/2 bell pepper 12pm 4-5 oz chicken and 1/2 bell pepper 2pm- 1/2 cup steel oats and 1 scoop Protein powder (25 g) 4pm workout 5:30 pm- Protein shake mixed with banana and green powder or a p90x r&r shake mixed with 1 scoop protein powder (25 g) 7:30pm - 4-5 oz chicken and 2-3 oz of green like brocolli 9:30pm 3 scoops casein protein (about 60 g)

1800, up to 2200 depending on type and length of exercise for the day. Sleeved on 7-4-2012.

Essentially a food that does not make you feel full is a slider. Typically it is junk food like chips, but it can also be other foods depending on individual. For me, a slider would be popcorn. Since I know I would eat too much of it, I choose not to eat it. Even protein bars can be a slider. A non slider usually is dense protein like chicken or beef.

congrats! Such a good job.

My opinion might be counter culture here on the boards. I believe that you should use whatever help *you* want as long as there is no harm to another and hopefully not to said individual. Sometimes extra help is needed to increase metabolism even if you are doing all those things. If diet pills are frowned on (which I do not agree with), then the same people would also preach specific diet plans (IF, 5:2, WW, whatever) are not acceptable to help lose the weight. Unfortunately, we are not all built the same so we must each forge our own directions. And while they may overlap in small or large ways, they are uniquely catered and personalized to an individual to help them be them most successful. For example,I find eating 1800 calories of clean food, 220g protein, drinking 2-4 liters of water a day and working out daily are the keys to my success. Has been for a year now. Will this work for someone else? Probably. However, it sure works well for me and that is where it matters.

At 3 months, I was at 500-800. It depends on how the sleeve was feeling. Sometimes, it was hard to eat 2 ounces of pork loin. And beef was out of the question. Chicken was hit and miss. It is a bit nostalgic looking back at those times. Now I am almost 2 years post op a and have very little trouble with 1800 calories a day, 5 ounces of chicken, green leafy veggies, beef and more. How things have changed. I think the only "solid" I still struggle with occasionally is corned beef.

You will lose muscle and strength post op, especially in the upper body. There is no way to prevent that with massive calorie deficits, even if you get to a point of eating over the recommended minimum Protein intake. Also you will not be lifting heavy for a long time nor do you want to in order not to rip, tear' or otherwise damage yourself. Try and eat as much protein as you can during the "losing" phase and eat as few carbs as you can. Whatever carbs you do eat should be in the form of good carbs. Try and not cheat. Your future results will thank you. When your weight converges on goal weight, slowly add good carbs and work towards lifting heavier and consistently. You do not want to eat a whole lot of carbs during the losing phase as that will slow your weight loss way down for most folks. Eventually, you will want to start eating 50% protein, 30% carb and 20% fat while you are still reducing body fat, even if at goal weight. Once you body fat reaches your goal (say, 10-12%), change the macros to 40% protein, 40% carb and 20% fat, still eating as clean as you can the entire time. Balancing out protein and carbs is ideal as protein needs carbs in order for optimal protein synthesis to occur. You can also play with carbohydrate timing. For example, I eat most of my carbs for first meal and meal after working out. The insulin response is going to be at optimal levels at these two times to maximize protein synthesis. Eat mostly protein and veggies the rest of the day, every 2-3 hours. Depending in your ideal weight, you will want to eat 1-1.5 G protein per # of body weight and 300-500 calories under your point of calorie in and calorie out homeostasis. For me, that is about 220 G protein and 1800 calories respectively. Always drink a lot of Water the whole time. You will not only lose weight faster, but you will also cut faster because your hormones will balance out by themselves as the various toxins are flushed from your body. I am a strong believer in the application of nutritional and sports science ahead of the actual lifting. The actual lifting will result in disappointment if one does not get the nutrition and timing right. As for the actual lifting, I currently do a standard split routine in the context of p90 x and am finishing up this program at the end of this month (may repeat or go onto another program like p90x/insanity hybrid or p90x2). It is a really good program. I also like doing workouts from "you are your own gym" because there are so many benefits behind functional training that you some times do not get from traditional split isometric routines (chest/back,legs/back, biceps/shoulders/back, etc). For this reason, I also enjoy cross fit. Oh how I love cross fit, but you do have to be careful about preventing injury and overtraining.

I've done a lot of concept II rowing over the years (my wife got me into it), but it really picked as part of cross fit workouts, after 1 year from surgery. I like fast rowing at 1:20 min /500 m split (almost as much as I like fast running - sub 5 min mile times) and like all the benefits that come with it. Definitely rowing is something you can do post op, but do wait until your stomach is mostly healed so you don't damage something. Personally I have a concept II model b (a dinosaur, but built like a tank) at home and like to row 1-2 hours on it. When at cross fit, I would either row to warm up orI would row for max calories or max meters in x amount of time. All out sprinting and usually part of a larger am rap (as many rounds as possible) workout that has other things like pushups, pullups, double unders etc. Keep on rowing!

Each gram of protein has 4 calories so eating the minimum 80 g yields 320 cals. Still way below 600. Even at 100 g, the cals are at 400. Now keep in mind you have to eat as clean protein as possible to hit the 1 g = 4 calories. It would be very hard to even if you sat around eating lean chicken breast all day. Maybe you could do it with only eating some protein isolate powder (clean and pure). Not sure you would want to though. Stepping back, eating under 600 is really easy in first couple months. It is physically difficult to get the 80 g until month 2 or 3 (I think I hit it around month 3-5). I would not worry too much about calories until you stall (real stall, not the typical cycle we all go through) and just focus on eating as much protein as you can.

I felt really good about meeting my goal of bringing it every day on the p90x, making tho most of even those "slower" days with yoga ( it can be a good challenge, believe me) and stretching (just what is needed on day 7). Really enjoy the program and it is lovin' me back with reshaping the bod. Month 3, o' p90x goodness, here I come!

I am getting close to 2 years post op. Not sleeping happens to me also. It got to be a habit of waking up and seeing 2:30 am and the eventually falling asleep again at 4:30am. Definitely not ideal when I have to be at my desk ready to do international meetings at 6 am. It started when my exercise picked up at post op 7 months. Did the melatonin OTC thing for a while until it stopped working, which was fairly quick when I maxed out daily dose of 10 mg. I recently got a script (about 1 month ago) for hydroxyl which works fairly well for me at 75 mg before bed. Hydroxyl is a bit like glorified Benadryl so is not in the same class as ambien. No experience with ambien, but i heard stories of people doing some weird stuff on it. I not only sleep better on hydroxyl, but my dreams are of high quality and more engaging. There is a small side effect of being drowsy when I wake (5:30am), but nothing caffeine can't take care of.

You should talk to my wife about gardening and exercise. You sound just like her. She gardens every day for hours and that is her workout. So I believe the answer is yes. it is sort of a functional workout for the whole body. Her PM is phoenix79.

Never heard oh him before, but just spent an hour laughing my a$$ off on utube. He was one funny guy.

Super curvy! You have done great.

no way.... I thought women were born with this as part of their lexicon. So it seems...

It is human nature to focus on the negative if that supports your internal dialog and perspective on issues. Think about it for a moment, the 5 o clock news or the daily paper is predominantly filled with the negative because that is what excites people. Rarely do people get excited over good news as it is too boring and does not make for good entertainment. With all that said, I do believe there is predominantly good in all things versus bad, but the bad seems to get the limelight, especially in a hospital unit where your sister works. The hospital is where people go when there is something very wrong with them. I guess it boils down to a bad conclusion from your sister because she has, statistically, a biased sample set of people (e.g. They are all "hurt" in some way) from which to draw conclusions from. Hope that makes a little sense.

Per your comment that p90x was not quite a fit for you, perhaps insanity would be more your style. It is more hardcore cardio where p90x is more weight lifting (as heavy as you want to make it).

There are two video series that I have enjoyed and both produce good results. Both are excellent. You are your own gym with Mark Lauren: http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Own-Gym/dp/B00AM7EQYC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1397929105&sr=8-2&keywords=you+are+your+own+gym I enjoy this video series because you use your own body weight to get into elite shape. Mark trained some of the best in the special ops. He has a mixture of a lot of different moves from plyo push-ups to star jumpers to one legged Romanian deadlifts. The video has good production values and I did not find it getting old. Inside out with bob harper: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_i_0_14?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=inside+out+bob+harper&sprefix=Inside+out+bob%2Caps%2C406 Do not think inside out is biggest loser because it is coached by bob harper. It is not. The video series has a lot of variation from cardio to strength training to yoga to kettle bell. It also has a really good one on one that has you doing bobs workout. The only workout I wish it had was a cross fit based workout, but "his" workout is still pretty good. I know others enjoy the Jillian michaels DVDs. Never tried them before, but think they should be a good option for you also. I am presently working through p90x and find it is giving me good results in terms of building muscle. Sort of a slow process, but I have faith it will end well.

Onto week 3 phase 2 (month 2) of p90 x. I have to say some of the daily thrill is gone and some of the routines are getting a tad boring and easy. Not too bad yet. I just need to keep focused (have not missed a day yet) and push harder. I like having a different program every day and, believe it or not, I look forward to the 90 min yoga strength once a week. My dumbbell weights are getting heavier on the standard lifting days, which is a good sign. My athleticism is, in my opinion, about the same, but I am conditioning to plyometrics where it is not that hard any longer. Looking better in the mirror (strong athletic build), but not getting "ripped" yet (see wayne on teamripped.com (big picture) - he is my coach and keeps me inspired). I am thinking now it is going to require 2 or maybe 3 rounds of programs to get ripped down into 6% bf zone.

For those who have posted and are cross fitters or do cross fit like activities, what is your favorite WOD and what is it defined as? Sorry to hijack. Seems like a good place to ask since we have a good quorum here. Mine is filthy 50 and it is 50 reps of 12 different exercises from jumping pull-ups, to box jumps, to double unders, to back extensions to burpees.

I have three things in common with you: 1. I am 38 2. I do cross fit. 3. I did Atkins and was successful with it in the past. Maybe there are more common attributes, but those stuck out for me. That sounds like a pretty good match to me. Cross fit is a really exciting fitness challenge, but unlike you, I did not start doing it until reaching goal weight after WLS. It took me about 8 months to drop a whole me from 360 # to 180 # . I do have to say when I first started cross fit, I was fairly fit, but also fairly weak from running long distances (up to 20 miles, average 10 k) at least once a week for 3 months. I did lose the rest of my weight with running (230->180). I do know from experience that cross fit really shine when you can push into elite fitness territory. I mean being able to knock out those pull-ups 50at a time, do those hand stand push ups against the wall, run those sub 5 minute miles. It is hard to do that when carrying extra weight, but I promise it becomes possible with dedication and practice. For you, the lbs will fall off, but more importantly, you will build an athletic and muscular body the more met cons you participate in. The met cons will do that by design, but you have to really strive for best results every single time. Just keep showing up and know today will be the day you get a 22 minute filthy 50. Lifting heavy on the Olympic lifts will build real strength. Do you enjoy the Olympic lifts? My favorite lifts are the squats (back, front) and PR'd around 220 and 320, respectively. Deadlifts PR'd at 420. Cross fit and WLS can definitely coexist. And you can beat the pants off those younger and leaner folks over time as you get into the best athletic shape of your life. Just keep focused and actively seek to better your performance daily in something. That could be practicing skill such as double unders and rebound box jumps, cardio endurance such as sprinting a mile (aim for 5 min or less) or sprint rowing, muscle endurance such as burpee by death or pull up by death. Many things to just work on every day to seek top athleticism. I am currently taking a little break from cross fit to do other things (p90x and insanity), but will return to it later in the year after I finish my beach body programs. Keep it real and good luck!

The bob harper inside out method kettle bell workout DVD is pretty good (not related to biggest loser). It is not perfect, but still helpful as a solid routine. It is one DVD in the inside out method. I enjoy these workouts because they are actually pretty challenging, especially the bobs workout and the pure strength DVDs.

If you do not have access to weights or do not like lifting weights, you may enjoy body weight exercises. There is a nice program called "you are your own gym" that is a really good challenge and each workout is only 20-25 minutes. Not long at all. There are moves like plyo push-ups (like a regular push up, but you push up hard enough to get air and clap)., star jumpers (start in squat and push yourself up into a star position, jumping off the ground as high as you can) and dive bombers. The trainer is enjoyable and does not get boring or annoying. 3 days a week and you will be trained like a special ops. You will get a great workout. I did this program last year and rather enjoyed it. The program is 90 days and has 3 different phases, progressing from beginner to advanced.