Fiddleman

You have done wonderful!

I'm serious guys!!

Weight loss: Heaviest (2 months before surgery): 360 DOS (7-2-2012): 335 Month 1: -45 Month 2: -45 Month 3: -30 Month 4: -15 Month 5: -15 Month 6: -20 Month 7: -8 ( 2-27-2013, goal - 2 lb below goal, 178 ) Month 9: + 12 , 190 (add lean muscle) Month 10: -4, 186 (today - lean out a few lbs this month, but trying to preserve muscle gains at same time) Exercise: Month 1-4: low - moderate exercise (walking, elliptical) - fairly sporadic exercise Month 5: moderate - running (3-5 mile a week) - start of disciplined exercise plan Month 6: moderate- high running (10-15 mile a week) - 1 hour a day 3-4 days, rest every other day. Month 7-10 : high (18-20 mile a week over 3 days, HIIT running 1 day, cross fit 2x a week, yoga when time in evening) - 1 hour a day 6 days, 1 day rest Height: 5'11"

Man, I feel so different from all the others on this thread. At Starbucks or a local barista, I drink just a grande non-fat latee or mocha with a SF flavor like vanilla or hazelnut. Usually, I have one of these a week. Sometimes 2-3 a week. I usually always have a cup of coffee every day with coffee mate coconut creamer (2 tsp) and Splenda or a cappuccino with 8 oz frothed milk. Love my verismo to help make the coffees at home. I have not drank decaf, just the regular bean. I love my coffee!

Waiting 6 months is good in order to be at a point where you have lost a lot of weight and have a fitness program. You do not want the calories from alcohol (specifically, mixed drinks) to interfere with your weight loss goals. There is also some truth behind the damage alcohol may cause your stomach if you drink it too early as a post op,

A lot of us men are over 35 and it no longer works for us to do long cardio or eat like a bird to get that Athletic build of a 25 year old. Long cardio just does not work and actually may increase the dreaded fat layer over the abs due to stressing the body from caloric deficits. I have been looking around for exercises that are really good for us as our t levels naturally are decreasing. My diet is fine as is the supplementation I am on. Every time I run an hour and burn 1000+ calories, it seems like I lose some lean muscle that I worked hard to gain previously from lifting. It makes me think that cardio is much better for the WLS weight loss phase ( leaning out the fat) , but not for the maintain phase (building up the lean muscle). I am tempted to cut way back on running and increase exercises that combine cardio benefits with strength training from body weight or light weight (10 lb barbells) exercises. I will continue to use cross fit as my primary HIIT and strength training of choice. Cross fit is really helping me, but I only do it 2 days a week (Tuesday, Thursday). I have been running Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday. I like to run and do about 10 k every running day, but it is not helping my desire to build a body like a boxer. Have any of you done any programs that specifically target men over 35? What are your thoughts? Women are welcome to respond, but be aware the answers should target specifically men over 35.

I have had wild boar and bison without any concern, after month 6. It is tasty and healthier than beef! Also can eat any jerky without GI issue, but hate that it gets stuck in my teeth.

What sort of martial arts have folks gotten into post op? There is an mma training facility up the street from where I cross fit. Is this a good form of martial arts? I have been thinking of getting into it once my cross fit skill level is high enough. Probably it would be in 2014. Disclaimer: I know zero about mma except what I have seen in the movies and the little research I have done online. Spill the beans!

This is the most enlightening article I have read today. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for the recommendation on Garden of life super food drink. I just took the time to click on the link in your signature about the actress that had a 2nd WLS of a band. It is interesting that she chose to be banded after RNY. It would seem a step backwards in efficiency to use band instead of VSG. I was always of the opinion that RNY has best weight loss results followed by VSG followed by band.

It is strange. I am not even able to find it on dragon herbs any longer here under super foods: http://www.dragonherbs.com/products.asp?dept=14 I am glad I was able to buy it from Amazon before the stock disappeared. Perhaps it is time to switch to something else. There is a super food green drink from Vitamin Shoppe I like, but it does not contain nearly the magnitude of ingredients that tonic alchemy has. Maybe there is some shortage of ingredients to make Tonic Alchemy or some other issue. Anyone know?

Some of us came out 20 lb heavier from IV fluids. Why get ruffled feathers over this?

I remember the good ol' days when all mp3s were free.

Completely agree with you that hard exercise does not lead to continuous weight loss. It is too hard on your body and will stall out weight loss or cause weight gain. The body will struggle with too low carbs and calories that are needed to support weight loss in the context of high caloric burn from the hard exercise. Therefore, strive for moderation even in exercise while you are losing weight. Getting the diet balanced for weight loss with moderate exercise works really well for weight loss.

Hi Toy - Did you, by chance, enter your first stall? That happens around 3-5 weeks out from surgery and can last 1 week, 3 weeks or longer. It is just your body adjusting after the initial depletion of glycogen from your muscles. It will break once your body breaks the cycle of converting fat into glycogen for the muscles. The glycogen requires a lot of supporting Water. I think I read 2 lbs of water are required per lb of lean muscle to support processing of glycogen. Somebody correct me if my facts are wrong. This water retention gives the appearance of "stalling" while, in fact, your muscles are eating glycogen and building (read: gaining lean muscle). Once the glycogen is depleted again so goes the water and your stall breaks. And the cycle repeats and repeats and repeats. That is why weight loss looks a little like a staircase. Lose some, stall, lose some, stall, lose some, stall, lose some.... Also, how tall are you and what is your goal weight?

Furthermore, the search feature is broken on my razor android phone. It will show one page of results. When I tell it to load more threads, it crashes with an error. So no, search cannot even be used in this case.

Already been answered quite well about 3 months ago under the food forum. Lol.

Globetrotter- yes you should avoid lifting the legs today. You probably are already very aware of the following: your muscles get larger only by recovering from rest. Some folks will say do not workout the same muscle group more then once a week. I workout with weights 2 x a week and generally do full body workouts. The other 3 work days, I am doing cardio with maybe some really light upper body weights (10 lb). My goal is not to lose weight; rather, it is to become athlete strong. My mental picture is Vin Deisil. I also like his approach to working out and eating. While I am not able to consume the massive calories he does (3000-5000), his workout looks doable and I am already eating small meals 6-8x a day. The body likes this for more efficient processing. Failure to rest puts a lot of stress on your body and is not a recipe for changing body composition or even weight loss. Your body desires a balanced approach of working out, liquids and nutrients. Strive to find this balance. Eating low carb and low calorie as you have described may not be a good balance with the amount of exercise you do. You might consider taking the time to eat more good carbs, good fats and calories over a 6 week period to see if that is the balance your body needs to function correctly with the types of workouts you do. Do not be afraid to eat 1200, 1400 or even 1600 calories as long as it comes from a good balance of nutrients that your body needs. No junk and no processed foods. Fruit such as apples and bananas with Peanut Butter are good fuel before a workout. This is merely a suggestion for you to consider. It is different from what you are doing now and are used to so give yourself time to ramp into it. At least 3 weeks. There are also supplements that you can take before and after working out that will help with opening up the muscles to hold more Water and nutrients. I take these, but do your research about which would work best for you. An ample amount of water is required for the muscles to repair themselves and also for the body to carry the waste out of the body. I drink 1-1.5 gallon a day. The jury is still out whether this is a good amount, but it seems acceptable given the amount of exercise I do and the amount of supplements I take. I need to be careful though about flushing too many minerals out of the body though. I am still researching this to determine if I should be taking in more electrolytes to counter those lost from sweating and urination. Recently, I have been waking up with some cramps in my calves on stretching. Minor, but I need to see if I need more magnesium or potassium.

Hey BTB - after researching for a while, I decided on this one (trigger point) and tried it out for the first time today. Heaven! The massage is so therapeutic and unreal. I do believe it may have also straightened out the curvature of my spine a little, but that might be wishful thinking. It also is designed to build a strong core with the right exercises. I am excited about a long relationship the two of us are going to have...

It definitely took awhile to eat red peppers without discomfort. I think after month 6.

We found out about what the Abercrombie CEO said too and agreed to boycott them. That kind of hate-based discrimination, or any discrimination, just does not fly...

Great job!