Fiddleman

Do you consider drinking protein shakes as a violation of "don't drink your calories?" If so, I am so guilty...

Awesome to hear good reports on it. I have already hinted to my wife I want it for my bday next week. Rolling around on these rollers sure beats the heck out of paying for massages.

My running gait is a little "off" for my left foot, causing the left foot to land just a little left of center. I am dominant in my right hand and generally put my right foot forward first. My right side is definitely stronger and more stable then my left. This is placing a strain on the outside of my left lower leg that feels like bursitis. It really sort of bugs me for the first 15 minutes and then diminishes until it is gone by 30 minutes. By 1 hour, it was as if I never had it. As for speed, I start out at around 6 mph and work my way up to 7.5 mph by the end I have not analyzed why my left foot is not landing in the center of foot, as my right foot does. Maybe it is the shoes? Maybe my gait corrects itself over the run? Do not know. My bigger question is can I run through this minor pain without long term consequences? Long term for me is somewhere in the future, either 3 weeks or 3 months from now. For now, it is annoying more then anything for the first 15 minutes or so until the sprain feeling subsides.

Regardless, it is a lot of fun and leaves you pretty fatigued after playing all 52 cards in a row ( shuffle it good, might be easier that way. Lol). Give it a try! Post your times.

What about full fat milk in latte?

DadTo2- you are so inspirational with so many competes coming up this year. I hope racing in competitions (for me) is a natural feeling, that the expectations are not too high. I signed up for a few 5k and 10 k starting in June until September. Not sure what to expect.

Out of coincidence my PT had me do the deck of cards WOD today. She assigned the following exercises to each card type : burpee, situp, squat and kettle swing. It took 23 minutes to get through the deck, but man, a good workout on the upper body. I found it amusing that we did this today, for the first time, only 1 day after your post. Something must be aligned in the stars. It is really kind of random fun, like a card game, to think you are doing just fine and then get slammed with a face or ace on the burpees. There is a little excitement that builds wondering what card is going to be dealt next. I am sure the really good card players out there who do this WOD can card count and beat the house, whatever that means. Lol!

Interesting question. Each standard pack of chocolate energy squares is 1 lb and contains about 15 squares. If my bag contains 10 lb then there are 150 squares. Each square is 60 calories making the grand total 9000 calories. Not really that bad considering the amount of nutrition per cubic inch you can derive from it.

Yup - these little bundles of energy are really good and provide good carbs and fats for those hard workouts. I would not eat them as a regular snack though because 2 are 120 calories. They can be a little addicting so you need to understand who is the master and who is the slave when eating these. You can order them off nuts.com. They work really well to fuel the legs before and during a long run (45 minutes and up).

This is actually kind of funny. I ordered the 10 lb option of Chocolate Paradise energy squares thinking I would get 10 1 lb bags. It was cheaper to order it this way. Nope!! They sent me a 10 lb big ol' plastic bag of chocolate energy squares. Literally enough to fill a small wheelbarrow. So here I am with 10 lbs of mana sitting in front of me in an open bag and I was grabbing big handfuls of it, laughing manically like I won the lottery, letting them fall through my fingers. Now I know you guys are salivating now. It truly was a massive amount of energy squares!! I ended up stocking them away into some old protein powder containers and a couple freezer gallon bags. I am guilty of sampling the goods a little too much ( no worries though cross fit in an hour) I bought these as snacks for before my fitness activities, 2 squares at a time. Probably won't be ordering the 10 lb option anymore. Now honestly tell me: what would you do with 1o lbs of chocolate paradise energy squares sitting right in front of you?

Consider hiring a personal trainer who will help you develop strength training programs that will transform your body. Cardio is good to cut down the size of the body, but does not really help with developing a ripped or beach body. In fact, too much cardio may be detrimental as your body may use your muscles as fuel as it enters a catabolic state. Running up to 20 miles a week did a lot for my legs, but the muscles in my upper body severely atrophied. You need to lift weights and perform other strength training that targets compound muscles in the upper body in additional to the cardio you do for your lower body. I learned this the hard way about 2 months ago. Now I do a lot of compound muscle lifts and a body weight exercises with a PT at cross fit to achieve an athletic build. Not where I want to be yet, but getting closer with results that are very visible. I am still running, but have scaled it back a little (now about 20 k a week instead of 20 miles a week). With strength training, you can actually spend less time working out per week then cardio alone. I spend max 1 hour a day because I have other things to do. However, I try and maximize that hour. It is important to feed the muscles properly and eat the right type of food at the right time. Proper nutrition to support fat burning and muscle building is probably 80% to achieving that dream body you are after. I also use supplementation to help with nutrition. Two resources that are currently helping me to learn how to balance eating with cardio and strength training are "Body for life" and "Feed the muscle, burn the fat." There is a lot of information to learn in order to optimize results that are real. Eating well will actually do most of the work for you in achieving your dream body. Eating crap will only sabotage your efforts no matter how many hours you may be spending with cardio. There are some VSG folks here that are full of wisdom and knowledge in these areas. I am not one of them, but am learning everyday about how to improve my own strategies.

100% desk job as a software engineer here. I try and make sure my water bottle is always filled every hour. At the hour I get up and do a quick set or two of lunges and air squats and some deep upper body stretches. The air lunges help a lot with circulation in the lower 1/2 of body. I use my roller to straighten my back whenever I feel it starts to get achy from sitting. I usually do a quick mile run on my treadmill with some light upper body weight exercises when up at 5:30am, start work at 6am and then longer run (5k or 10 k) at 9am. The run gives my body a new lease on life when retuning to the chair. I will also do a quick mile after lunch on my treadmill with some light upper body weight exercises to recharge for the next 4-5 hours of work. If a non running day, I will do cross fit right after work. This plan has been working pretty well now for a couple months and gives me the energy needed to be focused and efficient at my desk job.

Here's a recipe for Sesame chicken! I live it because it's Sooo tasty and yet healthy with lots of Protein. The chicken stays really moist and is great paired with lightly salted in the shell edamame. From a slightly modified Pintrest weight watchers recipe. 4 raw boneless skinless chicken breasts, 6 oz each 1/4 cup flour 1 tsp Kosher salt 1 tsp ground black pepper Sauce 2 Tbsp soy sauce 2 Tbsp maple syrup (you can sub brown sugar or the half brown sugar half Splenda stuff if you want) 2 Tbsp Water 2 Tbsp dry sherry 2 tsp fresh chopped ginger 2 tsp sesame oil 1 tsp Chinese 5 spice powder ( easy to make your own mix- look online for a recipe) 2 Tbsp white sesame seeds 2 Tbsp peanut oil Combine sauce ingredients (soy sauce, maple syrup, water, sherry, sesame oil, ginger & five spice) in medium bowl and whisk thoroughly to meld flavors. Set aside. In a small pan, over medium heat gradually toast sesame seeds until they take on a light golden color. Take off heat and set aside. Preheat wide skillet on medium high on the stove with peanut oil added into pan when hot. Take your chicken breasts and cut them into about 1 inch chunks. Combine the flour, salt and pepper in a shallow dish and use the mix to coat the chicken on all sides a few pieces at a time, shaking off excess flour, then place in preheated skillet Repeat until all chicken pieces are coated and added to hot pan. In a hurry? Try adding flour mix to gallon size ziplock bag and add chicken pieces. Seal bag, and shake until pieces are thoroughly coated, remove from bag and add to skillet- attempt to shake off excess flour off chicken on the way to the skillet. Brown the chicken on each side until golden brown (will smell like fried chicken!). Once all pieces are golden on multiple sides, add the sauce mixture (still on med high heat) and stir as sauce thickens- about 1-2 min. Add toasted sesame seeds and stir to coat chicken. Serve and enjoy! Will serve 4 pre sleeve folks, will make lots more for you post sleeve folks. Did someone say leftovers for lunch?

It looks like it is not an issue to get too concerned about and will remedy on its own or with OTC meds.

I have two areas of pain at my lower ribs on front right and left side that mysteriously showed up last week. Have not injured either of these areas. After some googling, others with similar symptoms are indicating costochronditis. Maybe some inflammation issue or some other internal issue. Some even said ulcer may cause this. I have stopped taking nsaids about the same time this pain mysteriously appeared. Just a coincidence that the two happened at the same time, but I really do not think there is causation or correlation. Otherwise feeling good with energy and keep an active fitness schedule 6 days a week of running and cross fit. Anyone know anything about this who is in the medical field? I really do not want to pay the PCP yet another visit and pay yet another copay.

That is so innovative and creative. Love it!

A moment of silence while we mourne yummy popcorn we are not able to eat any longer...

The peach green tea fountain drink that Panda Express has is amazingly good and zero calories. So good. If I were a new post op, I would be drinking this all the time to meet water requirements. That flavor would make it pretty easy.

Ate at Panda Express and got two entree ( Beijing Beef for one entree and pepper chicken for other) with steamed veggies (2 more meals in my Togo box). Was able to eat almost 75% of Beijing beef. Rest is for tomorrow lunch and dinner. Looked up the Beijing Beef after the fact and it is 696 calories a serving with 56 g fat and 26 g of carb. The only saving grace is that it has 26 g Protein per serving. Go ahead, slap me with a handful of chow mein noodles (just don't eat them)!! Lol! I used up almost all my burned calories from 10 k run earlier today. My wife and I also did a leisurely 45 min walk through the alboreetum near the UW campus. So relaxing! Hopefully the high fat does not wreck havoc on my system. Usually better then this. My brain must have been asleep or maybe panda is not a safe place to eat. I know they have wok Entrees (under 250 cal), but I was just not making the right choice on that tonight. Ate very well rest of the day.

Certainly was fun! I enjoyed feeling like a celebrity for 15 minutes.

Moose munch is my nemesis as a popcorn lover!! My self control may wane if I get a box for Christmas.

By the way, my photo shoot is 330 pm so we will not be overlapping. Good luck!