Fiddleman

Get really good at walking before you think about gym or class aerobic stuff. Most doctors will save 6 weeks as there is a lot of healing that needs to occur before then.

i was too busy watching Katy perry sacrifice herself. Man, the Grammys have gone off the deep end this year...

or it will eat muscle. Munch. Munch.

I like to carb it up 2 hours before a workout. It helps to prepare the muscles for the energy they need while going hard.

I did a little research yesterday on ZMA as I have heard of it, but have never looked into it. So it seems to be a very particular blend of zinc, magnesium and B-6 which promises up to 43% improvement in protein synthesis. That is a fairly heavy claim. One detail that I picked up on is that ZMA uses magnesium aspartame and not magnesium citrate. I wonder what the difference is. I use magnesium citrate in the natural calm product I take. If anyone that is more chemically minded knows the answer, please share.

Buy the 90 serving tub from Amazon at around 50.

I went on Netflix today and watched the story about Melissa. It was good. However, I cannot find penny or any other episodes. Are they on Netflix? If not, I will try looking on direct TV TLC on demand.

Just wait until you are a year post op and more. You will be able to drink a lot, especially if you are very active. I still do not like plain water much at 18 months, but will drink it that way if I must (tap or bottle). My water intake is about 2.5 liters daily and about right considering my activity and current weight. I flavor it every time though. By the way, water is my only liquid. I remember struggling to drink an ounce 3 days after surgery and look how far I have come. It will take months / years to build up, so do tale your time. I think at 6 months my intake was about 120 oz a day.

From a pragmatic viewpoint, what is the difference between sitting with your feet on a squatty potty and sitting with your feet resting on a pile of books or something else that is the same height? Might as well save 35 dollars.

What do you think would be a good amount of Water daily for an active cross fit guy? Working out intensely requires a lot of water for healthy liver and kidney function, especially when we take in a large amount of Protein for building muscle. I've read .03-.04 L per kg of weight for active guys that are body building or highly active in something like cross fit daily. I weigh 81.6 kg (180 #) so that is about 2.5 -3.3 L. There are 33.8 Oz in a liter. That equates to a range of 204 - 276 oz per day for my weight. If we divide that range by 32 oz then that equates to 6.4 - 8.6 fills a day. Filling my bottle 7 x a day falls right in the medium. Keep in mind that filling me bottle 7-8 x feels " natural" and idid this based on instinct, not on the calculation I just performed. However, it is helpful to see that my instinct and the calculation are not that far off.

I think for me it was also a combination of things, but the most prevalent was a daily feeling of wondering if "today" was my last day. It was not a healthy mental place to be. I had the usual sleep apnea, high blood pressure and pre-diabetes that come along with a person of my size @ 360. I was having chest pains. On top of that I was depressed all the time. Secondarily, I hated the way people treated me as a second class person (no eye contact, blatant discrimination etc), the way I made people uncomfortable in the air plane )hated asking for the extension belt) and how difficult some basic activities were (tying shoes, wiping a** and washing places that were hard to reach). And finally, I had given up on doing the latest diet as had done so many. Some were quite successful like Atkins (dropped 100 #), moderately successful like WW (Dropped 60#) and not successful at all (hypnosis, hoodia, diet pills). I knew another diet scheme (green coffee bean diet was all the rage at the time, I think) was not going to help me even if I could lose weight with it. I still had some fundamental food issues that needed to be resolved before a "diet" was going to help me long term. Yes, it was definitely a combination of things. Taking control of my health, my relationship with food and my fitness was one of the better decisions in my life and I will be around to share many years with my family. I am a much happier person and have energy to do so much more. I have maintained a healthy and fit BMI for about 1 year now. I am looking forward to the rest of my life at this weight due to a toolbox OD good habits thanks to the help of VSG during the first 6 months.

The interesting thing about HMB is that it is a metabolite of l-luecine. And you know that l-leucine is prevalent as one of the BCAA in the xtend product (3500 mg is l-leucine per serving). Post your findings in 5 weeks or so and let us know what it has done for you. I would be interested to know if taking the metabolite of l-leucine, in fact, makes a noticeable difference in advanced Protein synthesis. See if you can measure your lean muscle mass before and after in order to have a quantitative means to demonstrate effectiveness.

Agree, no caffeine. xtend is the best amino supplement out there! Tastes good too.

I had 1/2 a banana yesterday with som Justin's PB before my workout Seriously, I have just gotten in the habit of eating this way as a post op. It is like breathing air for me. I do not have any desire to eat fruit, bread, dairy stuff. It just does not appeal to me any longer. Nor do I consume sugar (takes some will power at times) or levels of sodium not found already in a food item (try to keep it low though). I eat Protein and veggies every opportunity I get. I do drink a heck of a lot of Water to support a clean system. I think on average I fill my 32 oz bottle 7-8 x a day.

Wishing you all the luck on your workout GT! Be safe.

you can buy theanine from liftmode either directly or off Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/L-Theanine-Grams-1-76-Pure-FBA/dp/B0093UHQPA/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1390748954&sr=8-4&keywords=Theanine Cheap stuff and lasts a long time. A good dose for nootropic support is 200 mg. This is essentially one scoop. The best way to take it is to add to your Water. It does not have much taste. I usually combine it with 50 mg of caffeine to leverage the synergy from combining the two. The caffeine with activate the receptors in the brain so that the theanine can be better absorbed once it passes through the BBB (blood brain barrier). However, depending on your doctors instructions about caffeine (mine had no restrictions), you may or may not want to add the caffeine. Caffeine plus theanine is considered the most basic of nootropic stacks and will help almost anyone with concentration and focus when starting out with this class of supplementation.

Sounds very reasonable based on the following article : http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/beast7.htm

Have not heard about HMB. Will need to research it.

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.

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.