Fiddleman

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.

I am not sure this should be in fitness or nutrition. Apologies if it is in the wrong forum. I work out hard daily and sweat out a lot of Water but do not take in a lot of electrolytes nor do I add salt much to food. I got really bad leg cramps at the end of a hard workout today where I had trouble completing the jumping part of the workout. My diet is mostly low sodium , a lot of lean Protein, protein shakea and veggies. I take Vitamins and do supplement with magnesium and some potassium to balance Calcium daily. I do not know how to add sodium / iodine to my diet to avoid this cramping from loss of fluids. I do not have electrolyte drinks readily available. I always thought consuming extra salt was a bad thing from conventional wisdom (water retention, hardening of arteries, heart concerns etc). How can I safely increase sodium in a practical way? Just sprinkle salt in water? I am not used to adding extra salt to food.

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

I am spending a few days fending for myself so needed to come up with something shamelessly easy, yet tasty. 1/4-1/2 cup canned chicken 1/4-1/3 cup light mayo 1/4 teaspoon sweet curry powder Sliced almonds. Pulverize it in a bowl with a spoon or fork and you have a high Protein meal with a slight Indian flavor. Pretty good if I do say so myself and ready in 1 minute.

A serving size is 2 scoops, You will see on the product packaging that it recommends taking 2-4 scoop in the morning, 4-6 scoop before working out, 2-4 scoops after working out and 2-4 scoops scoops latter afternoon. My advice is not to take so much of it for a few reasons: 1. You will use it up in 3 days. There are only 30 servings. 2. Your body will get accustomed to the caffeine and it will become less effective for energy. 3. Each serving has 10 calories. Taking their max recommendation is pushing almost an extra 200 calories a day. Probably not a big deal if you are in fact killing each workout, but something to consider. Check your tolerance for caffeine and take the appropriate number of scoops for you. More on dose size and effectiveness below. I like that the energy comes from green tea and green coffee bean extract. It is a much smoother form of energy that you can draw upon rather than the crazy jittery, upset stomach and crash that comes from most NO products like c4, jack3d, etc. Been there and done that. Trust me, you do not need that. The amino blend is good. The only gripe I have is the quantity of each each ingredient is on the low side per single dose so it takes either mid (4 scoops) or max dose (6 scoops) size to realize the proper benefits during a work out. I have found the low dose (2 scoops) does nothing for me. ON is a little sneaky in creating the product this way because it is not very cost effective for the consumer. For this reason, it is way more cost effective to go with xtend as you get more aminos for the money. Just my opinion. Taste is awesome. I get the watermelon flavor and use it as a pre workout drink. I use xtend bcaa post workout in addition to other times of the day because of the cost effectiveness issue.

Thanks CGJ.

I work out 5-6 days a week, but tend to take my supplements every day (even on off days).

really? None at all? Hunger was back for me during month 5 and elevated as I got more active over next few months. I would say my hunger is only controlled because I eat protein and veggies every 3 hours. I definitely have hunger. If i do not keep eating, I get light headed and "weak"

Yes, he showed me 3 pictures of existing patients who had a similar set of goals as I do. Is 3 enough to see? Probably not. I will ask to see more next time I go back. The results looked immaculate in terms of scar workmanship and he did say they would happily remedy any scar issues free of charge should they come up. I found it a little curious that he did not know the puckering term after reading some information on it here. Puckering must be slang. After we discussed it some, he called it something else. I do not remember the term he used. What do you think about the pricing for either procedure that is being done locally?

I had a good appointment with dr Harris today. He stated that my body fat in the ab region is very low and he would not recommend any lipo work. It is all skin. He said that sutures to "fix " the ab muscles were unnecessary as my muscular definition, while hidden, is very well defined. He recommended either a standard TT or a body lift. The body lift would be a TT plus an incision around the back to pull up the skin over the buttocks and upper thighs. I am leaning towards the body lift. Because my stomach expanded a bit horizontally, he stated that I could get an addition incision that extends from the TT incision vertically to the rib cage in order to pull the extra "side" skin horizontally. He did not recommend it though because the unsightly scar would offset any high definition ab work that comes out of it. And the reason I would get it to show off abs. An ugly scar for all to see while my shirt is off would not help that cause, so to speak. He stated that I would never have a Calvin Klein set of high definition abs even if he did this vertical incision due to genetics. I accepted that. For this reason, my choices will be either TT (5500 cash) or a body lift (8000 cash). My body lift is much simpler than most, so the pricing reflects a discount of about 2000 dollars. The pricing is very competitive because he is relatively new in the Seattle area and looking for patients. He does, however, have 20-30 years of existing experience before moving here a few years ago. For the body lift, I would have 3 drains: 2 in the pubic area and 1 in the back. He says I may even only need 1 in front. TT is a 3 hour procedure and I can go home same day. Body lift is a 5 hour procedure and would have me in the surgical center overnight. Time off is 3 weeks average, less for me if I choose because I have a desk job. I can return to cross fit by week 6 @ full capacity. He did state that recovery from VSG is a cakewalk compared to recovery from either TT or body lift and would require pain meds for about 1 week. The only issue is figuring out how to pay for it with cash. I do not have it. It needs to be paid in full 2 weeks before a procedure. Any feedback from y'all?