Fiddleman

Wow, what a difference. You look great!

I ran my first 5k today in 28 minutes. I was not planning to run much at all and just wanted to see how my feet, knees and ankles would do on the treadmill I have at home. Up until today, I have been using my elliptical for the last few months, since being cleared for exercise other than walking. I started it out at 4.5 mph and slowly increased it up to 6 mph by about 5 minutes, after the warmup jog. I kept a constant gait and was not huffing and puffing at all, I could carry on a conversation with someone. I really started to feel the burn at around 25 minutes, but kept push myself. In order to prevent injury and preserve energy, I tried to relax my body as much as possible and lean not the run a little. These are tips I picked up from my chai running book that stresses running long distances without injury. Felt great and no feelings of injury to feet, knees or ankles. After a few weeks of this I may go participate in some public running event. After running, I still had some upper body strength to do some arm and chest training. I shall see how my feet feel tomorrow. They feel great today along with good circulation throughout my legs. No bursitis around my ankles ( was worried a bout this) nor any aches in my knees. I posted this to encourage others to get out there and push your self with exercise goals, even if you are making them up as you go in an exercise. Your body can do it ( if it is in the right physical shape). I have been mentally blocked for a long time from running or even getting on my treadmill because of a foot reconstruction 2 years ago. Now, if all goes well, I will be running 2-3 times a week for 5k combined with elliptical 2-3 times a week combined with weight training on 2-3 of those overlapping days with cardio. I have been losing about 2-3 lb a week for last month so hope that running is going to kick my body in gear so I can lose my last 15 -20 lb. Started at 360 at my highest, 335 at surgery and am now 210.

Not sure about that. If I am not taking gelled chia seeds, I do not seem to get the regularity as I would expect when I jelled them last week in Water. I am going to try another experiment tonight and try mixing them with water, jell them and then which hem into a shake. It seems like there might be a little trouble mixing them together after jelling, but am going to try. Chia seeds may be like certain cereals as when you add milk, they stay relatively crunchy. However when you add water, hey get soggy and absorb all the water. Do you think so? Sorry this is so unscientific, but I am guessing.

First issue: I have been having some trouble getting both whole and ground chia seeds to thicken in nonfat milk and soy. They are still same size after 20+ minutes even though I am whisking every few minutes. I wrote the company that I bought the seeds from and they said to let the seeds soak in Water first before adding milk or shake powder. That kind of defeats the purpose of having the chia seeds mixed in with milk or soy as I am not going to add milk or soy to my blender cup after adding water for the seeds. Soaking them directly in tap water seems to work. Do you have any suggestions? Second issue: Grinding up whole seeds. I have tried to use a handheld food processor and even tried to grind by hand like one old do with spices in a mortar and pestle. The seeds would not grind at all. I thought about putting the seeds into my coffee grinder but did not yet because the seeds are so much smaller then coffee Beans and I don't want the grinder chia tasting like coffee ( might be good, but would rather not do this). Do you have any suggestions?

Thanks.

Ever have one of those days where it feels like there is a rain cloud over your head, but you don't know why? Today has felt like that for me and for just a moment I felt like eating something to feel better. It would seem like food is still a coping mechanism deep in my psyche no matter how successful I have been so far on the sleeve journey. I need a pick me up to get rid of the need to resort back told coping mechanism when feeling blue. Usually exercise does that for me, but today I have been super busy with work and missed my workout, even though I got dressed first thing in the morning with work out clothes on. Maybe tomorrow will be better...

I woke up after 2 hours in the recovery room after a 45 minute procedure and was wheeled to ICU for breathing trouble. I spent 2 days there and then another 3 in hospital room. I don't really remember much of first day in ICU.

If it helps others, here are some strategies that work for me: 1. Layering: I wear about 3 layers of clothes inside. Sometimes outer layer is sweat clothes and sometimes it is pullover fuzzy jacket. Outside, I almost always wear a thick coat. 2. Drinks: sugar free hot apple cider really warms me up from the core. I add some sugar free caramel. 3. Thermostat: i turned up the thermostat up to 72 from 68. I have heard that some turn it up to 78, but that is too expensive for me. 4. Gloves: drinking Water all the time makes my hands freezing. I got some fuzzy gloves with finger tip holes to allow for typing (I am a software developer by profession). When driving or outside, I have some commuter gloves. I sometimes wear these inti shops which might make people think I am visiting from Hawaii. Lol. 5. Shower: hot shower turned up all the way feels great for warming up. 6. Sauna: we have a personal sauna. 60 minutes in there raises the core temperature and burns a lot of calories. 7. Exercise: 25 minutes of cardio at a moderate rate seems to be the magic point in which my body temperature raises substantially. I usually go about 45 minutes to get a good solid work out. This is a bit different for me because I was always hot before the surgery, even when others were cold. For example, wanting the windows open, the fan blowing, etc. Hope this helps.

As a precuation, I would wait until 5th or 6th week to give your sleeve a good amount of time to heal. I think coffee is fine after that and I have cappuccino's daily. It is a nice pick-me-up and warm-me-up in the mornings. I also like to get a latte about once a week from Starbucks or some other coffee place. Calories or the cappuccino are 35 with nonfat milk. I consider that a good low caloric amount that I do not need to be concerned about. The lattes are also with non- fat milk, but have about 100 calories. You don't want to have these every day because calories are higher. These coffees do not have an impact on current weight loss as I still lose 2-5 lb a week if my body is not stalling. 5 months out and I have been drinking coffee since 5th week.

Yeah, I actually think my hearing was selective. Lol. I checked with my wife because she was there when we had the conversation over the weekend. Yup, she confirmed hgc. So if a guy takes this he would get curves in all the wrong places? Just curious...

Thanks, I am talking about hgh because that is what she asked me about. Now that you have created a clear delineation between hgh and hgc, I am going to ask her which one. Very useful information for both though. Thanks!

My sister in law wants to try out high to help jump start her weight loss. She has about 100 lb to lose, but is 6 foot and wears the extra weight well. Lucky her! Does any one have experience with hgh that I might pass onto her? She would like to use the sleeve tool, but insurance does not cover it and it is too expensive for self pay. She is around 30 so needs to consider her biological clock is ticking and she doesn't want to jeopardize her ability to have children ( hgh changes hormone levels right?).

Thanks everyone. Lots of good suggestions.

Yes,l will definitely get a doctor's opinion. For me, the extra skin is not very much, probably about 1/2 inch if that. I am sure insurance would not cover it. Maybe it will fix it self over the next year as i tone more and the akin tightens on its own. I think i got off pretty well after dropping so much weight in short period. Hope the same happens for others.

Good point about obsessing. I don't think that applies to me, but I would like to put my best self forward. Hey, why not? It just goes to show I like myself ( in a healthy way) a lot more than I have in the past. I don't think there is any shame in that

Good point about obsessing. I don't think that applies to me, but I would like to put my best self forward. Hey, why not? It just goes to show I like myself ( in a healthy way) a lot more than I have in the past. I don't think there is any shame in that