Fiddleman

Sure - the pills are helpful. Just 2 a day. More than anything they are an insurance policy with regards to nutritional needs. They do make me feel better, but not on the same calibre as, say, a freshly blended super food fruit smoothy. That doesn't mean they are not as helpful; it is just I do not physically feel the difference as much before and after swallowing the pills. Take them for bridging nutritional gaps alone and you should be good.

@cgj- low carb most definitely affects positive mood (for me). It must disrupt the dopamine receptor binding process. It might also be that I am naturally a moody person and eating "good" carbs corrects that to about a level spot (not in a positive mood nor in a negative mood). I have found that eating carbs will keep me fairly normal (I would rather be more positive all the time though), but exercise boosts my mood 1000% where I feel anything can get done and my anxious / depressed mental track shuts up, at least for the afterglow period of 1-2 hours. It is a bit of complex process and definitely points to an intrinsic imbalance in my hormones that control mood. Not saying carbs should be used to regulate that, but it helps a little. Again, nothing beats a good workout for getting into that ideal version of yourself (e.g. seen limitless?) where the world is your oyster.

I found that to be true with the fat macro. That is, when protein and calories are hit accurately, then fat macro takes care of itself. Literally. However, I have not found the true with carb macro. The carb macro, for me, requires planning to get it right daily (30%), especially if I undershoot the protein macro a little yet still get calorie count correct (1800 for me). 50% protein of an 1800 calorie diet is about 250 g. I have to shake supplement to hit that. Even if I hit the protein target and the calorie target, I still have to make sure not to go over more than the 30% carb. It is easy to do. Mfp helps track that balance, especially if I eat something different that is not on my usual daily food diet. Fat macro is off my radar because the foods I eat tend to magically hit 20%. Bonus for me not to care about fat macro.

Actually, good question. Trader Joe sells a product called Very Green. I have been using it for a while and it is fairly inexpensive. One bottle has 90 servings so it lasts for 3 months. It has a fairly decent green mix blend.

There are so many threads that demonize carbs with regards to WLS post op diet. Carbs are not evil. There are two different types of carbs: the "good carbs" and the "bad" carbs. Good carbs are those that are of lower glycemic index and have a high Fiber content. Bad carbs are those that are mostly sugars. Some good carbs are fibrous fruits (apple, green banana, etc), steel oats, fibrous veggies (brocolli) and fiber Cereal. Some bad carbs we are all familiar with: candy, ice cream, donuts, etc. The fiber that is a part of good carbs help regulate fat oxidation (good bacteria in the stomach produce enzymes which break down fat to be used as energy) and the digestion process (fixes "lazy bowel" syndrome, constipation, etc). Finally good carbs are a direct source of energy for exercise (it is said low carbs may lead to 30% reduction in endurance energy during a training session), daily activities and neurological firing. Low carb diets almost always lead to brain fog, tiredness, etc. So before discounting carbs, consider all the benefits that come with including them as part of a balanced post op diet. A good balance is 50% Protein, 30% carbs and 20% fat. MFP works wonders for being able to track and target the daily carb goals.

I like this rogue rack because it contains a lot of the desired functions and is high quality: http://www.roguefitness.com/rm-6-monster-rack $2800+...ouch! Where could I find something of similar functionality but not such a sticker shock?

5x5 looks really promising and I think it will be my next exercise program after finishing current 3 month workout plan. I also need time to research and find funds to set up a home rack to do 5x5. I am sure Craig's list will have some deals on quality racks and Olympic bars/plates. I really like the simple premise of it and the focus on just heavy compound lifts. If it becomes too pricy for a home setup, I would either need to go back to cross fit (they live on this stuff) or find a local gym that has a good setup. I would rather do it at home though for flexibility.

Wow - are you preparing for a future compete?

Nice! It looks like @ 20 minutes you put the after burners on and got a 6:00 pace. How long did it take you to get hr into your target zone @ 6 mph? It is a little hard to tell from the graphic. For me, if I am running 6 mph, it takes a good 10 minutes until I am up to 135. Always. It is very predictable. I have to be doing 7-8 mph after that to see 145-150. And as I said above, 10-12 mph puts me around 155-160. It is very hard for me to get above 160 unless I go faster or increase incline to 6 % or so.

I am liking the feedback from my polar hr monitor. For example, today I did my usual Tuesday sprint workout: 10 min @ 6.2 mph (warm up) 10 min @ 11.5 mph 3% grade (30 s sprints) 10 min @ 6.5 mph (cool down) By the 3rd minute (3rd sprint), my top hr was 157 and my recovery hr was 148 (delta is widening after just a few sprint workouts - yeah!). I thought to myself, "anything below 160 is dogging it" so I bumped the speed up .3 mph and the incline up .5. The next sprint saw max hr @ 163. I played this little game of tweaking the treadmill settings or just pushing myself a little bit more until I got the top hr up to 168. It is a useful training tool. Let me tell you, that 10 minute cool down felt so slow after the sprints. All in all, I love my little hr watch for how it can help me not dog it even when I feel like j am putting in my best effort.

Tried my hr watch with lifting today. My workout was about 70 minutes total including 5 min run warm up, 5 minute dynamic stretch and 10 min stretch and cool down. That leaves the main body of the workout at 50 minutes. It was a body weight workout that is supposed to be pretty challenging (efx by the same that makes "you are your own gym"). I worked hard and I got the fatigued muscles (good) and plenty of sweat so I know this workout is doing something right. The thing is my heart rate maxed out at 135 even though I was pushing to get a good workout and keep good form (really important; in fact, these efx workouts are designed to improve athletic form and response - good stuff). Average heart rate was about 125. Heart rate dropped to 70 during cool down and then rose again to 90 as I did various stretches. Anyways, target zone for me is supposed to be 220-age (*.5 to .85) or 91-154.7. Is this workout not challenging enough for me? Or is 135 going to get good results? For some reason, I have it in my head I need to go anaerobic zone (166-180) to push the lactic acid thresholds and get max gains. Am I smoking something with this thought? I can certainly try and get into this zone with sprinting, but so far, not with this workout. Maybe I can with weighted vest @ 45#. Or I may be able to with the other set of workouts in "you are your own gym." Not sure as I haven't measured those yet. However, I do know they push me far more then efx workouts from a vo2 standpoint like cross fit amraps do.

Thanks. You are right. This might have just been some seriously bad heart burn.

sure. I do not know what, why or how I went from sipping to gulping after VSG. It definitely got easier to drink a lot of water after 1 year. I have found it is much easier to drink flavored water fast than straight tap or bottled water. It could have something to do with the flavor changing the surface level tension of the water (eg. Making it easier to process internally). So two things:1. Wait a year until mostly healed and 2. Flavor your water for easier drinking. I do not track how much water I drink, but would guess it is around 9 x 32 oz a day. One thing to keep in mind is the kidney can only process about 32 oz an hour (+- a few oz), so drinking more than that rate will take several hours to expel. If you are a big drinker (I am), plan accordingly so you aren't needing to use that bathroom (possibly multiple times) and not have one around. Happened to me all the time earlier on.

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Hi all. First time last night I woke with an intense esophageal pain from stomach to back of throat. It was especially intense behind the breast bone. I took my 20 mg of prilosec as usual yesterday, as I have every day in the last two years. Diet was pretty standard yday compared to last few months, but I did have a dessert bar when I went to bed. That is not usual, but I have eaten the exact same thing earlier in the day (not yday) without issue. Dessert bar had sugar and butter in addition to almond flour, sliced onions and a thin drip of frosting glaze. I never get heart burn, gerd or any issues like that since vsg. So the event last night kind of threw me a little. I was wondering if this is the esophageal spasm that a few others have posted about this year. It was completely gone by morning, but man, was that an acute pain behind the breastbone combine with less, but still concerning pain, along the entire esophageal tract. Ideas? Is it just heart burn? It did not feel like a burn. More like stabbing. Unless it hits routinely, I am not looking to seek medical attention. Maybe it was just a one time event. Hope so.

That was my thought too about buffets until my wife convinced me to think differently about buffets. The automatic conclusion for most is that eating at a buffet equates to stuffing yourself to the gills in order to "get your money's worth." That is definitely the way I used to think about buffets. Now I think of a buffet to take a little of the best entrees, skipping over ones that are not that appealing or do not offer much in nutrition density. In this manner, you can still eat a bunch of different foods, but you will neither violate your WLS way of eating (for me, 4-5 oz food) or waste money. The reason I state money is not wasted because your plate will contain high quality food that meets or exceeds the value of the buffet (for this discussion, let's say the buffet price is $7.99). You do not even need to finish the contents on your plate. Just eat until satisfied, eating the protein first. We do this approach with Indian buffets, focusing on the inclusion of high quality, high value foods like chicken tika or chicken Marsala. Indian food is delicious and we can eat at a lunch buffet with this strategy.

Yup - every day. 2 years out. I really do enjoy them, especially the ON chocolate casein shake every night.

I sometimes miss the memory of certain dessert foods like cold stone, top food donuts, cheese cake factory chris' crazy cheese cake, etc. Do I really want them? Not really. They are just memories of what I used to enjoy 2+ years back. If you have been on this bandwagon for a long period, you will find cravings are not there. Just memories. And even those have faded with the passage of time. The more we practice healthy lifestyle, the more our body craves that.

Trying to wrap my mind around this. You eat 1100 calories of good food (not carby or starchy), exercise and still regain 50#? What kind of exercise plan do you have going? Is your sleep good? Do you drink lots of water and keep alcohol to a min? Is it true you are eating smaller meals over that 1100 calories or not? I did not get that out of the thread unless I overlooked it. Small to me means 200-300 calories at a time which means 4-5 oz protein and perhaps 1-2 oz of veggie. What are your overall macros? Something like 50/30/20 (protein, carb, fat) or 40/30/30 or something else? If you are doing these things then Yikes. That is a scary scenario. Have you considered increasing calories? 500 below your targeted tdee will mean weight loss, but 1000 (or more) below will mean "starvation mode" and metabolic issues long term. Most of the time metabolic issues can be fixed by making calculated changes to diet, exercise and lifestyle - without something like a revision. Hormones need to be brought back into balance for proper metabolic response. I do hope you can find resolution.

Sprinting is known to really increase the T for leaner, stronger and more fit bodies, so I thought, why not. Strapped on my hr sensor and put on my polar watch. Resting hr: 55 5 minute dynamic stretch (up to 95) 5 min warmup @ 6.0 mph (up to 125) For 10 minutes (got treadmill up to speed before starting) Jump on Sprint 30 @ 12.5 mph and 3 incline (up to 161) Jump off Rest for 30 s -- (down to 155) 5 min cool down jog (down to 99) Static stretch ( down to 75) As you can see, I just barely went anaerobic (160 is bottom of my anaerobic zone) during the sprinting which means I need to increase the incline a tad. Speed is already booking. By sprint 8, quads were feeling the burn. But hey, we can do anything for 30 seconds. The interesting part is my hr did not drop below 155 even when resting for 30 s. Man oh man. It went by so fast (5 minutes) , yet gave me a REALLY good fast and furious cardio day. And because sprinting really requires you to be focused (especially on a treadmill), no boredom. It is over before you know it. There are many articles correlating sprinting with higher levels of T. Kind of like cross fit where workouts usually max out at 20 minutes, but are oh-so-intense, pushing you into that magical anaerobic zone. Don't just take my word for it. Here are a couple articles: http://www.livestrong.com/article/353949-sprinting-testosterone/ http://www.lifehack.org/articles/lifestyle/8-hacks-to-naturally-increase-your-testosterone-levels.html And my personal favorite by mike Mathews (great guy and great resource for thinking outside the box on body building and fitness in general): http://www.muscleforlife.com/how-to-increase-testosterone/ Less work for greater benefits? That's an A in my book. Try it out.

Thanks for the explanation. I thought it might have been hardware related. For a few moments, I was picturing you like those guys in the movie "wanted" who have super human speed and have a hr that goes up to 400.... if you don't know what I am talking about, that's OK too...

Catfish - I was looking over your 1/2 marathon in Alton and see your hr up around 220 multiple x during the race and then for an extended period at the end of the race. I am guessing your best pace time of 8:05 min/mile is there, at the end (I didn't try and cross check my assumption as not that relevant). Isn't 220 way above max hr for most people (eg stroke territory). Just wondering because my hr maxed out at 155, even when doing at 6:30 min/ mile pace. Not a comparison; just wondering if I read it correctly or something else was going on...

T25 is a great program as are the other beach body programs (p90x, p90x2, p90x3 and insanity). Definitely dive into t25 if you have the dedication for it (think it is 5 days a week). The good part is it is only 25 min a day. Do make sure you have good knees as there will be a lot of jumping. You might also consider cross fit, "you are your own gym" DVD. Anything that is really intense will work to get those last pounds off. You will probably find yourself eating more calories, more protein and more carbs. No worries; it will be needed to get through the intensity. Good luck!

Thanks Catfish- that is very practical feedback. It looks like I may start working on pushing my hr up higher through the vo2 training.

The model is polar FT7.