Fiddleman

We (my wife and I) hope you find a path to health and well being soon after all these surgeries post VSG. I know you just want to be normal again. Prayers sent your way.

Just the usual concerns about vitamin malabsorption and, more specially, calcium deficiencies. Note that I still take a Prilosec every morning despite whether I have an active concern or not as a preventative measure.

Thanks for the information and link. This is another one of those long term VSG side effects that may not be well understood. Is the recommendation to keep taking a PPI indefinitely? Of course, that too can lead to problems...

I am relaxed...

I guess you were infringing on their turf. They were probably a little less than altruistic with those comments and were probably being a little defensive in a passive aggressive manner. Just say thank you for your comments and move on. Not worth it to fuel their insecurities. You can be who ever you wish to be and not require the approval from peeps like these. There are always going to be these types of people who get nervous when their social standing is threatened.

By the way, I am still smarting from 5 dime sized popped blisters on my hands from Thursday (same day as your broken toe BTB?). I am unable to do pull-ups with these, but still managed sprint rowing and cleans / jerks on Friday with lifting gloves. Apparently this happens to everyone. I have been lathering on Neosporin several times during the day and even did the tea bag and vitamin e oil application trick. Any idea on how long these will take to heal and callous over? They are mighty big craters in both my hands. First time I have ripped my hands like this.

For what it is worth, I think 18 days is very early to even be thinking of a program like insanity. Your stomach needs the TLC of at least 6 weeks to complete initial healing. Some say that most healing is complete by month 6 and, consequently, that coincides with the date when many exit the so called honeymoon phase (it was the case for me). Insanity is a lot of jumping, twisting and general stress on the body. Think low impact exercises for the next few weeks. Walking, walking and walking with perhaps some low impact exercise like elliptical. nothing too strenuous. Additionally, it is also worth considering a gradual ramp up of physical activity so your body has a progression to work through. Slamming into insanity without building up your general physical response to intense exercise may be like slamming into a wall and only be setting yourself up for failure. This is just the way I look at it; you can take this opinion or leave it. It is great that you are pumped and ready to go, but remember where you just came from. It takes time to change all those habits for the better and to reverse polarity of physical level activity.

How is your toe (foot) feeling today? The injury looks mighty painful and I can only imagine the psychological setback when you are having to put your running (and walking) to the wayside. How long did the doctor say before you can run safely again?

Hope it heals fast BTB. Is the toe like any other bone where it takes 6-8 weeks to heal?

+4 for 92 total. 2 miles running and 2 miles sprint rowing for time and max calories burned (if that means anything on the concept II rower).

Muscle milk RTD was hard on my GI tract, especially at the beginner of being a post op. No idea why. I think I was a little lactose intolerant. I wsd drinking the lite version. Now I can drink both muscle milk RTD regular and lite, but do not care for the flavor that much. Not the banana or vanilla flavor, but the base milk / protein flavor. It is still strange because I do like muscle milk lite protein powder mixed with water at home. Came batter is my flavor of choice and I get it off Amazon.

Hi Frank - You can try focusing on HIIT exercise combined with anaerobic exercise. Lifting is essential for leaning out and building lean muscle in a healthy way. You need to shock your body out of homeostasis and the closer you are to healthy BMI, that more intensity this is going to require. You might check out my 12 week strength challenge in vet forum from earlier on in the Summer or any number of my posts that talk about cross fit WOD (workout of the day). Hate to tell you, but pure cardio does lead to fat retention after a while. I hit that wall too when purely running for exercise before busting through it with said strength challenge and cross fit workouts. I now eat over 2000 calories a day, have a good muscular physique and still have to be careful about losing body fat weight versus lean muscle weight. It is a careful balance of eating enough to offset calorie deficit from working out hard. Eat clean and add anaerobic exercises combined with HIIT and you will reach goal in no time. I try and keep my weight between 175-180 for my 5'11" frame (started at 360 and hit weight goal at month 7) and really push fitness, clean eating, 1.5-2 g protein per kg and water daily. If I am not eating, I am drinking. Going on month 13 now.

As Lynda stated, a tbsp of omega 3 fish oil in the morning might help you with cravings, metabolism, brain activity and inflammation.

You are very welcome.

Eye of the tiger or rocky theme?

Steel oats are whole grain groats cut into pieces. Minimal processing is performed on them. I buy mine from trader joe here in the states, but I think they are fairly universal from country to country. They originally came from Scotland, a very close skip and a hop from you. I bet you can find them: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steel-cut_oats

+5 miles today running for 88 total. I did another grueling crossfit WOD today and will do one more tomorrown and, phew, rest over the weekend. 5 for 5 this week cross fit sessions. I know, a big no-no. Next week, I will get on the "3 on, 1 off" schedule. By the way 6 lovely holes on my two hands after today's WOD. Here is my right hand cleaned up showing 2 new large holes (was bleeding with skin falling off after round 1 of 5 today): Caused by 16 pull-ups in the set of exercises per round. The coach said grin and bear it. I did. I think this is just a phase every cross fitter goes through. Update: feels better today with Neosporin. I am going to try wearing some training gloves from now on.

Two points: 1. I have found a solid diet of Protein and veggies eliminates carb cravings. It is the little bit of sugar in energy squares or Protein Bars that sets me off to desire more. For this reason, I have cut way back on Protein Bar consumption and usually only have 2 energy squares when waking and before working out. I am not going to eat a protein for the hell of it. there needs to be a very good reason. Typically, the sugar amount is small (2-3 g), but enough to spark the desire for more. Low glycemic carbs do not trigger This desire. I do not eat dairy, breads and only the occasional fruit (blueberry). No sweets also. I am very particular about when I eat complex carbs per point 2. 2. The best complex carb i have found that is low on the glycemic index has been cooked steel cut oats. My wife helps me out by making a big batch about once a week. We put about 1/2 cup in each Baggie. I have 1 serving every morning when I get up mixed with about 40 G Protein powder. Yummy! I also have 1 serving about 1.5 hours before daily cross fit mixed with 25 g of protein powder. It is perfect for gassing up the tank before working out and also before taking on the work day. Highly recommended.

You are doing absolutely great Laura. Keep up the awesome fitness work. Remember just a few months you were an observer of fitness and now you are an active participant with your mountain biking and running. Look how far we have come. We are all moving forward towards our individual goals. Every day is a new day to try something new.

+7 miles today (11,200 m) with running and rowing combo for 83 total. Workout today: Warmup 1600 m run 3 rounds of 20 pull-ups, push-ups and sit-ups Mobility and stretching For time: 2000 m run 2000 m row 20 box jump (24 inch) 20 thrusters @ 125 lb 20 burpee pull ups 20 power cleans @ 175 lb 20 hand stand push-ups 20 kettle bell swings @ 70 lb 20 toes to bar 20 dead lifts @ 175 lb 20 jerks @ 175 lb 2000 m row 2000 m run Cool down: 1600 m run Finished in 38.5 minutes. This is easily one of the most challenging cross fit workouts I have done thus far. Burpee pull-ups and hand stand push-ups were new, and surprise, I actually could do them. It was weird. just a couple days ago i was lamenting over how weak i was at strict pullups. I think burpee pull-ups are easier than strict pull-ups because the back muscles activate more explosively. I also learned some key points about efficiency on some of these other movements by watching YouTube videos late last night. For example, kipping the handstand push-ups to drive momentum with the hips, using a hook grip and not looking up at the bar for faster burpee pull-ups and resting at the top of a box jump instead of the bottom in order to " bounce " through a set of box jumps. Less energy is wasted. My wife gave me some efficiency tips on rowing faster by really driving the power through the legs. It made a huge difference and allowed me to do 2000 m fast without killing my upper body. This is my 3 rd crossfit day in a row and am wondering if I should take tomorrow off or go all the way through Friday and take Saturday and Sunday off as active rest days. Starting to get the old man aching body feeling when I get up ( dissipates by mid morning after some bouts of stretching, fish oil, etc. also noting rib cage is starting to ache around the parameter due to inflammation, even though I am taking a tbsp of fish oil every morning. Just trying to figure out how to play the cross fit workout schedule as this is my first week of open gym (unlimited access). I feel i could do a workout tomorrow and friday, but do know the importance of rest. darn it, love pushing myself too much to take a day off. What would you do?

I am going to get me a pair of reebok cross fit nano shoes the next time my shoe budget materializes. If it materializes... Note: wife can have 100 pair of shoes, but it is like pulling teeth to go buy a pair for me. http://www.amazon.com/Reebok-CrossFit-Charged-Green-Gravel-White-Athletic/dp/B008KED0LY/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&qid=1378859176&sr=8-3&keywords=crossfit+shoes Oh and +4 miles today for 76. 9th day of running. As alluded to at the beginning of this thread, I found it hard to sustain 10 miles of running a day and an hour of cross fit. I will try for 5 miles a day outside of daily cross fit (which killed me today in a HIIT way. ). In the strength portion I did PR +40 lb @ 390 today for 3-2-1 back squat sets. I grunted like a beast getting out of the deep squat @ max.