Fiddleman

http://www.nicks-sticks.com/ Any of you tried these? I ordered some as a replacement for Ostrim sticks because the Ostrim is so loaded with sodium and perhaps some other, erm, preservatives. I hope Nicks Sticks are good! Nutritional Info about Ostrim sticks I found: http://www.fooducate.com/app#page=product&id=6C68708E-1B64-11E2-83D2-1231381BA074

Those look awesome! Maybe we will have to bake up some of these and report on their taste and texture.

I think I will participate in terms of running. Currently my warmup is about 3 miles for 4 days a week and 2 miles for 2 days a week. That puts me at 16 a week or 64 in 1 month. I could add 2 miles of running after each workout to add another 48 miles over the next month. That would push it a little bit over 100 and certainly not too much cardio when split up into 2-3 mile increments before and after cross fit or power cardio (cardio with body weight exercises or light weights) at home. My body is very conditioned to running 3 mile increments without much effort (about 5 k), so it should not be a problem combining it with whatever my daily workout is.

At 13 months, I love Protein shakes! I am a weirdo. Up to 3 Protein shakes a day: 1. Breakfast - chia seed and muscle milk cake batter shake - 50 g (2 scoops) 2. Post work out - synth 6 Cookies and cream - 50 g (2 scoops) 3. Night time - ON gold standard double chocolate casein shake - 48-60 g (2-3 scoops, I like a certain consistency like pudding). The calories are high, but it does not seem to matter. My body likes it and I am able to build lean muscle while weight is staying within +-2-3 lb of current goal weight (175 lb @ 5'11") I do not always have 1 and 2 because some days I will have protein oatmeal (40 G Protein Powder mixed in) or a recovery bar like AMRAP. I do not see myself giving up protein shakes anytime soon because they are so yummy and help me hit high protein goals. I also have lean Proteins and veggies for the other 4 meals. Total of around 2000-2300 calories a day. About 30-60 min exercise a day @ 5 days a week.

I think the key is to remain mindful at all times as the others have stated above. We can not get comfortable with our success and must always stand on guard. One slip here and there may not manifest in measurable artifacts such as scale increase or softness, but repeated slips will aggregate into weight gain, and worse, feelings of disappointment and a lack of a strong foundation to stand on. Lets stay strong together and always be mindful! Happy labor lay to my American friends.

Here is the energy square I enjoy called chocolate paradise: http://www.nuts.com/snacks/energy-squares/chocolate-paradise.html They are really good.

Thanks for the words of solidarity around this issue. Telling ourselves that old behaviors are eradicated seems like a nice story until they start reappearing out of the blue post op. I know - it is a common theme in the vet forum. However, I do not feel like it is something that needs to be battled everyday, but when it does strike, it is time to remember why we worked so hard up until this point. Is binging really more important then losing 180 lb and becoming really fit? Hardly. I also consider myself one of the non moderation folks as one bite of the wrong food would lead to 10 bites. I have such a binary personality. on or off. black or white. there are not really any shades of gray for me. that is both an asset (strong decisions) and a liability (success or failure mentality). However, one positive I have learned about binge eating : if one can wait about 20 minutes after temptation strikes, it will lessen and finally whimper out of existence.

How many of you vets still encounter the old binge behavior of pre sleeve? Here I am at 13 months post op and have been maintaining now for 6 months. Yet yesterday, the old binge behavior of eating senseless until discomfort hit me. I had gone on a hike yesterday and that may have triggered a need for carb inhalation combined with some stress from another part of life. And I did carb up before the hike with Protein infused steel cut oats and a couple energy squares. Hike was a joy. I was able to hike to the top without any fatigue. No soreness or out of breath. It felt like the end up a cross fit warm up. I ate about 12 energy squares which would be about 720 calories around dinner time. Fortunately, an energy square is not really that bad for you because it is mostly good carb and good fat. Needless to say that became my dinner. scale did not move too much this morning, but I do feel a little more bloated then usual. I am a little concerned about this behavior because I thought it had been checked at the door even 15 months ago when I started to prepare for surgery by changing my eating habits. My nutritional plan has been really a model of excellence over the last 6 months sticking to modified Paleo, focusing heavily on large amounts of lean protein and veggies to fuel a high level of fitness. I eat healthy day in and day out without to much of a struggle. I like eating this way because of the energy it gives me to take on fitness and other activities in daily life. Fortunately, my wife reminded me tomorrow is another day and I am human. It still depresses me a little that there is still a bridge that can be crossed to old undesirable eating behaviors. The bridge may be old, rickety and falling apart, but it can still be crossed. That concerns me as a vet.

I think doing the 100 mile run challenge is a fabulous idea! It is going to be hard, but I guess it really depends on how you slice up an average of 25 miles a week. Are you going to do something like a 10-10-5 split for 3 x a week or perhaps 10k for 4 days a week? Sorry I will not be joining you in the form of running as it is too much cardio with regards to my lifting goals this month. However, I am wondering if I could do 500 pull up challenge instead? I know it is not running, but it would help me make some real headway on completing a large number of unassisted pull ups over the month. There would still be some kinship throughout the month among the group even though we have different physical goals. Good luck on the countdown!

Omega 3 fish oil is a good supplement to start with. Recommendation is 1000 mg active ingredients a day' date=' but I take a higher dose of 1 tbsp to help specifically with cross fit induced inflammation. Anything high in antioxidant power will help fight belly fat. Other considerations might be fruit like blueberry or blackberry (go dark and/or berry for higher antioxidant values), acai and Pom juice (careful with the calories though), high concentration veggie blends ( think: green drinks) and some Beans (kidney and green for example). And I am speaking from experience. Here is my before belly (from 5-2012): Here is my after belly (from 4-2013):

I tried to kick the PPI habit 2 days ago and it kicked me back last night. Back on it for the near foreseeable future...

Protein cookie habit is way better than the apple fritter habit, right? I need to break my energy square habit of 2 every morning. However, it gives me energy and does not cause weight gain, so all is good...

Does anyone know of a technique to relieve long term stiffness in the neck? Is it it just a matter of fixing my standing posture and chair ergonomics? Do I need to work more on strengthening my upper back muscles and mindfully relaxing the back tightness (getting better at this)? I also lift, but that is fairly new and neck muscle soreness has existed forever. I would like to fix it permanently and not just temporarily with neck exercises, hot/cold, massages, pain medicine, etc. thanks!

I have been experimenting with cutting out my PPI recently. We shall see if heart burn rears its ugly head. As I have said in the past, spicy foods seem to get the acid churning. Even an Ostrim stick will do it even though it is not terribly spicy.

Thank you for your kind words.

You got me - I guess my thinking is very old school in terms of male, female, family and career. It is the way I was raised. It does not make it "right" or "wrong." It just is.

I took the family / career /male /female implicit quiz Results: Your data suggest a strong automatic association of MALE with career and FEMALE with family. Pretty typical. My responses were spot on and fast until block 7. Then I started to get my answers wrong and also slowed down in my response time. Clearly I have a typical association of male to career and female to family. Who would not?