Fiddleman

At 6 weeks the risk reduces substantially. At 6 months, the risk is almost entirely gone. Try your best to stay hydrated and to sip those electrolytes. I hope you feel better soon.

I have been thinking more about this knot comment today. This afternoon, I decided to do some personal investigation of the tightness below my lower back, but above my hamstrings in the outer left buttock / hip region. It almost feels like it is in the glut Maximus muscle, but might also be something entirely different as in the Piriformis region. It is definitely tight as a bow string and a couple inches below skin of the buttocks on the left side right at or slightly below level of hip. It feels like hip pain. The following page has a nice diagram of the Piriformis region: http://www.doctorschierling.com/piriformis-syndrome--chronic-butt-pain.html This page talks about Piriformis Syndrome. I wonder if this applies to me because I have gotten sciatica nerve pain in my leg for a while in the past ( not recently since post op though). However, I had not really experienced the tightness and "hip" pain until starting to run earlier in the year. I think this muscle started to get tight when running often and for long distances back in dec2012-mar2013 (was running 18-25 miles a week). It has since remained tight only on the left side. This might have something to do with bad posture from decades of sitting in a chair for work and perhaps exasperated by running, lifting and general fitness stuff since surgery. The mat is not relieving that one area in the left buttock / hip region. Even my trusty roller does not seem to touch the tightness / pain. Activity does relieve the tightness and pain in the left hip / buttock region and then it comes back after workouts. So I started to really dig in with my fingers, focusing on the tightness. Must have looked funny digging into my behind at home. Lol. Anyone know how to get this muscle to "let go?" It is getting a little better after digging hard, but I will need to keep working on that knot with hard pressure tomorrow from my digging fingers. Or perhaps I will go get myself a sports massage. still researching...

Oh neat. You can probably get a proscription for the versed drug Midazolam: http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midazolam Forget ambien for insomnia. This is the good stuff.

Red lobster is a great place to eat with all their low calorie low carb low fat options. Other good places are olive garden, red robin and Panera breads. Yes, I said Panera Breads. There is a secret menu you can order high Protein low fat and low carb stuff off of. The key is you have to ask for the secret menu as it is not on display anywhere. At least it was not when I went a few months ago. My wife and I can pretty much go to any restaurant and find some on their "lite" menu or modify z menu option to fit our needs. Most restaurants are very accommodating. We have eaten at the restaurants above in addition to Thai, Indian, Italian, Japanese, Chinese, Greek and so on. We have not had to use the special bariatric card once. Good luck!

Nope. Cheating did not cross my mind during preop. I mean VSG is so much more important than cheating. Why jeopardize your surgery date? I admit your pre op diet sounds much more severe than mine. What you call cheating was OK on my program. We essentially were allowed to eat Atkins induction phase food (high Protein, low fat and low carb). Those that are only allowed liquids for 2-4 weeks, man, sucks to be you. I am saying that in a nice way of course.

Endoscopy is really easy. In fact, my surgeon performed it in a fancy suit (must have been speaking publicly around the same time). He said " you are going to feel a little warmth" and then you are waking up in your recovery room. It is that easy. You are not really put under like the full blown VSG; rather, you are put into twilight sleep. You are just asleep enough not to remember anything. Somebody tell me where I can get some of that good stuff for my insomnia or otherwise bad post op sleep nights. I would love to sleep like that every night.

Not sure if we are relatable or not, but my wife are very close to Everett as well and are always looking for friends.

Great - hope you guys find it as useful as I did. I will continue using it daily during workouts. However, I am sure you could wear the wrap all day if you wanted to.

My wife and I are in the Seattle area and go to Swedish WLS Center support group with a couple of our VST friends. The meeting is on Saturday morning, once a month and Tuesday evening, once a month. I know they are open to pre ops that are with Swedish WLS Center, but not sure about outsiders. It is about a 1 hour drive south from our home.

Here is something that has really helped me out starting this last week. It is the real deal and has helped me eliminate fat from those stubborn locations. For me, this is in the tummy area. Another VST member gave me the tip on the sweet sweat. Sweet sweat: creates a little mini sauna where ever you apply it. It looks and feels a lot like Vaseline, but has a sweet aroma. There are antioxydants in this product that help draw the toxins out of the stored fat. Amazing product. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B001EN14CA/ref=mp_s_a_1_1?qid=1376259663&sr=8-1π=SL75 McDavid wrap: a cloth wrap the really holds in your core section. With the application of sweet sweat under it, you have then ideal set up to tighten up the mid section as the fat literally drips off you as the skin is drawn tighter. You can almost smell the burn during your workout. http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B000UVVX28/ref=aw_1st_sims_1?pi=SL500_SS115 I found the mcdavid wrap on Amazon as I was researching the sweet sweat. By the way, the wrap and sweet sweat have worked really well this last week since I have begun to use it. I have lost a couple inches of waist and really tightening up. Big time! Love it! I get a ton of sweat after taking off the wrap following a workout. It is almost measured in cups. Lol. The wrap also provides wonderful core stability and lower back support. With the mcdavid, it has helped me do 20 unassisted pull ups for the first time and 200 toe to bar this last week. Both require strong core. I blew my trainer away. I know a lot of you are probably rolling your eyes or laughing, but results speak for themselves. Being able to get a tight mid section and avoid the need for a TT is completely worth it. Not to mention the amazing core stability the wrap provides is completely worth it. I lost 180 lbs and my mid section is the only place where I have lose skin. Maybe I should use past tense because it is almost no more. Completely amazing. My wife also noticed the difference in my tummy area when I asked if she noticed anything. I did not prompt her to what I had done or even that I felt I had lost a couple inches. She saw it for herself and commented based on observation alone. The wrap sits right under your shirt, tight against your skin. Hardly noticeable in the mirror except that you also have a flat mid section. Oh yeah. Folks, do what you need to do to help achieve your vanity goals as a post op. We know vanity is not everything,but it is important to both men and women next to health and fitness as a VSG post op. Avoid TT surgery if you can. It will save you so much money, pain, recovery time and permanent scars.

The others have made some great suggestions: eating Peanut Butter , eating calorie dense foods and eating more often. I also agree eating a small meal every 2 hours is a great idea so your body gets used to wanting a higher caloric load during the day. You might also try drinking some higher calorie Protein shakes. For example, mine has 400 calories a serving. I have also seen mass building Protein Shakes that give you 600-700 calories a serving. Drinking a casein shake right before bed is a great way to finish out the day with an extra 200-300 calories. Eat complex carbs and good fats. Try eating oatmeal with Protein powder mixed in. Try eating avocados, olives and salmon. I love to eat salmon because it is not only tasty, but gives you good fats with the protein. My weight oscillates between 175 and 178 for the last month and I am trying my darndest to pack on muscle so am shoveling in as much protein as possible during the day. At 175, I am almost mid BMI healthy range for my height of 5'11". Let's see, what else can help you? Perhaps eat some healthy Cereal like Fiber one (200 calories for 1/2 cup). Eat fruit when you can. Bananas are higher on the glycemic index and will "stick to you" more than, say, an apple. Getting your carbs over 150 a day should help you gain a little. Once you are at 130 or where ever you want to stop, drop daily carbs to about 80-100. Just be a little careful about making good food choices as it will be easy to tip the scales in the other direction. If you eat not so good choices of food, you may find yourself with the opposite problem: too much weight gain. It is a careful balancing act to figure out where your caloric and macro loads need to be in order to hit that sweet maintain range and stay there. Good luck.

This is such a good plethora of information with regards to my question about overtraining. You know I am an information junkie and this just delist me to read about these physical processes with regards to training. Cross fit is all about pushing yourself to maximum heart rate so do not think I can avoid that. I do like the idea of getting a little sugar to combat he feeling of nauseousness. My little energy squares will work perfectly for this. You are going to make a great PT. cheers!

Heavy is truly in the eye of the beholder. 100 lb will be heavy to a fairly new lifter. A seasoned lifter might say 250 is heavy. And then there are some that consider 500+ to be heavy. Most bars are 35-45 lbs without any weights. You can start practicing your form with just a bar until you have repeatable good form. Slowly increase weight until you fail by adding 5-15 lb increments on each side of the bar. Try and get in 8-10 reps with good form. That is where strength is going to come from, being able to complete 3-5 sets of 8-10 reps of 70% max weight. As you get stronger, your max, of course, keeps rising. Do not try and go heavy before you have great form or you may injure yourself. And sitting out to recover from injury is no fun (no experience with injury, but can imagine it to be a drag). Once you get into heavy range, make sure you have a spotter you can trust or t least have the knowledge of how to get out of a heavy lift properly on your own. There are definitely improper ways to drop out of a lift that can seriously injury yourself.

I think the canned response is 6 weeks to even start lifting and then 6 months until you go super heavy. It all depends on the completion of healing. I started lifting heave at month 10, but I think that is jut me. I came in late to the game and it took me a couple month to work up he muscle to go heavy. Supplement yourself with bcaas and other products to help recover faster and to complete more reps with greater intensity in order to get to a point where you can dead lift or squat 300. That is just my opinion and I am fairly new to the lifting. There are lots of guys on VST that have experience to answer this question with authority.

Yup - failure is getting 1/2 way through a lift and "failing" to finish it. I go to failure all the time when I am testing my 1 rep or 3 rep of the standard lifts. For me, the easiest way to failure is on the overhead press, no jerk. Anywhere from 2 1/2 lb to 5 lb increase and I will bonk out, hitting a wall. I get my arms 1/2 way up and just cannot straighten them. That is failure. The good thing about failure is it teaches your muscles to grow and get stronger. For example, my overhead press (no jerk) is 150 currently. It has taken me a couple months to go from 85 to 150 because of bonking at that wall. For dead lift, bench press and back squat, I am much stronger. I can increase more without bonking. However, I do need to always be aware of injury so do not lift into a zone of injury, especially if the weight is getting to be really heavy, like 325 on dead lift. At least I can drop at the top of a 1 rep dead lift. For 3 rep dead lift, I need to lift a little less because good form needs to be maintained through all 3 reps. Same is true if I am doing a 10 rep set. Do not lift so much you injure yourself on the way to failure.

I just tried mat under legs and pillow under lumbar. That was interesting and definitely feels good.

No idea if any have an advantage over another other than brand name. I say go cheap. I got the following zensufu package: http://www.amazon.com/Zensufu-Complete-Acupressure-Massage-Comfort/dp/B007RZJD1S/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1376243789&sr=8-1&keywords=Bed+of+nails

Silly question, but do you think switching out the beef for ground turkey, lamb, buffalo, boar or chicken would matter? I like to lean out the protein a little and get a little exotic, if possible. Otherwise, the recipe sounds very tasty and easy to make!

You bet! I am always happy to help my fellow VST friends.

Gamer girl- thanks a lot for responding! It sounds good. By the way, where does your user name tag (gamer girl) come from? Just a short diversion from original thread topic.

I really enjoy eating steel cut its from trader joes mixed with my Protein powder. It is a good injection of Fiber and slow burning carbs to my diet to fuel both my day and workouts. The flavor and sweetness comes from the flavor of your Protein Powder. For example, my protein powder is Cookies and cream, so I get a yummy cookies flavored oatmeal. You can add as much protein as you desire. I try and add as close to 40 g as possible in order to maximize the amount of protein my body will recess in a 2-3 hour window. I am not concerned about calories though this is probably a 500 calorie meal. Eating it before a workout really helps. My calories tend to be around 2000 per day and yet my weight fluctuates between 175 and 178 - a few lbs below my goal weight). Again, I only have a very general idea of caloric count because instead I just try and focus on maximizing protein and eating good carbs / fats. I am not a chef nor a cook so preparation needs to be easy and something I can handle alone without a lot of time or fuss. My wife is the master chef, but meals like these are generally my responsibility to make. I like the oats idea because it is so easy to make and can be prepared in a few minutes, yet energy gained is substantial. Another one that has helped me is apple slices,almond butter and chicken skewer. Again a really good set of the macros. A little lower on the protein though and apples burn up a little too fast during an intense workout. This would probably be my second best option. And those are currently my only two good complex carb / protein options. Lol. I need more options that hit fairly low on the glycemic index yet also pack a good solid protein punch. What are some other easy to make meals like this that I can eat either first thing in the morning for a 9 am workout or mid afternoon for a 4 pm workout? I take no prisoners during my workout so the more good clean energy that can come from these meals, the better.

Quite frequently in the first 6 months! It was so loud an embarrassing at times. Oh and not just stomach noises, but also room filling gas (you need a dog in order to pass blame shamelessly). After that, your stomach begins to mute a bit in the production of cacophonous music. Six months seems to be a good marker when your pre sleeve anatomical response starts to return. Everything from stomach noise to body temperature to drinking rate to eating capacity starts to feel normal again. You need to be careful though to have new habits of lifestyle in place (eating, drinking, exercise) before your body completely heals in order not to revert back to pre sleeve habits. Just a little bonus information that ties in with the reduction of stomach noises after 6 months. PPI and anti acids like tums or Zantac will help you with acidic issues that trigger noise and hunger.