Fiddleman

Hi folks. I work in the financial industry as a senior software engineer primarily specializing in software to help all businesses file their financial documents to the country reporting regulator (eg SEC in US, HMRC in UK, MCA in India, SVS in India, etc). Needless to say, I get to work with customers from many global companies in many different time zones and country languages. Love it!

Perhaps Insanity Fast and Furious is a good program. Not sure. I like that it is 20 minutes long. http://www.amazon.com/INSANITY-Fast-Furious-DVD-Workout/dp/B004PAS756/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375840536&sr=8-2&keywords=crossfit+dvd

Peanut butter is OK, but not really the best choice because peanuts are not really a nut. It is a legume and grows below ground. Nuts like walnuts, almonds, etc grow above ground. They have more protein and have fats that are better for you. A better choice would be a nut butter like almond butter or cashew butter. You can usually find these in the natural section at a grocery store or you can make your own. Safeway has an area where you can grind the almonds or cashews and make a tub of nut butter to take home with you. Yummy on apples and bananas. Hope this helps.

Hi folks - I am looking for a new at home DVD program that will be done 3-4 days a week. Can you deliver on this request? I have completed all the workouts in "Be your own gym" (BYOG) with Mark Lauren over the last 12 weeks. http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Your-Own-Gym/dp/B00AM7EQYC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1375835818&sr=8-2&keywords=be+your+own+gym I have the book too. There are 100s of exercises in the book where the DVD set has up to 4 exercises per workout session. It was awesome! I dropped about 20 lbs from may 2013 and am so much stronger with good muscle definition. Body fat % dropped way down. But I am not done yet in my vision of fitness. No where near done. BYOG has 9 programs of beginner, intermediate and advanced. I spent about 3 weeks on each level of 3 programs for a total of about 9 weeks. I've been on advanced for about 3 weeks now and will continue for a few more weeks. However, now I want something new that meets the following criteria: 1. Harder and challenging - advanced BYOG was a challenge, but now I am conditioned to it. Need something harder. I can do clapping push-ups. I can do jumping lunges. Give me something harder!! 2. Progressive - I want to improve over time. I want it to make me even better at cross fit. 3. Strength based - I want to get stronger and not necessarily conditioned as P90x, insanity or t25 might offer. I do not need to lose any weight (currently 5'11" @ 175 lb), so want to exclusively convert any remaining fat into muscle and gain some more lean muscle weight. 4. Short sessions - workout maximum 30 minutes. Prefer 20 minutes of workout and 20 minutes of warmup, stretch, cool down. I work 12 hour days so have about 1 hour of free time a day to dedicate to fitness. I liked BYOG because each workout was max 20 minutes, but we hit it hard in those 20 minutes with body weight exercises. 5. Few days a week - I have 3-4 days open to follow a DVD program. Other 2-3 days a week are reserved for cross fit at a box. Before making recommendations, please do go click n the link to see what BYOG offers so recommendations are appropriate. Thanks for your help guys. I prefer a DVD program over free form because I want the progressive structure. I like being told what to do and being motivated by a trainer.

Fellow cake batter flavor enthusiast, rejoice!

Do you think one would get the same probiotics and prebiotics from a pre packed green drink as from eating real fruits and vegetables? The reason I am asking is that on occasion (not so much anymore, maybe once a week), I take a scoop of Green Vibrance in water. It has essentially 74 different veggies, fruits and herbs. It also has at least RDA in vitamins and minerals. The label says it has 25 billion probiotics per serving. Whatever that means. I honestly cannot tell much of a difference in my digestion action when taking the probiotics versus not taking it. Is a probiotic different from a prebiotic? I get better results just from taking a chia seed / miralax combination at the beginning of the day. Anyways, I would love to hear what you think about probiotics versus probiotics.

Trader joes sells these and they can be found in grocery stores and some gas stations. I am glad you like them. If I recall, they have kind of high carb from sugar alcohols (17 g) and calories are also kind of high (270) per bar. They are big so may fill better than other bars. http://www.amazon.com/thinkThin-Chunky-Peanut-Butter-2-1-Ounce/dp/B000CRHQN0/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1375758703&sr=8-1&keywords=think+thin+bars The Cookies and cream is also good. Still a good option if you enjoy them. Some others that I have enjoyed are nu go slim, pure Protein and Quest.

If you are looking for a really high quality molecularly distilled Omega 3, I recommend Super Omega 3 by stronger, faster, healthier: http://www.sfh.com/products/omega_3-oil/10oz_so3_omega-3_oil It is very good and can be taken 1 tsp at a time for 3100 EPA and DHA (compared to standard 350 EPA at grocery stores). It comes in many different flavors, mint being my favorite. It is kind of pricey at 59.99 for 10 oz (lasts forever though). It is so good my cross fit box just started selling it to help athletes recover from inflammation fast. If omega 3 helps with hair retention, then super omega 3 should make your hair salon perfect.

World market also carries the SF Torani syrups: http://www.worldmarket.com/category/food-and-drink/drink/drink-mixes.do?nType=1&ab=third:food-and-drink:drink:drink-mixes It looks like they are now 6.99. Perhaps they went up in price in the last year or two. This is an option if you have one near you (there are 2 near me).

Yes, I had the same issue with my sternum. When it was just poking out, I thought better go see the doctor. Now it is a big old dome right in the middle of my chest. Still feels weird to this day.

Laura - that must be so hard for you. You get an award for most will power at the break of dawn.

Agree that it just depends on what your doctor says. My doctor allows it, but does not recommend taking any until after month 6, when the primary window of risk is over. And that is what I did. I would rather live life without pain then be in pain, one day at a time. That is my philosophy. Enjoy life while you have it.

Thanks for the tip. Just this morning, I was thinking that soon it will be time to find something harder to do at home or I will need to put together my own.

Sorry you had a bad training week and sleep issues. It will get better. One foot in front of the other. It is hard to get the initial oomph to go work out sometimes, but once you do get started, it is as if energy turns on. One benefit about training with a trainer is that you can leave baggage at the door and just focus on what the trainer asks you to do. Impressing the trainer is sometimes a motivation if you lose it internally for a short term. I know you have it. It is just you and your hour of "get it on" time. And no matter how you feel going into the hour, you always feel 100x better leaving the hour. I have trouble getting out the door sometimes (excuses start popping up earlier in the day), but by the time I am going through the cross fit warm up with my trainer, my doubts are erased. The nagging doubter is gone. The key is to make a promise to yourself to always "show up" to a workout no matter how much you might feel like sitting it out. This week will be better for you; I just know it! As for sleep, I too have been getting a lack of sleep for a while now (see the dark circles under my eyes in the avatar?). It is a bit unfortunate. I even take sleeping aids to try and get some sleep, but I always wake up in the night and have trouble falling back asleep or wake up too many darn times. Anyways, it is not about me. I just wanted to let you know I understand how all these physical feelings can add up and make it hard to show up to a training session. Good luck this week and give yourself a break for not being 100%. We all hit those periods.

You might true lime, true lemon or true orange. I just started on some true lemon raspberry lemonade. 5 calories a packet and made of all natural ingredients. It is also sweetened just a touch (which makes it better than true lime in my opinion) with a tiny bit of sugar and stevia. I use one packet for 32 oz and that seems to be enough flavor for me. If you are looking for a good water enhancer, but do not want artificial colors, flavors or chemicals, you might give these true products a try.

Yup - everyone. You can take all the biotin you want, eat all the protein you can and take all the vitamins you can swallow, but it will still fall out. Month 3-6 are the heavy shedding months. Most people stop losing after that. The hair that falls out is usually the dead or weaker hair follicles. Do not worry. It is just a phase. Your hair will be stronger, longer and more beautiful by month 9.

Lol - indeed. Poison is an accurate description for most water enhancers (mio is pretty bad also if you check out the ingredients). Unfortunately, it is a necessary evil until you can tolerate plain water again.

Overeating is really easy to do and something you have to evaluate at every meal until the physical response from the sleeve stabilizes. This is really important once you move onto solids. I believe that the physical response of being full stabilizes by month 3 or month 6 at the latest. Before then it is important to remain vigilant in portions size. After a while, you develop an intuition to be able to distinguish the physical response from being satisfied versus being full. Eating a portion size to being full is a precarious habit to get into because it leaves you very close to sliming or uncomfortable feelings in the chest or lower in the digestive track. That is where the power of the sleeve as a tool comes in. It will force you to eat within clearly defined boundaries. The boundary of being full is different for every individual, depending on anatomical make up and size of bougie used for sleeve. It is important to listen to your body closely to understand your own boundaries. Most people will receive full signal by either small burps, hiccups, runny nose or something else. My full signal is a series of small burps. You want to stop eating before receiving this signal and that takes time to develop a natural intuition. However, once you key in on what it means to be satisfied, then eating is indeed pleasurable and there should be no shame in not being able to finish your portion sizes. That leaves more food for another meal or perhaps some scraps for the dog. After month 6, I find that most days I can eat 3-5 ounces of dense Protein and 1-2 ounces of veggie. However, some days I will stop eating within an ounce of protein left or all veggies still remaining on my small plate because being satisfied is so much better then being full and having to deal with sliming or pain. You can divide up your meals during the day to be every 2-3 hours in order to eat smaller portions to satisfaction and not get hungry in between meals. The body is designed to respond more efficiently in terms of overall health and especially metabolic rate when meals are small and do not cause any major rise or drop in insulin levels. For example, I eat on average 7-8 small meals a day where 2-4 are consisting of real food and 3-5 are consisting of Protein shake, bar or some other supplement.

Yes, I stopped being cold about 7 months post op. However, I suppose everyone is different.

OK it has stopped after an hour. Boy, was that torture! I might have to raise an olive branch to get the neighbor to close their window. Lol. I work at home and I definitely had waffles on the brain and my stomach was nudging me, begging me to satisfy it. Being a post op is always going to be a challenge and requires a strong defense. Been good so far!

I have my window cracked open this morning at dawn for some fresh air and I smell waffles wafting in the wind from a neighbors house 500 feet away. How fair is that?!?!? It smells so good. Surprised I can pick this smell up considering it is coming from inside their house. It really is messing with my concentration. I cannot say such a smell has caused quite a reaction as this since way before surgery.