Fiddleman

It would be cool if they let you put in your muscle measurements and fat percentage. That would totally fix the issue with the BMI charts and calculators.

I am glad 5:2 is working out for everyone. Thanks for being the guinea pigs.

Good attitude!

Yes, agree that cardio is good to limit if you want to preserve your lean muscle mass. I learned this the hard way. Fortunately, most mistakes can be undone, it just takes longer. Regular cardio is good to melt away a large percentage of body fat, but one should be careful about doing so much cardio (endurance based) that the body enters a constant catabolic state. Endurance cardio does have its place. For example, training for 5k, 10k or marathon or any other sport that requires a good sustained cardio response. For general fitness after losing most of the excess weight, tilting the scale towards resistance training or short bursts of HIIT training are going to yield better and more consistent body composition results. By short bursts of HIIT, I mean 20-30 minutes, 1-2 x a week. Light cardio is also good during a warmup before getting into a warmup, say, jogging 1/2 a mile or rowing 500 meters. Good luck in your weight loss and fitness journey.

TT is an abbreviation for tummy tuck. I have read previously that some get an extended tummy tuck or trunkplasty to take care of the problem skin around the stomach. Not sure this is the route for me yet. I may get lucky and not need it, but the existence of this thread implies otherwise. There is a plastics discussion coming up at my support group this coming Saturday, so I hope to get some questions answered there.

I would not mind achieving this result: http://screenrant.com/the-wolverine-hugh-jackman-photo/the-wolverine-official-photo-hugh-jackman/

Thanks for sharing your photo as that is proof positive that it is possible to build up some abs as a post op. have you had any TT work or other plastics? I am anticipating your answer is no. Congratulations!

Thank you all for your thoutful responses. I think this question really does start to shine the light in uncharted territory so I hope everyone can continue to offer their anecdotal experiences or research when it becomes available. This information will help future sleeve maintainers.

I lost 180 lb from essentially 360 to 180 in about 7 months. I am at 1 year post op now. Here is what my workouts have been over the months: Month 1-4: walking and elliptical Month 5-7: lots of running, started minimal lifting. Helped me reach goal, but also made me skin and bones in upper body. Others, be careful about too much cardio and impact on muscle. Month 8-12: cross fit 2x a week, body weight exercises ( eg paleo fitness) 3x a week. Upper body is now powerful from lots of functional body weight exercises. I do some core work as it is integrated with cross fit and full body weight exercises. However, I am thinking of adding two dedicated core workouts during the week, probably on the same day as cross fit but in the morning where cross fit is late afternoon. This might make all the difference. Then again, it might not if the skin is going to be an issue. It it not a huge amount of skin and does not hang. The best way to describe is that it is a small mound that is covering my abs. Tight on the side of my stomach area and on the small of the back. Diet is ultra clean and I am on good supplementation stacks. Started taking creatine hydro daily after taking creatine mono was not really working ( wore off if not consistent with it because essentially just pumps muscle with water). Also Mono is harder for the body to absorb then hydro. Take optimen Multivitamin and amino acids (catalyst before and recovery shake after). Eating as much Protein as I can, about 170 g a day. My goal is to try and eat 7 x a day with about 40 g for at least 3 of the meals (shakes). The other meals tend to be between 25-30 g. I take casein at night and that seems to really have good results overnight. Overall, I like the progress made in the last 4 months to get stronger and build a more athletic physique. However, the stomach is still a problem are for me. I would like to tighten it and pop those abs! Thanks for any suggestions you have.

You can do it Amy!

Is it even possible for a post op to develop a six pack of abs that rival those of normal fitness folks? I do not see how with the excess skin around the stomach area. I have been eating clean , working out effectively for many months and still do not see the abs. However, I can start to see the outline of where they should be and I have veins everywhere on my arms and legs. Chest and back are very strong and powerful. I am wondering if others have had more success with popping the abs. If you have picture proof it is possible, please post a photo and what you did to bring them out. Maybe my body fat % is still too high at 15 %. Maybe I need to be more diligent about core workouts. I mainly do full body workouts.

I know:) it is not in me to shame anyone. Speaking of MIA, where has globe trotter been? She was very active for 2 months and then, poof, she is gone. I hope she is doing well.

By the way, sir, you are an astounding role model and success. Thanks for shining the light ahead on the path for others. That is amazing to drop that amount of weight.

Public shaming? Oh, that is going to be fun. Just kidding! Now go run before you are given a scarlet S for slacker on your coat.

Get going on that treadmill! Treat yourself to something nice ( not food related) afterwards as a reward.

This question is more targeted towards you long term vets - 2+ years out. Sorry in advance for its length. I have read from a few vet posts ( ok, more then a few) that eating is much harder to control post 2+ years then, say, post 1 year. Why is that? Is it a relaxation of new post op lifestyle issue or something else deeper then that? I am looking more for an anatomical response rather then an emotional one because we all know about stress eating. Let us assume stress eating due to life circumstances or head issues are off the table for this discussion. My hunger woke up around post op month 5 and it required me to figure out a way to eat in balance with fitness. Lots of trial and error, research, reading, etc. you can probably identify when this happened by looking back through my post history. Not saying you should or need to do this. Just take my word for it. Today at post op 1 year I can honestly say my nutritional plan is working for me. And I am not struggling with eating or hunger at all. Sometimes i slime because i eat to fast, but that is my own fault. Essentially, I eat a very high Protein diet with some fruits and veggies. I have at most 1/2 apple or 1/2 banana a day with nut butter that also includes 3-4 ounces of some protein. Usually this is for my morning 9ish am meal. I eat 1-2 ounces of some veggie for lunch meal and for dinner meal along with 4-5 ounces of some protein. the rest of the meals are Protein shakes of various kinds. Most of my nutritional needs come from daily Vitamins, protein shakes and other supplementation and not from real veggies and fruits. I have a green drink that i take every other day. it is very nutritionally sound, but is loaded with too many vitamins to take daily with my Multivitamin. No reason in particular to do it his way; it just works out well for me. I do mind taking supplementation every day; it is just part of the day and is second nature. I really like the way I am eating and have energy to complete my activities for the day. I chose not to eat snack or junk foods after surgery. It was a little hard at first, but now it seems fairly normal to not eat or think about them. There is no desire to go have cake, donuts, Cookies, chips, etc. that is from another time in my life, in which the door has closed. A nice quality about abstaining and retraining the brain to be rewarded with healthy food, is nothing becomes a temptation any more (well, except low carb protein bars). No problems arise from sharing a conversation or dinner table with others who eat the way they want to eat. No desire to go hunt out carbs in the house. It is freedom and peace of mind to not be controlled by food. For this reason, I deeply thank VSG for giving me the time as a post op to turn my lifestyle around 180 degrees. There is no better way to describe it. Calories tend to be around 1700-1900 as I eat 7 small meals a day and each meal is about 200-300 calories. I eat about 170 G protein a day, sometimes more. Never hungry and weight is very stable (leaning out though) at my goal weight of 180. I have been maintaining this weight for 5 months now if you look at the starting and ending dates of the time period. In reality, i have gone up about 15 lb and then back down, swapping fat for lean muscle, as I experimented with different approaches since hitting goal. In so many words, I am asking if the way i am currently eating not going to require a change or adaptation in 1, 2, 5 years from now? Or am I somehow still in a honeymoon period where eating requirements will drastically change once I am out of it? Appreciate your thoughts. You are all good role models.

Thanks for the bump and the nod towards bodybuilder site. I may just need to do that. I also like gathering information from cross fit sites and mags like men's fitness and men's health. Any other mags that are really good for filling out the knowledge base that would be useful? I am not really into the hard core lifting mags (sorry, mark!), but more into the functional body weight exercises, some lifting as it pertains to cross fit and Paleo nutrition. Hate to say one of my cross addictions is supplementation now as a post op in order to get the most out of my workouts and general fitness. Maybe it is good. Maybe it is bad. However, it is definitely rough on my wallet. I am starting to really home in on a stack that is working well for my needs, but am always looking for ways to improve.

Thanks for the responses folks. All are very helpful in my own decision making and I am sure for others as well. Do you have any more thoughts on this subject, especially if you have an fringe ideas? I am looking for some more esoteric thoughts on the matter that might be a little different from mainstream thinking that have worked functionally for you long term. Statistical Outliers in anecdotal experiences, if you may. The most informed decisions can be made by analysis of a wide range of alternatives.

Excellent job! Words of wisdom for the newer folks?

It is hard to answer this question for yourself until you start eating solids. I can tell you some common experiences. 1. Hiccups 2. Burps 3. Runny nose 4. All of the above. Most of the time I have 1 and 2 but on occasion have 3. If you do not heed he body signals you might end up with slimes and/or a very uncomfortable feeling in the chest. Eating slow, as in 20 minutes, the proper quantity and chewing well will minimize the chance of sliming or uncomfortable feeling.

Before After