Fiddleman

Here are mine.
Down 180 lb.
I was sleeve 7-2-2012 and reached goal 2-28-2013.

You will lose muscle and strength post op, especially in the upper body. There is no way to prevent that with massive calorie deficits, even if you get to a point of eating over the recommended minimum Protein intake. Also you will not be lifting heavy for a long time nor do you want to in order not to rip, tear' or otherwise damage yourself. Try and eat as much Protein as you can during the "losing" phase and eat as few carbs as you can. Whatever carbs you do eat should be in the form of good carbs. Try and not cheat. Your future results will thank you.
When your weight converges on goal weight, slowly add good carbs and work towards lifting heavier and consistently. You do not want to eat a whole lot of carbs during the losing phase as that will slow your weight loss way down for most folks. Eventually, you will want to start eating 50% protein, 30% carb and 20% fat while you are still reducing body fat, even if at goal weight. Once you body fat reaches your goal (say, 10-12%), change the macros to 40% protein, 40% carb and 20% fat, still eating as clean as you can the entire time. Balancing out protein and carbs is ideal as protein needs carbs in order for optimal protein synthesis to occur. You can also play with carbohydrate timing. For example, I eat most of my carbs for first meal and meal after working out. The insulin response is going to be at optimal levels at these two times to maximize protein synthesis. Eat mostly protein and veggies the rest of the day, every 2-3 hours.
Depending in your ideal weight, you will want to eat 1-1.5 G protein per # of body weight and 300-500 calories under your point of calorie in and calorie out homeostasis. For me, that is about 220 G protein and 1800 calories respectively. Always drink a lot of Water the whole time. You will not only lose weight faster, but you will also cut faster because your hormones will balance out by themselves as the various toxins are flushed from your body. I am a strong believer in the application of nutritional and sports science ahead of the actual lifting. The actual lifting will result in disappointment if one does not get the nutrition and timing right.
As for the actual lifting, I currently do a standard split routine in the context of p90 x and am finishing up this program at the end of this month (may repeat or go onto another program like p90x/insanity hybrid or p90x2). It is a really good program. I also like doing workouts from "you are your own gym" because there are so many benefits behind functional training that you some times do not get from traditional split isometric routines (chest/back,legs/back, biceps/shoulders/back, etc). For this reason, I also enjoy cross fit. Oh how I love cross fit, but you do have to be careful about preventing injury and overtraining.

Before
After

You will lose muscle and strength post op, especially in the upper body. There is no way to prevent that with massive calorie deficits, even if you get to a point of eating over the recommended minimum Protein intake. Also you will not be lifting heavy for a long time nor do you want to in order not to rip, tear' or otherwise damage yourself. Try and eat as much Protein as you can during the "losing" phase and eat as few carbs as you can. Whatever carbs you do eat should be in the form of good carbs. Try and not cheat. Your future results will thank you.
When your weight converges on goal weight, slowly add good carbs and work towards lifting heavier and consistently. You do not want to eat a whole lot of carbs during the losing phase as that will slow your weight loss way down for most folks. Eventually, you will want to start eating 50% protein, 30% carb and 20% fat while you are still reducing body fat, even if at goal weight. Once you body fat reaches your goal (say, 10-12%), change the macros to 40% protein, 40% carb and 20% fat, still eating as clean as you can the entire time. Balancing out protein and carbs is ideal as protein needs carbs in order for optimal protein synthesis to occur. You can also play with carbohydrate timing. For example, I eat most of my carbs for first meal and meal after working out. The insulin response is going to be at optimal levels at these two times to maximize protein synthesis. Eat mostly protein and veggies the rest of the day, every 2-3 hours.
Depending in your ideal weight, you will want to eat 1-1.5 G protein per # of body weight and 300-500 calories under your point of calorie in and calorie out homeostasis. For me, that is about 220 G protein and 1800 calories respectively. Always drink a lot of Water the whole time. You will not only lose weight faster, but you will also cut faster because your hormones will balance out by themselves as the various toxins are flushed from your body. I am a strong believer in the application of nutritional and sports science ahead of the actual lifting. The actual lifting will result in disappointment if one does not get the nutrition and timing right.
As for the actual lifting, I currently do a standard split routine in the context of p90 x and am finishing up this program at the end of this month (may repeat or go onto another program like p90x/insanity hybrid or p90x2). It is a really good program. I also like doing workouts from "you are your own gym" because there are so many benefits behind functional training that you some times do not get from traditional split isometric routines (chest/back,legs/back, biceps/shoulders/back, etc). For this reason, I also enjoy cross fit. Oh how I love cross fit, but you do have to be careful about preventing injury and overtraining.

Here is what dropping 180 from 360 looks like from a couple months ago:


I am 5'11".
I have increased my lean muscle percentage since the after picture while maintaining about the same weight of 180 lb.
Good luck pre ops! All is possible.

I like using the under armour and nike brands. I have a couple med shirts and underwear that I purchased from sports authority 6-8 months back. They help you "feel lighter" when working out with less movement of skin, etc.

Here are mine.
Down 180 lb.
I was sleeve 7-2-2012 and reached goal 2-28-2013.

I am not sure about guiding, but I can be anecdotal about it and tell you about how the progression from surgery to crossfit worked for me.
Before surgery, I did the typical cardio type exercises. You know - an hour on the ellyptical perhaps a few times a week. It was not helping me very much because my eating habits were so out of control. I did zero lifting mainly because it frustrated me and I would stop trying to figure it out.
After surgery, here is the progression:
Month 1-2 : built up from 5 min walks to 3 hour walks 2-3 x a day.
Month 3-4: inconsistent use of ellyptical. 2 x a week if lucky. Still walked a lot, but not as much.
Month 5-7: started running. First run was surprisingly a 28 minute 5 k. I thought this was really cool that I could run. I started out running 5 k for 3 x a week. I worked up to running 3 x a week, but different types of running: for time, HIIT and distance. My running distance averaged around 10 k in about 55 minutes. I did a few really long runs of 10-15 miles, but that is not as appealing to me as running fast.
I hit goal at this point, but lost so much muscle. That is when I decided to make a change from running to something else.
Month 8-14: I started cross fit as a brand new guy. Never really even heard of it before, but I wanted to build muscle and become more athletic. I worked with a trainer 2x a week during these 6 months, learning about the different exercises and different techniques. I also started getting into some Olympic lifting, but most of the sessions were based on metabolic conditioning. On 3 other days during the week, I did body weight workouts using a program called " you are your own gym". I thoroughly enjoyed doing this program.
Month 15-16: I could no longer really afford the personal training so switched to open gym format. I go to the box 5 x a week and try and RX the workout every day. I can do almost every exercise with the exception of double unders, muscle ups and hand stand push ups. I am still working on these for skill and when they show up in a workout, I need to modify and do something like singles, box hand stand pushups and floor muscle ups.
During these last couple months of open gym 5 days a week I have gotten really good at certain exercises and Olympic lifts:
Running: 4:45 minute mile (first in 3 mile set)
Push ups: 50 unbroken
Pull ups: 15 unbroken
Burpees: 50 unbroken
T2B: 25 unbroken
Box jumps (holding 20# ball)
Dead lifts: 350 lb max
Bench press: 295 lb max
Man makers: 30 unbroken with 25 #
Etc
I really like burpees. Not a lot of people like them.
I still cannot do an overhead squat or s n a t c h with weight ( use a PVC pipe). It is on my 6 month plan. I will get it eventually, once my lats and scapula learn how to operate properly. I am currently in physical therapy working on my lat muscles. They are way to tight, even in neutral position.
There is always something to improve athletically every single day. Keep in mind you are a work in progress. You look at all the really good cross fitters and it is a little frustrating to see how in the world you can do what they are doing. It is a bid chasm to cross.
My suggestion is to think of cross fit as a progression. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of dedication to get it to the point where you can do a prescribed workout and not question yourself afterwards because of the difficulty, pain, soreness, etc. It gets better over time.
Always remember to do the following every day:
1. 4-5 g fish oil
2. 8-9 hours of sleep (I struggled with this until recently)
3. 90 oz Water or more
4. Take 2 rest days a week (not doing this will break you eventually)
5. Journal and keep track of your daily progress( I used a site called beyond the whiteboard)
6. Try and eat paleo. Your workouts will be easier if you put good food into your body.
7. Consider some caffeine, creatine and beta-alanine before your workout to improve endurance. Beta-alanine takes a month to load, but will protect you from fatigue both during lifts and metabolic conditioning.
8. Always eat a post op bar or shake.
9. Consider a recovery shake that has BCAA in it. Glutamine is important.
10. Be consistent. Do not cherry pick your workouts. You want to get as wide exposure as you can so only stay home if it is a rest day or you are sick.
Good luck. Hopefully you got something out of my rambling.

Here is what dropping 180 from 360 looks like from a couple months ago:


I am 5'11".
I have increased my lean muscle percentage since the after picture while maintaining about the same weight of 180 lb.
Good luck pre ops! All is possible.

Here are mine.
Down 180 lb.
I was sleeve 7-2-2012 and reached goal 2-28-2013.

I think everyone should be free to use whatever aids they feel will help them in achieving their goals. No need to condone anyone if they decide to use hydroxycut or some other diet pill. A warning might be OK if you feel such a diet pill is dangerous or detrimental, but no parenting please. We are all adults and live in a free society ( for now). This means we can do what we please if it is not illegal, dangerous or harming someone else.

Here are mine.
Down 180 lb.
I was sleeve 7-2-2012 and reached goal 2-28-2013.

I still use shakes to boost the numbers. I like to have a 30 g pure Protein Shake as part of my first meal with a heavy dose of carb like Fiber one Cereal or oatmeal. For my last meal, I will have 60 g or so of casein shake (bed time). In between, I have 6 meals to play with. I will have oatmeal with 40 G Protein Powder before working out and a AMRAP bar (15 g) following the workout. For morning snack, I will have some lean chicken (about 25 g) and veggies. For lunch and dinner, I will target 25-30 G lean protein for each meal with veggies. So adding this all up: 230 g of protein a day on average. I am 17 months post op and maintaining pretty easily. I am glad exercise is available so starving is off the table. My muscles are not huge from the protein, but respectable and defined. Thank you cross fit.

Here are mine.
Down 180 lb.
I was sleeve 7-2-2012 and reached goal 2-28-2013.

I spent the first couple months trying to graduate past the stuck feeling because I ate to achieve a certain number of ounces of Protein, even though my sleeve thought otherwise of it.. Lots of slimes and the like. It was the pits and turned me off from eating a bit. After 4 months, I definitely got to know the satisfied feeling. Being satisfied is definitely different from the full feeling. I have learned to eat until satisfied and sometimes this is a little sigh. My body tells me, "ok you could eat more, but you really do not need to". Eating to fullness causes me to do little burps. Eating until satisfied causes me to sigh ever so subtlety. Enough that I can now pick up on it.
Eating to satisfaction makes eating enjoyable again and gives me a real opportunity to focus on the savory flavors from a good dish of food. As an example, I put 6 ounces of chicken pot pie filling in my bowl tonight. After 4 ounces, my satisfaction sigh came and I knew it was time to stop. Guess who got the extra 2 ounces. Yup, my trusty dog sitting next to me waiting for scraps. Now I probably should not have served up 6 ounces, but I justified it because 3 ounces were Protein and 3 were a medley of vegetables. I am probably a slow learner when trying to change eating habits, but knowing to stop when satisfied instead of full is the best one I have learned despite my still-present inability to eat slow enough to last 20 minutes. That will be my next habit I am going to try and master, but fast eating and me go way back...

You have quite a nice fitness plan in place. Super impressed. There is nothing wrong with doing something on your rest day, but keep it light as in active recovery. As others have said, you do need both physical and mental recovery. Even if you feel like you do not need it, lack of rest will catch up with you. Once you become overtrained or have a bout of adrenal fatigue, it takes some time to recover from that. To avoid over training or adrenal fatigue, you might just stick to yoga on that day. I like to do active stretching on my rest day. It is an hour of deliberate stretching from head to toe and it really feels good. I do yoga mid week. The rest of the days in the week are intense lifting or cardio days. The rest days will help you get even better and higher quality lifting and cardio days the rest of the week. Take care.

Brush your teeth if you get hungry. Yeah that worked...not!

From a pragmatic viewpoint, what is the difference between sitting with your feet on a squatty potty and sitting with your feet resting on a pile of books or something else that is the same height? Might as well save 35 dollars.

That is really something that you are doing cross fit post op 3 weeks. Really! Most of us were still figuring out how to walk without getting winded and /or dealing with pain, fatigue, etc. does your doctor approve of this? Regardless, be careful! Exercise, in general, will get much easier by post op 5-6 months. You are way ahead when I started my cross fit journey (month 7 for me) , so it is definitely new territory. Maybe 1-2 days a week for you and heavily modified. Go easy on the weights and intensity of the met cons. I still struggle with days feeling like crap after 3-4 days in a row @ post op 16 months. Just saying. Cross fit is not easy.

Was I an athlete before? A big fat no!
I am a computer guy that writes code all day for the financial industry. My weight has been obese or worse for most of my life (a few short periods when I dropped and then packed it back on again). I did a short stint with cross country running when I was in 8th grade (after my first successful weight loss), but always came in last place. I skipped out on PE most of high school and did orchestra instead.
See a pattern? Lol. I only started on my athletic chops after VSG. It has been a lot of work. However, now I have hope that I can be an athletic guy, a computer guy and a musician.

I am not sure about guiding, but I can be anecdotal about it and tell you about how the progression from surgery to crossfit worked for me.
Before surgery, I did the typical cardio type exercises. You know - an hour on the ellyptical perhaps a few times a week. It was not helping me very much because my eating habits were so out of control. I did zero lifting mainly because it frustrated me and I would stop trying to figure it out.
After surgery, here is the progression:
Month 1-2 : built up from 5 min walks to 3 hour walks 2-3 x a day.
Month 3-4: inconsistent use of ellyptical. 2 x a week if lucky. Still walked a lot, but not as much.
Month 5-7: started running. First run was surprisingly a 28 minute 5 k. I thought this was really cool that I could run. I started out running 5 k for 3 x a week. I worked up to running 3 x a week, but different types of running: for time, HIIT and distance. My running distance averaged around 10 k in about 55 minutes. I did a few really long runs of 10-15 miles, but that is not as appealing to me as running fast.
I hit goal at this point, but lost so much muscle. That is when I decided to make a change from running to something else.
Month 8-14: I started cross fit as a brand new guy. Never really even heard of it before, but I wanted to build muscle and become more athletic. I worked with a trainer 2x a week during these 6 months, learning about the different exercises and different techniques. I also started getting into some Olympic lifting, but most of the sessions were based on metabolic conditioning. On 3 other days during the week, I did body weight workouts using a program called " you are your own gym". I thoroughly enjoyed doing this program.
Month 15-16: I could no longer really afford the personal training so switched to open gym format. I go to the box 5 x a week and try and RX the workout every day. I can do almost every exercise with the exception of double unders, muscle ups and hand stand push ups. I am still working on these for skill and when they show up in a workout, I need to modify and do something like singles, box hand stand pushups and floor muscle ups.
During these last couple months of open gym 5 days a week I have gotten really good at certain exercises and Olympic lifts:
Running: 4:45 minute mile (first in 3 mile set)
Push ups: 50 unbroken
Pull ups: 15 unbroken
Burpees: 50 unbroken
T2B: 25 unbroken
Box jumps (holding 20# ball)
Dead lifts: 350 lb max
Bench press: 295 lb max
Man makers: 30 unbroken with 25 #
Etc
I really like burpees. Not a lot of people like them.
I still cannot do an overhead squat or s n a t c h with weight ( use a PVC pipe). It is on my 6 month plan. I will get it eventually, once my lats and scapula learn how to operate properly. I am currently in physical therapy working on my lat muscles. They are way to tight, even in neutral position.
There is always something to improve athletically every single day. Keep in mind you are a work in progress. You look at all the really good cross fitters and it is a little frustrating to see how in the world you can do what they are doing. It is a bid chasm to cross.
My suggestion is to think of cross fit as a progression. It takes a lot of practice and a lot of dedication to get it to the point where you can do a prescribed workout and not question yourself afterwards because of the difficulty, pain, soreness, etc. It gets better over time.
Always remember to do the following every day:
1. 4-5 g fish oil
2. 8-9 hours of sleep (I struggled with this until recently)
3. 90 oz Water or more
4. Take 2 rest days a week (not doing this will break you eventually)
5. Journal and keep track of your daily progress( I used a site called beyond the whiteboard)
6. Try and eat paleo. Your workouts will be easier if you put good food into your body.
7. Consider some caffeine, creatine and beta-alanine before your workout to improve endurance. Beta-alanine takes a month to load, but will protect you from fatigue both during lifts and metabolic conditioning.
8. Always eat a post op bar or shake.
9. Consider a recovery shake that has BCAA in it. Glutamine is important.
10. Be consistent. Do not cherry pick your workouts. You want to get as wide exposure as you can so only stay home if it is a rest day or you are sick.
Good luck. Hopefully you got something out of my rambling.

Mine has to do with when I used to fiddle around with my musical friends in college. We would busk on the streets of Seattle and even played in a few venues like The Show box. However, we mostly did Irish bars and book stores. I played for part of my college tuition by performing Irish tunes for others. Jammed quite a bit also in late night sessions with pints of Guinness. Yes, those were certainly the days. That was many years ago and music has taken a bit of a back stage place for one reason or another (family, career and more recently, wls / fitness). I hope to open that chapter again in the near future when the interest and time comes back again.

Height: 5'11"
Two months pre surgery(5-19-2012): 360 lb, top: 3x, shorts: 2x, pants: 48
Surgery (7-2-2012): 335 lb
Today (3-11-2013): 176 lb, top: med, shorts: med, pants: 32-34
Love it! Weight will probably climb 5-10 lb as I get muscular. Just starting crossfit to help with that. Main cardio is running 5k-10k 3x a week.