gmanbat

I take it more as rating the work you have done on your profile. Some folks never make any improvements which is OK if that floats your boat. I am not concerned about retaining my 5 star rating anymore so I discontinued the free toaster give away.

Wow, Sami, big congratulations to you!!!!! I understand the grandkid motivation. I went from poor old grandpa that had to be pushed in a chair around the theme parks and could not fit on a roller coaster seat to fast walking, live-wire grampa who rides everything and gets to see the smiles on their faces and hear their laughter because of it. Doing is better than watching, outside is better than inside, having fun is better than witnessing fun.

Your program looks good to me. I would just tell you that I gained many times through my overall decline into goal weight. It was like... lose,same,same, gain, same, lose, lose,same, same ,same, gain, lose,lose...etc.. Eventually the losing overcame the saming and gaining. I am sure some others will have helpful advice. You are not destined to be fat. The picture you have in your mind for yourself is attainable and IS your destiny. You have a powerful tool, science is on your side. How are your clothes fitting? I have been stalled at around 220 for months now and amazingly my clothes still keep getting too big. At times I gain up to 3 pounds and then go down again. I have kicked in a muscle-building program and I am not suprised. For it's weight muscle is more dense and therefore takes up less space than an equal weight of fat. My composition is changing. Yours will too.

Some folks might argue that exercise addiction is a good addiction but I think it can become a problem. In the past I have been obsessed with it and ran down my health due to over training. Also, anything obsessed about takes it's energy from some other part of your life, things in your life that need to be at a higher priority. God, family, work, health, all need your attention. As previously stated, I limit myself to 40 minutes, 3 times a week. I am somewhat flexible but that is my default. Add to that occasional times of research and pondering what to do and that is my program. I have had gym memberships in the past but found that the time spent travelling to and preparing for the gym was better spent just exercising.The results I can get at home compare to the ones that the gym affords me. In this equation is the factor that I am 64, have been through cancer treatment, and must conserve my life forces.

I do think about exercise quite a bit. I don't go to a gym, I do everything at home. I give myself 40 minutes at least 3 times a week to implement an effective strategy to get in optimal shape. My philosphy is exercise smart over exercise long. No running down my health by overtraining which I have done in the past. This is for the rest of my life. I have a combination of aerobic and strength/muscle building exercises. I change them around and am open to new things that I determine would be effective. I build my eating and supplement program around my physical training. My biggest struggle right now is getting sleep. I am doing animal packs on workout days and it seems to be helping.

Interesting. Is there any scientific explanation or is it all anecdotal?

My grandfather was like my scale. He said whatever he thought was true with neither a malicious motive or sensitivity to any one's feelings. However, I loved my grandfather, I hate my scale.

That is a VERY good link! I am putting it in my signature. It lines out very clearly who should and shouldn't get the surgery. Good find, NSquared!!!

I have Xanax as well and it does help sleep. I find that if something, (or someone , **plants vs zombies playing wife** ), wakes me up I have a hard time getting back to sleep no matter what I had taken. I try to save the Xanax for visits from annoying relatives.

I was never addicted to diet coke but was addicted to drugs and smoking earlier in my life. All I can tell you is to identify it as your enemy and face it down. I got help from God. We won.

Yes, the catheter seems to come with the operation. I have had many in my life due to urinary infections and prostate cancer. The one with the sleeve operation was relatively easy to deal with. For a guy, though, it is less than dignified having a tube driven the wrong way up your one way street. And why is there always a cute nurse doing the honors?

Count me in to the owl club. My remedies include magnesium tablets(chewed up), b6, a pain killer of some kind, and melatonin. I have always had trouble with sleeping so I can't blame it entirely on the sleeve. It seemed to get worse years ago when I worked 3rd shift followed by another job back to back with it on 1rst shift; my workaholic days. Also living in South Africa for 6 months played into it . My sleep clock is messed up, I normally take a nap around 2 in the afternoon. I have tried to stay awake during that time and reset it but have not been successful thus far.

I snucked in when moderator OTR was taking yet another pee break.

Cheater? The last time I checked, life is not a board game. Ask her for a copy of the rules and ask her to highlight the one about weight loss surgery.

Sorry I didn't make the connection. You look great! Climbing up those ladders looks a bit strenuous but the extra 75 would have made them quite tough. My gosh, every time I see New Zealand I want to save my pennies and go there. What a gorgeous country! I also love those accents, they seem musical to me.

Congratulations! By the way, what does the MSN census video link have to do with it?

C'mon in, mini-mee, they let me in. I stay close to the back door though, in case things get hairy.

Some day you will feel like a skinny pepper!

I am over a year out and still sense a bit of tenderness in the belly area. I exercise a lot but lay off of over stressing the abdomen. The fat is coming off of my stomache area anyway, working the legs, back and chest gets most of it off....and eating right of course.

Ease slowly into a combination of cardio and strength training. You need to build muscles, they are 24/7 calorie burners. I do High Intensity Interval Training, (HIIT), calesthetics - (push ups, knee bends with weights), bodyblade, kettlebell, and stretchy bands. I like to change up a lot, do different combinations, never let my body adjust. I consider myself to be in life long athletic training. I will quit when my heart stops beating for at least 10 minutes. My workouts seldom go beyond 40 minutes and occur generally 3 times a week.

I am proud of you, too!

I am sorry for your loss. My prayers are with you.

Ya got that right. The sleeve can re-spell steak into stake.

I just had some really good coffee....... :wub: ...................................I love you guys!!!

I try to remind myself that this is a website forum, not a physical neighborhood of transients that come in demanding personal attention. My neighbors here in Florida can come knocking on my door at any time and reek havoc on my personal life. Happily, they are a pleasant, keep to themselves bunch. I can drop in and out of this cyber neighborhood anytime. The PMers can be dealt with or ignored. Because they PMed me doesn't mean I have to answer even though I have so far to all of them. I have the power. My sign of burn out becomes self evident when I see the post titles and want to make a wise guy answer. Then a little voice in me says,"Have some class! These people are hurting and need help and don't need you to entertain yourself at their expense!." Peoples is peoples. They know about searches, won't do them. They want to get special treatment, they demand it. They spell badly to the point of near unintelligibility, get offended easily, won't listen to doctors, do their own thing and blame it on the operation. Some of these things they can help, some they can't. Those of you who deal with the public in general know that this is the level of our world. The forum reflects what we live in. The world is not a Mensa club. I am grateful for the help and kindness shown to me here. I will help as long as I can without running myself ragged and sinking down into grumpiness and my responses reflecting that decline.