BigViffer

@@AnAnole - holy sh¡t dude... Your surgery date was in April of 2015 and you look like that now? Man, I thought I was dedicated but you put me to shame! I started at 330 and my lowest weight was 198 and now fluctuating 200-205. I have a metric fück-ton of skin hanging off where my moobs used to be and my belly. You seem to have been spared that indignation. Walk tall dude, you are kicking ass.

... Civil War...

@@Chrystee - go team Cap! Delt's are looking good as are your traps. Keep up the good work.

Oh! You meant ramen POWDER! The seasoning packet! I thought there was a protein product called ramen power. Nevermind. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

I cannot find this online, would you post a link? Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

I'm surprised no one has replied to this post as of yet. My weightlifting in the beginning was to maintain muscle mass to aid in the fat burning. I would say that around January of this year is when I started making strength my goal. My goals are realistic though, I am not trying to gain inches on my arm circumference or anything. My goal is body weight everywhere. Lift my body weight off the floor, 10 pull-ups in a row, squat my body weight... you get the idea. What has given my the best results is not to focus on a deadline. That's not always the best, but for me it works. Last time I injured myself it was because I was trying to make too big of gains too quickly. As long as I can say I did my best that day, I call it a good day. Last time I was at my surgeons office, I was at 17-20% body fat. That's right where he wanted me. He said I was getting down to essential fat and didn't want me to go much lower. Honestly though, I don't think fat is my issue, it's the excess skin!

Rome wasn't built in a day! You are only 4 months out, it is going to take time man. Here is a thread very similar to yours with some good information! http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/370974-post-sleeve-working-out/ In a nutshell, don't look for shortcuts, establish good habits, and make it a long term goal.

Oh man, the hot and sour one was a life saver after surgery! The cajun one is awful though. Remember, these are meant to be used in cooking, not as a stand alone Soup. So they are very concentrated and suer intense flavor. Cut it in half with Water to save your blood pressure! There is also an Italian wedding soup one, meh... pass on it it. Actually, now that I think about it I believe the only one I liked was the hot and sour soup broth. YMMV.

I hate to be the one to go against the grain, but I personally do not like trainers. In my experience trainers in gyms like Gold's or Planet Fitness and etc... will do the bare minimum to keep you paying for their services. All of the ones I have had dealings with wanted to show my the latest exercise fad or the "quick way" to get ripped or burn fat... they are fitness marketers. I was told how to do so many exercises improperly and told so many outright stupid things in the beginning because of my belief that my trainers knew what they were talking about. Half of my injuries are my own fault, but I do blame the rest of the bad information I was given from trainers. A sports physical therapist however is all about safely strengthening. If you can get an appointment with them, you'll be getting some good information. And depending on your insurance, it might be covered! Now, as for getting into the weight room and building muscle, we all have to start somewhere. If you see anyone with judgmental looks, you know to never take their advice because they are there for the wrong reasons. Those are the ones that are there for posing; trying to look hardcore or there for selfies... ugh, hate those douchebags. More often than not, after a few weeks of seeing the same people, I find the true vets will come up and sometimes give advice or talk. I'd take whatever they would give me and verify it online or with my doctor before trying it. Or I just wouldn't try it because it didn't fit into my goals. Oh, and I would like to mention that when I started back at the gym after surgery, I was the guy with the ridiculously low weights and being completely exhausted after 20 minutes of "working out". You just have to stick to it. Show your determination and leave your ego in the locker room. Bringing ego or machismo into the weight room is a recipe for injury. If you want, you can look at a couple of the threads I have on here about my routine. I am obsessed with avoiding injury, so it should be pretty safe. But always, ALWAYS, verify with your doctor, internet, or therapist before starting.

Had a good gym day today. Snapped a pic and impressed even myself! Don't let anyone ever say you can't build muscle on a bariatric diet!

Latest picture update. I don't think I am gaining any size, but maybe some definition. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

Thought I would update my current picture with one from the gym today. Here is me at my heaviest, around 330. Today was chest day and there was a moment with no one around so I sneaked a picture. Maintaining at around 200. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

I've discovered another wonderful side effect of taking two weeks off weight lifting. Soreness. Extreme and seemingly widespread soreness!

The gym I belong to recently remodeled the weight room so I thought it an appropriate time to focus on cardio. The remodel was scheduled to take 2 weeks, so I figured I would dedicate myself to hitting the elliptical with a vengeance. The weight room was done early, but I kept my promise to myself and stuck to the cardio for the entire time. This gave my entire body time to "rest" from the weights, but I have to admit that it was damned hard to stick to it since I really don't like cardio. As a result of my experiment, I can squeeze into a medium shirt comfortably now. But as a headscratcher, I have gained 4 lbs since I last weigh-in (3 weeks ago). My pants are also down to 34's, so I don't think that it is weight gain from lack of exercise or a BM waiting to happen. Today was my first day back to the weights and it was leg day. I am not a fan of leg day, but I know it is necessity. I am happy to say that I have finally made some gains on my squat, 155 lbs! Just two months ago, I could only do 115 and now through perseverance I am making some gains. I am only 45 lbs away from my goal of body weight. Well, almost... it will depend on how much muscle I gain in the coming months. Everything else appears to have stayed the same, deadlift is still a working set of 185 with a max lift of 200. I am curious how my chest and arm days will turn out later this week. I'll have to report back then.

I have this too. I am betting the one you are talking about is the incision they used to remove the excess stomach. I also had a hematoma that formed and then burst, so my scar is easily twice the size of the other incisions and sinks in about a half inch. I am 17 months post surgery, so yeah... it's a forever kind of thing. But honestly, with all of the stretch marks and other scars I have, no one has commented on it yet. It's clearly visible too.

I knew that @@4MRB4PHOTO - I was just poking you. The only time I ever see that sticker is on Subaru's and thought it a funny comment. No offence meant. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

@@4MRB4PHOTO - oh god, you probably drive a Subaru too, am I right?

Before this turns into a pissing match - let them drink. It has been said time and time again all the reasons why drinking is dangerous post surgery. If anyone wants to risk bleeds, ulcers, new addictions, or whatever; it's their life. If nothing bad happens to them, cool for them, live it up and party on dude. Conversely, if complications or something serious happens don't console them or support them. Let them wallow in their failure.

Break a stall? I don't think so. Break a sweat, maybe!

Of course I like it! Hell, I usually have to pay for it...

Not true! There are plenty of body weight exercise you can do right at home. There is also the option of band training. Don't discount it so readily, I can still break a sweat from both of those activities.

I know it sounds odd, but soon you will yearn for the days of loose or watery BM's. Once you get further out it's going to feel like passing a pineapple. Start buy benefiber. If you are having loose stool it will bind it together. If you are constipated it will soften it. After a year, I switched to bran Cereal twice a week, but even then I still have to use the benefiber every once in a while.

I don't think I saw it mentioned, but one way I know for sure to increase your appetite is to increase your activity. I don't mean going for walks or bicycling though. Go to the gym and do some weights. Strength training too, not feather weights with the false belief of "toning". Many times women worry the they will bulk up if the lift heavy things. The only way that will happen is if you start supplementing. However, if you start doing heavy weight training, you body will be screaming for sustenance. The key here though is to find those Protein dense foods. Whole milk and cheese of course being a great choice. Best of luck to you!

Oh god no! I remember thinking that unflavored whey was going to be the only way I was going to be able to eat Protein powder. They are all awful. I never found a single one that was tasteless. Though to their credit, they don't advertise tasteless; they advertise they don't add anything to cover up the nasty-ass plain whey! If you absolutely must use unflavored then you will want to add some vanilla extract or Torani syrup to the batter. Man, I just shuddered with revulsion at the thought of an unflavored whey pancake!