BigViffer

Holy smokes @redhead_che! You look fantastic!

Jiminy Christmas... Punishing! I'll stick to my weights! Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

It should be a crime to look that good with macros like that! Congrats on the finish, that sounds like one hell of a grueling run to me.

It's completely safe and will not cause leaks. It's crap for protein though. Quoting myself here because I don't feel like typing it out again:

It could be a factor, but I wouldn't classify it as significant. Lost at sea or lost in the desert for a week would be significant enough duress to cause a catabolic state severe enough to begin eating away at muscle.

The only time that your body is in a true cannibalistic catabolic state is during times of duress and starvation. The body will always go for carbohydrates, recently eaten food, then fat stores, and as a last resort - muscle tissue for the energy requirements. While the muscles may be smaller, that does not mean that you have lost muscle tissue, they may just be lax from lack of environmental stress (the definitive term, not eh emotional state). "Pretty" muscles are just swollen from the increase water retention. That is why you always look bigger after a workout session. True long lasting muscle mass increases are not as apparent. High rep/low weight workouts are good for muscle tissue to split and tear that will heal looking larger, but they will not be inherently stronger. If you are wanting to look better -and there is nothing wrong with that- then just do a tone of reps (volume). If you want real strength, lift heavy for 3 sets of 5 reps after appropriate warm-ups. I'll not get into routines nor training sessions as most people just don't take it as serious as I, or they already have themselves convinced they already know the best way to accomplish both at the same time on a severely limited caloric intake. One other thing to remember, your protein requirements are based on lean body mass, not body weight. If you weigh 200 lbs, you do not need 200 grams of protein. That is counting bone and organs as well.

I'm over 3 years out and this is still an issue for me. I got off my BP meds two weeks post-op and in a weird twist of fate, after 20 years of avoiding sodium, I now have my doctor telling me to increase my sodium levels. I actually have a salt shaker at my desk at work. Something you may want to talk to your doctor about.

I don't remember when I started going back to the really hot stuff, but by 6 months I could handle ghost peppers heat. HOWEVER - I don't enjoy it like I used to. Honestly, they taste... different. "Off" even. It's kind of like when I tasted biscuits and gravy for the first time post-op. Biscuits & gravy was my favorite meal. It was what I would have for dinner on my birthday, it was my "last meal" before surgery. One very small bite a year and 4 months post op and I spat it out. Haven't had it since and really don't miss it. So much of our palate changes post op, don't be surprised if you no longer like the flavor of many of the peppers. I find I like the milder and sweeter habanero peppers now and I never cared for them before. I always preferred the smokiness of ghost.

I am fortunate enough to have access to a certified Starting Strength coach about 45 minutes away. She believes that my diet and injuries contribute to the lack of progress. I am finally coming around to believing her. Well I would say that cinches it, it has taken me years to get to 245-ish on squat. In regards to squat form, get that nailed down before going up in weight. As a matter of fact, you should drop that weight down until you can go below parallel. You are going to hurt your knees and probably your lumbar spine. Find the Starting Strength 3rd edition and read it cover to cover. Amazing book. If you are wanting raw strength, seriously consider doing 5 reps for 3 sets after a warmup. Drop sets good for size, but for strength, titration to a working set weight is superior. I know I shouldn't complain and whine about these weights, pro-op my left leg was virtually dead. I couldn't even pick it up to climb the stairs. But I guess that is the nature of the male ego.

Oh... if you are going to be serious about squats and deads, get a belt. A real leather belt, not velcro. Then weightlifting shoes. Stability is muy importante.

I am interested in how your squat & deadlift numbers progress. I have no one to talk to about those specific lifts that has had gastric surgery. I am stuck and I want to know if it is from the restricted caloric intake or the lifetime of injuries that is preventing my increases. 250 squat and 260 deadlift are my 5 rep max. And that is after 2 years of lifting. I cannot put into words how frustrating that is.

lol, no... Mitosis is cellular division. I was jokingly saying that you were going to divide in two. Sorry, nerd humor.

A cheese craving means that your body is craving fat and protein. Obviously you are preparing for mitosis.

To piggyback on Matt, protein isolates are more "refined" hence will dissolve quicker/easier. I have no experience with isolates other than whey, but they should work the same. I don't do shakes, I mostly cook with my powders and isolates texture is "wrong" to my palate.

There is a difference between unflavored and flavorless. Unflavored only means that there is no flavoring added to cover the natural flavor of whatever protein they are selling. Flavorless is just about unobtainable unless you look at Genepro which is snakeoil. Totally worthless BS from an unreputable company. But it mixes well and has no flavor, so many people buy it.

TInk in the power rack with a belt?! Are you squating?! Good to see you again my friend!

Another variable to consider; how has your personality changed when dealing with other people? Maybe the people that are more willing to interact with you now are the very ones you shied away from before. Maybe the people who are short with you or reticent to engage in conversation no longer see you as weak or vulnerable to their manipulations? All relationships will change as a result of success. If you have a strong and healthy relationship with someone, more often than not, that relationship will get stronger. If a relationship is completely one-sided and only beneficial to one, that relationship will more than likely dissolve. Confidence is kinda like MSG, it intensifies the existing flavor of relationships.

This is really going to depend on what your end goal. Are you wanting to get as strong as you can or just be more physically fit and look good? There is nothing wrong with either goal, but the ways to get there are very different in their training and programming. Let me clarify that wanting to be "strong as you can" doesn't mean becoming an elite power lifter. I've been doing the main lifts for over 2 years and I am still considered a novice because of my paltry weights. Too many injuries make it improbable that I will move much higher.

Sure we meal prep, but the food I pack for work doesn't always get eaten. Or I just can't finish everything I packed. To me it works best if I measure/weigh before eating and the weigh after and log the difference if I don't finish. Inversely, I have spare snacks in case I eat everything and yet am still hungry. If I only logged once a day, I would most likely forget those things completely.

I don't see how logging food before you've eaten it works for anyone. Even this far out, I cannot say what I am going to eat for the entire day. When it comes to the godawful imperial measuring system (cups of spinach, or 1/4 of pork rinds) I always switch my scale to grams. The problem with the imperial system is many people/labels say 2 ounces (weight) instead of quarter cup when they are referencing fluid ounces (volume) . The metric system avoids that confusion with grams for weight and milliliters for volume. I am meticulous with my tracking and have been for quite a while. I find it a valuable tool to prevent me from overeating. It also helps me determine if the hunger is real or just in my head. If I am already at 2,000 calories for the day, it is most likely head hunger. However, if I have been exceedingly active that day, it would make sense that I am truly hungry and need the sustenance. The free version of MyFitnessPal is still pretty darn powerful if you are handy with spreadsheets. I just use their report and scrape the data from the HTML and enter it into my spreadsheet: Those pictures are from last year, but the file is the same today but with more data.

Actually, it is impossible to create new muscle tissue when you are eating fewer calories than your body burns. It's kind of a law. (Conservation of mass). If your BMR is 1500 calories and you can only eat 1000 calories, you absolutely cannot create new muscle tissue. Now you may be able to have the existing muscle tissue live up to it's potential, increase in size comes from blood and water engorging the tissue. As the muscle is worked, it can hold more. In the case of building new tissue, the above happens as well, but now you literally have more muscle fibers that are holding more blood and water. @Biggamehunter - perhaps the forum members suggest you get help because you are so angry and taking it out on strangers on the internet? I don't see this as a your side/their side situation. I have no bias one way or the other. I'm just here to answer a question. If you want help from these people, you need to be more personable. You are not endearing enough to make anyone want to help, only argue. Hope you and your wife can come to a consensus on what to do next.

To be clear though, I am a sleeve patient. There will be some differences in the amounts of food that can be eaten at one time. However, it has been proven that bypass patients can indeed lift weights successfully. The most famous example I can think of is Lyss Remaly: http://fabulyssfitlife.com To be fair to the OP though, the first year post op it is next to impossible to build muscle because of the lack of caloric surplus that is necessary to build new muscle. There will be atrophy and loss in size as the body breaks down muscle for the proteins needed for it to function. If she were lifting weights currently, she would be able to stave off some loss of size, but she would also be increasing the protein requirements thus breaking down more muscle, etcetera etc.. To the OP, give her time. 10 months is not that long. As long as she is having regular checkups with her surgeon and/or her primary physician to monitor her health, she will be fine.

Ewww... the stupid store changed my word fluid to a link to a beverage! Gross! That's the problem with tampering with member posts to push your crap products based on keywords. Context is everything!

Based on the thread title I was going to ask if you were diabetic or had really high blood pressure. When you said that you had to have an insulin shot, that pretty much cinched it. If it last any longer, I would recommend going to an opthamologist. The inner eye pressure can change the focal point in our eye to fall before or after the retina. In a severe case that a insulin dependent friend of mine had, they had to drain some fluid from the eye ball with a needle. Sickening thought!

Actually, that's about the best thing that can be said about it. Collagen/gellatin is about the most common protein there is, it's an incomplete protein that has a poor amino acid profile. Basically all of the amino acids that are at a surplus in your body already. The only difference between the expensive collagen protein powders and Jell-O (aside from flavors) is that the proteins have been processed further to break them down into smaller particles. Oh, and collagen won't gel. Nutritionally speaking, same thing. If you look on a box of Jell-O, it states that the FDA does not consider it a significant source of protein because of the low quality of the protein. However, since collagen is being sold as a supplement, it does not get regulated by the FDA. I know, I was upset too after buy turmeric bone broth powder to use in cooking. That stuff wasn't cheap! Tasted good though. Be aware that all of these benefits are so new they are mostly marketing speak. There was a time that cigarettes were toted as healthy! https://www.healthcare-administration-degree.net/10-evil-vintage-cigarette-ads-promising-better-health/