BigViffer

Man, I lived off of jerky for months! I needed the sodium to help bring my BP back up. But alas, I have to agree with everyone else. Sugar has to be lower than that. Sweet Baby Rays uses corn syrup which breaks down quickly and requires more for the same level of sweetness as real sugar or honey. Keep looking, you'll find something you like and is a good jerky. However, I would also like to add one thing. Don't focus on sugar in one meal, more like the entire day. If you only have 20 grams the entire day, who cares if it all came from one or two items? Unless of course you get the dreaded dumping syndrome. Ugh... I had an iced coffee once that made me want to die!

There are three types that hit on me. Men, Silver Sneakers, and recent divorcees. It's always flattering, but it's not always what you are wanting!

I just tried pull-ups again on shoulder day. Pitiful. Just pitiful. I really don't know if I will be able to do it by next February, it's that bad!

As a person that works in advertising and father of two daughters, I found this pretty funny in a satirical way. I always comment on these things to my daughters telling them to how they are trash mags:

Isn't that the truth Ryan! My mesh jacket that I bought last summer was tight. Now it is definitely too big. Back to craigslist...

In all seriousness; that is not only rude, but it's f_cking creepy as hell. I'd have got up in his face to find out what his issue is. Good looking man/woman doesn't excuse it either. When I say I check someone out, it's a simple up and down look and then back to what I was doing. I don't go to the gym to make friends or pick up chicks. Of course, my wife would have my head if I tried to pick up women...

Well I'd sure as hell be checking you out!

Hey guys - I wanted to post an update to this thread. Another NSV for me. The deadlift is a damned hard exercise for several reasons. First off, you are lifting dead weight off the floor. Secondly form is so incredibly important in order to avoid injury. That is paramount to me since my entire weight issue started with an injury. Well I am happy to say that today I set a personal best deadlift record; 185lbs! Back feels good as do my knees. Sure my legs are tired, but there is no pain. I am roughly 25lbs from my deadlift goal of my body weight. I should totally be able to accomplish that by my year two anniversary. Hopefully my pull-up will fall into line soon too!

Ooh! I just thought of another thing! Mascarpone and fresh fruit! Oh man, that is a desert that I would shiv a NUT to get.

Oh, almost forgot... hummus! It was OK before my surgery, now it is almost a daily part of my diet. Beans are really good for you.

I think your NUT is crazy. Ice cream, milkshakes & the like are slider foods and completely empty calories. Fat & sugar will either upset your stomach at best or cause dumping & sliming at worse. Soft cheeses, cottage cheese, Peanut Butter, and greek yogurt are a much better choice. Instead of the 0% greek yogurt, go for the regular. Hell, have some guacamole, it's loaded with good fats. Drink whole milk for your Fluid intake. Just do your best on getting quality calories, not just hitting the number. It will come in time.

The swing arm on a motorcycle is what hold the rear suspension and rear wheel on the bike. Honda was the first to put it into production on a sportbikes. Ducati soon followed then Triumph. BMW did have one in the late 70's/early 80's on a UJM, but it was plagued with failures. Traditional swingarms go on both sides of the wheel and an axle runs between them. If you look at the rear wheel of my picture, you will see that it has 5 lug nuts like a car wheel. The Triumph and Ducat's have a single nut. In racing, a single sided swingarm allows for faster tire changes.

Pfft! That's a bunch of bunk and I can prove it. What hurts more; childbirth or a kick in the nuts? Women will almost universally scoff and say that the birthing process obviously hurts more. But whens the last time you heard a man say to anyone, " I want another kick in the balls"?!

I love the sound a triple makes! And the single sided swingarm is just sexy.

I put this in the Guy's Room only because I don't think the women will care. I finally got to ride my motorcycle today for about 3 hours instead of just down the road and back. I have a 2010 VFR1200 sport touring bike. Don't let that touring part fool you, a VFR is not an "old man's" bike: Anyway... This bike has 170 hp and 100 ft/lbs of torque. Do you know what that feels like when you take off? It feels like someone is trying to push you off the bike. Now imagine that you weigh 120lbs less than when you bought the bike! Now it feels like someone is trying to pull my arms out of my shoulders! But seriously guys, riding the bike is so much easier now than it was just last year. When you aren't trying to force 330lbs through a sharp corner things are a lot less scary. First of all, your tires have better traction. Second, it's like going from 2-up riding back to 1-up. Can't wait to start racking up the miles this year! Oh, and if you ride - post a pic. Doesn't matter what you ride as long as your knees are in the breeze.

Inner Surfer nailed it, it's more discomfort than pain. Remember the time you overworked your abs? That's what your in for, but it will last about a week instead of a day or so. Now, as for the muscle loss. Yup, you're going to lose some. Just putting that out there without mincing words. You are going to be getting so few calories and hardly any Protein in the beginning, so your body is going to go after the protein in your muscle tissue to get what it needs. Plus you are going to be weak as a kitten until you can ingest enough calories to burn as fuel. This is all normal. Don't fight it, just work on laying the groundwork for a healthier lifestyle. In the beginning (6 months) I wouldn't try to do any heavy lifting. Not because of the reasons above, but you are not going to be getting enough protein in to heal everything AND build muscle. You can only do one thing at a time. Once you are able to hit your surgeons protein goal on a regular basis, then you can start trying to build. I used to lift heavy all the time, until I injured so much crap that it sidelined me and I started packing on the pounds because I still ate like a fool. You will be able to get back all the muscle you will lose and then some even when eating proper amounts. I don't like to brag (but I'm going to); I have been lifting conservatively for a year and I am making better progress than before. Feel free to look at my gallery or over in the Male Before & After thread for others.

Oh my... Is it getting hot in here or is it just @@KSTUZ?! Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

Dammit Dub, you basically took the words right out of my mouth. As a long time sufferer of white-man-assitis, I have long ago learned to accept the lack of @ss. HOWEVER; have any of you guys noticed that your tailbone sometimes feels as though it trying to poke through your backside? I bet these would take care of that!

Soon Dub... soon, and before you know it it'll be here. 500?! DAMN! lol, my shoulder came apart at 250, I can't imagine what would happen at 500! I cannot stress enough, take care of that shoulder! I wish I could put into words the excruciating pain that recovery was. I like to think of myself as a man with a high threshold for pain. During the 8 week recovery, I was stoned off my ass for the first 4. Seriously, barely remember anything except for the pain and how much coffee I drank to try and clear some of the haze from my foggy head.

I had some minor complications after my surgery, but I went back to the gym at about 6 weeks. It was pitiful. I was getting maybe 400 calories a day. I was literally curling 15 lbs and getting exhausted. I was a winded mess after 10 minutes. But I stuck with it. I am fortunate that the people that work at the gym I go to are very encouraging and every day that I came back they applauded my effort. Hell, the weight coach wanted me to do an interview on my transformation, but I told him I just wasn't comfortable with that. Sorry, I am rambling; my point is this. You are going to be weak. You will be shaky too. Just be aware that you won't be the beast in the gym just yet. Slow and steady is what will win this race. You are not training for a competition, you are establishing lifestyle habits. There is a difference! Don't try and get huge muscle gains, just get healthy! My first year goal was to reach weight loss goal. I never made one for a bench or squat or anything. My year two goal is to be able to do 1 honest to god pull-up. I have never done one in my life. Not even as a kid. I think that would be the biggest accomplishment with the most meaning to me!

I think the venerable Betty White said it best:

Don't know the show nor the actors, but I guess she is talking about a dick sizing competition. Why do we do it? I'd like to say it has something to do with mens natural competitive nature, but honestly it's because generally speaking are childish and insecure. " I've got a bigger dick so I can satisfy a woman better than you" kind of stupid shit. Or perhaps she is talking about manliness in the machismo term. Tough SOB's that work hard and embody what men perceive as "mans man". E.G. Clint Eastwood, Jack Palance... Those are more like role models or personal heroes. I don't see a problem in that personally. Looking up to a person who embodies qualities you wished were more prevalent in yourself or society in general.

Mine was pretty quick, from seminar to surgery was only 3 months. I didn't have the 6 month supervised diet because my GP was already tracking it for another reason. Plus I was already suffering from several bulging discs and 2 herniated discs. I was originally trying for back surgery, but that surgeon said he wouldn't touch me until I lost 100 lbs. Insurance approved the WLS because it was far cheaper than back surgery I bet.

There you go, going full beast mode! Take care of that rotator cuff; believe me, surgery on that is painful.

@@BigTink2LilTink - time for you to check in too! How goes the weight lifting?