BigViffer

Bulking up in general, whether male or female is hard unless you have a substantial caloric surplus. Lift heavy for few reps for strength or light for high reps for definition, either way bulking is hard to do.

Had a moment in the gym changing room where no one was around, so I thought I'd take an updated picture for this thread:



Today was arm day and I was completely spent by this time. Guys, quick tip - when you think you are done, bust out the bands and go as fast as you can for as long as you can. That's how you finish a workout!

Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

dude, you totally forgot your duckface.

If Salad Dressing is your main concern, try your hand at making your own. I'll take fage greek yogut and flavor it with any marinade I think would go well with the salad I am eating. The marinades have very little in the way of calories because they use no thickeners.They are mostly spices and vinegar. The yogurt takes the place of the thickeners and mayo base.
You can also make your own ranch dressing mix and blend it into plain yogurt. It's mostly buttermilk powder, garlic, dill, parsley and a few other things. There are tons of recipes online for yogurt based dressings.

Iceberg lettuce literally has so little nutritional value that it is a waste of space. They only time that eating it is a good idea is when you are constipated. For some reason, iceberg lettuce goes through most of us like fat through a goose.
If you really miss salads, learn to love kale, spinach and other dark hearty greens. Even then they will be in very small portions. They are very fibrous and can be difficult to digest in the beginning. But they are at least nutritionally dense and worth the space they take up.

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.

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.

When I read your original post, the thing that occurred to me is not hunger or calorie snacking, but rather an oral fixation. When you mentioned boredom, that pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. It's kind of like what smokers have issues with. The ritualized habit of it, not necessarily the chemical addiction.
Without trying to speak in entendres, you need to find something else to do with your mouth. Honestly, I'm not trying to sound pervy. Give this a shot - buy some cherries still on the stem. When you want candy, pop an entire cherry in your mouth and remove the pit with your teeth and tongue. Eat the flesh of the fruit and spit out the pit. Then try to tie the stem into a knot with just your teeth and tongue.
In the beginning it will take forever! But it gives you something to focus on, it's a sweet like a piece of candy, and it has nutritional benefits. Win all the way around.

From 275 to 141 🥳🙌🏼😄

I know this is an old thread. But I have a Ducati multi 1260. 158 hp. I am pretty stoked to see what it feels like.... I havent riden this year since I started this process. Gonna be fun when I get back on.

I have been taking dicoflenec (generic Voltaren) for at least 10 years. I just take an omeprasole (sp?) once every other day. My surgeon was aware of it and totally cool with it. Over 5 years out and I just have regular appointments with my PCP. The thing about dicoflenec though is that it does not play nice with tylenol, aspirin, cold medicine, heart medicine... you get the idea. It is only available via prescription because of the interactions. I take it for my arthritis and it is nothing short of a miracle drug in my opinion.

I have been taking dicoflenec (generic Voltaren) for at least 10 years. I just take an omeprasole (sp?) once every other day. My surgeon was aware of it and totally cool with it. Over 5 years out and I just have regular appointments with my PCP. The thing about dicoflenec though is that it does not play nice with tylenol, aspirin, cold medicine, heart medicine... you get the idea. It is only available via prescription because of the interactions. I take it for my arthritis and it is nothing short of a miracle drug in my opinion.

Since I am at least a pot & a half a day drinker of coffee, and a 5 year vet, I have some experience.
When talking coffee, we all say coffee but we don't all mean the same thing. Coffee to me is regular coffee with cream. My uncle says coffee and it means black. My coworker says coffee and it is this whipped cream covered sundae in a huge cup with enough sugar to kill a diabetic.
The first thing to debunk is that coffee is diuretic. Caffeine is diuretic yes, but the amount of liquid present in a cup of coffee is more than enough to offset that. It will not dehydrate you.
When coffee is said to be acidic, that is actually in reference to the flavor; not the pH level. Our own saliva is more acidic than coffee and our stomach is far more acidic than that. And our stomach is producing hydrochloric acid all the time. Like, as soon as they close the stomach acid is back in production.
https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-deal-with-acid-in-coffee-224482
The only things to truly be cognizant of is that caffeine, regardless of its source, attaches to the same receptors that Vitamin D and Calcium bond to. So if you take supplements for those, don't take them with coffee. The other thing is that coffee can stimulate the bowels. Some people have always been like this, a good strong cup can send me to the bathroom relatively quick. That was before surgery and still happens today. Some people never had that issue before and now they do. It's not uncommon.

So I’ve been trying to get pictures every month to allow ME see the progress. I was sleeved 1/7/20. LOOK!

Look at those deltoids! Kick ass man.

I've been hitting the gym hard and I love my progress so far

I actually find all the reaction pretty funny. Don't get me wrong, I personally cannot handle tripe, the texture literally causes a gag relflex. My mother in law chuckles every time she talks me into trying it again.
However, if you really think about it, every country has delicacies, comfort foods, or Snacks that the other countries consider repugnant. Caviar? Who in their right mind would ever look at that and actually want to eat it? Foie gras? Sick SOB's to eat that morally or based on flavor. Fried chicken livers? (I personally love them!) Gross!
Tripe and a lot of the so called sweatbreads (internal organs) were long considered peasant foods. Now they are considered trendy. Tripe is a source of complete Protein and is low in fat. While I find the idea of eating or drinkings a puree of it, nutritionally it sounds like a winner. By this time (3 weeks post op according @Raquel M. info) it should be fine. But of course, the last word must come from her surgeon.

How many times have I seen this written on an internet board? Countless times. 😕
Wishing you all the success you want though.

Hi gang, just wanted to jump in with my "maintenance" experience. I'm 10 yrs post in June. I hit my main lowest weight about 6mths post surgery and stayed close to there for the best part of the first 8 years. (I lost a bit after a break up, but I don't really count that!) I never went well under my goal so never had the conundrum some of you do of having to actively eat more to maintain, so I'm zero help there.
However, I have gained recently (7kg total, I think that's about 16lb). Mostly the last six months, but up and down a bit the last year. I'm still not overweight, but I don't fit my clothes at all and that is an expensive nightmare you want to avoid!
Anyway, I have hindsight and so have these points to share (which like all of this will hit home for some of you and be totally off for everyone else!):
obvious, but bears repeating: try your best not to regain, it's a **** trying to lose it again (especially if, like me, you gain over 1000cal a day!) if you were ever a snacker, don't use extra meals or Snacks to up your calories - eating too frequently has been my main downfall (procrastin-eating) don't push the boundaries of the guidlelines around bulky carbs/slider foods/larger meals etc to "just try them to see if you can". You'll be able to eat much more of them than you think and it's a slippery slope. Just stick to the rules which got you to goal. I had two points where my capacity to eat bigger serves changed, first around 2 years and then another jump at about 6/7, so please re-read #3! For those of you who feel a bit underweight and wanting to increase a bit, I'd suggest two options to avoid messing up your achievements long term. First option, don't do anything and leave it to the inevitable portion creep which will happen in a year or so. And don'y buy too many tiny clothes in the meantime ;) ; secondly, add a fatty cheat day/meal so the rest of your good habits are unchanged (I say fatty because sugary I think would be harder to keep in check). This option obviously means you'd need to be the sort to keep control of that, but it works for lots of people.
Sorry for the novel - hope it's helpful, ask me anything :)

For me personally, Boston Stoker coffee always seem to go right through me. I can't even finish my second cup before I have to head to the bathroom. Doesn't matter the flavor or roast, but definitely the brand. That is the only coffee I tend to avoid for physical reasons. I don't like Starbucks anything since they use Sumatran Beans and they just have too much of an earthy flavor. I prefer the "fruity" beans like real kona. Dunkin Donuts coffee is a great bean in my opinion and it is available reasonably priced at any grocery store around here. Maxwell House is too astringent to me, but Folgers is a fine everyday coffee IMO.
As for the caffeine levels, I honestly don't pay attention to it since it doesn't appear to be a problem for me. I take my regular supplements with Water after I am done with coffee in the morning around 10:30. I'm back to coffee by 4 though until about 7 or 8.

Since I am at least a pot & a half a day drinker of coffee, and a 5 year vet, I have some experience.
When talking coffee, we all say coffee but we don't all mean the same thing. Coffee to me is regular coffee with cream. My uncle says coffee and it means black. My coworker says coffee and it is this whipped cream covered sundae in a huge cup with enough sugar to kill a diabetic.
The first thing to debunk is that coffee is diuretic. Caffeine is diuretic yes, but the amount of liquid present in a cup of coffee is more than enough to offset that. It will not dehydrate you.
When coffee is said to be acidic, that is actually in reference to the flavor; not the pH level. Our own saliva is more acidic than coffee and our stomach is far more acidic than that. And our stomach is producing hydrochloric acid all the time. Like, as soon as they close the stomach acid is back in production.
https://www.thekitchn.com/whats-the-deal-with-acid-in-coffee-224482
The only things to truly be cognizant of is that caffeine, regardless of its source, attaches to the same receptors that Vitamin D and Calcium bond to. So if you take supplements for those, don't take them with coffee. The other thing is that coffee can stimulate the bowels. Some people have always been like this, a good strong cup can send me to the bathroom relatively quick. That was before surgery and still happens today. Some people never had that issue before and now they do. It's not uncommon.

Almost a year , lost 100 Lb if only my self esteem will come back like I had it before
Sent from my SM-G973U using BariatricPal mobile app

6 weeks? I've been married almost 20 years, have 2 teenage daughters, have frequent visits from our parents and the kids friends - 6 weeks sounds perfectly normal!
In regards to post op though, it's the jostling that they want to keep to a minimum. Acrobatic newlywed sex would not be a good idea, but "mom & dad are upstairs so keep it quiet" sex would be totally cool.

I actually find all the reaction pretty funny. Don't get me wrong, I personally cannot handle tripe, the texture literally causes a gag relflex. My mother in law chuckles every time she talks me into trying it again.
However, if you really think about it, every country has delicacies, comfort foods, or Snacks that the other countries consider repugnant. Caviar? Who in their right mind would ever look at that and actually want to eat it? Foie gras? Sick SOB's to eat that morally or based on flavor. Fried chicken livers? (I personally love them!) Gross!
Tripe and a lot of the so called sweatbreads (internal organs) were long considered peasant foods. Now they are considered trendy. Tripe is a source of complete Protein and is low in fat. While I find the idea of eating or drinkings a puree of it, nutritionally it sounds like a winner. By this time (3 weeks post op according @Raquel M. info) it should be fine. But of course, the last word must come from her surgeon.