BigViffer

Size 20 on the left and sz 6 on the right!
Best decision ever!

This is from 8/22/18, my first surgical consult, to 10/16/19, a year after gastric sleeve surgery.
Neck: 14" to 12"
Waist: 50" to 40.5"
Hips: 56.5" to 44"
Lost over 80 lbs. and I feel great!

Thanks for clarifying! I was actually mis-remembering then. I thought you had had a very small regain and that you'd attacked it and taken it back off. But you are sooo right, body building gain is way different than a "regain" scenario. One is muscle, the other is more likely associated with fat.
Congrats!!! And thanks for continuing to inspire me!

Just to clarify - I do not count my weight as "regain". I bottomed out at 199 16 months after surgery. That is also when I switched from exercise to weight training. I started gaining for the next 13 months at a healthy pace until I hit about 225. For the past 27 months I have fluctuated up and down from the 225 mark, but never above 230 nor below 220.
I view my gain is the natural rebound before going into maintenance. My original goal weight was 220, so I'm happy as a lark at 225. I am sure that if I ever get the skin removal done, I will lose that pesky 5 lbs.

Just to clarify - I do not count my weight as "regain". I bottomed out at 199 16 months after surgery. That is also when I switched from exercise to weight training. I started gaining for the next 13 months at a healthy pace until I hit about 225. For the past 27 months I have fluctuated up and down from the 225 mark, but never above 230 nor below 220.
I view my gain is the natural rebound before going into maintenance. My original goal weight was 220, so I'm happy as a lark at 225. I am sure that if I ever get the skin removal done, I will lose that pesky 5 lbs.

Just to clarify - I do not count my weight as "regain". I bottomed out at 199 16 months after surgery. That is also when I switched from exercise to weight training. I started gaining for the next 13 months at a healthy pace until I hit about 225. For the past 27 months I have fluctuated up and down from the 225 mark, but never above 230 nor below 220.
I view my gain is the natural rebound before going into maintenance. My original goal weight was 220, so I'm happy as a lark at 225. I am sure that if I ever get the skin removal done, I will lose that pesky 5 lbs.

32lbs my first month, 62 lbs overall. Kinda teary because my body hates Iron

I’m feeling so strong 💪
I’ll be 1-year post-op on the 30th and hoping to reach my goal by then. I’m 7lbs away but feel pretty good about where I’m at now. I’m working out in getting toned and building muscles to avoid having excess skin and so far so good! Lost 111 lbs so far 🙌

Wow what a great topic. I found by accident and you are all great role models.
I hope to compete in my first bodybuilding comp next year at the age of 55. I am working hard towards this goal.
bench 106lb 3 x 10
swat 92lb 3 x 10
D/lift 105lb 3 x 10
At the moment I am getting some gains eating approx 1500 calories a day - which means eating just about all day. Body fat 19% Muscle 49%. However will need to get much leaner. Any tips and ideas on how I can achieve this would be welcome. I have what my cardio as I lose muscle.

Protein absorption is not about the size of our stomach. What you take in will be absorbed. You mauy just not be able to take it in as fast as someone without the restriction. You will get those 30 grams!

Today let’s post our before’s me and after. No numbers! Here’s me!

Nutrients aren't absorbed in the stomach. food gets broken down in the stomach by the digestive juices, then it moves into the intestines. This is where absorption happens. That 30 grams will be absorbed no problem.

Down 54 lbs since starting the process towards weight loss surgery...24 lbs was lost in the last two weeks since my surgery on September 9th.. face progress!

Almost 11 months

I'll second this! I make these quite often. I usually will do a mix of kale, mustard, turnip, or collard greens with bacon. Guaranteed to work!
If that doesn't sound appealing, I also recommend dried apricots, figs, or prunes. I love all of them and used to put them in my smoothies. I really don't like using laxatives because many of them work by pulling Water into the bowel from the body.

I'll second this! I make these quite often. I usually will do a mix of kale, mustard, turnip, or collard greens with bacon. Guaranteed to work!
If that doesn't sound appealing, I also recommend dried apricots, figs, or prunes. I love all of them and used to put them in my smoothies. I really don't like using laxatives because many of them work by pulling Water into the bowel from the body.

This is a constant struggle for "bariathletes". How to get in the proper amounts of fuel to provide for the workouts we want to do. For myself, at 3 years out, i am taking in about 3400 calories on heavy lifting days over 7-8 meals. I take in about 230-250g of Protein and the rest between fats and carbs.
If you want to perform as a lifter, you will need to increase your intake, but take it slow. I don't know how fat post-op you are but your trainer isn't wrong. I am a powerlifter as well and we need that protein to build the muscle to lift houses and cars and stuff.
Dont rush it, but know it can be done!

Collard greens

No, No, a thousand times No..... Do not spend your hard earned money on this. If you can find one at your gym, and you are using it in addition to an actual workout....great, but for the love of everything....dont spend your money on it!

I will be 18 months post GBS next month!

6 months apart

Hi all ,
I am new to this forum so a little bit about me .
I had a Sleeve Gastrectomy 5 years ago and went from 19st 2lb (268lbs) down to 9st 6lbs (132lbs) I looked Ill and people constantly asked my mum If I was anorexic .
This was so much more than I ever thought I would lose .
I went from being morbidly obese to clinically underweight. I struggled to put weight on due to my job at the time being active and not being able to eat much .
I changed jobs and for the past 3 years I have been in an office environment, I know I've got some bad habits and every day is a battle . I've put on 2 stone (28lbs) , I'm still well within my health weight but I'm most comfortable 9lbs lighter.
I went private and paid £10,000 and I'm scared that I will end up where I started.
I'm trying to find out how many calories etc I should be eating to lose my 9lbs and how much to maintain .
I've come so far and I cant let it all be for nothing.

Thank you in advance for your advice.
Thank you for reading my post.
Heather x
Sent from my SM-G973F using Tapatalk

Sorry, gonna have to call you out as a terrible liar. No way in hell is that kid in the picture 51!

Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

9 months in and 107 lbs down...I still have about 10 lbs to lose but I am so happy I had this surgery...I am now confident and feeling pretty inside out!
Congrats to all of us for taking this step ❤️

You should be proud of those lifts! Most people in this world can't DL and squat anywhere close to that weight.
Yeah...my calorie intake is an experiment. The only thing I'm really tracking is waste size. The idea being regardless of weight changes as long as my waste size doesn't increase and I'm lifting more this week than last week the weight changes should be mostly lean mass. So far I'm on week three of 3000 calories and weight has not changed and waste size is the same. This week I should hit new PRs so I'm just trying to feed the furnace - within reason. My main reason for increasing calories though was I'm trying to put on more muscle and build more strength.
I'm also trying to see if it's possible to come back from all the adaptive metabolic changes associated with weight loss. Like many I lost 70lbs on my own in 2012 - pretty easily as up until that point I was eating a huge calorie excess and just going to a normal calorie intake was enough. I lost my 70lbs and slowly, while still exercising and tracking my calorie intake all the weight came back plus some extra. There's decent literature on adaptive thermogenesis as one possible cause for the dreaded weight loss relapse. After that point it was much harder to lose weight again and even going 500-1000 calories under what I did the first time wasn't enough to lose weight again.
The question for me is with very intensive training to build lean mass can I change my body composition and can I somewhat restore normal metabolic levels? The first weight loss I went to 3000 calories to lose the 70lbs and still found myself hungry all the time but it was doable. Subsequent weight loss attempts 3000 calories did nothing for weight loss and going to 2500 or 2000 calories meant I was starving all the time. A year out from surgery I naturally want to eat about 2200-2500 calories per day and getting 3000 calories in per day often feels like a chore - very different than prior to surgery. If I for whatever reason stop heavy lifting I will happily go down to 2200-2500 calories per day as I believe this to be my average daily expenditure without lifting.
So far so good!