Ceradad

Thor, thoughts and prayers will be with you on Friday. I'd say not to be nervous, but that would make me a hypocrite. I was glad I had a 3 day weekend before my surgery as I would have been no use at work prior. I hope all goes well with your surgery and please keep us updated.

Yes!!!! Best innovation EVER imo when it comes to cardio. They have a huge darkened room where they put a dvd on using a projector on the ceiling that projects the movie onto a HUGE screen at the front of the room. Not movie theatre size screen but maybe about 1/3 of that size. Combines my hate of cardio with my love of movies and allows me to just GO!!!! So much easier. They have about 15 each of elypticals, treadmills and bikes w/a couple steppers.

Thanks for the interest Dan. I am getting the results I want/need. Been a little less than 5 mos. and I'm down just around 80 lbs. Probably would be more, but the lifting I do has built a good foundation of muscle. But, as muscle burns calories better than fat, I'll take the exchange. I'm not sore later. My knees are stiff immediately afterwards, but better after a hot shower.

I can remember visiting my grandparents growing up as a child. My grandmother always used to say she could cook anything and I would eat it. So, I started to look at eating as a way to get approval from my grandparents. Then, when I was 14, my grandparents took my little bro and I on a 2 month trip to Alaska. The whole time my grandmother hounded me about my weight. I started to get self conscious about it then. In hs, I had surgery on both knees due to sports, including for an injury that should have finished my sr year of football after 2 games but didn't. After getting too scared to play college ball, I stopped sports pretty much cold turkey. At least to the extent I played them in hs. But never changed my eating habits. Got married at 22 and never wanted to waste food as money was tight and couldn't see wasting it. Plus, if DW was unable to finish her food, she would ask me to finish. I know I shouldn't have, but always did. My fault. Just never been real good with food. Always ate no matter what. I've had to make huge changes in how I treat food. DW still tries to get me to finish hers or our daughters food, but I don't now.

Phyllser-great story. So glad it worked out for your daughter and her husband. I love to hear stories about people that beat the odds. DW and I are starting up the adoption process again, slowly. We know God will give us another child if it is meant to be. Otherwise, we're blessed with Cera and couldn't be prouder.

10 days of liquids including last day clear liquids only pre op. I made it the whole way w/very little cheating. It was tough sitting w/other officers eating lunch after just drinking a glass of skim milk with carnation instant breakfast, but I did it. Lost 23 lbs. during that time so it proved worth it for a good start on the weight loss.

Br-1 egg scrambled, 1 small container of yogurt snack-skim milk L-1/2 c. of buffalo chicken salad, 1/3 c. cottage cheese, 3 oz. steamed cauliflower snack-skim milk Din-not sure yet, too early to torture myself thinking of it:biggrin:

Thanks for the kind words. My DW and I truly believe we are doubly blessed with Cera. We went through 7 yrs of infertility, 4 before we started the adoption process. After spending over 2 yrs in "the book" at the adoption agency w/o any birthmothers wanting to even talk to us, we had pretty much given up all hope. I still remember to this day standing in front of the bathroom mirror before bed and thinking I could stay up to lift weights during the week, but on Sunday mornings I couldn't stay up to go to church. Too tired. (I worked midnight to 8 am Sun-Thur back then.) I told myself I had to make sure we went to church on a regular basis and become more involved in our church. Not even 2 wks later, we got a call from the adoption agency that a birthmother wanted to talk to us and we were the only ones she wanted to talk to. We met the following week and got a call 20 minutes after we left the meeting she had chosen us for her baby. Met a week later to discuss the birthing plans and she gave birth the following Saturday. Less than 2 wks, we went from no hope to being parents.:rose: 4 wks after my decision. Some call that a coincidence. I call it God working a miracle for us. No doubt in my mind that God was waiting for dw and I to get our lives right with Him. So, I believe that I owe it to God to raise her properly. She loves Sunday school and church. Every year, our church does a food drop for needy families in our area. She helps out with the delivering of the boxes with me every year we've done it. I can honestly say, we have done our part so far bringing her up right.

Nice vid, Patty. Glad to see some good info getting out there to the public.

I had to explain to my dw that I had to lose one of her to just get w/i my "ideal" weight according to the experts. She fought me tooth and nail up to that point. She thought I could just drink the liquids and watch what I ate that we were told to do post op. I had to explain to her that if you put 1 c. of food in a pouch, you are full/satisfied. If you put 1 c. of food in a large stomach, you are still hungry and will snack. These finally helped her to understand. As for the diet, I had to go through 10 of liquids only pre op. I simply bought ALOT of sugar free Carnation Instant Breakfast and had about 6-8 of those a day. As Make33 says, the last few days are easier than the first. With the exception that I got dizzy quite a bit from day 5 on. Sounds cruel, but you just have to suck it up. As someone stated in another thread, 10 days are nothing compared to the rest of your life.

Well, I've been lifting/working out since I was a frosh in HS back in '86 as I played football. So, I know all about the lifting part. To answer your most important question, I was banded on 8/28/07. I've done cardio every day, save 4-5, since. I do cardio 7 days a week and lift 4 nights a week after work. I average over 30 miles/wk on the treadmill before I started this new routine this week and about 150 minutes a week of intense circuit/resistance training. I was just wondering about the cardio. Trust me, if I included the weight lifting in there, I believe most would want to put me in a padded room.

I almost think I am. I am now getting up 40 minutes earlier in the mornings to do 1/2 hr of cardio on the treadmill at home before I hit the gym to do cardio there. I would just do it all at home, but I love the cardio cinema we have at the gym. Makes the time fly. I can't do more than 50 minutes at the gym in the mornings because I need to catch the bus into dt mpls for work. I keep trying to figure out more ways to get more cardio in w/o taking time away from the family at night. Plus, I have to go to sleep around 9:30 at the latest to get up and start the madness again. Am I starting to become too obsessed with cardio? I think I might be.

As we have a rash of cute kiddie stories, I may as well pass this short one on. Couple of weeks ago, my 5 yr old daughter was in the car w/me. I looked back at her and asked if she knew how much I loved her. She responded with, "Even more than the Dallas Cowboys" just as I've told each day of her life. (FYI, I LOVE the Dallas Cowboys. Even have the Star tattoo'ed on my forearm with "There is Only One Star" written below it). Then, I told her she and mommy were the most important people in my life. She retorted with, "You're forgetting someone". I knew who she was talking about, but asked who she meant. She immediately replied "JESUS!". Makes a daddy proud.

Ok, so as I sat at work yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to get more cardio in at the gym. Can't do any longer on days I have to catch the bus in dt mpls for work and have to get home after lifting to have dinner with the family in the evenings. Don't feel up to doing treadmill at home at night. Too tired by then. So, solution, get up earlier in the morning and do 1/2 hr on treadmill at home before hitting gym at 5 am. So, 4 am is announced by the alarm, up I get and down to the treadmill. 1/2 hr and 390 extra calories burned. Put on running pants, coat, gloves, grab bag and off to the gym. As I am supposed to go to a weddiing reception after work, I have to do upper body circuits and 50 minutes on treadmill at gym. Note: I can do the extra because I have to drive to work so I can get to the reception, wife not going. So, here is the workout(s) from this morning. Treadmill @ home: 32.5 minutes @ 3.7 mph and 2.0 incl, 390 calories, 2 miles Circuit training-upper body: 1-HS Hi Row-60 x 12 2-Bench press-175 x 12 3-Pec Deck-80 x 12 4-Rope Cbl Curls-85 x 12 5-Skull Crushers-75 x 12 6-HS Lat Rs-70 x 12 7-Roman chair back ext.-45 db x 12 8-BB shrugs-175 x 12 Complete 3 circuits with about 3 minute rest in btwn circuits. Treadmill @ gym: 50 minutes @ 4.0 mph btwn 1.0 and 3.0 incl., 710 calories, 3.32 miles. Now, may not go to the wedding reception as it is about 1 hr from home and don't want to drive that far. So, I may hit the gym for another hr on the treadmill tonight. Workout clothes are going to be SWEATY, but may have to suck it up and stink.

Ok, so as I sat at work yesterday, I was trying to figure out how to get more cardio in at the gym. Can't do any longer on days I have to catch the bus in dt mpls for work and have to get home after lifting to have dinner with the family in the evenings. Don't feel up to doing treadmill at home at night. Too tired by then. So, solution, get up earlier in the morning and do 1/2 hr on treadmill at home before hitting gym at 5 am. So, 4 am is announced by the alarm, up I get and down to the treadmill. 1/2 hr and 390 extra calories burned. Put on running pants, coat, gloves, grab bag and off to the gym. As I am supposed to go to a weddiing reception after work, I have to do upper body circuits and 50 minutes on treadmill at gym. Note: I can do the extra because I have to drive to work so I can get to the reception, wife not going. So, here is the workout(s) from this morning. Treadmill @ home: 32.5 minutes @ 3.7 mph and 2.0 incl, 390 calories, 2 miles Circuit training-upper body: 1-HS Hi Row-60 x 12 2-Bench press-175 x 12 3-Pec Deck-80 x 12 4-Rope Cbl Curls-85 x 12 5-Skull Crushers-75 x 12 6-HS Lat Rs-70 x 12 7-Roman chair back ext.-45 db x 12 8-BB shrugs-175 x 12 Complete 3 circuits with about 3 minute rest in btwn circuits. Treadmill @ gym: 50 minutes @ 4.0 mph btwn 1.0 and 3.0 incl., 710 calories, 3.32 miles. Now, may not go to the wedding reception as it is about 1 hr from home and don't want to drive that far. So, I may hit the gym for another hr on the treadmill tonight. Workout clothes are going to be SWEATY, but may have to suck it up and stink.:eek:

Well, hit the gym last night for my top rep's circuit on lower body. Then, up at 4 am to do the treadmill at home for 1/2 hr before hitting the gym when they opened at 5 am to do my top rep's circuit for upper body and another 50 minutes in "Cardio Cinema" on the treadmill. All told this morning, 5.3 miles and 1200 calories this morning on treadmills alone. I'm almost starting to think I'm getting obsessive about cardio:scared2: However, after a bad weekend last weekend up north ice fishing, I've managed to get back to the weight I was at last Friday, 299. What a yo-yo week that was. Keep up the good work everyone. Just remember if you miss a day, don't beat yourself up, just get back to it again. That has always been my biggest problem in the past.

Before the surgery, I kept it quiet. Wasn't necessarily that I was ashamed of getting the band, I was ashamed that I had to get one. Understand? Little confusing even to me. Since the surgery, I tell almost everyone. I get people almost on a weekly basis that I haven't seen for awhile ask me if I've lost weight. When I tell them yes, they say I look great. I tell them about the band. Once I open up to them, if they are overweight and start asking questions, I answer all of them. IMHO, it works better than expected. Especially if you commit yourself to working with it and use it as a tool. To me, it's like keeping a great secret all to yourselves. My asst. directors wife had one done. I talked to him numerous times about the decision I had to make. He never once told me his wife had it done. Or, her mother. He still has never told me, someone else told me about it after my surgery. There are alot of people at my workplace that have "miraculously" dropped weight. This made me feel worse about myself that they could lose the weight and I couldn't. Sharing it can help someone.

Well, considering the highs this weekend are barely get above zero, if at all. So, it may as well be. And, yes, it was a joke.

If you want to hear some of the music I listed, here are some links to a couple of their myspace pages: Red- MySpace.com - RED - Nashville - Rock / Ambient - www.myspace.com/dropofred Destnd Furthr- MySpace.com - DESTND FURTHR (NEW SONGS UP) - Minneapolis, Minnesota - Rock / Metal / Christian - www.myspace.com/destndfurthr Enjoy!!!!!!

Top weight:379 Ideal weight: 240 Current weight: 301 Initial BMI: 47.4 Ideal BMI: 30 Current BMI:37.6 I was banded on Aug 28, 2007 by Dr. Jones in St. Louis Park, MN. I had my information seminar in Nov., 2006. I had been considering this procedure for a couple of months. One of my officers at work had it done a couple years ago. After speaking with him about it, I decided it was what I wanted. This was a huge step for me as I had not been kind when he had his done. I thought he had taken the "easy" way out. However, after thinking about my life, current, past and future, I knew I had to do something. My adoptive father died suddenly when I was 18 of a massive heart attack. Even though we were not biologically related, I have the same build as he did. He never got to see my sister get married. My brother or I graduate. Never met any of his grandchildren. I did not want this for my daughter. She deserved to have a father in her life. So, after going through 6 mos with a dietician and a big battle with my insurance company (I'll get to that in a later posting), I had a date set in late August. I played an entire softball season at a weight I never would have thought I would get to. It SUCKED!!!!! My knees hurt all the time. Even went to State, lower division but still. Leading up to my surgery, I had to go on a 10 day liquid diet. Very rough time, got dizzy alot. However, I lost 23 lbs in those 10 days alone. Since the day after my surgery, I have missed a total of 5 days w/o at least some form of cardio. One of which was Christmas. I've lost close to 80 lbs while increasing my muscle and losing bodyfat. That's enough for now. I'll post more ramblings later. Edit: Did legs last night. Here it is for the record. Circuit training: 1-Single leg leg press: 250 x 12 2-Single calf raise: 250 x 12 3-Leg Curl: 140 x 12 4-Leg Press: 160 x 12 5-Abductors: 130 x 12 6-Adductors: 130 x 12 Repeat this circuit 2 more times for a total of 3 circuits. Hangout on assisted chin/dip machine: 50 lbs taken off, hung for 30 secs. Machine ab crunch: 65 x 10 x 3

Top weight:379 Ideal weight: 240 Current weight: 301 Initial BMI: 47.4 Ideal BMI: 30 Current BMI:37.6 I was banded on Aug 28, 2007 by Dr. Jones in St. Louis Park, MN. I had my information seminar in Nov., 2006. I had been considering this procedure for a couple of months. One of my officers at work had it done a couple years ago. After speaking with him about it, I decided it was what I wanted. This was a huge step for me as I had not been kind when he had his done. I thought he had taken the "easy" way out. However, after thinking about my life, current, past and future, I knew I had to do something. My adoptive father died suddenly when I was 18 of a massive heart attack. Even though we were not biologically related, I have the same build as he did. He never got to see my sister get married. My brother or I graduate. Never met any of his grandchildren. I did not want this for my daughter. She deserved to have a father in her life. So, after going through 6 mos with a dietician and a big battle with my insurance company (I'll get to that in a later posting), I had a date set in late August. I played an entire softball season at a weight I never would have thought I would get to. It SUCKED!!!!! My knees hurt all the time. Even went to State, lower division but still. Leading up to my surgery, I had to go on a 10 day liquid diet. Very rough time, got dizzy alot. However, I lost 23 lbs in those 10 days alone. Since the day after my surgery, I have missed a total of 5 days w/o at least some form of cardio. One of which was Christmas. I've lost close to 80 lbs while increasing my muscle and losing bodyfat. That's enough for now. I'll post more ramblings later. Edit: Did legs last night. Here it is for the record. Circuit training: 1-Single leg leg press: 250 x 12 2-Single calf raise: 250 x 12 3-Leg Curl: 140 x 12 4-Leg Press: 160 x 12 5-Abductors: 130 x 12 6-Adductors: 130 x 12 Repeat this circuit 2 more times for a total of 3 circuits. Hangout on assisted chin/dip machine: 50 lbs taken off, hung for 30 secs. Machine ab crunch: 65 x 10 x 3

10 days of liquid diet leading up to it. Including, last day being only clear liquids.

Right now, I've got 4 albums downloaded on mine. 3 are Christian rock bands (one local in TC's) and one that is Christian/Alternative. 3 are on the harder side. If you like hard rock and want something with a better message give them a try. Here they are: Red-"End of Silence"- Little harder with some ballads. Very good music Destnd Furthr-"Fire by Night"- Local Twin Cities band with a very good following. They put on a GREAT show. Again, a little on the hard side with a couple good ballads. P.O.D.-"Atlantic Greatest Hits"-Hard rock with some rap. No Gangsta. Mainstream band that has some very good Christian songs. Casting Crowns-"Altar and the Door"- Couple very good songs with some good beats. Others are very good "normal" songs. Good mix of hard and normal songs. Gets my blood going when I need it and back to normal when I don't. I have it on shuffle so I get a mixture.

I've done both working out at home and belong to a gym. I even had my own set of weights and a squat rack. Thought it would be easier to get the workouts in. Instead, I've found that to get circuit training done, I need the gym. Also, even with a treadmill at home, I find it easier to do cardio at the gym. The one I belong to has the greatest room EVER to do cardio in. They call it "Cardio Cinema". They have a HUGE room with all sorts of cardio equipment in it lined up. They darken the room and put a dvd on a projector that goes on a big screen that is about 15' x 8' (guestimate). It's the absolute best. Combines my need for cardio with my love for movies.:pray2:

I've actually found I eat more spicy foods now than I did pre band. Don't know if it is due to the fact I am eating less so I want more taste or what, but I eat more spice now.