scarecrow

26 - banded by Merrimen(sp) a year ago in november. Any other locals post on here?

<3 Amethystjade I've read your posts on here and thought you were funny, witty, and probably someone fun to hang out with. However - just a total guess here - but I bet you're not half as confident and comfortable with yourself "out there" as you are in here. Guys over 25 are simple organisms. I'm a guy, I know. Hell you know, and you're not a guy. This is blunt and a bit abrasive, but - if we can look at a girl and think "yeah, I'd do her," then she has just as much of a chance as any 100lbs'er to get the guy. We first have to make that sexual connection in our minds to a woman before we even consider anything else. That's not our fault, that's natures way of getting it's job done. Most guys can be attracted to any girl. If a girl looks attractive, she normally dresses more revealing. Shows more skin. Moves and talks in more suggestive ways, whether she is 1% interested in the guy or not. They exude more sexuality both because they are aware they are sexy, and because they are probably having more sex - which makes pheromone excretions stronger. Thicker girls generally don't feel as attractive. They don't show a lot of skin. They don't flirt much. They're not suggestive in movement or conversation. I'm not talking slutty, I'm talking suggestive. Slight cleavage is suggestive. Short miniskirts are slutty (though I'm still a big fan.) Big difference. My point is, the difference between these women isn't that only one is sexual. Both have the same wants in needs. But only ones displaying it. Only one is sending the message to every mans brain she meets that she is a healthy female capable sexual activity - and more importantly conceiving children. I see it over and over on these forums about how women plan on doing things skinny girls do AFTER they're skinny. With all due respect ladies, the acts of doing those things is 90% of whats sexy to guys. Not necessarily the girls doing them. Why can't you dress sexy? Why can't you be suggestive to a random guy you find attractive? Trust me, the guys are more than comfortable with the way you look - they just wish you were as comfortable with yourselves as the skinny girls. That's all just my opinion. I stress the initial sexual connection to men, only to create the initial necessary tension. After a man has got the idea in his head that you'd be a fun sexual partner, everything past that is just personality - which you have plenty of if you let it out. Those skinny skanks stopped using that years ago : P. Be a little sexual, be fun. Be someone you wouldn't mind spending an evening on the couch with. If I had the choice between a thick girl that was funny, fun in bed, and loyal to me - and a skinny girl that was subpar everywhere but the waist line, I'd go for the one that was more fun any day. Most guys would. If you're really trying to meet a guy, send the messages of this. Act available. Talk to guys. Most guys like to feel like they pursued you, so let them think that if they want : P. But plant your seeds. Talk to ppl. Talk to random ppl. There is nothing more attractive to me than a woman that comes up and talks to me ... in the line at the supermarket, or at the gym. It makes ME feel good about myself too, which is never a bad thing and can never hurt. Trust me, you'll never hurt a mans feelings by sparking up a conversation with him. He'll feel good about himself all day. And he'll be genuinely intrigued by your confidence.

No gains without pain, little cramp never hurt anybody. I'll try it out, hopefully my gym sells it.

LOL Poor horses. The mayor of the city I live in has commercials with him riding around on a horse, and he's a 350-400lbs guy. I didn't believe it when I first heard about it, but when I saw the commercial I learned they found him the worlds largest horse to ride on or something. It was MASSIVE. I too would like to ride a normal size horse.

omg, am I the only one here under 6'? Yall are some tall dudes. B-Man, I'm not taking a precurser right now, but back before I starting losing weight, I used to take muscletech or fast-twith precursers before workout religiously. I personally used to get a good pump out of taking these. I could get in roughly 10% more reps per musclegroup, which is pretty nice. I'm seriously considering starting back on something like N.O. fast-twitch, but I want to find something completely lean to mix in with grape juice. Something that is JUST the nasty nasting nutrients and few cals or carbs.

Oh wow, undy pics! Awesome man, lol, that takes more courage than I have, but I'm not nearly as skinny as you either. That's my new goal bandpal. When I am comfortable enough to post a picture of my self, on the internet, without a shirt - I've reached my goal. You look great though man, absolutely excellent. So have you gone to the fair yet? An amusement park? I can remember not wanting to take a date to the fair for fear of not making a weight limit or size limit on a ride. You should go to an amusement park and ride a roller coaster ; ).

OMG, lol, you're killin me man. I laughed at that for like 5 minutes. Refreshing honesty, I love it.

This is extremely long and all things you may know/do, but I've finally hit a point where I'm losing weight and making gains biweekly on weights, so I'm eager to talk about it : P. A local trainer got me leveled out, and I've had GREAT results since. When I got banded I was 315, I repped 275 on chest (I'll use chest for examples) and maxed around 350. I did an hour of lifting everyday, 1 muscle a day. When I got the band, I switched to cycling exercise reps (circuit training). I was eating very little, of course. Within a 6 month period I dropped almost 70 lbs, which was amazing... but I had no stamina, I was dead halfway through the second set. I had dropped down to repping with 175 on bench. That's a full 100lbs drop on workout weight - and I couldnt even max 250. I made these changes: I take in every day at least 1200 cals, but usually no more than 1400. This was moved up from 800-1000. - Pre-workout I take half a glass of grape juice (no sugar added), a glutamine pill, and I cycle creatine. That's 40g of sugar carbs, but if you stress your muscles you will burn it. The GI carbs are needed to spike your insulin and thus increase muscle absorbion. I take that stuff 15-20 minutes before my first set. - Immediately after workout, I take another glutamine pill with a Protein shake - I use gold standard protein mix, 25g a scoop, because it's extremely lean, and very cheap. I mix it with sugar free koolaid to kill the taste. yah, it's that bad. But 100 calories and 0 carbs compared to premades is extremely lean. - For gain building, he switched the way I lift to 1 exercise at a time. For example, for chest, I will do 1 set of 15 warmups (100 lbs) on bench. Then My goal is to find a weight I can get up 9 times on my first set. Then I wait a full 2 minutes, add 5 or 10 pounds, and go til fail - normally 7 or 8 reps. I continue that 4 times, THEN I move to butterlys or whatever. Rotating is appearantly bad. The point is when stressing the muscle out blood goes to that muscle. The muscle tears and absorbion are triggered by the buildup of blood and folic acid in the worked muscle. So if you cycle exercises, or circuit train, you train your body to NOT dump as much blood as possible into a muscle, but instead to conserve - since itll need it elsewhere soon. - I changed to making sure that whatever muscles were getting worked that day, the largest of the group was worked first. - Cardio raising your heartrate over 125 for someone middle aged eats complex protein at a very high rate. Meaning, your cardio, if strenuous, will eat your own muscle building material. He instead had me switch to "bounce" cardio. I run at a decent pace until I hit a heart rate of 125, then I slow it down - and I do this for 20 minutes, first thing in the morning. - I do biceps and stomach on Monday, chest and neck on tues, legs and stomach on wed, back on thur, shoulders and tris on friday. I do absolutely nothing on the weekends. I actually try to use my muscles as little as possible to let them get a full rest in. - I take in my weight in grams of protein per day. like right now I weigh 190, so I take in 190 grams of protein per day, a whey shake in the morning, one right after my workout, and 1 casein Protein Shake before I sleep - because it absorbs slowly throughout the night. In addition, I eat every 3 hours or less, small meals, which he says teaches the body that it's ok to burn through and apply the energy as it comes in because more is on the way. - All in all I take three glutamine pills a day, and two fish oils. 1 glut before workout, 1 after, 1 right before bed. The glutamine prompts protein absorbsion in muscles. It's found naturally in most protein mixes, but only in small amounts. it's been a year now since I got banded and I weigh 125 less - and my bench rep weight is back up to 245 per first set. And although I'm not quite as strong still, I look alot stronger because there's not 100 pounds of fat covering me up : P. Hope some of this helps - he gave me a book that explained all this in greater detail, if I can find it I'll send it to ya.

hey, maybe I could use that as a pickup line :thumbup: nah, maybe my anatomy isnt the same as others, but I don't ever see anyone retaining more than half an inch or so of lost penor. Luckily God wasn't cruel enough to allow us to put weight on right around there : P

So, just out of curiosity, is there anyone else out there who's relationship nosedived after losing a lot? I was already in a rocky - but long lasting - relationship before banding. but as the weight came off, it just got worse and worse. Relationships are complicated. I don't know or understand all the factors that pitched into the issues. I never had any band fills, I used it more as a security blanket I guess. knowing I couldn't fall off (too hard) made it much easier for me to jump in and work it off. At first she was supportive - though a little inquisitive - about the change in lifestyle. Without going into any details, the things I thought she would appreciate - better body, more energy, 10 times the sex drive, healthier and happier, etc - she came to resent. Eating healthy turned into "thinking I'm better than her because I don't want any ice cream." Working out turned into "my daily excuse to get away from her." Buying new clothes, which is necessary when one looses 125 lbs, was of course done to impress "______". Blank being a different woman of her whim every day. The sex - which you would think got better, didn't. I'll spare the embarassing details, but my raging "affections" and strong will to do more things, more often, etc - were not because I was actually in good shape, but because it was what "my girlfriend" did with me. There of course never was a girlfriend. And hours of reassurance wouldn't convince her of any different. On top of that, the more weight I lost, the more she seemed to gain - though I denied it heavily when she mentioned it. And it made it that much worse, she resented me for it all. Has anyone else had anything similiar happen?

Name............Start........Current........Goal.......To Go CindyG...........191...........191...........178........13 Sades............186...........185...........175........11 Stephanie........175...........169.5.........155........14.5 shortgal.........173.6.........172...........168.........4 Bandpal..........172.26........171.93........150........21.93 Momto1plus1......187...........185...........174........11 lindata..........174...........174...........169........5 Skinny_Jill......151...........150...........143........7 mrskrzyz.........172...........172...........162........10 kalipso2.........172...........172...........165........7 scarecrow........190...........190...........180........10

Well I tried to find a smiley face that looked like he was whistling at ya, but there doesn't seem to be one. You look excellent though, be happy! Your face has lost the weight VERY well, you look like you never looked any different. I'm so jealous.... I guess I was just delusional, but when I was really heavy seeing myself would startle me - I just didn't feel that heavy. I recognize myself better now that I'm losing it. Weird, I know : /

Name..........Lbs Lost...% of orig. wgt lost.....BMI Abbisgood.........53.............23%.............?? Aubrie............65.............?%..............31 BandChick64.......104............34.67%..........31.6 Bandpal...........113.82.........39.8%...........28.2 (47) BarbBee...........94.............31%.............35.7 Cherlita..........60.............20%.............55 Cindyg............62.............24.5%...........34.5 Close.............50.............20%.............33.1 Firebolt..........45.............19%.............33.5 Foofy.............48.............17.7%...........36.4 gabeekeeper.......101............30% ............40.2 Hajohnson1........49.8...........18.2%...........39.8 Hollyberries......113............31%.............36.2 Hopping To It.....69.............19.7%...........49.1 Huskerette........54.............22%.............30.5 kandiceb..........63.............26%.............27.6 linda.............52.............23%.............29.9 lindseyann2u......82.............N/A.............N/A Maincat...........141............46.5%...........22 Mariegabrieleee...73.............24%.............39.1 MollyBrown........36.............12.5%...........36.5 Momto1plus1.......84.2...........31.2%...........29 NYGirl1...........02.............33%.............32.6 plump_princess....57.............22%.............36 QatarPhil.........55.............19%.............32.2 Rachel............63.............?%..............28.3 Robin_Bird........116............38%.............28.7 Sades.............44.8...........19.5%...........33.7 scarecrow.........125............40%.............27.3 Shalee04..........70.............28%.............29.2 Shortgal..........44.5...........20.5%...........32.9 Skinny_Jill.......59.5...........26.8%...........30.8 Staysee...........70.............20%.............48.4 Stephanie.........60.............26%.............27.1 strangeratx.......58.............25.2%...........30.5 Teresajo..........93.............36%.............27.3 Tmusicmaker123....73.............19%.............48.7 TxArcher..........103............25.75%..........39.2 tyman311..........61.............31%.............28 want2lose.........91.8...........32%.............31 TOTAL..............2816.62(Lets Keep this TOTAL on the list) Did I do it right? I think it looks ok....

Sorry for not responding for a month or so, been very busy : P. Yes, I work out one muscle group per day: biceps and stomach on monday chest and neck stabilizers on tuesdays legs and stomach on wednesday back on thursday shoulders, tri's, and stomach on friday. On the weekends I do only light cardio, I try to let everything rest then. I'm 190 now - I've only lost 4 lbs in the last two months, which I'm actually ok with because my lifting has shot back up. I started mixing half a glass of grape juice with my pre-workout (glutamine, 3g creatine) and post-workout (Protein, glutamine) shakes. The extra 40 grams of PURE SUGAR carbs scared the hell out of me at first, but under the advice of a trainer buddy of mine I've tried it and have been thrilled with the results. He gave me a long list of reasons why the "G.I. Carbs" were necessary when lifting, but I don't remember any of them : P. I tried P90X in the past Foofy, and it is a KILLER. It's extremely effective if you stick with it, but it's also very hard on your back. If your back is in good shape - you'll love it. Mine's all messed up : P. Thank you very much Cindy, appreciate it. The full body lift sounds absolutely awful - I can't imagine the pain. If the tummy tuck tucks in sides though, I could see doing that : P. These are some newer pics [/url] very blurry. Taking pictures of yourself in a mirror is actually alot harder than it looks. I look sad but I'm just irritated at the camera You can't tell too much of a difference from the ones at 200lbs (first post), I can tell quite a bit with my shirt off. Thanks for the posts!

Thank you Foofy, I'll post over there for the skin question and see what kinda results I get. The idea is really scary to me to be honest, the huge scars, etc. But I would at least like to get as much info on it as possible. Thanks Foofy, I honestly don't know that I could lose the weight if I was middle aged, I've watched my older siblings struggle with weight and they've had a much more difficult time as they age. I believe it would probably take more willpower and determination than I have, so I have a lot of respect for those older than I accomplishing this. Awww, thank you Lindata, that's so sweet. I guess everything I eat meat wise is processed actually. Not sure. I buy the "Deli Sliced Turkey" from kroger mostly, it's Kroger brandname and comes in typical sandwich meat style. It's cheap and fast, but probably isn't as good for you. Yes, but thighs are supposed to be thick, love handles aren't : P. I have noticed other guys who are losing weight look the same, I'm just afraid it'll stick. As far as not losing weight in an area just because you work out there, you're 100% correct. That is like the myth that won't die. But for some reason I still work those areas out the most hoping it will make a difference : P. I will absolutely try this if I can find a plan for it. I love trying new cardio, repetition gets me unmotived quick, and as much as I love lifting, I hate cardio. I'll see what I can find on it. Thanks again guys

I had my surgery November 26 2007, I was 315 at the time of surgery. I started a very strict workout and diet along with the surgery, as I was very determined to get the weight off. I now weigh 194lbs, and I'm still steadily losing. My goal is 175, and I'm working hard for it. I've never had a fill and don't feel the band but still get full after eating a good meal. I can eat bread, Pasta, etc, anything. Even carbinated drinks if I wanted to ( I drink nothing but sugarfree koolaid though). Breakfast 7:30 Protein shake (24g protein, 120 cal, 3 carb) rice cake (50 cal, 9 carb) Brunch 10:00 half sandwich - varied meat and light wheat bread (12g protein, 125 cal, 9 carb) After workout lunch 1:30 Protein Shake (30g protein, 145 cal, 4 carb) snack 4:00 half sandwich - meat and light wheat bread (12g protein, 125 cal, 9 carb) snack 2 7:00 Protein shake (24g protein, 120 cal, 3 carb) dinner 9:00 normally a mix of fish (28g protein, 200 cal, 0 carb) For a daily total of 130g protein, 885 cal, 37 carbs - 8 of which are from sugar. I do 10 minutes on the treadmill as soon as a I roll out of bed, and do an hour of weight lifting at lunch every day. Here's some pics: me at 315 me at 230 (shirts are all way too big : P ) Me at 200 So my questions are these... First, I am thrilled that I've lost so much weight. It has changed a lot for me - one thing I wish I didn't lose though was the muscle. I've lost nearly half my max on all lifting, and at least a quarter of my rep weight on all exercises - even with the protein intake. Does anyone have any suggestions for changes in diet that would help me continue to drop weight steadily while gaining - or at least maintaining - muscle? And secondly, I'm wondering about skin-surgery. I've lost weight kinda in weird ways. My stomach has gotten much smaller, while my love handles are the same size - which is odd. I work my abs and obliques HARD in a captains chair 3 times a week, but it doesn't seem to change anything. Also my skin is stretchy all over the place. So I'm wondering, should I consider cosmetic surgery, or is it too soon? I'm 26 years old. I'm starting to be shaped really odd because some areas are skinny... and some never got smaller : (. Kinda weird. Any advice would be appreciated - thanks guys.

thank ya Jill, appreciate it. Just done so many of those fad diets in my life that blow the lbs off the first couple of months... then you plateau and it starts coming back. I don't want to lose hope that this will work.

omg, so LONG!

This is my first post here, I thought I'd test the waters and see where I'm at in comparison and where I should be. I'm from Shreveport, LA, and was banded by Dr. Merrimen. I was banded Nov. 26th 2007 (I think), and have had mixed results so far, I'm starting to wonder if there is reason to be discouraged. When I first went in for LB, I was 290. I was told that I may want to get up a little heavier, so I started trying to gain weight. I wanted to get up to 300 so I'd know my insurance would cover it. When I had the surgery, I was 310 lbs, by far the heaviest I had ever been. In the first 3 weeks after the surgery, I lost 22 lbs. I stayed on a completely liquid diet, and did not know why I was feeling so horrible. I found out soon afterwards that I was supposed to be drinking a protien shakes during that time - I wasnt. Around the last week in december I had gotten down to around 288. I began going back to the gym at this time. I went with the same workout plan I used in college to prepare for football... 4 sets of 12 each, chest on mondays, arms tuesdays, back wednesdays, legs and stomach thursday, shoulders friday. Every day I also jog-walk fast (it's something in between really, a fat mans jog) for at least 20 minutes. I did this for two weeks and felt great. So two weeks ago I had lost 5 more lbs, and was down to 282. I then went in for an adjustment, he added a very small amount, because even with the smallest addition my throat was making weird noises when sipping from the straw. He told me to not eat anymore protien shakes and get my nutrition completely from food. Before, I had been getting 40 grams of protien in a shake for Breakfast. It's now 2 months from surgery date, and unfortunatly I have noticed a significant decrease in my energy while working out since getting off the shakes. The most discouraging part though, is although I'm working myself as hard as I can on the weights for strength, and have not missed a day of cardio or weight training yet - I still have somehow managed to gain 2 lbs over the last two weeks. I am eating the following: breakfast either a egg and cheese, or a piece of turkey wrapped around a cheese stick I take a one-a-day all day energy Vitamin during the "drinking period" lunch is a chicken breast sandwich, every day. The bread is natures choice 8 grain wheat... the healthiest I could find. dinner is normally a cheese sausage thing. They have around 150 calories and 2 carbs, with a good amount of protien. They taste pretty good without any bread as well. I drink only Water, most of the time with pink lemonade mix in it that has 5 calories a glass and no sugar or carbs. The only splurges I've had is twice I've drank alchohol. I was actually drunk for the first time in my life. It took like 4 shots and I was gone. Which was... unexpected. Now it's mardi gras weekend and I know I can't drink anything with my friends because I'm gaining wieght the way it is. They told me not to limit my food intake myself, let my stomach do it... but I'm obviously doing something wrong, and I'm becoming discouraged. I had the lapband because of back problems... the 6-8 ibuprofin I used to eat for pain everyday before the surgery isnt applicable now. The doctor told me my stomach didnt look great and no more NSAID's. I cannot get back surgery until my weight is down around 200. So in the meantime, I'm just living with the pain. That is the only reason I'm in such a hurry to get the weight off. Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone else at this point started gaining weight back? I swear I'm a stickler on my diet, I never eat anything other than what's listed above... so I'm wondering if what I listed above is just a bad diet. Is gaining a couple of lbs in a couple of weeks time not a big deal really? I have lost 25lbs, but 22 of those were when I was on Soups and had no protien intake. I'm very open to any suggestions. Thanks