BlueCrush

A bit about me: I had the sleeve surgery in December 2017 period. I've lost a total of 181 pounds since last May, and now I'm looking to gain some muscle mass. I'm currently sitting at 225lbs pounds and 6'2.5" tall.
So many unanswered questions of not been able to find good responses to. Things such as how to start eating any calorie surplus now that I want to add muscle. Will I be able to eat enough to add muscle? Follow me on this thread and I will track my journey for any others that may follow the same path.
Starting status:
8/17/18 - 225lbs

Very similar to my experience. My doctor never mentioned weight loss surgery to me, but when I brought it up, he was 100% on board with it.

I'm late to the thread, but I we'll also chimed in that your problem is likely also that you're not eating enough. I'm six foot three, and currently at about 225 lb. It is taking me a long time, like 8 months, to get from 220 to 225 by adding 5 lb of muscle. I found that my maintenance calories are in about 2800, and I have to eat about 3,500 to gain weight. Even healthy muscle weight.

I'm late to the thread, but I we'll also chimed in that your problem is likely also that you're not eating enough. I'm six foot three, and currently at about 225 lb. It is taking me a long time, like 8 months, to get from 220 to 225 by adding 5 lb of muscle. I found that my maintenance calories are in about 2800, and I have to eat about 3,500 to gain weight. Even healthy muscle weight.

Willingness to treat you and follow up after out of the country surgery depends on your doctor, and does vary greatly doctor to doctor. You need to consult with your primary care physician to see if they are willing to do this, and if not, find a different primary care physician before your surgery.

Three pics:
The day before VSG (already down 88lbs from my high weight of 406lbs
At my goal weight of 225lbs, with all the loose skin
2 weeks after plastic surgery to remove the loose skin. Still at 225lbs. Still a little swollen from surgery.

One year out from surgery.

Three pics:
The day before VSG (already down 88lbs from my high weight of 406lbs
At my goal weight of 225lbs, with all the loose skin
2 weeks after plastic surgery to remove the loose skin. Still at 225lbs. Still a little swollen from surgery.

A bit about me: I had the sleeve surgery in December 2017 period. I've lost a total of 181 pounds since last May, and now I'm looking to gain some muscle mass. I'm currently sitting at 225lbs pounds and 6'2.5" tall.
So many unanswered questions of not been able to find good responses to. Things such as how to start eating any calorie surplus now that I want to add muscle. Will I be able to eat enough to add muscle? Follow me on this thread and I will track my journey for any others that may follow the same path.
Starting status:
8/17/18 - 225lbs

Today was legs day:
3 sets of dumbbell lunges
3 sets of machine hamstring curls
3 sets of dumbbell squats
3 sets of dumbbell calf raises
3 sets of machine leg press
3 sets of machine leg extensions

Today's top workout tracks:
Nothing More - Don't Stop
Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country
Volbeat - Seal the Deal

Legs current state:

PWMDMD,
I'm late to the thread, but yes, everything you said in your original OP! I'm 6ft 3in and 225 lb, and was in that same awkward boat where my bariatric nutrition didn't know what to do with me. They were wanting me to eat about 1500 calories a day for maintenance, and that was just not going to happen as I could not stop losing weight at those calories. Once I got down to about 220, I was trying to GAIN weight (muscle), and they just could not comprehend a post-weight loss surgery patient wanting to GAIN weight. In fairness, they deal with mostly women who have no interest in gaining muscle, and also a majority of their patients never actually hit their weight-loss target, so never get out of "weight loss" mode. At the same time, when I was talking to trainers at my gym, they were recommending I eat like 4000 calories a day to gain muscle, and that also wasn't happening with me just because of physical limitations of my sleeved stomach.
What I ended up having to do, it's just a whole lot of trial-and-error myself. I found that I maintain weight at about 2800 calories a day. I did end up putting on about 5 lb of muscle weight, but it took me almost 7 months to do that while eating about 3200- 3300 calories per day and 160-180g of protein/day. It was slooooow going.
I was not a weightlifter prior to bariatric surgery, but got into it big time about six months after the sleeve. I lift weights 6 days per week, and have gone through a few different programs at this point. My lifts went up quickly over the first 9 months or so, and then progress came much slower, which is normal for someone first getting into weightlifting I suppose.
I haven't been able to lift in about 4 weeks because I had plastic surgery to remove loose skin. Surgeon says no weight lifting until 8 weeks post plastic surgery. When I left off, my one rep max was bench-205, squat-320, deadlift-315. My bench has always lagged significantly behind my squat and deadlift.
But yeah, it seems to be a very limited number of people in our boat who are post bariatric surgery, but trying to get into bodybuilding / weightlifting. The bariatric offices don't seem to know what to do with us, and neither do the traditional trainers / nutritionist who have never worked with bariatric patients.

Today was legs day:
3 sets of dumbbell lunges
3 sets of machine hamstring curls
3 sets of dumbbell squats
3 sets of dumbbell calf raises
3 sets of machine leg press
3 sets of machine leg extensions

Today's top workout tracks:
Nothing More - Don't Stop
Avenged Sevenfold - Bat Country
Volbeat - Seal the Deal

Legs current state:

@oldbriannomore Your a beast brother. Look great. Hope to one day come close to looking that good.
@BlueCrush Good to see and hear from you. Congrats on the plastics and gotta say looks great so far. Good to hear the pain is minimal and Happy Healing!!!!

405 on the DL. Working for 500!!!

Blue! Killing it brother.
I am 3 years post and have been powerlifting. This is after 2 years of doing OCR! I think we need to start a bariatric strength group!

The stats: HW 356, CW 214
Lifts: Sw - 315 Bench - 205 DL - 405 (also going for the 1000 total. First comp in 2 weeks!!!)

Oh my....finally......i have found my people!!!!!
So... i had surgery in 2016 (sleeve). Went from 356 to 179. At 179 my doc told me to hit the gym (probably 8 months post). I too found the guru that is Jim Stoppani and started following his programs. I started putting on weight and got terrified. I added 30lbs!!! But wait....my waitsline didnt change...WOOHOO!!!
So yes, i doo agree that dieticians and nutritionists have no idea what to do with those of us who train for strength but have a physical nutritional restriction. So thats where we have to help each other! Since surgery i have run over 10 obstacle course races (Spartan, Tough Mudder, etc) of lengths from 3 miles to 13 miles. I also participated in my first half marathon.
But now....I am a powerlifter!!! My lifts currently are bench-215, Squat-315, DL-405. I eat a ton!!! 3000 cal a day. Its a job in and of itself as i probably eat 7 meals a day as well as supplementation with shakes. Its not easy, but to build the size and strength i need, its neccessary.

We should totally start a group for bariatric lifters / bodybuilders.

PWMDMD,
I'm late to the thread, but yes, everything you said in your original OP! I'm 6ft 3in and 225 lb, and was in that same awkward boat where my bariatric nutrition didn't know what to do with me. They were wanting me to eat about 1500 calories a day for maintenance, and that was just not going to happen as I could not stop losing weight at those calories. Once I got down to about 220, I was trying to GAIN weight (muscle), and they just could not comprehend a post-weight loss surgery patient wanting to GAIN weight. In fairness, they deal with mostly women who have no interest in gaining muscle, and also a majority of their patients never actually hit their weight-loss target, so never get out of "weight loss" mode. At the same time, when I was talking to trainers at my gym, they were recommending I eat like 4000 calories a day to gain muscle, and that also wasn't happening with me just because of physical limitations of my sleeved stomach.
What I ended up having to do, it's just a whole lot of trial-and-error myself. I found that I maintain weight at about 2800 calories a day. I did end up putting on about 5 lb of muscle weight, but it took me almost 7 months to do that while eating about 3200- 3300 calories per day and 160-180g of protein/day. It was slooooow going.
I was not a weightlifter prior to bariatric surgery, but got into it big time about six months after the sleeve. I lift weights 6 days per week, and have gone through a few different programs at this point. My lifts went up quickly over the first 9 months or so, and then progress came much slower, which is normal for someone first getting into weightlifting I suppose.
I haven't been able to lift in about 4 weeks because I had plastic surgery to remove loose skin. Surgeon says no weight lifting until 8 weeks post plastic surgery. When I left off, my one rep max was bench-205, squat-320, deadlift-315. My bench has always lagged significantly behind my squat and deadlift.
But yeah, it seems to be a very limited number of people in our boat who are post bariatric surgery, but trying to get into bodybuilding / weightlifting. The bariatric offices don't seem to know what to do with us, and neither do the traditional trainers / nutritionist who have never worked with bariatric patients.

Willingness to treat you and follow up after out of the country surgery depends on your doctor, and does vary greatly doctor to doctor. You need to consult with your primary care physician to see if they are willing to do this, and if not, find a different primary care physician before your surgery.

self pay Bariatric Pay Mexico.
https://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/486-mexico-self-pay-weight-loss-surgery/
The owner of this site (Alex) bariatricpal will delete any negative reviews of bariatric pal Mexico off this site. Note a surgeon has left their employment. Many have not received their refunds and the office and Alex are not giving explanations.
Please read the reviews on this link from yelp . The owners and affiliates cannot edit or censor comments from clients.
https://www.yelp.com/biz/bariatricpal-tijuana
Alex will most likely delete this post.

Three pics:
The day before VSG (already down 88lbs from my high weight of 406lbs
At my goal weight of 225lbs, with all the loose skin
2 weeks after plastic surgery to remove the loose skin. Still at 225lbs. Still a little swollen from surgery.

Almost 2 years to the day separate these photos.
Me at 406lbs on Memorial Day 2017 in the pic to the left. I started my diet and exercise journey the day after Memorial Day 2017. I lost 88lbs through diet and exercise, then had VSG surgery on 12/11/17 and got down to 220lbs by August 2018. I added 5lbs back in muscle with my weight lifting routine, and just had skin removal surgery on 5/2/19. Currently sitting at 225lbs on the pic to the right. Still a bit swollen and healing from the skin removal surgery.
Guy's over 400lbs, IF I CAN DO THIS, SO CAN YOU!!!

Almost 2 years to the day separate these photos.
Me at 406lbs on Memorial Day 2017 in the pic to the left. I started my diet and exercise journey the day after Memorial Day 2017. I lost 88lbs through diet and exercise, then had VSG surgery on 12/11/17 and got down to 220lbs by August 2018. I added 5lbs back in muscle with my weight lifting routine, and just had skin removal surgery on 5/2/19. Currently sitting at 225lbs on the pic to the right. Still a bit swollen and healing from the skin removal surgery.
Guy's over 400lbs, IF I CAN DO THIS, SO CAN YOU!!!

What an inspiration!!! Congrats @BlueCrush . Heal well brother!!!

Almost 2 years to the day separate these photos.
Me at 406lbs on Memorial Day 2017 in the pic to the left. I started my diet and exercise journey the day after Memorial Day 2017. I lost 88lbs through diet and exercise, then had VSG surgery on 12/11/17 and got down to 220lbs by August 2018. I added 5lbs back in muscle with my weight lifting routine, and just had skin removal surgery on 5/2/19. Currently sitting at 225lbs on the pic to the right. Still a bit swollen and healing from the skin removal surgery.
Guy's over 400lbs, IF I CAN DO THIS, SO CAN YOU!!!

I'm still around, but haven't been able to work out in about a month due to recovering from plastic surgery. I have about another month or go before om cleared to work out.
I haven't been very active on here as I'm a little salty that BariatricPal's Mexico hospital screwed me out of a $1,000 deposit after their surgeon left their company. I don't want to get into that in this thread, or the admins will just delete this thread like they did the others where I've discussed it.
Update pic post plastic surgery: