vikingbeast

I keep telling my fiancé I'm gonna be his arm candy. This gives me hope that it'll be true.

Well, this certainly went in an unexpected direction.

I think the OP basically wanted us to tell her that there was some way for her to both lose her weight and make no further changes (because "sacrifices suck").

I did want to add one thing, though, for the future people who read this. Your body can carry an INSANE amount of poop. So the OP, starting her post-colon-cleanse weight, already was down as much as ten pounds (I 💩 you not!) just from having it all out of her.

And it doesn't matter which scale you use as long as you use the same scale every time.

Part of the dumbbell thing is because your core is not fully healed. You lose a lot of core strength. I would imagine your strict press is also way off. And sit-ups are probably not your friend, nor toes-to-rig.

I’m 1y9m post op and it took probably a year before I started to feel strong again. I may never hit my old PRs, my days of deadlifting 545 for reps are probably gone, but my mile time went from 14:48 to 9:33, I can do rope climbs, I can bust out V-ups and the occasional strict pull-up, and I’m a hell of a lot healthier.

We did strict press for the first time in a while, sets of 2. My previous 1RM was 195 and my previous 2RM was 175. I did 155 today for 2 and that was after a 12-minute AMRAP of double unders (another thing I can do now) and toes to bar (close but no cigar).

I noticed I’m more sore after grueling workouts. (I’m almost 47, so read into that what you will.)

It does come back. I lost a lot of muscle mass (yay for DEXA scans) during my weight loss phase. I’ve put on about 17 lbs since my low and 9 of them were muscle per the latest DEXA.

I was allowed back at extremely limited capacity (no more than 10 lbs. and NO ab or core work) after two weeks. I was allowed to lift after 6 weeks. Your strength will take a dive temporarily because you simply won't be able to eat enough to power serious lifts. It was probably 12-16 weeks before I really started to feel like "myself" in the gym.

BUT... wait until you see just how much easier the rest of it becomes. My mile time went from 14 minutes to 9 minutes. I went from having to do single "grief burpees" (step out and step in) to being able to chain 20 actual burpees. I'm closer to a pull-up than I've ever been.

My strength isn't what it was before, but I'm also not training the way I was before. My deadlift went down about 25%; squat too; bench is down about 30%. I miss the days of a 675 deadlift, but I'd rather have the health markers I have now, and the endurance, and the ability to do bodyweight things. I took my L1 and am now coaching, and helping others to love their bodies for what they can do.

So my first NSV for the week is making me scratch my head. I'm still losing, which is nice, but I had to return a pair of American Eagle brand shorts because they were too large—apparently I'm a size medium now. The idea of a six-foot-tall, 268-pound man being a medium in ANYTHING clothing related is just too bizarre for words. I expected it in Carhartt work t-shirts because they're like Chucks, they're known to run very large and you have to size down. But a teenage clothing line??
But that's not the weird NSV. The weird NSV requires some backstory.
I live in a two-story home that is a little older (by local standards; stop laughing, Europeans).
My beloved offspring's bedroom is directly above the doorbell—the actual thing that makes the chime sound itself.
Whenever I would walk across her room, my weight would compress the floor and press down on the wall that the doorbell mechanism is mounted on, and because of how it's wired, the doorbell would ring.
It took me WEEKS after we moved in to figure out what the heck was happening. I'd be putting her to bed and the doorbell would ring. She'd wake up and need Water or to chase away a nightmare at 2:30 a.m., and I'd walk in and... the doorbell would ring. Freaked me out!
Well, the other day I was putting clean laundry on her bed ("put it away yourself!") and I noticed that I don't make the doorbell ring anymore. Not even if I hop up and down on the spot. Nothing else has changed except the size of me, and so... weird non-scale victory!

Been a while since I checked in. A friend of mine said, "You know, if you do a French tuck*, you can show off those belt buckles of yours. You're slim enough now."
I am not convinced this is the style for me (feels like I wasn't paying attention after pulling my pants up and accidentally buttoned them around my shirt), but damn if it didn't feel nice to actually be able to do it. So here I am, another almost 40 lbs. down, 39 to go. Three quarters of the way to goal.

* French tuck - you tuck in the front but not the back. I know no French people who do this, but maybe it's named after Tan France instead of France France.

Well, this certainly went in an unexpected direction.

I think the OP basically wanted us to tell her that there was some way for her to both lose her weight and make no further changes (because "sacrifices suck").

I did want to add one thing, though, for the future people who read this. Your body can carry an INSANE amount of poop. So the OP, starting her post-colon-cleanse weight, already was down as much as ten pounds (I 💩 you not!) just from having it all out of her.

And it doesn't matter which scale you use as long as you use the same scale every time.

My coach said to think of this is a months-long cutting phase... and just like with any cutting phase, the muscle will return.

I was allowed back at extremely limited capacity (no more than 10 lbs. and NO ab or core work) after two weeks. I was allowed to lift after 6 weeks. Your strength will take a dive temporarily because you simply won't be able to eat enough to power serious lifts. It was probably 12-16 weeks before I really started to feel like "myself" in the gym.

BUT... wait until you see just how much easier the rest of it becomes. My mile time went from 14 minutes to 9 minutes. I went from having to do single "grief burpees" (step out and step in) to being able to chain 20 actual burpees. I'm closer to a pull-up than I've ever been.

My strength isn't what it was before, but I'm also not training the way I was before. My deadlift went down about 25%; squat too; bench is down about 30%. I miss the days of a 675 deadlift, but I'd rather have the health markers I have now, and the endurance, and the ability to do bodyweight things. I took my L1 and am now coaching, and helping others to love their bodies for what they can do.

I am The Most Unlikely CrossFitter (started at my heaviest weight) and also mourned the enforced detention from the barbell.
I was told absolutely no weight at all for two weeks, walk only. After my two-week visit, I was cleared to for running, jumping rope, and biking (but not rowing, just because of the mechanics of it) and given a 10-lb. restriction which I will freely admit I stretched to 15 lbs so I could use a training bar. I went back to the gym and modified things heavily.
I was cleared to return to the gym fully at 6 weeks which was last week. I strongly, strongly suggest you plan to go slow as you return. If you used to go five days a week, go 2-3. If you went 3 days a week, go 1-2.
Scale. Absolutely. Everything. Your body will hurt just like it did when you started, and after the gyms reopened post-quarantine. We are finishing a strength cycle that I wasn't here for, so I'll just be kind of doing moderate weight and seeing how my mechanics have changed (cleans feel TOTALLY different), and will start the next strength cycle.
I will say that my running got better IMMEDIATELY. I went from a 14-minute mile where I had to stop and use an inhaler, to an 11-minute mile in just four weeks, and my inhaler is in a drawer. I ran an 800 m in under 5 minutes and didn't die. I actually can't wait to see how much closer I can get to a pull-up or a toes-to-bar with the increased mobility and less of a leaden weight in my @$$.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I was able to pull 60% of my heavy deadlift for 5 reps absolutely cold the week I returned. Will there be strength loss? Probably. But it's not as bad as I feared.

I will say that I had GERD more often earlier after surgery because I wasn't yet used to how I need to eat and drink. I'd eat or drink too fast and then WHOOPS here comes the acid! Now that I know what I need to do, I only have a little bit. I think I've taken Pepcid once in a month.

You look fantastic!! How do you feel?

Since I am now halfway between my heavy weight and my goal weight, I thought I'd show myself. I lost 26 lbs. on my own, then 9 lbs. on the pre-op diet, and 41 lbs. so far since surgery (five weeks ago). I only "see" the changes when I look at before-and-after pictures. I'm starting to see what I'll look like further along and I ain't mad about it.

76 lbs. down, 76 to go.

What a difference!!

Insane transformation!! Congratulations!

That's an incredible change! Well done!

Been a while since I checked in. A friend of mine said, "You know, if you do a French tuck*, you can show off those belt buckles of yours. You're slim enough now."
I am not convinced this is the style for me (feels like I wasn't paying attention after pulling my pants up and accidentally buttoned them around my shirt), but damn if it didn't feel nice to actually be able to do it. So here I am, another almost 40 lbs. down, 39 to go. Three quarters of the way to goal.

* French tuck - you tuck in the front but not the back. I know no French people who do this, but maybe it's named after Tan France instead of France France.

The picture on the right was yesterday; the one on the left was me close to my fattest. I'm eight months post-op and still losing weight, albeit much more slowly now. I was wearing size 46 pants that barely buttoned around my waist on the left; size 32 on the right. Size 4XL shirt on the left, L on the right. (The left is blurry because I had to crop and it didn't do it nicely. You can still see puh-lenty!)

Whole bunch of non-scale victories lately.
1. I am no longer morbidly obese because my BMI is under 40. Combined with the resolution of my comorbidities, I no longer qualify for surgery. 😁
2. My A1c is 5.1. A physician friend of mine said he hasn't seen anyone under 5.4 in a long time.
3. I needed to get into the bed of the ranch truck today and the tailgate was blocked off... so I went over the side using the (not small) tire. My balance is so much better!
4. I can do burpees like I'm on springs now, at least 10 in a row. Before I would do what are popularly known as "grief burpees" (look it up on Google Video search).
5. I got in trouble with my sleep doctor. It took me 6 weeks to get a video appointment and my CPAP (technically APAP) was choking me with all the air it was putting out. It's locked down, so I found the manual (in Russian), translated it, guessed the password, and reset the lower bound. I sleep better now (and my suspicion was correct, previous range was 10-20 cm H2O, now that I've lowered it, I average about 8 over a night).
6. I ran a mile for the first time ever in my entire life. It wasn't very fast (10:26) but it was a real mile and there was no walking or stopping.

I went to the dentist yesterday and the hygienist just... put the arms up on the chair. I fit in the chair!

Well, this certainly went in an unexpected direction.

I think the OP basically wanted us to tell her that there was some way for her to both lose her weight and make no further changes (because "sacrifices suck").

I did want to add one thing, though, for the future people who read this. Your body can carry an INSANE amount of poop. So the OP, starting her post-colon-cleanse weight, already was down as much as ten pounds (I 💩 you not!) just from having it all out of her.

And it doesn't matter which scale you use as long as you use the same scale every time.

Hospital Ángeles is the best hospital in Tijuana... you were in good hands and I hope you're recovering well!

What a difference!!

The picture on the right was yesterday; the one on the left was me close to my fattest. I'm eight months post-op and still losing weight, albeit much more slowly now. I was wearing size 46 pants that barely buttoned around my waist on the left; size 32 on the right. Size 4XL shirt on the left, L on the right. (The left is blurry because I had to crop and it didn't do it nicely. You can still see puh-lenty!)

I am The Most Unlikely CrossFitter (started at my heaviest weight) and also mourned the enforced detention from the barbell.
I was told absolutely no weight at all for two weeks, walk only. After my two-week visit, I was cleared to for running, jumping rope, and biking (but not rowing, just because of the mechanics of it) and given a 10-lb. restriction which I will freely admit I stretched to 15 lbs so I could use a training bar. I went back to the gym and modified things heavily.
I was cleared to return to the gym fully at 6 weeks which was last week. I strongly, strongly suggest you plan to go slow as you return. If you used to go five days a week, go 2-3. If you went 3 days a week, go 1-2.
Scale. Absolutely. Everything. Your body will hurt just like it did when you started, and after the gyms reopened post-quarantine. We are finishing a strength cycle that I wasn't here for, so I'll just be kind of doing moderate weight and seeing how my mechanics have changed (cleans feel TOTALLY different), and will start the next strength cycle.
I will say that my running got better IMMEDIATELY. I went from a 14-minute mile where I had to stop and use an inhaler, to an 11-minute mile in just four weeks, and my inhaler is in a drawer. I ran an 800 m in under 5 minutes and didn't die. I actually can't wait to see how much closer I can get to a pull-up or a toes-to-bar with the increased mobility and less of a leaden weight in my @$$.

Oh, and for what it's worth, I was able to pull 60% of my heavy deadlift for 5 reps absolutely cold the week I returned. Will there be strength loss? Probably. But it's not as bad as I feared.