SpartanMaker

Gỏi Gá (Vietnamese Chicken Salad):

Just smugly show them the article I shared earlier and tell them how you're just following the science! Look, I get it. it seems like common sense that we should stretch before we exercise to reduce the risk of tearing something during exercise. Sometimes, things that seem like common sense, actually aren't correct. I think this is one of those times. The reality is we don't actually acutely change our muscle length when we stretch. Think about it: we don't make our muscles stronger from a single bout of strength training. It takes repetition and time. The same is true regarding making them longer. A single bout of stretching won't actually lengthen muscle tissue. so it doesn't actually do anything to increase range of motion or reduce injury risk. At the risk of getting too "sciency", there are receptors called Golgi Tendon Organs (GTO), that detect changes in muscle tension and force. The main job of these sensors is to inhibit muscle contraction when excessive tension is detected. If this didn't happen, you could easily tear a muscle or tendon. What's really happening when we stretch is that we are increasing our neuromuscular tolerance to range of motion by "reprogramming" the GTO as to where the limits are. Because this is not actually a lengthened muscle, there is no protective effect from stretching. In short, dynamic warm ups and easing into your lifts is the smart way to prepare for lifting. If you want to do static stretching, save it for after.

Always good advice to hire a pro! I know for some that's just not feasible, either due to cost or availability.

I totally get the counting reps thing. I sometimes feel the exact same way, so you're not alone there. I did want to have you clarify something else if you don't mind? You didn't mention any specific goals for wanting to lift, other than you were told you're supposed to do it. Is that really the only reason you're thinking about lifting? Sometimes having strong motivators can overcome the negative feels about a behavior, I mention this because if there was something else that was driving you to want to strength train, it might go a long way toward getting you lifting. If there's not really anything else, that's fine too, it just means the key for you may lie in "non-traditional" strength training. What's "non-traditional" strength training? Well, it can mean a lot of things, but the first thing that came to mind was Yoga. Depending on the style of yoga you choose, you can get quite strong. Since yoga is primarily isometric training, there are typically no sets and reps to count, you simply hold poses. In person classes would be the best place to start IMO, but there are online things available as well. I just think the instruction available via a class is worth the extra expense. Plus, there is value in suffering together, as that can be really motivating for some people and help keep them compliant. If it's just online, some people find it really easy to skip. You know you though and know which might be better for you. Another option to consider if yoga's not your thing would be fitness classes like Les Mills, Orange Theory, or even crossfit. I'm already on record for saying I'm not a fan of crossfit (mostly because it comes across as really cultish), but if it gets you out there and moving, please do crossfit! As far as traditional exercise classes, some are going to really just be cardio based, but some of them do emphasize at least some strength work into the class. Note that these types of classes are a lot more likely to use sets and reps, but typically the instructor will be the one counting, so all you really have to do is follow along. Just like yoga, the social aspect of this type of class can also be really great to keep people motivated and returning. Next up in the non-traditional arena would be certain sports like rowing, swimming, gymnastics or martial arts. Sure these aren't traditionally thought of as resistance training, but you can get quite strong participating in them recreationally and they would contrast nicely with the exercise you're already doing. Finally, I'm going to mention something that's somewhere in between a fitness class and traditional strength training. This would be some combination of functional fitness, calisthenics & plyometric training. Don't worry about the terminology for now. The idea here would be designing a workout that has you do a specific type of exercise until failure, rather than using defined sets and reps. This means no counting. You simply do an exercise until you can't anymore. Alternately you do them for a specific amount of time such as one minute. You can use an app on your phone to time yourself if doing the "by time" method, so again no counting. The observant among you will recognize that this is very "crossfit-like". Again, I don't hate on the approach, I think it can be effective depending on your goals. What I take issue with are the zealots that think EVERYONE must do crossfit, or that if you don't do crossfit, you're somehow exercising wrong. Crossfit type workouts can get you quite strong, but are typically less effective at muscle hypertrophy and are not that great at building muscular endurance. Anyway, just my thoughts so far.

Goat yoga, now there's something high on my list to try... Not! I'm thinking there's a blog in your future titled Dub's Dating Adventures. I'd read it for sure!

Yea, honestly a lot of people just want to get in and out of the gym and not be bothered. One thing you might try though would be group fitness classes at the gym. As a general rule, people are a bit more open to talking to others in these classes and as a bonus, they tend to be dominated by women. Yoga might be another option since most yoga classes are like 90% or more women. Just be aware, there may be a higher percentage in yoga classes that are vegan or otherwise won't be happy with your penchant to hunt.

I don't think I have a whole lot to add @Dub, other than to say good luck in your search! Actually, I guess I will throw out one thing? Keep in mind I've been married 36 years, so anything I say may not apply in this day and age, but I was told by a wise man many years ago to seek a partner that has similar interests. He said the best way to do that is in social settings where people are pursuing those interests. Whether it's church, a bowling league, your local gym, or a book club, your shared interests help build bonds. Especially if an active lifestyle is important to you, things like your local running club can be great places to meet people. I mention running clubs specifically because they have a bit of a rep for actually being quasi dating clubs.

Welcome! I'm not sure what surgery you are considering, but as food for thought, Gastric Bypass does have significantly better rates of type 2 diabetes remission: https://www.facs.org/media-center/press-releases/2024/gastric-bypass-improves-long-term-diabetes-remission-even-after-weight-recurrence/ I personally went off all my diabetes meds about 2 weeks after surgery.

The current recommendation would be a dynamic full body warm-up followed by slowly ramping up the weight for each specific lift. If you want to do static stretching, please do it after lifting, not before. There's quite a bit of evidence that static stretching before does not reduce injury risk, but it does limit maximal force production. In other words, if you do static stretching before resistance training, you are going to reduce how much weight you can lift. That will negatively impact the training effect. https://www.nsca.com/education/articles/kinetic-select/static-stretching-and-performance

Agreed on that point! If body comp is your goal, cardio before would generally be a bad idea and would be worse than after, as you discovered. My point was it would be even better to not do any cardio AT ALL on your leg days. Not before and not after. Now if you can maybe separate it by 6-8 hours then the negative impact would be significantly reduced. In other words, if you really feel like you HAVE to do both on the same day, then I'd suggest lifting in the morning and doing your cardio that evening.

@AmberFL thanks for posting. You are definitely working hard (maybe too hard? ) I can definitely see the influence of crossfit into your workouts. I'm personally not a fan of crossfit, but you do you. It seems like most of the workouts emphasize supersets or short rests in order to make them burn more fat. Nothing wrong with that approach as long as fat burning is the main goal, but it does mute strength and hypertrophy gains. Some of those also have way more sets and reps than I'd consider ideal for muscle growth. It order to get that much volume in, you'd have to use lighter weights than what I would typically recommend for hypertrophy. The net effect is that those workouts are a lot more focused on muscular endurance. Nothing wrong with that, but it may not be what you actually are wanting from your workouts, especially since you're already doing a fair amount of cardio work as well. After all, one of the main benefits of cardio is not just strengthening your cardiovascular system, it's in increasing your overall muscular and aerobic endurance, which is highly correlated with an increased lifespan. To be honest, I also don't love doing 30+ minutes of cardio after strength training, especially on leg days. I know a lot of people do that, but the science is pretty clear that doing so can reduce your gains. If growing your glutes is a major goal, I'd probably advise skipping cardio on your leg days and maybe doing more cardio on non-lifting days to make up for it. Remember, you don't actually get any stronger or grow any muscle when you're lifting. It's AFTER your strength training when you're resting that your muscles and nervous system adapt to the training you've done. By following strength training with cardio, you're basically turning off certain metabolic and neuromuscular pathways and suppressing the very systems that should be focused on repairing and building new muscle tissue. Is it a huge issue? Honestly probably not. If you like doing that, more power to you as long as you do understand that you're not going to see quite as much muscle growth.

One other thing I should have added is to schedule in a deload week every 4 to 6 weeks. For the deload week, I want you to do ONE of the following: Just do the 4 core exercises and skip the accessory exercises Reduce the working weight. In other words if you were doing a particular lift at 100kg, you might do this particular exercise at 70 or 75 kg instead. Do the same for all the exercises Keep the weight the same, but reduce the number of sets to two instead of three for each exercise The main reason for this is to program in some additional rest since it's actually when resting that you grow and get stronger. It's totally up to you which one of the approaches above to use. Pick whatever sounds best to you.

Me as well, though I have to admit I was a little slow on the uptake! At first I was wondering why @JamalR93 was donating old clothes to the gym! I suspect this was just my frame of mind since I just recently did another sweep of the closet looking for old "fat" clothes for donation to Goodwill. @JamalR93 Welcome! I'm impressed by your approach. Too few people actually seek to really understand both the good and bad of bariatric surgery before charging in. I think you'll do well since you already know that this is just a tool and the real change is the one that has to happen between your ears.

Strength training is strongly recommended for everyone just from a general health perspective, though I hear you about hating lifting. Some people love it and some don't, and that's okay. Keep in mind the recommendations above for @Bypass2Freedom may not (in fact probably are not), appropriate for you. Depending on your goals for wanting to lift, and what specifically you do or don't like about lifting, I might be able to come up with something a bit more appropriate?

Absolutely, I'm happy to help! For the record, this isn't necessarily a "balanced" program. A balanced program that methodically hits every muscle isn't typically what most women want, so I did make some assumptions here. I admit I over-rotated a bit toward the glutes, since in my experience that's what most women want to prioritize. That said, we don't want to hit your glutes so hard that you can't recover, nor do we want to completely neglect all your other muscles. That's why we're hitting glutes hard twice on Day 2, but only once on Day 1. I didn't touch on nutrition above, but I did want to point out it can be REALLY hard to grow new muscle mass if you're still eating in a deficit. This is even more true for women since it's a lot harder for women to grow muscle in the first place. Just keep this in mind as you progress through this. I also don't really recommend supplements that often (even though I take a lot of them personally), but if you want to grow some muscle mass, Creatine Monohydrate at 5mg per day would be strongly recommended. This is probably the single most studied supplement there is and it's both very safe and very effective. It's found naturally in many foods, but to get to the recommended amount of 5mg, you'd have to eat WAY more food than any of us can realistically eat.

It's really hard to properly design a workout program remotely since a lot of the things I would normally recommend would require some instruction. I also have no idea what sort of equipment you have available. That said, I'll try my best. Workout Splits: You really need to hit all the major muscle groups at least twice a week and preferably three times. Currently you're not doing this since you're doing an upper/lower split and training twice a week. That means most of your muscles are only getting hit once a week which is not sufficient for growth. If you can only lift twice a week, each of those days needs to be a full body routine. If you want to continue doing upper/lower splits, you'd need to lift 4 days a week (2 upper & 2 lower). There are other ways to break up workouts such as a Full/Upper/Lower, but those are really considered to be more advanced techniques so not really needed at this point. Out of all the possible options, I'd probably suggest Full Body on Mon/Wed/Fri as the most sensible. You'll get the best hypertrophy from that as a newer lifter. Exercise Selection & Programming: I'm going to base my suggestions off the premise that you'll be doing a full body workout as suggested. I also mostly picked from the exercises you were already doing because there's nothing wrong with those exercises and I assume you already know how to do them. Day 1: Lat Pulldown -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Leg Press -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Chest Press -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Hip Thrust -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Bicep Curls -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Calf Raises -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Tricep Pulldowns -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Day 2: Upright Row (Cable or machine) -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Hack Squat (or Leg Press if not available) - 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Incline Chest Press (flat is also fine if this is not an option. I mostly picked this because it will hit the upper pecs a bit more, as well as pull in the shoulders) -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Smith Machine Elevated Reverse Lunge (if needed, Hip Thrusts will be fine as well but single leg work is great for a lot of reasons) -- 3 x 8-10 @ 70-75% of 1RM with 1-2 RIR Machine or Cable Fly -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Pallof Press (Cable or Bands) -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Kickbacks (Machine or Cable) -- 3 x 12-15 @ 65-70% of 1RM with 2 RIR Notes: Make sure you introduce this workout plan SLOWLY. For the first two weeks, only do exercises 1-4 on each day. It's also fine to do a bit lighter weight than what I listed for those first 2 weeks. Make sure you're warming up properly. One of the biggest mistakes newer lifters make is not understanding how to warm up for lifting. Do some light cardio for 5-10 minutes, then do some dynamic stretching. Also, before starting your work sets, do one set at ~20% of 1RM, one set at about 40%-50%, and then maybe another at about 55-60%. This means you'll end up doing five to six sets total for each exercise. I'd probably suggest 20-40-60% for the first 4 exercise, and 20-50% for the last 3 exercises. The numbers like 75% of 1RM mean to do the exercise at that percentage of your 1 rep maximum. In other words, you need to determine what the maximum amount you can lift is and then do the math to determine how much weight you should be lifting for that exercise. RIR means Reps In Reserve. If it says 1-2 RIR, the idea is you need to be going until you think you can only do 1 or 2 more without failing. This is important because we don't want to go all the way to failure most of the time. Doing so creates a lot of load on our central nervous system and makes recovery more challenging. You'll notice that I changed the # of reps, % of 1RM and RIR for the last few exercises. This is because these are what we call "accessory exercises" and are somewhat less important. I want you to focus on the first 4 exercises the most. I didn't prescribe rest intervals on purpose. Between sets, just take a few minutes to let your body recover. If you find you can't get through the next set, try resting longer next time. Because there are day 1 and day 2 exercises, but 3 days a week you'll be lifting, you need to simply alternate. This means week 1, you'd do Day 1 on Monday, Day 2 on Wednesday and Day 1 again on Friday. The next week, you'd do Day 2 on Monday & Friday and Day 1 on Wednesday. it's important that you continue to push yourself in terms of the weight you are doing. We call this progressive overload. If the exercises start to feel easier, you need to increase the weight. If you don't, you'll stop growing. Rest is CRITICAL, so I'd suggest skipping the Les Mills classes. I just don't think you can properly do the above exercises at the weight you should be doing them at, and then turn around and participate in a class like that. I'd expect you to be worn out after the above sessions, and if you're not, then you're not lifting heavy enough. Don't do this for more than ~3 months. At that point, you need to change things up again. No lifting program is perfect and all of them will have some areas that could be done better. Further, some people respond better to certain exercises and not others. This is why having a trainer is honestly the best way since they can judge how well you are responding to certain things . We change things every now and again to even out imbalances, as well as make sure you are not stagnating. If you just don't like any of the exercise selections, there are always alternatives because regardless of what social media may have led you to believe, there's no such thing as "the best" exercise for any specific body part. This means if you find that one of these just isn't working, or you just can't stand doing it, we can change it. If you do stop the Les Mills classes, you may need to up the cardio work. I'd ideally like to see a minimum of 3 hours a week (3 one hour sessions), though don't try to jump to that amount right away. It would also be good to mix up the type of cardio you're doing, While uphill walking on a treadmill is good for you, it's pretty one dimensional. I'm obviously a big fan of running, but if that's not something you want to do, maybe biking or the elliptical would be good choices? Rucking would also be something for you to look into as there are lots of benefits to getting outside the gym for at least some of your exercise hours. As you can see, I could probably go on for a lot longer here, but this is enough for now. Best of luck and let me know if you have questions.

Interesting. He knows best I suppose. I have to assume he's talking about ghrelin, which is sometimes called the appetite hormone. If you have VSG, one part of the stomach that's removed is the gastric fundus. This is the primary place where ghrelin is produced. There is an association between anxiety and ghrelin, but what that relationship is and if a reduction in ghrelin will reduce anxiety seems a lot less clear.

I think a lot of surgeons will tell you something like "nothing after midnight", or nothing for 8 hours prior, but I'm with you: 12 hours would be safer. After all, it would suck to show up and have them tell you they have to postpone the surgery. Just my thoughts...

The best advice I can give is to not try to revamp everything all at once. People that try that rarely succeed long term. Sure, it can work in the short term, but the real goal has to be retraining your body and mind how to be healthy. As such, I would urge you to pick something small to start working on today, or at least in the morning if you want to start fresh. This needs to be something so small as to almost be inconsequential. The reason it needs to be small (aside from helping with compliance), is so that your body and mind don't actually recognize that you're "dieting" or "working out". Continue with that one simple thing for a couple of weeks until it's become a new habit. Once that new habit is established, you can then make another small change. Just keep making small sustainable changes until you reach your goal. Yes, this approach is very slow, certainly much slower than drastic diet and exercise plans that promise quick results. Remember, what does it matter if you lose all the weight quickly if when you get there, you can't maintain the weight loss? Your real goal needs to be learning how you personally need to eat and move for long-term health. What that looks like is different for everyone, so no one here can tell you "eat this way", or "do these exercises" and you'll find success. It has to fit in with your unique needs, tastes and abilities and only you know what those are. If you feel like you need more guidance than that, I'd suggest seeking out professionals such as Registered Dietitians and Certified Personal Trainers. to help put more detailed plans together.

There are lots of studies that show weight loss (and thus also bariatric surgery), can lessen depression and anxiety. The thing to keep in mind though is that it won't help everyone. It all comes down to the underlying reasons for those negative emotions. As you point out, weight loss has has a considerable effect on how we feel about ourselves, so it follows that for some people, weight loss will help lessen anxiety and depression. There is also some belief that excess body weight can impact how certain hormones in our body work. By losing weight, this can help normalize some of those and that may also help mental health. Like everything, I think the real answer is "it depends".

It's just a guess, but this sounds like a condition called Sudden Onset Alcohol Intolerance. If my guess is correct, It's probably not related to your surgery as this can happen to anyone. There are lots of potential underlying causes for sudden onset alcohol intolerance, some of which are related to other health issues and some that aren't. Feel free to look up the condition if you're curious. Obviously seeing a medical professional would be the best course of action if it concerns you, especially if you're concerned about the other related health conditions like allergies, endocrine disorders and Crohn’s disease. Not to sound "preachy", but at the end of the day, alcohol is a poison. For most people, their bodies work hard to process the poison and remove it from their systems. At low doses, it can do this reasonable well. At higher doses, it gets overwhelmed and this is what causes a "hangover". In your case, it's not even being able to tolerate low doses. You may need to take this as a sign you need to stop ingesting it.

It would be helpful to know how far out you are from surgery? I didn't really have this issue, but it's not that unusual, especially in the early months after surgery. I believe it's mostly due to the fact that your new stomach is smaller and less "stretchy" than it was before, so there's nowhere for the swallowed air to go. Slowing down how quickly you eat and drink can help since those are common reasons for swallowing more air.

Eating shouldn't ever "hurt". It would be better to learn to eat until you're only about 80% full. Keep in mind fullness signals can be messed up after surgery. Plus even if you hadn't just had bariatric surgery, there is some lag time between when your body signals that you're full, and when your brain actually responds to that signal. If it hurts in your esophagus when you eat, that sounds to me like you're eating too much and you're experiencing gastric reflux.

Keep in mind some plans (like mine), specifically say not to count protein shakes toward your fluids. Like @catwoman7 said, plans are all different. Some plans also won't allow the ricotta bake until a later stage because of the marinara sauce. This is why specific recommendations are so hard. You may not be able to eat what some of us ate. In other cases, you may not WANT to eat what we ate since tastes can be so messed up after surgery.

Sort of a rendition of a modern poke bowl, except the fish (salmon in this case), was cooked after marinating: