KartMan

g75funk, I'm with you. Just a little over 3 years out for me, at goal weight, and loving exercise. I started out in the gym and totally loved, but then I discovered running and Triathlon and am now I’m even more hooked on it. I run, bike, or swim 6 days a week and positively LOVE it. I never liked to exercise when I was heavy because it was so awkward and difficult – now I can’t get enough. Love the Band, Love to Exercise

Allison, thanks for the clarification. You make some very good points.

I actually loveeeee fitness now. Like many of you, I didn’t at first. It was a chore, but I did because I had a goal. But then I found something that I truly enjoy (for me, it’s running and Triathlon). Now I have a passion for it. I’m a middle of the pack guy in the races I compete in. I don’t ever see myself competing for a top spot on the podium but I do consider myself an athlete all the same. I run, bike, or swim 5-6 days a week and really really enjoy it. I no longer do it for weight loss because I am at goal, now I do it because I enjoy it and I know it is good for my overall health. Allison, I don’t mean to be rude – but that is a careless comment and one that can give people false hope.. While there may not necessarily always be a link between exercise and weight loss, there is actually a concern about the type of weight you lose. You want to lose fat, not muscle. For the first 6 months after banding my weight was flying off without exercise, but I found out that I was losing too much muscle. I know this because I had proof by way of a hydrostatic dunk test. After that discovery, I started eating more Protein and got into a regular exercise routine. I was quickly able to turn the trend around and started to gain muscle and to lose fat. I got down to 15% body fat and have never looked back.

I lost about 60% of my weight prior to starting to exercise. The problem is that at some point I started to lose muscle rather than fat. I know this to be the case because I actually had a dunk test that accurately described my body composition. After starting exercise, the trend line got much better. I started losing weight faster, and it was actually fat – in fact I gained muscle. That muscle gain and fat loss took me down to about 15% Body Fat (this is not BMI, there is a difference). The trick is finding something you enjoy and will stick with. I never thought I of all people would enjoy running, but now I log about 20 miles a week – go figure.

Jacqui, Well said, I feel exactly the same way. I do that with other goals too. I set run times just outside my reach and distance goals the that I know are next to impossible. The worst thing about setting obtainable goals is simply reaching them and stopping there.

I was banded February 2009 and by October 2009 I had reached my goal weight. That was about 100 lbs lost, I went from 285 down to 185. I am a 6 foot tall male, and was 42 at the time. I think in general, men tend to lose weight faster and easier than women. Once I figured out how many calories I could consume in a day and still lose weight, it was easy. I found that I lost about 2-4 pounds per week if I kept my calorie consumption down to about 1400-1600/day. The band made staying in that range easy because I had restriction very early in the process so I was never really hungry. It was just a matter of counting calories and trying to make healthy choices.

My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. Don’t worry about what you “can’t” have, focus on all the good that comes with being a healthy weight. I really don’t miss any foods, there is so much more to my life now that I don’t need the crutch of bad food to make me feel better. I have found that there is about a 10 minute window for most cravings, if you can get past that time the craving will pass. I am two years post op, have been at my goal weight for over a year and lead a happy and healthy life. I work out 4-5 times a week (because I love it), I regularly participate in 5ks, half marathons and even triathlons. No one that meets me now believes that I was ever fat, that say “no way, you are in such great shape and you look so good”. I didn’t have any co-morbidities at the time of my surgery, but I am convinced that if I had kept that weight on I would have been headed for diabetes, heart disease, and an early death. My regular doctor just told me the other day that he wishes more of his patients were as healthy as me.

I lost 65-75% of my excess weight through diet alone, I didn’t step foot in the gym in the beginning. I then found out that at some point my weight loss was shifting from fat loss to lean mass being lost. Not all weight loss is a good thing!!! You absolutely don’t want to lose lean mass, in fact in order to reduce your Body Fat (I don’t mean BMI) you need to build lean (muscle) mass while shedding fat. For me, that meant lifting weights and increasing my Protein intake. Once I achieved my goal weight and Body Fat objectives I shifted my focus from weight lifting to other forms of exercise that I enjoy more. I now compete in Half Marathons, Triathlons, and long distance bike rides. It’s amazing how much more enjoyable those activities are when you not overweight. I really don’t need to watch what I eat anymore. I eat healthy, but I am no longer consumed by my diet and my weight has stayed pretty consistent over the last year.

Cloeo’sMom, Keep fighting the good fight. If most Americans would take a good hard look at the issues, they would see that the Republicans are destroying the middle class, women’s rights, social equality and everything else in this country. Sadly, most people can’t stop reading about Charlie Sheen or Lindsey Lohan long enough to see what is really going on. When they do look at politics, it is usually over some dog whistle issue that is meant to divert attention away from issues that really matter anyway. Like this sh*@storm in Wisconsin. The dbag governor is actually blaming the economic woes of that state on Unions while it is clear to anybody with half a brain that his tax cuts to corporations are the real culprit there. When will the middle class realize that breaking the public unions there is just the first step? Next will be the police and firefighters, and untimely all workers rights will be eroded because no one is left to fight against people like Walker. For the most part, I have given up on this site. I think the reachable audience on here is very limited and I don’t want to have the same arguments with the same hard headed right wing sympathizers over and over again. My only hope is that all the info from the likes of you, Bjean, and to a much smaller extent me reached a few people in the middle over the last few years.

For those of you that missed Tina Fey's speech at her Mark Twaine award: "And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women - except, of course --those who will end up, you know, like, paying ...for their own rape 'kit 'n' stuff, But for everybody else, it's a win-win. Unless you're a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years - whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know - actually, I take it back. The whole thing's a disaster."

I agree, they shouldn’t cut back pay and benefits. They should get out of these two wars (and not start anymore stupid wars - like with Iran) and cut back on most of the cold war military projects. Why are we still spending money on military hardware designed to fight a war with the Soviet Union? Another way to save money would be to let soldiers do all the things they used to do in the past. Now so many jobs and services are done by contractors rather than the military which ends up costing a lot more in the long run. The reason they do this is because for political reasons they can get away with saying there are X number of troops deployed rather than the real number that includes troops plus support staff.

Thanks Susan, It’s been a great journey.

Lisa Murkowski has just been declared the winner in Alaska. I would have preferred the Democrat, but Lisa is a way better option than that dbag Joe Miller. Maybe after what Murkowski went thru in the Primary with all the outside Teabag money that was used against her, she might side with the Democrats and help get the DISCLOSE act passed.

Ok, how about we transition away from defense spending for some other spending in the district that actually benefits the community? Let's say there is fighter program that would bring $15B to the state but the military no longer needs the fighter. Drop the fighter program and build a high speed rail, wind farm, water project, school, you name it. What good is that $15B fighter project going to do for the community other than the jobs it creates while it's being built? I read somewhere the other day that between the overall Defense Budget plus the two wars, we spend 25 times more than the next 25 countries combined. WTF? How can we expect to spend 25 times more than the rest of the world and survive? Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Nuclear weapons? Can you ever really have enough nuclear weapons?

I am a 6’ tall male in my early forties. I was 285 lbs at surgery. Initially I set goals based on where I had been before. My first goal was to get to my best dieting weight (about 215), then I set my goal to get under 200, then to get to a normal BMI (about 184), then ultimately to get to the weight I was at when I left navy Boot Camp in 1984 (about 180). After reaching and beating all those weight goals, I decided to focus more on Body Fat percentage. I am now hovering at about 13% body fat which is considered “Athletic” on the scale. Now my goals are fitness oriented. I have entered several running and triathlon events – my goal is to consistently finish in the first half of my age group for every event I enter.

My band experience was wonderful. It wasn’t the ONLY thing that made me successful though. I followed strict caloric intake rules while I was losing weight. Most times, the band made that very easy, but there were times I had to rely on will power. I had to get myself into the gym. The band doesn’t come with workout motivation, you have to do that for yourself. I had to come up with a positive way to explain my band experience to the non-banded. The last thing I needed was someone “looking down on me” for my choice to band. I refined that message over time and am able to explain it in such a way that people see that I have pride in what I have done and all that I accomplished with the “help” of the band.

Count your calories. I know it sounds like a pain, but with a good system it’s not really that hard. I used the Sparkpeople app for the iPhone and it was super easy. Track them and weigh yourself daily. Compare your daily calorie count with weightloss/gain. I found that if I maintained under 1800 calories a day I lost, over that I was flat or gained. If you exercise, you may be able to consume a little more that day but don’t get carried away. Remember that a moderate gym workout is probably only 00-600 calories – that doesn’t justify a reward at the ice cream shop. Aslo make sure you are getting enough protein. If you are not getting enough protein your body will take energy from your muscles, you don’t want to lose weight from muscles your goal is to lose fat.

When I was tracking calories I was very fond of Sparkpeople - they have a cool iPhone app too

Why does cutting the Military Budget come down to an issue of jobs in some Congressman’s district? If the program is a waste of money and/or the military doesn’t need it, then it should be scrapped. The success or failure of a military project should never be tied to the jobs in an area or in a particular industry. That is exactly the sort of mentally that perpetuates a military culture and perpetual military spending.

B-Man, I’m sure your family would rather have a slightly obsessed gym rat dad/husband than a chronically ill or dead dad/husband. I too struggle with making time for everything, there are no easy answers but I do know it’s worth it. Keep it up.

I run 4-5 days a week, 4-11 miles each session. I work out in the gym one day a week with a trainer, at least one day on my own. I do a pool session with a masters swim group and an open water swim once a week. I ride my bike at least 30-50 miles one day a week. Ok, I'm a little obsessed:eek:. I am training to do Triathlons in the spring.

Don't get me wrong, I think she was great in getting thru all the things she did in the House, if Reid was half as good in Senate we would have had a lot more of our issues addressed. She seems to be a great legislator and tactician, but I'm not sure she is the best communicator or the best voice of the party. Heck, Boner didn’t even have a message and he communicated "it" to his base and a majority of the electorate. We need House (and party) leadership that effectively gets out the message to the American people that the Republican agenda is bad for America and Americans and that the Democrats have a legitimate plan to move us forward.

Ok, I’m over the election – we lost and we need to move on. What has me a little pissed right now is the infighting with the House Democratic Leadership. I respect what they did in getting the bills passed that they did in the last session, but they clearly were at the helm of one of the parties greatest defeats. I think Pelosi, Clyburn, and Hoyer should all step back gracefully and turn the reins of the party over to new faces and fresh ideas. With Pelosi as the Minority Leader, the Republicans are going to make her the boogy man in 2012 and dig us into a deeper hole than we are in right now. How is it that all of a sudden the “Young Guns” are in the Republican party? I love that we have diversity with a women, and a black man in those critical roles – but we need fresh faces with new ideas as well. They did some great work with passage of Healthcare, Climate Change, and many others but they were out messaged by the Right. I don’t see any of those three making the point to the American people in a way that resonates about why the Democratic vision is far superior to anything the Republicans can offer.

I was wondering today why so many people voted against their own interest in this election? Exit polls show that working class whites, women, Hispanics in Texas and even gay men voted in way larger than normal numbers for Republicans than in the recent past. WTF people? Don’t you realize that that the Republicans have never and never will have your interests on their platform? The only thing that some people have sited is that they voted their pocket books rather than their core values – give me a break. Besides that being totally preposterous (the Republicans will not improve your pocketbooks my friends), it is incredibly shortsighted and utterly selfish. To be honest, I didn’t vote in my own best interest either. I am a heterosexual, white male, veteran and upper income – yet I voted Democrat. Now don’t get me wrong, I am very upset that the Democrats have not gone far enough with issues that I care about (getting us out of these stupid wars, Public Option with Health Care, Gay rights, Global Warming, ending the Bush Tax Breaks, etc.) but at least they are heading somewhat in the right direction. The Republicans and their whacko friends in the Tea Party are a recipe for disaster for the groups listed above and frankly for the country. I can only hope that they shoot themselves in the foot before 2012 so they don’t set us back 100 more years (this election set us back at least 30). Sometimes I am not so proud to be an American…