OldSchool76

Oh I agree. They all seem to taste like crap. I just have to remind myself that I am not drinking for pleasure. I have used Jack (three flavors), SuperPump and Crave. Jack seems to be the best.

Morning is very tough for me. I usually do a high Protein shake but try to do it no closer than an hour before the workout as I get 'BG" (Bubble gut as my trainer calls it). I also use a workout supplement but that is not for everyone. My workouts are pretty intense. There are a ton of them out there and they seem to work differently for different people. I use Jack3D. Tastes like crap but definitely keeps me up for my training session. Disclaimer: I am no medical professional and I know those supplements have ardent proponents and detractors. Simply saying what I do.

Thanks cazzy. The trainer is amazing. I know it can seem expensive (depending on your trainer) but it really is amazing to have someone who holds you accountable. Eventually, that transitions to you holding yourself accountable.

Hell no! I love my trainer. He has changed my outlook on fitness. It is powerful to have someone to keep you on track, text you in the morning, call you and make sure you are getting your backside to class. This all matters. Great move!

I do an ab circuit 5 times a week but I am two years out. Never had a problem.

OK, in February of 2011 I said I would get my ass back in gear. I had lost over 100 Pounds since getting my band and was doing great. Sadly I got comfortable. That means I learned things like: Sauces make things easier to eat Ice cream is easy to eat Alcohol is easy to drink Saving your fat guy clothes as you lose weight makes gaining weight back easier as you don't have to go outside naked So, after 18 months I bounced back up by about 30 pounds. Not horrific by my standards of weight loss but still pissed me off. I was still down net 70 but the direction had reversed. I had to do something. I schedule a check up and possible fill. I needed to do that. I had become too comfortable with my ability to cheat the tool. I need the restriction. I got a personal trainer and committed myself to it. I am now 6 weeks in. I have lost about 24 net pounds but need to track inches (stop it!) as I know that the workouts are changing my body more than the scale is reflecting. I am, for the first time in my life, planning my life around my workouts. I will drop a note when I have something really cool to report but for right now I am stoked about that exercise change. The diet side will lead to the weight loss most directly but the exercise will start to compound it. For those interested, I work out with a trainer on Monday and Wednesday for 1:15 minutes. We do a combination of cardio, weights and circuit training with a pretty significant focus on core. On Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays I do his Bootcamp which is: Tuesday: Sparticus Circuit. 10 exercises. 45 sec to 1 min on then move. Three sets followed by an ad circuit. Thursday: Sand day. Conditioning, sprinting and footwork all in a sand pit. Wrap with abdominal circuit and arms (Push Ups and Dips) Saturday: Mixed bag. This day can be running, ladder drills, circuits. It really depends on the weather. All the exercises can be modified for different levels of ability. It has been truly amazing to start to MISS workouts and try and plan work and vacation around them. If you can contact someone locally and work out a plan to start you really should. It took about 3 weeks for me to convert over to wanting to do it instead of having to but now that I have, I don't really want to stop. Anyway, wanted to get back into the swing of writing. Hope you are all well.

OK, so I am not someone who blames others for pretty much anything. That may not be fair, or accurate, but my arrogance about my own control over the world in which I live kind of allows me to move forward in life. So imagine my disappointment when, after a mere 7 months on the program I had hit 100 pounds lost only to wake up after the holidays and have gone only backwards! I was pissed! The funny part is that I knew who to be pissed at: Me. I know how to use this tool (the band) The tool itself, will work. The problem is that I have been cheating. I skipped the holidays on a conscious move and that was a HUGE mistake. I got back into bad habits that, thanks to the band, I could not slide too far into. That being said, instead of losing my 1-2 pounds per week, I have slowly gained 11 pounds. So the system I used is back as I come up on my one year anniversary. My weight loss is now average for the time invested and by god, I hate being average! I know the odds are against me as the second 100 pounds has got to be harder than the first, but I will be damned if my own laziness will sabotage me. I got a fill today (9.9/14 cc band) and have two days of fluids/mushies for a kickstart. I walked two miles at lunch and plan to do three more tonight. I have a chart on my office wall to track my total exercise and plan to go back to my solid meal planning. I write this as a public acknowledgement of my own (temporary) failure. I hope I can live up to my plan. I am the only one who can make that happen.

Yes. It works Lost 101 pounds so far BMI down from 60 to 46 Went from a 58 Waist (ish) to a 48 waist (ish) Started on 2/17 of this year.

Glad you liked it!

I do use multivitamins. Never been a big fruit and veggie guy (but I do understand their importance). Only real veggie serving is at dinner for me right now.

After my last blog post, I was asked to share what I have been eating and doing to get where I am now (which is still roughly 100 lbs away from where I need to be, but still a long way on a pretty rapid track). Now I am no expert but I follow instructions pretty well and consider myself a normal dude with normal needs/desires (around food). Breakfast My band is tight in the AM. I typically have a protein shake (Costco, Premier Nutrition - 160 cal and 30 g of Protein) If I am hungry later in the AM, I have a protein bar. This gets the lions share of my protein out of the way efficiently. I have tried about 6 different bars but think that the Zone bars, while higher in calories, offer the best flavor. Pure Protein are pretty good too. (Avg 190 Cal and 15 g of Protein) Lunch My staples at lunch are a tuna salad made with cream cheese, lemon juice and liquid smoke (4-6 oz) Chicken salad made with a Publix Rotisserie chicken, mayo, mustard, tarragon and kosher salt (same serving size). Both seem to average around 300 Cal and about 30g protein and pack a surprising punch to hunger as they are pretty dense but easy to digest. High Protein Chili Dinner My most normal meal, we usually have a basic protein (fish, chicken, beef) and a vegetable. Occasionally, I will have a starch, but they leave me hungry so I typically avoid them. The multigrain coated tilapia at Costco is nice and easy. I target 400 Calories at dinner and a quantity of 6-8 oz. Snack (One of these) Sugarfree pudding Coffee (with fancy creamer) Popsickle Couple of slices of protein (ham, turkey) I am pretty simple, so repetition does not bother me. I still enjoy a trip to Hooters (or Winghouse) but when I do, I usually get the fish (blackened) or Chili. I will have wings from time to time as I love them. I just try and watch it. Other tasty items are nuts and cocktail shrimp. If I wake up late enough, I find scrambled eggs very useful though harder to digest as I tend to eat them too quickly. Workout Despite my size, I have always been a fairly athletic guy. I knew that at this caloric intake I would need to force my body to use up fat stores. I try to walk at least 2 miles at least 4 times per week. I do this in my Sketchers Shape Ups which, while a little goofy at first, seem to really work. After I lost my first 50 lbs, I picked up a set of 10 lb leg weights. I alternate using them on my ankles and on my wrists. When I have them on my wrists, I typically do arm exercises throughout the walk (I do this at night as not to me arrested or ostracized). I have a weight machine and try to do 3 workouts per week. They are simple and fairly focused. I do bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, lateral pulldowns and seated row. I mix them up and try to chose 2 per workout, 3 sets of 11 reps each with increasing weights. This is AMAZINGLY unscientific and I am quite certain that I am not being efficient here. My rationale is something is better than nothing and while i have no need for more leg muscle (carrying 450 lbs around for decades has helped me build that on its own), upper body muscle is a need area. Last but not least, I try to throw in some anaerobic stuff like basketball, yardwork or any sport with my son. I hope this is useful. It is a mind dump but I figured it might be useful.

After my last blog post, I was asked to share what I have been eating and doing to get where I am now (which is still roughly 100 lbs away from where I need to be, but still a long way on a pretty rapid track). Now I am no expert but I follow instructions pretty well and consider myself a normal dude with normal needs/desires (around food). Breakfast My band is tight in the AM. I typically have a protein shake (Costco, Premier Nutrition - 160 cal and 30 g of Protein) If I am hungry later in the AM, I have a protein bar. This gets the lions share of my protein out of the way efficiently. I have tried about 6 different bars but think that the Zone bars, while higher in calories, offer the best flavor. Pure Protein are pretty good too. (Avg 190 Cal and 15 g of Protein) Lunch My staples at lunch are a tuna salad made with cream cheese, lemon juice and liquid smoke (4-6 oz) Chicken salad made with a Publix Rotisserie chicken, mayo, mustard, tarragon and kosher salt (same serving size). Both seem to average around 300 Cal and about 30g protein and pack a surprising punch to hunger as they are pretty dense but easy to digest. High Protein Chili Dinner My most normal meal, we usually have a basic protein (fish, chicken, beef) and a vegetable. Occasionally, I will have a starch, but they leave me hungry so I typically avoid them. The multigrain coated tilapia at Costco is nice and easy. I target 400 Calories at dinner and a quantity of 6-8 oz. Snack (One of these) Sugarfree pudding Coffee (with fancy creamer) Popsickle Couple of slices of protein (ham, turkey) I am pretty simple, so repetition does not bother me. I still enjoy a trip to Hooters (or Winghouse) but when I do, I usually get the fish (blackened) or Chili. I will have wings from time to time as I love them. I just try and watch it. Other tasty items are nuts and cocktail shrimp. If I wake up late enough, I find scrambled eggs very useful though harder to digest as I tend to eat them too quickly. Workout Despite my size, I have always been a fairly athletic guy. I knew that at this caloric intake I would need to force my body to use up fat stores. I try to walk at least 2 miles at least 4 times per week. I do this in my Sketchers Shape Ups which, while a little goofy at first, seem to really work. After I lost my first 50 lbs, I picked up a set of 10 lb leg weights. I alternate using them on my ankles and on my wrists. When I have them on my wrists, I typically do arm exercises throughout the walk (I do this at night as not to me arrested or ostracized). I have a weight machine and try to do 3 workouts per week. They are simple and fairly focused. I do bicep curls, tricep pushdowns, lateral pulldowns and seated row. I mix them up and try to chose 2 per workout, 3 sets of 11 reps each with increasing weights. This is AMAZINGLY unscientific and I am quite certain that I am not being efficient here. My rationale is something is better than nothing and while i have no need for more leg muscle (carrying 450 lbs around for decades has helped me build that on its own), upper body muscle is a need area. Last but not least, I try to throw in some anaerobic stuff like basketball, yardwork or any sport with my son. I hope this is useful. It is a mind dump but I figured it might be useful.

I finally made it. My target date was July 24th (and was aggressive given the timeline and the Lapband choice instead of bypass) but this morning, on my official weigh in scale, I have lost 101 pounds! I got a small fill on Friday and upped my exercise over the weekend and that seems to have kicked me over the ledge. Now i have to make sure over this week I distance myself from this milestone and set up a new resistance level. This next part of my journey will be highlighted by starting training to run in a 5K (gonna do the couch to 5K thing I believe). I will be walk/running a few 5K events in the interim as I build up my ability to run for prolonged periods of time. Updates I went from a 66 Jacket to a 56 Jacket I went from a 5/6X shirt to a 2/3X I went from a 58/60" waist to a 46/48" waist I am far more helpful around the house. This speaks to laziness which seems to have been tied to my previous size. Net/net, my wife likes it more! I got to shop in a 'normal' store for clothing (albeit in their big and tall department) My next set of goals are: Get to "Twoterville" - I have no idea when the last time was that I weighed under 300 lbs Shop in a REAL normal size store. (Old Navy, Eddie Bauer something like that) Not be afraid to sit in a booth in any restaurant. To get there I will be upping my walking regimen, adding more weigh work (not heavy weight, but more work on the machine) and continuing to focus on my intake, aided by my bad. It is amazing to have gotten here in this time period. I got my body composition analysis on my last fill and will be blogging about those results later this week. I hope these entries are useful to folks that are going down this road as well.

I am not a therapy fan (personal choice) but blogging does seem to fill that sort of role for me. So as I sit here and ingest copious amounts of fluids after my walk, I thought I would toss out my current state, weird milestones and general thoughts at this point in my LAP-BAND® journey. As of this morning's weigh in, I am 4 pounds away from my first 100 pounds of loss. I do not go back and try and figure out my highest weight this year, but rather use the weigh in amount one first consult. I am ecstatic about this as I am pretty sure that once I get to this weight, it will be the lowest weight I have reached in my adult (Post college) life. I had a soft goal of 100 pounds lost by my 20 year high school reunion (it was convenient) and it looks like I should cruise to that with 2 weeks left. I still hardly see the difference, but friends and family are very kind and give me tons of support and kind words. I know that the clothing cannot lie and some of my clothes from before are just ridiculous now. (I have since taken them all to Goodwill) After this milestone (which will put me at 331 pounds...yes, I was a big cat), my next milestones are as follows: 330 - I can now use Wii Fit 300 - I have not been sub-300 since high school 286 - This is the next level of obesity (Severely). At least that one sounds logical. 250 - My old WW lifetime goal and really, as far as I can see ahead. the band has been an amazing tool thus far. I am still learning how best to use it and trying to make sure that I am doing my part through exercise, but for the first time in my life I feel as though I am headed in the right direction and cannot see the event that will trigger my fall of the wagon. Some things I have learned These are my observations. YMMV. Fills rock. They suck at first, but each time I get one I get a good burst of weight loss and learn more about what restriction feels like. I don't really miss food. Sure, I wish I could have a all u can eat lobster-fest every once in a while, but normally, I can have a small portion of almost anything and be happy. The docs were right. 8/10 times when I feel hungry, a drink makes it better (no, not a vodka tonic) Exercise makes the difference. I walk and workout as often as I can and it seems to be making a huge difference. Premier Nutrition shakes from Costco are delicious and get 30g of protein out of the way FAST. Eating out, while possible, is a pain in the ass. Even when I do a good job, I seem to retain water. Sketchers Shape-Ups, while REALLY goofy looking, seem to give me a better workout when I walk. Buying new clothes can be an awesome experience. I look forward to having to donate this last batch to someone else. I hope your journeys are proceeding on target. I am a little amped as I walk/jogged roughly a 5K tonight and plan to start psuedo training for a real 5K soon. Not that I like to run (unless chased of course) but thinking that I could actually run that far is exhilarating.

I would like to be. I love cars and used to trade them like underwear. Favorites were newer cars (93 Camaro Z28 and a 96 Impala SS before they ruined it). I have two Lincoln Continentals now that I want to restore, a 66 convertible and a 64 hardtop. At some point I hope to have the time and money to do them!