I've been fairly active with working out the last year with CrossFit and cardio about 4 times a week until a month ago because I had an anal fistula that I had surgery on. It was the tipping point of deciding to do the surgery. My doc has released me to walk and that is it right now. After the sleeve how long until you can get your heart rate for incline walking? Or even CrossFit? Or Sex? How long were most of you off of work?

Man, the thought of even attempting Crossfit fresh out of surgery is beyond me. I know that everyone is different and some bounce back quickly, but I was puny for several months after. I just checked my records and at about 6 months out I was able to eat about 1200 calories consistently. That is when the performance in the gym started to improve.

During the weightloss phase it is going to be exceedingly difficult to build any muscle mass. So focusing on the cardio is a good idea. I would say by 2 or 3 months out you should be able to do any cardio as hard as you can handle. Unless of course there is a heart condition.

As for sex, I'm thinking it was few weeks at least for me. Though I had some minor complications with a hematoma and partially collapsed lung.

@BigViffer thanks for the reply. I carry a lot of muscle mass right now and part of my plan was light stuff not really in a CrossFit class because I know with my pride I would try to keep up. More burpees, air squats, rowing, step-ups and some pull-ups and other body weight stuff. I love the barbells which I know will be impossible for a while. I just wanted to avoid that washed out no muscle lose skin look as much as possible. BTW you look awesome! Definitely some inspiration for my future. What is your caloric intake and protein grams in maintenance mode.

There is no way around it, you will lose muscle mass. I know I lost quite a bit. There is just no way during the rapid weight loss phase to take in enough protein to keep the amount of muscle we fat guys needed just to move. The most important thing is to establish the new habits that will endure the rest of our lives (hopefully). After about 9 months, that is when I started seeing body shaping. My shoulders and arms and dare I say, my glutes, started to become more prominent.

Barbells? I started those at 6 weeks. It was pitiful. 10lbs and I would literally be panting by the time I left. Luckily the gym I go to is predominately senior citizens and just a few younger people that are in shape. No one judges that I have ever noticed. There are the occasional meat heads, but other people opinions carry very little weight so I was fine ignoring them. Though I don't see them anymore. Like most meat heads, they always injure themselves doing stupid crap.

I recommend finding a good whey protein powder. Don't care what it cost, as long as it is a good one. What is a good one you are probably wondering? A good protein powder is one that has about 25 grams of protein per scoop. And it can be whey isolate or concetrate, but pass on anything taurine, soy, egg, and casein. They are decent proteins, but if you want to have muscle gains, there is no disputing whey is king. Oh, and the most important thing is that it is a powder that you will actually use. There are some damned expensive powders out there that IMO taste like crap. I personally use Gold Standard. Very trusted name and fair price.

Oh, don't even consider GenePro. It's is utter crap. I've said my mind about that stuff plenty so I won't go into it again.

My caloric intake right now is 2000-2500 calories. My protein is 150 - 200 grams a day. Here is an example of my tracking that I do, it should give you plenty of info:

walking is the normal first step for the initial 2-3 weeks or so, most docs don't want you doing any lifting or abs work for six weeks - mine says 12 weeks which arguably is still too soon. One of the things that learned from orthopedics and the PT that goes with it is that our connective tissues (which would include the fascia that holds our abdomin together under the muscles) don't have nearly the blood supply as our muscles, so they heal a lot slower. We can readily find our muscle strength returning and feeling good before those connective tissues are ready to take the load, so slow and easy is the watchword. Incisional hernias are not uncommon in our post op population (though they can provide partial payment for plastics!)

I started doing some light resistance machine workouts after three weeks, keeping the weights light (about half of what I had been doing) and isolating the core. The main intent was to start regaining some range of motion and just reestablishing habits. As BigViffer indicated, you are going to lose some muscle mass both from caloric deficit and the simple matter that you won't be carrying that excess weight around 24/7. But good quality protein and continued strength training can minimize that loss.

Heart rate is a funny thing. After 2-3 months, a good brisk walk, just short of a jog which my knees still don't like, could barely get my rate to break 100 whereas before it would easily be in the 130-140 functional range. To get my rate up to any reasonable level I could no longer do it along the shoreline paths and had to take it to the hill trails to get the elevation change. These days my resting rate still hangs around 50 so I'm still maintaining that extra cardio capacity to feed that extra weight that I no longer have; still gets questions from doctors, too!

On sex, the humorous answer is that the hospital nurses agree that you should wait until you get home. My doc's answer is when you feel like it. As long as you are comfortable with positioning, an orgasm isn't going to bother anything done by the sleeve surgery (just getting there might if you are particularly adventuresome.)

8 hours ago, BigViffer said:

There is no way around it, you will lose muscle mass. I know I lost quite a bit. There is just no way during the rapid weight loss phase to take in enough Protein to keep the amount of muscle we fat guys needed just to move.

Not true. Just a couple of protein shakes a day supplies the recommended daily protein. With mine, it's roughly 30 grams a serving and I would drink 2 a day. Recommended is 60-80 grams a day.

13 hours ago, Ineedhelp2014 said:

I've been fairly active with working out the last year with CrossFit and cardio about 4 times a week until a month ago because I had an anal fistula that I had surgery on. It was the tipping point of deciding to do the surgery. My doc has released me to walk and that is it right now. After the sleeve how long until you can get your heart rate for incline walking? Or even CrossFit? Or Sex? How long were most of you off of work?

Your not going to have stamina for anything strenuous. You will likely also feel fatigue and bouts of dizziness until your body adapts. As far as sex goes, yeah, I guess you can make it happen but it's probably not going to be great sex. Just listen to your body. You body will tell you what it needs and likely it isn't going to be sex for a while.

As far as work, you are good to go after a couple of days after surgery as long as you have a desk job. Anything requiring you to stand or lift and you will need more time off.

Just remember that those days and weeks right after surgery will be the time that you ingest the fewest calories of probably anytime in your life. For example, the day I came home from surgery, which was day 3 after surgery, I only managed to drink half a small bottle of Gatorade. So don't know how many calories that was but I'm guessing it's way below 100. So that should give you an idea that you aren't going to feel like doing much until your body heals and adapts.

5 hours ago, Proud2BMe said:

Not true. Just a couple of Protein shakes a day supplies the recommended daily protein. With mine, it's roughly 30 grams a serving and I would drink 2 a day. Recommended is 60-80 grams a day.

Yes it is true. During the first few months I would be so bold as to say the majority of people cannot hit the protein goal every day. Couple that with the seriously reduced caloric intake and you have someone who is not as active because they are exhausted. We've both been on the board roughly the same amount of time, can you remember any guy saying they didn't lose any strength or muscle mass the first year?

On 3/11/2017 at 5:28 AM, BigViffer said:

Yes it is true. During the first few months I would be so bold as to say the majority of people cannot hit the protein goal every day. Couple that with the seriously reduced caloric intake and you have someone who is not as active because they are exhausted. We've both been on the board roughly the same amount of time, can you remember any guy saying they didn't lose any strength or muscle mass the first year?

Please don't think I'm trying to start something, because I'm not. I just meant to point out that if you ingested just 2 of the right protein shakes then you met your protein requirements. Technically, it could just be one if you were using powder and "doubled up". I only went 2 or so weeks after surgery before I returned to protein shakes and I kept drinking them all through the first year and most of the second year. I think that last one I had was about 4 months ago. I can tell that I'm sure I lost some strength but nothing noticeable. Sure, eating few calories can cause fatigue.

6 hours ago, Proud2BMe said:

Please don't think I'm trying to start something, because I'm not.

I do not think you are, I apologize if I sounded gruff. I usually try to soften my tone on this forum, but when talking with guys I don't bother. I just do a information dump. There was no rancor in my reply, just a rebuttal.

Yes you are correct that two shakes or two scoops of powder would hit the protein goal of a sedentary or lightly active average male. However, in the spirit of the thread title(e.g. intense workout) double that needs to be ingested. That's all I really wanted to get out there.

I agree with Big Viffer about muscle loss though. I lost some muscle mass as the weight started coming off..

Maintenance is usually .75 or 1 gram per lean body weight in lbs is how I have always figured it when lifting daily.