kemo46

This is exactly correct. I workout every day and I am surrounded by some of the best personal trainers and nutritionists in the business. I wish we could target fat but you cannot. You can do core exercises that will build the core and abs but it is still under the fat and loose skin. I am in the best shape of my life but there are still problem areas. They are getting better but if I want it totally corrected, surgery would be the only option. I lost about 125 lbs and I am perfectly healthy. The sleeve did it's job and my surgery was almost 2 years ago. I eat healthy and exercise every day and I get more toned every day. My trainer tells me all the time, running will help the stomach and hips more than anything. He is right but I hate running.

Ivonne, you have an antibolic window of about 45 minutes you need to take advantage of after lifting. Your muscles grow while at rest, not while lifting. You create micro tears in the muscle while lifting, they grow during rest and recovery. A good amino acid stack with Protein is excellent for recovery after lifting. Look into a product called Myogenix Aftershock recovery. It has the proper amount of protein for absorbtion levels, Amino stack, Creatine, BCAA'S and it has glucosemine for your joints. This product has great review on any website including bodybuilding.com . Good Luck.

At 5'3" 320 lbs, you are at grave risk. I agree with him on one thing, you need to commit to diet and exercise but you need the surgery that will supply the tool to lose the weight and keep it off. What people do not understand is it is almost impossible to exercise when you weigh 320. The pressure on your joints and you get out of breath before you can do any good. I know, I was there. You need to do this for your health, he needs to understand this. You need to understand that this is your body, your life and your health. This is a decision YOU must make for the right reasons. If he wants you around for a few more years and a quality of life that is good for the both of you, this surgery is vital. Good Luck.

This is 100% correct. Your muscles grow while at rest, not while lifting. As long as you know it is soreness and not injury, you should lift every other day. Most people will work different muscle groups on different days such as upper body one day, lower body the next. You will need to mix this up some for muscle confusion, it is important to change things up. It is normal to have some soreness once you start your exercise program but if you are eating properly and getting rest between workouts, the soreness should not be a normal thing. Be sure you stay hydrated as well. Good luck, you have taken the hard 1st step.

Talk to your Doctor. I would do nothing besides walking for 6 weeks. The P90X is a very good workout but probably too much for someone who is TRYING to get back to normal weight. There is a fitness test that comes with the P90X. If you can pass that, I say go for it. You will enjoy and get more out of the program if you are able to keep up. They do have modified moves but I still think the plyometrics part of the program is too much for someone who just had surgery. Keep us posted and good luck.

During the losing phase of your journey, I would not eat beef jerky, it is too high in sodium and will make you retain water. You want to maximize your weight loss the first few months after surgery, that is when you will lose the most. There are a lot of foods you CAN have but will hamper your weight loss. I love beef jerky and eat it as a snack but I have been at my goal weight for almost 1 year now.

Frank, it is funny how sometimes we need a trigger to get us to do something. Mine was the Diabetes and it was not pre-Diabetes. I am glad you took the step. Some people have complications but most do not. This surgery saved my life and probably yours too. Follow your surgeon's instructions throughout the process and you will acheive your goal. If I was to give any advice it would be if you get hungry, drink more Protein. The other thing is keep drinking Water at all times. This helps with the hunger but will also keep you from getting dehydrated and that is the biggest issue for post op complications. Dehydration puts more people in the hospital following surgery than leaks or anything else. The other thing I would tell people to do while losing weight and especially after they have reached their goal is when they get ready to eat something, ask yourself, is it nutritional? If it is not, do not eat it. I will be post-op for two years in May. This was the best decision I have ever made. I am in the best health of my life and on no medication. I reached goal in 9 months after my surgery and have not looked back. I go to the gym every day and eat very healthy meals. Enjoy the rest of your life Frank.

DO NOT do anything other than walk for at least 6 weeks. Your Doctor should have given you specific instructions for post op. Your stomach is healing and you have cut muscle tissue that needs to heal, not to mention your incisions. Follow your Doctor's instructions and you will do fine.

This post is spot on. It is all about the carbs for energy for your workout. You can do this with food or a supplement such as Karbolic or Karbolyn. It is basically a 50 gr carb load consumed about 45 minutes before your workout. It is cheaper to do it with food but I guess it depends on your schedule and convenience. The biggest mistake I see people make at the gym is consuming too much protein prior to or after a workout. As any RD will tell you, your absorption rate varies by weight. If you consume too much protein at a serving, you are basically creating expensive urine because your body cannot absorb it. Most pre-workout energy drinks have a ton of caffeine that will give you a boost through your workout but you have to watch the after effects such as a crash later on. I work at a gym and the best and safest energy drink I have seen is Celsius. the website is www.celsius.com . I still think the best pre-workout route is loading up with carbs for fuel for your workout. I do believe that having a good post-workout supplement is even more important. A serving of protein or a post workout supplement such as Aftershock. This will rebuild the muscles after the breakdown of them from your workout. Good Luck.

If your gym has a stairstepper, try that. It becomes a love hate relationship. The calorie burn and muscle toning cannot be matched. If I was to own one piece of equipment, this is it. The treadmill has a higher impact on your joints than the elliptical so take that into consideration. Good luck.

I would ask your Doctor to be more specific. The first few months are very important because that is where you will lose the most weight. At 6 months out, he might be thinking you should have lost more. I ate about 800-1000 calories the first 6 months after my surgery and then increased it to about 1200 until I reached my goal at 9 months. Why it is true that eating more meals and spreading your calories out during the day will keep your metabolism going and help you lose weight, the calorie deficit early in is very important. I would talk with your Doctor and NUT and get a plan to work toward your goal. You are doing something right because 100 lbs. is awesome. Do not be afraid to question your Doctor and tell him to make you understand his thinking.

Very good topic. I believe that we all have the demons to overcome. food can be used as a crutch and idle time is bad with any addiction. I think what has helped me not only lose the weight but keep it off is human nature. We are results oriented. If we lose the weight, reverse health problems, get off medication and feel better than we have in years, it makes us never, ever want to go back to bad habits, that is what does it for me. I think you have to replace your old habits with new ones. Mine is the gym, I love working out now and along with golf, it does not leave a lot of bad down time for sitting around eating things we should not. I also eat HEALTHY Snacks ALL DAY, this way I never get hungry and it keeps my metabolism crankng all day. I feel my restriction in my stomach is just as tight now as it was one year ago and that is the tool that changed my life.

If you are having the surgery in the states, please get it in writing what it includes and what IT DOES NOT include. The hospital and OTHER doctors beside your surgeon usually have fees. The medication and tests as well. Sometimes 12,000 can turn into 16,000 real easy. You need to also check the experience of the doctor. What I have found is if a doctor in the states is offering a good self-pay price, the experience is usually lacking. They can make a lot more if they bill insurance companies and usually BUT not always, the experienced doctors have plenty of business with insurance paying patients and do not have to offer deep discounts. The other question to ask is how many SLEEVE surgeries have they performed. You will find here in the states, most doctors state they have done X-AMOUNT of weight loss surgeries because that includes lap-bands that they did 15 years ago and it sounds better than saying they have done 50 sleeves. I know several doctors in the Dallas area that this is the case. Ask the right questions so there will be no surprises.

Great job, all the hard work is paying off. You look great and healthy.

Questions are good. The key is patience. It is weird not to be able to drink Water at will the first month or so but it returns to normal after that. I never got sick and have never thrown up once since I had the surgery. Once you find out the amount of food your sleeve will allow and you go over it, it is an awful feeling and it is a lesson learned. The key is have the surgery and start your healthy new life. I wish I would have had the surgery years ago, that is my only regret. I am as healthy now as I was in High School. You can do this. My main advice would be do extensive research and not just on the forums. Talk to the surgeons, talk to past patients and get their perspective and ask them alot of questions. Check with the Board of Medicine in Mexico on ACTUAL death rates. Believe it or not, everything you read on the internet is not factual. Good Luck on your journey.

Hello, I just sent you a private message.

I had my colonoscopy about 9 months after my surgery. You are able to drink all the prep liquid, it just takes a little longer. I was able to finish it in about 2 hours. It was the taste and the amount of the liquid that was the problem, not the size of my stomach. You will do fine and it is a very important procedure to have done. It was my first one and it was not as bad as I thought it would be.

Always talk to your doctor. I was cleared 6 weeks after surgery but I will tell you this, I would have not been able to do extensive hiking at 8 weeks. Everyone heals at different speeds. You will know if your body is ready. Stay hydrated and do not over do it, it is not worth it.

Getting my diabetes under control with no medication was my biggest achievement. It is amazing what this tool can do for you. My A1C test runs about 5.5 and my fasting glucose is under 100 and has been since surgery. That alone was worth the surgery.

You can buy expensive supplements or you can carb up with a piece of wheat toast with peanut butter on it. I have tried different things for my pre-workout from C-4 to protein. I talked with my trainer and NUT about this and if you drink plenty of water ( stay hydrated) and increase your carbs before your workout, this gives you the added energy to get through the workouts. In the weight loss phase it is hard because you are trying to limit your carbs but that is a bad idea. If you do not get enough carbs in, you will run out of energy and also you will burn lean muscle instead of fat. Experiment and see what give you that extra energy. You do not have to break the bank on expensive supplements.

Hello Capt Derel, I am very familiar with the creatine. The one thing I would watch at your stage is the carb and calorie intake. It is very hard to balance the weight loss and the muscle building together at your stage. As you know the creatine will make you retain water in your muscles which is a good thing. The bad thing as you know you need to increase your carbs and calories for your workouts to build up. This makes it REAL HARD to lose weight at the rate you need to be losing it at this stage and trust me, you want to lose the max weight your first 6 months because it gets ALOT HARDER after that. I lost 120 lbs. and reached my goal 9.5 months out, I was 1 year out about 3 days ago. The majority of my weight loss was in the first 4 months. I worked out with cardio and strength training from the time I was 6 weeks from surgery and still go to the gym every day. I had to choose to lose the weight while I could or build up during those first few months. I choose to lose the weight, do moderate weight lifting and build a cusion for the weight I am adding on with more and more muscle. I concentrated on muscle toning for the first year to reduce loose skin and it worked. I am now in the muscle building process. I really carb up before workouts and have protein before and after my workouts. I have just started on the creatine which as you know does wonders. I am just mentioning this to you so you do not lose the very important first 4 months of the weight loss process. You can still tone and lift weights just watch the supplements and carb and calorie intake while doing it. I went over all of this with my NUT and personal trainer which also is a registered dietician. You can do what you wanr with the information but once those first few months are gone, you cannot get them back and trust me, it does get harder and much slower to lose the weight after that. Good luck on your journey.

No doubt. This has been a life changer and actually saved my life. It reversed my Diabetes and I take no medication for anything. I have lost about 120 lbs. and hit my goal weight at 9.5 months from surgery. I am as healthy now as I was when I was a teen, probably healthier.

Keep track of the sodium you are having in everything you drink and eat. Be sure you are walking a lot. I agree to talk to your doctor to make sure you do not have any circulation issues.

I always take my ice chest with Water, protein bars, Banana's and almonds. I will ususally eat one good meal with chicken and vegetables. I make sure to drink 80 to 100oz of water daily and I eat my healthy snacks throughout the day. This will keep your metabolism going and keep you from getting hungry.

I see you are closing in on a year since your surgery. I have a feeling your NUT will tell you to increase your calories and carbs. Just because you increase them does not mean it will slow your weight loss, in many instances, it will increase your weight loss and it will give you more energy for the day.