aroundhky

Circuit training can be very beneficial in getting cardio AND resistance training in. The Crossfit training is basically circuit training at a higher, more intense level. However a lot of the required lifts are compound lifts as well as body weight lifts, and some of them require you to be on your feet. Nothing get's me winded and makes me feel like my heart is pounding out of my chest like a few sets of clean and jerks. It's a full body lift that if done for several reps, is very much cardio but will also make you very strong and explosive. However, you're on your feet to do this and you mentioned a foot problem. Depending on what kind of foot problem, you may still be able to do these lifts or deadlifts which are a little less explosive. With these, you're basically on your feet, but not running, which you may or may not be able to do on your bad foot. You can probably start out doing these kind of compound lifts using kettlebells. If your gym has these, you'll want to get a little training from a staff person before using them, if you haven't used them before. You can also use a barbell. Just keep in mind that these are very technical lifts that you'll want to stay light with for quite a while before progressing to heavier weights. Just one idea on how to do just some full body lifting, but also get some cardio in the process.

I saw this topic title and wondered how people would stop losing weight while they were in the bathroom.???? Just kidding! Congrats GoldyGirl!

Cool!!

Way to go Laura Ven! Is there a link or something? How can I read about it? I bet I missed an email somewhere.....

I don't typically wear a bikini........ .........but I wouldn't mind seeing you in one on the beach!! Nice!! Congrats!!

It's always a good idea to run it past your Dr/Nut before deciding to take supplements. Just keep in mind that the supplement industry is booming and there's lots of money to be made off of people who aren't well informed. You'll be fed a bunch of bad info from MOST of the companies selling supplements, especially the one that starts with a "G" and ends with a "C". So just research as much as you can. There are a lot of opinions in regards to supplements, but the one's that I find help me somewhat (and the ones I take) are: whey Protein Fish Oil Creatine (off and on) In my opinion (for what that may be worth), any real muscle gains will come from 1-proper nutrition and 2-good ol' fashioned hard work in the gym spent lifting. The supplements are just that....to supplement the main two factors that I just mentioned. Fish oil offers so many benefits, but I can't afford to eat fish every day, so I supplement to get those omegas. Most on this board already take protein to at least retain muscle. But you can't build it without a little extra protein and most sleevers can't eat enough to get the extra protein, so I usually have at least one whey shake a day. Guys will usually want to stay away from too much soy protein. It's just not the best protein choice for guys. Creatine just helps shuffle Water to muscles, which I've noticed maybe gives me enough energy to do an extra rep each set. I'm not sold on it contributing all that much, but since it's fairly inexpensive and safe, I take it from time to time. Keep in mind, everyone is different, so many times it's just a matter of trial and error and see what works best for ya. Good luck!

Playa! Just kidding. If you've been up front and honest with them without any "exclusive" agreements, you're not really a player the way I see it. But if one is writing love poems.....well......letting her down could get messy. Not sure there's an easy way out with the one that wrote the poem. Maybe that was her way of saying that she wants you and doesn't want to share you? If so, you probably need to make sure you're both on the same page and that she knows you're not interested in anything real serious. If your goal is to have fun, just need to find some woman that wants to do the same I guess.

What all is in that stuff? Does it say how much caffeine is in it? If you take it that early, I wouldn't think the caffeine would be keeping you up later at night. Wonder if it's some other ingredient that's in it..........

I read about this last week....pissed me off. Thanks for posting this.....made my day!!!

Amen Matthew! CCBarrick....I think it's great that you plan on lifting after your sleeve! Just make sure to be patient and when you are allowed to lift, just ease into and gradually build up. You have the rest of your life to lift, so don't do anything too crazy right after surgery. Good luck!

I hardly have tight abs, but you make some good points about how women are different. I'm glad I don't have to give birth!

Congrats!!

I can't speak for the rest on this board, but I didn't take any precautionary measures before surgery on the skin issue. But I do think you have a good approach with plans of lifting weights. It may not be the only factor, but I think it's probably the biggest factor in not having any loose skin issues for myself. If you haven't lifted before, be patient, learn good form/technique and gradually build up.....I think you'll be glad you did. Good luck and I wish you the best!

Hang in there Curvy!! Wish you the best and hope you continue down the road you've started and not give up!!

I still consider it a learning process. That and I remember vets helping me when I first started out with the sleeve, so I am also here to return the favor....even if it is just to new sleevers or people thinking about being sleeved. I want to be as helpful to them as the vets were to me. Thanks for hanging around M2G!

Saw this video and I thought it seemed very interesting. Don't think I agree with 100% of it, but it does have a lot of truth in it. I wasn't sure whether to post it in "Nutrition" or in "Fitness/Exercise" since it relates to both, but the real topic is nutrition, so I went with posting it here. Like I've heard told before, "typically the longer a food lasts, the worse it is for you". I'm not sure what that says about our Protein powder that has quite a shelf life on it, but makes a lot of sense. Being able to afford all fresh and organic food is another matter........

I agree, those really long cardio sessions are not good for muscle retention. Other than this once a year 5k mud run (Warrior Dash) coming up that will probably be a good 40-45 minutes for me, I limit my cardio to 30 minutes or less and just twice a week. Like "MikeRoss" stated, to add mass (fat or muscle), you need to be at a caloric surplus and you'll need to have a good idea of how many cals you need to maintain your current weight, then add. Our bodies have no problem adding on massive amounts of fat quickly and we all can testify that we can add fat to our frames at an alarming pace. But our bodies don't have the same ability to pack on muscle as quickly (short of illegal supplementation) as it can fat. So if you jack your calories way above what you need for maintenance while lifting several times a week, sure you'll put on SOME muscle, but most of the mass you'll be adding will be fat. I've been there.......done that. So I think the key is to go slightly over one's daily maintenance calories. Mine are somewhere in the range of about 200-300 calories over maintenance on days that I lift, which are at least 5 days a week. On these days, I try to make sure to get a higher percentage of those calories from lean proteins and complex carbs and less fats. The days I don't lift, I'll go about 100-200 cals below maintenance or stay at maintenance while reducing complex carbs and raising fats. Of course that's what works for me and people's bodies do tend to react differently, so I think there's some trial and error involved as well.

I'm new to the site. Been struggling with my weight for 10-12 years now and have decided to do the gastric sleeve. I've got all the referals, 5 yr history and psych evals in and will get seeing the surgeon in about a week. Maybe looking at having the surgery in October. Right now my BMI is 38, but has fluctuated between 37 and 45 the past 10 years. I exercise pretty well (3-4 days a week), but my appetite and even the types of food I eat are the real issues. I'm stocking up on the necessary supplements and liquid shakes that will be needed. I'm ready to roll with this! Any comments, suggestions or things anyone thinks I need to know or be aware of will be appreciated! Mark

I'm a "social eater" trying to complete my crossover addiction process to being a social drinker. Just kidding, well only kidding on the drinking part. You gotta watch out diving into the drinking thing after surgery, it can flat out knock you down quickly. I never really drank more than probably once a month before surgery (and about the same now), so I didn't have much tolerance. When I had my first drink (probably two months after surgery).....wow.....it really hit me hard and fast!! Before I finished one glass of wine I could hardly stand without swaying back and forth. So be careful with that stuff and maybe not drink as soon after surgery as I did.

Welcome! This is a public post, but no worries. I'm about a year and a half post-op and I have my moments of being really tired as well. I do cardio about twice a week and lift 5-6 times a week, so I'm guessing that may have something to do with my fatigue. My bloodwork has all come back normal as well. Have you spoken with your Dr or nutritionist about your exact symptoms?

I don't know that I would recommend you do anything different than guys in general. Females don't have the same hormones that guys have, so you can do pretty much the same lifts and it will "tone" you. With a guy who has a normal testosterone range with more calories/complex carbs, those will tend to add bulk. Two days lifting is definitely sufficient for toning and getting in enough resistance training/lifting. Just stick to the compound lifts such as squats, bench press, military press, dips, pullups and maybe even deadlifts (about every other week), and you, for the most part, wouldn't need to do any other type of lifts. Probably 2-3 sets of each of these would be all you need in a week, except for deadlifts, they tend to take longer to recover from and maybe do them more like once every 10 days or so. Also depends on your goals. If the upper body is more your concern, can't go wrong with bench press (especially with dumbbells), military press and pullups.