aroundhky

My "after"....... or hopefully just my "so far/most recent"......

Oh, thought you were just wanting 'before' pics. My 'after' is on my profile.

Preach on Butter! I love me compound lifts, deadlifts, dips, military presses, pullups, etc! Effective AND very efficient lifts.

You are too funny! And thanks for both the clinical assessment and your way too kind personal opinion! I'm not crazy worried about them at the moment. I guess the key word in my post was "starting" to worry a little about them or notice them. As of about 2-3 months ago, I'm implementing the "extra chest work" routine at the gym to hopefully add more muscle there to hopefully fill in the little bit of space that I'm noticing is trying to sag. I really think this approach right after surgery helped with my lower torso (belly area) and has virtually eliminated sag issues there. So hopefully this continued extra focus on my upper torso will help the same way. We'll see..................

My high BP went away almost immediately. Before WLS, it was out of control even while on the max dosage BP medicine (160ish/105ish). Now it's in the normal range with no meds......makes me very happy!

I think mine are starting to think about causing me some issues..........

Those are before????

What if we want to lift say.... around the middle of the day, and save our evening energy for "evening fun"? I've lifted pretty well at lunch with fairly high intensity then and usually able to recover and "perform" when/if the opportunity for "evening activities" arise. We'll call those evening "activities" my cardio session. Haha! Seriously though, good points on the recovery and rest aspects. I make sure any muscle soreness is gone before working that particular muscle group again and that seems to serve me pretty well and I've had good experiences with that approach.

Nothing crazy or too strong....maybe some green tea or something like that. Or an invigorating chilly shower in the morning to bring you to full alertness......? Other than and the other suggestions that members posted.....I have no idea. Good luck!

Caffeine....... Will not make you stronger, but can help with focus, which can help indirectly with strength. I usually don't need it since I workout at lunch and I'm awake by then. But the rare times I've tried morning workouts, sometimes caffeine helps to kick me into an exercise frame of mind.

Desk job here too! The gym I've been going to for the past 2+ years is really good and I'm lucky to only have to pay $20 a month for my gym membership. It's a block and a half from my office, so I walk there and lift at lunch Mon-Fri. It's very convenient for me and I'm very fortunate to have a gym that's so cheap and close to work. Sitting the rest of the day makes me very eager to get out at lunch and exercise......very therapeutic for me.

I see. Like a section in photos subtitled "before & after" perhaps. Good idea

Yeah, I think my picture albums say "before" and "after", then those albums are shown on the profile page I think......... Not sure if I originally set it up that way or if it is standard on everyone's profile.

Carbs can be a friend or foe and everyone has their own sensitivity to them and the type and timing seem to play key roles. With me, they are a friend to help me with my weight lifting. I have lots of lean Protein and a good number of complex carbs for my 2-3 meals after a workout on days I lift. I really limit my fats those days. The few days that I don't lift, I have more fat (good fats, not saturated if I can help it), and less carbs. For me, the only good carbs for me on my lifting days (4-5 a week) are broccoli, quinoa, oats (no sugar), green Beans and maybe a little brown rice or sweet potato. On those lifting days I probably easily get 100+ grams of those complex carbs along with 100-120 grams of lean protein. The 2 days a week that I don't lift, I'm pretty much low carbing it to around 30-50 grams, but if I go a little over with veggie carbs, I don't really worry about them. My cardio days (1-2 a week), I'm mostly low carbing it.....for now. If my body fat % ever gets low enough, I'm sure I'll have to add a few more carbs on those days to help with energy and recovery. That would be a good problem to have..... With all of that said, the simple carbs......... I try to totally eliminate. With the key word TRY.........but on a rare occasion, I'll fall off the wagon with the sugary or white carbs. Since we are all different, the best way to find out is by trial and error I suppose. Just try to be informed with your nutrition (like with your MFP) and in tune with your body's sensitivity to them and that will probably help a lot. Not sure, but hope this helped.........

Still trying to make my goal..........

My most "strenuous" workouts seem to be my Muay Thai classes. At the end of them, I'm sucking major wind, my arms and legs are like Jell-o and I can barely walk to my truck afterwards to leave. I'm fairly efficient in the gym since I lift 5 days a week, so I don't spend more than an hour at the gym and if I'm not doing the rare circuit training session, I take a little time between my sets. Although I'm pretty tired and sweaty after my lifting sessions, I'm nowhere nearly exhausted as I am from Muay Thai.

Body fat analysis can be a little tricky, but I think it has improved the past couple of years. I went to the local university back around my 1 year surgiversary. They used a combination of a few calipers, the semi-grueling water submersion test and the hand held digital device. They were all within about 1% of each other, which in my opinion, is fairly consistant. Regardless of the exact accuracy, doing this maybe every 2-6 months the exact same way can still give you a good indication of how your body composition is chaning, if any. So I'm going to pay that small fee and go again in June or maybe July, and any change in the percentage will give me a good indication of my progress......or lack of progress. : P

Thanks! The only time I change is when I have to....like when I plateau on my lifts or my body adjusts, then I have to change my lifts a little to keep the muscle on their toes and wake them up. Strong man?........I wish! But thanks! Maybe if there was some local competition for 40 and over guys with gastric surgery..........perhaps I could qualify for that.

Yeah, I'm still weighing pretty high on the BMI charts, but I lift A LOT. I'm sure I could stop lifting, do lots of cardio, eat the same cals but reduce my complex carbs and I would probably drop 20+ pounds in a month or two. That 20 pounds would be most entirely muscle loss (and a little water), so it's not worth it to me just to get a number on the scale. It's just all a matter of personal preference I suppose.

I was just messin' with ya. I guess I'm a sleeve veteran now and I've seen (read) the muscle vs fat topic a lot. It's very interesting and people comment on it quite a bit........including me.

I agree.....don't let a stall, or even a slight gain from muscle added deter you. Women, you don't have to worry about getting muscle bound or "bulky"....it's not in your hormones, so you're not going to build massive amounts of muscle, especially since you are on a calorie restriction. The fact that you are female, add to that the fact that your calories and macros are significantly reduced = no huge massive amounts of muscle to be produced. So the small, incremental amounts of muscle you do build or "tone" in the gym, will only help you. I know everyone is different, and this may not apply to those with lots of sagging skin and there are other factors involved, but I feel the muscle I've gained/maintained has really helped me fill in the spots (to some extent) where the fat used to be. I lift often and with fairly high intensity, and I have zero sagging skin. "Kat"..............just giving you a heads up, some people may comment/correct ya on the weight of muscle vs fat thing. I think the way I usually read their comments goes something like this........"a pound of muscle weighs the exact same as a pound of fat", which of course is right. But the point you are making is spot on......a pound of muscle takes up less space than a pound of fat. I think some get to the gym, lift for a few weeks and get worried when the scale slows down, stalls, or even goes up a pound or two. But usually the overall body composition is better......they have a little less fat and a little more muscle, which to me, is a good thing.