aroundhky

Sounds good! Not sure I would do HIIT for more than the 40 minutes though....if muscle/strength retention is a goal for you. I think there are differing opinions/studies out there, but some people feel that long cardio (45 mins or more) creates a catabolic effect (muscle breakdown for energy). I don't know if that's true or not, so to be on the safe side, I keep my cardio between 30-45 minutes usually. In the end, it's really all about your individual goals, so go for it if it floats your boat. Main thing is, your exercising, and that's a really good thing!

Your gender's curiosity knows no bounds!

I was fairly lucky.....I never missed a beat. :D Yeah, I would just give it time. I've heard it can mess with hormones and stuff.

In addition to various rubs and lotions, exercises that work the core (abs, obliques, etc) can work as well. I know I have really picked up the pace the past year with my squats, planks and deadlifts at the gym and it has helped my torso a good bit. I've really not had any problem with loose skin. My belly was where I was expecting to have problems with it if I did, and I think that doing lifts that engage those various core muscle have really helped fill in my tummy and harden that part of my body a lot. I guess the other thing that really helps is being young and having skin that is elastic and bounces back easily....which I don't have age on my side. So I'll just stick to the lifting.

I'm not a Dr, but I'm guessing stretching and warming up sufficiently could only help. With me, it just didn't improve until I rested it a few weeks. It really sucked, but that's all that worked for me (along with icing it). So I tried embracing it telling myself it gave me more time to focus on other muscles in the meantime. If you don't mind, give us some feedback on your progress and what is or isn't working for you. I'm curious as I'm fairly certain it will happen to me again.

It sounds like what I had after rehabbing my torn bicep a couple of years ago. Mine was bicep tendonitis that came from over use, or in my case, over rehabbing. Mine was on the inside of my elbow and was a sharp pain anytime I did a curl or pullup. If you have the same thing, I don't think there is a lot to do for it other than rest and ice. And with our sleeve, I'm not sure anti-inflamatories are and option either. I ended up staying away from those exercises for about 4 weeks doing other lifts and icing it every night. Eventually the pain went away and I eased back into it also limiting my range of motion. Straight bars for curls and pullups can also cause this and I think it was the cause in my case. Since then, I've been using the crooked bars and not supinating (rotating my wrist as much), which has also helped in my care. Good luck!

That's probably asking a lot of yourself just a week out. I was walking about a mile to a mile and a half at a time a week out and I thought that was doing pretty well. I had a very easy recovery from surgery and that's probably the biggest factor whether you can do this along with if your body is used to walking for distances. If you try this, please go at a comfortable pace and have a contingency plan in place if you can't finish....such as a partner to be able to give you a ride.

1-I'm guessing if you are on this board, then you've already tried several times with little or no success, especially as far as keeping it off. So like most everyone on here, including myself, we've been there, tried that. 2-Depends on so many factors like insurance, geographic location, etc. Hopefully you'll find the right fit. 3-Im sure there is probably someone that regrets it, but I sure don't. I wish I had it done 10 years ago....but I guess it wasn't really an option then as it is a fairly new procedure. I haven't seen any stats in regards to people who regret this, but just taking a stab at it, I would say at least 90% are satisfied with the surgery.

Congrats!!!

Sounds like your surgery has already been a success and with 124 pounds lost, that's a whole small person (gymnast, jockey or similar build).....so it seems you're doing really well!

I don't have any real insight other than to say that my weight loss started slowing down around the 4-5 month mark as well. When I evaluated it a little more, I noticed that my portion sizes were a good bit larger than at the 2-3 month mark, so I was eating more and getting in more calories. My Dr told me that the sleeve learns to "accommodate more food", not stretch, and he thinks mine started doing it a little sooner than the average sleever. I also noticed a little that I was getting stronger in the gym and was putting on muscle. And since my belt size was actually still getting a little smaller, I figured I had put on some muscle and had also lost some fat, which doesn't allow the scale to move down as much, but it's still a good thing. I'm not sure if this is anything similar to your case, just thought I would share.

Thanks for your honesty PdxMan! It's not always easy to do.

I was just speaking for myself and for no one else since you asked for each person's individual story. But in my case, it IS true in regards to food being the main contributor to me being overweight. I could "out eat" almost everyone I met and I ate with abandon almost every day. That said, I have seen people with snail-like metabolisms that really didn't eat all that much but were overweight. But that's not me and I'm just being honest and not claiming a reason that I know deep in my heart not to be true. I KNOW that food (and the amount of food) was my major cause for being overweight. So I can't really blame genetics or a slow metabolism even though I would like to. But you asked an honest question, so I gave an honest answer. This is a really good topic and not one that has been touched on many times in this forum, so I appreciate you starting it and getting the ball rolling with your own story.

I'm not going to give "excuses" but am listing some "obstacles" that I was not able to overcome for the 15+ years that I was way overweight. Or maybe these are "reasons", just don't want to use the term "excuses", because I want to take full responsibility for my shortcomings before the sleeve. 1-In the past, after SOME weight loss, I eventually would give into the tremendous, ravenous cravings that my body wanted when it thought it was starving and I wasn't able to stay the course. 2-When I did eventually "fall of the wagon" with one bad meal or extra portions, I wasn't able to see it as only that, just one slip up, and thus followed it up with more and more slip ups until I regained the weight back. 3-I didn't plan my meals in advance, so when I got hungry, I just ate and ate, and usually on bad (high fats, high simple carb) foods. 4-Exercise wasn't much of a problem, but I failed at eating to support my exercise or to fuel my exercise. I looked at food as completely having nothing to do with my exercise and I ate food for the taste or satisfaction of eating or how it made me feel. Now, I am much better at eating to fuel my body and exercise rather than just eating because I like to. The sleeve truly is a "tool" for me and helps remind me of what food is supposed to be for me. I'm not saying I don't eat for pleasure on a rare occasion, but it's very rare that I eat something that's really bad for me. And when I do, I am able to get back on the wagon and not spiral back into continuous pleasure eating. The sleeve has helped enlighten me more about nutrition and I feel more educated on how to eat properly in addition to it helping me control my portions.

I started doing VERY light lifting at the gym around 4-5 weeks. I'm talking so I light I couldn't really even feel the weight, just to get some form and stretching back. I did this for about two weeks, then gradually added back a little weight each week or so. But I had a pretty easy recovery from the surgery, so I would definitely go with your Drs advice.

Everyone is different and I hope your surgery and recovery go well. Mine went really well and I have no complaints and only stayed one night in hospital. I had my surgery on a Thursday, so I missed Thur and Fri, relaxed all that weekend (except for walking some about every other hour), and I went back to work that next Monday and worked half a day. Then the next day I went and worked full days from that day forward. So I missed 2 1/2 days of work. I could have taken more days, but I just gauged how I felt and went on that. I have a desk job now, so that helped me miss very little time from work.

Great, thanks for the info Mark!

Mark.....since I try to limit my sugars some, I've heard there is a type of creatine that still absorbs well without needing as much sugar or simple carbs to go with it. Do you know of a creatine that I can take that will be effective without a lot of simple carbs?

Hope you break that stall soon!

I think that should be fine. But it is good to be cautious early on due to the fact that your stomach is still healing and it's hard, if not impossible, to get the full feeling that soon after surgery.

5 weeks?? Ouch!!

If you do plan on taking them, maybe check with your Dr to make sure there are no negative interactions with your sleeve. Better safe than sorry.

I haven't. I'm not sure "fat burners" really burn fat anyway, I'm guessing not or we wouldn't be on here. Why do you take them for your workout...for energy perhaps? The one or two times a month I just can't get going or feel like going to the gym, I will have a little caffeine to get my butt in gear, but that's really rare that it happens. That may be similar to you taking the fat burners, however, some coffee or other caffeine is a little cheaper.