aroundhky

Congrats!!! Way to go!!!

If doing resistance training, you surely want to get some protein in within an hour after your workout. Also a few slow digesting clean carbs like broccoli, grean beans, etc about an hour or two after your workout. The juice idea is really good immediately after lifting and exercising, like as soon as you walk out of the gym door...... if you can. If it's a good hard workout, your glycogen levels in your muscles will be depleted and any simple carbs (sugars) you consume right after the workout will go directly to your muscles and not stored as fat or in the liver. It will also help you recover better. Just be sensible like "Pookey" said and just drink a few ounces. What I do is consume my protein shake (with just a few of those quickly digesting simple carbs) as I'm walking out the gym door. Then about an hour or so later, I eat my lean meats with veggies. But everyone is different. Experiment and see what works for you and go with it. Good luck!

In my personal opinion, I think it's good to do it before the surgery. I kept lifting a lot before my surgery and up through the first week of the liquid pre-op diet. Then I hit the wall from carb depletion and stopped working out for the last week of the liquid diet. Your muscles want glycogen to repair themselves after being broken down in the workout and with the no carb or extremely low carb pre-surgery liquid diet, you MAY do your muscles more harm than good once all of the stored carbs are gone from your liver during that last week or so of the pre-op diet. That's just my guess. It would be interesting to hear other people's thoughts on this. But lifting all the way up through the beginning of the liquid diet sounds like a good idea to me. Muscles have memory, and I think I got my strength back a lot sooner after my surgery due to this muscle memory. However, muscle size was really slow to come back. Also, after doing more research on this, I wish my Dr would have recommended also taking L-glutamine and branch chain amino acids during my weight loss. These supplements are known to preserve more muscle (along with the protein) during rapid weight loss. So that might be a good idea as well. BCAAs and Glutamine are relatively inexpensive and there are some already in many of the whey protein supplements. "Inline", it sounds like it may be worth looking into these supplements if you are a lifter. We work hard for our gains in the gym, might as well do all that we can to preserve those muscles you earned. Good luck and keep us updated!

On the more expensive side, I would say Nectar Strawberry is really good (though it's a little more expensive and doesn't mixes fizzy-like), but it's a high quality whey isolate as is Unjury. A good quality less expensive one that I've turned to lately is Body Fortress, which can usually be found at Wal-Mart as well as other places. I like their vanilla and it mixes well in blender with blueberries, strawberries, etc.

"Kayte"....some people say that you can't really get too much protein, but I would have to disagree. It is true that it takes your body more effort/energy (calories) to break down protein, but protein is still calories and doesn't have negative calories, and can eventually lead to weight gain in my opinion if consuming too many. Especially if you are getting plenty of protein from solid foods, then chugging 4-5 Protein shakes a day in addition to the solid protein. Eventually your body is going to get more protein than it can use and at some point (since they are calories), they will be stored as fat if you have too many. I think for us, it would be fairly difficult for us to get that many grams every day without drinking a ton of them. How many grams each individual needs varies and depends on factors such as overall body mass and it's composition (muscle), one's age, activity level, etc. I know for me, I don't go with the "1 gram of protein per pound of body weight per day" theory like a lot of the other gym rats I lift with. I can't imagine consuming 240+ grams of protein, especially now. I don't care how lean that protein is, that's still a lot of calories. However, I probably do get in a lot more than most people on this message board. I'm guessing I get on average of 100-125 grams of proetin now. I lift weights very heavily and at a very high intensity and there is a lot of muscle broken down during my workouts, so they need the extra protein to repair and rebuild. But if I didn't lift weights or do much cardio, I would probably only shoot for around 60 grams of protein a day. But that's just my opinion as I know what works for me. Kayte, I would discuss this with your nutritionist as I'm sure he/she has a pretty good idea of your situation and needs. http://www.livestron...ou-gain-weight/

Hang in there! That regret will one day change to "I wish I had done this years ago". : )

About 6 or 7 hours a week here. About 5 hours resistance (weights) and another 1-2 hours a week in HIIT cardio (3 to 4 half hour sessions).

You rocked it like it's your birthday!!! Congrats!!!

Awesome! You look very fetching! Congrats and nice point on the board as good motivation.... I second that!

Thanks Dorrie, you can count on it!

I am still a good way off from my overall goal weight of 215, but I am a little over 5 months post op and have met many goals so far. I am off my blood pressure medicine, off my cholesterol meds, free of joint (knee) pain, a little more energy than I had before and my strength is coming back to where it was pre-sleeve. One of my main concerns about the surgery and weight loss was my overall strength. If I had ANY real reservations about having the sleeve, it was due to my concern about a loss of muscle/strength, particularly a loss that I wouldn't be able to get back. I've lifted my whole life and have enjoyed what weightlifting (resistance training) has given back to me. It's great therapy and the testosterone rush it gives us guys for a few hours after lifting makes me feel great! I like being moderately strong (at least for my age/mileage), but I am FAR from being a "powerhouse". Anyway, a good test of overall body strength is the deadlift. It works almost the entire body and is a good way to measure overall strength. Before my surgery I was deadlifting 450ish and I weighed around 300 pounds. Today, I hit one benchmark which is my weight on the scales. Before I got into lifting today, I weighed myself (usually do about once every week or two) and I was 252 (I'm now down 50 pounds from 292 since surgery). I know that's a bit of a slow loss compared to many people with the sleeve, but I'm totally fine with that. That slow loss has helped me maintain muscle, with the exception of the first month and a half after surgery (lost a lot of muscle/weight during that time). So next up today was my lifting session at the gym. I've been flirting with 400 on the deadlift for several weeks now. I took last week off from deadlifting since it can take quite a toll on the body and I think it helped me. I busted through that 400 plateau big time and ended up deadlifting 425 pounds today!!! It felt great and I got it up fairly easily, I think I could've seriously pushed the 450 mark today. Not bad for a guy who is 6'-3" to 6'-4" (harder for tall guys to deadlift). The main thing is, this tells me that my pre-sleeve strength is pretty much back, minus the 50 pounds of fat that I've lost. Thanks to the sleeve, Vitamins, Protein, hard work in the gym and you all on this message board! There's been times when I haven't been happy with getting the sleeve (especially right after surgery). But I am very thankful for it now and wish I had done it 10 years ago (when I weighed 320). I feel great, I'm healthier and I'm strong again! Thanks for the sleeve and thanks for everyone on here who has had so much great insight to share in regards to the sleeve, nutrition, supplements, exercise, etc! You've all been very very helpful and I thank you! Next goal...... 215 on the scales and 450+ on that deadlift!

"noexcuses"..... you will be fine if you work hard in the weightroom and adhere to nutrition guidelines for us sleevers. Skull crushers are fun....haven't done those in a while, very good for triceps. Since you mentioned those, I think I'll add them in with my dips next time. You'll notice some muscle/strength loss initially during that rapid weight loss, but try not to get too discouraged, when the weight loss slows just a bit, the muscle will come back. When your Dr gives you the go ahead, just ease back into for the first few weeks, don't want another surgery.

Wow, that's a lot of miles! Way to go!

"BrownDoesAll".... I had my surgery around the same time as you, it seems you are making good progress in your weight loss. You've lost more than I have. : ) Dropping too much weight too fast is bad for you. Slow and steady wins the race. But I do know how frustrating stalls can be and keeping that steady part is tricky. Just like "Coops" said, if you are in a stall, don't panic, they are typical, try changing things up a bit and fooling your body. Our bodies try and fight this weight loss tooth and nail, so we sometimes have to do things like changing carbs, cals and types of exercise to get the scale moving again. Hang in there and enjoy the ride!

"2bfit"...... I've been there too as far as the stall and very slow weight loss. I know my weight really slowed once I started lifting weights more heavily and started to use creatine (helps muscle retain water and adds water weight). My strength is going back up, weight loss slowed a lot or stalled, but my pants kept getting looser. I knew my body fat% was dropping, so I know with all of the lifting I do and protein I take in (80-120 grams a day), that the little weight that I am losing is all fat. Are you doing a lot of resistance training? If you have the ability to add muscle, this could be part of it, but stay the course, that muscle will help you burn fat. If it's not a muscle thing, just try and pick yourself back up, eat right and exercise, you'll be fine. Like so many people say here, it's not a race. So you hit a stall, at least it's better than putting on 10 pounds over those few weeks. Look at as just a pause in your weight loss and get refocused. I think most, if not all of us have gone through that at some point since surgery. It looks like overall, you've done great! BMI of 41.5 down to 30.6..... that's great progress! Hang in there and don't give up. : ) But I can relate on the slow weight loss, so let me know if you need some feedback sometime. Keep us updated!

Still have to say lifting weights is my favorite exercise as it always has been. But I actually do a good bit of cardio now, as opposed to before the sleeve. My cardio consists of the high intensity interval training (short bursts of very high intensity cardio or HIIT) as opposed to long distance running. I'm still afraid that with my calorie deficit and long sessions cardio, that I will lose hard earned muscle. Besides, my youngest daughter loves to do all out sprints, so I join her in those about twice a week and also usually get on the stationary bike once or twice a week. Started Muay Thai training recently as well, so we'll see how that goes. For me, I think I will end up changing it up a lot to keep from getting bored as I am prone to do with cardio.

I made it through Christmas/New Years without any real cheating on my foods, but I was only a month + from surgery then and no real appetite. Now it's Easter, my appetite is back and along comes my favorite bad food.......Reese's Peanut Butter Eggs............................wish me luck!

I think I'll be ok and not eat them. Stopped at the convenience store the other day and saw them for sale at the counter. I faught them off pretty well. It's the one's after Easter for half price that are usually most tempting.

Congrats "Amber" on your progress so far! I'm sure you'll be checking MANY of those off your list and accomplish your goals! Enjoy the ride!

Because you were very excited about the topic!!

Steven, you will get there. It's easier for us guys to put on muscle and gain strength when we eat like I know I did for years. I'm getting used to the slower, but steady progress in the weightroom with limited calories and you'll be fine too. Regardless of how much Protein we take in, it's impossible for guys with a lot of muscle not to lose some of that muscle during rapid weight loss. But when the weight loss slows down a little, you will see slow, steady gains in the weightroom if lifting and eating right. Good luck and keep us updated!