Fiddleman

Nicole- great first week and keep at it! Results may take some time (see my description of the phases above), but are going to be worth it many times over. The key to success on this 12 week program is always to be hitting peaks in your weight sets or your HIIT cardio with laser like focus. Never settle for repetition or boredom. Push yourself with each rep. Challenge yourself. Make the mind body connection at the peak of each rep. It will be hard, but rewarding. This requires each week to be a step up from the previous week as you get stronger both physically and mentally. Workouts will generally be much shorter then what you are used to or have seen others do, but much more effective. Just a repeat of what you probably already know: gaining weight when first working out with weights is quite natural as muscle weighs more then fat and muscles need an ample supply of Water to support growth. Your size will be smaller though as your stored fat is converted to glycogen for those muscles. Be sure to drink enough water to support muscle growth and removal of waste.

I do not think you can count coffee as a daily water source for the same reason you cannot count pop.

Globetrotter- it is mostly just Water weight. As you break the muscles down, they need a lot of water to repair themselves (hence, up 4 pounds). Your weight will drop soon enough as soon as your muscles let go of the water (glycogen store / burn cycle). This process of building muscle definitely requires rest so do get a day off at least once a week or even in between lifting days if you lift every other day. Rest is so important to building muscle, second to a good eating plan. My trainer told me more than once that a person's weight, especially for women, starts going up a few pounds before it drops to a new low. I did experience this slight gain before drop, and it sounds like you may fit the pattern too. In addition to scale weight, your clothes will fit better, you will feel smaller, you will feel stronger, you will notice in the mirror, people around you will notice, etc. Hang in there. It will get much better and easier for you soon enough with your commitment to success.

Swizzley, sounds like you are ready to do this! Excellent to have another challenger. Coffee should be ok, just do not overdo it. Cheers!

Great job! You are 5 months out right? Try and move your calories up to 900 by next month and by 1200 in 3 or 4 months from now. Your carbs and fats can slowly increase as well, but do focus on good carbs and good fats. Make your food selections count! After that, reevaluate and continue to push up the calories as well as fitness. It will all seem natural after a while and feel like a lifestyle. You can do it!! you have done some great changes already in the last few weeks. Thanks for sharing.

Gradually work your way up to the TDEE number. It may take you 2 or 3 months. Please do not try and rush the caloric increase or you may find your body storing the calories instead of burning them. A gradual increase will be more natural for your body and allow you to retrain the BMR. For the average adult, it is usually .8 gram protein per kg of body weight and there are 2.2 kg in a pound. Take your body weight and divide it by 2.2 to get your body weight in kilograms. Then multiply that number by .8 to get the amount of protein you should eat daily. For example, I weigh currently 188 lb. That is 85.45 kg. Now multiply that number by .8 to get 68.36. This is the minimum amount of daily protein I should eat as an adult that weighs 188. However, I am not the average adult. We have had WLS. As WLS post op, we should be consuming at least 80 G protein a day. Everyone should definitely meet these protein goals, no questions asked. That is what the doctor recommends as the minimum, even without being active. I think you get this now. Athletes need much more. If you are physically active like an athlete, you should consume at least 1.8 to 2.0 grams of protein per kilogram. This is to. Support a healthy BMR for the high levels of fitness. i am sure a lot of VST members who are far enough out can see themselves as athletes and should try and eat this much protein to keep the BMR running efficiently. For example, I workout intensely daily so should consider the athlete protein levels. Taking the 85.45 kg body weight and multiplying it by 2 gives 170.9 grams of protein daily, on the higher recommendation side. I eat around 170 G lean protein now by focusing on lean protein every 2-3 hours and also drinking Protein shakes when waking up and going to sleep. Lean protein is good for regulating your hunger, so do the best you can to gradually increase the number depending on how active you are.

Glad you are trying this, but all in moderation. Increase a little bit at a time each week in order for your body to adjust. It will take weeks to double caloric intake safely with the purpose of "fixing" the BMR. Not sure you are going to have an issue, but doubling your calories overnight may cause your body to store all of it because you have been in caloric deficit for so long. Best of wishes to your progress.

As stated above, starting weight definitely makes a big difference. I started at 360 and was extra morbidly obese; I had a lot to lose. 188 lb today at 17% body fat. Good place to be and easy to maintain. However, Trying to drop 15 lb fat and gain 5 lb lean muscle in next 4 months.

I did not know slugs had the bone structure to get crippled. Lol. It would either have to be stepped on or salted, both which win the slug a Darwin award.

Really nice destination point !! Great job on the hiking. You are among hiking friends here on VST.

When I do the inputs to the calculator I get 2152. I would think that is doable. What do you think?

Laura- what is confusing? Increasing calories to TDEE? The extreme caloric deficits we are on after surgery has a place and it helps almost everyone drop weight. However, it puts your body into extreme catabolic state also even if you are trying to eat the required protein. The body will lose its ability to effectively burn calories if deprived of calories for too long. As I stated on another thread today, I think it is wise for people to consider increasing their calories towards TDEE after a while as a post op to prevent a BMR death march. I waited until after losing all weight and hitting goal weight during month 7. However, it may occur before or after that for others. Just make sure you are making healthy food choices with the occasional splurge, paying attention to a proper ratio of the macro nutrients for each meal. It is not as hard as it may sound. Normal eating is another way to state it. No crazy dieting (starvation, low carb or low fat) either.

Hi Leanne - you might start by eating every 2-3 hours and increasing good carbs and fats over a number of weeks. You do not want to ramp up your calories too fast because your body will not be prepared for it and greedily store them instead. I do not know exactly how to do this, but perhaps target an extra 100-200 calories a week until you are 200-300 below your TDEE. Again, this will take you some time so do not try and rush the process. Both Mike Ross and *Susan* have given some excellent advice in past threads so perhaps they will chime in here. You might try eating advocados or banana with a nut butter. Perhaps think about other fruit that is lower on the glycemic scale like apples. Do consider the use of supplements to help you increase calories. Eating a casein shake at night is a long acting Protein and will keep your BMR churning all night long.

You are welcome Danyelle! I am honored and humbled you decided to join the challenge. It will not only yield awesome results and help us make desired lifestyle changes, but will also be a lot of fun. I hope this thread can keep everyone motivated and challenged during the 12 weeks.

Thanks! Crossing my fingers it heals soon. Regardless, still killed my WOD today listed on transformation thread.

Mike - agree whole heartily with your points. I wish the average WLS Center program did a better job at emphasizing this. Mine did not mention this at all, but I eventually figured it out after reading posts like yours and many months ago from Susan (Admin). There is a time and place for extreme caloric deficits that help many succeed (including myself) on the post op diet. However, do try and advance out of the extreme caloric deficits after month 5 or 6 in order to not kill your metabolism. It is a gradual ascent and may take a few months of tweaking to get your eating and workout plan to a happy equilibrium. It is *so* much easier to achieve the weight and physique goals if eating enough calories from a set of well balanced meals, focusing on the macro nutrient ratios. Without the calories, you are constantly fighting your body for measurable progress. My calories are currently at 1600-1800 and I hope to raise them even more based upon TDEE to achieve some specific body transformation goals over the summer months. Unfortunately I did not learn and embrace this until after weight loss finished a!nd lost a lot of muscle as a result. My progress crashed and burned for a couple months as metabolism was in a state of decline. Fortunately, I have turned things around in the last few months and am continuing to going forward. I enjoy not having to stress at all about eating or really having to pay attention to "dieting" in order to achieve weight lifting progress. It feels so natural. Learn from my mistakes people!!!

Love the Fiber One original cereal and ate it for years every day before surgery. Always helped me stay regular with the 57% daily fiber. I do not eat it anymore as a post op for reasons already mentioned in this thread, but I will probably return to eating it again sometime in the future. I would wait for a huge sale at Target (about once or twice a year) and then stock up and buy like 20-30 boxes to last 6-8 months. Plus target gave the 5 dollar give cards if you purchased 4 or 5. Then we would use the gift cards for bday or Christmas presents. I should have owned stock in the company. ha!

I got this little spiky massage peanut a couple weeks ago for triggering pressure points on my feet, to increase mobility in my upper body and to massage my shoulders and neck. It is a great tool and so cheap (about 9 dollars on Amazon). http://www.amazon.com/Power-Systems-75040-Massage-Peanut/dp/B0002U1U0M/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1368986907&sr=8-1&keywords=Massage+peanut As a reflexology tool, a few minutes of rolling your feet over it increases circulation to your feet, ankles and legs. It also stimulates various internal anatomical systems like the lymphatic system, the renal system, the endocrine system and so on. It can be used on the hands too for the same purpose. It might take you a bit to get used to the spikes. It was ok for me on the first application of the exercises. Here is some more information about how reflexology applies to weight loss: http://m.wikihow.com/Lose-Weight-With-Reflexology To increase mobility in my upper body, I place the bean in between my shoulder blades while laying on the floor. I then stretch my arms to my belly button and raise them in an arc above and behind my head. The goal is to be able to easily lower your fingers to the floor in a Fluid motion without any feeling of tightness in your back. This mobility exercise can be repeated by moving the bean up your back a few times until it is under your neck. This simple exercise has helped my mobility a lot in term of being able to do Olympic lifts. Still a work in progress though.

You may find it will help with your particular ailment. Not sure. I am not big into reflexology, but have noticed it to be really helpful in regulating the digestive system when ever there are issues with BM (before and after surgery). It really helps with circulation to the feet as well in much shorter time then, say, running. My left foot had numbness for a different reason than you. I had reconstructive foot surgery after a bad car accident in 2010 (also the start of gaining 100 pounds) and it left my big toe and part of the top of my foot in a numb state. This peanut has all but eliminated this numbness. Running has helped (some) also over the months, but the peanut really completed the job. My philosophy is to keep an open mind about different approaches and techniques. if something works, then accept and use it. If it does not work, then put it aside and better luck next time. I do think reflexology can yield very real measurable results. And it also just makes your body feel better. The more you know, the more wise you become in making decisions.

You are doing and look great! That hot yoga really helped you.

I lost about 45 pounds in the first month.

For sure Nicole. Your Jillian workouts sound like just the right program for you. Great things are going to come out of these 12 weeks. I am positive about that!

Week one is done on the transformation challenge and it has been awesome! In the gym every morning while on vacation in Kauai. Here is what I did @ about 9 am every morning: Monday: travel Tuesday: 2 mile run @ 6 mph Cross fit warm up of sit-ups, push ups, lunges, pull ups, etc 15 minute AMRAP of 1 minute plank, 10 v-ups, 15 sit-ups, 20 weighted sit-ups ( 15 lb) 2 mile run @ 6 mph Wednesday: 2 mile run @ 6 mph Cross fit warm up of sit-ups, push ups, lunges, pull ups, etc Push dumbbell exercises with 12-10-8-8+ sets, really focusing for peak intensity. Started with 20, 25, 30 and 35 lb for each set progression. 2 mile run @ 6 mph Thursday: 2 mile run @ 6 mph Cross fit warm up of sit-ups, push ups, lunges, pull ups, etc 15 minute AMRAP of 1 minute plank, 10 v-ups, 15 sit-ups, 20 weighted sit-ups ( 15 lb) 2 mile run @ 7.5 mph Friday: 2 mile run @ 6 mph Cross fit warm up of sit-ups, push ups, lunges, pull ups, etc leg dumbbell exercises with 12-10-8-8+ sets, really focusing for peak intensity. Started with 30, 35, 40, and 45 lb for each set progression. 2 mile run @ 6 mph Saturday: 2 mile run @ 6 mph Cross fit warm up of sit-ups, push ups, lunges, pull ups, etc 10 k run @ 7.0 mph ( used a program that statistically simulated actual course - cool!) Push dumbbell exercises with 12-10-8-8+ sets, really focusing for peak intensity. Started with 20, 25, 30 and 35 lb for each set progression. Sunday (today - this is my plan): 2 mile run @ 6 mph Cross fit warm up of sit-ups, push ups, lunges, pull ups, etc 52 card exercises of jumping jacks, burpees, push ups and air squats (will take about 20 m). My wife will push me to completion. 2 mile run @ 7.5 mph Monday: will travel I followed the clean eating plan for the week (eating a meal every 2-3 hours paying attention to a good balance of the macro nutrients) and drank about 1.5-2 g of Water a day. banana with Peanut Butter is now my favorite pre workout snack! so yummy and good for you. Stayed away from alcohol for the most part except for last night. It was also my wife's bday dinner. Last night dinner was my cheat meal for the week and I had 2 glasses of nice Frank Chardonnay imported from Italy before eating ( one would have been ok, but hey, vacation??). Appetizer was a yummy beet salad. Main entree was some nut encrusted Ono fish. Dessert ( my cheat) was 1/2 of a gooey chocolate macadamia cookie. OMG - I died and went to heaven with that ( have not eaten a dessert is many many months). However, I do have to say it was not all good. The alcohol and sugar knocked me out on the car ride back to the hotel and my body was giving me hell until I went to bed. Felt fine in the morning, but a little bloated. Overall, I made some incredible changes in my physique just from this one week of transformation program. Wow. It is very doable. I am looking forward to what the rest of the transformation brings. The program, as you can see from my exercise log, is not that hard. I am only spending about 1 hour in the gym, maybe a little less. Good luck everyone!! Do share your progress so far if you like.

Please let me know what you would like in a care package and where it should be sent to. Some ideas: Low carb Protein bars (pure protein, nu go slim, or whatever you prefer) Fish oil (good quality) Snack food like beef Jerky or ostrich jerky ( a personal favorite as high protein) A freezer pak ( not sure you have the ability to freeze things, but this pak keeps your daily meats safe to eat in hot weather) Protein powder (what do you like? - would arrive as sealed bag, not tub) A good quality multi Vitamin for athletes This is just a brain dump of suggestions. Do let me know what would help you the most. I am sure others would also feel that they could send something too.