Fiddleman

No worries - your body is just adjusting to new found muscle building exercises and is retaining some water at the same time. You are also losing fat. So even though it looks like a wash on the scale, know that your body is undergoing some amazing changes to support the new stressors placed on it. It is natural for a persons weight to climb a little when first working out with resistance training before dropping. Be patient! I am sure you will love the overall results.

Hi - I am 38 and been obese for most of my life. I carried my weight mostly in stomach region so it is of no surprise that is where I have some lose skin. Not a lot. It is about 1/4 inch and not a big deal, but does separate me mentally from achieving complete success. I have done a lot of strength related things since post op 7 months from cross fit to p90 x to body weight workouts at home. I have a good definition in my arms and legs from working out, not lose skin there at all. No lose skin on my back or chest either, but I have done a lot of push-up and pull-up variations over time. That probably helped a lot. I drink a lot of water and go overboard on protein every day. The former helps with encouraging skin elasticity and the latter encourages muscle growth (after I thoroughly beat them up). I eat a lot of carbs that are usually in the form of quinoa, steel oats, fiber one and bananas. Carbs are needed for the body to effectively synthesize protein. Building muscle really helps in filling out any loose skin with definition. Mentally, I am more about strength, fitness and health then I am about body building, but that is just me. One step at a time. I too have been through the new op struggles, but am here to say that it gets easier after 6 months, after one year and so on. I could not successfully eat a lot of vegetable types until after reaching goal. They just would not process right. However, being two years out now, I can eat any vegetable without uncomfortable consequence. Keep at it everyone!

The 50-60% statistic is just that, a statistic. It is also a way for the medical industry to separate itself from liability by under promising. Standard good practice in business. It is the personal decision of each individual whether they want to be a stat or not. I did not. I just followed the standard rules about post op eating, drinking and exercise. Maybe I ate a little more low carb then most or made a decision to go above and beyond the basics as soon as I was able to whether that be water, protein, exercise, sleep, etc. Didn't go crazy, but did a little extra. With doing these simple things, I lost over 100% of excess weight in 7 months. Started at 380# (5'11") and ended at 172# after 7 months. A little low for me and my muscles and strength were MIA . I spent the next 16 month working on building a new body with weight stabilized between 180-185. It takes a disciplined approach to diet, exercise and lifestyle to maintain, but totally worth it. I love being able to push myself athletically now almost daily. I set new goals all the time for myself. Moral of story - choose not to be a stat and you can achieve anything.

As for what event I am training for : America Ninja Warrior. It is one of my favorite shows to watch and want to be doing the course one day, maybe a few years down the road. They are amazing athletes. There isn't anything that says we cannot do it also!

She is doing amazingly well with about 150 lost so far. Enjoying life together as sleevers and lovin' it. She is pretty hot stuff today if you ask me.

Its strange. I had a lot of trouble with this knee issue over last few days (quite painful at times), when just doing normal stuff. Then I did a new sprint run variation yesterday afternoon (10 segments of 3 min increments one after another (1 min 6.5 mph, 1 min 7.5 mph and 1 min 8.5 mph)) before moving onto a body weight strength workout (about an hour). My knee kind of whined a little on the first 3 min segment and then started feeling better as I did more segments. By the time I finished the running, knee felt strong as ever and no more lock ups or other knee annoyances when doing normal things non exercise related; in other words, just walking around. Weird huh? Do you think my knee was just slightly out of alignment and the running fixed it? Maybe loose cartilage moved so not rubbing. I hope it stays pain free! I really enjoy running (fast) and hope my knees last many more years.

Hi all - I believe to have caused myself runners knee or something like that. I have been running, jumping and sprinting quite a bit over that past year, always pushing my physical limits. In the last week, there have been numerous occasions when my right knee locks up and it is a bit painful for 1-2 seconds. If I stop, the pain immediately dissipates. Does this sound like runners knee? For the last 2 days I have been not exercising, taking it easy, elevating it. However, I still get these sudden lock ups where pain is localized just to the right and bottom of knee cap. Just from normal walking. Sound familiar? Is this sort of thing going to fix itself and any idea how long that might take (if you have experience with it). It has not improved yet even though I am sitting it out. I am very much an active guy (with dreams of doing america ninja warrior someday) and it is no fun to sit on the sidelines. Give me some good news and perhaps some advice. Thanks!

Thanks all for the responses. I am going to get this taken care of prompto!

Kindle - I came to that realization also.

Steel cut oats are one of the eating highlights of my day. Mix it with chocolate protein powder and...mmm...every day I love my oats in the afternoon.

Anecdotally, it might help for me to say that it was easy to get tipsy in the first year (I did wait until almost at goal @ 6.5 months before having 1st post op drink). 1 drink (eg martini) and I was in my own little party. After that, though, 1 did not have nearly the impact. During that 1st year I was a 1-2 drink a month kind of guy. Then it turned into 1 every 3 months or so. I just found that drinking without any affect at all was not worth the calories. And I am not much of a drinker to start with. So I stopped. I am almost entirely a water drinker now. Suits me fine.

The scale has lost its appeal for me a while ago. I think the last time I weighed was 3 weeks ago and then 3 months ago. I am comfortable with my goal body in terms of appearance and sense at 2 years post op. Yes, I weighed daily while dropping 180 # during the 1st 6 months and then transitioned into once a week after hitting goal at 7 months (180# @ 5'11"). Really, you do start to develop this new sense of "normal" with regards to body composition after a while. If you have a fairly consistent diet plan (I still measure my protein portions to 4 oz a serving) and workout plan, the scale reading is going to stay pretty much the same. You will just know, innately, the state of your body based on mirror appearance, clothes that fit right, how water retention feels, the feeling of being toned and muscular versus going soft, etc. you just know. Trust yourself about what the new you feels like and the scale will become an inanimate relic. I am happy with my body without tracking on a scale.

What is it like for you to live with ms daily? I know generally what the symptoms are, but do you find it harder or different post sleeve? Is inflammation, pain, spasms, etc worse now? I am sorry you have to live with ms and wish the best for you. Maybe there will be a cure in the near future because just managing symptoms is a hard life.

Some say burpees are a form of torture. I happen to like them. A burpee starts in the standing position. Drop down into push up position. Jump your feet between your hands and at the same time jump up with straight arms and a few inches off the ground. That is one rep. It is an awesome full body exercise and there are tons of variations. Burpee box jump, burpee over the barbell, burpee pull ups, etc. Usually burpees are part of a larger set of exercises but can also be done isolated. I like to do the occasional death by burpee (keeps doing reps until total exhaustion). They are also a great warm up. Pound out 25 to get warmed up. I remember doing a routine once that involved 80% dead lifts on the minute and burpees on the minute for 25 minutes. That was tough. To th op - your supplement and exercise plan is definitely pointing you in the right direction. Keep up the great work! Congratulations on beating the cross addiction (drinking). I think you will find exercise a decent cross addiction to take up instead.

the rumbles keep going; I've not seen the end of them @ 2 years.

Most WLS post ops lose 100 # and more. This changes the body's sense of balance and posture. The way we hold our body is not the same as before and this can result in physical strain, especially in the shoulders, back, hips and knees. What are some strategies that you have re-learned in terms of sitting, standing and walking? I believe this topic is not posted about much so any ideas would be helpful to post in this thread. For example, I have lost 180 # and have a totally different muscle composition from head to toe. And I am still working on how to hold myself differently at almost 2 years post op. I am sure this is a problem for other folks too.

I do not run marathons, but I do other running and workouts where I need a good flow of energy. Low carb is just not going to do it. I even ranted about carbs not being evil in the rant forum recently. There are a ton of good carb options there. As for me, I eat a lot of carbs before my workouts in the form of 1/2 cup steel oats, 1 scoop protein powder and 1/2 cup fiber one original cereal. Not only gives me the energy I need to work out hard, but also tastes good. I have been eating this carby meal 2-3 hours before my workout for about 18 months now and am still as fit as I was when I reached goal, even more so now. Quite a bit more. So I say to you - eat your "good" carbs and then kick it during your run, workout, whatever. Also take the time to carb up afterwards with protein. Your muscles will thank you the next day.

great read. Thanks!

The stair idea is actually a good one. Back during one summer quarter in college (many years ago), I decided I was going to take the stair every day when I came back from classes to lose some weight and attract a girl. If I recall accurately, my room was on level 12. Anyways, so I took the stairs every day and it was hard every single time being around 300 #. However, by the end of the summer, I had lost 60 # from this stair climbing and eating a little better. And my legs were solid! I guess you could say that was at least once a day, sometimes more, for about 3 months. Take the stairs! Today, I still like taking the stairs, when I can, because they are more fun. There are different things you can do on stairs like 2 at a time, run, bounce, sprint, etc.

My day is 1000x better then if I do not. The after glow of euphoria after working out is entirely worth it. And my head is so much clearer.

Efx is a DVD . You can find it on Amazon. It is by Mark Lauren, same guy that makes "you are your own gym" and formal special ops elite fitness trainer. His videos are so well made and his personality is perfect, not overly in your face, very friendly and down to earth. I never get tired of him as my @home trainer. I personally think you will find efx exercises are very approachable since you have a Pilate's background. There is a lot of stability and balancing built into the exercises.

Are you up for a challenge on your cardio day (s)? I mean the ultimate challenge. Try out a 1 hour cardio workout as defined by scooby. They consist of scoobervals. Kind of like high intensity intervals, but scooby style. Notch it up a level ! Ok, enough spin. Here is the workout (Reprinted here for your convenience): http://scoobysworkshop.com/scoobervals/ 7 min warmup Speed test (3min) 1 min max speed (note speed at end) 2 min rest calculate 80% of your one minute max Repeat 3x (21min) 5 min at 80% max, hold speed 80% 2 min rest Repeat 5x (15min) 2 min max 1 min rest 2 min additional rest Repeat 6x (12 min) 1 min max 1 min rest It can be done with any type of cardio equipment or even just your body. Essentially, it is a killer! You will want an hr monitor and be able to watch it closely through the hour. He has a video of him doing it on a stationary bike if you want get an understanding of it, but with someone else doing it. You can even do it in tandem with scooby if you feel inclined. Think you can do this cardio workout? I know you want to... However, do remember you should be fairly fit before attempting this. It will push your conditioning into the stratosphere. You will be winded. You will feel your heart pumping really fast. You will be sweating bullets. Push yourself to the edge, but be safe about it. I am going to try out it on my treadmill tomorrow with my trusty hr monitor. If I survive ( tongue in cheek), I will post back and plan on doing it 1-2 times a week (instead of my shorter sprint workouts). I like that you can even do it with burpees (reminds me of when we had a burpee met-con at crossfit; that was definitely death by burpees...) This workout is a most definitely a fat blaster, but equally important, improves the athlete in you. I am all about finding different ways to become a better athlete outside of the traditional sports. You will be able to run faster, jump higher, last longer than anyone who does not have this level of vo2 training. Now go do it! Experience it. Let us know how it goes.

Tried this today, but only made it about 1/2 way before my treadmill panel malfunctioned (buttons stopped responding). It has been on last leg for a while even though it is a commercial precor (bought used off craigslist many years ago). So I switched over to elliptical. However, I just cannot generate the same power on elliptical as I can running. However, I did keep my sprints above between 154-160. Not my max as is the protocol, but I was able to complete it. Maybe next time I will do it with burpees as I know that is a heart pounder, especially of you combine it with box jumps or dead lifts. All in all, a pretty good cardio workout but I have had better cardio days. Time to start saving for a newish precor.

I've been doing the strength program in the last few weeks called efx (elite functional exercise) which really helps on balancing out the back, chest and shoulder muscles (look up exercises like t-squat and pillar reach). It forces absolute mental control over preventing undesirable rotation of the body in different planes. It also provides a really good body weight workout. A lot of the body weight exercises require relaxed shoulders that are actively pulled into the back using lats and other back muscles. Chest is up, stomach pulled in and chin slightly tucked for a strong core (protects the spine). It is a really good posture to hold everywhere, not just when exercising. I think a lot of the past pain (and I have had a lot of it in my neck, shoulders and back) had to do with really bad muscular imbalances attributed to a combination of being morbidly obese for so long and being hunched over the keyboard all day. When I had WLS and lost the weight 7 months later, my body had no idea how to balance the muscles because there was so much compensation from when morbidly obese. There really is something to balancing out the upper body muscles properly. I still have a messed up set of vertebrae at the apex near the neck and in the middle of the back that will probably never go away (so says my PCP), but I am managing it well with mental focus on scapula depression. That is, actively pulling my shoulder blades down using only muscles of back, upper traps relaxed and not involved. I also have some really good yoga stretches that loosen up the spine in these two areas if I feel them reverting to tightness from chair sitting. And yes I actively do fight this tightness regression because most of my work day is sitting at a computer. For the first time in many years, I feel I have adopted some techniques now for eliminating previous pain. I cannot tell you how good it feels to be away from that constant neck, shoulder and back pain that haunted me daily since WLS (glad also to be away from NSAIDs now).

Yes, I have done cross fit for about a year. Fun stuff, but you have to be careful about going over "the line."