Fiddleman

I had a very nice breakthrough yesterday. An "aha" moment if you will. It may seem small to the average person, but huge for me. I was out shopping with my wife, lamenting internally and a little externally (as my wife can attest to) about my sore neck, shoulders and upper back. Basically, the whole thoracic region. And I thought to myself why am I so different from everyone else on this? Why does my wife not have this problem with pain in the thoracic spinal region when turning her neck sideways? So after asking myself a million questions, I started to really internalize why the muscles are so tight from the lats, through the delts and down the muscles surrounding the scapula. It occurred to me that my shoulders *can* rotate backwards to relieve the tension on all the muscles. I visualized the physical mechanics of it. I heard this a million times from my cross fit coaches and from my family. But it was never working because instead of rotation, I was applying a lateral backwards shift which created more sheer force and torque (think what happens when you apply a sheer force to a tight rubber band) . So I slowly rotated the ball of the shoulder backwards and my left scapula moved down significantly. All my muscles and tendons relaxed. And the years of pain throughout the thoracic region vanished. I did a little jig right there. Happy days!! I had my wife feel the muscles throughout the region and they were no longer tight like a piano string. Also, I could "feel" the small remaining presence of tension shift down to below the scapula, mid back. Only a small amount. I am over-thrilled that my body " gets it" and I now have a strategy that works to fix my back if I sense it is tight. I have been fighting this back, shoulder, neck pain for over a decade and it worsened a bit after losing 180 lbs. The forward rotation of the shoulders occurred both from the excess weight in front and from bad sitting posture at the computer. The excess weight certainly compounded the forward pull caused by sitting incorrectly to the nth degree. So much so that my neutral posture was very uncomfortable. Now I just need to make this new neutral standing posture automatic so I do not need to think about it when sitting at a computer or when lifting weight in the gym. I found my usual tunnel of pain return after sitting at my work desk last night. So I think I mentally understand correct standing neutral posture now, but need to work on internalizing correct sitting nuetral posture at the office desk. This is what kills me. One "side effect" is my stomach now pushes out a little more. I need to keep it pulled in when holding good posture while standing. I cannot believe that this change in physical rotation around the rotator cuff did not occur to me before. I had been trying to apply sheer forces to push my shoulders back in the past, which did not work. Everyone probably does not realize that there are significant postures that must be relearned after losing a significant amount of weight. Now that the excess weight is gone, there is no need for the upper body to overcompensate in seeking positional balance. Maybe I do not need Physical therapy after all? Thoughts?

I would not get too hung up on lack of daily scale results that come from exercise like running or lifting. It may happen the next day or it may not. The scale is a funny measure of success as it only measures the net affect of how your body works, not the process of anatomical balance that occurs before that. The people who design these scales "get that" most of us want a simple answer, but often times the simple answer is indeed the lowest common denominator for everyone and is not going to be the most optimal feedback. Sometimes it will read a loss when you least expect it and other times not at all. It all goes back to ho your body works. When you exercise, your muscles are eating up the glycogen stores stored in your muscles. Glycogen requires water for processing. So what happens is your body will then convert stored fat or the carbs you have eaten into glycogen. Along with the glycogen build up is water. So a drop in stored water is balanced out with an increase in water and, this is key, heavier muscle. This almost always means the scale goes the wrong way or stays neutral the day after a good cardio like running or a great lifting session. The positive is that the impact of exercise on decreasing fat stores, increasing muscle stores and losing water at the same time is accumulative over time. You will start to see the results on the scale soon, but you need to keep at it in order for the accumulative effect to work in your favor. This may sound an awful lot like bro-science, and it is! This is information I have learned over time and I am communicating it in a friendly non scientific manner that utterly reflects my lack of taking any chemistry, anatomical or biology classes in college or have a career that comes anywhere near this information. However, it does make sense to me and is sound enough to give you and others encouragement that the scale is really not a true measure of immediate success after succinct changes in your lifestyle of eating and exercise habits.

Bacon, bacon, bacon....(like the dog on the bacon treat commercial)

Now you have probably thrown a challenge to my wife ( *slaps head*), as if the lemon pound cake was not enough!! It's still there and I have not cracked and sliced into it! Ha, who has the will of steel now? As for best red velvet cake, I do have to give Cheese Cake Factory kudos there. They make a pretty mean slice of it. http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2011/06/best-cheesecake-at-the-cheesecake-factory-we-eat-entire-menu-slideshow.html Not sure if anyone can relate, but I was totally addicted to the Chris' Outragious Cheese Cake pre sleeve from Cheese Cake Factory. Ate one in the past when they first introduced it. http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2011/06/best-cheesecake-at-the-cheesecake-factory-we-eat-entire-menu-slideshow.html Cheese cake, ghirardelli chocolate brownies,coconut, German chocolate cake frosting...mmm. 1500+ calories per slice. Tons of fat. Sugar unknowable? http://www.fatsecret.com/Diary.aspx?pa=fjrd&rid=1646522 It is the ultimate sin desert for me. However, it was so rich, I sometimes got sugar headaches after eating it. I think that is the mark of a food addict who will eat something even though it leads to discomfort after finishing it. ok, fantasy over...

Did not die on my exercise yesterday evening. Yup, still here. Warmup: +2 mile run + 1200 m row Skill: deadlifts @280 sets of 3 for 10 rounds. Work out: 30 minutes (sets of 15 at a time, rotate); Push-ups (10 regular , 5 hand release): 450 24" Box jumps (rebound style): 310 Sit-ups: 450 Around 20 minutes, the burn from pushups and cardio induced labor breathing from box jumps kicked in. Took a good amount of mental fortitude to keep those box jumps going (jump, darn it, jump). Sit-ups were actually a point to recover between those other two stations. There was about 5 sec recovery time between each min round (finished around 54-56 s per round. Did not get all 45 reps every min due to the box jumps, but still did good. Really good solid week of working out and training. Hit it every day. Feel decent, a little sore today. overall, not bad. Now for a couple days of rest over the weekend. Cheers!

Yes, for when weight loss phase is burning to an end. It is just standard nutritional information.

This is a great question and is something every VSG should get comfortable with, to help with healing. First, start doing laps around the floor as soon you are able to after waking up from anesthesia. When you get home, try and walk slowly for a block. It will be hard. If you cannot do it, go home, rest, try again the next day. Try and work yourself up to 20 min walks, then 30 minute walks and then hour walks as the days tick by. Take your dog if you have one. Try increasing the pace as some weeks go by. Maybe aim for 1 mile walk and then 2 miles and then 3 miles. I remember after a few weeks, I was out walking 2-3 times a day with my dog for up to an hour at a time. Both my dog and I really enjoyed it. Don't stress too much about time or distance at the beginning. Just be easy on yourself and make progress as you are able to. And do not forget to drink all the time. Always have a water bottle with you as you are out walking. You do not want to get dehydrated.

GT- it is good to read about your self confidence coming back. Keep it up. Take life by the horns. Own it. You have the power to control your life. One thing that I have always wondered about though: why not do some boot camp workouts with the guys in your deployment for getting army strong? Maybe I am missing something, but you have never brought this up in the last year when you were searching for different strategies to get back to your state of badass. Doing army fitness workouts seems perfect, combined with good nutritional eating as you have just committed to per your anti inflammatory style diet.

My wife (another VSG person about 3 months out) made a lemon pound cake this last week with almond paste. No flour. She claims it is VSG friendly, but it taste like Starbucks lemon pound cake to me. Very tasty. I keep nibbling a crumb or two a few times a day when I walk past it. I tell her to put it away, but there it is on the counter, every single day. 300 something calorie per slice. Not going to eat it. that is my mantra. She is keeping it out for my brother because he likes it (he is not in shape nor cares about healthy eating). Somebody convince her to.just.put.it.away.out.of.sight.

You can calculate your bmi here: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/guidelines/obesity/BMI/bmicalc.htm According to the page, "normal" bmi is between 18.5 and 24.9. Entering my info of 5'11 and 172 lb, I get 24. Barely scraped by. And I consider myself in good athletic/ fit form with good muscle definition and low body fat %. I could lean out more, but do not really care to. No need to be zombie man! Bmi chart is a farce! Use body fat % or how clothes are fitting.

Today will be my 5th day of cross fit in a row and surprisingly my body is not fighting me on it. I feel good. Strong. Healthy. Fast. Supple. My rest days this week will be sat, sun. It kind of encourages me that maybe my body is getting used to this cross fit thing more then 3 days in a few. I hope so! Today is going to be a fun workout session. I will start by warming up with a combination 8 min mile run and a 500 m row (try to pace at 1:50 during warmups). I also want to throw in some 90 second handstands. These are good warm up exercises and get the heart pumping. Then onto what the box prescribes for warming up and mobility work. Oh the mobility. It is constantly on the brain. I got my new speed jump rope yesterday and am going to continue working on the double under skill. Will also work on 24 " rebound box jumps. I am good at regular box jumps, but my hips are not quite flexible enough to transfer power correctly when rebounding. I look silly practicing, but practice makes perfect. For some reason, complex athletic skills elude me. Lol. Not gifted there and have go keep practicing, practicing and practicing. On the minute for 30 minutes, AMRAP (as many rounds as possible): 10 pushups 10 pull ups 10 sit ups I was not thinking this to be too much work until I mentally added it up. Minimum 300 of each! Maybe it won't be too bad spread out over 30 m. I like these metabolic conditioning workouts that involve pure gymnastic work. They do not require the skill work of fast Olympic lifts (e.g. s n a t c h ) in a workout. At this point post op, I am findind myself far better and efficient at running, rowing and gymnastic work rather then the technical lifting skill work. Despite lifting not being my favorite thing because I am not as good at it, I still get in there as much as I can to get better at it.

Decide if drinking is really something you want to do. As a post op, I went through a short lived phase between month 4-6, having a drink a couple times a month. Yes, it was a little nice to relax with it. However, desire for it has since vanished. None whatsoever. Maybe most people drink post op just because they were not allowed to do it after surgery. Again, think about what drinking really means to you at a coping level, whether that means coping in social events or coping with your own subconscious. You may find that you really do not need it and, then, will find out you really do not want it. Sugar is kind of in a similar boat as alcohol post op. Complex id stuff to think about, but it might help. One of the best artifacts for me personally as a post VSG is coming to grips with who I am and not what I think others want me to be.

The anti-inflammatory is called piroxicam and I am prescribed 20 mg a day as needed. It is in the same family of pharmecuetical medicine as diclofenac and etodolac, neither of which my body responded to along with ibuprofen. I tried piroxicam yesterday for the first time and, yes, my body responded much better to it. Unfortunately, it made me a little tired and spacy in the head so will want to monitor if this is safe for driving with. 1 a day is all that is needed according to PCP.

I am happy that the PCP has clinically identified an issue and I can snuff this back pain out once and for all. He said no bulging disc issues or scoliosis issues. i was actually really impressed with the gambit of physical tests he had me do when diagnosing. And then it will be time to get back into the business of increasing upper body strength. It will be so nice to not have the constant energy drain of a tight scapula, shoulder and neck region. 6-8 weeks of PT. I can do this. It will be worth not having to fight the short muscles any longer. Another change I did this week was stopped using my expensive so-called ergo office chair. 300 bucks! Instead, I am now sitting in a straight back chair from our dining room that is pretty comfy with slight curve for lumbar and no arms. Laying on my acupressure mat every night also helps, but only in a temp way. A nice hot shower after working out helps tremendously. I am also researching and trying to implement some good scapula stretches.

My cross fit box is going to start a 1 month weight loss challenge on Monday. Basically it is to encourage folks to crack down on their nutrition and, perhaps for some, increase the number of times the workout every week. There is a nominal cash prize. Nothing to write home about. Here is the thing. I am competitive and want to participate. The only issue is my weight is currently 172 (5'11") and losing 10-12 lbs would, well, I am not sure what it would do to health. i feel good about my body right now. Feel healthy. Sure dropping 10-12 lbs could get me more defined like a bodybuilder at 7% bf or it may turn me into a zombie guy. Lol. Who knows. I am in pretty good athlete shape right now. All I would have to do to win this is cut out 1 or 2 meals a day. I am already eating 7-8 times a day and scarfing some 2000-2500 calories. Down 8 lb from last week only because i have been busting ass in the work outs. I eat very well already. Lean proteins, veggies and some low carb, low fat meals my wife makes. I already do cross fit 5 days a week and I am not going to add a day. Sorry, no way. Should I do this challenge? It seems like an easy win.

Thanks, and you are right: there is a line that should be respected. I will do the work out at the start and end of the competition, for community purposes, but will bow out of deliberately participating in the challenge. I already have a good nutritional plan and work out effectively so do not see a need to make significant changes on those fronts. On a very related note, another weight loss challenge came up yesterday from the benefits section of my work. Two weight related challenges in one day! Must be a sign or something. Anyways, this one is about 6 months long and encouraging employees to get down to their BMI in groups of 5. The cash reward prizes are not nominal. 1st: 15,000, 2nd: 10,000, 3rd:5000. I could really use the extra cash. Too bad they did not present this challenge 1 year ago!! How awesome that would have been. Oh well, they probably exclude WLS in the fine print. Will need to check. I am kind of glad they are doing this challenge; it is for a good cause. It will probably also save the company considerable money in health related costs, especially since my company is 105k+ employees strong and some percentage would benefit by dropping the weight to get to BMI.

I have disproven that myth a long time ago.

Running, seriously. I liked to run when first starting to exercise because it is something anyone can do (given no medical issues like bad knees). Just keep on running every day and inches will melt away. Drip drip. Also anything that sniffs like a core exercise - planks, bicycles, Turkish get up, on and on - will help with strengthening up your stomach region. Squats are also awesome at eradicating the inner thigh. Do as many as you can and go deep on every rep. You will feel it.