Fiddleman

The Cereal marketing executives are at it again and have finally figured out that moms are no longer buying lucky charms for their children because of the recent healthy mind set being adopted. According to the following article, 40% of lucky charms cereal is eaten by adults: Breakfast staple when we first got married. We were young, carefree and impressionable, especially when we were both moderately overweight. That was before I went head over heals for Fiber One cereal (clearly an adult cereal, right?). Have you observed this shift in target audience from children to adult women in the last month or so? Those sneaky executives; they know how to press the right sentimental buttons with their cloak and dagger commercials.

At 4 months out, try to target 600-900 for best results. After 6 months, target 900-1200. The following 6 months can be a slow ramp up to 1600-2100 calories. Ramping up calories also assumes you are ramping up exercise as well.

During puree stage, I was 200-400 a day. Felt fine eating that amount at that time.

Not literally a "pet" tunnel. I mean a pet project: the people voted against the new tunnel, but the mayor wanted it built anyways, which I am sure is many billions of taxpayer dollars. Meanwhile, most of the freeways are impossible to drive on during rush hour without sitting in a parking lot. However, as bad as the traffic is here, I am sure it pales in comparison to traffic in the bay area.

Seattle is a very nice place to live because of close access to water and mountains. If only the mayor of Seattle would take traffic seriously and upgrade our freeways to support increased traffic instead of chasing pet tunnel projects.

Today was kind of a strike out on lunch. I did not have time to prepare anything, so heated up an Atkins chicken Alfredo and brocolli from the freezer. Made me want to throw up after eating about 1/2. Darn you processed beast!! Typically, I am eating fresh chicken and brocolli, ala paleo diet. Warning to all of you. Breakfast and snack were protein shake / chia seeds and left over shredded buffalo chicken / cucumber, respectively.

McDonalds on every corner in Manhattan? Didn't super size me get filmed there?

Bwahahaha, I think I prefer my alien model to yours!

You mean, like this? http://kuweight64.blogspot.com/2012/03/model-who-looks-like-alien.html

I may be wrong, but I do not think vanity sizing applies to men's Levi jeans unless you consider specifically buying a skinny jean or a relaxed jean. A 32 is still a 32 as it was 15-20 years ago. I do find myself wearing some skinny jeans now only because I like a jean that fits right.

I "skinny" up to Starbucks about once a month and order an iced vanilla or hazelnut latte during the summer. I definitely drink less SB now then I used to, say, 5-6 months ago when I was about 5-6 months post op. no real reason. I just do not feel the need to so much any longer. Enjoy your skinny drinks!!

Great job man at your success and hard work. Super impressed with smacking down the weight in just 5 months. Fitting into size 32 is validation of being a success. Want to share your secrets with everyone? I am sure they would appreciate it.

If you are working out for any meaningful length of time, you have a supplementation stack that is working for you. Honestly, I am still trying to figure mine out and could use some suggestions. What do you take to make real gains on your workout days ( resistance, not cardio). Pre workout meal Is it good to have a non fructose carb here? I have been eating 1/2 apple or 1/2 banana with nut butter and 2-3 oz chicken. I read that the liver probably converts fruit into fat so what else should I be carbing up on? I do not et breads or starches so not sure what else there is to try. Maybe I should lax a little and eat sweet potatoes? What are your suggestions. Pre workout I like Hyde and c4. I cycle between them. I also take a good amino acid cocktail to open up my muscles. It really does help to take something like catalyst. Have any of you tried b4? That one looks good also as a fat burner. Have any of you taken stacker 2 or anything like that before working out for the thermogenic and extreme energy? Let me know your thoughts. Recovery shake Here is where I could use some feedback. I have been taking wheybolic 60 for many months now, but feel it is not functionally making the most use of my workout. I take 40 g. I also tried Isopure, but do not care for the taste too much. Please talk to me about recovery shakes that are really going to take the recovery process to another level. I want powerful stuff. Do not talk to me about the typical WLS Protein powders like nectar, matrix, unjury, etc. they have their place, but not as a recovery shake for making big gains in fitness and body composition. Bedtime shake Here I have been using ON gold standard casein for many months ( double chocolate, yummy). Love the flavor and it always, and I mean always, helps lean me out over night. I am tighter and weigh less because of the casein shake. This last week I have tred GNC refeed, but it tastes too much like monkey butt. Really despise the taste, but it seems to work well. I read a lot of the fitness mags so see page after page of different ads for nighttime shakes. What is the best and most effective? Any and all input is welcome. I have had good results as dropped 15 lb in last 2 months and gained 5 lb lean muscle putting me at around 180, which feels pretty good for my 5'11" frame. However, I want to do better. Educate me!

As an aside - I have been watching the hodge twins on you tube and have to say those two crack me up every time in their bro science meat head explanations on supplementation and other topics related to body building. Not that I take them as scientifically accurate, but I tune in to them for good entertainment value and bro science. you watch them? Hilarious.

You are welcome!

Hi - I just posted a response to this question on another thread. Copied here for your convenience: Essentially, you alternate between 2-4 different body weight exercises in an all out sprint for 20 seconds and then rest 10 seconds. Repeat for 4-8 minutes. You give those 20 seconds as intense focus as you can with as much strength as you can while maintaining perfect form. At home, my Friday workouts follow the Tabata protocol, but tend to last about 20 minutes instead of 4 by stacking together 4 routines with 30 second rest in between. I do it with body weight exercises like jumping lunges, mountain climbers, star jumpers, bouncing push ups and dive bombers. These build incredible strength and fitness over a relatively short period of time. For me, I have been doing these workouts at home for about 10 weeks now and the results speak for themselves. I plan to continue working out this way going forward and it is very easy to create new programs by choosing different body weight exercise combinations. On Monday and Wednesday, I do body weight exercises for about 20 minutes, but not in the Tabata protocol format. On those days I do timed sets and ladder sets. Both are still really effective workouts when compared to Tabata and, again, only about 20 minutes long. Sometimes my trainer has me do this Tabata protocol at cross fit (we do it about once a month), and again, it lasts about 8 minutes and leaves me with tunnel vision afterwards it is so intense. We do 20 second sprints followed by 10 second rest of body weight exercises like burpees, pull ups, box jumps and jumping lunges. This is just an example list of body weight exercises. There are 100s you can choose from. Cross fit for me is Tuesday and Thursday. Try it out and see what you think of it. It is hard at first, but as you get more fit, it becomes more fun to do and gives you incredible fitness and focus. Highly recommended!

Rant on The manager weighs 300 lb and the sales employees are both plump (30-50 lb overweight). This is not a statement about individuals, but more about the type of people GNC hires to represent their stores to the healthy fit minded customer. Rant off Rant on again I find it hard to buy product for getting ripped and muscular from someone who does not walk the talk. It is too bad. I feel they are more about pushing product, getting you to buy "one get one 50% off" and know just enough to make one very high level statement about it. No real passion about how the product works and how i could benefit. it is like they learn one line to memorize and that is it. So i need to say no when they try and push something on me that i am not even interested in. Almost feels Like telling one of those timeshare guys who do the 90 minute sales presentation "no." they make you feel guilty for saying "no." It is impossible to have any meaningful anatomical science based conversation with these GNC guys because they do not seem to embrace the product that they are selling. Sigh. Rant off. I think I will take my business to Vitamin Shoppe where the level of knowledge is so much higher or perhaps i will just stick to Amazon. However, I do like being able to walk into a health store and have meaningful conversations about health, fitness and supplementation...

Syntrax nectar and unjury protein powders are fairly popular for folks here on VST, especially as a new post op. There are many different flavors to choose from sweet to fruity flavors. I personally prefer sweet flavors like Cookies and cream, vanilla bean or chocolate truffle. However, everyone has different tastes. Both brands are available in sample packs if you want to try before committing to 2 lb tubs.

Essentially, you alternate between 2-4 different body weight exercises in an all out sprint for 20 seconds and then rest 10 seconds. Repeat for 4-8 minutes. You give those 20 seconds as intense focus as you can with as much strength as you can while maintaining perfect form. At home, my Friday workouts follow the Tabata protocol, but tend to last about 20 minutes instead of 4 by stacking together 4 routines with 30 second rest in between. I do it with body weight exercises like jumping lunges, mountain climbers, star jumpers, bouncing push ups and dive bombers. These build incredible strength and fitness over a relatively short period of time. For me, I have been doing these workouts at home for about 10 weeks now and the results speak for themselves. I plan to continue working out this way going forward and it is very easy to create new programs by choosing different body weight exercise combinations. On Monday and Wednesday, I do body weight exercises for about 20 minutes, but not in the Tabata protocol format. Sometimes my trainer has me do this Tabata protocol at cross fit (about once a month), and again, it lasts about 8 minutes and leaves me with tunnel vision afterwards it is so intense. We do 20 second sprints followed by 10 second rest of body weight exercises like burpees, pull ups, box jumps and jumping lunges. This is just an example list of body weight exercises. There are 100s you can choose from. Cross fit is Tuesday and Thursday for me. Try it out and see what you think of it. It is hard at first, but as you get more fit, it becomes more fun to do and gives you incredible fitness and focus. Highly recommended!