Fiddleman

I had a very good circuit strength training workout in the am and then spent 2 hours cutting my hedge with a gas trimmer in the afternoon (about 200 feet on both sides of drive way). Let me tell you that holding a gas trimmer in your arm for 2 hours gives your upper body a good resistance workout and my shirt was soaked from the effort. Goes to show you that exercising can be done in non traditional ways.

Mark-Actually, I have decided not to go down this route of hgh because the risks are just not worth it. I like who I am and what I have accomplished in terms of strength in the last 1/2 year. If I am not destined to be super strong, then so be it. However, I do think anything is possible with the right training, hard work and dedication. I already have excellent nutrition and a well thought out fitness plan working in my favor, a trainer who cares about my training goals and success in addition to an excellent support system. And discipline is my middle name. That is enough to stay motivated to fight the good fight every day.

Even though this experience was bad, never say never! It will be hard to eat certain foods over the months, but eventually you can eat anything, even spicy chicken. In fact, today I had shredded spicy buffalo chicken for 2 of my meals without any issue at 13 months post op. By month 6, you should statistically be able to eat just about everything. Some struggle with a few items after hat, but it is not the norm. If in doubt, be sure to take your Prilosec before eating something spicy again. You might wait a couple months before trying spicy chicken again. One type of food I struggled with at month 3 was eating beef (hamburger meat and pot roast). Made me throw up. I tried again in 2 months, but still an issue. Between month 5 and 6, my issue with beef went away and I could eat a burger ( without the bun) and pot roast. So, moral of story : never say never.

As Lynda states above, the cold does indeed vanish after awhile. I remember being cold until about post op month 7. Boy do I remember how cold it was, needing a space heater in my home office and later wearing hoodies and gloves doing normal things like grocery shopping or walking around the mall. I must have looked strange wearing gloves inside. Today I do say that I am not so cold any longer. It just kind of dissipated at some point; it is hard to point to a precise time when the body started to be used to loss of insulation.

A note to the OP on Ramen - watch out for the high fat and sodium in those. They are somewhat good for tight budgets if you cannot afford anything else, but if you can, there are much better nutritional choices from low carb protein bars to small amounts cheese to apples with nut butter to Ostrim sticks to beef jerky to...

laura - I see your 4 boxes of pepper Ostrim and raise you 5 boxes of teriyaki Ostrim. Yup, the motherlode just came in yesterday. that stuff is gold for VSG snackers. I bet kristi made like 5000 dollars in rewards from all our VST orders last week !!

Any thoughts on if this would good for the sleeve. my question applies to a person who is at least post month 6 in order to be past all healing. I used to eat Fiber One cereal all the time (read: every morning) pre op and just loved the original flavor with very little added sugar. I am wondering if there are any unintended side effects like too much swelling, etc. I would love to eat this again as a digestion regulator ( read: fancy smancy for guaranteed daily BM - lol). This would be as a replacement long term for the chia seed / miralax I take daily now, which, by the way, is a good digestion regulator also. One bowl provides approximately 57% daily fiber. Thanks all for your responses.

The good news is the sun is back out today in Seattle and I am feeling much more cheery. Dark skies during the day must bring out the moodiness in me. And the munches ( had two protein bars, including a quest - those are so good!!). And yes I did turn n the glow light yesterday. It helped.

Seriously, you are moving up north? That would be great to visit and meet you. Portland is a 4 hour car drive away. Northern CA is a bit harder and is an all day, coffee infused drive from Seattle. I am going to swing through northern CA on a small road trip in early November and hopefully I will run into some VST friends.

Laura, you are always welcome in my threads. wait a sec, that sounded kinda bad...lol.

Hey, I cop a feel on my abs and hips right when I wake up to predict what the scale is going to do. I have developed a really good intuition about it. It may sound corny, but I like do a little analysis on different muscles to see if and how much growth occurred over night. Oh and I like to check myself out in the mirror to see how the overall body composition is doing.

Home made shredded buffalo chicken with 2 tbsp of bolt house blue cheese yogurt salad dressing and a Persian cucumber on the side. Zesty, Yummy and easy to make!

As a beginner post op ( month 1-3), I liked using Syntrax nectar sweets like double cookie and chocolate truffle. My surgical center recommended them and I found the taste pleasing, they were easy to mix with both milk / water and I did not get tired of them. After month 3 to about month 5, I used Syntrax matrix brand Oreo flavor. It is an extended release formula and keeps you satisfied longer then the Syntrax nectar proteins. Between month 5-7, I used GNC amplified Wheybolic cookies and creme flavor. This shake fueled my running 5ks and 10ks. Between month 7 and 13 ((now), I use 3 proteins to fuel my fitness at home and in the cross fit box : muscle milk lite cake batter first thing in the morning, synth 6 cookies and cream for workout recovery shake and optimal nutrition gold standard casein chocolate flavor for bed time. I enjoy drinking protein shakes and they help me meet both caloric and energy needs for intense fitness. I usually just mix my shakes with water, but will mix with lite vanilla soy on a casino if I really need the extra protein. Every shake is fairly low carb except the synth 6 which has 30 grams of carb instead of 1-2 as the other proteins do. I need the carbs to replace those lost during working out. Hope this helps.

Yup - I ate the whole plate. It was about 5 ounces of shredded chicken and 3 ounces of cucumber. You can eat more further on post op, especially after month 6. This is both a blessing and a bane for folks. If you focus on sourcing your calories from Protein, eating more only makes you lose more weight and get more fit. Do not worry, I went through the same phases as you during the early months post op ( eg only being able to eat 1-3 ounces of chicken). I eat 7-8 times a day now and try to eat about 1700-1900 calories. For this reason, I am always eating every 2 -3 hours.lol. Literally chomping or drinking Water from rise until bed. Never hungry though and still lose weight. last week was 10 lb below original goal and am focused on building muscle to reduce body fat and get stronger (currently at 12% and need to update my picture, from 3 months ago). Just focus on eating clean sources of protein and veggies and you will do just fine when you are able to tolerate eating more. Eating food like this picture is really satisfying and super healthy for you.

Yup, it is heavenly good! Love it!

For sure! Simply beautiful locations. Thanks for sharing the links. I love hiking in the alpine here in the Cascade mountain range, but now I am super excited about coming out there. Maybe next summer!

Wha.....independently own health food store? I do not think I have seen one of those in my life time, but I am a wee bit younger than you (I believe 10 years). The first health food store I have ever been in was GNC. More recently, I have been in vitamin world and vitamin shoppe. However, with the invention of the interweb () who needs those darn retail stores anyways. Any vitamin, mineral or supplement is but one "buy it now" click away.

Laura , you ain't no fat chick any mo'. Seriously, you should not say that because it is not true. We have seen how you look in a recent photos. lookin' good. Keep up the great work! I know it takes a fight every day to keep the cravings away, but I always know you are a very strong willed lady. Stronger than any old weak excuse for a craving. Those cravings are whimpering in your presence.