Fiddleman

I know that Portland, OR is like the bicycling capital of the world. Interesting that Washington, D.C. Is way up on the list. You wouldn't think all those politicians, congressmen and lawyers have time to work out.

Hey, maybe someday you will be able to buy a home tongue stamper model for $ 19.99 from the kitchen section of Bed Bath and Beyond or from an As seen on TV store! Lol.

Badboy- Sorry to hear they treated you that way. No health store should treat customers like that because hey, we are all trying to get healthy. Duh. Basic business model is to cater to people like us in addition to the body builders and track stars.

Yeah, need to be careful then. The late night Oreo shake would only be one jack in the box drive through away. I hope that as part of sewing on a tongue torture device, that the program also provides solid nutritional and fitness consultation. If these folks truly have an issue with controlling what they put in their mouth, then a patch is not going to keep them from drinking milk shakes and blizzards. And it is only for a month. Of course, we have the same concerns with VSG. However, I think the structured nutritional and support programs that VSG WLS Centers provide over the long term make VSG a clear choice over short term tongue stamping. These tongue stampers will be back to eating whatever they want if they do not reprogram their relationship with food. I honestly do not think 1 month is enough time to make these changes. Maybe tongue stamping is cheap enough that it is sort of a vanity procedure that can be done whenever, like taking a diet pill. Just some thoughts...

Yup-live north of Seattle in Lake Stevens area ( about 1 hour north of Seattle by car when traffic is good). With traffic (in Everett), it sometimes takes 30 minutes to get to Vitamin Shoppe near the Everett mall from my place out in the sticks. GNC is right up the road at Frontier Village. I love going to vitamin shoppe because of their selection, but the people who work there really make me want to drive there. They really are knowledgable and care about the success of he customer way before trying to sell something. I sometimes chat with them for 30 minutes and have gotten to know a few of them very well.

By the way, how does putting a patch on your tongue inflict pain when eating solid food? Are there spikes on it or something?

You guys definitely have food on the brain.

LOL! Edit: sorry, responded to wrong post of your above. I was laughing at your bacon comment.

I did 100+ jumping lunges on Thursday as a segment of a hard cross fit work out (see below). I still have sore quads today. finally, I am sore from a work out. I think that is where real results will come from. I decided to take a rest day yesterday and workout today instead. With respect to this thread topic, I am considering taking rest days on Wednesday and Friday as a way to maximize strength building after cross fit days. That would change from resting on Saturday and Sunday. The interesting thing is I gained a few lbs from Thursday. finally! You probably are not used to hearing about someone deliberately trying to gain weight, but it has been hard to put on more lean mass with my weight at around 175-178. Today I am 181.5 and I can see the noticeable different is muscle mass in my quads. Thank you jumping lunges. I didn't eat any differently, but on my rest day yesterday I sucked down BCAA (branching chain amino acids) all day and chilled out as far as fitness. No activity. I also tried a new product called re-power that is supposed to be a "powerful, multi action anabolic amino formula." Yes, a lot of marketing gibberish. However, I am going to give it a few weeks to see if it will lower my bf more and put on lean muscle mass. It really promises a lot of miracles for those that do "ultra hard workouts", but as the usual skeptic, I need to walk the talk with it before endorsing it wholly. In summary, here is what my week has looked like so far, including today and tomorrow: Monday (timed sets - 20 seconds on, 10 seconds off) 1 mile run (8 min) Light straight legged deadlifts (100) 20 minutes: star jumpers, full dive bombers, jack knives and hip raisers Tuesday (cross fit): 1600 m run 20 unassisted pull ups, push-ups, hip extensions, air squats, ght sit-ups and lunges One rep testing- 350 deadlift, 250 back squat, 150 front squat, 250 bench press, 150 overhead lift (no jerk) My deep squats are getting so much better now that I am starting to get better mobility in my core region. The roller really helps with loosening up this region. Once this area lessens, I have found the hamstrings are loosening such that I can bend over with straight legs and place my palms on the ground without pain in the calves and hamstrings. This is a huge win. Wednesday ( 2 ladder sets counting up and down 1-4-1-4): 1 mile run Light bench press and dead lifts (100) 20 minutes of ladders sets consisting of lunge and twist, one legged Romanian deadlifts, one armed push-ups, supermans Thursday (cross fit): 2000 m row (1:50 / 500m) 15 unassisted pull-ups, push-ups, hip extensions, air squats, ght sit-ups and lunges 5 rounds of 10 back squats at 60-80% max 4 rounds of 8 front squats at 150, 18 vups, 36 jumping lunges (8 minutes) Friday (rest) : lots of stretching and rolling out muscles. Saturday (circuit): 1 mile run (8 min) Light dumbbell deadlifts, bench presses and flies (100 lb total) 20 minutes of 8 rounds of Jumping lunges, bouncy pushups, vups and one legged hip raisers. Each exercise 20 s, 30 second break between rounds) A good full body work out. It still feels like a challenge to me. Sunday ( rest) - I am going to go watch the Seattle cross fit games at gasworks park, perhaps participate as it is open without qualifying to everyone for some events. My motivation is to go study the peak performance of others to gauge what it is like to compete at the regional level. Maybe I will have to try it out tomorrow!! I will definitely start competing soon. The first "real" compete will be for the regional games next summer. My first long term goal is to qualify at regionals next year (2014) and be a top finisher the year after (2015) before competing at the national level (2016).

Typically, I work out 5 days a week and then take rest days on Saturday and Sunday. I am still somewhat active on Saturday, but do not do a formal strength training workout most of the time (this weekend an exception).. On Sunday, I typically do not do anything more then stretching, yoga, walking or a warmup type workout. I have not had any problems with this approach to resting, but I am wondering if it is ideal. Sometimes I feel like I do not need 2 days of rest every week. Furthermore, I think back to back rest may also be compromising my muscle growing process. Don't know, but it is a theory. I eat very well in terms of every couple hours focusing on the right type and amount of Protein and do use Protein shakes, creatine and BCAA supplementation religiously from wake to bed time. I never get a day with even moderate soreness. No overtraining yet. Furthermore, I am going to need to start consistently training 6 days a week of pure cross fit in the fall to prepare for regional Cross fit tryouts in summer 2014. Some posts I have read in the forum suggest resting on Friday and Sunday. My trainer also suggested this when I asked her this last week. The only issue, and it is kind of personal, is I like to workout on Friday to break up the workday which tends to be about 12-15 hours of computer work. What do you guys think? Give me some pros and cons about why you choose different days for rest. Also, what do you guys do differently in terms of supplementation and activity on your rest days? I tend to scale back creatine and BCAA intake on rest days, but still eat about the same except for fewer carbs. On workout days, I intentionally carb up before working out to give my muscles the proper nutrition in order to avoid fatigue too early in sets.

Congratulations to your success. The transformation really shows.

Oh my! This is so much more fringe than the tube connected out of the stomach approach you showed us last year, essentially emptying sludge yet of the body after it is digested. Remember that? This must be a fun hobby of yours: to find weird and interesting weight loss techniques! Thanks for the entertainment.

Thanks Laura.

Raising your caloric load by 700 in the short term may actually work as a shock to your body, in a good way, but if you raise the daily caloric load too fast your body might store in the longer term instead of converting the calories to energy because your caloric payload will be far higher than your current BMR (Basal Metabolic Rate). You want to increase the daily caloric load *slowly* over 1-2 months. You may see your weight fluctuate up a bit while the body is adjusting. once your BMR stabilizes at a higher number, your weight will begin to drop again. 1700 calories is usually 100-300 below an average equilibrium point for calories consumed versus calories burned (TDEE). Most find their TDEE between 1900 and 2100 but the best way to know precisely what your TDEE is to enter information about your weight, height and activity levels into an online calculator. Eating at TDEE is a really good place for your daily caloric load to be and the net effect will a decrease in hunger and an increase of your BMR out of the pits of starvation mode, if done slowly. Good luck on this process. Regardless, congratulations on your success over the last two weeks and may you be blessed with more weeks and months like those.

That is awesome! Good to hear...

Now you have piqued my Interest Nicole. why do you think it is all a scam? What drives your passion to hate GNC so venomously?

Thanks BTB. So far progress is going well and I have worked hard for it. I get jealous sometimes of those guys that naturally have a ripped body. I will get there. How long does it usually take a person of average size ( myself, 7 months ago) build into a ripped guy ( e.g one of the Spartans from 300)? I am always working on strength during the week and have a very clean approach to eating in order to optimize results. Oh, and I have 2 SIL. I suppose that should have been made more clear!

The vitamin shoppe I go to has some very knowledgable employees and it is refreshing / rewarding to have conversations about supplementation. The problem is they are a good 30 minute drive where GNC is a 5 minute drive. If I know what I want to get based on personal research, then Amazon has anything and everything with free 2 day shipping. It does not get much better than that.

German heritage here too! Along with Scottish and English heritage. It is a good idea I do not have any great great grandparents from Ireland or I would have to be constantly feuding with myself. I do love the Irish culture though ( tis where my fiddleman name comes from - love of both Irish and Scottish fiddling). Now that I have hijacked the thread, back to scheduled programming...

If you have read any of my recent posts, you can understand I enjoy fitness as a post op VSG. Pretty sure it is my transfer addiction from previon version of self! I know there are tons of other fitness enthusiasts out there from long distance bikers, to runners, to cross fitters, to power lifters, to (fill in the blank). The question I want to pose to VSG today: what is your 5-10 year plan with regards to fitness? What are your short term and long term goals? Here is what I have been thinking about recently: 1. Summer 2014 - qualify for regional cross fit competition 2. Summer 2015 - qualify as a finalist in regional cross fit 2. Summer 2016 - transition into parkour (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Parkour) and mma and get good at them 3. Summer 2018 - audition for American ninja warrior (really inspires me, especially this season on TV) 4. Summer 2020 - qualify as a finalist in American ninja warrior Big goals, I know! I do not believe in small goals. We are all winners when we set our mind to achieving large goals.