Fiddleman

Small rant on the "explaining results" topic. Yes, I know it is brought up often, but here goes. Most, if not all, of us have to work really hard for the results we want, especially in the refinement phase after reaching goal. For me, the refinement has stretched for about 1 year so far. A lot of previous acquaintances (note - I did not say friends or family as they know better) that have not been part of the process, and more importantly, the changes following WLS are quick to unintentionally trivialize the effort. Important that I state "unintentionally" here because they are not doing it with malice in mind. They are being kind. Often they make some statement like "if only I could have WLS to get rid of this"while holding or otherwise jiggling their stomach. My first thought is, WLS will help you, but it is only the catalyst. It will only get you started. The hard work has little to do with the actual surgery and includes, but is not limited to: 1. Doing the WLS basics ( 64oz +Water and 80 oz protein). This is actually the easy part once you form the habits. 2. Eating a clean and healthy diet. This means saying no ALOT to deserts and other desires. 3. Exercising (lifting weights and cardio) every day. I ran 5k,10k distances, performed cross fit 5 days a week and did p90 x AFTER reaching goal. Not all those at the same time, mind you, but in a progression starting with the running, the cross fit and now beach body programs (0p90 x). 4. Going way beyond the basics - minimum .6-.8 oz Protein per lb of body weight, 32 oz every couple hours. This is harder then you might think and requires a lot of diligent planning. This is a lot of work, but manageable. It takes work to maintain this model of fitness you are looking at. Yes, it really does. They do not want to hear that getting my results is actually "diet and exercise." If I say this, they will quickly dismiss it because, obviously, their attempts at diet and exercise have not worked thus far. Or worse, they will think or verbally accuse me of lying. No, I am not lying, but am playing your game that is governed by your rules. I do not want to disappoint your expectations. Yes, it comes down to diet, exercise and being mindful to achieve the results you desire. Instead of disappointing them, I play their game and state, yes, WLS has gotten me this far. If they really want to know, I will tell them the list above, but most do not want to mentally engage in that discussion.

holy cow - 207#! That is such a great loss and shows how diligent you are. To the OP: For me, I lost 180# after 8 months (a whole me literally - down from 360 #). While I am "done" with watching the scale drop ( or, for that matter, watching the scale at all) my refinement of health, fitness and well being continues to this day at 21 months post op. It is a way of living and I enjoy it. Keep up the good work and focus. You will get there. There are so many post ops that inspire me with their effort and thought processes. My suggestion is first to visualize yourself a winner and at goal. Your success is inevitable if you form some good habits. Second I would identify with and follow some vets who are out further than you. Be like them. Follow their habits. And when you are strong enough in your resolve, blaze your own trail for others to look up to and follow some day. Be that person you want to be. Now is the time.

that is very well stated and gives a good perspective.

yes, sounds good. I am all for meeting fellow bariatric pal folks. I will follow up with you in private PM (remind me in case I forget to).

http://www.northwestern.edu/newscenter/stories/2014/04/morning-rays-keep-off-the-pounds.html Keep those sun lamps shining bright until the days lengthen!

Oh that is so unfair! Hopefully you get your t25 very soon.

Oh I hate that.... Again, WLS is just a helper as we all know. A catalyst. The WLS post ops that do not internalize this early on are the ones that struggle down the road of achieving desired results (eg "hitting goal") or maintaining. By the way, not saying that I too will struggle on this, but so far so good...

Yes, it has worked out well in terms of weight, body fat percentage and body composition. I am constantly refining, the work is never over. I do not say this in a negative manner at all. Refining is something personal and something I can work at constantly. To state it simply, I am swapping fat weight for muscle weight while maintaining a relatively stable weight (180-185 # for 5'11"). I use the mirror and how my body reacts to exercises. My goal is 9-11% body fat percentage. I am presently 15-17% (athletic range). I know that there is some skin that will be impossible to eliminate around the abs (if I have the cash and time in the future, I would like surgery to lose the lose the 1/4 inch or so of loose skin). However, I have managed to tighten everywhere else with muscles and toning. For example, can I hold a better 1/2 moon yoga pose with less effort? Can I do 20 pull-ups? Can I keep my heart rate in cardio zone when exercising a plyo cardio work out 2 days a week (surprisingly it takes a lot of effort to do this. My body likes 135-145 BP even when I think I am pushing myself. I use a heart rate monitor to "stay in the zone."). Can I do a 4 set max effort for biceps curls, starting at 45# and dropping to 30#. Can I do 30 seconds of double time knee tuck jumps? These are some of the challenges when looking over the p90x workout days I do 7 days a week (1-1.5 hours a day). Do I like the way my upper body looks in terms of muscular appearance (I am looking to maintain a strong muscular athletic build, not a huge muscular guy). Do I like the way I look in muscle shirts (glamour muscles, "popping" upper back and chest, powerful legs). Most importantly, nutrition must be dialed in. Without it, none of the results from exercise and working out are possible. I try and hit clean Protein first every day @ 250 g of chicken and powders or so (50% of 1800 calories) and clean veggies like red bell pepper and brocolli. There are two "treats"I look forward to every day: a bowl of steel oats mixed with Fiber one and 30 g of chocolate Protein powder 2 hours before working out and 3 scoops of casein protein at bed. Love having these daily. Yes, I eat carbs every day - 30% of 1800 calorie diet. With this attention to protein and carb ratios in this approach to eating, the fat macro of 20% naturally falls into place with no attention on my part. Achieving a goal weight is actually the "easy" part of this ongoing effort if you want to look at this way.

not far from Everett, near lake stevens.

In all seriousness, the article does not come out and say it (unless I missed it): an increased exposure to early morning light causes the body to produce more vitamin d. And vitamin d is known to help stabilize weight towards a healthy bmi. All of us should be taking daily vitamin d (unless of course you are lucky and always see the sun) so perhaps are already indirectly benefiting from the effects of increased lux in our lives. I live in WA so no only is it dark in the winter time for a number of hours when I rise, it is also gray and overcast most of the year. Vitamin d (I take 5000 IU) and sun lamp therapy for me! My labs continue to show my vitamin d levels within range. My wife however ended up being high and does not need the supplement. I think the difference is she spends a lot of her time outside tending to the garden where I spend a lot of time inside working on my computer. She also gets up about 4 hours after me so is exposed to light immediately where I get up at 5-5:30 am for work and it is still dark out. So I guess my wife is doing it right by sleeping until 9 am where my circadian cycles are off a bit (tired during the day, awake at 3 am) having to get up early for work. It all kind of makes sense in a round about way.

April challenge will be completing phase II of p90x. This means no missed workout days (7 days a week) and dialing into nutrition by using MFP daily and eating clean (drinking lots of water of course). I am supposed to move onto 2400 calories and up the carbs in the ratios (protein=40/carb=40/fat=20). No way! I will be eating the same as last month: 1800 calories and 50/30/20. My p90x coach says this is perfectly alright. Did you know 50% protein of 1800 calorie diet is around 250 g? Seems like a lot, but not so bad if you get average 30 -40 g a meal for 6 meals and then eat a shake with 3 scoops of casein for 1 meal when your body is most likely to utilize that amount. Yes I said eat because 3 scoops of casein with 8 ounces of water produces a nice creamy and thick shake that requires a spoon. Kind of like chocolate mousse. It is yummy and is my little treat every night. Eating this at bed time makes sense because your body can actually use it through the whole night.

Mozart for weight loss. Ha!

Given that we live within 10 miles of each other, I say it is something in the Water. in all seriousness, I have wondered if dropping a large amount of weight has contributed to sleep/mood issues. Not sure. For now, I know exercise keeps my mood in check so will continue that every day.

Not sure anyone mentioned this, but spend time on a treadmill playing with different speeds at different intensities. It helped me get fast running times. Sprinting short bursts really helps. If you do not have a really good pair of running shoes, spend the 100 and fitting time to get a perfect pair - for you. My running shoes are Nike Pegasus and I actually have two pair. They feel really good when running 5 k or 10 k at competitive speeds. They feel equally good when busting out a sub 5 minute mile. Also a lot of people look like they are jogging when out there running. Running fast should not be that comfortable; you have to really push yourself, lengthen the strides, time your breathing, shooting yourself forward with very little lateral movement. Let gravity help you by leaning forward a little, stabilize your core region and use your hip rotators to generate the drive, relaxing everything else above and below your core region. Hope this helps.

That is so awesome!

These are really good!!

What problems down the line have you heard regarding sleeve? I mean 2+ years post op.

Yes, I bruise more often post op then I ever did pretty op. I do not think it has anything to do with vitamins because labs always come back a-ok. It is especially easy to bruise my shins. In fact I still have some small bruises I caused to shins from doing cleans and dead lifts, among other lifts from the ground. Not sure why they have not gone away, but no worries. Other then appearance, they have no physical artifacts. Maybe a little tender, but so low on the tenderness scale, I do not even register it as anything.

For me I think it was 3 weeks. Those were 3 long weeks of waiting.

Definitely blame it on a combination of anaesthesia and pain meds. Pretty common actually. Enjoy the ride.

If you have the energy and desire to get it done with T25, by all means, push play and never look back. You do want to make absolutely sure your body can handle it as a post op though. Maybe make sure you can push yourself that hard before trying it. It will be challenging. It was a year post op before I got into anything intense like t25 and built up my cardio strength with running before that. I am currently doing p90 x and really enjoy it. T25 is in my future, probably after I work through p90x2, insanity and asylum. It is not that I do not want to do it now. I do. And can. However, I want to do some of these other programs first to build up some beach body background. T25 is probably like doing a long AMRAP cross fit met con (those usually max out at 30 minutes, averaging at 20 minutes). An AMRAP cross fit met con 5-6 days a week is intense! Be sure to stretch, do yoga, acupressure, whatever on your 1-2 rest days a week. Your body and your mind will thank you.

I definitely agree on the lack of sleep comment for it has been a struggle of mine for a while, ever since VSG. After finding melatonin does not really help me stay asleep (helps me fall asleep fine for about 4-5 hours), I have given in to taking a prescription sleep aid. Sure there is some next morning grogginess again, but getting asleep for 7-8 hours is more important for me or I will go paranoid. Another thing you might try is upping your carbs. I always feel a little better after hitting the carbs early afternoon (2 hours before working out). Of course, I encourage you to get back into the high oxygen consumption, sweat inducing cardio you know and hold dear. That always brights my mood and clears the fog from my head.

i second the recommendation on premier protein strawberries. Great taste in my opinion and is a staple next to a cup of fiber one every morning. One thing that helps is to drink them cold. I also recommend the syntrax (nectar or matrix). There are a ton of flavors to choose from. When I was drinking nectar, my go to flavor was cookie and cream (might not work for you as it has chocolate crumbs in it). I did not like the fuzzy peach flavor. Anyways, there is a big selection of flavors to choose from. The muscle milk lite cake batter is also very good.

I eat 1 cup of dry original fiber one every morning. It has high fiber and low sugar - a winning combination. The taste is good in my opinion. You might like it.

It is the end of the month and I met the march 2014 challenge outlined above. Things that went well: 1. I did p90x 7 days a week with the 7 th day being a stretch day. 2. I tracked every day but 2 within MFP. Calories were around 1800 +- 100. Macros were close +-2%. Only 1 day I hit exactly the magic ratios exactly: 50-30-20. No cheat meals and very clean eating. 3. I got to really enjoy yoga 1 day a week. It was 90 minutes of toning and sweating. I feel a little more balanced with it and found myself really enjoying the part that is 50 or so minutes of vinyasa. For the balance postures, I still cannot do one second of crane. Maybe next month. 4. My body feels 100% better in terms of core stability. Core synergistics is a lot of fun. One of my favorite workouts. 5. I can do 15 or so pull-ups in a set when doing back workouts. 15-20 push-ups in each set when working on chest. 6. My back is fixed in the sense I can overhead lift without the lat, thoracic and shoulder tightness I have been struggling with for the last 6 months. 7. My chest, shoulders and back have more muscle and am constantly getting comments from my wife on it. She loves the pecs now. 8. My waist has tightened up a few inches. 9. Weight dropped about 7 lbs and fat% dropped about 3% points by the end of month. Some of the weight drop is probably Water. Not a miracle, but I will take it. It places my weight at 178 and bf at 15%. 10. Warmup and cool downs. I love that each workout has ample time devoted to both. I did not really do either very well before p90x, but now actually enjoy spending the time to do both well. Things to work on: 1. Ab routine. I do not really like doing the ab x even though it is only 15 minutes. After an hour of a lifting workout, it is a struggle to bolt on the 300+ reps are heard ab work. 2. Landing more softly on plyometrics. Great 1 hour jump training cardio workout, but my knees feel it and I have a little lower leg (above ankle) bursitis going on. Need to think like a cat more. 3. Being a little more diligent about working out at 4 pm instead of later like 5-7 pm. The problem with slipping in the time (due to work ) is that it throws off my eating schedule and I end up having to skip my "dinner" meal. I eat every 2-3 hours and I usually have a shake after working out and then dinner 2 hours after that and a casein shake around 9:30 pm. If I know I am going to miss dinner, I add an extra scoop of whey to my workout recovery shake in order to keep my calories up. Looking forward to the next month of p90 x.