Fiddleman

Wow- 403 average 5 star rating for supple leopard on amazon. That is a killer high rating for a fitness book. I am going to look into this book to see if it compliments or replaces a recent mobility book I just bought called "the genius of flexibility." If you have not seen this book, check it out. It too is very good and forward thinking in the area of resistance flexibility. Thanks again Tally for the book recommendation. Edit - ok, I read through some of the less than stellar reviews, but they are shadowed by the large number of glowing reviews. Still very interested in hearing what dr. Kelley has to say on mobility and have bookmarked mobilitywod for future reference and will read his book. I think my trainer actually mentioned mobilitywod is where she gets her information on mobility, so that really adds credit to using dr. Kelley as a resource for improving mobility and flexibility in my eyes.

Math is good if she slept in bed all day. However, she walks quite a bit and I am sure does some other exercise. That is why her point of easy gain is so confounding. Maybe it is the case of having a low BMR. Are our stomachs never going to process food like bread, nuts and avocados on a daily basis without turning it into weight gain? This is more of a question from the community and not one that applies to myself (my diet does not include toast).

Wow, thanks everyone.

One drink is usually enough for me. Two just makes me a little sick and adds no benefit in buzz factor. Started drinking again at 6 months or so and have on average two drinks a month. Really just had them when out with wife for dinner or on weekend chilling out with bro. I had my last drink about 2 months ago, just don't have the desire any longer because it does not really offer any health benefits ( at least for the hard drinks I had like Long Island or even fine white wine). I don't know, I just lost the desire for it. Maybe it will come back, maybe it will not. It was kind of a waste to get buzzed for like 2 minutes only. I want to eat and drink foods that are going to contribute to optimal health. Unfortunately, alcohol is not one of them. Just my opinion.

I have constantly been getting little hunger attacks to eat over the last couple months in between planned meals (6x a day to total 1200 calories), when I am not supposed to be eating. Gets worse every day. So today I thought perhaps cottage cheese would make a good satiety food for these moments when I am being pulled *hard* by hunger. It worked!! The reason why I wanted to try is because I was remembering about a cottage cheese test to determine size of stomach from a VST book I read pre op (yes, I read a lot of books about post op but nothing trumps post op experience). I thought if cottage cheese is being used to determine size, it cannot slide through. This is great! I just hope a random couple spoonfuls are not going to blow maintenance. High in Protein, low in fat and low in carbs. I never did eat cottage cheese more then once post op, so it is good to be eating again. What are some *other satiety foods* you use to bury that nagging goal weight hunger? Two rules: 1. It must be smaller serving size then a normal full meal of 1 cup of protein / veggies. In other words, eating a meal does noes not count as a solution to my question. 2. It must not be a slider food. I am looking to satisfy the hunger, not delay it for more battles in 20 minutes. Besides, I do not want to eat sliders during maintenance of weight. I want to eat as healthy as possible to support physical activity.

You are always welcome.

Hehe, you do not know the secret code word.

That sounds really tasty. How about adding some coconut and macadamia nuts!

Oh now I get you. The chalk tablet o death. Hated those. Made me puke all the time. I eventually switched to trader joes adult chewable tablet which tasted much better and did not make me puke. If I recall correctly, I think the TJ tabs had 100 percent RDA calcium in them. I took two of them daily to hit 200 percent RDA daily as recommended by nut. Now i take Optimen for fueling my workouts with good energy. BA needs to discontinue those Choc o nasty tablets prompto.

Oh man! Sick of the BA chewable??? How is that possible?? I love them for a year now in caramel flavor, giving me a little guilt free "candy treat" every single day. Mmmmm , caramel... If you really must give up this treat, then I have also found Costco to have good calcium tablets however, they do tend to beon the horse pill side of size, so do consider if you are ready to take those. After about 6 months, I could take just about any size pill, even the really huge ones they have in animal pack vitamins (think: horse pill size x2)

Could it be from sciatica pain caused by pinched nerves in back? I struggled with this all the time when heavier and it mostly had to do with ergonomics of sitting in a bad posture all day, day after day, year after year for my computer work. Since you mention you are sitting on a low couch, it is also possible that your legs are bent at an acute angle and they are " falling asleep", leading to the pins and needles sensations in the legs. If neither of those, I would get the advice of your doctor (PCP or surgeon). These are just my theories; hope they help in some way.

Canned wild salmon from trader joes is a really good purée / soft food item. You can mush it up pretty well with your fork. I remember that was the food I ate mostly (and shakes) until real food.

Hey wls4me- it could be your form or that you are using muscles that have not really been used in this way before. For the latter, feeling sore is perfectly normal. Rest a day if you need to. Do some stretching, take some bcaas and Omega 3 to help your body out with healing process. I take 4 g omega 3 daily, 2 g in the morning and 2 g in the afternoon. the product i like to use is either nutrigold triple strength omega 3 gold or stronger fitter healthier Super omega 3. nutrigold is definitely cheaper than sfh where nutrigold 2 month supply of gel capsules is about 30 and sfh 2 month supple is about 60. sfh is better, in my opinion, because it is in pure liquid form. however, the capsules are sometimes more convenient to take when i do not have a measuring tsp available. You did not hear it from me, but take some ibuprofen or Advil if you really need to. Sometimes I need to after a hard cross fit workout where I am sore the next day. Taking ibuprofen really helps take some of that soreness away. If you are sore from the former ( incorrect form), then what I can say is this: make sure your back is slightly inverted, butt out, with your chest up, head point forward. When you are swinging kettle balls, all the "power" comes from your hips. Not from your arms, not even from your back, but from your hips. As you bring the kettleball up from between your legs, thrust your hips forward fast, almost a twitch. If you do it right, the thrust will give the kettleball the momentum it needs to finish the upward arc. Depending on if you are doing American kettleball swings or Russian kettle bell swings will determine if you finish the upward arc above your head or at eye level, respectively. Do not hold it up for long at the top of the swing before letting the kettleball fall back down the arc. Always keep a strong inverted back with chest up and head looking straight forward to prevent the lower back issues. A good stretch you can do after kettle bell swings is to splay your fingers and lean into the wall, feeling the stretch in your hands and forearms. Second good stretch is to bend your hands at the wrist, palms down and lean into the walls. Doing a lot of kettle bell swings is hell on your fore arms so be sure to stretch it out afterwards. It is exciting to hear about your adventures in cross fitting. Keep it up!

I'll repeat what is in the essence of the replies above: if we all have the same probability of dying of some natural cause, I would rather live a shorter life full of personal joy rather then a longer life that lacks personal joy and meaning. That is just my opinion coming from a version 1.0 of my life full of misery brought on by head issues and obesity, not to mention comorbidities. Having VSG has not only given me a catalyst to find a meaningful life, but has also helped me enhance the life of others I interact with. Life is short. Choose to live a life full of meaning. We do not know the time and place that our time is up.

I know you will find something you really enjoy soon enough laura. I remember you saying you can spend hours kayaking. That sounds like it would be great for you if you have access to that on a regular basis. I think that is key. You need to enjoy what you are doing.

Not terrible Amy. Have fun!! Stretching and rolling after a run will help your legs feel better for running the next day. Listen to your body and you will know if consecutive run days is terrible for you or not.

My trainer gave me a great exercise for helping with deep squats yesterday. It is called the goblet sit. Interesting name, right? Essentially, you take a 15-25 lb weight (kettleball works best) and grasp it between your hands in front of your chest, with your arms folded so the weight is close to your chest. You then get into the squat position as deep as you can go and hold it for 1 minute. Repeat as many times as you want to. For example, I did a workout yesterday that included 1 minute wall sit, 1 minute plank hold and 1 minute goblet sit over 30 minutes without rest. This was after doing a heavy weight workout with real squats for 10 minutes. yikes. After the 8th iteration of the 30 minute workout, the burn in my quads was so intense. It really did feel like a hot burn. The plank exercise was actually a rest for my poor quads during this 30 minutes. See if the goblet sit can help you with those deeper squats. I have confidence it is going to help me. By the way, all 3 of these exercises can be done in the comfort of your own home.

LuckysMomma- thanks for the response to my question. I tend to agree with your comments on WW. It is a great structured environment to have both support and accountability from week to week. For these reasons alone, WW is a nice supplementation to the restriction aspects provided by WLS. I was successful at dropping weight in WW not because of following any one of their point based plans, but because I looked forward to the Saturday meetings and the rewards that came along with success. There is something motivating that pumps the weight loss feedback loop by seeing progress on the scale, writing it down in the little book and the getting a public validation of your efforts during the group meetings. The groups meetings were always very educational, much like the once a month WLS support meeting i attend now. I never did adhere to any of their point programs, but did find some WW foods I enjoyed and stuck to eating the same food day in and day out for 6 months combined with a fairly engaged exercise program. The down fall was that after 6 months, I got too confident about lost weight (90 lbs during one stint) and let go of the eating and exercise. That put the weight back on slowly, but surely. So, yes, I agree with your comments that you need to look at WW as a lifestyle where the program never ends. Couple that with WLS and I think you have a recipe for success as long as you throw out the point model and are making better food choices then the pre packaged meals and snacks that WW sells. I wholeheartedly recommend people attend some kind of support meeting, whether that is WW, your friends, a WLS group, etc. The shared time with others that are on your same journey is really beneficial towards long term success.

Love the huge bowl of fiber one you can eat for 200 calories.

Have fun! What part of c25k are you on now?

That is true - I never snack or graze, but where to draw the line between those two troublemakers and eating planned meals every 3 hours? Isn't that snacking? Occasionally, I might have an extra 1 ounce of chicken (skewer or meatball) an hour after I eat. If I get hungry and i need to eat something I make sure it is lean protein or it is an energy square. I try and only eat carbs in the morning from my energy squares. Rest of the day is protein in some form. I have been known to put food in my mouth 7x a day. 7x...That is a lot of eating, but it only helps my metabolism. My trainer commented today during our time together that I am leaning out too much ( never heard that before, never ever) and she is going to continue to increase my weight so I do not lose muscle because there is very little fat left for the body to use as energy. While I probably will not increase quantity, I might switch to higher calorie protein sources and shoot for 2500+ calories a day. OMG, that seems like a lot of calories as a sleever, but my trainer specifically said I leaned out a ton in the last few weeks and I would not want to lean out any more. Weight is still 178, but body shape is really changing. Big chest and back, slim waist, strong arms and legs. To follow up on some of the counting comments above, I never count. Never have from the start. I just made a lot of changes in food selections and had some vague idea of how many carbs or proteins, but do not track. Never will either. Just not my style. I would rather just follow a bunch of self imposed rules. And keep things simple.