Fiddleman

Thanks Mark for your description. You have been the catalyst way back when in getting me interested in strength training and supplementation. The list is wonderful so now I have some more supplementation to learn about. I have already got some of those in my pre workout shake and post workout shake. Additionally, I take creatine before and after the workouts. I would like to dive into a creatine discussion if you do not mind. I see that you take 10 g of creatine before and after the workout. The recommended dose on the monohydrate says 5 g. I currently am taking 1250 mg creatine hydrochloride before and after working out. I was not really getting much in terms of result from taking the creatine monohydrate at 5 g a day so switched to creatine hydrochloride on the advise of a rep. Would you suggest I would get better result from the monohydrate if I dosed at 5 g before and 5 g after? Or should I stick with the hydrochloride and increase dose to 5 g before and 5 g after. The recommended dose of the hydrochloride is 1250 mg a day and I am already taking 2x that. Results have been good so far. Since mid May I have gone from 188 lb @ 19% body fat to 180 lb @ 14 % body fat. It is kind of interesting to see the body fat % drop 1% and still see the scale parked at 180 from last week to this week. Let me tell you that dropping 1% is hard work and requires one to keep showing up and busting ass. My goal is to hit 10 % body fat. Since mid may I have made big gains in strength as functionally applied to my lifting and in terms of stamina / endurance as applied to cross fit. One other question I have for you. Who are your role models? Who do you look at to model your eating plan, supplementation or strength programs after? Not sure if you have heard of Tom Venuto. He has a blog here: http://www.burnthefatblog.com/ I read his e book way back in 2006 before it became widely available. However, I did not absorb much back then because my health and fitness goals are nowhere near where they are now. I like his natural approach to getting strong. He is also very real and down to earth is his communication and presentation. Again, thanks in advance for your response.

I am in the flavor water camp also. While my sleeve is comfortable with plain water, it seems harder to drink plain water. Not sure if it is the taste or if it is something more technical like the water is still "hard." I go through a lot of flavor from week to week and I wish I could just drink plain water. Maybe it will get easier in the future. I am a year post op. For now, I am going to stick with flavoring so I can drink enough to prevent dehydration, kidney stones, etc. Anyone have ideas on how to make drinking plain water easier and more enjoyable?

I have found eating every 2 hours works really well and keeps a good stable level of energy all day long. Hunger is an artifact of the past. Do not really understand the tracking movement, but everyone seems to be doing it. I understand it keeps people accountable who need it, but doesn't it get tiring to track the numbers every day? I have never really tracked and just stick to some general guidelines: eat as much Protein as possible and balance protein with some good carbs and fats during each meal. Eat every 2 hours about 30-40 G protein. Drink as much as possible without eating and drinking at the same time. Easier? I think so, but feel like such an outsider with everyone using MFP every day.

I like the idea of oats before the workout. However, I have an interesting question. What if we were to drink a casein shake before working out along with some good carbs and fats (I prefer energy squares). As casein is slower to digest ( I take at night for this reason), would it help before a workout to release gradual fuel for the muscles?

Agree. In the beginning steady state cardio with some HIIT (1-2 x a week) is a great tool to reduce excess weight. It is good to transition into a workout more based primarily on strength training with some HIIT cardio to tone, sculpt or otherwise change the body composition. 50 minutes of cardio x times a week is not too long if you are in the phase of eliminating a large amount of body fat. It is too long if you have reached goal or are close to goal and are trying to body sculpt. However, continue to do some steady state cardio as part of warmup and HIIT 1-2x a week. For example, I jog a mile as part of my warm up daily. I do weight training 3x a week and cross fit 2 x a week (HIIT). I rest on the weekend, but may still "exercise" in a casual way. It is important to rest in order for your muscles to repair and respond with better toning or sculpting. Sometimes I get disappointed when I do not see any growth during the week, but then see the muscles grow by Sunday. It is still a learning process for me.

For the audiophiles in all of us!

Your lack of energy might also be related to lack of carbohydrates. Are you eating low carb? Low carb, in my opinion, is 20-30 carbs a day. It is a bit of a catch 22 because low carb diets usually yield very good weight loss results because your body is in ketosis, but it also leaves you quite tired. This is how I ate for the first 5 months. Your energy should come back when you increase calories and carbs. I want to echo don's question also: are you eating enough protein? Lack of adequate protein will leave you tired. Try and eat as much protein as you can and when the time is right, introduce good carbs back into your diet. You might consider energy squares from nuts.com as these are little bursts of good carbs and fats to give you desired energy. I like chocolate paradise the most.

You probably won't like my suggestion because they are way more expensive then 50 dollars. However, they have been such a good pair of buds for my running that I want to share with you. http://www.amazon.com/JayBird-BlueBuds-Sport-Bluetooth-Headphones/dp/B00AIRUOI8/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1373341315&sr=8-4&keywords=jaybird+bluetooth And a transmitter if your iPod is not Bluetooth enabled ( mine is 2nd generation, so clearly not): http://www.amazon.com/JayBird-uSport-Bluetooth-Adapter-Devices/dp/B002PU9U0E/ref=pd_sim_cps_3 Love these as they have served me well over last 6 months. Sound is superior and range is decent. The only downfall is they they need to be charged after 2 runs if you are going to run for an hour. I end up charging them after every run.

Glad your run went better today Amy. In theory, I think you might be able to use a rolling pin to roll out your tight muscles. However you may find it very uncomfortable rolling on the hard wood surface. Perhaps if you wrap a towel around it that might work. A recovery protein shake I have been using for 6 months is called Amplified Wheybolic 60 from GNC, but there are many different brands out there for you to choose from. Just ask a clerk in one of the natural stores (GNC, vitamin shoppe, vitamin world, etc) for a good recovery protein shake powder with BCAA. The clerk will help you find a good one or perhaps someone who is reading this post has a good one to suggest specifically for recovery. Open up any fitness magazine and you will see many different protein shake ads, one claiming to be superior over the other. Honestly, I cannot buy a shake that way. There is too much marketing bling to wade through before doing a proper comparative analysis between the products. I usually find it best to try something that has been recommended by someone I know. I know stronger, healthier, faster also makes a good recovery shake, but I have not tried it yet. My cross fit box started selling it 2 weeks ago so I may be trying it sometime in the future. They claim it is really good as a recovery shake, but flavors are just chocolate and vanilla so did not appeal to me as much. I am more of a cookies and cream shake guy. I am about to try synth-6 this week when it comes now that my amplified Wheybolic 60 tub supply has run out. I will let you know how that one is. I ordered it because it is endorsed by 2012 Cross fit champ and cross fit is one of the activities I need it for.

Sometimes people eat when they are bored. I was one of those people. After being "on plan" for a year almost, boredom is about the one circumstance that pulls me back into bad habits. I have not slipped yet, but my mind is going there. It doesn't help that is is cloudy outside (lack of sun makes my mood lower for some reason). If you are not eating when bored, then what are you doing instead? Sometimes it is not as easy as just reading a book, watching TV or exercising. Sometimes it is boredom while working and you still have to work, yet you have these feelings of satisfying boredom with food. Even if you could do one of these activities, sometimes you just don't want to drag your lazy butt out of your chair yet eating is not the direction that would be beneficial. What are your thoughts?

That is pretty crazy to eat 1500 calories a day at 3 months. Most are 600-900 past the 6 month mark. Not saying it can not be done, but, wow, that would be hard.

I really REALLY enjoy the cake batter muscle milk lite for my morning shake. I look forward to it every day and it is a little treat. From what I can tell, this flavor can only be found online (I got it through amazon) because I've been everywhere and cannot locate it in a store. As each scoop provides 12.5 g of Protein, I put in 3 scoops to get close to 40 g ( the golden number your body is best at absorbing at one time). What're are some other good lite flavors besides vanilla, chocolate and strawberry. Any Cookies and cream muscle milk lite?

It would be cool if they let you put in your muscle measurements and fat percentage. That would totally fix the issue with the BMI charts and calculators.

I am glad 5:2 is working out for everyone. Thanks for being the guinea pigs.

Good attitude!

Yes, agree that cardio is good to limit if you want to preserve your lean muscle mass. I learned this the hard way. Fortunately, most mistakes can be undone, it just takes longer. Regular cardio is good to melt away a large percentage of body fat, but one should be careful about doing so much cardio (endurance based) that the body enters a constant catabolic state. Endurance cardio does have its place. For example, training for 5k, 10k or marathon or any other sport that requires a good sustained cardio response. For general fitness after losing most of the excess weight, tilting the scale towards resistance training or short bursts of HIIT training are going to yield better and more consistent body composition results. By short bursts of HIIT, I mean 20-30 minutes, 1-2 x a week. Light cardio is also good during a warmup before getting into a warmup, say, jogging 1/2 a mile or rowing 500 meters. Good luck in your weight loss and fitness journey.

TT is an abbreviation for tummy tuck. I have read previously that some get an extended tummy tuck or trunkplasty to take care of the problem skin around the stomach. Not sure this is the route for me yet. I may get lucky and not need it, but the existence of this thread implies otherwise. There is a plastics discussion coming up at my support group this coming Saturday, so I hope to get some questions answered there.

I would not mind achieving this result: http://screenrant.com/the-wolverine-hugh-jackman-photo/the-wolverine-official-photo-hugh-jackman/

Thanks for sharing your photo as that is proof positive that it is possible to build up some abs as a post op. have you had any TT work or other plastics? I am anticipating your answer is no. Congratulations!