Globetrotter

So I do cardio every day, 6 or 7 days a week, and do weights every two days. When I do weights though, I am doing whole body - upper, lower, core, and doing my cardio and my yoga. I am wanting to build muscle so that I will be able to burn my fat better/faster. Is this right?

Yeah it is so frustrating as we head into summer, to have worked so hard in order to not be trapped in the heavy thick punishment clothes that were our only option Before, now we fit into lovely thin cotton sundresses and summers aren't as excruciating because our smaller fitter bodies regulate the heat better, but we are still punished because we end up encases in this non-breathable shapewear and are still wearing little light sweaters in summer, to cover our marshmallow arms, grrr!!

Well, according to that model you made a screenshot of for me, 750 cals at moderate exercise would see me reaching my goal in 120 days.

Today I had first dinner - 3 oz lamb, some steamed broccoli, 2 tsp mashed potato, 45 min before the gym. Then I will have second dinner, a protein shake, after the gym. Tomorrow I am going to do cardio in the morning before I eat/drink anything and then have scrambled eggs afterward.

Body Fortress is labelled as "pure whey isolate"

Hey me too with the morphine! Actually I'm "morphine resistant", which nobody figured out till I was coming out of anaesthesia and no one could understand why I was in so much pain and agony until a clever nurse went hey, she might be resistant to morphine! Which means that even though I could have floated away on the tide of morphine, I was feeling every inch of post-op pain, no bueno!! But once they got the dilaudid on board I was A-OKAY, lololol! . Between the drugs and post-op weakness etc. I lost about 4 days after surgery, to this day (nearly 3 years later) I have to have my Mom tell me what happened during those days, Ihave no real memory of them. Baby yourself, do nothing but sleep if possible, don't even flip pages, listen to audio books! I sipped some RTD (ready to drink) shakes about 3-4 days after surgery as my first "food" and it took me an entire afternoon to gently sip a small Muscle Milk. Take your vitamins! sip sip sip! Take your pain meds, don't be a hero! Sleep! Walk gently! Good luck! Oh and btw, as the anaesthesia leaves your system you will get all itchy, especially your scalp with get all flaky and itchy, it's normal.

Wellthen *frustrated stomp* what protein shots out there ARE good? I can't rely on real food in my current environment (deployed - MREs) and am relying on protein powders/bars/shots sent via care packages.

LOVE my Questbars, unfortunately they are pretty high in carb so they are a treat, maybe twice a week after the moring cardio. Love the cinnamon roll nuked, man it is straight up Cinnabon! Also the PB&J is really good and the chocolate chipper satisfies the chocolate tooth. The almond coconut one makes my teeth ache, which is odd. My new favorite though is the banana nut muffin, oh man, it is just like a real banana nut muffin! YUM!!

Well, day 21 of 120 days to goal by following 730 cals a day and high energy output and .......... nada. zero, zilch. I have yet to lose any weight.

poultry, fish, red meat, lamb, basically anything plus protein shakes.

I am 65 pounds over my ideal weight but sometimes I'll stand in front of the full length mirror in my work trowsers and lift up all of my stomach area, to see what my pants would fit like if I had a flat stomach and it makes a HUGE FRICKIN' DIFFERENCE!! It gives me confirmation that so long as I can reach and maintain under 140, plastics really will take care of the rest.

Coops, what is TDEE?

Oh and green drinks! I need the green drinks!

Today I answered the siren call of the carbs, and I'm so ashamed - started the day off with a half serving of frosted mini-wheats. Lunch saw me eat a bite EACH of: pizza, pasta shells, yakisoba noodles, roasted potatoes, AND a gyro with yogurt sauce. And, I just had a pop-tart. I .... don't know what got into me. I'm on my way to the gym now to run like mad and lift punishing weights and dinner will be plain tuna.

I actually didn't care for this article. We get enough bad press as it is, the non-op normals assuming we are just a bunch of lazy people looking for a quick fix - I smell an attitude, perhaps very faint, but still I smell a slight attitude of "if these people would just pull themselves up by their bootstraps they would lose weight". Did she have to focus on the one cliche stereotype? As a person who works very VERY hard at this, and is seeing zero results while living the letter of the VSG law ... well, I'm sure there are irresponsible surgeons and programs out there that do not screen or educate their patients so I suppose this ought to be said but still, *grumble grumble grumble*

I'm in Afghanistan, I can give you the address in a PM.

So, the more details that come out, regarding your stats and eating, the more I realize that your sleeve did not fail, that your sleeve is behaving exactly the way a still healing post-op would behave. Yes, you are still healing, at 5 months out! You recongize that your behavior is unhealthy, you recognize that there is a major mental component to your behavior which means you know what to do. You say you don't have the money to seek help, how did you finance the surgery 5 months ago? Insurance? Because insurance will cover some mental health, and there are free services in some communities ... I feel your pain, I'll admit, I have been tempted to vomit, and truth be told I have done it once or twice, so I do understand.

http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-compass-pleasure/201104/exercise-pleasure-and-the-brain Crossover addiction? Well, yeah, it's a good one to have probably the best one, but our brains are still seeking a surfeit of pleasure ... fascinating.

Well the exercising helps more with the cramps and crankiness and bloated feeling and any other superfluous emotions surging over me, wiping them away with a delicious workout-induced euphoria helps a LOT! Follow that up with some nice dark chocolate and I just might not hate you for a slight provocation.

Yes, please PLEASE continue to post pics as you heal and I also want to know how much you lost since surgery and how much skin/tissue they removed in total from plastics.

Breakfast - 2 forkfuls of ham and cheese omelette, 1 small turkey link lunch - 1.5 oz salad, 1/2 packet caesar dressing, 1/2 C trail mix dinner - 3 oz tuna, salad, Protein shake Snack - 1/2 serving Protein Shake made with milk

My tip? Eat the d*mn chocolate - life is short, and it's medicinal!

Tomorrow morning I am going to start doing this, a 30 minutes treadmill/elliptical session before I eat, and a 30 minute weights rotation after dinner.

Last night I did just the treadmill for 45 minutes, never going faster than 3.2, I will do the same tonight. I am staggering my weights, doing them every 2 days, but when I do them I do full body. I was advised against doing creatine by a soldier here who is also a personal trainer, but he did say to drink a pre and post workout protein shake. AroundHKY - forearm definition is straight up sexy, not the creepy veininess of a heroin addict but the buff definition of someone who lifts, *droool* hot. very hot. that and the neck clavicle area.

Wow Karen, you worked out like a beast! What were your beginning stats and what are your maintenance stats?