crashkaers

Great thread! I do high intensity workouts like Beach body's insanity etc so compression clothing is pretty important to keep the clapping noises at bay. I've tried a few types and have found d underarmor to be the best fit. They have different levels of compression so depending on the workout I can pick the level of compression required. The wick sweet well and stay fresh for a good amount of time. Beach body discs are a favorite of mine currently,. The combined cardio and strength training has done wonders for muscle gain, which I lost lots of over the past year. I use underarm or sweat bands on my arms but I find the head bands too tight, haven't found a comfortable one yet. My outrer layers are usually lulu, mostly cause they are so light and thin, but because of this I have to wear compression base layer when really jumping around. Lulu and underarmor are both pricey but I buy my stuff online on sale which helps, but you need to know your size as its not returnable. Fit bits are awesome, but I have gotten active enough I don't need a device to tell me I have been active enough.

My portions are different depending on what the food is. Breads and pastas I can eat very little. Fruits and veggies with a good protein like chicken I can eat about a handful of veggies and 4-6 oz of meat. If I go to a fancy restaurant with those tiny serving that used to piss me off I can almost eat the full meal, with enough leftover to have a small snack later lol. I do feel hunger, but when I have had enough I no longer want to eat more. Lettuce salads. Can eat more then I think I should be able too but add some chicken and its a normal meal. Basically after a year no one notices I eat less then a normal person, but they also don't see me over eat.

I was never told about caffeine. In fact I was allowed as much caffeine during my liquid diets as I wanted. Pretty sure quitting coffee would have been harder for me then smoking was.

I started losing 2 weeks before surgery as they had me on the optifast liquid shakes, that was honestly the hardest part of all this for me. I gagged every time I had a chocolate one lol. It's been a pretty steady decline since day one. I have had a few 3 week stalls but it started to fall off without changing anything. I have been steady now for a few months but would have lost more if I weren't gained muscle back. I'm happy with 220-230 and am concentrating on strength training. I suspect ill trade some fat for muscle over the next year. I have my eating habits down to second nature, and this working out thing is becoming habit forming as well. I found that losing became expected after a while and stalls would take the wind out of my sail, but the stalls are I now believe a healthily way of our bodies resetting and getting use to the changes, kind of a recouping period.

I have been sleeved for 1 year and have went from my largest weight of 375 to 225, and boy did I lose muscle mass. I really noticed it when I tried bow hunting this year and couldn't even close to pull the 80lbs draw weight. I had to really lower that just to pull it back. Since then I have stopped running and have started to focus on building muscle. I started with the insanity program and in 4 weeks can notice a big change in looks as well as strength. I still run occasionally as a filler or if I'm too sore to lift. So to answer your question, yes you will likely lose muscle, but in my experience it hasn't been that hard to build back up. Remember though that you won't need as much muscle to be able to still do way more then you used to. We carried lots of weight naturally helping us build muscles in legs ans back etc, now that weight is gone so we have to work at building. Good luck and stay calm.

I have those days where I feel like I'm worn out and lose interest. I have found that mixing the routine up a bit helps curb those feelings. I can only lift weights or run on the damn treadmill for so many days, but I seem to stay interested in things like the insanity work outs longer. Might be something to try. Happy holidays!

Great results so far. Like you I only had my nurse and this site as support. The people have been amazing on here and in my life. Sometimes I wish I would have known someone going though the same thing but in the end there are other ways to get motivation to keep the journey you are on positive. I'm 1 year this week and down 150lbs, and still just as excited as in the beginning. Once you get your energy back and start to push your limits you will see how much you are now capable of, and it will amaze you. Good luck and great job so far:)

8 months post and down 130lbs, 34 yrs old. Belly and thighs are the worse. I have seen some improvement from lifting but I noticed running has seem to help more all over rather than just in focused areas that weight lifting does.

I usually order an appy, and take some of it home. Works good for me as my wife usually just orders a app as well that way I can have more then one food. I almost always get a meat appy like wings or ribs etc. I haven't found a food that I can't eat. I find there are foods that fill me up quick such as breads and rice, which gives me problems getting the desired amount of Protein. I use the the rule at home or eating out, protein first ( sometimes it steak sometimes it fish), after that I eat whatever else got cooked till I feel full which is very little. If we follow some low cal crazy shitty diet, what was the point in all this. Make good choices most of the time, enjoy exercising, but most of all treat yourself and be thankful you can no longer eat a full pizza:)

I had to be smoke free for 3 months. I figure if I could quit smoking there was a good chance I could quit eating crap so that made my surgery more successful. Gotta want to quit, I tried many times till I finally made up my mind that I had too.