BigViffer

There is an old saying, "If you have to ask if you should, you probably shouldn't." It is far better to be cautious in this situation.

Gastric surgery goes through the abdominal wall. Anytime that happens, until it if fully healed, it is weakened and susceptible to herniation. The abdominals' purpose is to provide rigid support for the spine while exerting force (e.g. lifting). If you are lifting something that is heavy enough to exert greater pressure to the abdominal walls integrity, you could tear open the incision from the inside and cause a hernia. Of course, that is a worse case scenario. Safe practice would be to use a tight compress or lifting belt that goes around your stomach. *edit* lol, David beat me to it.

When I read your original post, the thing that occurred to me is not hunger or calorie snacking, but rather an oral fixation. When you mentioned boredom, that pretty much confirmed what I was thinking. It's kind of like what smokers have issues with. The ritualized habit of it, not necessarily the chemical addiction. Without trying to speak in entendres, you need to find something else to do with your mouth. Honestly, I'm not trying to sound pervy. Give this a shot - buy some cherries still on the stem. When you want candy, pop an entire cherry in your mouth and remove the pit with your teeth and tongue. Eat the flesh of the fruit and spit out the pit. Then try to tie the stem into a knot with just your teeth and tongue. In the beginning it will take forever! But it gives you something to focus on, it's a sweet like a piece of candy, and it has nutritional benefits. Win all the way around.

I haven't waded into a coffee discussion in quite sometime. Since it has been a while and I am at least a pot & a half a day drinker of coffee, I have some experience. When talking coffee, we all say coffee but we don't all mean the same thing. Coffee to me is regular coffee with cream. My uncle says coffee and it means black. My coworker says coffee and it is this whipped cream covered sundae in a huge cup with enough sugar to kill a diabetic. The first thing to debunk is that coffee is diuretic. Caffeine is diuretic yes, but the amount of liquid present in a cup of coffee is more than enough to offset that. It will not dehydrate you. When coffee is said to be acidic, that is actually in reference to the flavor; not the pH level. Our own saliva is more acidic than coffee and our stomach is far more acidic than that. https://espressocoffeeguide.com/low-acid-coffee/ The only things to truly be cognizant of is that caffeine, regardless of its source, attaches to the same receptors that vitamin D and calcium bond to. So if you take supplements for those, don't take them with coffee. The other thing is that coffee can stimulate the bowels. Some people have always been like this, a good strong cup can send me to the bathroom relatively quick. That was before surgery and still happens today. Some people never had that issue before and now they do. It's not uncommon.

Green leafy vegetables will always pass through us like grease through a goose in my experience. However, the heartier the leaf the better it seems to be. Me personally, I'll spinach to something, but I cannot eat just a spinach salad without it going right through me. Kale, cabbage, and brussell sprouts are my go-to salad. Never lettuce. That's just worthless and tasteless.

Don't lose hope though, I eat air fried fish on a regular basis nowadays. I've had the real fried fish at local fundraiser fish fry's too, but they always leave me feeling ill. Once you are far enough out that you can handle air fried foods, I'm betting you will feel the same. Good luck!

@chilet071 - you are still looking fabulous! So good to see people from when I first joined still kicking ass.

@Freiabr Damn!

Just to clarify - I do not count my weight as "regain". I bottomed out at 199 16 months after surgery. That is also when I switched from exercise to weight training. I started gaining for the next 13 months at a healthy pace until I hit about 225. For the past 27 months I have fluctuated up and down from the 225 mark, but never above 230 nor below 220. I view my gain is the natural rebound before going into maintenance. My original goal weight was 220, so I'm happy as a lark at 225. I am sure that if I ever get the skin removal done, I will lose that pesky 5 lbs.

Nutrients aren't absorbed in the stomach. Food gets broken down in the stomach by the digestive juices, then it moves into the intestines. This is where absorption happens. That 30 grams will be absorbed no problem.

I'll second this! I make these quite often. I usually will do a mix of kale, mustard, turnip, or collard greens with bacon. Guaranteed to work! If that doesn't sound appealing, I also recommend dried apricots, figs, or prunes. I love all of them and used to put them in my smoothies. I really don't like using laxatives because many of them work by pulling water into the bowel from the body.

Yep, once I stopped doing "silly-****", I've followed the Starting Strength and subsequent Barbell Prescription programs. Typical male ego is just the issue now. I should be grateful for the lifts I accomplish honestly. Prior to surgery I couldn't even lift my left leg nor carry a gallon of milk. Whining about a 260 deadlift and 250 squat just sounds like petulance given where I started from! 2500-3000 calories?! I just checked my records, I have only hit 3,000 calories 6 times since surgery, and 2500 calories 33 times!

removed - damn thing posted twice.

I'm not here to convince anyone to do anything; just presenting information. However, if you search through the forum and find threads on people who have regained, one of the recurring habits is eating and drinking at the same time. If you want to try it, go for it.

Food being washed out of the stomach leads to decreased satiety, which leads to eating sooner.

Bingo. This is precisely why I said that it is mainly an issue in the first year. Liquid does not necessarily flow through the stomach like a straw. The pylorus still catches the liquid that gets mixed with any digestive juices and washed out when the pylorus relaxes.

The reason for the no drinking before eating is so that the food you have hopefully chewed excessively doesn't get washed out of your pouch or sleeve before it has had an opportunity to fully digest. Prematurely evacuating the stomach area leads to malabsorption and hunger that returns too quickly. It is more important early on, say the first year. After that, it is less of an issue. I can drink up to the moment I start eating now as long as I am not drinking large volumes.

Oh man, don't get me started on that company!

Not to be a buzz kill, but collagen protein is worthless. I mean, it's not even debatable. Collagen protein is just a low-quality protein formed of only three amino acids. (glycine, proline, and hydroxyproline) And those are not even essential. Meaning our body can make them out of other dietary amino acids. Any high-quality protein will have a PDCAAS score of at least 70, and often 90-100 (the maximum). Gold Standard whey for example has a PDCAAS score of 99. Collagen has a paltry score of about 14-16. If you absolutely must have collagen protein in the belief that it helps skin elasticity (which has been debunked), eat pork rinds or jell-o. They are made of the exact same thing AND have been reviewed by the FDA; which incidentally is the reason they have the disclaimer "Not a significant source of protein". Supplements are not reviewed by the FDA so they don't have to put that information on the package. Oh, and collagen protein powders can cost twice as much as whey.

@SteveT74 - Damn! You look fantastic! Those are some killer traps. I am officially envious of your results. Keep up the hard work.

Before you get your hopes up, unflavored does not mean that it is tasteless. It only means that there is no artificial flavoring added to it. It still has a taste and it is not appealing at all. I could only use it in strong soups like a curry or tomato. And before anyone recommends it, Genpro is snake oil and crap. Avoid it like the plague. Also, any protein that boasts about having collagen or gelatin as the protein source is crap as well. It is literally worthless. Same thing as sugar free gelatin or pork rinds. The best protein honestly, it's the one that you can tolerate and will actually use. Brand, flavor, isolate or concentrate... all of that is pointless if you cannot stand using it. Just personal experience. I settled on one of the more trusted brands and have stuck by it because it tastes good to me. Optimum Nutrition Gold Standard Whey concentrate. Isopure is another trusted brand, but I didn't like any of the isolates textures.

There is a lot going on here and I will do my best to address it. You said that you have gained muscle and fat, good news is that is exactly how it is supposed to work. True increase in strength cannot happen without an increase in body fat. The good news is that the increase muscle mass makes it easier to burn that fat when you decide to do a what is called a cut. I purposefully said increase in strength and not size. Hypertrophy is not the same as "swole" Increased muscle size from high rep & low weight will really only increase the volume of the existing muscle tissue (1). High weight, low volume will strengthen existing muscle tissue (2). Hypertrophy is the tearing and healing from high weight and high volume. (3) 1 does not require much of a calorie surplus. 2 & 3 do require a surplus, and usually the more the better. That is where the increase in fat comes from. That is the reserve the body calls upon to do the work. If you are powerlifting, strength is the primary concern. If you are bodybuilding, aesthetics are the primary. There is nothing wrong with either, but they require different approach. However, either approach will require that you have protein as high as you can manage. If you prefer not to eat meat, whey is king of the protein supplements, or dairy as a real food. Plant based protein has a very low bioavalability compared to whey or any meat. Soy is about the best plant based protein, but it is at best 70% bioavalable compared to whey's 90-ish. So you will need to eat more to get the same benefit. However, the calories are still there. So more calories are necessary for the same protein. As for tracking, Last I looked, I have logged every single bite I have eaten for the last 1500+ days. It just became a habit and something that takes the place of the ritual I had with food. I have a incredible detailed log. There is an example in my images on my profile page if you are interested.

Outstanding work on the squat & deadlift! The bench will come in time, that pause at the bottom is so hard to come out of! Two things surprised me. First, you squat & deadlift in chucks?! I would have thought that you would have dedicated lifting shoes with a hard plastic or wooden sole. Second, they had you lifting on rubber foam pads? I would have though they would have deadlift platforms. Not that you needed it, but between a hard sole lifting shoe and hard flooring/platform, you could eek out another 5lbs on those two lifts. Regardless of those things, truly inspirational work man. Immense respect and a smidge of jealously!

I'm surprised our bench (mine is 197) is so similar with your deadlift and squat so much higher than mine. Are those your working set weight or one rep max? Also, out of curiosity, what is your OHP? Mine is stuck at 127, but I am thinking I am being limited by past back injuries. After seeing your deadlift number, I am leaning to that being my weak point. So damned glad to see this stuff on here. Truly inspirational.

@NurseMichael & @Albus - you guys are badass! That cinches what I have long suspected. I cannot get my deadlift over 260lbs and have tried for 3 years. I could not decide if it was from lack of caloric intake or from a lifetime of spinal and leg injuries. Seeing you guys killing it pretty much say that it's not my food intake. Congratulations guys, truly fantastic work.