BigViffer

Consider yourself lucky @@Ryan TN, my nutritionist was worthless. I say "was" because I stopped going to her after my 2nd post op meeting with her. I was better informed and prepared for our meetings then she ever was. Even my surgeon would roll his eyes whenever I mentioned this particular nutritionist. @@mi75 - I am also not a fan of the people who work at gyms. Whether it is a trainer or a nutritionist, I find they are more concerned with baiting the hook than helping people with lifestyle changes. Sure, they'll be hot to sell you on energy bars or devise a routine to give you "six-pack abs in 2 weeks!" , but giving you a platform for a lifetime of safe and healthy fitness? Not likely in my experience. Two areas I was fortunate in; 1 - my surgeon and his staff. Both my surgeon and one of his assistants are lifters. They are the ones that I would pick their brain about diet. 2 - In regards to supplements, I go to The Vitamin Shoppe and there is one employee who is a fitness instructor as part time retail employee. What makes her special is that she doesn't push expensive brands and flashy marketed products. Tried and true whey Protein and maybe creatine monohydrate. Wanna know what the best whey protein supplement is? It's the one that you will actually use. Isolate, concentrate, blended... doesn't matter. Just as long as you use it. Your focus on diet should be like a prescription. You need protein, eat meat and supplement with whey. Need complex carbs? Figure out how much and eat that much in oats or shredded wheat. Get some prunes or benefiber to up the Fiber content. Think of food as a prescription and just something that needs to be done. Not every meal needs to be a three course meal or dripping with savory goodness. It just needs to fuel your activities. I eat 2 meals a day (lunch & dinner), but I snack every 2 hours or thereabouts. Breakfast is usually just a Protein Bar.

Weight lifting is such a broad term and honestly overused term that it is hard to understand what a person means when they say it. When I say it, I mean lifting weights at the limit of my strength currently in order to overload the muscles and cause enough stress to force my body to become stronger. When my wife says it, she just means comfortable weights moved to gain endurance. If you are more interested in my wife's idea of weight lifting, you probably only need the normal recommended macros for a bariatric patient. 60-80 grams of Protein, ditto for complex carbs and then some healthy fats. 1200-1700 calories for a goal weight of 170. If you are looking to actually gain strength, you are going to be looking at 1700-2200 calories and a protein intake up to 150 grams. Complex carbs are still needed, but we are going to need more protein as a % since we are dealing with restricted stomachs. Fats are of course essential, but they have to be good fats! Milk fat in yogurt or regular milk as well as nuts and avacado as an example.

Like this kind of beast? Sent from my phone. Please forgive brevity and spelling.

Yeah, don't. Those things are poison and should be taken off the market. I put those things right up there with the Car Title Loan places as perfect examples of taking advantage of people. Don't believe me? Ask your surgeon his opinion.

lol, I don't know about all that. I prefer the term Silver Fox!

If you are wanting weight loss, distance on a machine is irrelevant as is resistance. The only thing you need to focus on is your heart rate. Your heart rate should be 130-ish or thereabouts do truly be in cardio mode. Weight lifting can of course increase your heart rate, but not to the levels you are wanting. That being said, more muscle mass means more calories will be used for fuel. My recommendation is not to focus on the "destination" of 1 or two miles, but stay on that elliptical for 45 minutes with the sweat pouring off you and your breathing is accelerated.

A push pull split would be Chest/Shoulders/Triceps one day, then Legs & Core, and finally Bicep/Forearm/Back. I tried this routine for 2 months and it just didn't work for me. I was exhausted mid-way through and never felt as though I did a good job as a whole. Muscle Grouping would be Legs, Chest, Shoulders & Back, then Bicep/Tricep/Forearm on seperate days. I did this routine with excellent results for a long time. The idea is to saturate the groups with blood so that during recovery they would reap the most benefits. Starting Strength is Squats, Presses, and Deadlift. Thats it. 3 days a week. Guaranteed strength increases, but I am finding it boring. But I personally need to make some strength increase so this is what I am doing. Circuit training is doing everything; legs, back, core, chest, arms, and shoulders with light weights. A big misnomer for this is "toning". I personally call it "wasting time". Yes, you will burn calories but you will not be getting stronger. Also, you spread your recovery across all muscle groups. With our reduced intake, this one makes no sense. Whatever you are doing though, it looks like it is working. Good luck with the continued workouts and hopefully no injuries!

@@MayMarie lol, leg day and chill? That's about all I am good for after leg day! Outstanding results, congrats on your success and best wishes for continuing. I know you said you are working with a trainer, but what kind of a routine have you in place? Push/pull split? Muscle grouping? Starting Strength only? Circuit? Inquiring minds want to know!

... Daaa-yum! I mean seriously, damn! Fantastic results. Good job and keep up the hard work. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

@@AnAnole - holy sh¡t dude... Your surgery date was in April of 2015 and you look like that now? Man, I thought I was dedicated but you put me to shame! I started at 330 and my lowest weight was 198 and now fluctuating 200-205. I have a metric fück-ton of skin hanging off where my moobs used to be and my belly. You seem to have been spared that indignation. Walk tall dude, you are kicking ass.

... Civil War...

@@Chrystee - go team Cap! Delt's are looking good as are your traps. Keep up the good work.

Oh! You meant ramen POWDER! The seasoning packet! I thought there was a protein product called ramen power. Nevermind. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

I cannot find this online, would you post a link? Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

I'm surprised no one has replied to this post as of yet. My weightlifting in the beginning was to maintain muscle mass to aid in the fat burning. I would say that around January of this year is when I started making strength my goal. My goals are realistic though, I am not trying to gain inches on my arm circumference or anything. My goal is body weight everywhere. Lift my body weight off the floor, 10 pull-ups in a row, squat my body weight... you get the idea. What has given my the best results is not to focus on a deadline. That's not always the best, but for me it works. Last time I injured myself it was because I was trying to make too big of gains too quickly. As long as I can say I did my best that day, I call it a good day. Last time I was at my surgeons office, I was at 17-20% body fat. That's right where he wanted me. He said I was getting down to essential fat and didn't want me to go much lower. Honestly though, I don't think fat is my issue, it's the excess skin!

Rome wasn't built in a day! You are only 4 months out, it is going to take time man. Here is a thread very similar to yours with some good information! http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/370974-post-sleeve-working-out/ In a nutshell, don't look for shortcuts, establish good habits, and make it a long term goal.

Oh man, the hot and sour one was a life saver after surgery! The cajun one is awful though. Remember, these are meant to be used in cooking, not as a stand alone Soup. So they are very concentrated and suer intense flavor. Cut it in half with Water to save your blood pressure! There is also an Italian wedding soup one, meh... pass on it it. Actually, now that I think about it I believe the only one I liked was the hot and sour soup broth. YMMV.

I hate to be the one to go against the grain, but I personally do not like trainers. In my experience trainers in gyms like Gold's or Planet Fitness and etc... will do the bare minimum to keep you paying for their services. All of the ones I have had dealings with wanted to show my the latest exercise fad or the "quick way" to get ripped or burn fat... they are fitness marketers. I was told how to do so many exercises improperly and told so many outright stupid things in the beginning because of my belief that my trainers knew what they were talking about. Half of my injuries are my own fault, but I do blame the rest of the bad information I was given from trainers. A sports physical therapist however is all about safely strengthening. If you can get an appointment with them, you'll be getting some good information. And depending on your insurance, it might be covered! Now, as for getting into the weight room and building muscle, we all have to start somewhere. If you see anyone with judgmental looks, you know to never take their advice because they are there for the wrong reasons. Those are the ones that are there for posing; trying to look hardcore or there for selfies... ugh, hate those douchebags. More often than not, after a few weeks of seeing the same people, I find the true vets will come up and sometimes give advice or talk. I'd take whatever they would give me and verify it online or with my doctor before trying it. Or I just wouldn't try it because it didn't fit into my goals. Oh, and I would like to mention that when I started back at the gym after surgery, I was the guy with the ridiculously low weights and being completely exhausted after 20 minutes of "working out". You just have to stick to it. Show your determination and leave your ego in the locker room. Bringing ego or machismo into the weight room is a recipe for injury. If you want, you can look at a couple of the threads I have on here about my routine. I am obsessed with avoiding injury, so it should be pretty safe. But always, ALWAYS, verify with your doctor, internet, or therapist before starting.

Had a good gym day today. Snapped a pic and impressed even myself! Don't let anyone ever say you can't build muscle on a bariatric diet!

Latest picture update. I don't think I am gaining any size, but maybe some definition. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

Thought I would update my current picture with one from the gym today. Here is me at my heaviest, around 330. Today was chest day and there was a moment with no one around so I sneaked a picture. Maintaining at around 200. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

The gym I belong to recently remodeled the weight room so I thought it an appropriate time to focus on cardio. The remodel was scheduled to take 2 weeks, so I figured I would dedicate myself to hitting the elliptical with a vengeance. The weight room was done early, but I kept my promise to myself and stuck to the cardio for the entire time. This gave my entire body time to "rest" from the weights, but I have to admit that it was damned hard to stick to it since I really don't like cardio. As a result of my experiment, I can squeeze into a medium shirt comfortably now. But as a headscratcher, I have gained 4 lbs since I last weigh-in (3 weeks ago). My pants are also down to 34's, so I don't think that it is weight gain from lack of exercise or a BM waiting to happen. Today was my first day back to the weights and it was leg day. I am not a fan of leg day, but I know it is necessity. I am happy to say that I have finally made some gains on my squat, 155 lbs! Just two months ago, I could only do 115 and now through perseverance I am making some gains. I am only 45 lbs away from my goal of body weight. Well, almost... it will depend on how much muscle I gain in the coming months. Everything else appears to have stayed the same, deadlift is still a working set of 185 with a max lift of 200. I am curious how my chest and arm days will turn out later this week. I'll have to report back then.

I've discovered another wonderful side effect of taking two weeks off weight lifting. Soreness. Extreme and seemingly widespread soreness!