BigViffer

@@GMP - Here you go: http://www.bariatricpal.com/forum/431-the-guys’-room/ @ - It will take a while, but the one piece of advice that I hope anyone reading my posts takes to heart is this: Leave your ego in the locker room. Too often we men get in a weight room and we become focused on the numbers and not the results. Slow and steady is the way to win this "race". Incremental gains should be your goal. It's not just your muscles you need to be worried about. They WILL atrophy in the beginning. Accept it but set yourself up for success later. You will also need to focus on Calcium and Vitamin D and increasing bone density. Your legs should be good since by nature of being overweight they had to become strong to carry us. Unless you have arthritis like me and then it can become an issue. Weight loss doesn't happen overnight and neither will a strong body. Focus on long term goals for the best chance of success.

lol, 2 weeks?! Man I was lucky to even be awake at the end of the workday and I have an office job! Like it was said above, it all depends on the individual. Me personally, I had to get my medications straightened before going back to the gym. I am happy to report that I am off everything except my arthritic medicine and that is down to once a day. But if you are on BP meds, you are going to feel like absolute crap because it will lower your BP below normal. I started back at the gym 6 weeks after surgery. And like you I thought I could do weights. Needless to say, I wasn't eating enough to give me any real energy. I know it's not manly, but stick to walking and stationary bike for the beginning. Not only are you going to be low energy, but the Protein you are taking in should be dedicated to healing and repairing tissue from the surgery, not building muscle. When you divide your total protein intake between healing and trying to build, you slow down your healing process and you won't be making any serious gains. Walking, biking, and maybe the elliptical will help prevent atrophy, but they won't build. Give it a few months. This isn't a race. This is the rest of your life. So while getting in the gym now may feel like working to a goal, it is really about making it a habit. Come hang out in the Guy's Room, check out a few of the threads there. We try to build each other up and there may be some competition, but it's not against each other. Not to say my posts are gospel, but you may find some of the information useful in the threads I started over there.

@@KMA0910 - I don't need to take any pictures or do any video to address some of your concerns/thoughts. Women are of course welcome on this thread. More often than not I post workout related topics here because I tend to think of my routine as more male oriented. That's not to say a woman couldn't or shouldn't do any of them, they just don't seem to be as interested in my chosen routine. You said you do the elliptical first, I don't like doing cardio before weights. When I do cardio, I attack the machine and by the time I am done I am usually wobbly legged and fairly spent. That doesn't leave much energy or proper weight lifting. A decent 10 minute warm up on the elliptical or around the walking track is enough to get the blood pumping. Exaggerated movements help loosen limbs and stretch muscles when you are walking too. As for your choice of exercises after your cardio work, again I am not a fan of the leg press nor the ab machines. Too much isolation is the problem. Using a broom handle something similar to go across the back of your shoulders for an unweighted squat is a better use of the posterior chain than the leg press machine. And as for your abs, the roman chair or a Pilates ball will activate more of your core muscles than the ab machine. One thing that I wish I could pass onto other people who may be new to the gym, I know the fear of looking ignorant and I realize it is daunting. But don't let potential embarrassment hold you back from bettering yourself. Many of us let that happen once we got fat and then it just snowballs and starts affecting other things. The more I talk about this stuff, the more I really do thing this may be a worthwhile endeavor.

Oh, my gym is usually pretty empty. I have free reign most of the time. During the day, it's the seniors there and they stick to the isolation machines for the most part and I won't touch those. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

On your first point, you never had gastric surgery before either and that is a heck of a lot more serious than taking a laxative! A laxative basically pulls Water into the large intestine to help soften the stool. That is the most basic explanation.The only issue with those is if you are not getting enough fluids in. So you are right to be reticent about them given our situations. They are safe, provided you are getting enough water throughout the day. The second point, whether you believe it or not, the powder benefiber truly is tasteless as they insist. There is a reason that powder is the most popular method of Fiber supplement. Also, most pills cannot delivery as much fiber as a powder, it's a matter of volume. If they were to make a pill with the same volume of fiber as the powder, it would be so dense that we would not be able to break it down to get the benefit of the fiber. And the third point, I hate to say it but you need to talk to your surgeon for a couple reasons. First and foremost you paid for it. Make them do their job. Second of all, you need to have any and all complications and issues logged in your file. If something were to come up and your surgeon says that you never told him about it, insurance could legally deny coverage of the treatment for you not holding up to your end of the bargain so to speak. Follow up appointments are closely monitored by my insurance, I cannot say if that is true of all. If you feel you may need skin removal in the future, you could be denied because of lack of perceived effort on your part at least on paper. As much as you may not like hearing the above, it is unfortunately necessary for some people to hear it.

Ugh, that stuff tasted horrible! It was far too strong for me. I only say no because of the taste, not the ingredients though.

That was my thought as well. Post them on here for anyone interested. Besides, I'm sure my legions of fans and fawning groupies would love it!

See, that is the one thing that will bother me the most. I definitely don't want to be seen as the poser that hangs in the gym for vanity's sake. However, I believe most of the people in my gym would see it for what it is intended. But that thought would be in the back of my head for sure.

That's what I was thinking, something very much like my last workout post, but instead of images from the internet I would take pictures of the exact exercise I am talking about.

Measure. Measurements of my arms, legs, waist... Anything and everything every Monday when I weigh in. It would have been a great data series to plot. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

You aren't giving the forum much to go on, but I understand posting from a mobile device is a PITA. So I will answer your question as if you are a freshly sleeved patient. Dizziness can be a symptom of low blood pressure. If you are on any sort of blood pressure medicine, you need get a blood pressure cuff and start tracking it. If you turn out to be like me, you will be taken off all BP meds, told to increase your salt intake (no shit, first time in my life I was told that!), and seriously increase your Fluid intake. Another possible cause could be hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). Again, if you are freshly sleeved you are not taking in the amount of fuel that your body needs in the beginning. I used to check my blood sugar levels even though I was off my diabetes medicine and my sugar was shockingly low. Whatever the cause, I recommend you talk to your surgeon so that it can be put into your file.

I'm just glad someone finally came out and said the truth about childbirth. They always say how beautiful it is and perfectly natural blah blah blah.. I've always thought it was like The Exorcist; but instead of Linda Blair sitting up and puking, it's your vagina. Leave it to you to be the one to describe it as honestly!

ohmigosh, ohmigosh... *puff-puff*... my belly... it's killing me from laughing! BWAHAHAHA! ....ouch ouch ouch...

I just needed the Protein. Anymore I don't care about the palette. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

I eat pork rinds all the time. I keep a bag at my desk. Those with hummus are a kickass snack. My generic Hot & Spicy Pork Rinds label reads: Serving size .5 oz Fat 5g Sodium 250mg Carb 0mg Protein 8g I'll eat them with hummus mostly, but I've had them with Peanut Butter too (plain). But that is really the only time I use them. When I am eating hummus. For salsa I will use celery sticks. Pita chips and tortilla chips have about 100 calories every 4 chips!

Oh I'd be staring. I'd be blantantly and wantonly staring at you!

According to my surgeon, with a properly performed gastric sleeve it is impossible to stretch a sleeved stomach back to a "normal" size. When people claim they have stretched it, they have actually either eaten around their sleeve or weakened the pylorus which is the valve leading to the small intestine. Or they have a drink with their food against Dr orders and that will/can wash the food out of the stomach sooner leaving one hungry sooner. Of course there are the people that eat small portions of lard fried potatoes and whatnot that are incredible dense in calories and are able to gain weight that way. Or grazing on empty calories. The surgery is only one part of ones success. It truly does take a lifestyle change. This information of course only applies to correctly performed surgeries. I hate to say it, but there are a small percentage of people that have had honest surgery failures. I cannot comment on those.

... go on...

Upright seating position, shaft driven, sport tourer... I think I love you.

When you are composing your post, above the text entry field there is a small icon that looks like a square with a mountain and sun picture. Click that and paste your URL into the bar:

Yikes? I think you mean YOWZA! You look great, don't ever don't that. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

It's a very old saying. Only a fool would try making a sandwich out of soup since the bread would get soggy and the soup would run everywhere. Soup Sandwich = crazy person, fool, idiot, ignoramus, etc...

I started back to the gym at about the same time as you and I had the same concerns because of past injuries. Let me reassure you that you wil most likely be able to do enough of a workout to cause yourself harm in the beginning. You are going to be weak. You are going to fatigue quickly and you are going to take longer to recover than you remember. It's all because of the calorie deficit you will be going through. I will recommend Protein milk or whole milk. The fat will help with the necessary calories to burn; Calcium and Vitamin D to help increase bone density and thereby bone strength which is vital for weight lifting; and of course the protein for muscle development. Another thing I would recommend is getting your workout advice from a physical therapist and not a trainer. Trainers are all about shortcuts (IMO) and therapist are about reducing injuries. On the flipside of that, many therapist are overly cautious, so perhaps go with a sports therapist. Good luck with your workouts!

damn... I hate NCIS! Raincheck?

<snip> I am gagging for fun in any form...<snip> Soooo @jintycb... I'm free, what'cha doing later?