BigViffer

Damn @@BigJnav3! Great work!

Never trust a fart. That is the rule to live by, even now over a year out. I used to be like clockwork, 10 - 10:30 BM for me. Now I go once every 3 days! I hate it, so I take a lot of Fiber to stay at least that regular.

I just realized that this thread was in the powder room. I apologize @@lauraellen80, I should have paid attention. I know that I did not post anything offensive, but you came here for a feminine POV and I intruded. Yeah, I know it is a couple days late; but I felt it the right thing to do. Apologies again.

Pfft, well there you go! You've already won, anything else is just gravy.

AAaah! I just looked at the picture again.. look at the puppy! Aaaw. See? You're also a dog person! I'm thinking you are a major catch now.

Wait a minute... is this a picture of you? At first I thought you were fishing for compliments, but by the time I finished reading your post I looked at your profile. When I saw this picture, I realized you didn't have the slack-jaw coupled with a sloping forehead and knuckle dragging posture indicative of the typical mouth-breathing social media addicts that can only find approval from strangers telling them how pretty they are. From a man that has nothing to gain from a compliment given to a young lady, let me reassure you that you are attractive. Very attractive. I believe the in the vernacular of today it would be safe to classify you as hottie. I would have called you a babe 20 years ago! I think y@@VSGAnn2014 nailed it when she said you may be experiencing dysmorphia. The face and body you see in the mirror is not what you expect and it "feels" wrong, perhaps even alien. And what we perceive to be wrong or different is usually interpret to be a negative. You just keep doing what you are doing, because whatever that is; it is working!

I had to drop off a prescription today while on my lunch break. I walk up to the automatic doors and darn near run face first into the glass. It's not one of the pressure pad type doors, rather it is the black eye above the door type. I take a step back and wait for it to open and nothing happens. I have to wave my hands for a moment before it recognizes anyone is there! I'm sure that it was just dirty, but for a moment I thought that I was too small to register!

We all have to start somewhere Tink. It's funny that you say you only have an 80lb bench. Just today I increased my max chest press to 90 lbs. Prior to that it was 80. Not barbells though, I use dumbbells. So today I had two 45's. Oh, and I increased my cable fly to 20 lbs. Remember, it's not so much the weight, it's the effort and form that gives the results. Muscle it up then let it come down agonizingly slow. Kick some ass Tink!

Latest gym picture, taken today. Sometimes even us manly men can feel vanity because I really liked this shot! Normally I share these with just my wife, but my progress really shows in this picture. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

@@737captain - I just noticed your avatar on another thread, I couldn't make out what it was but I think it was a BMW. Come on man, give us the scoop!

One thing to keep in mind about trainers (if they work at a gym and not a YMCA or rec center) they almost always will tell you how to lose weight fast or get big fast. But they don't teach lifestyle or maintenance style exercise. And they are many times paid commission on how many training sessions they do. So they will badger you to come see them to learn something, then come back again to learn something new. They want repeat customers. A physical therapist however, never wants to have you as a customer again and will teach you how to avoid injuries. They will also tell you there are no shortcuts to gaining muscle mass nor weightloss. We now all understand that eating what you need and not what you want is the "secret" to weightloss because of our surgeon or NUT, but the exercise portion can be a free-for-all in regards to guidance.

I'm not big on trainers. All of my sport injuries came from doing exercises I learned from trainers. I would recommend a physical therapist over a trainer any day of the week. A sports medicine therapist is the best.

Damn, I thought that was a double barreled slingshot until you ruined it for me.

Wow... now you are going to be turning some heads!

Damn... you are looking lean! Good job!

You didn't come and and say it, but I want to chime in here just in case you may be thinking it. There isn't anything easy about this. We don't wake up with a perfect body. Everything after the surgery is difficult, emotionally taxing, physically trying, and just all around hard. But the rewards can be equally as great. Improved physique is likely, but we will have excess skin or hair loss. And that is just one more thing to stress some of us out. The loss of a coping mechanism is no small deal. I don't want to sound like a Debbie-downer, but I just want you to be armed with all the information going into this.

I just thought of something... every once in a while we will have some free time and money and we will hit the skating rink. I haven't enjoyed roller skating in 20 years, but I have to admit that I am really enjoying since losing weight and eating right have taken care of most of my pain.

The weekends really aren't my own. The kids have volleyball and we have chores and errands on the weekends. So I wouldn't exactly call it "rest days"! The only cardio I get is walking behind my wife and the only weight lifting would be me carrying her purse.

First off, dude... it happens to the best of us so don't let it get into your head. I could have written your post a year ago myself. However, once I got the drain out and my incisions were pretty well healed and I was off the blood pressure medicine; well it was on after that! Once you start rapid weight loss, you are going to have a ton of hormones dumped into your bloodstream too. There were many a night where my wife had to tap out long before I was ready. Oh, and as an aside... don't worry about the soy Protein giving you moobs or elevating estrogen levels. That has been pretty much debunked. Unless you are taking in mass quantities like a vegan weightlifter. Soy is safe.

Wrong forum... you should have posted this in the Rants & Raves section!

If you are really hitting the gym hard, you may be burning more than you are taking in. That can put your body into starvation mode where it holds onto everything. There is also the possibility that you are adding muscle. Perhaps a BMI calculation is in order? And I don't mean the caliper test, I mean the one with the electrical current or the water submersion test.

@@dmedic72 Killing it man!

@@OneDollarBill - good question. My target is 3 sets of 10 reps. However, if I don't feel spent, I will load up a little more and try to get another 8 reps. Conversely, if I went heavy and can only finish 6 - 8 reps, I don't push it. That just means that I exhausted the muscle I was working.

Oh, and i just remembered; my wife has been using agave for a long time and I never noticed it. So I can tolerate both of then just fine. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling

Excellent question that I should have thought to mention. I am a year out and at most... MOST... I will eat 3 dates. They are so rich and sweet that it causes dumping. If you haven't experienced that yet, read up on it. It's awful. Sent from my phone, please forgive brevity and misspelling