B-Man

I HATE HATE HATE!!!!!!! stretching!!!!!!!!!! As a result I have spent the last two years lifting weights and building muscle, but avoiding stretching at all cost. So about a month ago I get the bright idea to start taking Kuk Sool Won lessons as a catalyst to kick it up to the next level. OMG!!! the first 15 minutes of class is stretching, and boy oh boy am I ever in deep SH$T. A steel beam is more flexible than I am. I have been walking around like a 100 year old man complaining about every square inch of my body hurting for three weeks now. So I don't really have an answer to your question, but I now know the importance of stretching.

I will second, or third, or whatever the number may be what Brad has said. You might loose weight with a sub 1000 calorie a day diet, but I doubt long term you are going to be happy with the results. You might end up thin (or at least thinner), but how do you feel? Whats your energy level like? Can you keep up with the kids despite the fact you are no longer carrying the weight? Also agree that you have to push your body beyond whats comfortable.. If it doesn't hurt, your not doing it hard enough.

There is no way 600 or even 800 calories a day is going to result in good weight loss. You have probably been loosing muscle more than anything. Ultra low calorie might be ok for a short period of time, but it will shut down your metabolism and cause muscle loss. When you are doing exercise your body needs Protein and amino acids to fuel your muscles. If you diet does not provide sufficient amounts of both, your body will start eating the muscle Fiber to get what it needs (muscle is the only place amino acids and protein are stored). Also please remember to focus on the right kind of calories if you are performing physically demanding activities. Protein and complex carbs are critical. A lot of the complex carbs are not band friendly such as wheat bread, rice, ect.. So try to find a source that works for you. You are probably just beginning your exercise journey, so its much better to develop the proper nutritional habits early.

I would caution against maintaining a 1000 calorie a day diet. For an adult male with any level of exercise, that is simply not enough to keep your metabolism from shutting down. Depending on your lever of physical activity, you should be somewhere between 1500 - 1800 calories a day. If your metabolism slows down due to a lack of sufficient intake, you will struggle to loose even at 1000 calories. Plus you will feel like crap. :thumbup:

I am in a similar hell as you. I have actually gained about 15 pounds over the past 5 months, but my clothes still fit the same. Now I am on what I consider an heavy workout schedule, and I am have seen significant improvement in the weight I am lifting (30% + improvement) and my cardio abilities, but I still get frustrated when I get on the scale. I can hear "muscle is heavier than fat" argument a 1000 times, and my screwed up head still believes the pounds are all fat. Now I don't believe I have put on 15 pounds of fat, so I know some of it is muscle, but the exact ratio is unknown. Anyway I guess my reply doesn't have anything to do with the original nutrition question, I just wanted to let you know I share your frustration.

If you are at the beginning of your weight loss journey, or even half way through I would not recommend this workout. It is really geared for those who are already in good shape that need to get to the next level. I have tried it, and its well beyond my capability. I feel that it would most likely just discourage you. P90x might be a better place to start, even though I believe it is also a rather advanced program. I would recommend the Wii Fit or EA Active on the Wii as a good starting point.

So for some reason I recently have become obsessed with High Intensity Interval Training. I use the elliptical and do approximately 7 reps (1 minute high intensity followed by 1.5 minutes low intensity) which equals about 30 minutes total for the routine. Previous to starting this method I would traditionally do 50-60 minutes at a moderate level. So far I am far more exhausted following 25 minutes of HIIT than I was following 60 minutes of moderate activity. I am really hopping this will be what pushes me off my current plateau and allows me to get to the next level. Anybody else using tabata or other HIIT methods?

I shadow box and work the heavy bag on my non gym nights. I find that 20 minutes of boxing is equivalent to twice that time spent on the elliptical. The Everlast bag I bought came with an Instructional DVD that has a great cardio workout by doing shadow boxing. Besides, there is nothing more stress relieving then beating the crap out of a heavy bag. It is very important that you get the correct gloves, and or learn to wrap your hands properly. Also correct punching form is very important to avoid injuring yourself.

This is my practically worthless opinion, but I really don't get the low weight high rep mentality. I see people at the gym all the time doing rep after rep of low weights and they are not breathing hard or sweating.. Looks like they are on a Sunday afternoon stroll. When I lift I go full bore. As much as I can for as many as I can. I am sweating, huffing and puffing, cursing, and other unsightly things. If I am doing weights, elliptical whatever and It doesn't hurt, then I push harder and heavier till it does. No PAIN = Fat again. Of course I eat like crap, so I am not really loosing the weight anymore, but I when I get my head right again I am sure it will pay off.

Its a bit of both. The chewing helps mentally because it makes the amount of food you eat seem larger, but the primary purpose is to get the food in a small enough size to pass through the opening and not get stuck. I have never learned to chew properly, and as such experience a lot of pain when I eat.

Mine is in the same place as your as well. Mine has turned sideways though. So it sticks out quite a bit, and is a little trickier to get the fill. Doc says he doesn't want to fix it unless it becomes a problem. If I stand up straight you can see it sticking out.

Well I have an appointment today at 2:00, so hopefully I leave with at least some of the fill they took out back. My port has turned sideways, so it makes it difficult to get the needle in, but hopefully they will "Ger R Done" So I have 20 pounds to loose to get back to where I was before I broke my wrist. I am hopping to loose that wight before summer. 4 Months to loose 20 pounds should be obtainable.

I am little over 2 years post op. I started at 336 and made it down to 222. I had a slight complication where I got stuck so bad, it took days to be able to eat again. I went to the Doc and he took out 2.5cc's and warned me that I would gain weight. Of course at this time I was convinced of my ability to keep the weight off without the band helping out and insisted to the doc that would not happen to me. (what a dumb-ass) Yeah right. So here I am three months later having gained 20 pounds back. Now whats interesting is I am exercising more now than ever. I spend 1.5 hours at the gym three nights a week, and at least 30 minutes at home on non gym nights. I am also eating fairly poorly (nothing like pre-band) I have two things I am struggling with. 1. I told the doc I would not gain any weight, so now I have a pride issue and do not want to go back in for a fill until I loose the 20 I gained. 2. My weight lifting has really gone crazy lately. I have increased my reps and weight by 20% + in the last month (its getting to the point where I am lifting the stack on most machines). I am also continuing my cardio approximately 50 minutes per gym trip on the elliptical running my ass off. So I am depressed as hell about the weight gain, but how much of it is muscle vs fat. If I knew that I have gained 10 pounds of muscle and 10 of fat then I would feel a lot better than if I gained 5 and 15. Any of you guys (or girls that are spying) have a similar situation?

You know after watching the biggest looser for so long, they make a big deal about the people's age as it relates to the condition their body is in, versus a calendar age. Since your hubby does have morbid obesity health issues, his hormones are most likely that of a much older man. He could very well be suffering from a drop in testosterone which almost eliminate his sex drive. You might want to suggest to him that he have a hormone workup done to determine if he is could benefit from replacement treatments. That would benefit his energy, metabolism, and libido.

Well I wish I could say that my clothes were fitting better, but in truthfulness they are not. I have had to move back to my XL shirts instead on my L, any my formerly loose fitting jeans now have that familiar tightness to them. So I must face the music that I have gained weight and size back. I was hopping a lot of the weight was Water since I do have a fairly high creating intake, but after taking a water pill I only lost 2 pounds.. So much for that theory. I just got back from vacation, and I will make an appointment for a fill this week. I have got to get back on track, I simply cannot live with this failure. Back before I broke my wrist in August I felt on top of the world. Now I just feel fat again.

SEX!!! Of course If i relied on that I would still be 330 pounds... lol. I always do my weights first, followed by hard cardio. By the time I am finished I usually need help getting to the car.

Banded January 08. Down 113 pounds. 22 more to goal (might not ever get there, but I am alright with that)

Well I can say it was never a question for me. I have two friends who both did RNY. The 1st lost 240 pounds and has maintained the weight loss, of course he almost died from an infected Gal Bladder that the Dr's attributed to the RNY and loss of Protein. The second friend only lost 50 pounds and has gained it back. Now I have 4 friends who have had the band. 3 have them have been very successful, 1 has not. I personally have lost 115 pounds, and for the most part am keeping it off. I am now at 20 months post op. I tend to graze, and still have a bad sweet tooth, but I also bust my butt at the gym three times a week. I absolutely love going to the gym, and I feel that has been key to my success. Just a little motivations for you. I started off wearing a 3x shirt that was tight... I now comfortably wear a size Large. I was wearing a size 54 pants, now a size 36. I can run 5 miles easily now. I climb 20 flights of stairs a day. My Friend that lost 240 pounds with the RNY looks like crap, has no muscle development, and can't even do two flights of stairs.... but he is skinny and weighs less than me.

I started at 336 wearing a size 54 pants. I am now at 225 wearing a size 36. I still want to loose 25 more pounds, but that is proving to be nearly impossible. Seems no matter what I do the scale does not move. I have been at 225 - 230 for 4 months now. Oh well I guess I can be happy at this size, but sure would lie to drop at least 15 more. Went in to get a fill again, and was denied again. This time on the floru I actually had a bit of pouch expansion / dilation so I need to be a little more careful.

I can also state that once the "sweetspot" show up, it doesn't stay around. As i have lost the restriction has gone away. I still occasionally feel it, but I am mostly getting by oh hard work and determination at this point. The last time i went in for a fill, the Doc told me the band had done all its going to do, and the rest is up to me. Sure hated to hear that, but I have lost 20 pounds since then. Also put on considerable mass in my arms and shoulders. I think I might make an appointment to get a fill though. Been able to cheat a little to much lately.

Hmm.. Lets see.. HELL YES its that bad. Not to scare you or anything, but the better prepared you are the better. The Gas-X strips work, but I had to take twice the recommended dosage. Its been 15 months since my surgery, and I can clearly remember the dreaded gas. Also figured out after a couple of days it was good to lay on the bed and roll around to get the gas to move out. Although there was no real smell involved, It was still something better done in private.

Lap-Dancer Is you husband overweight himself? Since the sex has stopped since you started your weight loss, maybe he is suffering from some insecurities of his own? Also religion can be used as excuse/reason to stay in a bad relationship, but no god that I know, or one I would want to be faithful to, would expect me to live a life of unhappiness for their sake. You have needs physical and emotional. It is your partner in marriage responsibility to meet those needs(or at least try.) As far as I am concerned "To Death do us part" doesn't necessarily have to be physical death. Emotional death can qualify too.

under 300 was a good feeling for sure. Not sure I will ever make it under 200 though. My goal is 200, but with my build I don't think it will happen. Been at 240 for what seems forever. What I do want to see is back into a size 34 pants. Back when I first meet my wife I was 215 and in a size 34.

Hmm. Who cares.. Besides the Mens room has been rather boring lately. Us guys just don't like talking to each other that much... Maybe more talk about Cars, Airplanes, Motorcycles.. etc.. You have to hand it to the Women.. Their forum is most definitely not boring.

I am jealous. I only have a 35 HP, and no backhoe. Certainly wasn't one of the most justifiable purchases I ever made, but I sure do enjoy it. Will have to get a picture and post it.