scarecrow

This is extremely long and all things you may know/do, but I've finally hit a point where I'm losing weight and making gains biweekly on weights, so I'm eager to talk about it : P. A local trainer got me leveled out, and I've had GREAT results since. When I got banded I was 315, I repped 275 on chest (I'll use chest for examples) and maxed around 350. I did an hour of lifting everyday, 1 muscle a day. When I got the band, I switched to cycling exercise reps (circuit training). I was eating very little, of course. Within a 6 month period I dropped almost 70 lbs, which was amazing... but I had no stamina, I was dead halfway through the second set. I had dropped down to repping with 175 on bench. That's a full 100lbs drop on workout weight - and I couldnt even max 250. I made these changes: I take in every day at least 1200 cals, but usually no more than 1400. This was moved up from 800-1000. - Pre-workout I take half a glass of grape juice (no sugar added), a glutamine pill, and I cycle creatine. That's 40g of sugar carbs, but if you stress your muscles you will burn it. The GI carbs are needed to spike your insulin and thus increase muscle absorbion. I take that stuff 15-20 minutes before my first set. - Immediately after workout, I take another glutamine pill with a Protein shake - I use gold standard protein mix, 25g a scoop, because it's extremely lean, and very cheap. I mix it with sugar free koolaid to kill the taste. yah, it's that bad. But 100 calories and 0 carbs compared to premades is extremely lean. - For gain building, he switched the way I lift to 1 exercise at a time. For example, for chest, I will do 1 set of 15 warmups (100 lbs) on bench. Then My goal is to find a weight I can get up 9 times on my first set. Then I wait a full 2 minutes, add 5 or 10 pounds, and go til fail - normally 7 or 8 reps. I continue that 4 times, THEN I move to butterlys or whatever. Rotating is appearantly bad. The point is when stressing the muscle out blood goes to that muscle. The muscle tears and absorbion are triggered by the buildup of blood and folic acid in the worked muscle. So if you cycle exercises, or circuit train, you train your body to NOT dump as much blood as possible into a muscle, but instead to conserve - since itll need it elsewhere soon. - I changed to making sure that whatever muscles were getting worked that day, the largest of the group was worked first. - Cardio raising your heartrate over 125 for someone middle aged eats complex protein at a very high rate. Meaning, your cardio, if strenuous, will eat your own muscle building material. He instead had me switch to "bounce" cardio. I run at a decent pace until I hit a heart rate of 125, then I slow it down - and I do this for 20 minutes, first thing in the morning. - I do biceps and stomach on Monday, chest and neck on tues, legs and stomach on wed, back on thur, shoulders and tris on friday. I do absolutely nothing on the weekends. I actually try to use my muscles as little as possible to let them get a full rest in. - I take in my weight in grams of protein per day. like right now I weigh 190, so I take in 190 grams of protein per day, a whey shake in the morning, one right after my workout, and 1 casein Protein Shake before I sleep - because it absorbs slowly throughout the night. In addition, I eat every 3 hours or less, small meals, which he says teaches the body that it's ok to burn through and apply the energy as it comes in because more is on the way. - All in all I take three glutamine pills a day, and two fish oils. 1 glut before workout, 1 after, 1 right before bed. The glutamine prompts protein absorbsion in muscles. It's found naturally in most protein mixes, but only in small amounts. it's been a year now since I got banded and I weigh 125 less - and my bench rep weight is back up to 245 per first set. And although I'm not quite as strong still, I look alot stronger because there's not 100 pounds of fat covering me up : P. Hope some of this helps - he gave me a book that explained all this in greater detail, if I can find it I'll send it to ya.

hey, maybe I could use that as a pickup line :thumbup: nah, maybe my anatomy isnt the same as others, but I don't ever see anyone retaining more than half an inch or so of lost penor. Luckily God wasn't cruel enough to allow us to put weight on right around there : P

Name............Start........Current........Goal.......To Go CindyG...........191...........191...........178........13 Sades............186...........185...........175........11 Stephanie........175...........169.5.........155........14.5 shortgal.........173.6.........172...........168.........4 Bandpal..........172.26........171.93........150........21.93 Momto1plus1......187...........185...........174........11 lindata..........174...........174...........169........5 Skinny_Jill......151...........150...........143........7 mrskrzyz.........172...........172...........162........10 kalipso2.........172...........172...........165........7 scarecrow........190...........190...........180........10

Well I tried to find a smiley face that looked like he was whistling at ya, but there doesn't seem to be one. You look excellent though, be happy! Your face has lost the weight VERY well, you look like you never looked any different. I'm so jealous.... I guess I was just delusional, but when I was really heavy seeing myself would startle me - I just didn't feel that heavy. I recognize myself better now that I'm losing it. Weird, I know : /

Name..........Lbs Lost...% of orig. wgt lost.....BMI Abbisgood.........53.............23%.............?? Aubrie............65.............?%..............31 BandChick64.......104............34.67%..........31.6 Bandpal...........113.82.........39.8%...........28.2 (47) BarbBee...........94.............31%.............35.7 Cherlita..........60.............20%.............55 Cindyg............62.............24.5%...........34.5 Close.............50.............20%.............33.1 Firebolt..........45.............19%.............33.5 Foofy.............48.............17.7%...........36.4 gabeekeeper.......101............30% ............40.2 Hajohnson1........49.8...........18.2%...........39.8 Hollyberries......113............31%.............36.2 Hopping To It.....69.............19.7%...........49.1 Huskerette........54.............22%.............30.5 kandiceb..........63.............26%.............27.6 linda.............52.............23%.............29.9 lindseyann2u......82.............N/A.............N/A Maincat...........141............46.5%...........22 Mariegabrieleee...73.............24%.............39.1 MollyBrown........36.............12.5%...........36.5 Momto1plus1.......84.2...........31.2%...........29 NYGirl1...........02.............33%.............32.6 plump_princess....57.............22%.............36 QatarPhil.........55.............19%.............32.2 Rachel............63.............?%..............28.3 Robin_Bird........116............38%.............28.7 Sades.............44.8...........19.5%...........33.7 scarecrow.........125............40%.............27.3 Shalee04..........70.............28%.............29.2 Shortgal..........44.5...........20.5%...........32.9 Skinny_Jill.......59.5...........26.8%...........30.8 Staysee...........70.............20%.............48.4 Stephanie.........60.............26%.............27.1 strangeratx.......58.............25.2%...........30.5 Teresajo..........93.............36%.............27.3 Tmusicmaker123....73.............19%.............48.7 TxArcher..........103............25.75%..........39.2 tyman311..........61.............31%.............28 want2lose.........91.8...........32%.............31 TOTAL..............2816.62(Lets Keep this TOTAL on the list) Did I do it right? I think it looks ok....

Sorry for not responding for a month or so, been very busy : P. Yes, I work out one muscle group per day: biceps and stomach on monday chest and neck stabilizers on tuesdays legs and stomach on wednesday back on thursday shoulders, tri's, and stomach on friday. On the weekends I do only light cardio, I try to let everything rest then. I'm 190 now - I've only lost 4 lbs in the last two months, which I'm actually ok with because my lifting has shot back up. I started mixing half a glass of grape juice with my pre-workout (glutamine, 3g creatine) and post-workout (Protein, glutamine) shakes. The extra 40 grams of PURE SUGAR carbs scared the hell out of me at first, but under the advice of a trainer buddy of mine I've tried it and have been thrilled with the results. He gave me a long list of reasons why the "G.I. Carbs" were necessary when lifting, but I don't remember any of them : P. I tried P90X in the past Foofy, and it is a KILLER. It's extremely effective if you stick with it, but it's also very hard on your back. If your back is in good shape - you'll love it. Mine's all messed up : P. Thank you very much Cindy, appreciate it. The full body lift sounds absolutely awful - I can't imagine the pain. If the tummy tuck tucks in sides though, I could see doing that : P. These are some newer pics [/url] very blurry. Taking pictures of yourself in a mirror is actually alot harder than it looks. I look sad but I'm just irritated at the camera You can't tell too much of a difference from the ones at 200lbs (first post), I can tell quite a bit with my shirt off. Thanks for the posts!

Thank you Foofy, I'll post over there for the skin question and see what kinda results I get. The idea is really scary to me to be honest, the huge scars, etc. But I would at least like to get as much info on it as possible. Thanks Foofy, I honestly don't know that I could lose the weight if I was middle aged, I've watched my older siblings struggle with weight and they've had a much more difficult time as they age. I believe it would probably take more willpower and determination than I have, so I have a lot of respect for those older than I accomplishing this. Awww, thank you Lindata, that's so sweet. I guess everything I eat meat wise is processed actually. Not sure. I buy the "Deli Sliced Turkey" from kroger mostly, it's Kroger brandname and comes in typical sandwich meat style. It's cheap and fast, but probably isn't as good for you. Yes, but thighs are supposed to be thick, love handles aren't : P. I have noticed other guys who are losing weight look the same, I'm just afraid it'll stick. As far as not losing weight in an area just because you work out there, you're 100% correct. That is like the myth that won't die. But for some reason I still work those areas out the most hoping it will make a difference : P. I will absolutely try this if I can find a plan for it. I love trying new cardio, repetition gets me unmotived quick, and as much as I love lifting, I hate cardio. I'll see what I can find on it. Thanks again guys

This is my first post here, I thought I'd test the waters and see where I'm at in comparison and where I should be. I'm from Shreveport, LA, and was banded by Dr. Merrimen. I was banded Nov. 26th 2007 (I think), and have had mixed results so far, I'm starting to wonder if there is reason to be discouraged. When I first went in for LB, I was 290. I was told that I may want to get up a little heavier, so I started trying to gain weight. I wanted to get up to 300 so I'd know my insurance would cover it. When I had the surgery, I was 310 lbs, by far the heaviest I had ever been. In the first 3 weeks after the surgery, I lost 22 lbs. I stayed on a completely liquid diet, and did not know why I was feeling so horrible. I found out soon afterwards that I was supposed to be drinking a protien shakes during that time - I wasnt. Around the last week in december I had gotten down to around 288. I began going back to the gym at this time. I went with the same workout plan I used in college to prepare for football... 4 sets of 12 each, chest on mondays, arms tuesdays, back wednesdays, legs and stomach thursday, shoulders friday. Every day I also jog-walk fast (it's something in between really, a fat mans jog) for at least 20 minutes. I did this for two weeks and felt great. So two weeks ago I had lost 5 more lbs, and was down to 282. I then went in for an adjustment, he added a very small amount, because even with the smallest addition my throat was making weird noises when sipping from the straw. He told me to not eat anymore protien shakes and get my nutrition completely from food. Before, I had been getting 40 grams of protien in a shake for Breakfast. It's now 2 months from surgery date, and unfortunatly I have noticed a significant decrease in my energy while working out since getting off the shakes. The most discouraging part though, is although I'm working myself as hard as I can on the weights for strength, and have not missed a day of cardio or weight training yet - I still have somehow managed to gain 2 lbs over the last two weeks. I am eating the following: breakfast either a egg and cheese, or a piece of turkey wrapped around a cheese stick I take a one-a-day all day energy Vitamin during the "drinking period" lunch is a chicken breast sandwich, every day. The bread is natures choice 8 grain wheat... the healthiest I could find. dinner is normally a cheese sausage thing. They have around 150 calories and 2 carbs, with a good amount of protien. They taste pretty good without any bread as well. I drink only Water, most of the time with pink lemonade mix in it that has 5 calories a glass and no sugar or carbs. The only splurges I've had is twice I've drank alchohol. I was actually drunk for the first time in my life. It took like 4 shots and I was gone. Which was... unexpected. Now it's mardi gras weekend and I know I can't drink anything with my friends because I'm gaining wieght the way it is. They told me not to limit my food intake myself, let my stomach do it... but I'm obviously doing something wrong, and I'm becoming discouraged. I had the lapband because of back problems... the 6-8 ibuprofin I used to eat for pain everyday before the surgery isnt applicable now. The doctor told me my stomach didnt look great and no more NSAID's. I cannot get back surgery until my weight is down around 200. So in the meantime, I'm just living with the pain. That is the only reason I'm in such a hurry to get the weight off. Does anyone have any suggestions? Has anyone else at this point started gaining weight back? I swear I'm a stickler on my diet, I never eat anything other than what's listed above... so I'm wondering if what I listed above is just a bad diet. Is gaining a couple of lbs in a couple of weeks time not a big deal really? I have lost 25lbs, but 22 of those were when I was on Soups and had no protien intake. I'm very open to any suggestions. Thanks

thank ya Jill, appreciate it. Just done so many of those fad diets in my life that blow the lbs off the first couple of months... then you plateau and it starts coming back. I don't want to lose hope that this will work.

omg, so LONG!