scarecrow

So, I just wanted to update the community. I eventually had the band removed, complications. But losing the initial load, plus low carb high fat and mma, I look like this today. I chose the attachment. I was near 350 at the time of resolution. Granted, I gained a lot back.

I'm 185 and was 168. I wish I did better.

But I just eat to maintain now. If any of my old bary pals still post, I'd love to see where you are...

Thanks Gerry! And Congrats on the surgery, I hope everything went smooth with the surgery. I know how uncomfortable those first few weeks post-op can be! It gets better, you'll forget all about it even being there soon enough.

To answer your question I was completely millitant the first year and a half after the surgery. I kept a very strict exercise and nutrition schedule, I can message you the details. I still work out regularly nowadays and eat a certain way, but it doesn't take near the commitment to sustain as it did to originally get the weight off.

How's everyone doing?

I'm at 170 or so, I'm at around 2 years without the band at this point. Maintaining has been easy as long as I STAY in the gym, but if I miss a week or two the weight piles on quick. Happy to see most the crowds been so successful, congrats guys.

davsil - if you have loose skin then low rep / high weight is the way to go. You can tone areas with bodyfat around them, but toning areas with limp skin doesn't do much. Building the muscle to fit into your skin will not only make the best of what you have, but burn many more calories than small, toned muscles.

because of the huge amount of skin some of us have to fill (me,) I fully believe in lifting for bulk instead of tone. General bulk building rules apply. I lift with lots of sets/low reps (5 sets of 5 usually) with about 80% of my max. It may be better to keep your down time between sets around 2 minutes or though, as you are kinda focusing on building size as opposed to strength.

Do your larger muscle group first every time. Believe it or not, working the hell out of your tricep will make your biceps look big faster than working the actual biceps to death.

For a mass-heavy look, concentrate heavily on back (lats and traps) and delts. Back day and shoulder day should be your longest. larger lats, traps, and delts cause wide shoulders and a wider chest. Just concetrate on widening yourself and bulking for now, if you have loose skin, trying to do true toning exrcise is kinda poinless as it won't be seen anyways.

How's everyone doing? The difference in weight in the pics is absolutely shocking. Anyone who has doubts about the bands benefits needs to come read this thread. TXArcher, you don't look as heavy as you are, at all. You must be really tall or something.

The most recent one I have is from two weeks ago, but I'm still about the same, pound lighter.

315

190

188

thx donna dont tempt me about the bikini avatar because i did just buy 1 this week its fl ya know....but i dont want to be the slutty lap band girl ....

Has any guy around here officially accepted the title as the slutty lapband guy? I'd like to be considered.

Buuut, I'm posting a 7:00 in the morning on a Saturday because I fell asleep at 9 o'clock on a Friday night. I suck.

Excellent!

That's GREAT that your trainer has you lifting hard, it always irritates me when I hear of women visiting their trainers on here and the trainer concentrates only on cardio. That muscle your building is what BURNS your calories, it's necessary. What's really nice is about a year from now (if you keep it up) when you can eat a LOT more while still losing weight because your body has all that muscle to maintain.

And it doesn't hurt that he's hot I guess. Is he a Mizzou fan? That's what's important Jane, not how he looks. It's whats inside that counts. Well, not personality and all that crap, but what team they route for... inside.

I'm pretty sure that my trainer checked me out a few times. He was... colorful.

I've never blacked out though... did you mention that to your nutritionist? How's your blood sugar? I get nauseous while working out if I go really heavy, never blacked out though.... Are you breathing correctly? It's in... THEN out. : P

Spaghetti arms and legs! That's excellent, micro-tears are your friend : P. Make sure you get in plenty of Protein the night after the exercise, your body does most muscle healing (and building) while you sleep, so some good lean slow-digesting Protein before going to bed is great, like casein or soy protein, or just some plain old Fish. Take care Jane

Excellent for you man, good job. The BMI scale is so funny, I was ecstatic when I got to be considered "overweight" : P Congrats!

Longview! wondered where you were from, I saw the comment about shreveport, and knew only a local would understand how bad it sucked : P.

Dr. Merrimen in Shreveport did an excellent job on my surgery, but he's really the only doctor I know too. The whole thing went smooth as could be man, I'd suggest him for sure.

This thread is a month old, but damnit, it's worth reviving.

OF COURSE you should wear mini-skirts. The better question is why in the world wouldn't you wear mini-skirts??

Mini skirts are Gods gift to men. I only wish women realized how good they look in them, just the way they are.

This thread was probably meant for women in their 30's, and I'm a guy in his 20's. But trust me ladies, listen to your husbands on this one. The skirts work.

Hey Ty, how did you know you had gall bladder problems, what happened?

where's your port snowman?

Mine's on my upper left abdomen (some ppl are getting them on their chest?) and... it's caused me a bit of pain before.

I've always been fine for rolling, but watch the body shots. I've gotten "discomfort" from being hit on the port a couple of times. One time it hurt for days afterwards, and it was enough to kind of make me favor the spot defensively for a few weeks.

Other than that I would think everything would be fine. I wouldn't suggest any rubber guards or anything of the such : P. I waited 2 month before going back to any training at all, but felt fine rolling after that.

Yah Evo, I lost 125 in the first year, 315-188. But... I shouldn't have. Your skin will be much happier if you lose maybe a pound a week.

I just jumped into non-stop hardcore exercise. I never even had a fill, not even a first. I jumped into MMA training, weight lifting, and paintball, lol. If it's not something that's absolutely fun to you, you're not going to want to stick with it.

The most fortunate thing of my life has been getting to the point where I wait all day to be able to go workout or spar. I absolutely love it because I have good friends to do it with and it's a lot of fun.

But man, it sure is hard to do it on no carbs. I've been there, you just feel... like shit really. I live on Protein shakes, 95% lean ground beef, fish, broccoli, and fish oil pills. But I feel excellent. It's ok to spike your GI carbs (sugar carbs) right before a workout, the insolin spike will help deliver nutrients to your muscles better, and give you energy to get gains from the activity. No sugar added grape juice - half a cup - about 20 minutes before your workout will make the whole thing a lot less painfull. The serotonin spike from sugar probably has something to do with that, but who cares : P. You'll burn it off.

Good luck bud. I plateu'd at 230 for a few weeks and it was a horrible feeling. I thought I was just destined to never get any smaller, and no one could tell me any different. It'll pass bud.

If you don't want your skin to look like melting wax when your done, stick with that 1lbs a week. Trust me.

Sorry to here that Linda : /

I had to do flintstones chewables and Protein shakes at first, lol. I actually STILL take the flintstones. Yeah, sad. They just have everything in them that the one-a-days I had do.

You've recently had an unfil and you feel that tight? Did the doc say you were inflamed or something?

lovin the shotgun so far B-Man, not bad at all

B-Man, that's not all bad news man.

I never had a fill personally - I started doing paintball and MMA soon after and started dieting hard core. But if I ever DID slip from the diet, I couldn't too bad, because the band was there to restrict my slip up from anything major.

I just had to decide that I was going to find an activity that I enjoyed doing and become addicted to it. Do you have something like that? I traded video games and TV for paintball, MMA, and bowfishing, and I honestly have so much more fun doing the stuff.

I was also lucky enough to have friends that were very active already, so all I had to do was tag along with them. I imagine getting into something alone would have been much harder : /.

omg... you're a pilot??

Hey there Lindata, how ya been?

Are you getting plenty of Protein?

I always make sure I get my weight in Protein every day, whether I want to or not. I've always found that as long as I'm taking my Vitamins, fish oil, tons of protein, and half a serving of grape juice before a workout - I'll always feel great.

I respectfully but completely disagree with some of the claims on the forums that you don't have to have the extra protein. I feel like CRAP if I don't get it.

How do you feel Lindata?

gratz! the only advice I can give is keep your Protein levels up - no matter what anyone says. My doctor told me not to take the Protein shakes, to get all of my Protein from the food - and for me personally at least, it just wasn't enough. I felt like crap.

A good soy protein mix is easy to digest, 25grams of protein a scoop, taste decent, and is proven to reduce bad cholesterol sharply and reduce the chances of certain cancers, including breast and colon. And the protein will make ya feel a ton better, and help your body burn off a higher fat content and less calorie-burning muscle : ) .

Also keep your stitches as dry as you can and don't pick at them! I only have 1 visible scar from the surgery, and it's the one I just couldn't stop messing with.

You saw your liver? That's just not natural. Like when you see your favorite radio DJ in person, and it's odd because they looking nothing like what you've always thought. Some things you just aren't supposed to see. I hope my liver and I have a long working relationship together without ever having to meet.

Goodluck, you're gonna do great!

Are any of you yawners?

I yawn a LOT while working out. There's another guy at my gym that lost a lot of weight recently, and I noticed when he works out he yawns the whole time too. Is there a connection?

The turtle wins!

But what in the world is that in your avatar?

non scale victory!

I'm slow.

Weeell, I'm going to come right out and admit that I don't know what NSV stands for. When I see NSV, I think Nonsynonymous Variant. But - I think I get the point at least...

two weeks ago someone at the gym started asking me questions, I realized a few minutes alter they mistook me for someone that worked there. Yes, I had a gym shirt on - thus the mistake - but a year ago theres no WAY that mistake could have happened.

I can wear my life long skinnier than me friends' clothes.

Another friend of mine, who joked about my weight for years, ran out of breath and had to stop 10 minutes into a run. I acted like it was ok, but ran an extra 20 just for good measure : P

I can finally fight in the same weight class as people under 6'2.

I ordered a Water to drink from a restaurant and the waiter didn't visibly get the idea that he wasn't going to get a tip.

26 - banded by Merrimen(sp) a year ago in november. Any other locals post on here?