PorkChopExpress

One of those things you just kinda have to try and see, I think. I haven't had any issues with the spicier things I've tried so far, so I'm gradually ramping up the spiciness just to see how it goes. I may try some Indian curry and find out, before too long.

I thought about doing some YouTube stuff, but I decided not to. Just not sure I want to be that "out there" for people who might know me to see everything that's going on with me.

@@SleeveG You will still gain some strength at first with Stronglifts, but you'll hit a hard plateau where you just won't be able to gain any more, simply because you lack the calorie input to add more muscle. But the routine will help you maintain muscle mass, so I wouldn't worry about busting through any strength barriers when you hit them. If you end up wanting to switch to more of a bodybuilding-oriented regimen once you've hit goal weight, then you'll start wanting to do isolation lifts with high reps, or a progressive overload style like you'd find in Body For Life, where your goal is to completely exhaust the muscle and encourage growth. But if your foundation comes from strength training, you're going to have even better results with that, most likely. In the end, it'll be a trial and error process to see what works best for you, and what gets you the results you want. But for right now, a program emphasizing overall strength with compound lifts is, in my opinion, the best way to maintain as much muscle as you can, to help with your fat loss goals. It's just too hard to get the calories and Protein necessary to create hypertrophy in your muscles and cause them to grow a bunch, before you're close to goal.

Personally, I was feeling pretty good physically and ready to get back to work. I was tired, definitely, and sluggish...but healing wise, I was doing pretty well. Everyone heals differently though and there's no accounting for complications.

If they feel warm and the area around them is hard, and they aren't closing, or you're noticing any kind of drainage or swelling, then you could have an infection...but it's easily treated with antibiotics. They shouldn't be turning red, redness generally indicates inflammation/irritation and that's generally infection. However, part of the healing process IS definitely itchiness. So if all of your wounds have closed up well and scabbed over, and you aren't getting any drainage/pus, then most likely it's just the healing process. But as always, if you're concerned about it, have your surgeon take a look.

You will retain Water periodically for all kinds of reasons. Weigh again in a couple of days and see if the weight stayed, or if it dropped - and make sure you're always weighing under the same conditions, at the same time of day. If you're REALLY worried about it, start tracking your intake with something like MyFitnessPal. A pound of fat is 3,500 calories. In order to gain four pounds of genuine fat weight in one week, you would have had to exceed your daily TDEE (the amount of calories needed to maintain your weight) by 2,000 calories a day. You weren't going to do that by sharing a small Sprite. The liquid fast is unnecessary. Track your trend, not single points in time. If the scale freaks you out this much, don't weigh every week...do it every other week. The body doesn't lose weight on a 7 day schedule and it does it the way it wants to do it. What you care about is the trend...as long as it's downward, you're golden. But start tracking your intake, start looking at how your macros break down (are you still protein-heavy and carb/fat-light, or has that changed) and adjust if necessary. But honestly, you were just retaining water.

At the moment, probably reading about weight loss surgery experiences and successes. I have a tendency when I get into something to get kind of obsessive about it for a while. Eventually I'll exhaust myself of reading and researching it, and then move onto something else. I only do it with one thing at a time, usually. Right now, this is it. The next thing I WANT to become an obsession (that will last long-term) is lifting weights and fitness.

It is insane to think about the changes in perception of "how much is enough" happen, after this surgery. I'm into week six now and although the amount I eat continues to grow little by little, it is ridiculous how radically different it is from just two months ago. For dinner, I picked up a small order of green bean chicken at Panda Express. First of all, I made the conscious choice to avoid fried and breaded. Every time I make one of those good choices, I pat myself on the back for putting my brain in check. So far, I have a perfect track record post-surgery. I'm going to be the one in control, now. But sitting there eating my food (I got ALMOST all the way through it, had about 6 green Beans left in the bottom of the box), I had to chuckle to myself. A couple of months ago, I would not have thought twice while I ordered a three item meal with chow mein, orange chicken, kung pao chicken and beijing beef, with maybe one or two egg rolls and an extra large Pepsi to wash the whole calorie fest down. Almost 2,600 calories just in that meal, alone. My goodness. Number one, the change in the type of food I am choosing is big...but when I think about the sheer volume of what I used to eat, compared to today...it kind of blows my mind. I order a "normal" portion of food at a restaurant and I swear, it now looks like it could feed a family, to me. My brain is recalibrating...because for several weeks, I found myself fighting against the perception that my portions were "too small" when in fact, they ended up being a little too much. This is a crazy journey.

I don't have the money to reward myself with anything, but I guess I just give myself a little mental high-five and keep on trucking. The end result will be my reward.

I took my wife out the night this thread was started, we went to a new and well-reviewed steakhouse, as we hadn't been out together in AGES and I was starting week 6, which was "try anything and see how you do with it" time, according to my nutritionist and surgeon (avoiding fats and sugars of course). My wife up and mentions to the server that he shouldn't be surprised when I don't eat that much, and that it won't be due to the quality of the food...but that I just had weight loss surgery! I was surprised by it, but not really embarrassed...it doesn't really matter to me if someone knows, particularly not a stranger. But the waiter then revealed that he's "a boxer" too, because he has Crohn's disease...so not to worry! That dinner did make me aware that this change is also a big one for my wife to handle. We couldn't get the appetizer that we both normally would have, because I couldn't eat it anyway (not and have any room for the steak), and I ate like 10% of my food...although I enjoyed it THOROUGHLY. She felt a little weird with me boxing up 90% and her taking home maybe 20% of hers. But the fact of the matter is, I feel like I actually enjoyed the meal MORE than I would have two months ago, and for the right reasons. The flavor was amazing, and I really appreciated it. I didn't just wolf it down. For me, I don't really care what anyone thinks. I did this for myself, not for them.

I specifically didn't cheat because I was trying to recondition myself mentally, prior to surgery. My thinking was, if I couldn't succeed at following the rules for two weeks pre-surgery, how was I going to succeed at this long-term? I took a lot of pride in sticking to the plan, and it paid off when I weighed in the morning of surgery. I feel that pre-op diet really set the tone, for me.

Addiction transferrence. You basically are prevented from indulging in your food addiction, so you end up transferring it to another thing, in order to "cope." Often, that's alcohol. The solution is, don't drink alcohol. My surgeon said I need to avoid it for a year post-op, anyway. Probably partly because it converts to sugar and partly to avoid the risk of transferring my mental/emotional addiction to alcohol.

http://www.superfoodly.com/protein-farts-best-powder-shakes-which-wont-cause-gas/

It takes a little time to work up to the required amount. I was getting close after a week, but that's with almost everything I drank being a Protein shake, so I could try to get my Water in, too. Each week will get better. Just do your best, and I would say any time you drink, make it a Protein Drink. The lack of desire to eat and the emotions are also totally normal. It'll be a little bit of a mental/emotional ride for a few weeks as you adjust to the new situation. Just be thoughtful about it and try to see all of it for what it is. You are starting the process of re-conditioning your mind and throwing out a LOT of bad habits, old foods, etc... This is where the rubber meets the road.

That usually seems to happen with overeating but it may be that certain foods are causing inflammation, which might cause it. You will have to consult your surgeon, but I would start journaling your food choices and the results. See if you can narrow down which foods are routinely causing this reaction. But if you are eating until you're stuffed, that's likely the reason. You mentioned eating a rice cake...if there is a food more likely to expand like a sponge in your stomach, I can't think of one.

My "goal weight" is more of a window, because I'm not as much focused on scale weight as I am how I am looking and feeling. I have an image in my mind of what I want to end up being like, and my goal weight is basically just a "jumping off point" for that. So it doesn't really demonstrate my goal, because my goal isn't a weight. It's a state of being.

I haven't spread the word around, a few coworkers know because they knew I went out for surgery and then saw me eating like a bird afterward. The way I see it, it's going to become impossible for people not to know, because it's about the only explanation for losing this much weight, this quickly. So while I'm not advertising, I'm also not lying about it if anyone asks.

@@Ignatius Welcome to the club man! Follow your surgeon's instructions, put a high priority on getting your Protein needs met and you are probably going to be feeling great a week from now, your body will heal faster and better. Also walking daily, as much as you can tolerate. You're going to go through some psychological stuff, as your old brain fights the situation...but you'll know it when you feel it, and you will see it really clearly for what it is. This surgery changes the entire game. Since the morning of surgery, I've been averaging 5lbs lost per week. That means my average daily calorie deficit is in the neighborhood of 2,500. My Mom saw me over the weekend and was amazed at how much I've lost since she spent the first week helping me recover, but when she watched me eat, she said, "I can't believe you're still able to walk around and function, on so little calories!" lol

That's a pretty exhaustive strength routine, but for hypertrophy you want to have higher reps, lower weight...or some kind of progressive overload strategy. Looks like your sets are all the same weight. Personally, I like strength training first and size second. If you have a good strength foundation, you can easily achieve size. For beginners, I'm a fan of the 5x5 programs like Stronglifts or Starting Strength, personally. I don't do a lot of isolation exercises, except for biceps curls...but I'm more interested in strength than size now.

Thanks It was a little hard on my wife I think, because we have always ordered the spinach/artichoke dip appetizer whenever we go out and they have it, and we can't really do that anymore...I wouldn't be able to eat anything else! But she said, "At least you can still go out and enjoy stuff like this, even if you can't eat a lot of it." Truer words were never spoken. And the funny side effect of this surgery to me is, I'm enjoying the food a LOT more than I ever did, before. Chewing much longer, lingering on it more, enjoying the flavors more. It's pretty interesting, the effect it's having on me. All positive. But yeah, for me to be boxing up 90% of my meal, while she's boxing up maybe 20% of hers, made her feel a little self-conscious. However, she is planning to have surgery herself over the summer break, so it won't be long before she's experiencing the same stuff I am. That'll make it a lot easier!

Finally weighed myself during a visit with my family over the Halloween weekend...what a trip, seeing numbers on there I haven't seen in nearly a decade. I'm averaging five pounds lost per week right now. More shocking to me is that I'm down 60 pounds from my high weight when I started, and I've done that in two months. The best I've ever done on my own is around 55 pounds, over a period of about six months. I'm now in week 6 and my program has given me free reign to try anything I want to try, of course avoiding sugar and excessive fat intake. Took my wife to a great new steakhouse and it was delicious. Weird to leave such a huge amount of food to be boxed...very weird. But I ate on that meat for three days! Not quite as good reheated, but still very good. Funny how I now feel like I'm getting a lot more value for my money, because it lasts so long

This user hasn't been active since 2012, but her last post should be encouraging to you: http://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/222877-13-week-update/

If it came on slowly and intensified, after all the fat you ate the previous night, I'd say maybe pancreatitis or possibly your gall bladder, if it's still there. Hamburger with cheese has a lot of fat content and fat tends to trigger those kinds of attacks. You'll probably have to see the doctor, maybe get some bloodwork if it continues. The pain for something like that would have felt like it was right up under the bottom of your ribcage.