BlueCrush

Three pics: The day before VSG (already down 88lbs from my high weight of 406lbs At my goal weight of 225lbs, with all the loose skin 2 weeks after plastic surgery to remove the loose skin. Still at 225lbs. Still a little swollen from surgery.

I'm late to the thread, but I we'll also chimed in that your problem is likely also that you're not eating enough. I'm six foot three, and currently at about 225 lb. It is taking me a long time, like 8 months, to get from 220 to 225 by adding 5 lb of muscle. I found that my maintenance calories are in about 2800, and I have to eat about 3,500 to gain weight. Even healthy muscle weight.

I went through with male plastics - the procedures are listed above in a previous post. The only changes are that I added a fleur de lis incision up the midsection to get rid of as much skin as possible. I also didn't need abdominal muscle repair, per the surgeon, due to building strong ab muscles with my free-weight lifting routine for the past year or so. Posting as I know from experience that it's hard as hell to get before and afters of male post weight loss plastic surgery patients.

I'm still around, but haven't been able to work out in about a month due to recovering from plastic surgery. I have about another month or go before om cleared to work out. I haven't been very active on here as I'm a little salty that BariatricPal's Mexico hospital screwed me out of a $1,000 deposit after their surgeon left their company. I don't want to get into that in this thread, or the admins will just delete this thread like they did the others where I've discussed it. Update pic post plastic surgery:

Nice. I'm scheduled for 5/2 (next Thursday!). I also lost 180lbs (from 406 to 225) and am having a 360 lower body lift with muscle repair, male chest reduction, lipo in three areas, and a butt lift. No insurance coverage for me, though, so all out of pocket.

I drink 16oz of Fairlife milk (look it up) in the morning with breakfast. That's 26g I drink a premier protein shake in the afternoon. That's 30g I drink another 16oz of Fairlife in the evening, post-workout, before bed. That's another 26g. So, all in, I drink 82g per day I addition to my food intake.

I'd say more like 90% chance the band will develop issues.

Le than 60 days until my scheduled plastic surgery to remove all this loose skin. Been working on building this base. I'm already dreading not being able to work out for 8 weeks post-op

Conratuations! You're going to do great with the surgery! You having lost so much already shows you are committed to the lifestyle change it takes to be successful. I've seen on here that the most successful people are those who fully embrace switching their lifestyle before surgery as opposed to viewing the surgery itself as the fix.

200g of protein is a lot. I'm currently taking in about 160g per day, and I'm 6'3" and around 225lbs. I've been able to build muscle well at abou 0.7g per lb of body weight.

Use tdee as a starting point, but adjust based on your results. I'm currently around 2800 calories per day and have been floating around the same 1lb of weight for roughly 5 weeks now, so I think I've found my maintenance calories. I'm 6'3" tall and lift weights 6x per week, but have a sedentary desk job during the day.

Still going strong. My lifts are still increasing, though I'd say not nearly as quickly as when I first started. Same could be said with building muscle.the first 6 months it seemed like muscle packed on quickly. It seems to build much slower now. I'm still working out 6 days per week. A couple of bathroom selfies tonight:

What's wrong with protein cookies?

Nice work!

You should be aiming for at least 0.7 grams per pound of body weight if you want to add muscle mass.

I agree that the likely culprit is beginning stages of dehydration. This was happening to me until I significantly upped my water intake. How much water are you getting per day?

So... 4 months later and my lifts have increased to (5x5 sets): Squat: 325 Deadlift: 310 Bench: 195 I feel like my deadlift is easily the one I have the the most progress with. My squat has improved, but it's a battle every time. My bench seems to be my worst/hardest lift to progress. My goal is to get to 1,000lbs combined between all three lifts on my 5 rep max by the end of 2019.

Transfer addiction. I was able to transition from a food addiction to a workout/fitness addiction. This tied back into food, because now I have the mindset that I don't want to eat food that sabotages my workout/fitness plan and goals.

I'm booked for surgery May 2nd at BariatricPal MX. Having 360 tummy tuck (lower body lift), male chest reduction, lipo on the love handles, and a Brazilian butt lift. Yes... A butt lift. I've quite literally "worked my ass off" over the past year. Price for everything is just under $12k and includes 7 nights at their hotel with 24/7 nursing care. Edit: There is a private Facebook page for "Dr. Alejandro Galvez and BariatricPalMX" you can search for and join. Most of their patients post their journeys, before and afters, etc. It's been a huge help in socializing me to the process as well as getting my family comfortable with the idea of surgery in Mexico.

I also weigh myself daily each morning as a "pulse check," but only log my Friday morning weight in my tracker.

I was going to chime in, but this is so spot on that I'll just quote it and say +1. I would also say that "losing fat" is done 95% in the kitchen with your diet. Not the gym. You can't out-exercise a poor diet.

Guy's Room.

Check out the Tesla brand compression shirts on Amazon. That's what I use. They're extra long so don't roll up. Always buy a size smaller that what you normally wear.

I'm about 13 months post op and lift weights 6 days per week. I hit my goal about 8 months post op and had to increase calories by about 200 each week til I found where my maintenance was. For me, I found it was about 2600 calories per day. To get this in, I eat between 6-8 times per day. Some of what I eat is pretty much the same every day, and some is different each day. See below for today's food log as an example day: Meal1: 8oz of skim Fairlife milk mixed with 8oz chocolate fairlife milk. I drink this pretty much every morning during my work commute. If you've not heard of fairlife, look into it. 26g of protein for 16oz! Meal 2: two scrambled eggs covered with cheddar cheese, 2 pieces of bacon, about 1/4 a serving of hashbrowns, and 1/2 a pancake w/ sugar free syrup Meal 3: Clif bar (chocolate brownie flavor... These are made of oatmeal and are about 250 cals) Meal 4: About 2/3 of a Chipotle chicken and cheese quesadilla (it's not on the menu, but you can order it). I get nothing on it but chicken and cheese. Meal 5: Sargento Break packet which has cheese cubes, nuts, and raisins in it. I eat one of these as a snack at some point pretty much every day. Meal 6: A 5.5oz grilled chicken breast, serving of green beans, and about a half a baked potato with "I can't believe it's not butter" 0 calorie spray and shredded cheddar cheese on it. Meal 7: One and a half servings (I measure using a food scale) of Ice cream! (yes, I said ice cream!.. I dedicate about 250-300 calories per day to my treat/sweet tooth every day. It satisfies my cravings and keeps me from binging) Meal 8: 8oz of skim Fairlife milk mixed with 8oz of chocolate Fairlife. This is most nights as I use it to get to my protein goal for the day. My protein goal is 165g/day due to my weight-lifting/muscle-building goals Yesterday ended with 2670 calories and 168 grams of protein.

If you have a Dillard's near you, they sell them up to 37/38 lengths with still a size 19 or 20 neck (look in the big and tall section). So does does Destination XL (DXL). You can also find LT, 1XT, 2XT, and 3XT sizes at Dillard's in their big and tall section.