BlueCrush

Keep up the great work!

Are you tracking what you're eating each day on an app such as myfitpal? If so, what is your average daily calorie intake? Also curious if you're back to drinking liquid calories (soda, sugary drinks, etc.) or still sticking to water. Are you exercising? If so, how many days per week and what does your exercise plan look like. I think if most regainers are honest with themselves, it's not a matter of not knowing what to do, but rather the will power of sticking to doing it long term after the post-surgery "honeymoon" phase. If you cannot commit to changing your lifestyle and habits long-term, the weight will come back.

Nice! Thanks for creating this.

Holy smokes. Pace yourselves, ladies. LMAO. I'm at work and my phone starts going nuts. I look down, and see this:

I just read the first page and finally understand the context of this thread. It is a huge need in this forum, in my opinion. I'm about a year out and entering maintenance, but I'm finding there's not a good spot on this forum for that kind of conversation. The post-op forum is dominated by people in the initial post-op stage (first six months: OMG gas pains, "OMG it's been 2 weeks and I've only lost 20 pounds," 6 week stall freakouts, going through the progressing of food stages, etc.), and the Veteran's Forum doesn't allow you until you are 18 months post-op. In all honesty, I think a six month to 18 months Forum would be more used than an 18 months plus veterans Forum, the latter seems to not have much activity as most of those veterans move on by that point anyway.

What a ride! 406lbs at the start of my 6 month pre-op diet. 318 on surgery day. 221 today.

Very similar to my experience. My doctor never mentioned weight loss surgery to me, but when I brought it up, he was 100% on board with it.

I'm just up I71 in Cincinnati, OH, but lived in Louisville for a bit.

Christmas day check-in. I started a new workout plan this week. Link to the plan is posted below, I am doing the Six Days on 1 day off version with Fridays as my off day. I'm up about 4 lb since last month, which I believe it's mostly muscle based on results. Currently eating about 2800 calories per day ensuring at least 150 to 170 grams of protein per day. Workout plan: https://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/6-day-powerbuilding-split-meal-plan I feel like this far, my back is what I see the most noticeable difference in as far as muscle mass:

I had the sleeve. I also totally committed to a completely new diet and exercise way of life and haven't looked back. I work out 6 days per week like clockwork, and feel like garbage if I miss one. As for diet, I'm up to about 2500 calories per day due to my high workout rate. I eat whatever as long as I hit 150g of protein and stay within around 2500 calories on average. I've been maintaining at goal for about 4 months now.

One year out from surgery.

Checking in to see how everyone is doing at 1 year out.

This exactly. It is linked to dehydration. Dehydration is the cause, this is the effect.

13 children! Holy cow! I have to respect the effort there!

This happened to me often and I figured out it was because I wasn't drinking enough water. It was a sign of near dehydration. I upped my water intake, and problem solved.

Are you traking your food? Are you exercising? Is this truly a matter of "anything I do," or a matter of you know what to do and needing the willpower to do it?

Why you SHOULD exercise after WLS. No way I'd look anywhere near this now without working out.

My input would be that it's not possible to build muscle during that extreme of a deficit, but that shouldn't be your goal right now. Lifting weights while getting at least 60-80g of protein will help you prevent a losing the muscle mass you already have hidden underneath the fat as you lose weight. It will help you lose fat weight instead of muscle weight as you drop pounds. Believe me, you have more muscle underneath the fat than you think. Think of how hard your muscles have to work to carry around all that extra weight on a daily basis for years.

I've ran into issues with getting the required amount of protein to build muscle. I rely on supplements such as protein powder, PB2, etc. added to foods for added protein and calories. Look into nuts as well. Also all drink 2 protein shake per day to get it in. Is not easy with the sleeve... That's for sure.

Progress pics:

Lift WHILE you're losing weight. As far as routine, it doesn't matter as much as you think. Just get started. Check out bodybuilding.com forums and check out the beginner workout routines ont he sticky threads. Any of them will work to get started!

I can't recommend weight lifting enough. Check out my progress thread below. I haven't updated in a while, but was planning to after next week when I finish up my current plan before I start the next 6 week plan.

I have a thread going about this very topic over in the fitness and exercise forum (link below). I have personally been focusing ONLY on weight training since about 3 months post op. My goal was to fill out muscle to prevent the empty bag loose skin look. LOL. I absolutely think weight training is the way to go and would recommend starting ASAP.