Lilia_90

For me personally, I stick to 3 days of heavy weight lifting and it works for me and my goals, and I have always done the same. My goal is to maintain a good muscle tone (currently my inbody analysis tells me that my muscle mass is excellent and so is my lean body mass). I've always loved the slim but toned look on myself and I am not a fan of being on the bigger muscular side for me personally, although I admire that on other people. There were periods where I worked out with weights 4 times a week and I gained some weight (albeit muscle) and I wasn't 100% happy with the way I looked. My point is it depends on your goals, if you're trying to build as much muscle as possible then 4 or even 5 days will do you good, however if you want to maintain and cut down on body fat then 3 days are more than enough. Sometimes I add a strength and conditioning day (these are my favorite), and I realize Pilates is a form of resistance training so it all works out. With that being said, I used to do much more HIIT and intense cardio prior to surgery but now I stick to light jogging reaching my step goal and sometimes I'll do a fun trampoline workout (which burns a ton). I try not to rely on cardio to lose or maintain but on a good diet regimen to maintain a lower body fat and my strength training for building muscle and altering body composition. You are not as sore because you are building muscle and getting stronger, I suggest mixing strength and conditioning during your workouts so if you're training legs your supersets can be deadlifts + jump rope, reverse lunges + high knees and so on. This would particularly work wonderfully with upper body workouts.

Fixed myself a small bowl of sugar free belgian chocolate ice cream (it’s super good), I crushed one pistachio chocolate protein ball on top and 3 roasted salted cashews. Had exactly 3 bites (mainly the protein ball and cashews) and started feeling sick and passed it to the hubby. I don’t even know how many calories I ate Lol.

Funny you mentioned the ice cream pint. I remember for 3 months straight my husband and I would eat a pint of ice cream each every night LOL. My husband of course has never been overweight and probably never will be, I on the other hand kept getting bigger and bigger, just a few minutes ago I fixed myself a tiny bowl of sugar free belgian chocolate ice cream, added a crushed protein ball on top and 3 salted cashews. I literally had 3 bites and got sick and put it away. The licks do add up but they’ll nowhere be near what we used to eat. But I digress lol As for workouts, I took up Pilates a few months ago and I’m obsessed. I do 3 days of heavy lifting (back/chest, bis/tris/shoulders, legs) and 2 days of pilates. I feel it complements my strength training so well because these sessions work out my big muscles and pilates targets my smaller muscles and I’ve progressed a lot and seeing great definition all over. One of my 2 Pilates sessions is circuit training so it burns quiet a bit and raises my heart rate, the other session is on the reformer and it burns so good! I always end my weight training days with a 20 minute jog to close my steps. Ugh I was a big fan of F45 until my ankle injury!!

I've always eaten well even at my highest weight. I eat the exact same just much smaller portions and I know now that the type food I was eating was never the problem but how I much of it I ate - because I always complained that I wasn't able to lose weight although I always worked out and ate well 🤷‍♂️ - . My meals are balanced and I always prioritize protein and have veggies with my meals, but I do have a couple of bites of not so good things (cake, cookies, ice cream) and I limit myself to a couple of bites, I am trying to enforce the taste everything but eat less rather than find alternatives to everything. With that being said, I do try to substitute things that don't affect the way I savor my meals (protein toast for normal toast, low carb tortillas for regular tortillas and so on, it's because I can't taste the difference). I also love eating out, albeit hidden calories and all. I do indulge in sugar free chocolate almonds though and chocolate protein balls because I like the way they taste. I make paleo cookies and higher protein desserts like chia seed pudding protein banana bread but I still limit myself on how much of that I eat.

You look soooo good! Happy for you!!

Caffeine can trigger GERD in some VSG patients, so it’s better to approach it cautiously. Test the waters first, it doesn’t cause me any problems so I can have a cup a day (never black, always with oat milk!). Black coffee would give me acidity, so see how you feel on it and take it slow. Good luck!

A few days pre-op (90 kgs) 7 months post op (55.6 kgs).

My surgeon cleared me for a little caffeine and I switched to decaf from week 2-6. Six weeks on I restricted myself to one cup of coffee a day only, occasionally 2 (second one decaf always) and that's huge progress from 4 cups of coffee a day. You can incorporate caffeine in your post op diet (6 weeks on), but make sure to check with your team first.

I wish I ate more of the things I loved pre-op LOL!!! Nah jokes aside, WLS is a tool that we utilize towards - hopefully - permanent life changes, if you see it as a means that'll all it'll ever be, if you see it as an effective tool, it will get you where you want to be. I would say, clean up your act, get moving, change your daily habits and get into the fat loss mindset. This doesn't mean going completely cold turkey on everything, but whatever bad habits that led you to needing the surgery in the first place need to be thought of and turned around. I didn't need a liquid diet, my BMI was on the lower side and I worked out consistently my entire life so I didn't much change anything and boy I wished I changed some things because dealing with the discomfort of the surgery, the huge changes in your diet and all the restrictions afterwards is no fun all together. I wish I cut back on caffeine (I had caffeine a week post surgery because I had terrible headaches), I wish I cut out diet soda prior to WLS because I love diet soda so very much and it was tough to think that I can never have this without any mental preparation beforehand. I wouldn't change much else because fortunately for me, I had a good experience post op, the weight dropped off very quick, I never threw up or had severe food aversions and have very effective restriction. But I also had a very balanced diet and workout regimen before WLS and that helped me tremendously and I know that might not be the case for everyone. Also, prepare yourself for a new life and new you, it's cliché but it's very true.

Happy birthday @GreenTealael !!!

Oh I get these all the time! My own brother made a disgusted face the last time he saw me and was like "You don't look good". The funny part is that he was also sleeved and is the definition of skinny LOL, so that tells you, don't take it personally! My MIL keeps telling me that I'm "disappearing" and people generally tell me I've lost a lot of weight the minute they see me. I don't think it comes from a bad place, I think it's the shock of how they're used to how you've looked (for me it was only the past 5 years as I was always slim and fit) and I remind them that I looked like that my entire adulthood before my ankle injury and then they go quiet. Sometimes people are simply jealous. People who genuinely say it to compliment me will say things like "you lost a lot of weight and you look so good!" or "good on you!" or "you look amazing" and I know these people mean well and there's no hiding green monster, so there you go. At one point - when tipping into 50's (kgs) I did worry that I was going too low - but guess what, I feel AMAZING and I'm really happy with the way I look (flat backside and all 🤣) and that's all that matters. Also, hubby can't get enough LOL!!!

Another tip I would give you is the harder the workout regimen is to sustain the higher the chance that cutting back in the future would cause weight gain. Also, rely on your workouts to build and maintain muscle, enhance body composition and to get stronger (also to improve the way you look). Rely on a good diet to maintain a lower body fat percentage and manage your weight, abs are made in the kitchen!

I would suggest that. I have been athletic my entire adulthood with a really good muscle tone and maintained a really healthy weight for decades until a very bad ankle sports injury that caused my weight to balloon up. At one point I was exercising 6 days a week for 2 hours, that's when my weight suddenly went up 4 kilos out of the blue and I didn't know why. A few months later I was forced to cut back to 4 days a week (1 hour each) and my weight dropped on its own. What I found out is that 4 days of 1 hour workouts suited me much better than 6 days of endless time at the gym. Now that I am below goal weight I follow the same, 4 days of workouts (2 Pilates sessions and 2 heavy weight lifting days with cardio). My body is comfortable and the weight is melting off. I workout hard, but I rest hard as well. During the first few months I lost a lot of weight rapidly and I was weak and frail, so I stopped any sorts of weight lifting. The first week I started weight lifting again I was so incredibly sore and guess what, I hit my first ever stall since surgery, not only that but my weight even went up that week and took me a good 2 weeks to break through the stall. Muscle fatigue causes inflammation that causes water retention within the muscles. Rest days are just as important as workout days. I am not saying that this will 100% work for you but might be worth giving a try. Good luck!

I was at probably 200 calories at the two month mark. I'm not sure how they expect you to be consuming 1000 calories a day! I'm almost 7 months post op and not able to get to even 900 calories a day (mind you I workout hard at least 4 days a week, I lift and do Pilates and run and all sorts of cardio). It's a struggle to eat enough, and what I learnt is that I will not force myself to eat any more than I can, I will get there eventually so what is the point of rushing? I would say eat what you can and don't force it, the whole point of surgery is to eat less 🤣

I think this is could be the closest thing to an explanation! Thank you.

That sounds awful. I feel lethargic and extremely nauseous, but no sweats or shakes thank goodness.

Oh no! I love cashews!

I think this might be it. It definitely happens when I eat more sugar than usual. It feels like a reaction to the fast secretion of insulin. Prior to my VSG, I had insulin resistance and my fasting blood sugar was on the higher side. I think it is sensitivity to insulin that is causing this phenomenon lol.

I have! And I am always fine. It is any time I have more than a couple of bites of sugar that this happens.

Interesting! The main symptom I've experienced is extreme nausea. No chills or cramps and definitely no sweats. And this has happened any time I had more than a couple of bites of dessert or anything with sugar.

Made the fam Çilbir which is a turkish egg dish with a tangy and garlicky greek yogurt base, topped with poached eggs and drizzled with a hot spicy olive oil and butter mix. I love this dish but didn’t have any. I might have some for dinner. With a side of toasted sourdough.

Any time ♥️♥️

To me spice is really essential, I can’t have mild food unfortunately but luckily no acidity so far ♥️

Not that I know of 🤣 But always been a dream of mine.

Lunch today was colourful. White fish and shrimp ceviche that was really spicy due to the fresh jalapeños (sooo good). Mexican rice and a strawberry gem lettuce salad with roasted almonds and goat cheese. I only ate a few spoonfuls of ceviche. Then a couple of hours later had a small bowl of salad.