KartMan

I actually loveeeee fitness now. Like many of you, I didn’t at first. It was a chore, but I did because I had a goal. But then I found something that I truly enjoy (for me, it’s running and Triathlon). Now I have a passion for it. I’m a middle of the pack guy in the races I compete in. I don’t ever see myself competing for a top spot on the podium but I do consider myself an athlete all the same. I run, bike, or swim 5-6 days a week and really really enjoy it. I no longer do it for weight loss because I am at goal, now I do it because I enjoy it and I know it is good for my overall health. Allison, I don’t mean to be rude – but that is a careless comment and one that can give people false hope.. While there may not necessarily always be a link between exercise and weight loss, there is actually a concern about the type of weight you lose. You want to lose fat, not muscle. For the first 6 months after banding my weight was flying off without exercise, but I found out that I was losing too much muscle. I know this because I had proof by way of a hydrostatic dunk test. After that discovery, I started eating more Protein and got into a regular exercise routine. I was quickly able to turn the trend around and started to gain muscle and to lose fat. I got down to 15% body fat and have never looked back.

I lost about 60% of my weight prior to starting to exercise. The problem is that at some point I started to lose muscle rather than fat. I know this to be the case because I actually had a dunk test that accurately described my body composition. After starting exercise, the trend line got much better. I started losing weight faster, and it was actually fat – in fact I gained muscle. That muscle gain and fat loss took me down to about 15% Body Fat (this is not BMI, there is a difference). The trick is finding something you enjoy and will stick with. I never thought I of all people would enjoy running, but now I log about 20 miles a week – go figure.

Since my post here last year I can happily say that things are still going well for me. I just had my 3 year bandiversary last month. I haven’t had a fill since the first year. I have maintained my goal weight. I have had no complications at all with the band. I have no desire to take it out because I am certain I cannot control hunger without it. I am no longer fixated on weight, I hover right around goal. I know what I can eat and pretty much stick with that. I know what makes me PB, so for the most part I avoid those things. I am able to consume liberal amounts of sweets, so I do my best to avoid them via will power because the band is of little help for me there. Last year I completed 4 Half Marathons (13.1 miles each) and several mid distance Triathlons (1500 meter swim, 25 mile bike, and 6 mile run). At the end of this month I am doing my first long distance Triathlon (1.2 mile swim, 56 mile bike, 13.1 mile run). I never knew I had an athlete trapped under all that fat. When I was heavy, I dreamed of being “normal” size. You know; able to fit on rides, wear regular clothes, eat just one portion of food... Well, that never really happened. I passed “normal”, which from my perspective these days is slightly overweight. I am now on the thin side of the population. I can physically do just about anything I want, I wear size Medium shirts and size 32 pants, and I can’t actually eat a whole portion of food. I truly feel bad for people that have had issues with the band, I feel very blessed to have the success that I have had. After reading about the failures, I am certain that if anything like that happens to me I will make a beeline to the Doc for a revision to a Sleeve – I never want to struggle with obesity again.

Jacqui, Well said, I feel exactly the same way. I do that with other goals too. I set run times just outside my reach and distance goals the that I know are next to impossible. The worst thing about setting obtainable goals is simply reaching them and stopping there.

I don’t think I’m an old timer, maybe a mid timer. I was banded February 2009 and by October 2009 I had reached my goal weight. This site was a daily (hourly) habit in the first year and has tapered off since my interests and priorities have changed. Back then, everything was about how the band made me feel and my weight loss. After reaching goal weight, my focus has shifted to fitness and healthy living. I have maintained my weight (maybe actually gained 5-10 pounds of muscle). I spend 4-5 days a week doing some sort of physical fitness and run a half marathon or Triathlon at least once a month.

I was banded February 2009 and by October 2009 I had reached my goal weight. That was about 100 lbs lost, I went from 285 down to 185. I am a 6 foot tall male, and was 42 at the time. I think in general, men tend to lose weight faster and easier than women. Once I figured out how many calories I could consume in a day and still lose weight, it was easy. I found that I lost about 2-4 pounds per week if I kept my calorie consumption down to about 1400-1600/day. The band made staying in that range easy because I had restriction very early in the process so I was never really hungry. It was just a matter of counting calories and trying to make healthy choices.

My only regret is that I didn’t do it sooner. Don’t worry about what you “can’t” have, focus on all the good that comes with being a healthy weight. I really don’t miss any foods, there is so much more to my life now that I don’t need the crutch of bad food to make me feel better. I have found that there is about a 10 minute window for most cravings, if you can get past that time the craving will pass. I am two years post op, have been at my goal weight for over a year and lead a happy and healthy life. I work out 4-5 times a week (because I love it), I regularly participate in 5ks, half marathons and even triathlons. No one that meets me now believes that I was ever fat, that say “no way, you are in such great shape and you look so good”. I didn’t have any co-morbidities at the time of my surgery, but I am convinced that if I had kept that weight on I would have been headed for diabetes, heart disease, and an early death. My regular doctor just told me the other day that he wishes more of his patients were as healthy as me.

I lost 65-75% of my excess weight through diet alone, I didn’t step foot in the gym in the beginning. I then found out that at some point my weight loss was shifting from fat loss to lean mass being lost. Not all weight loss is a good thing!!! You absolutely don’t want to lose lean mass, in fact in order to reduce your Body Fat (I don’t mean BMI) you need to build lean (muscle) mass while shedding fat. For me, that meant lifting weights and increasing my Protein intake. Once I achieved my goal weight and Body Fat objectives I shifted my focus from weight lifting to other forms of exercise that I enjoy more. I now compete in Half Marathons, Triathlons, and long distance bike rides. It’s amazing how much more enjoyable those activities are when you not overweight. I really don’t need to watch what I eat anymore. I eat healthy, but I am no longer consumed by my diet and my weight has stayed pretty consistent over the last year.

Cloeo’sMom, Keep fighting the good fight. If most Americans would take a good hard look at the issues, they would see that the Republicans are destroying the middle class, women’s rights, social equality and everything else in this country. Sadly, most people can’t stop reading about Charlie Sheen or Lindsey Lohan long enough to see what is really going on. When they do look at politics, it is usually over some dog whistle issue that is meant to divert attention away from issues that really matter anyway. Like this sh*@storm in Wisconsin. The dbag governor is actually blaming the economic woes of that state on Unions while it is clear to anybody with half a brain that his tax cuts to corporations are the real culprit there. When will the middle class realize that breaking the public unions there is just the first step? Next will be the police and firefighters, and untimely all workers rights will be eroded because no one is left to fight against people like Walker. For the most part, I have given up on this site. I think the reachable audience on here is very limited and I don’t want to have the same arguments with the same hard headed right wing sympathizers over and over again. My only hope is that all the info from the likes of you, Bjean, and to a much smaller extent me reached a few people in the middle over the last few years.

For those of you that missed Tina Fey's speech at her Mark Twaine award: "And, you know, politics aside, the success of Sarah Palin and women like her is good for all women - except, of course --those who will end up, you know, like, paying ...for their own rape 'kit 'n' stuff, But for everybody else, it's a win-win. Unless you're a gay woman who wants to marry your partner of 20 years - whatever. But for most women, the success of conservative women is good for all of us. Unless you believe in evolution. You know - actually, I take it back. The whole thing's a disaster."

Why does cutting the Military Budget come down to an issue of jobs in some Congressman’s district? If the program is a waste of money and/or the military doesn’t need it, then it should be scrapped. The success or failure of a military project should never be tied to the jobs in an area or in a particular industry. That is exactly the sort of mentally that perpetuates a military culture and perpetual military spending.

I agree, they shouldn’t cut back pay and benefits. They should get out of these two wars (and not start anymore stupid wars - like with Iran) and cut back on most of the cold war military projects. Why are we still spending money on military hardware designed to fight a war with the Soviet Union? Another way to save money would be to let soldiers do all the things they used to do in the past. Now so many jobs and services are done by contractors rather than the military which ends up costing a lot more in the long run. The reason they do this is because for political reasons they can get away with saying there are X number of troops deployed rather than the real number that includes troops plus support staff.

It’s been a while so here is a little update. The first picture is about 6-8 months pre-band (about 285lbs). The second was a few weeks ago on a cruise ship. The third was just a few days ago in my new Triathlon wetsuit. I made it to goal in about 10 months and have been focusing more on fitness than weight since then.

Thanks Susan, It’s been a great journey.

Lisa Murkowski has just been declared the winner in Alaska. I would have preferred the Democrat, but Lisa is a way better option than that dbag Joe Miller. Maybe after what Murkowski went thru in the Primary with all the outside Teabag money that was used against her, she might side with the Democrats and help get the DISCLOSE act passed.

Ok, how about we transition away from defense spending for some other spending in the district that actually benefits the community? Let's say there is fighter program that would bring $15B to the state but the military no longer needs the fighter. Drop the fighter program and build a high speed rail, wind farm, water project, school, you name it. What good is that $15B fighter project going to do for the community other than the jobs it creates while it's being built? I read somewhere the other day that between the overall Defense Budget plus the two wars, we spend 25 times more than the next 25 countries combined. WTF? How can we expect to spend 25 times more than the rest of the world and survive? Something is seriously wrong with this picture. Nuclear weapons? Can you ever really have enough nuclear weapons?

I am a 6’ tall male in my early forties. I was 285 lbs at surgery. Initially I set goals based on where I had been before. My first goal was to get to my best dieting weight (about 215), then I set my goal to get under 200, then to get to a normal BMI (about 184), then ultimately to get to the weight I was at when I left navy Boot Camp in 1984 (about 180). After reaching and beating all those weight goals, I decided to focus more on Body Fat percentage. I am now hovering at about 13% body fat which is considered “Athletic” on the scale. Now my goals are fitness oriented. I have entered several running and triathlon events – my goal is to consistently finish in the first half of my age group for every event I enter.

My band experience was wonderful. It wasn’t the ONLY thing that made me successful though. I followed strict caloric intake rules while I was losing weight. Most times, the band made that very easy, but there were times I had to rely on will power. I had to get myself into the gym. The band doesn’t come with workout motivation, you have to do that for yourself. I had to come up with a positive way to explain my band experience to the non-banded. The last thing I needed was someone “looking down on me” for my choice to band. I refined that message over time and am able to explain it in such a way that people see that I have pride in what I have done and all that I accomplished with the “help” of the band.

Count your calories. I know it sounds like a pain, but with a good system it’s not really that hard. I used the Sparkpeople app for the iPhone and it was super easy. Track them and weigh yourself daily. Compare your daily calorie count with weightloss/gain. I found that if I maintained under 1800 calories a day I lost, over that I was flat or gained. If you exercise, you may be able to consume a little more that day but don’t get carried away. Remember that a moderate gym workout is probably only 00-600 calories – that doesn’t justify a reward at the ice cream shop. Aslo make sure you are getting enough protein. If you are not getting enough protein your body will take energy from your muscles, you don’t want to lose weight from muscles your goal is to lose fat.

When I was tracking calories I was very fond of Sparkpeople - they have a cool iPhone app too