mikeross

Under 50 but they are usually under 40... dont think I have even gone over 50.

Soon after surgery I started walking around the block for about 3 weeks. I got myself a gym membership and slowly built up my cardio from 10mins up to 45min in just shy of 2 weeks. Today I decided to try out some HIIT cardio. I felt great up until I got to my car and puked up a bunch of Water... still felt great though lol. Anyways, I wanted to know if I am doing it right... I used an arc trainer today. I do a 3min warm up and then go hard for about 1 mins, slow jog for 2 mins then back to hard pace for 1 min. I do this for about 30mins then cool down for about 5 mins. My cardio session was just over 40mins today and it beat me up pretty good. After my initial warm up my heart was between 155-178. Is it bad that my heart rate came so close to my peak HR? So are these intervals good? I think right now 2 mins is a good cool down for me... any less and I could not do the 40mins I did today. Opinions please...thanks

You built some serious gains... you got a solid foundation to take your lifting really anywhere you want it to go. If I can get to where you are in 12-18months I will be a happy camper. I am going to cut down under 200 and decide if I want to go on a bulk or not.

I lifted a lot in high school and about a year or so in my early 20's. I always had good muscle memory and even though I had not worked out in years I always knew I could jump on a bench and do a few reps with 45's. I was shocked that I could barely get a couple reps off with 25 plates. I feel like I lost 70% of my muscle in my upper body. Now its the complete opposite with my lower body. I had no idea how much weight I could handle on a leg press. I dont remember being able to lift that much with my legs 10 years ago. I guess carry around this extra 100lbs made my legs super strong hehe.

Your calories are looking good for someone who is exercising but I am not sure what "curves" is... Is that a exercise glass or a gym. If its a gym what are you doing workout wise and how long? Are you a smoker or have any other issue that makes you feel you "are not in shape to do major exercise"? Walking is a great exercise but your not going to burn any serious calories walking... not unless you are doing a couple hours a day walking. To keep it simple you need to focus on maintaining a strict calorie deficit. If your only goals are to lose weight cut back on calories... you need a deficit of 3500 calories to lose a pound. Your goal isnt to hit 2500g of sodium. 2500g of sodium is the maximum recommended amount daily. You weight loss is great though thus far... about average I would say. I wouldn't worry if you think you are losing to slowly, your losing at a good healthy pace. If you want to drop really fast your gonna have to work hard for it.

wow thats strict... I was eating anything I wanted at 4 weeks.

That's at least 20+ grams of carbs right before bed. I try to eat my carbs early in the day or in my post workout meal. I tapper them off closer in the evening... no carbs after 7pm.

Yeah, most people say to keep HIIT at 20mins max and have read some guys take it up to 30mins. It was my first day and I want to see how far I could take it. It felt good and I was surprised how fast the time was passing by so I kept pushing it. At first I was really focused on building muscle while losing fat but I feel its very hard to do. I am now more focus on cutting the weight and getting close to goal weight. I am hoping the lifting program and glutamine/protein will help me retain some muscle. At least get me back to were I was before the surgery. I am actually a little shock how much muscle I lost.

Thats a lot of weight loss in such a short time... No doubt you will get to goal soon. Any tips you can give us noobs. How many cal/protein/carbs you eating daily... whats your exercise look like.

Before I started working out I would get my required water intake daily but it was somewhat of a struggle. Now that I go to the gym every morning I can easily drink 60+oz of water during my workout. When I get home I might drink another 20oz throughout the day/evening. Is this bad that I get the majority of my water intake in the morning and not spread out throughout the day.

Its a type of animal. The meat is similar to beef but a little leaner. I actually used a mixture of ground beef and italian sausage.

This is my go to recipe for pizza... http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=141556701

I was sleeved on the 22nd of January and I started drinking 8oz of cold coffee in my morning shakes.

I am not familiar with the workout program. I was lucky in the sense that I found a program that I love doing. I think seeing the quick results its whats keeping me so motivated. I had the surgery last month but if you look at my registration date it was back in 2009. Almost 4 years thinking about this surgery, moved to another country and started my own business, had my first child, all put the vsg surgery on the back burner. In that time I lost upwards of 80lbs on 2 occasions only to gain it back and more every time. I finally took the plunge and did the surgery. I figured if I was going to do something this extreme I better go all out post op.

The recovery time is weeks for the body lift. I am not sure what is more painful but the body lift is going to put you out of commission for awhile.

what was your starting weight on surgery day.

Thats some amazing weight loss. I was sleeved 1 days after you and a couple pounds shy of 40lbs in 5 weeks but I am a guy... we lose a lot quicker so I have read. I don't recall a woman losing this much so quick. Thats awesome new... are you exercising a lot?

Tonight I took a really hot shower, directed the water on my bicep and massaged it very deep. It seems to help a good bit and i think hot work better than cold for me. Gonna try using a hot water bottle rather then ice .

I wanted to add that this hit me on my 3rd day of training. On day 1 I did back/.biceps and day 2 I did chest/triceps/shoulders. I am not sure if it was my bicep or tricep exercises that did this to my bicep tendon, maybe it was a combo of both. I strongly feel the main reason this happened was because I was allowing my arms to go back into a full starting position between reps while working out my bi/triceps. I think I should kept my arms slightly bent while doing these exercises. It just puts so much pressure on the bicep tendon allow your arms to fully go straight between each rep... I feel that initial pull to get your arm out of a fully straight position in between reps puts to much strain on the tendon. I am not a DR but this is just what it feels like to me. Once healed up I will experiment and see how it feels.

Its kind of hard to pinpoint what worked for me. I say that because the first 2 days I did nothing and tried not to move it. If I had iced and stretched the first 2 days I think that would have helped a lot. I also think that a quick warm up followed by a good stretch would have helped me not get in this position in the first place or it wouldn't have been as bad. It was still very painful on the 3rd day when I started stretching it out and icing it. On the 4th day there was a lot of pain still but my right arm was getting a lot better, left still hurt a lot. today was the 5th day and pain in the right arm is almost 100%, its healed to the point that I would work it out... unfortunately my left arm is probably only at 50% healed. I did notice that after a quick stretch and 10mins warm up on the elliptical made the pain go away. I used the "poles" on the elliptical and I think that really stretched it out while also warming me up. Tomorrow is my back bicep day so I hope I feel good tomorrow... I will keep you post. Also wanted to add that I do not think this is bicep tendonitis. It might have been if I continued to train without letting the pain subside who knows. In my research it looks like its just a sore tendon. I read that a hot bath filled with epson salts is also a good way to heal sore muscles/tendons but have not tried it. I might tonight though,

I hear ya... today was killer. This morning was my leg and ab day in the gym. Every time I loaded a machine with plates my arms would straighten out carrying the weight to the machine. It hurt at first but felt good to stretch it out.

Wow, you made some great gains in your after picture in your profile... Awesome job. Thanks for the advise... its actually getting better every day. My soreness in my muscles is gone but this sore tendon is at about 50% on my left arm and about 90% healed on my right, I'm right handed . Should be good in about 2 days I think. I do notice when I am warmed up the pain goes away. I am not going to push it and work it out though. Tomorrow is my back and bicep day. I am just going to do my back and skip working my biceps. Are there any exercises I can do for my biceps that wont aggravate this bicep tendon and still allow me to work my biceps?

Everyone has their own opinions when it comes to exercise, supplements and diet. This is what I do but there is always room for improvement or modification. I have only been back in the gym 2 weeks so take what I do with a grain of salt and find out what works for you. What works for one person might not work for you. I am following a workout program that has me doing cardio after some lifting days and only cardio on rest days. On rest days where I only do cardio I make sure to do it on an empty stomach. I love the feeling of cardio on an empty stomach and agree with some articles on the subject. On days I only lift as well as days I do cardio after lifting I like to drink a Protein shake mixed with 8oz of black coffee about 30-45min before my workout. I get some protein, a little carbs and the coffee gives me a little kick during my workouts. I would love to eat more carbs pre-workout but I am trying to stay below 50g daily. Once I am in maintenance everything will obviously change and I probably will eat a pre-workout meal rather than drinking a shake. After my workouts, whether lifting, cardio or a combo of both I drink a Protein Shake mixed with almond milk. I try and drink this about 30mins after my workout. I think I might add some Glutamine to this shake next week to help with recovery. About 1-2 hours after this shake I try and have my first meal of the day. This first meal of the day is the meal I eat the most carbs. I tapper my carbs down throughout the day and try not to eat any carbs for my last meal or after 7pm. I plan to keep this up for a little while until I see some gains in the gym and my body gets use to working out daily, I am thinking after I finish this 12 week program I am going to step it up and invest is some quality supplements. I want to incorporate a pre-workout drink that contains Creatine as its main ingredient, Cellucor c4. Add Glutamine into my post workout drink, Optimum nutrition Glutamine powder, Casein Protein Powder for my last shake of the day before bed, Optimum nutrition Casein. Lastly I want to try this product called Animal PM. Its a night time anabolic recovery stack that also helps you fall asleep. I get abour 5-6 hours sleep mainly because I have trouble falling asleep. Anyways I believe your workout programs and your post and pre-workout meals should always be modified for the better. Especially your workouts... change it up every couple weeks. I wouldn't invest in any supplements other then a good protein isolate and maybe some Glutamine. I am waiting at least 3 months before getting into more supplements other the protein powder. Good luck and do your research... take what I say with a grain of salt. It what works for me and like I said what I do is probably always going to be changing or evolving.

I'm currently following a similar diet. I'm usually around 800cal, 80+ protein and try to keep carbs under 40 I do have days where I get over 50g carbs a day but rarely. Given your results I might not feel so guilty if I surpass my carb goals once and awhile. I read you lost 80lbs your first 4 months. Can I get a rough estimate of how much you lost each of those months? How soon after surgery did you start hitting the gym. thanks

I know everyone has their opinions on this but I would like to hear them. The program I am on has me doing 30mins of cardio after my workouts every other day. It states to keep my heart rate at 75-85% of my max heart rate. What does everyone else keep their heart rate at while doing cardio. My heart rate shoots up to about 170 and I really have to slow in down to get it into the 150s... opinions please.