Is it possible to build muscle after the sleeve? I'm about to find out.

[Albus 129]

4 minutes ago, Orchids&Dragons said:

OMgosh, what are you lifting? Anvils?

Skips - traditionally in the big money comps they were filled with increasing amounts of silver dollars and last man standing took them home!

[Orchids&Dragons 9,047]

10 minutes ago, Albus said:

Skips - traditionally in the big money comps they were filled with increasing amounts of silver dollars and last man standing took them home!

Well, that's a cool bit of history! Thanks!

[BigViffer 3,544]

@NurseMichael & @Albus - you guys are badass! That cinches what I have long suspected. I cannot get my deadlift over 260lbs and have tried for 3 years. I could not decide if it was from lack of caloric intake or from a lifetime of spinal and leg injuries. Seeing you guys killing it pretty much say that it's not my food intake.

Congratulations guys, truly fantastic work.

[Albus 129]

5 minutes ago, BigViffer said:

@NurseMichael & @Albus - you guys are badass! That cinches what I have long suspected. I cannot get my deadlift over 260lbs and have tried for 3 years. I could not decide if it was from lack of caloric intake or from a lifetime of spinal and leg injuries. Seeing you guys killing it pretty much say that it's not my food intake.

Congratulations guys, truly fantastic work.

Cheers @BigViffer, you were a big part of my motivation to get back in the gym!

That DL was at 18”, currently at 160kg for a standard but my next aim is 180kg. I’ve already got my 2 plate bench and 3 plate squat so just missing the 4 plate DL 😊

[Healthy_life2 8,324]

cable crunched 130 pounds today. It's progress ....I'll take it

[PWMDMD 58]

On 6/3/2019 at 9:18 AM, BigViffer said:

@NurseMichael & @Albus - you guys are badass! That cinches what I have long suspected. I cannot get my deadlift over 260lbs and have tried for 3 years. I could not decide if it was from lack of caloric intake or from a lifetime of spinal and leg injuries. Seeing you guys killing it pretty much say that it's not my food intake.

Congratulations guys, truly fantastic work.

I've found the popular strength programs to be very helpful - many have apps and you just plug in the numbers and do what the app says. It will systematically increase weight over time until you plateau - they even know how to deload when you hit plateaus.

On Monday for deadlifts I'll pull 330lbs for 8+ reps which puts my 1RM around 400lbs. I started at 180lbs after surgery and followed Strong Lifts 5x5, 3x5, 3x3, then Madcow 5x5 and now Wendler 531. My goal was a base level of strength with 1RMs of bench 315lbs, Squat 350lbs, overhead press 200lbs and deadlift 400lbs. Now I'm moving to adding more size. Most of this I did with a caloric intake of 2500-3000 calories and 180-230g of Protein per day. I've found with this intake getting the lifts done is not the issue but recovery the next day is the issue. I'm still working through this stuff myself. I'm sure non-bariatric surgery lifters doing my programs and weights are probably up around 4000+ calories....

Keep up the great work!

Edited August 24, 2019 by PWMDMD

[BigViffer 3,544]

On 8/24/2019 at 9:35 AM, PWMDMD said:

I've found the popular strength programs to be very helpful - many have apps and you just plug in the numbers and do what the app says. It will systematically increase weight over time until you plateau - they even know how to deload when you hit plateaus.

Yep, once I stopped doing "silly-****", I've followed the Starting Strength and subsequent Barbell Prescription programs. Typical male ego is just the issue now. I should be grateful for the lifts I accomplish honestly. Prior to surgery I couldn't even lift my left leg nor carry a gallon of milk. Whining about a 260 deadlift and 250 squat just sounds like petulance given where I started from!

2500-3000 calories?! I just checked my records, I have only hit 3,000 calories 6 times since surgery, and 2500 calories 33 times!

[ProudGrammy 8,322]

On 5/28/2019 at 11:23 PM, BlueCrush said:

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.

@BlueCrush

looks like your PS was a success! Great weight loss too.

Sorry about the problems you had w/BP Mexico.😦

keep on keepon'

if you feel as good as you look - WOW!

kathy

congrats

[PWMDMD 58]

18 hours ago, BigViffer said:

Yep, once I stopped doing "silly-****", I've followed the Starting Strength and subsequent Barbell Prescription programs. Typical male ego is just the issue now. I should be grateful for the lifts I accomplish honestly. Prior to surgery I couldn't even lift my left leg nor carry a gallon of milk. Whining about a 260 deadlift and 250 squat just sounds like petulance given where I started from!

2500-3000 calories?! I just checked my records, I have only hit 3,000 calories 6 times since surgery, and 2500 calories 33 times!

You should be proud of those lifts! Most people in this world can't DL and squat anywhere close to that weight.

Yeah...my calorie intake is an experiment. The only thing I'm really tracking is waste size. The idea being regardless of weight changes as long as my waste size doesn't increase and I'm lifting more this week than last week the weight changes should be mostly lean mass. So far I'm on week three of 3000 calories and weight has not changed and waste size is the same. This week I should hit new PRs so I'm just trying to feed the furnace - within reason. My main reason for increasing calories though was I'm trying to put on more muscle and build more strength.

I'm also trying to see if it's possible to come back from all the adaptive metabolic changes associated with weight loss. Like many I lost 70lbs on my own in 2012 - pretty easily as up until that point I was eating a huge calorie excess and just going to a normal calorie intake was enough. I lost my 70lbs and slowly, while still exercising and tracking my calorie intake all the weight came back plus some extra. There's decent literature on adaptive thermogenesis as one possible cause for the dreaded weight loss relapse. After that point it was much harder to lose weight again and even going 500-1000 calories under what I did the first time wasn't enough to lose weight again.

The question for me is with very intensive training to build lean mass can I change my body composition and can I somewhat restore normal metabolic levels? The first weight loss I went to 3000 calories to lose the 70lbs and still found myself hungry all the time but it was doable. Subsequent weight loss attempts 3000 calories did nothing for weight loss and going to 2500 or 2000 calories meant I was starving all the time. A year out from surgery I naturally want to eat about 2200-2500 calories per day and getting 3000 calories in per day often feels like a chore - very different than prior to surgery. If I for whatever reason stop heavy lifting I will happily go down to 2200-2500 calories per day as I believe this to be my average daily expenditure without lifting.

So far so good!

Edited August 27, 2019 by PWMDMD

[BlueCrush 408]

I'm at about the two year mark now. Definitely slower gains at this point, but still going strong.

[JAKE H 1,230]

So, i decided to take on this challenge as well, and i am extremely happy with my results so far. I really struggled at first. I wasnt getting any stronger. So i sat down with my nutritionist because i figured i wasnt eating enough. And well bingo. I was eating 1200-1500 and it wasnt cutting it. Slowly she worked me up. Its not easy and i have to eat 6 times a day because i try to eat extremely clean, but i am able to now get 2500-3000 depending on the workout for the day. Ive put on about 15 pounds, but my waist has gotten smaller. So im guessing its mostly muscle. I weigh once a month now, only because its more about what i look like now, and even tho the scale has gone up a little, ive never had abs in my life. Hard work does pay off. I know i have a long journey ahead of me and hope i can maintain like you guys. Thanks for the inspiration!

[mamaraley 0]

Congrats! Your progress is amazing! I am weightlifting also and am seeing some definition, but what are you doing for the flabby excess skin...does it ever tighten up?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using BariatricPal mobile app

[JAKE H 1,230]

On 9/13/2020 at 6:06 PM, mamaraley said:

Congrats! Your progress is amazing! I am weightlifting also and am seeing some definition, but what are you doing for the flabby excess skin...does it ever tighten up?

Sent from my Pixel 3 using BariatricPal mobile app

i know for me personally, my arms and back definitely tightened up. along with my legs. My mid section definitely got better but i still have that extra skin at the bottom of my stomach. i dont think that will go anywhere. but things definitely tightened up! Keep going!

[bhrobins 66]

You all are so inspiring and have motivated me to move into strength training as I come out of weight loss mode. I'm 6 months post-VSG and about 12 lbs from my lowest goal. (6' 3", 48yr male, HW 382, SW 309 5/18/20, CW 227, goal 215).

My nutritionist has me at 1200 cals right now, which is a bit of a struggle most days. I see her again in a couple of weeks to talk about progressing. I know I will need more calories to stop losing and even more to gain strength with my BMR at ~1900 cals.

How do you guys "eat clean" and get 2500+ calories in? I am currently restricted to about 7-8 oz per meal. A sample day of your meal plan would be awesome to see.

Since I assume you eat all day, how much do you worry about timing of food relative to your workouts?

Thanks for any advice you can give a noob like me!

[JAKE H 1,230]

On 11/17/2020 at 11:14 PM, bhrobins said:

You all are so inspiring and have motivated me to move into strength training as I come out of weight loss mode. I'm 6 months post-VSG and about 12 lbs from my lowest goal. (6' 3", 48yr male, HW 382, SW 309 5/18/20, CW 227, goal 215).

My nutritionist has me at 1200 cals right now, which is a bit of a struggle most days. I see her again in a couple of weeks to talk about progressing. I know I will need more calories to stop losing and even more to gain strength with my BMR at ~1900 cals.

How do you guys "eat clean" and get 2500+ calories in? I am currently restricted to about 7-8 oz per meal. A sample day of your meal plan would be awesome to see.

Since I assume you eat all day, how much do you worry about timing of food relative to your workouts?

Thanks for any advice you can give a noob like me!

i have a pretty standard daily routine.

egg whites and turkey sausage

greek yogurt and Protein Shake

lunch i eat oatmeal with pb powder and almond milk

greek yogurt and granola.

i eat a cliff bar before my workout.

dinner i have ground turkey or ground chicken with rice and veggies.

then maybe oatmeal again or yogurt.

i bought a whoop strap and found i burn anywhere from 3000-3500 cals a day. i workout 6-7 days a week. depending on the impact of the workout. i have to eat often to get my cals in but i know what i wanted out of all this. things have worked out well for me.