Brandi of the past sends warnings to Brandi of the future, or why I track

TOTAL HIJACK...........
Branki darlin'--glad to have you back!

Been thinkin of your awesome arms lately.  Min didn't get the "flappies" juntil I hit the 90 lb mark.  Going to have to go back and review your posts about arm exercises...........

here's my ymmv blurb baby - I am putting it here so I can bookmark it and it can be me, not some random deactivated me.  :}

And you know, now I use the ChaLEAN Extreme for my lifting

http://www.decidetostayfit.com/chalean-extreme-workout-sheet s.pdf

- let me know if you want me to send you the full body thing I used before that!!   emailer me!!

Post Date: 12/27/10 5:46 am
Last Edit: 12/27/10 6:44 am

Prefacing all of this with "your mileage may vary"  :}  Also adding - I am 43, I was 42 when I had surgery, I have been well over 200 pounds for at least 10 years.  In case that helps anybody to do skin math.  :}   Also a reality check to say - ummm.. losing weight did not ruin your body babygirl.  Fuh real.

And also as a warning - Look away people who are skurd of skin and skinny people (and by that I mean, people with extra skin! :} ) 

I started out at 267.

Some stuff you *can* change because it snaps back/fills in easier/better.  For me, my upper back/shoulders, my arms and the *fronts* of my legs' skin have been easier to fill in with muscle than my middle/low back, my bottom, and the backs of my legs. Genetics will determine what is easiest for you to build.  ***WOMEN DO NOT GET BULKY LIKE THE HULK IF YOU ARE NOT JUICING!  DO NOT BELIEVE THE OLD MYTHS!  BARBIE DOLL WEIGHTS ARE ONLY GOOD FOR CONKING ATTACKERS ON THE HEAD, DO NOT BE SKURD OF MUSCLE - IT EATS FAT AND CALORIES!**

Now that I got that out of the way!

I only did cardio until I got to the size I wanted.  IF YOU START LIFTING YOU WILL CHANGE HOW FAST YOU *LOSE WEIGHT*  Hear me.  You WILL lose fat faster, but THE SCALE WILL NOT BE AS SATISFYING.  Hear me now and understand me later!  :}  If you are still getting your satisfaction from scale moving - starting to lift can be an ego crusher

This is me in my skin, right before surgery (on the far right), then right before I started lifting (far left) seriously and then 2 months after I started lifting *middlin*.  I also did and still do eat really low carb, but just because that is what works for me.



This is me around october, you can see that I still have some extra skin on my back, its not horrible or bothersome, its just extra, but 22/20 skin on a 6/8 body?  Well.. you know..  :}



This is a picture of me finding a fun party dress, but you can see, arms and shoulders can fill in really well - course, some folks carry a LOT of their weight in their arms, so skin can react differently.



My legs, quads are easy to build (forgive the ashiness :} )



Booty and hams are more challenging for me.

This was me before surgery and then a year out  (DO NOT LOOK TRISHA, I AM IN MY UNDERS!!)




These are me, just last month - so skin changes too after you have been a stable weight.  I have been at this size for a year now.







So, all of that to say and show your body might not ever be supple like it once was, but it can be different than it is now!  And there is always room for improvement, ya know?  But find something you love!  And learing how to LOVE HOW YOU LIVE IN YOUR SKIN sometimes can be much more beneficial than only being enamored with how you LOOK in your skin!  (especially if you are a human that does not have means and ways for plastics, ya know?)

Skin changes, muscles mature, and we are not as supple for a myriad of reasons.  I did not have any wee incubates, so all that extra tum is mine and mine alone. My belly button NO MATTER HOW MUCH WEIGHT I LOSE will always now be a - instead of an 0..
:}  But that is aokay. 

Here is my lifting schedule and an interval format I followed early on.  (and I think maybe mandy's is in there too.)

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/VSG/4245269/How-in-the-wor ld/page,2/#34896635

But honestly, you do not have to be a muscle head or a gymrat - you can do bodyweight stuff for right now.  Pushups on your knees at first.  Do 5 if you can wide armed, elbows go out, then do 5 arms in close with your elbows coming down by your sides (works triceps more).  Do this a couple of times a day.  Go into the bathroom at work and do it, no you do not have to get on the floor, but you can stand in the stall away from the wall and do it up against the wall.  CONSISTENT SOMETHING IS BETTER THAN NOTHING!!  Do them in the morning when you wake up, do it at lunch, do it before dinner/after dinner or before bed.  Do triceps dips on a coffee table or a chair. 


CONSISTENT SOMETHING IS GOOD!!  
 
Also, a word about genetics and how you are built.  As you can see, especially in my now pictures - I am pretty endomorphic. I was not an apple, or a pear - I am like a ruler!  :}  I only had curves because I had rolls. *chuckle*

For me to get even NEARLY an hourglass shape, I need to build up and out my shoulders, and my glutes.  I have a regular torso, long torso folks have more room between where their ribs end and their hips start, they have more of a NATURAL curve in there.

Because of my torso and my leg length - I will always TEND to have a bit of booty flap, its just the way I am built, (I mean, without the extra skin either :} ).

So too - being REALISTIC about what your body can do and cannot do without some sort of surgical intervention (even with - my waist is never going to be a 28 unless I am years dead, know what I mean?  I am just not BUILT like that) it will not ever LOOK like that unless I have MONSTER shoulders see?  I can build some symmetry by building up different places. 

Another thing too is - I do not care to lose any more fat, because all that will give me is MORE SKIN.  :}  So I am at 18% and that is groovy fine, but if I tried to gain it to fill out folds - where does it come back first?

In my already thick middle!  I wanted boobs and buns, not muffins, I would say!  :} 

So all of that to hopefully encourage you!  You can do SOMETHING.  You can do a consistent SOMETHING now and then when you find you like the changes, you may be able to find a way to make the time for something more/else, et cetera.

I would really suggest to find something that you looove.  In addition to the weights, which is good for my body, helps me feel strong, ZUMBA is good for my soul (in addition to being cardiovascularly sound!!).

I never miss it because it makes me glad, like going and dancing with girlfriends (without smelling like a bar and getting hit on or suffering a hangover.  :} )

Good luck! 

Just wanna say

Miss ya Brandi

, L

Hiya baby! 

WOW. As a newbie waiting for my surgery date, this post was probably one of the most important I have read thus far. I bookmarked it and will read it again, and again. Not journaling is what got me in this place to begin with. Sometimes the simplist things are not obvious. Thanks Brandi, I needed to see/hear/read this. Best, Sharon

You are very welcome Ms Sharon.  This is a mighty fine place to get a lot of insight about things.  The best thing *I think* we can do is know the truth about who we are, and how we have been, and work on setting ourselves up for success! 

The loss part is just a small part, the KEEPING it gone is something that, well, most of us previously did not do so great at, so learning how to keep ourselves accountable (if that is what we need) and set ourselves up for success, and find a liveable groove, those are all good things!!

I am excited for you!! 

Thanks for your sweet words!

This post just shows why we all missed you so much and why I am so very happy to have you back!  Thank you as always.  All newbies should read your archived posts and all of us VET's could use a refresher as well.  I hope OH let you keep your posts as they have the power to spark people to change their lives.

Thanks for your sweet words girlie.  So many folks have so much to share that help, it sure would be cool if we could have a cohesive archive of sorts!! 

Brandi,
Thank you for the posts.  Are you saying your body has not had any lifts surgically?  That all of that is weights?
You look so good and healthy.  I hate my sagging skin due to weight loss, but seeing your pics gives me hope.  What is your weight lifting regimen?  Do you recommend starting after goal weight to get the numbers satisfaction?  Cardio I do now, somewhat.  Could do more.
Are all your weight lifting exercises on machines or free weights?
Thank you for your awesome posts.

Thank you for your sweet words!

All the skin I have is the skin I came into this with.  Its weights, its genetics, its where my weight was..  you know skin has a mind of its own!  :} 

Above in that post is my ChaLEAN extreme that I do now, and I think the full body workout that I did before then.  I lift 30 minutes max 3 times a week.  I have attention span issues, so I knew that if I had to do it every day and/or if I had to do it for an hour, it was not going to happen consistently.

*Everyone has different schools of thought about when to lift!!*

I just did cardio until I was near where I wanted to end up.  Some folks lift and do cardio, I do not find that as productive for my body as just EITHER being a hard core cardio gal OR lifting.  I warn folks when they switch to lifting that it WILL MAKE THE SCALE NOT MOVE AS FAST!!  But understand, you are creating more muscle that EATS CALORIES, but you will not have the same satisfaction of fast WEIGHT loss, but you will have excellent FAT loss, so you have to decide where your satisfaction lies. 

I lift at home with free weights.  I like free weights better because it takes more muscles to lift and hold steady with good form with freeweights than with machines, but I could probably lift heavier if I did machines.

BUT THIS IS IMPORTANT..  What will you DO CONSISTENTLY?  Me?  I *can* get to the gym for Zumba because I LOVE IT.  Period. The end.  I do not "love" lifting.  I like how I live in my skin afterwards, I like that I feel stronger, and my skin is filled out a little better, but those things WILL NOT MOTIVATE ME if my give a **** is broken :}

But, I cannot **** me that I do not have 30 minutes, 3 days a week for lifting, ESPECIALLY when its in the back room, so no added "travel time."  See?  Zumba is a social outlet for me (I work here at home alone, so a social is GOOD!) but lifting is not, I want it done and over and to get on with my life, I get frustrated waiting on someone else, et cetera.

I had a girlfriend who competed train me years ago, so I understand about form and whatnot, so that is/was helpful - and perhaps a trainer now could be helpful, but there's this thing.  None of the people around here who train LOOK like I want to LOOK.  I do not get my hair done by somebody who has a possumbutt ugly hairdo, so same same.  I want the folks who have what I WANT to be the folks who help me get there.  Does that make sense?  I have as much book learning probably as most of the trainers around here, and the things I do are based on outcome based experience, not what they were taught (and what folks know depends a LOT on who taught them and they will fight to the death that it is "right for everyone."  Maybe it is or maybe it is not, but I *know* what works for my body, and what I can handle in terms of my hands and repetitive motion injury stuff).

Anyway :}  there's a ****pot of information for you to sift through.  Let me know if I can be helpful or confuse you more.  Either way, I am glad to do it.