Forget what the charts say. BMI is a poor indicator of good health. BMI does not take into the account of muscle mass or bone structure. Do not use BMI to set your weight goal. A much better indicator is the percentage of body fat test. At 5'10" and 206# my BMI puts me at significantly overweight ...almost obese. I did a Bod Pod (http://baselinefitness.com/What_is_a_Bod_Pod.htm ) test and my percentage of body fat is about 15%...which puts me in the normal range. Most body builders use % of body fat as a benchmark. In our case, the more we lift,, the worse my BMI becomes ....however, the better our percentage of body fat becomes. Go figure. Throw out your scale and don't use BMI to measure your success. I started lifting 3 moths out from surgery. I would have started sooner but I had a hernia and was told to wait. I did do cardio right after surgery. These are my vacation pics from this summer. These are the results of lifting and running. http://www.picturetrail.com/gallery/view?p=999&gid=6888208&uid=3357087 Welcome to the real source for Body building and WLS information. Good luck. Keep us posted on your success.

Well my surgeon says based on my results so far I will probably end up around 135 - I am 5'4. Today I weight 225 and have lost 56lbs. My BF% is about 36% and I wear a womens size 14-16. I am almost 5 months out. We will see what happens. I think that 135 might be too low and I'd probably do better at being around 10 - 20lbs more than that. I would LOVE to be 16 - 18% BF and pack on the muscle weight.. Hard to imagine being that weight right now as I have also not been that small since probably 7th grade too. Maybe I will get to 135 and then be able to put back on the muscle weight and build back up. I'd toss that chart of his right out the window =P I think the other guys further out will tell you that we do lose muscle mass but most of them have been building back up the last couple years since they had surgery. I started lifting 5 weeks after my surgery but didn't get really consistent again until 3 months after. Now I am back up to doing 3x week full body workouts and 6 days a week of cardio. I am just starting to get closer to what I could lift prior to surgery. My shoulders and core are still on the weaker side but my legs seem to have bounced back right away. Best of luck!!

Tam- My mom uses it and she absolutely loves it. I believe it is one of the better home equipment choices out there as long as you use it! You should be able to get a nice full body workout at a good pace and still be able to keep your heart rate up since you can transition moves fairly easily.

So nice to have off today. Workout today was as follows: 15 min warm up 3 sets light deadlift, single arm dumbells windmills ( basically a warm up for deadlifts and back ) 3 sets heavy deadlifts 50 lbs 60 lbs 60 lbs 3 sets power clean 30lbs 40lbs 40lbs 4 sets dumbell chest press 25lbs 25lbs 20lbs 20lbs 4 sets lat pull down, in / out roation of forearm grip 25lbs 25lbs 25lbs 25lbs 2 sets circut no rest during - 20reps or to failure: Compound row Chest press Shoulder press I'm sore - good workout. Going to take my mountain bike out for a whirl this afternoon. Hope everyone is having a good holiday weekend.

You did great tonight in the 96 degree gym Damn hot, Africa hot. ME: Bent Arm Back Extensions: Set 1: 28 reps | Set 2: 28 reps Lat Pulldowns - reverse grip: Set 1: 10 reps @ 60.0 lbs | Set 2: 15 reps @ 70.0 lbs Squat: Set 1: 15 reps @ 125.0 lbs | Set 2: 10 reps @ 115.0 lbs Hamstring Curls - prone: Set 1: 15 reps @ 60.0 lbs | Set 2: 10 reps @ 55.0 lbs Dumbbell Hammer Curl - standing: Set 1: 15 reps @ 25.0 lbs | Set 2: 10 reps @ 20.0 lbs Cross Crunches: Set 1: 40 reps | Set 2: 40 reps Mike425/265/225