I'm gaining muscle mass!!!
During my spinning class yesterday morning, a gym member actually told me..."you're arms are getting big...you've been lifting weights"? That actually provided me with more motivation to continue and get rid of the loose skin around my arms. I too notice my arms getting toned. My chest, back and legs are looking great too.
I work out about 5-6 times a week for about 1hr 1/2 each time. I eat small meals throughout the day that contain high protein.
Today, I'm stoked and just can't wait to pump iron after work! It's possible to gain muscle mass after wls. I really thought it would not be because I thought I lost muscle tissue with my drastic weight loss.
Highest 457
Today 195
The free man owns himself. He can damage himself with either eating or drinking....... If he does he is certainly a damn fool, and he might possibly be a damned soul; but if he may not, he is not a free man any more than a dog.
Fish, you can build muscle mass again. In fact, I am doing it now and I'm 55. But one thing to remember is that when we change our body composition through weight training, the muscle we build will offset some of the fat weight we lose as far as the number on the scales goes. Muscle is much denser and more compact than fat, so one can look much slimmer, yet actually weigh more than they look like they do.
Body composition is often a forgotten equation in body weight. People tend to get caught up in the "number" on the scale rather than what it actually represents. I'd much rather be muscular and weigh 220 lbs. with 10% bodyfat (22 lbs. fat), than be 180 lbs. with 20% bodyfat (36 lbs. of fat).
Just my $.02 worth!

I would expect, though, that even geezers like us have more testosterone than some of the unenhanced wimmin Olympic athletes we've been watching, and they showed definite improvements from weight training!
/Steve
Gus,
It is a little more difficult to gain muscle while you are losing, but most heavy guys have considerable muscle already, so it's very easy to increase your muscle to fat ratio just by maintaining and toning up (comes naturally with weight training). The folks who don't do any resistance training may lose a lot of muscle, especially core muscle which is not good, because these muscles are particularly important at preventing injury.
Once you've stopped losing you can gain muscle a lot faster if there's any malabsorption of protein at all, it is not substantial to prevent muscle gain, provided you're getting the recommended intake.
I usually limit the weights part to 45 minutes and occasionally 1 hour fifteen minutes, but I do other hormone boosting cardio like HIIT (sprints). For the last month, since I've been on my weight routine for so long I'm on change of pace, since that is what is recommended for continuous progress and to keep from getting stale. I haven't done my normal routine for a month. I'm doing the P90X exercise mixture (and what a mixture it is!) plus hot yoga (105 degrees for 90 minutes).
No loss of muscle and a gain in leanness, so when it comes time for a change of pace, don't be afraid to try something new and interesting for 4-6 weeks.
Best Wishes,
Dave

Dang, you're at my starting weight and where I want to be when I "grow down", someday ..


As to muscle gain, our fav admin, MF host, and OH exercise guru Jeremy Gentles, presented a study at the San Antonio OH event last September re: follow-up of a bunch of DS patients for two+ years post-op by Drs. Rabkin .. The study found that exercise did little to appreciably increase muscle mass or decrease body fat % during the first two years or so, post-op, supposedly b/c we WLSers are already in a "caloric deficit" mode with our bodies and therefore losing weight during our honeymoon period


Frank talk about the DS / "All I ever wanted to be was thin, like that Rolling Stones dude ... "
HW/461 LW/251 GW/189 CW/274 (yep, a DS semi-failure - it happens :-( )