Hi Valerie, Thanks, I am just so excited to *meet* you guys, too! Of course I went to your pics and nosed through your equipment, and showed my hubby, too, and did the "honey, can't wait for daughter to go off to college so I can finally have my own gym at home ." And he said, "Yeah, I know honey." Still, even though I would like to do that, I still like having access to the local weight room which is really excellent. The guy who owns the place is a long-time bodybuilder and former powerlifting champ himself (Scott Siegel), and there are a number of competitors who work out there, so the line of equipment is excellent and versatile! It's one of the things that keeps me going to that gym. Scott and I still workout together from time to time, as I do with other guys, and still get feedback from some of the professional trainers who go there. It's also really great for keeping my head into what's going on, what's new, motivation on dragging days, etc. You know how that goes, though, I'm sure! The fibro was/is bad but I've learned well to manage it, and my training is key! Of course, I know when I change my routines or "up the ante" that I'll have flares, but that just goes with the territory, and I am ok with that. Some of my friends try to figure out how I can do something that will sometimes make me flare, and how I work through some of those flares in the gym while I'm in so much pain, but it's nothing compared to life before, you know? I understand and am used to living with pain, so when it comes, I just roll with it. It's a choice, like any of this. Even though it is initially very difficult to exercise while one is in pain, the special workouts I do when flaring help me to alleviate the flare. They aren't the gut-wrenching soul-searing things that I might do on a heavy leg day, to be sure they are comparatively really gentle workouts, but they can feel that tough during a flare for the first 5-10 minutes. It was really rough recently when I had to have surgery on both of my feet due to nerve impingement from bone growths that was leaving me with half my foot numb! I was having increasing difficulty with balance on my squats by the time I lost feeling to the front half of both feet, so it was finally time to bite the bullet and get the surgery done. But that put me off my feet on my back for 6 weeks (including a scary staph infection in my entire right leg they think from the 2nd surgery), which took away my major tool for managing my fibro, stress, weight, comfort, etc. I look forward to swapping/sharing this part of my world with other folks that can understand me on multiple levels! With kindest regards, Donna E.

Are you following the specific diet for BFL? Just wondering if it works with WLS or if you need to modify it. I found that book so inspiring. One day three years ago I was sitting in a chair in Barnes & Noble and ended up reading the whole book in one day. I never ended up doing the entire BFL program but I took a ton of good info away from that book. Especially all the stuff with regards to goal setting. Congrats on your challenge. Would love to here about your progress during the program.

I agree! That reminded me of the quip "where the men are men, and the women are too!" LOL No offense meant to my weight lifting ladies. It all falls back to that lean muscle mass, burning calories to survive. Not to mention the fact that reisistance training helps to keep your bones in good shape too. I learn everyday too, like bumping up the cardio has really helped my metabolism, is helping to tighten up skin, and just makes me feel good. Combining it with weight training is the key. I love my workouts. I am not a nice person when I miss them. But weight training is AWESOME!!!! I think it's addictive once you get started. I love watching my muscles move and work. The human body is an amazing machine...

I'm not so sure about the diet being less important John. I can't speak for post WLS but working out almost 6 days/week the last 3 years hasn't had a huge impact on the scale. I'm sure that is also because my injury/recovery cycle. When I am recovering I end up eating the same amt of food as when I work out. A couple days isn't a big deal but once it starts becoming several days on and several days off it has had an impact on me. Hopefully that will change post WLS. Less injury, less time out of the gym, more focus on making sure I eat a clean diet. I agree we need to get the work out!! PROMOTE, PROMOTE, PROMOTE!! More women need to do resistance training and down with the cardio bunnies (the ones who never venture past the cardio equipment)!!I love talking about it and try the stress the importance of replacing lost muscle tissue which means faster metabolism, faster fat burning, and less chance of getting fat and all the other benefits! I think the biggest thing women need to get over is all the myths about resitance training - ie - If I lift I will look like a bodybuilder (not that I would mind that personally) but people don't understand the effort it takes to build the muscles and how much diet is a factor for people who want to train on that that type of competitive level.

Welcome Donna