The first three weeks of being physically back to work are in the bag. The first week was rough, I was a little shaky and moving slow. Getting up and walking around (despite having an office job) proved pretty demanding and beat me down pretty good by Friday of my first week back. Second week back I felt stronger, actually started going out and walking a bit at lunch but I must have overdid it because between last Friday evening and this past Wednesday I felt like I had body aches from the flu. I think it was simple overexertion. With other life stuff going on I haven’t lifted weights in nearly two weeks as a result. But, today I was back on it and hit 135 for three sets of five off a high box and hit three sets of the same weight on deadlifts.
Pain-wise about 80-90% of the discomfort from the abdominal plication is gone, and it was really this week that I felt like a normal, mobile human being again. The scar is pretty much “dead” and will need to be re-sensitized as healing continues, so apart from the occasional poke from an undissolved suture, that’s not been an issue. My weight is staying in the 234-238 range, having finally stabilized there, and I’m basically staying protein/fat paleo only with a maybe a once a week true cheat here and there. The goal is to get down to 220 and stabilize there, and I may buck the fat intake a little bit to do so.
I’ll have some before/after photos at the 12 week mark, and am working up a recap of the experience including a laundry list of things that worked well, things I wish I’d approached differently, and overall thoughts on this procedure.
Beards Over Barbells 
Comments
Nice, I look forward to hearing more. My surgery is tentatively scheduled for July 10th and I’m currently at 212 and hoping to maybe squeeze another 7-10 out before surgery day. Definitely hoping to hear suggestions and cautionary warnings. Once again, thanks for putting this out there!
I wouldn’t worry too much about knocking out any extra weight at this point. I actually put on about 30 pounds before the procedure (mostly muscle mass) just to provide a buffer since I knew I was probably going to be immobile and not very hungry for a few weeks. I lost about 10 pounds of muscle mass during recovery which I’m now working on regaining.
Best of luck with your procedure. I’ll try to work up a recap this weekend but the three key things I would suggest acquiring before the surgery are whey protein (high quality liquid calories in case you aren’t hungry), your preferred form of laxative (the painkillers will make it nearly impossible to shit) and a raised toilet seat. That last one especially. You want that more than you can possibly imagine.