Hi all, I was hoping that there would be some good ideas out there on this. I am going in for surgery on my Anter supra spinatus (right shoulder) and was wondering if any one has any experience with ether CNS or CBL after or before surgery recovery?I am going in on DEC. 21st, and I was told I will need to be in a sling for 6 weeks, then physical therapy for another 2 months. I have had this issue for a while so my training has gone down hill some, that is why I would like to minimize down time and recover as fast as I can. I was going to train around this if possible (abbs, back,legs) when not doing P.T. but i would also like to take the down time to lean out, Not sure if that is possible due to factors needed for recovery. I plan on eating mostly Grass fed beef and butter, coconut, assorted veggies and so on, But this is the question of carbs and timing. Will CBL work the same when  damage due to surgery is present, pain killers and sleep is all over the place? Or is CNS a safe bet?  Any Help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

HIDebby HereI had left supra done exactly 7 months ago on Dec 10th. Ok! I thought the same as you going in. That's I'd train around this, do legs, abs) No way you can do back. I tried doing it with one arm. Not worth is and you'll just get out of balance.Here's the thing. My Surgeon told me, and I looked at him like he was nuts when he did, that the surgery was 500x more painful than natural childbirth. Now, I've never had a child, but 7 months before my shoulder surgery I did have hip surgery. And the fist 5 nights in the hospital were horrible. I thought I wanted to die every time I moved a centimeter. Well, my surgeon was wrong. He lied to me! This surgery was not 500X more painful than childbirth(so I've heard) but more like 1000. It was THE most painful thing I've ever experienced and hope I never have to again. Just be preparedI was in a sling for 3 months. No driving for about 3 monthsEveryone is different. My shoulder tendons were so thin that he had to open me up more than arthroscopic, and anchor the tendons down with more sutures. So there is no guarantee before surgery just what they will do when they're in there.Give yourself 10 days or 2 weeks of doing nothing. Just walkingTrain as hard as you can other body parts before surgery. I did a leg workout the day before surgery.I was doing small carb backloading after my hip surgery , when I could train my upper hard, which led me up to my shoulder surgery. . But about 30 days before my shoulder surgery I switched over to low carbs, but not CNS. I was still eating a lot of veggies. But I had such bad stomach distension from the trauma of a second surgery so close to the fist one, that I wasn't doing a carbnite. I just couldn't stomach the fact of eating carbs. I could barely eat as it was!A couple  months after my surgery I went back to full CNS and it really helped with my stomach. But not so big of carbnites. I have found that I do well with just about 200-220 gr carbs. Anything more I'm just bloated for days.As for training, give your body rest. It's hard to train legs being in a huge monster of a sling. And you will not be sleeping for about 6 weeks. You have to sleep upright. I'm 7 months now and I now prefer it. It just feels better on my shoulder. Just a couple weeks ago I finally feel comfortable lying on my op side. But for the first 2 weeks expect NO sleep. Every few hours you'll need meds. I have never taken anything in my life. Never thought I'd need them. But 18 hours after surgery I found myself in the ER getting a morphine drip the pain had shot past 12. After 5 vials of morphine I was still at a level 2 pain, no euphoric feeling, maybe a bit dizzy. That's it. But I'm one to go to the dentist and it takes about 5 vials of novacaine to get me numb. My body metabolizes stuff so fast. My heart rate day of surgery was 46 as they were hooking me up to all the stuff. This was after being awake for 3 hours. My resting heart rate is less than that! So just be prepared. This is not an easy surgery.The shoulder is such a complicated joint. You don't want to even move that shoulder for 6 weeks. Which means no carrying heavy things on the opposite side, since you will tense the operated shoulder, which could lead to small tears in the procedure. Please, do not take this chance.AFter a few weeks I did start holding a small db on my non op side and try and do lunges. I was super careful. not to tense my op side. Or I would just do step ups with NO weight, or air squats. You can't do any leg machines since you need your op side to balance. Just no way. I talked with other bodybuilders who had the surgery done. They just took the time off. In about 2-3 months maybe you can do a modified standing leg curl. In 3 months I think I was able to do leg extensions. I didn't do leg press until that time, when the sling came off. I was able to do some modified abs but you can't lie flat at all for first couple months. Maybe you can do seated V up leg raises. Even at month 3 it was hard to lie flat, since the sutures pull on your shoulder and you can feel it, and you don't want to stress that incision.I have always eaten non processed foods, grass fed meats, coconut oil, lots of veggies. I cut out carbs pretty much for first couple months. I felt better.I stayed CNS after that starting on month 3. I'm still CNS. I'm not allowed to lift on my op side and it's 7 months. But I have tons of instability in both scap. So I just do my yellow band and my rehab. Stick to what your PT tells you to do.And get a good PT. If you have an HMO they are only going to do the minimal to get you out the door. Just like any 70 year old woman. So you need to push them to give you more care. Their job is only to get your mobility somwhat back and to get you out of painFor us that is unacceptable. So you will need to go higher up possibly, like I had to do with Kaiser, to fight for more time with your PT and explain to them your goals as an athlete. Bottom line is they just don't care. I'm in the insurance biz besides also the fitness biz. They are looking at giving you the least amount of care that they can get away with. Hopefully you have a PPO!Please message me offline. I'm an expert  now on shoulders, and hips! And staying lean throughout the process. I can help prepare you and give you questions that you may want to ask your doc and your PT. I'm not getting the care that I need. I know this because I'm an athlete as well as a trainer. I have a background in Muscle Activation Technique. I know there are other modalities that my PT can use, or do to get me to the next level. But they are not doing it. So now it's up to me to seek outside of my HMO Kaiser.Sorry for the long rant. But I hope this helps you in preparing for the surgery as well as what to expect from your body. Bottom line, don't ask much of it for at least 6 months. Your body needs to heal. Fish oil, bone broths, quality proteins, pre and probiotics, MCT oils, whey protein, coconut oil and coconut butter. I took other supplements and herbals to help healing. I also ate a lot of seaweed soups.Also, it won't be or shouldn't be until the 6th month that you are allowed to start a strength program. THis doesn't mean lifting weights. It means starting with 3 lb weights. They say it takes up to a year to be able to start lifting weights again. It takes a long time to progressively build that tendon strength. And the statistics are that 50% of all shoulder surgeries fail within the 6 month mark due to people going back to work or activities too soon. I know that I NEVER want to have this surgery again. So I'm taking my time and will not start lifting weights close to the 1 year mark. ANd it will be with 5lbs to start. My max for shoulders used to be 50 lb db press for 5 reps. A few years ago when my shoulders were strong it was 35lb for 10 reps, multiple sets. I will never even attempt those weights again. Good luck.  I feel your pain and feel free to email me if you need support. There are very few people who want to deal with that amount of pain or who understand how much it means to us getting back to lifting and being active and living our active lives againPS- get LOTS of pillows. Like 14 of them. All sizes and kinds. You'll need some comfy king size down blends, some synthetic fills, a good neck pillow(I have one on my blog, and I still use it. I got it for my trip to India, and it came in handy sleeping upright). I still sleep with 14 pillows all around me for support. This is not a walk in the park. It's life changing in terms of your living environment and day to day stuff. Hope you have lots of people around to help, especially the first 2-3 days. I needed 24 hour care first 2 days just about.OK maybe that's a princess factor! But seriously have someone, or two, on hand. Happy Holidays! Debby 🙂

HI Fairy,I follow Carbnite but do a lot of other stuff similar to Bulletproof that I've been doing for years and years. Lot's of eastern medicine stuff. I do CN for the carb control and to force myself to eat carbs!! When I looked at the BP diet a while back it was pretty much how I've been eating for the past 20 years! Nothing different. I'd say almost exactly in the choices of his foods. However, in terms of the meat department I did learn a few things from his chart, like lamb is one of the best meats. I never knew that. But I remember as a kid my mom made leg of lamb all the time. Luckily I grew up eating lots of meats and veggies and nuts! I made a commitment to fitness when I was 16 and started researching how our bodies metabolized and made energy when I learned about the mitochondria in my biology class. That got my brain thinking about how I could become a better swimmer by eating better and building my mitochondria. I started connecting the dots at that age and people thought I was weird! I just kept going with it...! I was  also lucky to have some great friends who were researchers at UC Berkeley and started to look into how foods affected my hormones and health back in the late 80's. All of the foods on his list are how I eat my foods now and have been for years. I think that is what helped me through the surgeries. health wise I recovered pretty well. It's all the instability and the quality of PT care that is practically non existent with my HMO that is affecting my recovery. The stomach distension was due to the traumas being so close, as well as a whacky sleep schedule. I'm a creative type and have found over the years that I do my best work late at night. So now my sleep schedule is upside down, but I try to live that 9-5 existence. What happens is that my rhythms have changed, which I know and have known for the past 10 years, affect my digestion. It's hard to change your sleep patterns, especially when it's locked in now. But I'm working on it. And when you work for yourself it's even harder!!I have eaten non processed foods for more than half of my life and studies chinese diets and how they used foods to balance. When I go back to some of my chinese medicine I learned it really helps.Weston Price foundation is also a great place for healing.Basically when I first read Kiefers book 7 years ago and tried the CN diet I just based it on my foods, which were pretty similar to the Bullet Proof chart. And if I recommended the book to my clients I would swap out Kiefers suggestions for all whole foods, with one night of eating what ever they wanted. I still keep it all whole foods, non processed and all homemade.How long have you been doing BulletProof?You look great! Love your progress and your abs -Sexy, girl!. Keep it up. you should compete in figure!Are you on FB? Let's connectI'm also on Google+ and Linked InI joined Pinterest but I'm not sure how to set up my boards yet.Looking forward to connecting with more women on this forum. I've been eating ULC and Low carb for over 20 years. And have been lean for at least that long also.I think I'm older than most peeps on this forum!!!Looking forward. I've been reading your posts in the forum and love your writing. Great stories!DebbyK!