STILL LOSING! WITH CARBS!!!

My mind has been BLOWN!  I am two years out.  I have also decided to train for a bodybuilding competition.  I have yet to have a long stall.  I was at 170 for a few months but was gaining muscle and losing bodyfat (this was when I first started training for bodybuilding).  I finally decided that i wanted to hire a nutrition coach.  I have yet to find anyone online who has had the DS and gone on into bodybuilding so it's not like I can email someone and we can chitty chat about the trial and error process.  PLUS my mind isn't quite scientific enough to utilize the nutrients we absorb to make sure I am eating the right foods I need to build muscle.

My coach has put me on 135 grams of protein, 130 grams of complex carbs and 25 grams of fat.  I have been LOSING!  I mean 1-2 lbs a week of losing weight!  I started this process at 158 and no I am at 150 and still building muscle! 

I have a tough time getting in all of my calories and macronutrients a day.  The above macros come out to about 1,200 calories but I am only taking in about 850 and that still feels like I am force feeding myself... BUT I am getting in Protein and carbs at every single meal.   I feel AMAZING!  my body is running fantastically, I can train for 1-1 1/2 hour every day after work and I just feel good! 

Thought I would share because I am SO excited!  I am going in for Plastics on August 9th and my goal was to be 150 on the operating table but if I am less than that you won't find me complaining! haha

Congrats, sounds amazing!  Best of luck with your plastics and your bodybuilding; you should post pics of your before and after, I assume the transformation is very noticeable. 

I'm not a body builder, but I still lose even with an increase in complex carbs.  Not so rapidly now, since I am a bit over 4 years out, but for the first three, I was actually afraid that my DS train was a runaway with no brakes!

I'm in maintenance now, and I eat about 45-50 g of carbs a day, and 125-130 g of protein.  We absorb only 50 to 60% of  each, according to the literature, and that puts me at just about the right DRI for DSers, which is the equivalentof the DRI for normies, not bodybuilders.  Common channel length also plays a role in absorption, so if you are at the shorter end of the spectrum, that might be the culprit.  Mine is only 75 cm. As a body builder, I'm assuming that you still use protein shake supplements.  I still use them myself, as there is no way I can eat enough solid food to get all my protein in.

I still lose weight at times in my sleep, and it's no****er weight, though I am always drinking to make sure I stay hydrated, especially in warm weather.  I also discovered that one of my Rx medications pulls vitamin D, and I've been having a real struggle keeping those levels up, as well as calcium.  I also developed an issue with Zinc, but it's trending up and just about to cross back over into normal limits, and my goal is to get everything at mid-range and keep it there.

They say ( at least, that's what I was told as a pre-op) that DSer's never have a "honeymoon period" of losing, as other WLS patients do, and that we can wake the sleeping DS giant by simply cutting carbs.  Perhaps your nutrition coach is not familiar enough with the DS to understand the malabsorption that happens. With that in mind, I would think bodybuilders would need more protein, as the DS is the most malabsorptive of all bariatric surgeries. 

I dabbled in bodybuilding in college, but then, I was still a normie, and much younger! 

I'm studying to be a bariatric RD, and generally high protein, moderate complex carb is what *stabilizes* weight, again according to some of the literature I've read, which again, focuses on what a normie would need every day.  With the DS being such a customized surgery for everyone, I've had to find my  own "sweet spot" in terms of a nutritional plan, and try not to vary too far from that. I use a BCAA supplement from Now Sports (capsule) and I use Whey Protein Isolate shakes, due to some residual lactose intolerance.

I can only say what works for me, and it is very difficult to find a nutrition coach that is familiar with the special needs of the DS.

I hope what I've said helps some!

JazzyOne, your knowledge base is impressive!  You will make a wonderful bariatric RD!

That's awesome, Hammy!  Good luck, you sound so happy!  And, I agree, we'd all love to see pics!

Yes!  Pics please. 

I have a Gold's gym at home. It used to be in my living room, next to the treadmill.  When ever I watched, I would use the weight machine or get on the treadmill and put a couple miles in. 

I found I had to stumble over the equipment and put a TV in front of it before I would consistently use it.  Since I moved all that equipment out of the living room, I no longer use it.    Yup.  Having a light bulb moment....

Sounds good apart from the 25g of fat - don't you get constipated with that little fat?  I need 100-150 to be able to go.

850 calories per day is very low and unhealthy long term.