Questions about working out and eating?

OK!!! I am 5 1/2 months post-op and I have lost 108 pounds. I feel great, and look good; too. Well, about 4 weeks ago I started working out at a local gym. I am doing cardio 5 days a week for about an hour. I met with my trainer yesterday, and I talked to him about my surgery. I discussed with him in depth about my meals and exercise routine. I want to begin toning up my arms, legs, and abdomen. He tells me I would need to try to eat 1500 calories a day. I freaked out!!!! I am only eating between 900 to 1000 calories a day. He is worried because I am burning almost more calories than I am taking into my body. Does anyone have suggestions of what I should do? I just confused. I think I could eat more calories, but I am totally terrified. I do not want to go back to my old ways of eating all day long. I am eating 3 meals a day with an occassional healthy snack in between. Please, give me any suggestions! Thanks, Titania

I am by no means an expert, but this lack of understanding for WLS patients fitness programs is what lead me to work on becoming a certified personal trainer.  Your trainer is advising you based on textbook nutrition requirements for normal training programs.  I'm sure the trainer also wants you to consume many more carbohydrates than you should be eating.  Be very careful working with a trainer that does not understand your individual requirements.  Your trainer should develop a program that works around your current dietary intake.  That's why they call it "personal" training!

You should be aware that your body burns more calaries at rest than you are taking in, and that's how our surgeries work.  A 160 lb women age 30-60 burns an average of 1500 calaries per day at rest (without getting out of bed).  Add to that very light activity, and she burns close to 1900 calories.  If she only consumes 900 calories per day, that's a deficit of 1000 calories per day, or 7000 per week.  Since one pound weight loss requires a deficit  of 2500 calories, 7000 represents 2.8 pound weight loss per week.  Theoretically, as she increases activity, she can increase intake and still lose the 2.8 pounds per week.

From what I've learned so far, we don't have much ability to build lean muscle tissue during fast weight loss.  We are fighting to maintain existing muscle mass while losing body fat to reduce total body weight.  The reason for this is protein is burned for energy when fewer calories are consumed than are expended, so protein cannot be used for the intended purpose of building and replacing lean tissue.  Therefore, when caloric intake goes down, protein requirements go up.  Keep up your protein!

Resistance training at  low number of reps will work on improving strength while helping to maintain muscle mass.  You should see improvements in strength fairly quickly that will position you to begin building lean muscle later in your program.  Although you may not gain muscle mass, the benefits of both cardio and resistance training are a more healthy body.  Developing fitness habits now will improve your chances for maintaining long-term success.

I hope this helps!  You can also check the fitness site here on OH for more information.

Lynn

Hi  Titania. Congrats on your weight loss so far. It is only my opinion but I do not think the trainer is telling you correctly. I belive it is because he may not understand the WLS aspect. At 5 month post-op, you should not be consuming 1500 calories. You are doing right at about 1000. Even with the exercise, right now is the most important time of your weight loss. The surgery was meant for you to consume less for the first year to lose the weight. My suggestion would be to make sure you are getting in all of the protein and fluid you need and continue what you are doing. You can pay attention to your body and if you get weak or feel like you need more, than add another healthy snack to your plan. Your body will always tell you. I am 17 months post-op and I started jogging about a month ago and I started feeling weak and I know it was because I was not getting in enough for my workouts so I uped it a little. But I am further out than you. I think you should check with your nutritionist or surgeon just to confirm but I bet they will tell you not to up your calories because of training. Good luck and keep up the great work.

Wow, really good advice there. I hit an energry (or lack of energy) wall as I increased my walking and jogging time and distance. I think it was a realted issue with burning more than consuming and feeling the fatigue that resulted.  I focused on increasing my protein intake and am now at 200gms a day.  I also wound up having to increase my iron to get the blood to carry more oxygen to the muscle tissue, B-12 for energy, potassium and magnesium to enable the blood to carry ant oxygen more efficiently and the muscle tissue to utilize the oxygen oncce it got there.   Ea*****rease came in phases; one addition at a time as I learned and experiemented a bit with supplement and amino data and trying sstuff that seemed to address my issues and ultimately, what helped me feel better and peform better. Protein, I try to get ina banana and strwaberry whey protein smoothie for breakfast (23 gms protein) then I use Prue Protein Choclate deluxe protein bars that are to be eaten with 8 oz of water (2-3 between breakfast and lunch plus 2 16-20 oz bottle waters),  a meat or other rich protein source at lunch, 2-3 protein bars with another 2 bottle waters in the afternoon, and a protein rich source for dinner.  I might thrown in another protein bar and water in the evenings if i get the munchies or something with cheddar cheese and salsa.  The protein bars at 20 gms each (170 cal, 17 carbs) get me to 120 gms + protein smoothie = 143 + organic food intake = approximately 180-200 gms a day.  Remeber we mal-absorb so taking in 200 means we are absorbing 100-125gms. Iron, I taking 2 prenatals (28 gms each) in the morning plus  2500 mcg B-12, B-complex, and B-1. I also take a potassium and magnesium supplement in the mornings with my othr ecommended standard stuff (A,D, C, E).  In the evenings, I take my calcium, aspirin, biotin (hair), BCAA (aminos), flax seed, and BP med. I am also using the SlimFast Low Carb to help taper on the protein bars some.  Intake/contents are real similar. Hope that helps. 

HEy Joe, So, how do you like those Pure Protein Bars??? I totally love them!!! Now, I eat about 3 a day, one for breakfast along with some Bear Naked Cereal Low Fat/Low Sugar...it's granola, and then I eat fruit for my snack along with another pure protein bar for mid snack, and then lunch tuna/chicken, then another before I head to the gym and then a banana or pear after I worked out for 2hrs to get some energy in me...it seems to work, though I think I've plateaued to the point where my body is satisfied...oh well! I still could lose about 20lbs but maybe by next summer.  Kelli

Titania, You say, "He is worried because I am burning almost more calories than I am taking into my body." That is how weightloss is accomplished.  If he is the "resident" trainer I'm not sure he has the qualifications you require.  Often the resident trainers are just offering cookie cutter (pardon the food pun) advise without any real understanding of what they're doing.  I don't know how much weight you have to lose but for me (over 200lbs lost) I had to remind people that I wan't living off the calories I was eating then but rather the 500,000 or so that I had already eaten and stored in my body as fat.  Do youself a favor if you can afford it and find a trainer with more knowledge and experience.  Not necessarilly WLS experience but someone who can apply their knowledge with what you can tell them about surgery and your requirements.  If you can't do that use the current trainer for advise on using the machines at the gym and leave the nutritional advise to your nutritionist. Good Luck, Carla

Thanks for the great advice. I called my nutritionist yesterday, and she said the same things that you guys posted here. We live in a very small town, and this is the only workout place in our community. I forgot to also tell you guys, that he was honest with me telling me that he did not have much experience with early WLS. He did recommend that I speak to the nutritionist, and see what she had to say; which is what I did. He is going to develop an exercise progam, and will contact the nurtitionist to see what diet plan I will need. I was impresses that he would to that for me. Again, thanks for the advice. Titania