Newbie intro

Hello Everyone my name is Ed and I was referred by a gentleman named Curt. I had Gastric Bypass Surgery last April and since have lost my weight. Last November I decided to train for a Sprint Triathlon. I ended up exceeding my mileage for the Sprint and hope to move up to Olympic mid summer.

I do have concerns with my GB WLS and fuel/hydration needed to compete in endurance sports. My GB Dietician was clueless.

Anybody who can help me with a Fuel/Hydration strategies for GB would be greatly appreciated

BD

Hi BD and welcome to the board.   You have to find a nutrition plan that works for you and from my experience with docs and sports nutrionists they don't have a clue when it comes to long distance endurance events for post-op bariatric patients.   I've got a lot of funny looks from doctors when I ask them about nutrtion for events that involve over 10 hours of continuous exercise.  

It's been hit and miss (mostly miss) for me over the last year with nutrition in the 20 triathlons and 10 road races I did but I finally have narrowed things down and have the start for a plan for the 70.3s and 140.6 tris I'll be doing this year.  I posted something about it a week or so ago

http://www.obesityhelp.com/forums/fitness/3866634/I-think-I- may-have-finally-found-a-plan-to-combat-gastric/

Your body doesn't start seriously tapping into the reserve tanks until around 2.5 to 3 hours or so of continuous exercise.   With anything less than a 70.3 you can probably get by with what's in your digestive system already from the night before / morning along with some water for hydration and Gatorade on the course.   If you can tolerate gels then that's a bonus.  

Best of luck!

Chad
www.team464.com

 

Welcome!

Ed,

I see you found the spot to get your questions answered. Continue to ask questions, and I am confident you will get the answers your looking for.

Join the great group of people here.

Curt

Hey Ed,
Welcome to the board.
Chad has a lot of great info not only on the post he linked but  check out his blog, he's had a rough go of tweaking the nutrition/fuel needs.
Me on the other hand have had a fairly easy go of it.  As I was preparing for my marathon last October I was able to drink regular Gatorade and eat sport beans without any hint of problems/dumping.  Of course that was in runs over 10 miles.  Otherwise it was G2.
Can I ask what you're currently using for your fuel/hydration needs?
Again, welcome to the board!
--Sax

Is gastric Distress common with GB patients who do endurance events?
Im only running 6.5 miles and have not had any issues.
Ed

BD,

Welcome to the board!  We love Curt around here.

I'm with Chad about the need for serious nutritional needs past a certain point in time.  I can manage up to a half marathon without even needing water.  I do get the runner's trots, though, so I have to know where the potty stops are.

As far as other nutrition, I am fortunate to be able to handle gels, and they work great for me.  I don't do well with sports drinks or protein drinks during or after a long, hard workout or race.

The one thing I noticed more than anything else for training is that recovery eating is the key for sustained good workouts throughout the week.  I eat a cliff bar or PB&J sand after all my hour+ workouts and then another meal about an hour or so later.  I have a lot more energy later in the week when I do that.

That's really all my input.  How we all handle this is so different, that one plan doesn't really work for anyone else.  Just takes a little trial and error.

Best of luck training for the longer tris.  My goal is to do at least one Olympic length this summer.

Linn

Good morning BD,

Training for marathons, I found that I had to alternate sports beans and G2 every few miles - about 30 calories at a pop. If I ate the whole bag of beans at once  (100 calories), I had to hit the port-a-johns. 

I found Nancy Clark's book helpful to better understand what my body needed in theory to fuel my runs and then just had to experiment to see what foods I could tolerate:  http://www.nancyclarkrd.com/books/marathonerfoodguide.asp.

Best of luck to you and welcome to the boards!

Cassie