this is scary stuff!

I've posted numerous times on this (or similar topics) but I cannot for the life of me wrap my head around this fueling the body for running nutrition stuff!

if 60% of my calories should be from carbs and i aim for 1600 calories per day, that's 240 carbs! I know i know, it has to be that way and on Thursday (day of my 5 mile run) i ate 2100 calories and 220 carbs and I felt sooooo guilty (<--- not good)

I do not want to lose anymore weight...i was 133 yesterday!! i feel much better around the 138 mark.

So, we're 5 weeks away from my half marathon and i keep thinking of what my goal will be after that (I have to have something to work towards)...my eating will have to adjust immediately after the half if i don't keep up this running b/c the appetite is on full force!!!!!!!!!!!

this is more of a vent but please tell i'm not alone in feeling this way.

I am with you, and we're both close in training for a half.  I went to my surgeons to meet my nutritionist this week.  She has a background in sports nutrition, so I figured she was worth chatting with... well, her advice is quite different than just bout everyone..  I am different from you in that I still need to lose 20 pounds or so (my "chart weight" says I ought to be 180, but to be honest, I think 210 matches my frame better)..  She wants me to stay under 60 carbs, and under 100 protein, and keep  a 500 calorie deficit...  So now I am even more confused.. I mean after all, with a 8 mile run I am burning well over 1000 calories, so that means even with a 500 calorie deficit I need to eat around 2700 calories (which is more than I have eaten in a day since pre-surgery).. so at 2700 calories, how the heck do I keep carbs below 60 and protein under 100...

 

Throw the nut in the trash! lol

When you say you feel "Guilty" for eating carbs I have to ask what type of Carbs you are talking about? If you are talking about Veggies, potatoes, grains & wheat, brown rice, or any other form of COMPLEX carb, I have a hard time understanding why you would feel guilty. If you are eating a lot of simple carbs (Sugary crap) the guilt might be somewhat justified... So I will ask you, when you say you ate 240G of Carbs, what did the carbs consist of? I eat 800 - 900 carbs a day and have ZERO guilt. It's fuel... Plain and simple, do not ever feel guilty for fueling your body for performance, just be cautious of the types of carbs you are eating, and when and why you are eating them. Chin up dude, it's ALL GOOD!

i rarely do simple carbs....my 240 carbs are skim milk, whole grain crackers, bananas, apples, sweet potatoes....the good stuff.

There is no reason to feel guilt then!!! Your body has never been used for endurance running, nor is it used to being accountable for food, nor is it used to supplying energy for excercise... It's funny how pre op, we had no accountability and felt guilt for NOTHING that went into our mouths, including sitting down to eat a dozen donuts at one sitting, but somehow in all the manusha that is out there about Bariatrics and post-bariatric living, we have become guilty for eating fruits and vegetables? I say... NAY NAY, and you keep doing what you are doing... You and almost everyone on this forum is the HUGE MINORITY when it comes to post surgery living. In everything you get from your surgeon, or on other boards here, most things focus on WALKING for 20-30 minutes a day. Running a half marathon is not in ANY of those Bariatric "Booklets"... In the words of Green Day... "I want to be the minority"... Keep on rockin in the free world!!!!

There certainly is a huge discrepancy in what different surgeons and nutritionists say regarding what we should and should not be eating. My surgeon wants me weight training, and isn't worried at all about cardio. He wants me to build lean muscle because it burns more calories at rest. Okay, I'll buy that. But, he told me to only eat one fruit per day, and maybe even only 1/2 fruit per day because of the carbs they contain. I also am supposed to limit my milk consumption. I guess lactose is a simple carbohydrate, but milk is certainly not empty calories. That's where I get the majority of my protein, from milk and protein drinks made with milk. It all gets a bit confusing, to say the least. I'm trying to get more protein from meat and cheese and less from milk, but I'm having a hard time of it! I love sugar free lattes, and I make my Click every morning with milk instead of water.

Ah well, I'll experiment and learn!

Jenny

 right on brother.. actually, at my surgeon's this week, the Nurse P. basically said the same thing to me... that they would have to go out of the box for folks like me.. of course they than proceeded to give me the box..  

Thank you guys for being the trail blazers you are!!

I'm the one that is gonna benefit soo much from your experience. Thanks for sharing and telling of your experiences.

I'm hoping to be running 2 miles a day by May. It might be a little over eager, but I'd rather be over eager then under achiever (lived that life, HATE IT! hehe).

I don't agree that 60% of your calories should come from carbs. I think everyone is different. If I get more than 175 g of regular carbs a day in my diet, I start getting all these cravings for sugary junk food, for example. However, the carbs I get from sports drinks and gels and stuff when I workout don't trigger these sorts of cravings. So, for me, it's a balance.

When I am doing an endurance events, I eat like an endurance athlete. I eat carbs before a workout, carbs & protein after, and some combination of water, carbs and protein based on how long my workout lasts and how intense it is during. Whether we are altered or not, I think the rules for fueling around the workout are pretty much the same. It's the rest of the time that you have to be careful of taking advice meant for the unaltered without making sure it applies to you.

I think you need to figure out what calorie range you can eat and not gain weight as your first step. When I got down to where I wanted to stop, I added in 100-200 calories every 2-4 weeks and saw what happened. Your second step is to figure out what your carb threshold is. How many you can eat a day without it messing you up... it's going to vary from individual to individual.

Based on my experiments, I think that I can eat 1750 *net* calories per day on average. (Though I'm still experimenting a little on that one.) I eat 175 - 200 g of carbs a day, on average, and 140-150 g of protein and around 60-70 g of fat.

Theoretically I aim for 40/30/30 (P/C/F) but it's never that precise and I won't worry about it as long as my net calories and carbs remain under their ceiling and my protein is above my floor.