How do you learn all this stuff??

Hi gang...I am very interested in learning about nutritional guidelines for my new passion for running and weightlifting. 

I am currently working on the C25K program. I am on week 4...yay me. Also, I have been working on upper body, lower body, and core throughout my week alternating days of course and allowing a day rest in between sessions. 

My question is this...I would like to find out how you researched and gained your knowledge on the nutritional needs for those post ops that are athletes.

Right now my menu consists of 4-5 protein shakes a day that are 23g each shake. I also have a small lunch, with 3oz of protein and then a fruit or veggies. My breakfast's are cottage cheese with fruit. My daily calories average 700-800 and protein totals are well over 100g day. 

Are the nutritional guidelines for athletes post op really that different than those non-surgery athletes? 

I am interested in gaining the knowledge I need to train and eat right :) 

Thank you in advance for any and all resources. I am not marathon material yet but I am well on my way and I want to gain as much info as I can. I am scheduled to run my very first 5K on 3/27...I am so excited!!! 

There are a few threads on this subject active below.  Its pretty tough to understand, at least for me.  I think the problem is there are so few of us that come from a morbidly obese background, have WLS and then go for endurance training.  Thus the info out there is all over the place, but almost none of it applies to us...  This forum right here has been a Godsend for me in terms of info I get from it.   

A lot of my info comes from magizines like Runners World, Running Times and New England Runner. I have also learned a lot on here but mostly it comes from trial and error with respect to being post-op. It has taken a lot to figure out what does and does not work while running for more than an hour or so. Up to an hour and I don't do anything special.

I read advice for post-ops and advice for endurance athletes and then I try things and try to come up with a marriage of their advice that works for me.

The interesting thing is that advice to endurance athletes for eating in the off-season is actually not that different from advice for WLS patients. It's when you are actively training that they two diverge.

All I can say is that when I find that I have a problem, I look up information specific to that issue.  That's how I learned about recovery eating.  Like Scott, I look at Runner's World types of magazines or websites.  I'm a scientist by training, so I am a pretty critical reader.

So you find things out, and try a few different options and see how it works for you.  This far post-op I actually eat more like a "normal" person most of the time.  I let my exercise intensity tell me how much and what kinds of food I can/should eat.  I'm rarely "hungry" but I have this "I MUST EAT" mentality when I really do need food.  The sooner I listen to it, the better I eat  I also find that when I work out more I have a bigger appetite than when I don't.  This is the time you should really focus on listening to what your body is telling you.  Make mental (or written) note of how you feel before/during/after workouts and what you've eaten that day and the day before.  This will tell you a lot about what you personally need and how to get the best out of yourself.

It all just takes al little time to work things out for your own needs and body.  Listen to those cues and you'll do fine. 

Linn