Post RNY Metabolism and Training

I haven't posted here much since the beginning, but I am eight months post RNY tomorrow and 90 lbs down. I've been working out since the third week, and have increased to 7-8 workouts weekly, with "two a days" on Mondays and Wednesdays when I have karate class. I've been strength training for four months, and got a trainer about 8 weeks ago who is training me on free weights and circuits 3x a week and it is really worth the money, in my opinion.

I've seen several postings on the RNY board about how your metabolism is permanently lowered after the severe caloric restrictions for the first months of the diet, and the fact that you lose the malabsorption after a year to eighteen months. I am trying to combat this with the strength training, but it worries me. For now, I am eating 1200-1300 calories daily, 60 to 80 grams of protein, and definitely drinking 60-80 ounces of water per day. I'm not perfect. I eat some "bad" things and I drink alcohol one day per weekend, but I do make sure my average calorie intake for the week doesn't go above 1250.

Is the right thing to do to combat the metabolism issue the strength training? Increasing your muscle to increase your metabolism? Or should I be concentrating on cardio for endurance and calorie burning?

The knuckleheads who are saying that are probably the same knuckleheads who do NOT excercise on a regular basis. I am 3.5 years post RNY and my RESTING METABOLIC RATE is right at about 1950 calories a day. I eat 4000-5000 calories a day and have maintained my loss while decreasing my body fat percentage steadily over the past several years. The people on the RNY board who posted "Metabolism is permanently lowered" are the same people who's fat loss floated from their stomach to between their ears...

Go do your thing and keep up the GREAT work. 30 minutes of strength training and cardio will do a lot more for a "Permanently lowered metabolism" than 30 minutes of complaining or speculating about it will... Have an awesome Halloween!!! :)

As for the small sentence and questions on the bottom of your post.... You need to have a good balance of strength training AND cardio. The more muscle you have, the quicker your body will metabolize your food! However, I am not sure how much muscle you are going to put on on 1250 calories a day...

Thanks for the advice. I have thought about upping my calories somewhat and seeing what happens, as I've only lost about 3 lbs in the last month. But I believe things are going my way - I've lost three inches off my waist and 2 off hips and thighs over the last two months, or since I upped the strength training.

I'll just keep doing what I'm doing. I do know that I am stronger than I've been and I see definite progress with my endurance and the weights. I just have no idea what I am actually burning metabolism wise.

my $0.02 is that most people ignore exercise after WLS and those that do exercise often don't focus on strength training, hence:  less muscle = lower metabolism.  google the term "skinny fat" sometime.

I agree - I focused on cardio, cardio in the beginning and still feel a little shaky on the strength training. But i've graduated from the machines to the free weights and pulleys and can see a big difference in my arms, shoulders and abs, as well as my thighs.

I don't have RnY. So my surgery never had malabsorption.

And my metabolism is better than it was pre-op!

I attribute this to strength training but also how fit I am. Fitness is more than having muscles. It includes flexibility, heart health, mobility, balance, etc. So cardio is definitely part of it. But strength training is also part of it.

I decided yesterday to up the cardio and make sure I am doing 5x a week, at least 45 minutes of something cardio, in addition to the mile run and 5 minutes jump rope I do daily.

Truthfully, I think I need to quit worrying, sleep better, and let it run its course. I am physically doing pretty much everything I can, and my food, if not perfect, is high in protein and mostly healthy. When I do drink, I drink low calorie options and I am getting in water water water everyday. I just have a deep rooted fear of not reaching goal and/or gaining weight back.

I have 13 lbs to go.

 Hi there;

Are you by any chance keeping track of calories you burn while exercising? I had RNY Aug 25th 2010 and to date I have lost 159lbs. My bariatric nurse  advised me to up my calories to 1600 cal as I exercise around 3 to 4 hours a day.  But there are days I 'll have a huge caloric deficit -1700 calories. 

I still have 32lbs to reach my goal and the month of October was especially frustrating. I ended the month the same weight as I was at the beginning. I did fluctuate over the month. I had this bright idea (wrong) to vary my caloric intake one day to shock the system. Bad idea. While I thoroughly enjoyed Trader Joe's  Mushroom tarte I ended up eating  547 gr of carbs and the tarte was loaded with sodium so no wonder I ballooned 3.5 lbs of water weight.

CalorieCount.com is an excellent website and you can keep track of not only calories but also activities as well. Also what is very helpful is a BOD POD test. It is one of the best ways to measure %bodyfat and % lean muscle mass

Keep up the good work. It seems you are right on track!  Sarah

Wow, congrats on your weight loss - amazing!!!

I work out about an hour a day normally, first thing in the morning, then an additional hour on Monday and Wednesday nights. If I have a karate event or seminar over the weekend that would be an additional workout depending on what is going on. I also recently added training for a 5K on Sunday afternoons.

I had a bodybugg for a very long time and could see that I was burning 400-500 calories per day on exercise, in addition to the 1900 calories RMR. So my deficit is anywhere from 1000 to 1500 calories a day depending on what is going on, but I only dropped 3 lbs in the month of October. I DID lose more inches off my waist, thighs, and hips than I have in months, though, so I think its definitely a muscle vs. fat thing.

Its just hard sometimes to do "all the right things." I'd like to work out more and get more protein in without getting a whole lot more calories in. But there is that whole full time job and those three kids I have that demand my attention constantly, lol.