Bad Day - Adjusting to New Job

I agree! Tomorrow is a new day... It's always hard to get use to a schedule your not normally on. I'm doing the same now. Started a boot camp... On those days I'm supposed to eat more and I'm having trouble finding things that I'm supposed to eat to give me enough energy... My dietician at the hospital is no help at all besides telling me not to do the boot camp! So when my schedule gets screwed up on those days... It completely messes me up cause I don't eat enough and end up almost passing out at my workout! Hope it gets better for you

Eat more fats on those days. Fats are what you want to feed your body for energy right now. Avocados, almonds, peanut butter, flax seed oil, etc.

Keith... I'm so confused! I was told by my trainer that I need more carbs to make it through my workouts. I showed up there with a powerade zero and they said I needed regular powerade during my workouts. It's hard for me to always eat a certain way and then be told by them to do something different lol. I ate a protein bar before my last workout and for some reason it made me feel really bad. I got the sweats after eating it and felt like I needed to lay down... It was strange.. Needless to say I won't eat that again!

Not Keith, obviously, but keep in mind trainers are not nutritionists. Plus they are typically unfamiliar with our nutritional needs as WLS patients. I have many disagreements with my trainer about food, and I follow my surgeon's plan, not my trainer's. For some of us, more carbs is a slippery slope. Your body can use fat for energy. Large amounts of carbs are not necessary.

I've been studying this issue, and the consensus seems to be that if your workouts are less than 2-3 hours you shouldn't need additional carbs...  

I've tested this on myself during long-distance cycling events, and it's right (for me).  I can go hard for 3 hours before I hit the wall.  Then I bonk hard.  So I know that if my workout or event will last 2.5+ hours I need to get on the carbs and stay on them until the end and a bit after to recover.  Using this strategy I've been able to do 125 mile bike rides at a pretty high pace (average 15-18mph) and not bonk.

During hard exercise the body can only process 200-300 Calories per hour.  If the exercise is intense, you'll need the carbs... if it's pretty low level, and long (say a long walk) you may not need any.

You'll need to experiment for yourself, but for anything under 1 hour, carbs *during* the workout will have very little effect.  I've done the bonking experiment a couple times, and while it's not very pleasant, at least you know where your limits are.

-Tom

 

First keep in mind that trainers know basic textbook nutrition and not much more than you can get from a pamphlet at whole foods. They are right that if you were an athlete and totally in shape you would need/want more carbs. However you have been obese for some period of time and as obese people we are sensitive to blood sugar spikes and insulin resistant. Therefore we need fewer carbs than most people. That may change but I can tell you right now that I am in the best shape of my life I get some form of cardio 5-6 days per week plus I lift weights another 4 days per week and any time I increase my carbs to anywhere near 100g I actually gain weight. There is something about our physiology that makes carbs a bad thing for us. Most trainers have little knowledge of obesity outside of what the media and popular opinion profess. Many nutritionists do not fully understand the WLS issues either so unless you are working with someone from a WLS doctor's office or someone with many success stories with severely obese people, you need to find a new one.

Now with your trainer its up to you to level set his advice. What he is really saying is that you need more fuel than you are consuming. For VSG/WLS patients we strive to get into ketosis where we burn fat for fuel. We do this by eating low carb and performing low intensity cardio exercises like walking...a lot! Now since our body is in tune to burning fat (for at least the first year) it only makes sense that if you give it more fat (fat that it doesn't have to convert from body fat), it will burn that first for fuel. The great thing is that it doesn't take a lot to make that happen and guess what when your body is done burning nutritional fat its already in fat burning mode and it will go right for body fat. The other great thing about burning body fat for fuel is that our bodies are very inefficient in burning fat so for every calorie of fat that we burn it takes 1/2 a calorie of energy to burn the 1 calorie of fat and our body tosses the other 1/2 calorie. So that is why if you only drink water and you are in fat burning mode your urine will be darker and may even smell bad, your breath will stink, and you may have increased body odor.

So eat more fat. Read up on ketogenic diets, its a very simple concept. Keep your carbs as low as you can. It is true we need some carbs but for us we need to keep them low.

So my advice to you is before you workout, eat a handful of almonds (raw unsalted is the best, but really any will do, try not to get anything with added sugar), almond butter is a good thing too. Any nuts really. Peanuts are the least beneficial.

With protein bars be careful, many of them have lots of sugar and are basically glorified candy bars that taste like ass. You have to look at the net carb count on protein bars and if its more than 6 forget it. Sounds like you ate one that was loaded with sugar and may have dumped a bit. Quest bars are the best in my opinion but if you go to GNC or Vitamin Shoppe and ask for help finding low carb options. Also you would want to eat something like that AFTER your workout. 

Thanks so much Keith!

I can imagine it must really screw with your routine to go from working from home to having to commute. It will take you a little time to adjust, but I am confident you will get it figured out. Don't beat yourself up; just do the best you can.

I try to walk at lunch time. That at least helps some for the day. I eat at my desk so that I can get outside for my long.... Half hour lunch! I figure anything helps. Good luck Keith!

Adjusting to a new job is always stressful.  But in a week or two you'll be back in the swing of it.  So be gentle with yourself, and know that your commitment to your health is strong enough that you will make it work.

best wishes,

Carol