Exercise, Nutrition, WLS & Cooking Q&A - 10/18/2013
I am here to help in whatever way I can.
Disclaimer: I am not a doctor (yet). I am not a nutritionist (yet), I am not a personal trainer (yet). I am not a psychologist (yet). I am not a chef (but a pretty damn good cook). I have however read, watched, researched, and experimented extensively over the past several years, so whatever advice I dispense, take it for what it is worth.
Keith, I am new to the forum. Just had my sleeve done 10/14 (Monday). Your posts are one of the reasons I went for it. Called a lightweight by WLS standards, I have about 60 pounds to lose. Lost 35 pre-op thank goodness. I depend on the info you post and get great ideas from you. Please don't stop sharing valuable information. You've walked the walk and I can learn from your experience. Yesterday, struggling to get something in, I warmed up some chicken broth and put a scoop of unflavored protein powder in it. Yuck. The powder curdled. Beyond nasty. Having a really hard time getting in enough water. Just sip all day long. Did manage to down one shake. Also take meds that have to be crushed. Very nasty to swallow. Put them in a little unsweetened applesauce (not allowed yet), and still very hard to get down. Everything seems like such a challenge right now. My surgeon only removed 70% of my stomach, so I feel like I have a very generous pouch. Hope this doesn't hinder my weight loss and regaining my health. I walk and piddle around the house right now. Looking forward to walking outside soon. Just resting, sipping, walking, repeat at this time. Any sage advice?
First, congrats on the surgery, in a month or so it will all seem like a distant bad memory.
Everything is hard right now, it takes time to heal and it takes time for the swelling to go down, so getting anything down is a battle.
The reason your protein curddled is because you need to temper it, adding it to warm water first, mix it up and then you can add it to hot. That aside the easiest way to get protein and water is is IsoPure Zero Carb RTD (ready to drink). They do not taste that great but you can add Mio to them to make them taste better. They are 20oz of very smooth liquid and they have 40 g of whey isolate in them. They do not smell great so hold your breath when you sip them. They are very thin like water so they go down easily. That's how you get through the first couple of weeks and then you can move on to regular protein shakes. Also RTDs are much better way to go right now because they are usually thinner than something you can mix. Head over to Vitamin Shoppe and they have a cooler full of singles you can buy and try so you don't have to commit to a case, including IsoPure. Read the labels and make sure what you are considering is low carb.
For water you just have to keep taking baby sips all day long.
For the meds mix some water and Mio long with them, shake them up really well and gun them down. Make it a small amount of water like 2 or 3 oz and try to get it down in one.
70% stomach doesn't really mean much because that could be the same size pouch as a 40f bougie. Did your surgeon not use a bougie during the surgery. I think you will be fine to be honest, unless you know how big your stomach was in the first place what does 30% mean anyway. Bottom line is that it is smaller. It not the size of the tool, its how you swing the hammer.
Why can't you walk outside now? I was walking around Can****he day I got out of the hospital.
Hi, Keith. Sorry taking so long to reply. Bilateral ear infection cleared up for now. Much more active and feeling sooo much better/stronger last couple of days. I'm ready to rock and roll. Have to admit I am sick of liquids, but will follow doc's orders until visit this Weds. I lost 35 pounds pre-op, and will continue on my journey to good health. By the way, I have a boy's name, but I am a lady. Have worked out the med thing, sipping more water, and staying on liquid diet for now. I am so excited to have had the VSG and want to lose all the co-morbidities associated with overweight. Life is good. God bless and have a great day tomorrow. Can't wait to be released by Doc to start working out at the gym. Will walk in interim.
I'm trying to move my workouts to six days a week and I'm having a difficult time figuring out how to eat low carb and have the energy I need. I was fine and energetic before I started trying to workout so often but I absolutely don't want to stop working out. At the same time, I still can't eat that much even though it's been almost six months since surgery. How do I eat enough to have energy and support my workouts? I almost fainted working out this morning due to low blood sugar.
Details: I average around 1100 calories a day. But this is before working out. Three days a week I jog for an hour plus ab work, and three days a week resistance workouts. Every day I do physical therapy for a bad left arm which also includes some resistance. I think myfitnesspal overestimates calories burned but even with that, the hour jog is definitely burning at least 500 calories. In a few weeks I want to begin training for half marathon which will mean running five-six days a week.
By the way, the inspiration behind trying to work out every day is you Keith, because I see so many of your posts with titles about no need for rest days. And I honestly don't think I need to rest more than one day a week. I feel antsy when I take weekends off.
Okay, SO, I feel I may not be eating enough calories. My energy has taken a huge hit and weight loss has actually stopped, although that doesn't bother me (yet). But the only way I know to get in a huge calorie burst is by eating something high carbs. Trying to get extra calories from fat without carbs is very hard to do because fatty foods take longer to digest which means I can't keep eating. The exception is peanut butter which unfortunately gives me the runs but is both high fat and high protein.
It would be really easy to say eat more carbs, but I am not going to say that. Your primary objective is still to lose fat and the way to do that is keep your carbs low. Whatever carbs you do eat (within your plan that is) should be eaten after your workout, this helps to carry protein into your muscles for repair/recovery. You should always eat some protein 30-60 mins before your workout and 30-60 mins after your workout.
Fats are the way to go, nuts and nut butter are only one source of fats. Eat full fat yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese, get some olive oil, avocado, flax, etc. The other thing I do is I stagger my workouts. So I will workout Monday evening and then again Tuesday morning, then not again until wednesday evening. That is a rest day between even though it look like I worked out mon, tue, wed. What happens here is that I have energy from the food I ate during the day for my evening workout, then I get a good nights sleep and protein after my workout and again before my next workout. 6 of my 10 workouts a week are HIIT cardio and 4 are heavy weights. You don't need a lot of energy for a weight workout, an hour in the gym is only 200-300 calories. Also when I use HIIT I can cut my workout time down significantly. So instead of a 60 min jog I can do it in 20-30 mins and get more out of it.
As you get closer to your goal you can look at adding more carbs or carb cycling. For now I think low carb is still the way to go. Also you may want to consider eating paleo recipes a couple times a week, they are more calorically dense then typical low carb meals while still being pretty low carb. I made some paleo "oatmeal" a couple of weeks ago. The small bowl I had was like 700 calories.
Also don't think about the energy have or don't have right now as a function of the carbs/fat. Its your body not being used to what you are doing about it. The fuel part will come during your exercise. So you will get 3/4 of the way through and run out of gas, that is when it is nutrition based.
I do want to clarify one thing I never said you don't need a rest day. You do need them, two would be best. I have one day that I do nothing and I have one day that I have a light run that I also consider a rest day. I shoot for 10 workouts per week it just so happens that I have two days that I only have 1 workout on each and one is very light, so I do get rest days. In fact today is a rest day.
Thanks for the great advice. I love the way you stagger the workouts. Thanks for clarifying that if I run out of fuel while exercising then it is a nutritional problem but if I'm really tired afterwards this is the body catching up with the activity. I usually have energy when I exercise. I will make sure to eat protein before and protein carbs after.
