SV and the Importance of Changing Things Up

I woke up to a huge 4lb loss this morning bringing my total weight lost to over 170lbs. My weight for the last month or so has been slowly going down but up and down between the same 6 or 7 lbs. I changed things up this week and it showed up big on the scale and in my body. 

Your body gets used to the same stuff over and over again. The same workouts, the same foods, the same shakes, even the same drinking pattern. This week I changed a bunch of things, but here are the few I think had the most significant impact:

- I start my day with 16oz of water as soon as I wake up. I chug down the whole thing, well not chug really but chug for someone with VSG

- as soon as tha****er is down I drink my protein shake and this week I changed the recipes I was drinking and stopped adding instant coffee to them

- eating low carb protein before my workout and protein with a few carbs after my workout

- changed up my supplement schedule and supplement stack this week

- changed my workouts, more HIIT this week and changed my traditional weight training to a round robin circuit with less rest in between

Who says change isn't a good thing?

You are right.  I do tend to notice things ramp when I change my routine up.  Unfortunately its never predictable which way the ramp goes.  For me, getting stuck in a rut or a pattern tends to cause me to start letting bad habits and complacency creep in.

When I first started travelling for work again, I would notice that on my travel day I would have a huge weight loss even though I was drinking more water and eating more calories.  I loved those days - even though I am trying to maintain.  Over the next few days it would creep back up.

BY summer, that pattern had changed to a gain on those days.  Same calories and same water - next they show a gain.  Sometimes a 2 lb gain, as high as 4, and it would taper back down over the next couple of days.

The point of my story - keep your head in the game.  Whats important are the trends - whats the long term slope. Spikes up and down are perfectly normal.  There are a lot of things that show up on the scale - not just fat and muscle and sinew.  Water show sup on the scale, feces in your intestine (TMI I kow - But I have had what I call "weight loss BMs" where a particularly south park sized bathroom event makes a nice change on the scale), lots of things.

1 lb of fat = 3500 calories.  Just like on the days that I gained 4 lbs overnight I know I did not ingest 14,000 extra calories I have to remember that I didn't burn 14,000 calories on the days I lost 4 lbs.  Its tempting to look for magic bullets and say "I did this and I lost 4 lbs the next day so If I do this again I will lose another 4".  It doesn't always work that way.

I like to change things up just to keep me on my toes and keep my mind engaged.  Otherwise I go on auto-pilot and that tends to always lead me to the path of least resistance.

I do watch the trend and my overall month to month trend has always been going in the right direction. I am reasonably certain most of what I gave up yesterday is water I have been retaining because I have not change what I am eating/drinking/exercising, just when, order, etc. So its not like I am experimenting with carb cycling or fasting or anything like I have in the past.

I made some small changes that I had read about from very successful body builders like the 16oz of water immediately when you wake up, 30g of protein within 30 mins of waking up, the HIIT workouts. I changed my supplement stack a bit too to include some things like CLA, ALA, Green Tea extract that again according to successful body builders help to promot fat burning. I have a very fast recovery when it comes to my heart rate, which makes intense cardio less successful for me because to burn fat with cardio you need to keep your heart rate up. So I have incorporated some things like breathing etc, to keep my heart rate up during recover instead of letting it drop all the way down. I think this is where my biggest change came from this week, simply more effective workouts. I don't think I will see the same result next week, but hopefully I have breathed new life into my downward trend.

I recover quickly too - thats why I do a lot of intervals when I am on the treadmill or elliptical.  It proves very effective for me.  When I am running outside, I try to do intervals as well.  Those I vary depending on whether I am trying to build endurance or speed.  I never work on both at the same time. I am lucky to have an awesome Exercise Physiologist at my weight loss surgeons center that takes a look at my workout logs (including HRM data) and helps me train for specific goals and designs workouts with me.

Yeah, I would say that is the biggest thing I have added is the interval. I have a nice no-nonsense/no-excuse run I do at a bare minimum, it takes 20 mins, 5 min walk, 30 sec sprint, 3 min jog, 30 sec sprint, 1 min walk, repeat starting with the sprint 3 times. I can never have a reason not to do it. But I think the intervals are what's moving the scale so nicely again.

Yesterday I did a 1 minutes 7 mph sprint at a 15% incline for one of my intervals at my Orange Theory class. That was a tough one.

Ya know, it just makes me shake my head how people think that overweight people are lazy and just don't want to exercise.  I'm amazed at how many people on this forum have seriously jumped into pretty intense exercise once their weight has started to come off.  Lazy people don't do that.  For years I kept trying to explain to people/doctors/etc...that I didn't get much exercise because I was always so physically full of food.  It's like trying to do some effective exercise right after eating Thanksgiving dinner.  I ate every meal like it was Thanksgiving dinner.  It just doesn't work.  I needed to be able to get my eating under control before I could attempt any kind of serious exercise.  And I, like so many people on this forum, am SO looking forward to getting back into my walking/hiking routine again.  I LOVE EXERCISE!

Jane

I have to tell you when I read the heading I was a little leery because I'm not one for the typical "switching it up" we read about here. However, what your are talking about is really just good practice and has a solid foundation in science.

I change my workout on a weekly basis. I never do two weeks in a row of the same workout. I do however do the same cardio over and over because I like it, but I change the intensity, length of time, distance, etc.... every other day.

I'm pretty steady with my food though. I eat a lot of the same things, but go for different flavors. Really I eat a lot of chicken and lean beef with a variety of vegetables. I eat some fruit daily and some lower GI carbs, too. The protein snack/meal before and after workout is truly the way to go - especially for us with extra fat to lose. My RD and surgeon have touted that over carbs before your workout from day one with me.

I, too, drink water first thing in the morning, but I do about 8 oz with my vites and then follow that with my protein shake. I'll eat 2 or 3 hours after that.

I'm curious to know how you end up liking the addition of CLA. I use it, too. (But have not been great getting it in the past two weeks - not sure why). I noticed that it really curbed my hunger after I had taken it consistently for a week or two. Also, at the suggestion of Dr. C I have added L Carnatine to my daily vitamin regimen. I take it before any other vites and with my firs****er of the day. I do think it has helped with protein absorption and a bit of muscle production.

Great post and a great way to share the type of changes that really work and support continued weight and more specifically, fat loss!

I have a hard time being consistent with the CLA too for some reason. The brand I have the pills are huge so if I am not in the mood to take them I end up not taking them. I take l-carnitine too. I have also read we should take acetyl-carnitine as well. I also take ALA, BCAA,, glutamine, and creatine. I have had a rough time keeping my heart rate up so this week I am experimenting with the old school ECA stack. It made a huge difference in the gym yesterday and today, but have had some weird dizzy spells because of it. Too much too soon is what I am thinking. I think the ECA is what showed up on the scale this morning.  I found out you can get the E part from Bronkaid, an over the counter asthma med. ECA is generally thought of as the most effective fat burner ever or so I have read. Not planning to use it very long but it has made my cardio endurance much better. I was running 7 mph at a 15% incline for 1 minute sprint yesterday. 

Ive seen this recommendation of adding L Carnitine by our forum's sponsor several times before. There are NUMEROUS caveats for certain individuals where L-carnitine as a supplement should NEVER be used. If a meat eater, on a PPI /H2blocker. other medications, other medical conditions...should only be used under medical supervision.  

I can't find the recent Medscape e-newsletter I subscribe to warning of supplementing L-carnitine and TMAOs..but a quick google  showed up this comprehensive article

http://www.businessinsider.com/l-carnitine-makes-steak-unhea lthy-2013-4.

prolly why I prefer/ed gettin my protein and healthy fats AND l-carnitine from carbs inc animal carbs (dairy) all these years. I am tryin really hard to moderate my dairy intake now. So eventually can abstain from them. Super hard for this cheesy carb lovin rat ,-) Progress not perfection right! 

sides nutrigenomics, lengthenin telomeres , avoiding TMAOs, and and and blah blah blah ,-) are high on my post op dietary list...not weight loss anymore thank goodness.