Can't get enough calories to exercise...

[BLERDgirl 6,417]

the other thing is in your workout type. for you instead of walking 8 miles or more, just go to 1 mile on an elliptical. it actually gets your heart rate up more and is a great cardio exercise. ( you dont yto use the elliptical per se, but changing the type of exercise rather than the distance. And at those distances a half hour on the elliptical is much stronger of a burn than a 8 mile walk. I hope i made this understandable, i do tend to babble sometimes.

oh and not being healthy on 400 calories? do you not understand how this process works? I am assuming you did some research before getting into this?

This process basically puts you in starvation mode for awhile. that's quite healthy for an obese person. that's what we do. That's a big part of how this works. and no its not bad for your organs, we supplement everything with Vitamins, Calcium, minerals Proteins etc.

Just to piggyback, the super low calories is just temporary. It's also why your team will order routine bloodwork regularly. They are monitoring to prevent organ damage.

[lorilove 38]

Yes, I researched a lot prior to surgery. There is a difference between reading how it works and the reality of it though. My husband is a doctor and he did extensive consideration as well. He has advised me daily and I believe I've done excellent through the process, but was looking for the experience of actual patients and adding calories. It's one thing for docs to give you ideals. It's another to only tolerate what you can each day. Personally, I am choosing to increase calories so I can increase exercise. I don't think that is unreasonable or points to misinformation or lack of research. It's a process. I want to make my process better each day.

I am not trying to walk eight miles a day. I said this only as history.

I do get how it works. Yes, I want to be in ketosis but do not want to be under 700 calories. Was looking for ideas here for adding calories only. I think others have helped and I did get more calories yesterday and exercised today and now working on more calories today.

[lorilove 38]

I love the elliptical idea. I am currently choosing one to add to the treadmill. I do think switching it up will help a lot. I like to walk just because I like it though. I think it will all come together. I already feel way better than the first week out.

[blashlee 509]

A few replies to this topic made me wrinkle my brow a little so I'll just quickly touch on them and voice my opinion.

1. Yes, losing the weight is the desired result of any WLS procedure. "What's the problem?" the problem is starvation isn't going to result in healthy long term weight loss and at only 300-600 cals a day, the body will begin to starve. Fat will be stored, not lost.

2. Calories in = calories out is an archaic way of thinking when it comes to weight loss. It seems that easy, right? Well if it were we wouldn't need to put any other nutrition facts on food labels and doctors and nutritionists would need to set guidelines for fat/protein/etc.They'd just say "Eat this many calories a day and burn at least this many a day and you'll lose this much weight." It doesn't work that way. 100 calories worth of skinless chicken breast will do a different thing to my body than 100 calories of full fat ice cream. All calories are not created equal.

3. The first few weeks after surgery I couldn't manage to get down much more than about a half a yogurt and a Protein shake once or twice a day. It was stressful. I was frustrated. I was tired. Walking my dog down the front path of my apartment complex wiped me out. That was temporary. I'm now running 4-6 miles 3x a week, and exercising for 90 minutes or so in the gym lifting relatively heavy weights on days in between. I very rarely break 1000 cals a day in food, but I've worked out 1100 calories in a run. My Fitness Pal diary entires are skewed because I track my food as it's served to me, and 99% of the time, I don't finish ANYTHING. I dont try to increase my calories if I'm not hungry. That's why I had surgery; to stop me from cleaning my plate and the two next to me. If you're not hungry, it will be harder to increase your calories. Mass gainer will defeat the purpose of what you're trying to achieve from surgery.

4. You will eventually begin to tolerate more food. Your eating frequency may increase due to exercise and your capacity for eating at one sitting will increase. A month post op 2 tbs of Beans and an egg would be all I could tolerate at once. Now I can eat a hamburger patty and apple slices for lunch without much trouble (kids' meal size but still LOL). I agree with some of the suggestions above such as adding yogurt, avocado, cottage cheese etc to smoothies/shakes. Use greek yogurt on foods where you would normally use sour cream; it tastes the same but you're getting Protein and less fat. Make your shakes with milk. Try Fairlife; it's filtered milk that has a lot more protein than regular milk. A tad more expensive for a jug but definitely worth it. Add banana slices to your yogurt if you can tolerate banana and if you're allowed fruit. Bananas are naturally a bit fattier than other fruits and have a few more calories, but are still soft for someone who's still pretty new out from surgery.

I know exactly what you're going through; I didn't workout to my own satisfaction for over a month after surgery because I was too tired and low on food intake and my body was still very busy healing. You'll get there, i promise.

[Alex Brecher 10,484]

Lorilove,

Congratulations on your surgery!

I am assuming you are not trying to get back to walking 8 miles/day immediately? It sounds from your original post like you are (or were at the time of the post) currently doing almost no exercise. So if you got back to exercising, it seems like you might start at a smaller amount, like a mile or 30 minutes or something like that. That might be about (say) 200 calories. I think you would be able to make that up by following some of the others’ suggestions: a Protein shake (sugar-free if the sugar bothers your stomach), or some avocado or Peanut Butter.

Good luck! It sounds like you’re working things out.

[LynnAlex 44]

Lorilove I feel your pain. I love to exercise. I am pre-op and am very interested in the replies you are getting. I have had to temporarily change some things in my life that I consider unhealthy. I was off all diet sodas and artificial sweeteners for several years. It seems i have to take a couple of steps backwards to leap forward. I have to have the artificial sweeteners in my Protein shakes for a month before surgery and possibly 2-3 months after surgery. At that point I can use fruit sparingly and a little Stevia for my shakes, and eventually use dense Protein. I will also have to go backward on my fitness goals. I weighed 235, but usually weighed between 200-210 and have always been in sports. I do long distance cycling, hiking, swimming, kayaking, etc. The problem was I ate too much, way too much. So, it seems like I have to paddle backwards a bit to go forward. I am going to concentrate on my food intake, and let my fitness take second fiddle for about 6 months. I'll continue to walk, and start a couch to 5k run when I am able. I will start a weight lifting program, but I am going to curb my natural desire for cardio (if I can). I will try to introduce more of my fun sports as I lose weight.

[OKCPirate 5,323]

@@lorilove - Congrats on your progress to date. It's still cracking me up that everyone is missing your posts where you clarify that you are not walking 8 miles a day at present (possibly you should edit your original post so people don't comment that it is excessive)

But doing the eight miles PRE-surgery is great because it makes recovery easier. I took it slow and easy for the first month and once I started adding in real food and got my routine going, it made the rest of it much easier. Give yourself some grace, you will get back your stamina. Took me about six weeks, but since I got it, I have not looked back.

[sdocforce 55]

Hi, I am very concerned about exercising as I am now far enough out to be working out regularly. Prior to surgery I was walking 8 miles a day and felt I could do more but stopped at the 8 due to time constraints, life, etc.

I was sleeved July 4th and I just can't seem to get enough calories to facilitate regular exercise. Add to that the heat and Water needs.

Any suggestions? Did anyone have this problem and find a way around it? I am currently between 300-600 calories with the low end being on days I focus on Water. I want to eat enough for exercise but right now I don't have enough calories to even sustain a normal day sans exercise.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Depending on what you are doing, you just have to choose high Protein Snacks to accomodate your needs, hard boiled eggs, cheese sticks, nuts and nut butters, and there is alway good ole Protein shakes. You just have to eat more frequently. Since we can't eat much at once that is the only way around it. The trick is of course if you fall off the activity wagon...so must the snacking...Because the extra calories will find their way onto your frame if you are not using them for something constructive, like training for a marathon or something else that requires the bigger load. Best of luck.

Right after surgery I couldn't run the way I wanted and realized it was because I needed more calories. I was passing out at work. NOT GOOD! So I started adding those type of high Protein Snacks into my daily intake...Walah...no more passing out and able to run longer distances and faster pace. Then I decided to take up couch sitting again! Problem... because I had really gotten used to my 6 meals/ snacks a day. Well about 8 lbs came back on rather aggressively! I finally dedicated myself again to the caloric needs of my state and at least stabilized the gain. Then shortly after decided I really needed to get back on the wagon and needed a goal that would get me motivated again. I would love to weigh 160, but I'm not sure I can maintain it. So instead I picked a fitness goal...I have been training for my first 1/2 marathon in November. I can do about 1/2 of it now. My weight is hanging on around 178 which is still 4 lbs up from my lowest loss wt. But I did recently reorganize my meals/snacks to be higher in protein and reduced the CRAP! I'm stronger, leaner, my clothes are looser and I can run 6.3 miles at once...WHOOOP...WHOOOP...perhaps a wt of 160 and size 10 are not in my future.???? (Those are my imaginary euphoric numbers). I'm trying to be ecstatic about the achievments I'm making even if they are not on the scale.

thanks for your support everybody!

sas

Edited August 5, 2015 by sdocforce