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What is the fastest way to reduce body fat without losing my muscle size?



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The three most important things after undergoing weight loss surgery, or for dieting for that matter is to make sure you are meeting your Protein, Fluid and Vitamin daily requirements.

If you lose weight, your body might start to consume your muscle mass in order to steal the energy it needs to survive. Thus you could lose muscle unless you make sure you supplement your Protein.< /p>

As you lose weight and the fat cells dissolve, they need to be flushed through your system, your kidneys and into your urine. So you need plenty of fluids to allow this flushing process to work properly.

Your body produces Vitamins from the food that you consume (unless you undergo RNY). So if you diet, you are starving your body from the Vitamins that you need. Therefore Vitamin and mineral supplements are required.

Also exercise is important, your muscle mass will decrease quickly without physical activity.

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Talk to a nutritionist. Post op people will never be able to eat enough Protein to maintain the muscle mass they had pre-op. Keep the goal weight in mind as determined by your physician, eat Protein proportionate to that level, and I wouldn't recommend starting a weight lifting program earlier than 6 mos post op.

Keep in mind, everyone's experience is different.

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Ask you Dr about weight lifting. I was cleared to start lifting weight at 6 weeks.

I was consuming over 80 grams of Protein a day from my 2nd day home.

I normally consume over 110 grams of Protein a day, sometimes reaching much higher.

If you make protein your priority and you are smart about how you consume it, you can easily eat enough protein to maintain your muscle mass.

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Protein, Water, and exercise. Out of curiosity, why are you in such a hurry?

Ditto!

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Lypo......well, you said fastest. <_<

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Talk to a nutritionist. Post op people will never be able to eat enough Protein to maintain the muscle mass they had pre-op. Keep the goal weight in mind as determined by your physician, eat Protein proportionate to that level, and I wouldn't recommend starting a weight lifting program earlier than 6 mos post op.

Keep in mind, everyone's experience is different.

I gained 7 pounds of muscle while losing a total of 113 pounds.

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Lypo......well, you said fastest. <_<

Heh. What you lose in fat you gain in Water though. It takes months for the swelling to go down and to have visible results.

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Talk to a nutritionist. Post op people will never be able to eat enough Protein to maintain the muscle mass they had pre-op. Keep the goal weight in mind as determined by your physician, eat Protein proportionate to that level, and I wouldn't recommend starting a weight lifting program earlier than 6 mos post op.

Keep in mind, everyone's experience is different.

I respectfully disagree. One month post surgery I started lifting again. Now I kept it light at first, but increased weight by 10% per week until I hit my max, and I retest my max once a month now. With shakes, I can get to 125g of protein on heavy lift days.

@@jnw - I think you are probably correct if you are a competitive power lifter, and I would not suggest doing HITT training until several months post surgery.

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I have next to nothing body fat %...very low, considered in the "Athletic" range.

Once upon a time my triglycerides, cholesterol, etc, were through the roof so much so I suffered from coronary artery disease (clogged arteries) resulting in heart surgery. Not to mention type 2 diabetes and high blood pressure all directly related to body fat.

After surgery, I made it a passion to loose body fat...forget BMI's, they tell me very little.

Yes I was in a hurry, it was a sprint...my LIFE depended on it...

Anyway, my approach was this....

As hunter-gatherers, we store fat as an energy source during times of plenty, to use during times of famine.

Problem is, we keep on storing it and never use it.

With that in mind, I set out to use the stored fat for energy...I would go to the gym every morning. on an empty stomach. (other than ample water) and do a rigorous workout on the elliptical or treadmill.

After my workout, I would have a high Protein recovery shake.

If I ate before a workout, then that would have been my energy source for that workout. If I ate right after a workout, then I would brake even, replacing what I just used.

It definitely worked for me. I googled this once and found it is a popular practice.

Should add, all my bloodwork is normal, no more diabetes, and my cardiologist is always amazed when he sees me....and I know he talks to other Dr.'s about me.

And it all started with Weight Loss Surgery.

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Talk to a nutritionist. Post op people will never be able to eat enough Protein to maintain the muscle mass they had pre-op. Keep the goal weight in mind as determined by your physician, eat Protein proportionate to that level, and I wouldn't recommend starting a weight lifting program earlier than 6 mos post op.

Keep in mind, everyone's experience is different.

I gained 7 pounds of muscle while losing a total of 113 pounds.

I guess I was speaking more from my personal experiences. As a former amateur competitive power lifter I was used to eating 300g of protein a day or more on a 7000+ calorie diet. I couldn't possibly and never will be able to eat that much in a day now with 75% of my stomach missing.

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Talk to a nutritionist. Post op people will never be able to eat enough Protein to maintain the muscle mass they had pre-op. Keep the goal weight in mind as determined by your physician, eat Protein proportionate to that level, and I wouldn't recommend starting a weight lifting program earlier than 6 mos post op.

Keep in mind, everyone's experience is different.

I gained 7 pounds of muscle while losing a total of 113 pounds.

I guess I was speaking more from my personal experiences. As a former amateur competitive power lifter I was used to eating 300g of protein a day or more on a 7000+ calorie diet. I couldn't possibly and never will be able to eat that much in a day now with 75% of my stomach missing.

Well you are certainly a special case. Most of us go into a situation where we needed surgery by eating loads of carbs and not enough protein and nutritious foods.

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    • LeighaTR

      I am new here today... and only two weeks out from my sleeve surgery on the 23rd. I am amazed I have kept my calories down to 467 today so far... that leaves me almost 750 left for dinner and maybe a snack. This is going to be tough for two weeks... but I have to believe I can do it!
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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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