I have been going to the gym a couple of times a week. I'm 5 weeks post RNY. My surgeon gave the green light after 2 weeks (no weights or core exercises) so I've been doing elliptical, huge stair stepper thing, and walking or jogging.

I just watched Dr V.'s video on Why You Should Not go to a gym after WLS. He is taking about the period after surgery for about 6 months. it actually makes sense and he says surgeons and their teams who tell us to go to the gym and workout are wrong.

Dr. V. says it leads to hunger & weight loss stalls, among other things, since we cannot consume enough calories.

So- are you exercising? What are you doing and when did you start?

not sure if I should save money and forego the gym for a while and just go walking around my neighborhood. Thoughts??

Ok, we posted at about the same time

Ok, so you had a ton of exercise on limited calories, but only regained a bit. Not bad!

I suspect you are the poster child for how it is SUPPOSED to happen Food for thought... thanks!

"Yes! If I wanted to stay in the 120's I would have to eat 1000-1200 per day! If I'm happy with 135-140 I can eat more than 2000! Crazy!"
Ok this is a quote from you, Jess, from the other thread. It kinda shows what I mean. You lost to the 120's, but when you started eating, it went up to 135. Now, you seem to have made the right decision to stay put and be happy. But what if you continued striving after that 120? You'd be struggling and miserable.
So, yes, your example shows set point and the idea of the body needing to rebuild after hitting goal.
My concern is if people spend their entire weight loss phase living on, say, low carb and low fat.. protein shakes and artificial sugar, then exercise on top of it, then they will be so depleted that they may regain 50lbs while their body tries to heal the damage.
We should all attempt to eat for a strong, healthy body, not just weight loss, and if we consume enough of the right fuel, then exercise and muscle building can come easily, and the body can stay happy and nourished throughout.

I said 120's not 120. I lost to 128. And regained 7lbs. And I gained them over eight months from about month 18-24.

I am not sure what damage you are talking about. I was for and healthy and still am and still eat low carb and artificial sugar and protein shakes. And run 20-30 miles per week and 5-6 hours of yoga per week.

I'm not getting your point?

Are you saying that if I kept trying to lose those 7 lbs I would throw in the towel and gain 50? All because I started exercising at 4 weeks out?

I'm not following that logic.

I'm sorry, I think I have ideas coming from about 4 directions, so it's coming out disjointed.

You seem to have your s*** together, so I'm not really talking about you, except to see how much of my theory holds water when reflected against your case.

I apologize, I thought you regained 15, must have been someone else. 7 isn't bad at all!

What my underlying thinking is... if we deplete our body.. take calcium from bones, protein from muscles, fat from cell membranes, essentially from malnourishment during the weight loss phase, then when we "refeed", the body tends to store body fat along with the calcium, protein and fat that are being replenished.

So, not knowing how much fat an individual is likely to store while building back up, I threw out the 50lb number. Maybe it's a tiny bit.. 7 pounds might cover it. (And I have no doubt your 7 pounds isn't body fat, but the calcium, protein, etc).

But for other people, they regain 7, and they may freak out. THEN they change their behavior.

Anyway, with that hopefully explained more fully, I just wonder if we eat well, don't push TOO hard, whether we can avoid the need to rebuild, and therefore avoid regain.

You exercise so much that the minute you regain a pound of body fat, you burn it back off. That's why your 7 pounds is calcium and such. Someone else that isn't exercising so much is going to keep the body fat AND calcium weight. THAT is the regain that is at issue.

I'm sorry, I think I have ideas coming from about 4 directions, so it's coming out disjointed.
You seem to have your s*** together, so I'm not really talking about you, except to see how much of my theory holds water when reflected against your case.
I apologize, I thought you regained 15, must have been someone else. 7 isn't bad at all!
What my underlying thinking is... if we deplete our body.. take calcium from bones, protein from muscles, fat from cell membranes, essentially from malnourishment during the weight loss phase, then when we "refeed", the body tends to store body fat along with the calcium, protein and fat that are being replenished.
So, not knowing how much fat an individual is likely to store while building back up, I threw out the 50lb number. Maybe it's a tiny bit.. 7 pounds might cover it. (And I have no doubt your 7 pounds isn't body fat, but the calcium, protein, etc).
But for other people, they regain 7, and they may freak out. THEN they change their behavior.
Anyway, with that hopefully explained more fully, I just wonder if we eat well, don't push TOO hard, whether we can avoid the need to rebuild, and therefore avoid regain.

Well, I did say 120's so you probably thought 120. I couldn't remember where knew it was upper 120's so just looked it up to clarify. So now I'm more specific.

Anyhow... as for malnourishment and taking calcium from bones and protein from muscles... well simply didn't happen in my case. My surgeon does a dexa scan pre op and then at a year which happened to coincide with me reaching my lowest.

My bone density was the same (I was good about dairy and calcium pills, magnesium and vitamin D). My lean body mass increased (exercise, running, yoga combined with meeting my protein goals).

Here's the thing... There's a great chance science will prove your theory correct or partially correct someday FOR SOME PEOPLE.

It wasn't true FOR ME.

Already we are discovering genes that show who can eat saturated fat and not gain weight who is more sensitive. Genetics seem at play in "type 2" (are you aware they have identified like nine types?) diabetes and insulin resistance. People WILL NOT respond the same way to the same diets.

One day we will laugh at how simplistic our view of calories in/calories out was. This is why I say try and see what makes YOUR blood work (A1C, triglycerides, cholesterol) and energy level and hunger level and body fat percentage and such GET BETTER. Do a real experiment not just theorizing and listening to everyone else make educated guesses.

My Surgeon pushed the exercise but he told me to find something I liked to do. Well, I am a person that as I call it: B888s to the wall or nothing!! I started walking as soon as I was released. Well before if you count the walking the halls I did. I started out slow. I also got to my goal weight in 6 months actually I went below. I have gained 10#'s back but 7 of them was the loss to 117#'s. Now I weigh 125 to 127. am I happy about the 10 pound gain? NOT but that is something I will work on. I now walk 3 to 4 miles 3 to 4 times a week. I really feel like exercise is my saving grace. I didn't eat bread, rice, corn etc until Around the last year and a half. Mainly because I couldn't handle so many foods due to having Strictures. That really held back the foods that I could eat!! I almost lived on oatmeal, cheese, crackers and CHEETOS. All known by my DR. He was getting concerned when I kept losing and couldn't eat. I am now 4 years out and just now I can tolerate a steak!! YAY me but it defintly needs to be above tender!! BTW I am 5.4 and my starting weight was 249#'s. Before I had lost done from 285 to the 249. But if you ask me if I would do this again? My anwser would be YES with EVERYTHING inside of me!!!

Even your statements "eat well" (plant based? Low carb? Moderate carb? Low fat? Whole food? Gluten free? Non GMO?) who defines that? There's a whole protein a holic thread on here.

And don't push "too hard" how do you quantify that? Walking a mile a day? 10,000 steps? Yoga? Crossfit? Where does too hard start?

BTW this is all food for thought. I'm not arguing with your theories.

It's just you want to put me outside of them as someone with "good sense" or something. But we are all different. Why discourage exercise when someone else might be just like me?

1 minute ago, jess9395 said:

But we are all different. Why discourage exercise when someone else might be just like me?

People like you won't be discouraged by people like me

"Too hard", unfortunately only becomes obvious after the fact. Lol.

3 hours ago, Berry78 said:

We should all attempt to eat for a strong, healthy body, not just weight loss, and if we consume enough of the right fuel, then exercise and muscle building can come easily, and the body can stay happy and nourished throughout.

Absolutely.

2 hours ago, jess9395 said:

There's a whole Protein a holic thread on here.

Yes there is!!??

People like you won't be discouraged by people like me [emoji6]
"Too hard", unfortunately only becomes obvious after the fact. Lol.

But they might be like me in some ways but not others--like physically like me but not mentally.

And I think too hard is different for everyone.

Yes there is!![emoji4][emoji4]

And I think plant based works for many people but it isn't the answer for everyone. I think there are many answers.

I love the discussion here. I do think some of is is individual metabolism. For me, I'm a natural born slug and if I can keep losing while not having to kill myself exercising, then I'm all in with that plan.