VSG Post-op: How many calories should I be burning at the gym?

[Rose400491 61]

Age: 20

Sleeved: 10/17/17

HW: 300

CW: 228

I’m eating about 800 calories a day. How much should I be shooting to burn at the gym?

[Kat410 423]

Forget about burning calories - that is not how this works.

Get your attention on goals that increase strength, flexibility and endurance.

Weightloss will be mostly nutritionally driven, not exercise driven.

And you can support your nutrition by getting stronger and fitter.

[jess9395 5,450]

Yes! Ditto!

Plus most calorie burn estimates are inaccurate.

[TakingABreak 2,733]

15 hours ago, Kat410 said:

Forget about burning calories - that is not how this works.

Get your attention on goals that increase strength, flexibility and endurance.

Weightloss will be mostly nutritionally driven, not exercise driven.

And you can support your nutrition by getting stronger and fitter.

I mean, I agree that you are going to loose the most weight by what you are consuming, vs. burning. But I don't think that is all the right advice. Because eventually, your body will adjust to your calorie and nutritional input and it won't be enough to sustain weight loss.

@Rose400491 I'd say that you need to have at least 30 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week. Getting your heart rate within reason.

Age	Target HR Zone 50-85%	Average Maximum Heart Rate, 100%
20 years	100-170 beats per minute (bpm)	200 bpm
30 years	95-162 bpm	190 bpm
35 years	93-157 bpm	185 bpm
40 years	90-153 bpm	180 bpm
45 years	88-149 bpm	175 bpm
50 years	85-145 bpm	170 bpm
55 years	83-140 bpm	165 bpm
60 years	80-136 bpm	160 bpm
65 years	78-132 bpm	155 bpm
70 years	75-128 bpm	150 bpm

[jess9395 5,450]

I disagree with @ashash and I am a huge exercise proponent. I run 15-20 miles a week and do 4-5 hours of yoga classes. And I can easily gain weight doing all that.

Weight is lost in the kitchen not the gym. Exercise is to build muscle and to improve cardiovascular health. If you build muscle you will burn more calories. Exercise can also help with maintenance and can definitely be an adjunct to assist weight loss, but it can also increase appetite so it’s usually a wash.

That said.... even if you want to add exercise to help with weight loss, I would argue that setting your goal by how many calories you burn is rarely helpful. First of all, most calorie burn estimates are inaccurate whether they are from tracking software or cardio machines. Second, if you look at exercise as calories burned then you miss a wonderful opportunity to learn to love (or at least enjoy) exercise as anything other than a means to subtract food. Exercise is a great opportunity to set non scale goals... to look to improve endurance or strength or flexibility or coordination... why look at it as “burning calories?” It’s an area we can succeed in to improve our health without it being about the scale or those numbers.

[Healthy_life2 8,330]

2 minutes ago, jess9395 said:

I disagree with @ashash and I am a huge exercise proponent. I run 15-20 miles a week and do 4-5 hours of yoga classes. And I can easily gain weight doing all that.

Weight is lost in the kitchen not the gym. Exercise is to build muscle and to improve cardiovascular health. If you build muscle you will burn more calories. Exercise can also help with maintenance and can definitely be an adjunct to assist weight loss, but it can also increase appetite so it’s usually a wash.

That said.... even if you want to add exercise to help with weight loss, I would argue that setting your goal by how many calories you burn is rarely helpful. First of all, most calorie burn estimates are inaccurate whether they are from tracking software or cardio machines. Second, if you look at exercise as calories burned then you miss a wonderful opportunity to learn to love (or at least enjoy) exercise as anything other than a means to subtract food. Exercise is a great opportunity to set non scale goals... to look to improve endurance or strength or flexibility or coordination... why look at it as “burning calories?” It’s an area we can succeed in to improve our health without it being about the scale or those numbers.

Amen!

[jess9395 5,450]

I mean, I agree that you are going to loose the most weight by what you are consuming, vs. burning. But I don't think that is all the right advice. Because eventually, your body will adjust to your calorie and nutritional input and it won't be enough to sustain weight loss.
[mention=328398]Rose400491[/mention] I'd say that you need to have at least 30 minutes of physical activity 5 days a week. Getting your heart rate within reason.

Age	Target HR Zone 50-85%	Average Maximum Heart Rate, 100%
20 years	100-170 beats per minute (bpm)	200 bpm
30 years	95-162 bpm	190 bpm
35 years	93-157 bpm	185 bpm
40 years	90-153 bpm	180 bpm
45 years	88-149 bpm	175 bpm
50 years	85-145 bpm	170 bpm
55 years	83-140 bpm	165 bpm
60 years	80-136 bpm	160 bpm
65 years	78-132 bpm	155 bpm
70 years	75-128 bpm	150 bpm

It’s not exactly our bodies adjusting to the calorie/nutrition... it’s literally as we lose weight we need fewer calories. A 250lb body needs more calories just to exist than a 125lb body. A pound of muscle requires more calories than a pound of fat though so that’s a good reason to exercise!

[Healthy_life2 8,330]

On 3/8/2018 at 9:51 AM, Rose400491 said:

Age: 20

Sleeved: 10/17/17

HW: 300

CW: 228

I’m eating about 800 calories a day. How much should I be shooting to burn at the gym?

Fantastic you are at the gym. Any exercise is better than no exercise. Calories you burn are going to increase as you get fit and stronger.

How long have you been working out? What types of workouts so far?

[TakingABreak 2,733]

36 minutes ago, jess9395 said:

It’s not exactly our bodies adjusting to the calorie/nutrition... it’s literally as we lose weight we need fewer calories. A 250lb body needs more calories just to exist than a 125lb body. A pound of muscle requires more calories than a pound of fat though so that’s a good reason to exercise!

What you are saying makes sense but, I'm confused as to why people have stalls when they are 3 weeks post op, I had a 2 week long stall. I was only eating 300-500 calories per day. If by logic, I should have lost. But my body had adjusted to that amount of caloric intake and said nope, no more. It wasn't until I increased my calories and started working out that my stall stopped.

[Healthy_life2 8,330]

11 minutes ago, AshAsh1 said:

What you are saying makes sense but, I'm confused as to why people have stalls when they are 3 weeks post op, I had a 2 week long stall. I was only eating 300-500 calories per day. If by logic, I should have lost. But my body had adjusted to that amount of caloric intake and said nope, no more. It wasn't until I increased my calories and started working out that my stall stopped.

The truth is, weight-loss plateaus/stalls happen to almost everyone trying to lose weight. See link below

https://www.bariatricpal.com/topic/351046-embrace-the-stall/#comment-3952027

1. Healing from WLS surgery. Inflammation and Water weight.
2. Your body doesn't just burn fat when losing weight it burns muscle. (muscle burns calories)
3. When you weigh less you burn less. (losing my last pounds to goal was painfully slow)
4. rapid weight loss your body may need time to adjust. You lose inches but nothing on the sccale.

When people say weight loss is in the kitchen...Think of it this way. You can't out exercise a poor diet.

[jess9395 5,450]

What you are saying makes sense but, I'm confused as to why people have stalls when they are 3 weeks post op, I had a 2 week long stall. I was only eating 300-500 calories per day. If by logic, I should have lost. But my body had adjusted to that amount of caloric intake and said nope, no more. It wasn't until I increased my calories and started working out that my stall stopped.

The week three stall is infamous! And it also has to do with Water and glycogen and the liver in addition to the things noted above. I can’t remember all the science but there’s a reason do it!

I had the same stall but stuck with same calories and started losing again. Didn’t increase my calories till about month four... then again around month six and then 9 and then at goal!

[Kat410 423]

What you are saying makes sense but, I'm confused as to why people have stalls when they are 3 weeks post op, I had a 2 week long stall. I was only eating 300-500 calories per day. If by logic, I should have lost. But my body had adjusted to that amount of caloric intake and said nope, no more. It wasn't until I increased my calories and started working out that my stall stopped.

While we have to deal with the caveat that every body is different, it’s not necessarily the case that a stall is caused by homeostasis (e.g., your BMR adjusting for the calorie reduction.)

The point here with the OP’s question is that focusing on burning calories during exercise is the wrong goal. I have focused on building lean muscle mass, endurance and balance (which had gotten very bad) and more fundamentally I focused on doing exercise that I enjoy. You will probably never see me going for a run (hate it).

Trial and error in the kitchen is what will have us find the nutritional approach that works for our WL goals.