Energy/Functioning

[Elahnen 183]

Hi, a friend asked me how I will have energy after such a reduction of calories, sugar and nutrients. I said from Vitamins and making healthy food choices. She doesn’t seem to think that simple things like food choices and vitamins will be enough to give a person energy. I do not drink a lot of caffeinated beverages to begin with so eliminating is not an issue, but the occasional cup of coffee, Pepsi or my fav Tim Hortons Ice Cap is a nice treat for a boost. Now I am curious! How do you all get enough natural (without caffeine) energy to function with these new diet and physical changes?

[The Greater Fool 2,072]

Let's do a mental exercise, if you'll bear with me.

Imagine that you put on a backpack with 100 pounds in it, and you wore it all day every day for a month. You're now used to it, if feels almost normal.

Now, imagine your energy level when you get rid of the backpack.

Imagine NOT having extra energy after that.

Your welcome.

[Hop_Scotch 1,634]

Your body is burning/using fat for energy.

[Elahnen 183]

This is an amazing way to look at it! Wow! Thank you so much!

[Elahnen 183]

Makes perfect sense! Geez I guess I really didn’t think about the obvious!!

[catwoman7 11,285]

a lot of us get pretty tired the first month or two after surgery, but after that, energy levels for most of us return to normal.

[GreenTealael 25,622]

1 hour ago, Elahnen said:

Hi, a friend asked me how I will have energy after such a reduction of calories, sugar and nutrients. I said from Vitamins and making healthy food choices. She doesn’t seem to think that simple things like food choices and Vitamins will be enough to give a person energy. I do not drink a lot of caffeinated beverages to begin with so eliminating is not an issue, but the occasional cup of coffee, Pepsi or my fav Tim Hortons Ice Cap is a nice treat for a boost. Now I am curious! How do you all get enough natural (without caffeine) energy to function with these new diet and physical changes?

Ketones, your body will metabolize all the extra fat it can for energy

[Arabesque 7,615]

1 hour ago, GreenTealael said:

Ketones, your body will metabolize all the extra fat it can for energy

Exactly. While you’re losing weight, your body will burn the additional calories it needs to function from your fat stores. By the time you get to your goal weight & maintenance you will be consuming more. The point of maintenance is to reach a balance between the food we consume (calories) & the the calories the body needs to burn to function. This will keep our weight more stable.

The reason we were all overweight, & likely unhealthy , before is because we ate way more calories than our body needed to function. The excess was stored as fat. The benefit of eating healthy nutrient rich food is that we’re providing our bodies with all the nutrients (vitamins, minerals, etc.) it needs to function effectively & optimally. Before we likely ate a lot of empty calories from foods that provided little in the way of useful nutrients & an excess of what we didn’t need & cause health issues - high fat, high sugar, high salt, etc.

Caffeine is a false energy as it’s a stimulant not a source of calories for your body to burn. It has no nutritional value. That’s why it’s seen as a drug albeit a legal one.

Good luck with your surgery.

[Recidivist 1,141]

9 hours ago, catwoman7 said:

a lot of us get pretty tired the first month or two after surgery, but after that, energy levels for most of us return to normal.

Yep--I was exhausted for the first couple of months, but my energy slowly returned. After six months I had more energy and stamina than I had in decades!