Hi-I will be 6 weeks post op next week and really looking forward to start to run again. Throughout the years (when in better shape and at a lesser weight) I really enjoyed running as a form of exercise as well as a stress reliever. I am concerned about pre/post run nutrition. I have an appointment with the dietitian early next week so I will discuss with her as well. But first wanted to reach out to the group and see if anyone has advice/experience getting back into running post WLS. Thanks!!
Any runners?
- Thread starter Mmh79
- Start date
WazzuCoug
Member
There are a couple things to consider. Running is great, but you may want to put it off for the first few months and just walk and add in some resistance exercise. For the first 6 months it will be really difficult to intake enough calories (eating good foods) to provide enough energy to sustain running. It very often causes you to stop losing weight. Almost every single day on Reddit and Facebook you can find posts like "I'm running 5 days a week and only eating 800 calories but I've been stalled for a month" or "I work out 45 minutes a day and I'm not losing weight in month 3."
I mean there are tons of posts like that. For sustained cardio exercise, your body needs more calories, but it also wants to protect your stored energy in fat and muscle. When you are consuming low calorie and doing a lot of cardio, your metabolism will slow way down. Weight loss will slow or stop. Your body needs more calories from food, and with your smaller stomach, you won't be able to provide it unless you eat higher calories, which either means a larger amount of food (probably more than you can stomach) or calorie dense food, which tends to be unhealthy foods.
I know you are doing it for reasons other that weight loss, but you would be best served, in my opinion, to dedicate the first six months to establishing your new relationship with food, doing some walking, occasional resistance exercise, and focusing on doing everything exactly right. In the long term, our relationship with food is going to either keep us lean or take us right back to where we were, regardless of exercise. Right now, that relationship is the most important element of your journey.
I would imagine some occasional runs would be okay, but I would just consider taking a slower approach to it. You got the surgery to reach your goals, so I'd put that first before running. After several months when you start to be able to eat more calories, and you have gotten closer to your goal or you have reached your goal, running and cardio is helpful for maintaining weight loss, but it's not so great for actually losing weight.
Additionally, it's important to remember that most of our calories are burned at rest. Our muscle mass and basal metabolic rate is the core source of weight loss. Stimulating muscle growth to minimize loss of muscle mass during the rapid weight loss phase is also important for success and maintenance when you reach your goal.
All that being said, every person's body reacts a bit differently to all of this, but it is just something to be aware of. I'm sure some people run all the time and lose keep losing regardless of what they eat, but observationally (and from what I've read), there are a lot of cases of reduced weight loss associated with increased cardio and low calorie intake.
I mean there are tons of posts like that. For sustained cardio exercise, your body needs more calories, but it also wants to protect your stored energy in fat and muscle. When you are consuming low calorie and doing a lot of cardio, your metabolism will slow way down. Weight loss will slow or stop. Your body needs more calories from food, and with your smaller stomach, you won't be able to provide it unless you eat higher calories, which either means a larger amount of food (probably more than you can stomach) or calorie dense food, which tends to be unhealthy foods.
I know you are doing it for reasons other that weight loss, but you would be best served, in my opinion, to dedicate the first six months to establishing your new relationship with food, doing some walking, occasional resistance exercise, and focusing on doing everything exactly right. In the long term, our relationship with food is going to either keep us lean or take us right back to where we were, regardless of exercise. Right now, that relationship is the most important element of your journey.
I would imagine some occasional runs would be okay, but I would just consider taking a slower approach to it. You got the surgery to reach your goals, so I'd put that first before running. After several months when you start to be able to eat more calories, and you have gotten closer to your goal or you have reached your goal, running and cardio is helpful for maintaining weight loss, but it's not so great for actually losing weight.
Additionally, it's important to remember that most of our calories are burned at rest. Our muscle mass and basal metabolic rate is the core source of weight loss. Stimulating muscle growth to minimize loss of muscle mass during the rapid weight loss phase is also important for success and maintenance when you reach your goal.
All that being said, every person's body reacts a bit differently to all of this, but it is just something to be aware of. I'm sure some people run all the time and lose keep losing regardless of what they eat, but observationally (and from what I've read), there are a lot of cases of reduced weight loss associated with increased cardio and low calorie intake.