Re: Protein shakes and slow weight loss

February 21, 2003

,

My advice is....STOP weighing yourself!

Really, tho, I had lap RNY 10/3/02...and I lost 23 lbs prior to surgery, I have

now lost

mchev@...>

To: OSSG-Protein

Sent: Friday, February 21, 2003 9:53 AM

Subject: Protein shakes and slow weight loss

Hi!

I joined this group a couple of weeks ago but have been just lurking

so far. Let me introduce myself. My name is Michele and I had open

RNY on December 5, 2002. I started at 296 and lost 30 pounds prior

to surgery on a protein-sparing diet (similar to Atkins but low fat

protein and low carb veggies only). My surgeon required a 10% weight

loss before surgery. Since surgery, I lost 25 pounds during the

first 4 weeks, 5 pounds total over the next 7 weeks, and 5 pounds

last weekend, for a total of 35 pounds since surgery, 65 pounds total

weight lost. I now weigh 230.

I see a clinical nutrition MD to monitor my nutrition and blood

levels and labs. We are told to eat protein first, but that carbs

are allowed in small quantities. We're supposed to avoid the refined

carbs and lean toward whole grains. Our goal is 60g of protein a

day. Sugar, caffeine, alcohol and carbonation are forbidden (except

that natural sugars found in foods are ok). Skim milk is allowed,

even encouraged, as a source of protein. We're supposed to drink a

minimum of 64 oz. of water or non-calorie beverages a day.

My nutritionist's views on protein shakes are that it's a personal

choice, she doesn't recommend them or advise against them. I am only

11 weeks out and still can only eat very small quantities of food.

Especially very protein-dense food like meat. There is no way I can

get 60g of protein a day from food alone. So I choose to add protein

shakes. I usually take either one or two a day. In the morning I

have one from GNC that has 22g of protein and I mix with skim milk

that has 10g (fortified) of protein and get 32g in that shake. Later

in the day I sometimes opt for a pre-mixed shake from EAS, called

Carb Control. It has 15g of protein. Both are low carb.

I am also a gym rat. I work out at the YMCA daily, 45 minutes on a

treadmill and then lift weights on the Cybex machines.

I have been so frustrated with my snail's pace weight loss. The

interesting thing is that, as I said, I lost 5 pounds this past

weekend. We went away for the holiday weekend and I did not exercise

at all. I also did not bring any protein shakes with me, I got all

of my protein from food. We ate in restaurants the whole time, so

choices were limited. I even had a glass of wine. And after

breaking all of these " rules " , I got the weight loss moving and lost

the same amount in a weekend that had taken me the previous 7 weeks

to lose!

I guess my question is, what's up with that? Are the protein shakes

adding enough calories that they're slowing my weight loss? Can

someone explain to me why I keep reading on here that skim milk is a

bad thing? Could skim milk be my whole problem? Many people in my

support group drink 2 glasses of skim per day for the protein and

they lose just fine. And I know it's off topic for this group, but

what about the exercise? We all hear the " muscle weighs more than

fat " adage. Is this the problem?

I appreciate any wisdom you'd like to share with me.

Thanks,

Michele

February 21, 2003

In a message dated 2/21/2003 7:40:28 PM Eastern Standard Time, Protein shakes

and slow weight loss writes:

> I have been so frustrated with my snail's pace weight loss. The

> interesting thing is that, as I said, I lost 5 pounds this past

> weekend. We went away for the holiday weekend and I did not exercise

> at all. I also did not bring any protein shakes with me, I got all

> of my protein from food. We ate in restaurants the whole time, so

> choices were limited. I even had a glass of wine. And after

> breaking all of these " rules " , I got the weight loss moving and lost

> the same amount in a weekend that had taken me the previous 7 weeks

> to lose!

>

> I guess my question is, what's up with that?

*********************************

That's exactly how you break a plateau, you change what you're doing to shock

the body into a jump-start. I would suggest going back to your old routine

now, except use water instead of milk in your shakes, and see if the loss

continues. Sometimes just changing one little thing is enough to trick the

body into losing again.

in NJ

February 21, 2003

In a message dated 2/21/2003 8:43:16 PM Central Standard Time,

tiffany@... writes:

> , you also have to take into account that the Cybex machine is

> increasing your muscle mass. Muscle is more dense &weighs more than fat.

> As you are losing weight, you are gaining muscle.

> --------------------------------

Yes, muscle weighs more. But you would have to be doing some pretty

heavy-duty training (as in professional body-building) for that to make a

difference on your bathroom scale. The main reason to increase muscle mass is

that you burn more calories with more muscle mass, and increase your

metabolism.

Carol A

February 21, 2003

In a message dated 2/21/2003 8:43:16 PM Central Standard Time,

tiffany@... writes:

> , you also have to take into account that the Cybex machine is

> increasing your muscle mass. Muscle is more dense &weighs more than fat.

> As you are losing weight, you are gaining muscle.

> --------------------------------

Yes, muscle weighs more. But you would have to be doing some pretty

heavy-duty training (as in professional body-building) for that to make a

difference on your bathroom scale. The main reason to increase muscle mass is

that you burn more calories with more muscle mass, and increase your

metabolism.

Carol A

February 21, 2003

In a message dated 2/21/2003 11:56:02 AM Central Standard Time,

mchev@... writes:

> So I choose to add protein shakes. I usually take either one or two a day.

> In the morning I have one from GNC that has 22g of protein and I mix with

> skim milk that has 10g (fortified) of protein and get 32g in that shake.

> Later in the day I sometimes opt for a pre-mixed shake from EAS, called

> Carb Control. It has 15g of protein. Both are low carb.

----------------------------------------

Kudos for choosing to supplement with protein shakes. But personally, I

disagree with your nutritionist and think the skim milk is not a good idea

bcuz of the lactose: natural occuring or not, sugar is sugar and we absorb

every BIT of it we get. (BTW, is your nutritionist a specialist in WLS

post-op nutrition? Or just the usual trained-on-normie-requirements type of

person)?

You don't mention the name of the GNC shake, so can't comment on that. But I

had the opportunity to check out the EAS label just this evening, and I

couldn't find anything on it about full-chain amino acids. If your shakes

don't have them, they're not providing you with the nutrition you need, just

empty calories.

If you want pro shakes that will do for you what they're supposed to do, go

to www.vitalady.com and check out her protein

shakes. She has lots of

different brands and flavors and ALL of them have been personally checked out

to make sure they are the best available for our special circumstances. She

also offers single-serving samples for sale--the only place I know of that

does. Which can be a big money-saver if you're trying to find a shake you

like. If you have to buy a tubful and it makes u wanna heave, it gets darned

expensive to find your match that way! Oh, and adding a tsp of s/f jello

powder or some s/f flavoring syrups can go a long way to making a shake taste

really great.

Carol A

February 21, 2003

In a message dated 2/22/2003 12:05:54 AM Central Standard Time,

toeknee@... writes:

> It doesn't seem likely that another 80 or 90 lbs. will come off within the

> next 9 to 15 months( " the remaining window of opportunity " ).

------------------------------

One of the worst things you can do is put time limits on yourself. It adds

stress, which causes weight gain, or at least stymies weight loss. Lots of

people are still losing at 3 years out, slowly to be sure, but losing

nevertheless. There is no such thing as a window of opportunity with this

surgery. What generally happens is that by a certain time, people become

careless, slack off, revert to bad old habits, tempt fate, become complacent,

whatever. And by the law of averages, that tends to happen at about 1-1/2

years out; hence that time period gets a bad name. In reality, though, you

make your own opportunities by doing what works for you. Your window of

opportunity can last your entire lifetime if you make it so.

Carol A

February 21, 2003