For those of you with good restriction, how do you get in enough calories?

[Carrie_C 9]

My doctor said no shakes either because most are loaded with sugar and are not good for you. He said we need to be eating our Protein, not drinking it. But that's fine with me anyway because I have yet to find one that tastes good. All the ones I have tried are really nasty.

[heather.vasquez 0]

I am wondering the same thing. I kicked up my working out into top gear and am at the gym 6 days a week for 40 to 60 minutes each time. I work off 75% to 100% of the calories I eat each day which is 500-600. Today I put a tablespoon of Peanut Butter on an apple wedge for a boost. Totally not healthy but hit that 'spot'. Peanut butter is a pretty mild junk food, though, so I am not too concerned. I am going to give it about 3 mmore weeks to see if my increased gym time needs to just meld with my body and if I am still at the same weight, I plan to go in for an unfill. I hit my first goal with only 8 pounds till my second goal so I am not worried about gaining, at this point. I feel I need about 400 more calores a day, though, to sustain the 600 calories a day workouts I have been kicking out.

How do you burn 400 -600 calories I'm realling starting to get into the gym and I'm lifting in the am and cardio at night but I'm not close too 400 or 600.

[heather.vasquez 0]

My doc does too, protien shakes are fine. I wish they made lactose free ones that I could buy in a can instead of making my own.

I Like my restriction bu I have a hard time getting in the 60-80 grams of Protein I need. so I start my day off with an EAS Advantage Carb Control premade Shake..they are only 110 cal..17gms of protein 1gm fat, 1gm sugar and 2gm of carbs and they are AWESOME.. not chalky at all like some of that crap... I don't have time to blend shakes and smoothies wish I did but what can you do. I'm also unable to eat more than 3 oz at a time. If I'm hungry and need something in my tummy and I need protein I carry the Atkins advantage bars they have about 17gms of protein I usually can only eat 1/2 bar. They are however 150 -200 cal a bar 1gm of sugar but are about 5-8 gms of fat but do have 6 gms of Dietary Fiber.< /p>

Just food for thought.

[Jachut 487]

How do you burn 400 -600 calories I'm realling starting to get into the gym and I'm lifting in the am and cardio at night but I'm not close too 400 or 600.

As you get fitter, its not hard. I'd easily burn 700 to 800 calories quite a few days of the week with a 6 mile (10km) run that takes about an hour. Other days, a good hard circuit for an hour would burn 400 easily.

Your weights, rather than being done standing there with standard sets of 12 reps, can be done as a circuit, fast and hard, with no rest between exercises. Do 40 squats with a barbell for example and immediately drop to 40 pushups (giving the leg muscles a rest while you work another group), then jump up and lunge walk aroudn the room, followed by something else, and intersperse it all with running on a treadmill or gettingo n an elliptical for a few minutes at a time, keep your heart rate high and you will burn MEGA calories.

[gingerbug 3]

How do you burn 400 -600 calories I'm realling starting to get into the gym and I'm lifting in the am and cardio at night but I'm not close too 400 or 600.

I have been busting a move on the elliptical for an hour at a time and I burn about 500-600 calories. Iam working out at the higher end of my target heartrate.

[lellow 1,713]

40 mins at 55-60rpm on a spin bike will burn 500 calories. A spin bike class - which is an hour - will burn closer to 800 calories.

[heather.vasquez 0]

Gotcha thanks everyone.. The trainer at the gym the other day came over to me and said hey you've been on there for 35 minutes..do you know that it's not good to do this or the eliptical because your cutting into your muscle!! Thanks

[lellow 1,713]

The trainer at the gym the other day came over to me and said hey you've been on there for 35 minutes..do you know that it's not good to do this or the eliptical because your cutting into your muscle!!

Really? My brother has been a personal trainer for over 20 years and he reckons I have kick-ass endurance now, and thinks it's great that I have worked up to 40mins hard riding on my bike.

He's been the one encouraging me to do the couch to 5k so we can run together when he visits.

[mahupetesc 0]

As you get fitter, its not hard. I'd easily burn 700 to 800 calories quite a few days of the week with a 6 mile (10km) run that takes about an hour. Other days, a good hard circuit for an hour would burn 400 easily.

Your weights, rather than being done standing there with standard sets of 12 reps, can be done as a circuit, fast and hard, with no rest between exercises. Do 40 squats with a barbell for example and immediately drop to 40 pushups (giving the leg muscles a rest while you work another group), then jump up and lunge walk aroudn the room, followed by something else, and intersperse it all with running on a treadmill or gettingo n an elliptical for a few minutes at a time, keep your heart rate high and you will burn MEGA calories.

OMG you made me tired just reading this!!!:wink:

[heather.vasquez 0]

Really? My brother has been a personal trainer for over 20 years and he reckons I have kick-ass endurance now, and thinks it's great that I have worked up to 40mins hard riding on my bike.

He's been the one encouraging me to do the couch to 5k so we can run together when he visits. :yikes:

Awesome thank so much you have no ide how much better this makes me feel. Most of the trainers don;t look much over the age of 25 and the older ones just want to work with the hotties.:wink:

[gingerbug 3]

Gotcha thanks everyone.. The trainer at the gym the other day came over to me and said hey you've been on there for 35 minutes..do you know that it's not good to do this or the eliptical because your cutting into your muscle!! Thanks

My first thought would be that the personal trainer has something to gain from you thinking you need to change your workout!

[TheCHERF 0]

Hi There,

I am an August(27th of Aug 2008) Bander too but I guess because my fills weren't done to satisfaction I didnt lose the weight.

I am finally four fills in and feeling good restriction...I have lost 30lbs in 4mos. and most of it was lost in the first 2mos., hoping that this new fill and higher energy will help with burning calories.

You look great btw.

ps...how much can you eat in a sitting? I have alot of indigestion and wondered if that was a sign of too tightly filled?

CHER

[lellow 1,713]

Sorry Cher,

were you speaking to me? Or someone else who's posted previously? I'm wondering because I was banded in August too. If not, it's cool. Just checking.

Edited January 16, 2009 by lellow

[Jachut 487]

Ack, that dont do cardio because it will waste your muscle myth really annoys me. Weight training is something I have only taken up at goal, primarily to train specific running muscles to avoid injury - weak glutes lead to knee injuries etc. I lost ALL my weight with long cardio sessions and I have lots of muscle - I have legs like steel and I have even developed really nice arm and shoulder definition through the upper body motion, not to mention I can do amazing strength tricks with my abdominal muscles.

The cardio wasting muscle thing is another of those half truths that has grown from taking professional body building advice and applying it to mere mortals. If you're trying to build huge muscle to win a Mr Universde competition, then you dont do lots of cardio because it is counterproductive to that kind of muscle growth. You also eat HEAPS of Protein because you need it for the growth. Most body builders int heir building phase are kind of fat because of lack of cardio and huge calorie intake. Then before their competition they go on high Protein low carb starvation diets to strip the fat. That's how they get that cut look.

For us normal people, cardio burns fat, it doesnt waste your muscle away, it maintains it, and you dont need 7000 grams of protein after a workout, just a little of something with a carb/protein mix (like a glass of milk) will do.

Likewise, on a typical lap band diet you're unlikely to gain pounds and pounds of muscle because you simply dont eat enough to do so, plus you're a woman. To maintain your body's muscle is an awesome goal and you already have nice muscles in there, you just need to lose the fat covering them.

Again, like with diet, moderation seems to be key. Do a bit of both but dont be afraid of either, cardio wont waste your muscle and weight training wont turn you into Arnie.

Keep up the great work everyone!

[bambam31 168]

Gotcha thanks everyone.. The trainer at the gym the other day came over to me and said hey you've been on there for 35 minutes..do you know that it's not good to do this or the eliptical because your cutting into your muscle!! Thanks

Like Jacqui said - this is only a half-truth. For most all of us it's probably less than that - but there are some examples where this would be true. There is a trainer at my gym who is SOLID... He has 6.8% body fat and his necessary calorie intake is 3500. The more active he is (as in adding significant cardio) then the more calories he will need to intake just to meet the minimum needed requirement. If he goes into a calorie deficit, for any period of days, his body will go catabolic and consume lean muscle tissue - hence muscle loss. That's the reason most people with big muscles shy away from cardio.

Most all of us on this site will not be in that situation... We need cardio - and lots of it. That's what burns large amounts of calories. And with that said, I don't buy into the target heart rate "fat burning zone" theory either. While it's not good to STAY WAY above the top end of your target zone for long periods of time, it is beneficial to get up to 85% or a bit more and then let it come back down - just like circuit training. People who only stay in their comfort zone are not advancing to their fullest potential and are missing out on a huge burn of calories. Buy a heart rate monitor that lets you program your own personal details and tracks YOUR calories burnt. Don't go by the calorie burned counter on gym machines - they're normally way off because they don't know your specific criteria. A heart rate monitor is the one of the best hundred bucks you'll spend...

Our goal, in order to lose weight, should be to keep our metabolism burning as hot as we can. I don't buy into another myth that every calorie is created equal. If that were true all of us would be able to a diet of strictly Hershey chocolate Bars and as long as we had a calorie deficit, we'd lose weight - give it a try... Just look at the posters here who are burning everything they eat through exercise but still aren't losing. Your body is a well adaptative machine. If it thinks it's starving - it slows the metabolism and sheds more lean muscle tissue than it otherwise would. Lean muscle tissue is metabolically active and it costs calories to keep around. If your body can't afford to keep it - it will get rid of it. The bottom line - eat lots and exercise lots... Get a modest calorie deficit by eating and burning - not starving and slouching... It's true that you can't starve the fat off - your body will not let it happen. With all the diets out there why do you think our society is so fat? Because misinformation abounds - and there's a lot of money to be made in the process... This is also why the scale alone is not the best measure of progress. It's beneficial to monitor your body fat percentage as well to be certain what you're losing is fat, and not lean muscle tissue.

The band comes into play here by keeping us who have binging and overeating tendencies from doing those things. Beyond that - it's hard work that pays off! I'm burning 4,000 to 6,000 calories a week in the gym and I've worked up to eating on average about 2000 calories a day. I'm still working to get that up to about 2200. And I keep those calories spread out throughout the day. It seems like I'm always eating.

And like Lellow said - look into Spin Classes. I burn 650-900 calories an hour on a Spin bike.

Good luck and KEEP MOVING!

Brad

Edited January 16, 2009 by bambam31