Fitness and Losing Regain

For more on this topic here is the course on Exercise and the Bariatric Diet.

Transcript:

Did you know most patients prefer to use the word movement or fitness instead of exercise?

Research shows we often associate exercise with more negative feelings and think of burning calories or bootcamps. The language we use around fitness can be helpful!

When it comes to losing regained or rebound weight, movement can be incredibly helpful but not just for burning calories. Movement is very powerful for energy levels, hunger management and improved sleep.

The exercise physiologists I worked with for years would encourage patients to move smarter, not harder. Did you know lower intensity cardio like walking is better for using fat for fuel compared to higher intensity cardio? What that means is when it comes to hunger control, which you know by now is really important to me, lower heart rate cardio will help manage your appetite more.

When you work out really hard like a 60 minute high impact workout class, it’s great to cardiovascular health but it burns more energy from glycogen stores which is from carbohydrates. The more glycogen stores that get burned up, the hungrier we get for more carbohydrates to replenish those stores which makes controlling hunger harder.

Using lower intensity movement helps to use fat storage for energy instead of glycogen stores and helps keep appetite more controlled.

So as you get back on track with post-op habits, you do want to add movement into your goals but hold off and signing up for high impact programs. You can re-visit that after you’ve lost regained weight and your goals have changed like wanting to improve strength and endurance. For now, walking or light aerobics and strengthen training with lighter weights and more reps are some great strategies! If you decide to work out with a trainer, let them know you want lower impact cardio and lighter weights with more reps when making a plan for you. If they ask why, you are looking to control your appetite while using fat for energy. If you get any pushback you can tell them let’s try it and see, or work with a trainer that will hear you out more.

For more information on the bariatric diet and fitness, visit my other course linked below.