Bariatric Surgery and Starting Strength: Can strength gains be sustained?

[George Cook]

I am considering bariatric surgery to help rein in my excessive weight, which I have battled over 30 years. I believe in Starting Strength and I must confess that I have not been consistent with the program and my diet. My lab results from a few months ago show I am pre-diabetic and this has my attention.

I am wondering if any here have had any kind of bariatric surgery and were able to maintain their strength or were able to increse it after the surgery. My intuition tells me "No" on both parts due to the restriction placed on your digestive system - with over a third of your stomach off limits, it limits how much food you can put down there to aid in recovery. But I could be totally wrong about this. Also, please tell me about any complications you may have had.

Before I get the hackneyed, glib comments about lack of discipline and just do the program, I will plead guilty to being a lazy SOB if that makes any of you feel better and we can move this discussion in a positive direction. I am more interested in any experiences from those who have been down this road and how they fared.

I found out today my company's insurance will not cover one penny of the surgery and will not cover any treatment of any complications from this surgery as a result. This is a major disincentive to me, but I'm not ready to abandon the idea yet.

Let me thank you in advance for any thoughtful comments and insights.

-George

[Mark Rippetoe]

We'll ask. Off-topic shit will be deleted.

[Jonathon Sullivan]

One thing at a time.

You will almost certainly lose some strength and possibly even some muscle, as much due to the layoff to recover from the surgery as the decreased intake itself. Unlike an orthopedic procedure, where surgeons pad their recovery time estimates, the recovery time, diet, and activity restrictions directed by your bariatric surgeon must be obeyed. Complications after BS are not uncommon, they can be precipitated by noncompliance, and they can be particularly evil. The single most heinous resuscitation I ever conducted was on a 380-lb man 4 days after his surgery. He gorged, barfed and perforated. Septic shock ensued. His resuscitation did not go well.

So. Do exactly what the surgeon tells you, recover from the surgery, start back slow when he gives you the green light, and go easy on yourself. Resign yourself to the fact that losing all that morbid weight will come at a price in strength. That's the trade-off. You won't get around it, although the weight on the bar may not change quite as much as you anticipate (think about it).

Later, after things equilibrate, you'll figure out how to get enough protein to support renewed gains.

One thing at a time.

Hope things work out well for you.

[Trewarin]

Have you yet talked to Jordan?

[Trewarin]

Also, I imagine we would like to see you get strong one day... Long term.
I have trouble eating enough to get stronger with my normal sized stomache.
Please reconsider

[Larry T]

George, you don't say what your age, height or weight is, which could be helpful in responding. I'm 57, 6'4, and down to 285 from almost 340 a year and a half ago. Up until a year and a half ago I wasn't on any meds and everything was reasonably ok. Then things began falling apart seemingly overnight. My BP was way high and my cholesterol was bad - HDL too low and LDL WAY too high. Glucose was the only good number... mid 80s.

My doctor said to lose weight (duh) and I started statins (went between lipitor and crestor) and settled on 2 bp meds. One bp med was causing edema so the other (HCTZ) was to reduce the edema. The statins started raising my blood sugar (from 85 to 126 even after losing 25 lbs).

I finally decided to get real about my health and losing the tonnage. I was training and working some on conditioning, but the statins and rising blood sugar was the final straw. I adopted a low-carb ketogenic eating style. Not a magic bullet, but the low carbs work for me especially in light of insulin resistance. I stopped taking the statins and one of the bp meds. I'll have labs done again in Feb.

I took what used to be done in 2 hard workouts per week and spread it over 3 workouts per week so each workout is hard but shorter than previously. The calculator says my base metabolic rate is around 3k calories a day. I eat between 1700 - 1800 cals a day. I shoot for 180g of protein and the rest from fat and around 25-30g of carbs.

The weight is dropping fast enough but not so fast as to lose lean tissue. I find this approach to really be quite painless and I feel a great sense of satisfaction doing it this way.

Unless your body fat is 60% or more, I would really think twice about bariatric surgery. Not to browbeat you, but if you don't fix your head first, you'll figure a way to screw up the surgery results.

[veryhrm]

OP, here's something to consider:
As a prerequisite to the surgery you'll have to go on a liquid diet (something like Optifast) for a month or two and lose 20 or 30lbs to show that you're serious/can comply with the way you'll have to eat afterward.

But if you can do that, you might as well just do Optifast (or similar) instead and lose the weight you want to lose w/o the surgery. You'll still have to fix your eating long-term so you don't regain, but that's true if you go w/ surgery anyway.

A suggestion on longer term "way of eating": Check out the book "4 hour body". Half of it is BS, and he doesn't claim even the other half is original, but one thing i picked up that i've really liked is the weekly cheat day idea. Eat low-cal and/or clean (whatever that means for whatever system of eating you subscribe to) 6 days a week and then 1 day (or 1/2 day) eat whatever you want.

[George Cook]

One thing at a time.

You will almost certainly lose some strength and possibly even some muscle, as much due to the layoff to recover from the surgery as the decreased intake itself. Unlike an orthopedic procedure, where surgeons pad their recovery time estimates, the recovery time, diet, and activity restrictions directed by your bariatric surgeon must be obeyed. Complications after BS are not uncommon, they can be precipitated by noncompliance, and they can be particularly evil. The single most heinous resuscitation I ever conducted was on a 380-lb man 4 days after his surgery. He gorged, barfed and perforated. Septic shock ensued. His resuscitation did not go well.

So. Do exactly what the surgeon tells you, recover from the surgery, start back slow when he gives you the green light, and go easy on yourself. Resign yourself to the fact that losing all that morbid weight will come at a price in strength. That's the trade-off. You won't get around it, although the weight on the bar may not change quite as much as you anticipate (think about it).

Later, after things equilibrate, you'll figure out how to get enough protein to support renewed gains.

One thing at a time.

Hope things work out well for you.

Thanks much for the advice, Doc. I was hoping you would give your opinion.

BTW, I used to work in a hospital and I got to know some of the ER docs - a crusty lot but a group I would want working on me if my life was about to go into the crapper. They definitely do the Lord's work in there.

[George Cook]

Unless your body fat is 60% or more, I would really think twice about bariatric surgery. Not to browbeat you, but if you don't fix your head first, you'll figure a way to screw up the surgery results.

You hit the nail on the head here, Larry. I'm working on the head shit, and like everything else it started very early in life but I own it and I have to do something about it; it's a struggle.

The details on me:
Age: 45
Height: 5' 8" or 172.72 cm
Weight: 325 lbs or 147.42 kg

Right now I'm pre-diabetic and I just had my annual physical this morning; got all the labs. In about a week I'll get my results so I'll see where I am then. I'm not on any meds yet and I definitely do not want to go on them.

One of the things that absolutely pisses me off about myself is I know for a fact that using SS and a good diet based on protein and little to no processed sugar will help me drop weight. I lost about 25 pounds doing that and then that head shit kicked in again; I am my own worst enemy.

Again I appreciate your view point, it helps.

[rtamesis]

Just go on a ketogenic diet like this gal. It's a lot safer than bariatric surgery too.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/time-lap...seconds-255799