My clinic has pretty strict rules around exercise. Specifically no vigorous exercise. They prefer for us to walk throughout the program, but stress that it should be just to create the habit of exercise because if we burn too many calories then it can stall our weight loss. We are also allowed to do resistance training to maintain muscle mass, but the exercise physiologist explained that at such a reduced caloric intake we won't build muscle as much as maintain.

I did a lot of experimenting with how much exercise was too much and too vigorous. Ultimately I found that walking 5 days a week on my breaks and lunch yielded the most consistent weight loss.

As for how much exercise is needed to maintain your loss, my clinic recommends 300 minutes per week based on the feedback from patients that have maintained their weight loss for more than 2 yrs.

I'm only about a month into the program but my clinic recommends at least 3.5 hours of exercise a week. I've been losing weight for a while before I got on this program so I do a kickboxing class and also strength training with weights, I will say that I haven't had as much stamina as I used to. I get measured this week to see if I'm losing muscle mass so we will see. I recommend getting a fitness tracker for walking! It helps keep you motivated and aware of how much you're walking. I work a desk job all day so I try to get up and do a few 5-10 minute walks a day, it adds up. I have a Fitbit flex and absolutely love it.

sebrinac wrote: »

I'm only about a month into the program but my clinic recommends at least 3.5 hours of exercise a week. I've been losing weight for a while before I got on this program so I do a kickboxing class and also strength training with weights, I will say that I haven't had as much stamina as I used to. I get measured this week to see if I'm losing muscle mass so we will see. I recommend getting a fitness tracker for walking! It helps keep you motivated and aware of how much you're walking. I work a desk job all day so I try to get up and do a few 5-10 minute walks a day, it adds up. I have a Fitbit flex and absolutely love it.

Be careful with the exercise if you're on VLCD. I worked out 3 times a week with a trainer very hard before the program. I tried to do some of my workouts while on the program and I stopped losing because I was burning almost as many calories as I was eating. While in the program for 8 mos, person after person would stall out and it was always without fail because we were working out too vigorously. It wasn't because we couldn't physically do the workouts because we could, but that we shouldn't work out vigorously because when eating 600-800 cal/day if you burn 400-600+ cal you are almost in a zero or negative cal intake for the whole day. Your body freaks, can start burning muscle instead of fat. It can really screw up your weight loss so be careful.

sebrinac wrote: »

yellowdaisy3321 wrote: »

sebrinac wrote: »

I'm only about a month into the program but my clinic recommends at least 3.5 hours of exercise a week. I've been losing weight for a while before I got on this program so I do a kickboxing class and also strength training with weights, I will say that I haven't had as much stamina as I used to. I get measured this week to see if I'm losing muscle mass so we will see. I recommend getting a fitness tracker for walking! It helps keep you motivated and aware of how much you're walking. I work a desk job all day so I try to get up and do a few 5-10 minute walks a day, it adds up. I have a Fitbit flex and absolutely love it.

Be careful with the exercise if you're on VLCD. I worked out 3 times a week with a trainer very hard before the program. I tried to do some of my workouts while on the program and I stopped losing because I was burning almost as many calories as I was eating. While in the program for 8 mos, person after person would stall out and it was always without fail because we were working out too vigorously. It wasn't because we couldn't physically do the workouts because we could, but that we shouldn't work out vigorously because when eating 600-800 cal/day if you burn 400-600+ cal you are almost in a zero or negative cal intake for the whole day. Your body freaks, can start burning muscle instead of fat. It can really screw up your weight loss so be careful.

Thanks for your feedback. I am worried that is what is happening to me, this is the first week that I haven't lost any weight despite me following the macros and guidelines. I don't really know whats going on. What exercise did you do while you were losing weight? Did you just stick with walking? Were you worried about toning loose skin?

It is so frustrating because it seems to go against everything that you know. I remember one of the doctors telling me that exercise wasn't really important on the program and it wouldn't help with weight loss like it does when you're on a normal diet. They encouraged us to walk just to stay in the habit of exercising.

I walked for most of the time I was on the program. I did start resistance training the last couple months. I didn't lose much lean muscle mass on the program. My Fitbit Aria tracks lean muscle mass and it was minimal. I constantly tried levels of intensity to see how much I could do and it becomes pretty obvious pretty fast when you're doing to much.

Speaking from my own experience I would say at only a month into the program that a zero loss week sounds odd. You will definitely stall at certain points, but I think it doesn't happen to most people until they've been on the program for 2-3 mos. I remember that first month being crazy, the weight just fell off.

Are you on all shakes? VLCD?

yellowdaisy3321 wrote: »

"I remember that first month being crazy, the weight just fell off."



I am just starting this week so I loved reading that!

Maral ---- That is very interesting. I just re-read the other comments above and our clinic doesn't want us to exercise either. They gave us a band to work on resistance training 3 times a week to maintain muscle but they NEVER ask if we are doing it and they always discourage exercise and just say "let the diet do the work, you will lose without exercising". I have lost lean body weight though when I check on my analyzer so I am going to do the resistance band and see if it helps. I'd love to know more about your foundation training. How often do you do that? Is it a class?

I start tomorrow and my doctor (a bariatric doc) told me it was okay to exercise even this first week dependent on how I feel. She said to make sure it's light- such as walking and to have somebody with me. If I dont feel up to it- don't, but if I do feel up to it- go for it. She said that once I'm in ketosis, she pushes for exercise every day and when I told her I used to do the treadmill for 2-3 miles and then swim 50+ laps, she said, "Perfect! Do it!" Exercise builds muscle and more muscle burns fat. So she wants us to keep that muscle tone and improve it. Working with the morbidly obese is her specialty, so who am I to argue? Her funky machine (has everybody been on that machine that measures your weight distributions (water, muscle, fat) and muscle mass?) said my legs were weak to especially work on those. I'm also retaining LOTS of water, so shes expecting I'll see big numbers in my weight loss for these first couple of weeks. I sure hope she's right!

Lisa---Thanks for your reply. Everything you say makes sense to me about gaining muscle to burn more fat. I am going to work more on exercising. I have back and knee pain so I won't be going at it as hard as you but will do what I tolerate.

Marral---Thanks for explaining your foundation training. What a great resource for you to have! With my back and knee issues she would be perfect for me! I have L5-S1 disc issues along with a spondylolisthesis (small broken bone that makes the discs shift out of alignment) and narrowing of the nerve openings due to calcification from arthritis. Being in ketosis is helping so much due to it's anti-inflamatory properties!! I checked out the Couch to 5K app and I downloaded it. I'm not sure I will be running with my issues but it will help with tracking and motivation! Looks like that will be very helpful for me. I like what your Dr. said to just eat something extra if you are hungry. I think that will spare your muscles when exercising.

Lisa those are good suggestions I do have access to a pool and think I will look into a water aerobics class. At my monthly check in with the PA she always want to make sure I'm not doing any thing more than walking for exercise. They inaccurately say that exercise will take you out of ketosis. I asked in my class what if you just have to be more active because you have a job that's active and she said then you would want to eat an extra meal replacement. Hmmmm. That seems to negate the calories you just burned while you were exercising I would think! I wish our clinic was more supportive of exercise. All they want us to do is use the elastic band for resistance and like I said above mild walking.

Hey it is really interesting how each clinic is so different from each other. My clinic wants us to be active (gym/ walking/ resistance). They have us set our own goals when it comes to excercising. Last week I didn't lose any weight and I'm trying to figure out if it's because I'm working out. This week I lost 5.5 pounds and total since December 4 I'm down 21.5. I'm working out 3 days a week doing 30 mins weight with actuall machines or just with my own body and 30 mins cardio on the treadmill. I've been in contact with someone who started the same time as I did but in a different clinic and her clinic doesn't want her excercising but we have lost the same amount of weight. I think I'll do more research on this because I want to optimize my weight loss but I don't want to loss weight and not tone. Ugh so frustrating. My clinic also excercises with us ever week for 20-30 mins. Today we did about 20 mins of resistance training.