Wbaumgartner17

Help, I have been trying to find people who have had Weight Loss Surgery and went on to do cross country bicycle touring. I have looked through the threads on this and many other sites and have not ben able to find an answer.

First of all this thread isn't intended to debate the pro's and con's of Weight Loss Surgery. I understand the "actions" vs "consequences" of the surgery. I am looking for the long term affects on bicycle tourists.

I have been overweight my entire adult life, 5'7"/ #300 , and starting to have health issues. Up until I left the Navy, I was riding almost every day I could. Enter a real job and raising a family... The bike riding went on the back burner until the kids were moved out of the house 2 years ago. I bought my new bike when the kids left and am combining biking with photography. I am retiring in a few years and plan on touring the country by bicycle.

With that said, here goes...

Has anybody had Weight Loss Surgery and gone on to ride an "Epic" bike ride? If so how do you manage calories out vs in. I know that post surgery it wil be hard to consume lots of calories. Is it even managable? I know people will run marathons after surgery, but that is not even comparable to the calories burned daily for weeks on end.

If anybody has had any experience in this (good or bad) I would appreciate hearing from you.

Thanks,
bb

JimF22003

I had it 11 years ago. I haven't been fortunate enough to do a cross-country tour, but I'd love to do it before I get too old

That said, I have done hundreds of century rides and longer (34 just last year.) I don't have any nutrition issues to speak of. I think it's different for the first couple of years when you really do have more physical restriction than you may have later. For example some people have to sip water really slowly, whereas I can pretty much glug down as much as I want.

When I'm actually riding I try to eat good stuff, but I don't worry about carbs/sugar. Besides energy bars, I'll have orange juice, or a muffin, or a banana etc. I've been known to snag a Snickers bar at a little country store. Depending on the surgery type you could conceivably be bothered by "dumping syndrome" if you take in too much sugar at once, but I have never had that happen on the bike. Even a hit from a GU pack hasn't caused me any trouble.

So, this is probably not very helpful to you I pretty much eat like everybody else when I'm on the bike.

Wbaumgartner17

What I can gather, it will be dependant on how my body will get used to the new stomach. I am making an appointment with the WLS Program Dietitian to get her opinion. I imagine there is no magic bullet and I will probably have to train my mind and body to adjust. Either way, upon completion of the WLS, I will be riding as far and as long as I can.

IAMAMRA

One thing to consider, you can still eat poorly after wls! Have a friend who had it and now weighs more! Fix the mind and th body will follow IMHO...

chriskmurray

There are a couple other places that may get you some more people who have toured. On BikeForums there is a Touring group, there is also an amazing website for people doing big tours called Crazy Guy on a Bike (guyonabike.com). There is a forum on there that has a lot of vary accomplished touring cyclists from all sorts of back grounds. You might be able to get some great advise there too. It is worth heading over there simply to read journals and find inspiration as it is really fun to live vicariously through others amazing trips.

Sorry I do not have any advise specific to weight loss surgery, I do not know much about returning to riding after the fact so I will leave it at that.

Best of luck! I am sure it is more than doable with the right research and training.