Weight Lifting with Ileostomy but not gaining weight

Hello everybody, I am currently a sophomore in college and have been lifting weights about 5x a week with an ileostomy. I had a couple questions.

While I have gotten stronger, I have realized that I have had a hard time gaining any weight and muscle mass (gained some but not too significant). With an ostomy do you need to eat more to enough nutrients? I had almost all my large intestine taken out the summer before college. Last year as a freshman, I had my first ostomy reversed and was able to go from 145 to 157lbs by working out about the same amount throughout the school year. I gained my weight back after my 2nd ostomy surgery, but now my weight has completely plateaued at 157 the past 5 months.

I also have a really complex fistula tract and multiple drains (malecot and seton) in right now, could this also be making it harder for me to put on weight? I eat plenty of protein and even when I was eating 4000 for two weeks I only gained about a pound and a half.

Finally these are all of the supplements I take, are these all ok?

Multivitamin
Vitamin D
Vitamin B Complex
Iron
Fish Oil
Protein Powder (40% whey, 20% casein, 20% egg white)

I'm a healthy weight since I'm only 5' 9.5" but I was just curious about this. Thanks.

Hey there

I think starting out, going the gym 5 days a week is a bit too much. If you're going anywhere close to failure you probably won't be giving yourself enough time to recover. This is just my and some other peoples opinions though, but some of the strongest guys I know only go three times a week.

As far as weight goes, if you're looking to put on muscle (like you are) then you can really only put on about 1-2lbs a week, so gaining 1.5lbs in two weeks isn't bad. You do have to eat more because of having less intestines, so just up your calories by 500 and check your weight again after 2-4 weeks.

Also don't forget things like water weight when weighing yourself and things. There's a lot of things that can affect your weight but after plateauing at 157 for so long it's probably not that lol. Just keep that in mind when you weigh yourself throughout the weeks.

I would say the same. Going 5 times a week is way to much to start off wth. If you are doing a proper workout it would be very hard to do this.

You should rest 24hrs between exercises to allow your body to build the muscle fibres you have broken.

I start off with a 4min HIT (20secs hard, 10sec rest) on ether the bike or rower to start off with, then spend 30mins doing 3 rounds of 4-6 exercises, before spending 10mins stretching

The exercises will be legs one day, upper body push another then upper body pull for the last. I also try and get in a 4mile or so jog that week as well. Using this have noticed have gained mass and become stronger (I dont want to look like a body builder, but want to gain strength for kickboxing).

If you feel ok to add more calories then do so, but it may cause problems with your stomch. I find my body knows when it needs more energy, so when I feel hungry I will eat, but when I dont I wont. This seems to work with my crohns, as long as I eat what I can tolerate (and not too much grease)

To echo what has been mentioned earlier, likely you are working out to often. Resting your muscles is just as important as fatiguing. What I've found works best for me is lifting twice a week. I workout hard one day a week on upper body muscles, fatiguing them till I can lift no more, and another day on legs.

Diet wise I've found avoid grains, wheat in particular, helps me the best.

For supplements I take enough vitamin D3 to reach a testing level above 50ng/ml.

Time release melatonin helps me obtain a good nights sleep.

A little bit of magnesium is thought to be beneficial with bone strength, relieving muscle cramping, along with helping with sleep.

Vitamin K2
Fish oil
and a couple kelp tablets, which are rich in iodine helpful with thyroid health, pretty much rounds out what I take.

Good luck! Hope you make further gains in the future. When i began lifting a few years back I weighed 150lbs. As of yesterday I was a lean 195lbs. Was joking to myself that I might have to look into loosing some muscle. Kind of disgusting, these grass fed streaks I eat are going straight to my biceps, glutes, deltoids ....:biggrin:

Thanks, I will probably tone it down to 3 times a week or every other day. I play basketball about 3 times a week for cardio (2 full court games/week for Itramural), I like to stay active. I have been splitting up my lifting by back/biceps, chest/triceps, and shoulders/legs.

A pound equals 3500 calories. To maintain weight requires roughly 2,000 calories/day, which would increase if you are working out.

Gaining 1.5 pounds over 2 weeks on 4,000 calories per day is probably fairly average, especially if you're working out trying to bulk up.

^yeah i understand the concept of a calories surplus and deficit but I am wondering if it is easier to gain weight once in remission, as opposed to really bad health...I have to take 3 vicodin a day just to get through the day right now. Do multiple fistulas and rectal inflammation burn into your energy supply/calories? Would my maintenance level of calories be higher as opposed to somebody in remission?

Oh it's definitely easier in good health compared to bad. I've put on about 50lbs since june and mostly lean body mass, though obviously some fat since that's what you get on a bulk!

Yeah your calories needed to gain weight would definitely be higher.

Price said:

Oh it's definitely easier in good health compared to bad. I've put on about 50lbs since june and mostly lean body mass, though obviously some fat since that's what you get on a bulk!

Yeah your calories needed to gain weight would definitely be higher.

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ok haha thats what I really wanted to know! I have an ileostomy, which is effective most of the time, but my rectum is still really messed up and had to resort to tysabri to try to save my rectum and avoid permanent bag. Good to know that once im healed up it will be easier to get back on track. Thanks.

Jack2013 said:

^yeah i understand the concept of a calories surplus and deficit but I am wondering if it is easier to gain weight once in remission, as opposed to really bad health...I have to take 3 vicodin a day just to get through the day right now. Do multiple fistulas and rectal inflammation burn into your energy supply/calories? Would my maintenance level of calories be higher as opposed to somebody in remission?

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I would think multiple fistulas and inflammation would probably cause your body to burn more calories--attempting to fight off the inflammation and any infection. So yes,, I would think you would need to consume more calories , just to maintain weight.

but your intestine may also not be digesting all the calories you are consuming, and a certain percentage may be passing right through. In remissin, your digestive system may be more efficient, but it's hard to say.

ou know 18 states have now passed compassionate marijuana laws, which aside from relieving pain, helps gain weight with "the munches" effect, so you eat more. It also calms the digestive system, helping it function better.