Weight Loss With a J-Pouch

‘I’ve had my J Pouch surgery and the J Pouch has now settled in. Now I am enjoying the lifestyle of someone who has recovered on the other side.

Everything is great, no more problems right – Wrong!

For me, recovery was a double edge sword when it came to my weight. In years gone by I always struggled to maintain my weight.  Therefore I never learnt any skills about eating in moderation or from a calorie point of view. 

Those two elements resulted in me gaining weight. 

I’m not talking about a couple of pounds. I mean that over the last few years I have put on over 3 stone. 

It got to the point where I became unhappy. Talk about being careful for what you wish for!

My inlaws arranged a family photo shoot in a professional studio as a big family celebration event. A  week after the shoot we got the digital pictures through and gathered around the TV screen reviewing the shots. Every shot that came up with my image made me sad. It got to the point where I stepped away and didn’t want to continue reviewing the pictures.

I realised very quickly on that day that the weight had to come off.

If you want to read about my journey of recovery, then take a look at my book here.

So, how does someone with  J Pouch lose weight?

I had to face some challenges. 

1. Food and Diet

Over the years I had built this mindset that I should eat a lot of certain types of foods to support the J Pouch. Foods that slow, thicken and digest easily.  Things like  white bread, white pasta, things that are known to be carb heavy and are associated with weight gain.

2. Exercise 

Movement and really pushing myself physically, in my mind was associated with speeding up J Pouch. Increasing frequency and disrupting my routine. 

3. Energy

Even with my recovery journey being so successful, I know that I have to be careful with my energy. My routine works really well and affords me the energy to do the things I want to do.

People get worried with change, and I am not different. In fact, given my background I probably worry about introducing change in my life more than others. But those pictures clearly showed me that change was needed.

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Change

Spoilers – so far I have lost 2 stones. The changes I have made are working, and there is still a little more work to do.

Most importantly I have integrated these in my routine, my movement, and my diet – addressing each of the concerns I had.

Diet 

So, this actually ended up being fairly easy, and also turned out to be an improvement, not a detriment for my J Pouch.

The biggest change was learning the power of No. By that I mean I just started saying no to snacks, sweets, alcohol and all the things anyone would cut out if they were on a diet. 

For several weeks that’s the only change I made to my diet. Cutting out these foods helped my Pouch in terms of reducing frequency, reduced gas, and overall improved function. 

This change really was more mental. The J Pouch didn’t come into it. Looking back I wonder if I was just telling myself I couldn’t change my diet because of my J Pouch – almost like an excuse to lean on. 

After a few weeks I swapped lunches for ham salad sandwiches which still gave me some thickening and slowing white bread, but I filled up on a healthy filling of tomatoes, lettuce, spring onions, with a low fat mayo (no butter). Then a normal evening meal. I had one low calorie snack bar (80 calories) in the evening as my daily treat with a cup of tea.

Movement

Diet and exercise is the age old phrase when you look at weight loss. So how did I bring in the exercise element without setting my pouch.

1. Started properly tracking my movement in the day. I used my apple watch, but actually used it! Previously I never worried if the exercise rings didn’t close. Now, I focus on the rings and if I am hitting the end of the day without the ring closing, I go for a walk and get them closed.

2. I started the couch to 5k running programme. This was great for me as it literally goes from walks and runs over the early weeks, then tips more into running. This approach, I think, allowed my body to adjust. 

3. Walking. Probably a really underrated activity for weight loss, but one that has worked well for me. I enjoy walking in the countryside, big national trust parks, and walks in nature. It helps burn calories and helps clear my head. I have enjoyed walking for a while, so increasing what I was already doing was actually quite easy. As walking is fairly low impact, it has never been a struggle to combine walking with J Pouch life. 

Timing of when to move / exercise was something I had to manage. To be honest though it boiled down to two different timings for me. Before I eat a big meal if it’s high intensity like a run, and for a walk I like to wait about 40 minutes or so after eating. To be clear, I am talking about walks which are over an hour long, not a quick 15 minutes round the block.  As long as i do that, then i found i could curry out the activity i wanted to do. If I was coming home from work and doing a run before my evening meal, then I would have a glass of orange juice beforehand, just to give me a little hit of something so I could perform.

Energy

After runs, my energy does take a hit. I physically ache, and then I crash! Overall I am feeling better.  But at the moment right after the run, I crash. I am on the sofa very, very tired. This links closely with timings, so in the week I always run in the evening after work. 

The night of a run I struggle to sleep. My body completely wakes up and doesn’t shut down when I need sleep. I get very restless sleep. 

This has nothing to do with my J pouch – I just struggle to sleep.

J Pouch Truth