Hi Bobby. I'm a 26 year old female diagnosed with crohns at age 15. I've recently had severe flare ups and am battling with joint pain. Because of prolonged prednisone use I'm overweight. Now off of prednisone I'm looking into finally going into bodybuilding to increase my strength and improve my physique. I imagine I have to lose all that fat first. I started at the gym while back with my obsession of becoming a Navy Nurse but that idea's long gone since my last flare up.I narely made it out of nursing school.Too much stress. Any reccomendations to start off? I honestly feel weak and don't know where to begin lol
My doctor said the same about the shakes bit they seem to forget everyone with Crohns tolerate different diets. What's food for me may be a trigger for the next. Thanks for sharing your experience I appreciate it.
Considering this thread was started in 2012 and last posted in in 2014 I doubt the original posters are around.
Workout shakes are a supplement, they are not an enhancement, simply a replacement for real food. They don't do anything better than real food, and in many cases are bloated with simple sugars and artificial compounds that are hard on the body, especially for Crohn's considering many of them contain sucralose and maltodextrin which are both terrible for Crohn's.
If there's any workout supplements that I would recommend it would be creatine for weightlifting (pure creatine, unflavored) and L-glutamine (helps repair the gut, helps preserve muscle mass during times of starvation and extended physical stress).
Start off with light weights and know your limits. Work in pyramid sets.
Meaning if you're doing bench press for example, start with 50 lb.s and do it until you are JUST ABOUT to fail and stop with 1-2 reps still in the tank. Let's say for this example you did 18, you could probably do 20 if you pushed, but you're going to stop at 18.
Now add 5 lb.s to each side you you have 60lb.s on the bar. Rest until you're ready for another set.
You'll probably be able to do about 12 reps this time.
Add another 5 lb.s to each side.
Now you'll probably do around 8.
Once you hit a weight you can only do 5 reps with, start backwards taking 30% of the weight off each time.
This is basic pyramid training, it will help you to approach you limits in a well rounded way without over-stressing your joints.
I'm a strong believer that with Crohn's we need more rest time than a healthy individual. While the optimal routine for a healthy person to start working out is to do compound workouts 3x a week (i.e. squat, bench, row, deadlift on monday-wed-fri) I've been doing a workout focused on each body part 1 day a week.
Basically
Monday - arms
Tuesday - legs
Wed - rest
Thursday - Chest
Friday - back
Bodybuilding is largely about eating a surplus of calories in order to provide your body with the nutrients it needs to grow muscles, which is the hard part for someone with Crohn's. If you're new to working out, especially if you're overweight, you can gain muscle while losing fat, but after you put on 20-30 lb.s of lean body mass (muscle) you'll hit a wall and you'll need to eat more and gain some fat to gain muscle.
Unfortunately if you're on corticosteroids this works against you as it can decrease muscle strength and promote fat growth.
I knew a Crohn's patient online who took Anabolic Steroids with a crazy physique though, even by the standards of a healthy person using steroids.
As far as diet goes this is really hard to say as all Crohn's patients react to different things. Just make sure you're hitting a balance of macro nutrients of about 30% protein 50% carbs 20% fats.
You only need about 1 gram of protein per kg of lean body mass to gain muscle, anyone telling you more, or telling you 1 gram / lb is mislead. This is a very reasonable amount to hit without having to take shakes. Higher amounts can be really hard on someone with CD.