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[ChrisIsaak]

Another interesting discussion topic for LL-veterans and current patients...

Did you lose weight during/after LL?

Even if you kept the same weight, since the additional height changed your BMI, do you appear and feel thinner than you previously were?

Did your basal metabolic rate go up? In other words.. Does your body require more calories now daily since you're taller? (The metabolic rate is directly proportional with height, muscle mass, and inversely proportional with age).

Did your body require more calorie intake during lengthening?

Comments are appreciated.

[Sweden]

I was in superb shape when I started lengthening. 65kg. 8% bodyfat.

During lengthening I lost all of my muscles and went below 58kg. Probably 15% bodyfat.

Now I'm 76kg and most likely 20% bodyfat.

I want to come down to 67kg, 8-9% bodyfat  but it's a struggle that has shown to be very extremely difficult.
I need to be able to run to get in shape, but I can't run 

[ChrisIsaak]

Thanks for the detailed response, Sweden! Your insight is always very valuable.

I wonder why your body fat percentage increased so much. Simply because of muscle loss? Shouldn't one expect to lose a lot of muscle in the legs, but keep the upper body muscles fairly the same?

My basal metabolic rate is around 1900 kcal/daily. It's not too much. It basically means that when my intake exceeds that rate, I gain weight, and vice versa. My doctor, Dr. Inan, told me that I would need additional calories every day during LL, and a protein-based diet. But if I keep eating like he told me, I'm afraid to put on weight, particularly during a period of time in which I'll be unable to walk or move around a lot.

Did you look thinner post-LL?

What would you (honestly) prefer - being in superb shape, but 173 cm, like your former self, or being 180 cm and a higher body percentage of fat?

If you can't run, how about swimming? 

[Blackhawk]

Sweden,

Can you ride a bike as well as you could before LL?

[Medium Drink Of Water]

It's been fluctuating over the past few years, and the only time I noticed was when I was looking down at a scale.  I had no idea where my body was putting that extra weight or where I was losing it from.

I was 5'7 138lbs with a BMI of 21.6 before the surgery.  I lifted weights regularly and ate a lot of calories to try to bulk up.  I was always skinny though and couldn't put on much weight no matter what I did.

I was down to 125lbs at 5'10 (17.9 BMI, underweight) by the time I got out of Guang Ji Hospital.  Toward the end I was only eating two meals a day because I was just lying in bed most of the time and sitting in a wheelchair the rest.  I wasn't very hungry (partly because the repetitive hospital food finally started to disgust even me, who liked it at first, after 3 and 1/2 months).  I just ate breakfast and dinner about 10-12 hours apart at the end.

When I got out of the hospital I started eating a lot on purpose because I knew my body would need more calories for bone consolidation and rebuilding muscle that had atrophied.  I slept 12 hours a night and was tired when I couldn't get that much sleep, so I knew my body was doing something.  All that eating and sleeping and growing brought me up to 160, but that's just a 23 BMI at the higher range of normal for 5'10.

After I was recovered from LL and was normal height, I lost that Napoleon complex that made me want to become a short bodybuilder.  Now I just eat medium-sized meals and do moderate exercise, and I'm back to 138lbs again and a 19.8 BMI.  That's more of a coincidence than anything though.  If I'd lived my current lifestyle back when I was 5'7 I'd probably have weighed somewhere in the 125-130lb range which is, wow, almost exactly my current BMI.

Nice thread idea.  I hadn't thought about my weight or BMI changes in-depth like this before.  I even learned something about myself from writing this and looking at a BMI calculator.  Although technically my weight stayed the same, when I consider the lifestyle changes (which I hadn't though about before) it's my BMI that really stayed the same.

[ChrisIsaak]

Medium Drink of Water,

Thanks a lot for the thoroughly detailed input! 

[Sweden]

I got fat bc of too much pizza and Red Bull. I still barely can't really control myself. That's why I'm so out of shape so the full body picture isn't coming before I'm in shape. Although if I compare to the other blobs that show their half nked pictures in their diaries I'm an Olympic athlete...

Yes, I can go swimming and cycling. It's just a bit of a struggle and I get so sick of it so fast. I'm too lazy, I confess.

It hurts in the knees when I stand up and ride my bike but I can do it now. Going up hills is difficult, I just don't have the power to make it.

I can leg press now 120kilos. That's like 300pounds. But getting the force through the pedals on the bike is far from the same.
If I try to squat, I fall back bc of ballerina/tight ankle.

India destroyed my fighter spirit or something. I'm so out of shape that I almost pass out doing 20 jumps with the jump rope.
I could do that endlessly before. 2 or 3 hour run was easy before, now I can barely walk....

[endeavor]

Sweden, I'm a bit confused. It seems like there were many drawbacks to your lengthening, and I even recall you writing that your quality of life went down in many areas post-LL. You're a good height: 180 cm. With good posture, this is considered tall in many areas (probably not in Sweden though). Why are you getting more surgery? Is it partially because you don't feel like you'll be able to enjoy the things you used to anyway?

I looked for your diary, but I couldn't find it. Are you the same "Sweden" on old forum ? A few questions:

1) How much did you lengthen?
2) What method did you use?
3) How long did the process take?
4) How long ago did the process finish?
5) Do you have any idea why you've had such a dramatic decline in performance?

I know loss of athleticism is to be expected from this treatment, but some things surprised me. For example, I always thought ballerina foot would go away with time.

[Sweden]

  that's great. You had no idea who I was!

It's alright. Yes, I'm that "Sweden" on old forum  too. Look for "other Dr section"

1) 7-7,4cm
2) LON Dr Sarin
3) like 98 days of lengthening. Stays for 5 months.
4) frame removal 16 April 2013
5) yes I do - I did leg lengthening.

I was a professional athlete in Taekwondo. Competed all around the world.

In some way I have a very hard time believing others do better than me since I had a very good outcome in India without any complications. My bones have fully healed up to 97% and I jump around and can do spinning kicks too.

It's just that everything aches like 2-3 days after I do all that stuff. That's not a good way of living, with constant aches.
Every morning my ankles hurt and I have to stretch a minute or so. Knees ache a while until blood flows better.

I haven't even started working yet. Although I can't say I miss it.......

[SirStretchAlot]

BMI is no longer an accurate indicator of your fitness post LL. The reason is because you only lengthened your femur/tibias. BMI assumes your leg length is proportional to other parts of your skeleton, like arms, shoulders, ribs, hips. Taller people have larger frames and tissue mass in general, hence justfying a higher weight. Just lengthening the femur, does not expand your frame elsewhere, grossly underestimating your real BMI.

[Medium Drink Of Water]

BMI never was an accurate indicator of anything.  It paints everyone with a broad brush.

[6CMFemurs]

Pre LL: 5"6 147 lbs at age 22
Max weight loss during the Operation: I weighed 129 lbs towards to end of lengthening.
Post LL: 5"8.5 165 lbs at age 29

I would imagine most of the weight gain can be attributed to natural metabolic changes as we get older.

[SirStretchAlot]

Pre LL: 5"6 147 lbs at age 22
Max weight loss during the Operation: I weighed 129 lbs towards to end of lengthening.
Post LL: 5"8.5 165 lbs at age 29

I would imagine most of the weight gain can be attributed to natural metabolic changes as we get older.

You require fewer calories as you age due to muscle loss. Unfortunately, unless you put on 18 lbs of muscles, most of the weight gain was likely fat. Regardless, 7 years on, the weight gain is more likely due to eating habits, than the surgery itself.