When I wrote my article, Getting Ripped with Lymphoma, I knew as much about cancer as I did about lifting weights...before I started to get serious about powerlifting. Hence, some of what I wrote was incorrect.
First of all, you’re not going to lose much fat with cancer. I continued to lose a bit the first month to a month and a half after I stopped training, but that was it. It’s pretty much impossible to lose fat without doing any physical activity. I knew this, but I guess I just wasn’t thinking. Generally, by the time you start losing fat with cancer, it’s because you’ve lost any worthwhile muscle you have to lose. After that, your body gives up on muscle and starts focusing on fat. This is a bit simplified, but you get the point—it’s just not a desirable thing.
On a positive note, you can prevent quite a bit of muscle loss by eating, especially protein. This was a huge mistake I made. When I stopped training, I stopped eating like I was training because I didn’t want to put on any fat. Hence, I began to lose muscle. This gets even worse once you start chemotherapy.
Chemotherapy, let alone the cancer itself, is as demanding on the body as training for powerlifting. You need calories, particularly protein calories. It can be tough, but you have to force yourself to eat. When you’re nauseous after chemo, you don’t even want to hear the names of some foods. After my first chemo treatment, I lived on jello, ginger-ale, and angel food cake for around three days. Let me tell you, it’s worse than the biggest hangover you can imagine. My nurse said it was OK that I didn’t eat much the first few days following chemo, but I didn’t like that. I could probably have bought any shirt off the rack since my neck was so small. Therefore, I made a plan for my next treatment.
Obviously, I was going to eat as much as I could, but of course, there’s not much protein in jello. Thankfully, Nestle Health Science came to the rescue. They have a product called Beneprotein® that is made from high-quality whey protein that is almost pure protein, so it may be tolerable when nauseous. I was going to try it in jello...who would of thought? Jello with protein! I was also going to see if I could eat peanuts.
Fortunately, I wasn’t nauseous after the second treatment. I felt sicker throughout my body, but then maybe I was just able to focus on how sick I felt because I didn’t have the nausea to distract me. I had no appetite, but I was able to force myself to eat without too much of a problem. I’m not sure what it’s going to be like next time. However, I must be doing a good job eating because I only lost 0.6 kg between my first chemo treatment and my second. I’ve been watching myself in the mirror, and it looks like my body fat is staying pretty much the same. There’s really no point in even trying to lose any right now though, and if I gain a bit, that’s better than losing muscle. When I’m training again I can work on losing fat again.
On that note, I’m not sure when I’ll be able to train again. I had to shovel some snow for around six or seven minutes a couple of weeks ago, and my fiancée thought I was going to throw up I was coughing so badly. Afterwards, I ended up spending most of my time in bed for the next two days. (Although, it wasn’t all due to the shoveling. I did try to do a little shopping before I got home and had to shovel. I guess my fiancée was having compassion on me and cut the shopping trip short).
I want to get back in the gym though. I want to get my neck back to where there’s only one shirt in the store that will fit me. Actually, I want to get back to my old goal of needing to buy a tailor-made shirt. I should be able to do it because the treatments for cancer are getting so much better each time. Once I’m in remission, I should expect at least 10 years before a relapse. Some people have gone 15 years and counting. Who knows how good the treatment will be when I have a relapse, and when I do, I’m going to eat a lot so that I don’t have as much muscle to regain.
One thing that’s a little disappointing about the type of chemo I’m getting: I’m keeping my hair. I was all psyched up to have hair like the rest of you, but I guess I’ll keep my ponytail for now. I mean, who is going to believe that I’m on chemo when I have hair as long as mine? Maybe next time...
Of course, in looking at the bigger picture, I know that statistics wouldn’t exist if there weren’t people on the other side of the percentages, so things may not go as planned. But I’ll trust in God and leave that up to Him. I’ll just do my part.
There is a drawback to powerlifting before getting cancer: I had to get a bone biopsy because my type of cancer often develops in the bone. Bone biopsies are a real pain in the butt… literally, but not as bad as bone marrow transplants (or so I’ve heard). Anyway, I have to get another one when I’m in remission because the first one showed that I have five percent cancer in my bones. That won’t affect my treatment plan, but it does mean sticking another big needle in my hip bone. Therefore, this is where powerlifting is a drawback. When the doctor did it the first time, the needle got stuck. It seemed to me that this was a bit unusual, but with more force, the doctor got it out. My fiancée’s mother came up with the most likely reason it got stuck—lifting weights makes your bones really dense. What bones get hit the most with squats and deadlifts? The hips.
Considering all of the other benefits of powerlifting before cancer...it’s worth it. My health, in general, is really good, my muscle mass has helped a lot, and I already had a good understanding of nutrition. Also, the nurses and lab techs all really like my veins. However, I’m a bit worried now about becoming vain because everyone tells me I’ve got such great veins...
