 You know I wondered for a while after amputation why I was so hungry all the time because Logically I thought there's less of my body and eating food provides energy to your physical body So wouldn't I need to eat less if there's less of me? But soon I began to discover why my thoughts were an error. So let's talk about why amputees eat so much Hello there my beautiful lovely talented intelligent and delightful internet friends. Welcome back to my channel Thank you so much for joining me here today on footless Joe. I am Joe I am missing a foot and as an amputee sometimes I talk about amputee specific issues and one thing I don't think I've ever actually addressed is energy expenditure and food consumption Like I said at the beginning of this video something that I noticed as I was starting to get up and about on my prosthetic as I was Using a walking crotch to get around is that I was so hungry like all the time This is gonna sound like a little bit of a silly story But I remember one instance in particular where I was like what is going on Where I gone for a walk with friends earlier in the day and we went out and we got like this nice steak dinner And I ate the whole thing. I'm talking steak mashed potatoes. Maybe an appetizer something to drink I was well fed generally speaking that would have kept me full for you know the next six to eight hours But by the time I got back to the place we were staying I was like I need to keep eating I need more food what is going on so actually I wondered about this before I had my amputation I wondered if like my caloric needs to maintain my weight would go down because there was less of my body as I was facing this amputation like there'd be I don't know maybe like 10% less of my body I think it's a fair estimation that like below my knee on one side would be about 10% maybe less Maybe I'm over complicating this but I thought okay. Maybe I need to eat that much less, right? Maybe my body won't have to maintain that part of my body turns out that is not at all the way that things work I discovered that for myself both through education and research and also through personal experience of being like I am so hungry All of the time like the same amount of food that I used to eat before doesn't cut it anymore I want to start off by saying that this is gonna vary for absolutely everyone I'm not gonna talk about you know numbers or calories or anything like that but in general Here's why amputees need to eat more than the typical person with all of their limbs So in reality below me amputees actually expend a lot more energy than the typical able-bodied person In fact, it's nine to twenty percent more energy to just get up and about then an able-bodied person If you are an above knee amputee that number jumps to 45 to 70 percent And if you're a bilateral above the knee amputee it might be up to 300 percent more energy That's an insane number. In fact, all of those numbers are pretty significant So why is that and how do they know that? Well to answer the second question first They measure oxygen consumption as able-bodied people versus amputees are doing different activities and determined We're using a lot more energy. Those of us who do not have all of our meat limbs In measuring this oxygen consumption simple activities like getting up to go across the room and pick something up Takes a significant amount more energy for an amputee than a normal person Translate that to going for a hike you're talking about a lot more energy as you're doing more things The flip side of this also became very evident to me as I got more active on my prosthetic I realized I was exhausted a lot easier that I had to sleep more that I had to rest more that after doing something I was a lot more wiped out and it took a lot of time for my body to kind of adjust to this And I think to some extent it still is generally speaking in life I'm going to be expending more energy now than before when I was more able-bodied Another thing that I think is kind of interesting to mention is that if you are not feeling well Just you watching this as a person maybe you have limbs Maybe you don't you expend more energy to do things when you don't feel well than when you feel well So if you're talking about amputees who often are dealing with some kind of pain Who may have complicating other physical issues that they're facing They're going to be using even more energy to get up and about and around Speaking of food allow me to introduce you to Sadie monkey and Sophie's favorite new dog treat Wellapet Wellapet are CBD dog and cat treats to help you become your pet's hero They can help calm behavior improve joint mobility contribute to healthy skin and a lot more And something I really love about this company is that for every jar you purchase Wellapet Donates a jar of treats to animals in shelters who do not currently have families So thank you for that Wellapet. Thanks for sending me these delicious treats They have the Sadie monkey Sophie stamp of approval if you're interested in checking them out I'd recommend it the link is in the description down below Another interesting note that I never would have thought about is where you carry additional weight For instance, if you're carrying something, you know, carrying a good backpack on the back of your shoulders Is better than strapping it around your hips And it turns out that the least effective the least efficient place to carry additional weight Is at the bottom of your body is in your lower limbs So if your shoes weigh two and a half pounds more you're going to be using five to ten percent more energy to get up and around So when you're an amputee and you have metal body parts and then you're putting winter boots on top of that It makes sense that you are expending a lot more energy Another piece of the puzzle that comes into play is that when you're walking on prosthetic limbs You're using a little bit more balance. You might be using more core strength Generally speaking for those of us who are able to wear prosthetic limbs We do adjust to those limbs But even still your body is Compensating to be able to move in a somewhat normal manner For instance, I was out hiking this past weekend and I was going up some pretty steep hills And I don't know if you ever thought about this with prosthetic limbs, but my ankle doesn't bend There's some given it because of the carbon fiber because of how it's engineered. It's really cool But my ankle doesn't bend so going up or down hills The rest of my body is compensating for that lack of movement in my ankle Eating more is definitely a part of being an amputee at least for me I've noticed like I said, I do have to like keep snacks around and eat slightly larger meals to maintain the same Level of energy that I had before there was a while there right when I went through amputation and was adjusting to things Where I definitely lost some weight and I was exhausted 24 seven and it's taken a while for me to kind of even out Get energy back get some muscle back start doing things start adjusting more learn that I need to consume a little bit more energy To be able to go about normal life And it also was interesting for me to actually read through these studies and be like, oh that makes sense This is why I feel exhausted all the time and this is why I feel hungry often So if you're not an amputee and you are watching this video, thank you for being here Thank you for being here whoever you are. This may be a topic that you've never thought about I mean, I didn't spend a whole lot of brain power thinking about how much amputees eat Before losing my limb But it was kind of interesting for me to learn the biomechanics of how our bodies work and the biological needs that we have And how oxygen and energy expenditure changes when you're missing a part of your body It was kind of a surprise to me both from an educational perspective and also from a real life I'm experiencing this for the first time perspective. Thank you for listening I've linked the article I'm talking about down below if you want to check out those resources for yourself I appreciate you taking some time to listen a huge thank you to all my patrons Over on patreon for continuing to support this channel You are the reason that I'm able to do this sincerely Thank you If you're interested in joining my patreon community and financially supporting what i'm doing here This channel and my other channel trauma talk Check out the link on screen or down below to see what that looks like What the perks are what you might get in return for it Check it out if you feel like it and I appreciate it to you watching this video Thank you so much for spending a few minutes out of your day here with me today You could be anywhere in the world doing anything and you chose to hand with me for a bit And I really appreciate that. I love you guys. I'm thinking about you and I will see you in the next video. Bye guys