Weight training and ADT

[NYCHiker]

I thought maybe there was someone else out there who entered this treatment journey in good shape who might have some ideas for me on how to cope with ADT side effects. I am 59 years old and a little over 6 months into ADT. I will have between 6-12 months more. I started this prostate cancer journey in excellent shape. I've been a gym rat for over 30 years and have been going to the gym, on average, 4 days a week for much of my life. That includes walking 3-5 miles every day (just by virtue of getting stuff done in NYC with no car!) and now with the nice weather, hiking 8-10 miles every couple of weeks. I exercised all through my treatment for the past year and a half, from RP (1/22) to radiation (2-3/23) to ADT. It has helped me cope with this tremendously and my energy and conditioning has remained good throughout. But ADT is presenting some new challenges that I'm having a tough time with.

I haven't gained any weight on ADT but my body composition, despite intense weightlifting and exercise, is changing. I've lost some muscle mass and I'm ok with that, but keeping my waistline in check has been a struggle.

My strength is still pretty good. I've changed my diet to high protein, lower carbohydrate, moderate fats based on the recommendation of a nutritionist from MSK. I also changed my workouts to 1 intense circuit training day/week with a trainer and 3 weight lifting days/week on my own. That has helped, but the body composition shift slowly continues despite my best efforts. I do have some mild joint pain and hot flashes, but it's pretty manageable. I'm keeping up with this routine because I think that it will make the rest of ADT more tolerable and also set me up for a quicker, better recovery once I'm finished with treatment.

If there are any other gym goers out there who have any words of wisdom, I'm all ears. I've searched all over the internet and it seems most of the material is geared towards people who've never exercised before.

[Tall_Allen]

One's metabolism slows down with ADT. The only way to keep from gaining weight is to reduce caloric intake (slowly).