Question:
I am 3 months post-op and have lost alot of weight but i very rarely excerise, does
anyone know what disadvantages as well as advantages there are in exercising? Please let me know let me know some of your experiences. Thank you. — angelswings711 (posted on October 3, 2006)
October 3, 2006
Advantages? Regaining your health, building your cardiovascular strength
and endurance, lowering your blood pressure, helping your body purge itself
of years of toxins, maintaining muscular strength and endurance, build self
esteem, build good lifelong habits, need I go on?
This surgery is by no means a quick fix. If you do not develop good eating
and exercise habits now, you will see your weight loss slow, and once
you're a year out you will start to gain weight again. The thing you have
to remember is that your pouch only stays small for so long, once you are a
year or more out your pouch has expanded allowing you to eat "normal
protions" or "normal caloric intake" so if you do not
exercise you will start to put weight back on. It is VERY important to
exercise for lifelong success.
HTH!
— MagickalMom
October 3, 2006
Exercise is simply not critical to initial weight loss. In fact, by
staying super-vigilant, I was able to lose over 300 pounds without
participating in an on-going regular exercise program. However, I am very
active-- constantly doing yardwork, walking my very big dog, playing and
coaching soccer for my daughter and lots of other aerobic activities.
Listen, the advantage of exercise isn't in its weight loss benefits, but in
its ability to build heart health, assist in improving bone density,
providing a mental edge in avoiding the pitfalls of hunger and in helping
to ward off diabetes (something for which we are at risk). As much as I
enjoy my very active lifetsyle, I do wish that I had developed a regular
exercise program-- if only to have a healthy pattern of activity away from
food during which I could re-charge my batteries.
So, if you have the choice between exercising and not exercising, I would
choose to get into that exercise habit.
— SteveColarossi
October 3, 2006
Dear Phyllis:
It is very important to exercise and I would like to discuss this further
with you. I have been running two years post-op and it helps me with
digesting my food. My email is alsoto45@sbcglobal,net.
— alsoto
October 3, 2006
Exercise is key to success. A friend just emailed me to tell me that after
6 months her appetite returned and if she doesn't exercise she will gain
weight! I have been a regular at curves for 4+ years and I plan to
continue after surgery in addition to walking and doing more at a gym with
a personal trainer....exercise is crucial if you don't want to be flabby
and have plastic surgery.
— Sheri A.
October 3, 2006
I didn't exercise after surgery because I had a fairly thin body type
underneath it all. I did everything wrong - eating next stage foods before
it was recommended, not eating enough protein/drinking enough protein
shakes, not getting all the supplements I should have (too expensive),
consuming foods with sugar and fat. I went from 305 to 145 without lifting
a finger or doing anything right. I am now up to 190 and struggling to get
the weight off again. Because I didn't eat the protein and vitamins and
minerals that were recommended the malabsorption has halted for me. I now
absorb ALL the fat, calories, carbs and sugars that I consume and can eat
"normal-sized" meals, and tend to graze. You absolutely need to
get into proper habits NOW or you will very likely be dealing with these
problems down the road. I sure wish I could go back and do it over again
while it was easy and I could have preserved the malabsorption factor - too
late for me, but not for you!
— j_coulter
October 4, 2006
I would recommend the book "mayo clinic fitness for everybody."
it will answer all your questions and give you the info you need to know to
get started. Then it is up to you.
WLS is a health decision, make the most of your opportunity to be healthy.
I think how exercise benfits you is pretty much common knowledge.
— **willow**
October 4, 2006
Plenty of people have given you the advantages... so here are a couple
disadvantages I can think of:
1. Injury - to avoid this, pick less riskier exercise... walk instead of
skateboarding, learn how to safetly operate gym equipment from a gym
employee rather than your own trial and error, wear a helmet if you bike,
don't swim during thunderstorms etc.
2. Creatures - if you are outside, you may disturb nature and nature isn't
always happy to be disturbed, to avoid this, exercise in a gym or in your
home, only exercise in areas you know are safe (my town has bears, so a
walk thru the woods is not a good idea), wear bug spray, don't harrass bees
or crush ant hills, don't approach or engage with wild animals, don't pet
or interact with stray or unfamilar to you animals/pets
3. Heat Injury/Dehydration - you could, by not paying attention to your
body, get heat exhaustion or heat stroke, or become dehydrated--this is
avoided by making sure you are drinking the amount reccomended by your
doctor and by drinking before and after exercising (you don't have to drink
a huge amount)..if you are doing prolonged exercise, running in a race,
high mileage bike ride, make sure to take some breaks to drink and cool
off. Exercise during the cooler parts of the day, the morning or evening
avoiding the time between 10am and 2pm because that is when the sun is at
its hottest. Wear breathable clothing. If you start feeling bad, take a
break. If at any point you feel light headed or dizzy or weak, stop
exercising and take a break, cool off, drink... if you've stopped sweating,
you may need immeadiate medical treatment because its a sign that your body
tempature is extremely elevaqted. Last but not least, wear sunscreen... it
won't prevent heat injury or dehydration but it will reduce your risk of
skin cancer, wrinkles, and premature aging.
4. Too much, too fast- If this is your first go at regular exercise, you
might want to get a mini-physical from your doctor and also some guidelines
for what exercise and what duration is appropriate for you. There is a
great deal of info on the net available for free with various work out
routines or exercise plans, it might be helpful to take advantage. If you
are in pain, during or after exercising, this is a sign that you are doing
too much and need to slow back down.
5. Boredom - Try to incorporate exercise into your daily routine, take the
stairs rather than the escalator or elevator. Park at the back of the
parking lot and walk to the store/work. Walk your dog, mow your lawn,
clean.... stuff you have to do anyways, make it work for you. Pick
activities you enjoy.. I hate walking on a treadmill but walking on a
nature trail is very enjoyable for me. The more fun and enjoyable you
can make it, the more likely you are to stick with it. Find an exercise
buddy, invest in a good walkman or discman (for music or books on tape),
include it into your daily schedule, involve you spouse/family.....
5. If you are or have been diabetic, or you have problems with
hypoglycemia, low blood sugar.... make sure you eat a small snack before
hand and carry glucose tablets, hard candy, another snack, or something to
bring your blood sugar back up.
That's all I can think of, most are extremely easy to avoid. And all of
those things can happen when you're not exercising. Gyms can be pricey but
you don't need a gym to exercise. Of course with anything, you can take it
too far and exercise too much but that is rare (a friend of mine flunked
out of college because she was spending more time in the gym than in
class--this was due to an eating disorder). Make sure you listen to your
body
Good luck. Feel free to contact me privately if you have any questions or
need a pep talk :)
— mrsidknee
October 5, 2006
If you are not been exercising, then you are not using your
"Honeymoon" time to the full advantage. During the this time,
you will lose, no matter what. Unfortunatly, this ends quite abruptly and
you have lost some weight, but allot of what you have lost is muscle mass.
If you don't exercise, the body holds the fat and that is what you want to
get rid of. You really haven't accomplishes anything. Did you have
surgery to look "pretty" or to get healthy? You need that
exercise to retain muscle mass and get healthy. You won't look as good as
you could without it.
— jk_harris
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