Is exercise a must with the band?

[Poodles 0]

I have read the "rules" and I know the importance of exercise. My first goal is to drop enough weight so that I can exercise without pain and without breaking the machines. (Most have a 250lb limit.)

I have disks out in my back. Knee pain, and problems with my feet. I like to swim, but find it embarassing to go swimming (especially when my students see me in a suit). So my question is can you do it thru diet alone for a while? Or, do you HAVE to exercise for the band to work?

From my past experience you will lose weight slowly without exercise, but it will still come off.

What are your experiences?

[leatha_g 4]

Hi Poodles!

Yes, you CAN still lose without exercise, but you're accurate in saying that it will slow the process. Many people here have lost lots of weight without exercising. Hopefully, once you begin losing you'll begin to feel like adding exercise to your regime. I think I started out with like 10 minutes on the treadmill. Eventually, I worked up to half hour, hour, etc. Personally, I find it easier to walk on a treadmill than the regular ground or concrete. I also got myself a bicycle and a recumbent exercise bike at one point. Now, I do Water aerobics which I can do with no problem for an hour and it's the best exercise I've done yet. It feels wonderful, has much more resistance than being outside the Water and you can do things with your body that some of us simply could NOT do ever outside the water. Also, Curves was my saving grace in the beginning, as well. Progress, not perfection..

[Jachut 487]

I think that losing weight is 80% about what you eat. You can indeed lose weight without exercise, its harder keeping it off when you're sedentary though.

If you're in pain now, dont put the pressure on yourself to do anything more than you're comfortable with. You will lose the weight without it.

The main benefits of exercise as I see it are: - it makes it much harder to gain weight when you do go off your program or get to your goal weight. Most people who are successful in keeping a large weight loss off for good are regular exercisers. It makes you feel positively euphoric if you get to the point where you can really work out hard, its just so good for your mood and your outlook and your coping with the stresses of everyday life. It has positive effects on your blood chemistry, your body's ability to burn fat for fuel etc.

For me personally too it gives me a focus other than what I look like. My running time has inadvertantly become my meditation/affirmation time, I spend that time listening to music but the thoughts in my head are all about how strong I feel, how my body is a well honed machine, what I am going to achieve, that probably sounds really really daggy but its what it does for me and I'm positive that that makes a huge difference to how I approach this journey. Its toned me up and I've gotten incredibly fitter and made huge achievements I never thought I would and all of that motivates me to lose weight to improve my performances, which is much easier to do than thinking "you fat pig, you're going to lose that weight and punish yourself for being so out of control". Which is where a lot of our thought processes lie at the beginning of this journey.

Being able to get all of that out of exercise is something to aim for for sure, but I think its personality dependent, lots of people just go through the motions, do it becuase they should and never get that kind of joy out of it. Hopefully you will eventually but for now, stick with what you can do, and build up slowly.

[GayleTX 1]

I understand about not being able to exercise. I was hardly able to walk. As I improved, I said "I'll start when I get below 300." Well, I'm below 300. I did go inside the fitness center one day, but I haven't joined and haven't been back. Like you, I don't want my ex-students to see me and how big I've gotten (I don't leave the house much). I keep thinking one morning I'll get up and know that "TODAY IS THE DAY!" But I'm not ready yet.

Hey, you and I had the same surgeon! He did a great job.....no problems at all!

[GeezerSue 7]

My only option was "pool walking." Wasn't even up to Water aerobics! I just got in the stupid pool and walked back and forth the short way with a bunch of other old people who did the same thing every day. And then it became easier, but it WAS hell at the git-go.

[leatha_g 4]

Something else you might want to try at home. Janet C and her husband, Mikey let us in on the fact that they use Dance Dance Revolution at home and say it's great exercise and fun to boot! Maybe that's a place to start?? Also, Walk Away the Pounds DVD is a pretty good workout and you can always turn it off if you need to. I know it's tough. Been there, done that. And I guess the thing that got me started was that when I was first banded, one of the pieces of literature in my doc's packet was a walking plan, starting out at 5 minutes if need be, then working up in increments of 5 minutes. It worked for me and I had blood clots in my legs, shortness of breath, due to pulmonary embolism, etc. You'll get there!

[PinkMary 3]

Poodles, i lost this weight without exercise.. the past month i joined the gone for good club just to be motivated and use the traidmill..

i don't know whats your weight right now but it was emotional impossible

to me to start exercising when i started at 265. im lazy and im not proud about it, if i was exercising my body would look better and thinner..

but the point is i lost the weight

[Nana~ 4]

My only option was "pool walking." Wasn't even up to Water aerobics! I just got in the stupid pool and walked back and forth the short way with a bunch of other old people who did the same thing every day. And then it became easier, but it WAS hell at the git-go.

Sue, This too is what I did! When I first got banded I got winded just walking to the pool 8 houses away I would put the kido's on the school bus and walk the pool every morning. Slow walk to mid walk to fast walk to a sort jog lol the best you can in Water LOL now I swim laps. pool work is very good esp. if you have back issues or joint issues period.

Also you may want to look into the walk a mile videos you watch in your home. I do them from Tv on demand because I dont like people watching me workout lol

[lovecats85 2]

Ive lost all 46 lbs without exersizing (I walk every now and then but not much). I plan on hitting the gym after I take the bar exam though. I have a feeling that the last 40 lbs won't be easy to get off. Plus, exersize is really good for you!

[Poodles 0]

Thank you for all of the replies. I feel lazy for asking, but I just don't want to hurt. Pain is not my friend.

Hopefully, when I get down 50 lbs or so, it won't hurt so much to do that Richard Simmons tape. (I love Richard too.)

[leatha_g 4]

Good point, Paul and I do think it begins in the mind, for some of us. Like Poodles, I had severe pain in the beginning. Shin splints from just trying to walk around my apartment parameter. :eek: So far, I've found the most helpful thing was to have shoes that help alleviate pain.

Honestly, immediately following my surgery, I simply walked several times a day in order to help the port pain, gas pain, etc from the surgery. It really was my saving grace! 3-4 times a day, I would just go out and walk - not fast, just walk for at least 10-15 minutes. Gradually, I turned that into longer periods. By the 5th day I was feeling like a new person and just continued to progress at my own pace. I still have limitations due to damage to my lung capacity (pulmonary embolism). I still have damage to my legs due circulation issues, so I don't think I'll ever be a triathalon participant, but for ME, I have made great strides in incorporating more activity in my life. Today, I take the stairs - not EVERY time, but often times. Today, I can dance without pain. Today, I can do an hour of water-aerobics and it is hard work with much resistance. I come out feeling ALIVE and rejuvenated instead of in pain and I praise God for that! I can honestly say this band and the perserverance and incorporation of more activity has literally saved my life. I also understand that each person has their own pace and limitations.

As I'm writing this, I'm remembering a young lady from Smartbandsters who motivated me so much in my early days. This young lady got her band around the same time as me. I think her starting weight was somewhere near 400lbs and I'll never forget her posts and excitement about going to Curves and exercising with an exercise ball. She literally posted daily about how much exercise she was doing, in spite of her weight and her limitations and I could just envision the smile on her face, at her pride in herself. I could see her blossoming into something very beautiful and so fresh and wonderful. I told myself more than once, if this young lady can face this with so much vigor and joy, even at her weight, then I MUST get up and move too. I have no choice. I'm grateful to her to this day.

[Telly 4]

From Wikipedia (internet) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exercise

Physical exercise is the performance of some activity in order to develop or maintain physical fitness and overall health. It is often directed toward also honing athletic ability or skill. Frequent and regular physical exercise is an important component in the prevention of some of the diseases of affluence such as cancer, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, Type 2 diabetes and obesity.

[Teresita 0]

thank you telly, that was a very nice picture of exercise.....hoooowwwwwlllll woohooooo

[DonnaB 3]

The thing that motivates me to get some exercise is knowing that muscle burns a whole bunch of calories even when you're doing nothing. I've known that fact for most of my life but I never really let it sink in.

Yep, if you use dumbells sitting in front of your TV and build up your arm muscles, even just a little bit, your resting metabolic rate goes up. Not much, just a little. When it goes up, you burn more calories sitting, you burn more sleeping, you burn more as you surf the net, you more more ALL THE TIME! WOW! I'm always pleased when I think about this. As you build more muscle your metabolic rate goes up accordingly. Success breeds success.

I started out by working on my arms because it was easy. I don't even notice I'm working them really. Don't even break a sweat while I'm doing it. Next thing I knew I was thinking things like, if I do 5 sets of ten toe-lifts while I'm making dinner, I'll build up my calf muscles and THEY'LL burn calories for me while I sleep! So I did it.

Using this as my model, I'm now up to walking 2 miles on my treadmill daily and the next thing I'm going to do is work on my thigh and butt muscles, after all, they're the biggest muscles in my body - if I can get THEM to start burning calories for me . . . !!!

One thing leads to another. Start small. But start. You'll be happy you did. Literally, you'll be happy you did because in addition to increasing your resting metabolic rate, exercise releases a hormone called dopamine into your system. Dopamine is very similar in effect as the so-called 'happy pill' anesthesiologists use when they first start your surgery. Sadly, I don't remember my happy-pill moment. Dang it. They tell me I was euphoric! Makes you think, huh? lol

Good luck with this Poodles. The first step is the hardest. Schlocky but oh so true.