Seriously? Does everyone exercise?

[pmoore 6]

I am 13 weeks post-op & went to my 1st yoga class last week. Prior to surgery, I worked out HARD 6 days a wk with a trainer on 3 of those days . . Super high impact cardio, weights, biking, running, on & on & on & barely lost weight. I have zero metabolism. Hence, surgery. I am consistently losing weight now but miss the muscle tone. I never did yoga because, frankly, I felt I couldn't get enough calorie burn from yoga. My 1st yoga class was Devine. To think I may be able to slow down a bit & actually enjoy something relaxing like yoga is a gift. My goal before was to burn as many calories as possible . . My goal now is to find exercise more rewarding & enjoyable. It's like a whole new world that I still don't really believe is "my" world now.

[aroundhky 1,174]

Looking good "CLK"!!!

[Molly Sleeved 36]

You really need to consider why you had this surgery. If it was for your health, exercise for life is a part of that. That doesn't have to mean running marathons. Find something you enjoy and do the 210 minutes a week that is the guideline for WLS patients. I had surgery to improve my health and quality of life. That means a minimum of 210 minutes of exercise per week along with a healthy diet.

[JolieBug 82]

210 minutes is only 2% of your week!

[Jenny12 361]

In my 28 years in this life, the only exercise I have found that I actually enjoy is swimming. But all of the fitness centers around here always have so many people swimming laps in the pool, so that keeps me from going a lot of times. Not a good excuse I know, but a ton of other people in the pool doesn't sound too appealing. I've been doing my Arc Trainer 40-60 minutes a day, but that doesn't mean I like a single second of it.

[LG1981 111]

You could try zumba or something like that...

[LG1981 111]

I don't like working out. I don't like to sweat (some activities I don't mind sweating , my hair gets messed up, and I just enjoy kicking back after work rather than heading to the gym. That being said, I started to weight train a month and a half ago 3x a week, and cardio 2x a week and the results have been AMAZING.

-lost 19.8"

-lost 9.4 body fat

-13 lbs down

Bite the bullet peeps!

[Fiddleman 4,376]

Not sure if these people mean it when they say they hate exercising. I love working out for short periods of intensity of about 20-30 min ( not including warmup, cool down). I used to love running earlier in the year for miles and miles. It was great and I enjoyed 2-3 10 k a week, but it was a muscle eater for me. Now I really enjoy cross fop it and body weight workouts at home. I still do run, but only as a warmup of 1-2 miles. They key is to find something you love and make sure it helps you achieve your short term or long term goals. However, be ready for change as you listen to what your body needs. Long cardio is not what my body needs at this time.

[mark! 449]

Hey now! I think that while I appreciate the sentiment behind mark's post, I think it's misleading to say we'll look like we have cadaver skin if we don't work out.

Is exercise going to help with some of that? Well, at least it will make the muscles under the skin look great and burn off more fat. But I'd argue that a huge part of the loose skin is due to genetics and a personal ability to bounce back more than it is to exercise. I have loose skin around my midsection but I also had a set of twins. The rest of me bounced back quite nicely around 18 months post op, and as evidenced by the photos below, I don't have cadaver skin despite not exercising!

Again, though, I stress that exercise IS beneficial in a lot of ways. But I'd focus more on building strength, restoring depleted muscle and a sense of overall well-being as the better benefits. I'd hate for newbies to stumble here and think that exercise is the magic bullet for loose skin. It's not. On the other side, people should understand that my genetics allowed me to bounce back in a way some other's might not (and trust me, that's about the only good thing they did for me!) so you can't look at anyone else's progress and predict your own. A good way to hedge your bets is to find a way to exercise that you enjoy and take care of yourself!

~Cheri

No, there was some over dramatization for sure, but genetics only take a person so far, hard work and determination will do much more in that aspect.

Didn't mean to "appear" to mislead anyone, but exercise is a larger factor in body composition than anything else listed.

[amytug 996]

Not sure if these people mean it when they say they hate exercising. I love working out for short periods of intensity of about 20-30 min ( not including warmup' date=' cool down). I used to love running earlier in the year for miles and miles. It was great and I enjoyed 2-3 10 k a week, but it was a muscle eater for me. Now I really enjoy cross fop it and body weight workouts at home. I still do run, but only as a warmup of 1-2 miles. They key is to find something you love and make sure it helps you achieve your short term or long term goals. However, be ready for change as you listen to what your body needs. Long cardio is not what my body needs at this time.[/quote']

I think Somme people really just never find that joy. It's sad to think about. I LOVE it 90% of the time.

[learningintuition 5]

I'm not a fan of exercising. Actually, I know this sounds weird but I don't like sweating. So most exercises make me uncomfortable. I can do a mile walk without getting sweaty so thats what I do. Well, that's what I just started.

[aroundhky 1,174]

Always enjoyed lifting and since the sleeve, I almost can't live without lifting, as my day just doesn't feel complete if I haven't engaged in some type of intense resistance training. I feel very fortunate to be able to enjoy exercise, as I know many people do not like it or even hate it. With that said, I often try to see the positives in anything and focus on that. Not that there are no negatives, I just think it helps me to have a positive approach and outlook. The positives I get from exercise are: 1) I know it will make me healthier, 2) love the feeling/hormone rush I get from an intense lifting session (maybe that's just a guy thing), 3) it gets me out of this crazy office for an hour and 4) it helps (some) with my physique.

Perhaps a reason I like it even better than I did pre-op has something to do with the words....."crossover" and "addiction".

[Escape_Pod 358]

I think you can lose weight and maintain without exercise, but it all depends on your priorities. If you can find a way to increase your muscle mass, you'll burn more calories just sitting on your butt all day than you would without it. My nutritionist pointed out that when you're eating super low-cal in the early post-op months, your body is working to try to conserve energy. The smartest thing it can do is to reduce your muscle mass, because muscle requires more calories to maintain, so if you're not getting some exercise to counteract that, you're losing muscle as well as fat, and you'll end up with a lower resting metabolic rate than you would otherwise - that means fewer calories in maintenance!

For me, I'd rather get some exercise and have a little more breathing room in my caloric budget, but that's just me. I like to remember what Dr. Sharma says - it's about creating the healthiest life you can enjoy. If you're unhappy doing what you're doing, you're unlikely to stick with it 10, 15, 20 years down the road.

I'm lucky that I've found a form of exercise I love, at least in the summer. I love hiking up mountains so much, it gets me out of bed at 5am on a Saturday. And though it's hard work, I really adore doing it. I get my heart rate WAY up, for hours on end, but that's just a side benefit. I'm not out there because I need / want to exercise. I'm out there because I love hiking up to the alpine lakes. The exercise is almost secondary. Unfortunately, it's pretty limited seasonally. I need to keep trying to find something I love so much to do in the winter time.

[getlownurse 105]

My husband and I got scuba certified and we do that any time we can get a babysitter. We also go to the springs and swim, free dive, cave dive etc. of course, we live in Florida where things like that are all over. It's a good workout but you are having SO MUCH fun that you don't realize it until you're done and starving. When we lived in other states, we liked volleyball, which is even more fun with groups of people. Biking, yoga, etc are all way fun. Just some ideas.

[getlownurse 105]

Oh and kayaking was my shiZ there for a minute.