Weightlifting Post Surgery

[rking 484]

i cannot do weights until 6 weeks out. i honestly feel if you start doing weights after you are healed, you will have more energy, not less. exercise gives us energy. i think you will feel great, both physically and mentally.

[dlappjr 467]

i cannot do weights until 6 weeks out. i honestly feel if you start doing weights after you are healed, you will have more energy, not less. exercise gives us energy. i think you will feel great, both physically and mentally.

Funny, when I was fat and people told me they felt so much better after working out. I would try and feel so tired and in pain. After dropping a little weight and then working out, I feel that feeling now. I don't feel tired or in pain. I also think that something happens when we drop all that weight between the pro-op and first 2 weeks post op. I have read that your body may see a boost in testosterone that is released from the fat you burn up in that sudden burst of weight loss during the first initial few weeks to a month. I am not a doctor but that seemed to make sense to me, as I was so full of energy and felt like a teenager again. It has sense slowed down a little but It was amazing to feel that vibrance.

[SleeveSoon 191]

... I'm worried about how my body will do with not having as much fuel to draw from since, you know, tiny stomach and what not. Anyone have any advice in this department?

For two months prior to my sleeve I lifted weights on a regular basis. For 4 weeks after surgery I was instructed not to lift more than 10 lbs and restricted my workouts to cardio (walking and stationary bike). I started lifting weights again 5 weeks after surgery, but with much lighter weights than before surgery. My goal now is to tone muscles and to avoid muscle loss while eating 1,200 calories per day. I bring a Protein shake to the gym and drink it after working out.

I recently started a small group fitness program (3 days per week) that focuses on strength one day, cardio another day, and trainers choice the 3rd day. I have been exposed to new things (kettle bells, medicine balls, circuit training) in this program. Mixing things up and adding swimming is working for me. I would like to add cardio kickboxing some time in the future.

[LisaDomalewski 79]

I do weight training 3 times a week and cardio 6x a week.

[anaxila 501]

I do Body Pump 3x/week on top of running 4x/week, personal training, and yoga. I'm not quite a year out of surgery. I started at the gym a week after surgery, but didn't get going with weights until if lost quite a bit of my own weight. Body weight exercises alone exceeded most normal people's lifting limits at that stage. ????

A few months ago I made an appointment with the nutritionist at my surgeon's office because I suspected I was under-fueled for the burn I was getting, and I was right. She added two Snacks (100-200 calories each) to the three meals I was already eating. I know that my original lesson was that snacking is BAD, but it was the right solution to me to get all my needed fuel.

For a 1000 calorie day, my goals are 75g Protein, 85g carbs, and 40g fat. She has to talk me down off the ledge on the carb goal, as I have such a reflexive fear of carbs. I signed up for a "pro" account on My Fitness Pal, which has the option to adjust your food goals based on your burn. So I have my goal set to 1000 calories, but if I burn 300 the app will add 300 to my day's target in the same proportion as the original target. I find this to be VERY helpful, though I rarely make it all the way up to 1000 net.

Hope this helps!

[caligirltt 60]

I got the all clear 4 weeks post op. I started with some easy lifting. I found this article and it helped me make a routine that was both physically challenging, yet safe in a way that allowed me to gain strength and stability without much risk for injury. The Ultimate Weight Training Workout Routine After reading through a lot of this, I realized that there were a few things I needed to do to ensure I wouldn't over exert myself. I landed on doing two different workouts and alternating them. Workout A on Monday, Workout B on Wednesday, Workout A again on Friday. B the next Monday and so on. Each workout was what could be considered full body, as I didm;t focus specifically on legs or arms or shoulders, etc. I downloaded a cool little app on my iPhone called Fitlist. It allowed me to make routines and add the number of reps and weight for each rep so I could pick up where I left off from the previous workout, and allowed me to bump up the weight and/or number of reps once that became easier to do. Within a couple weeks I upped the weight a little and a couple weeks after that I upped the reps from 8 to 10. I now do most exercises at 3 sets of 10 reps. I figured out how much weight to do by doing a set of 8 and making sure the weight was just right so that I could only do those 8 reps. Meaning I didm;t have any additional strength to do another rep, but I wasn't failing at 7 reps either. The only thing I did to my diet was make sure I was taking in enough Protein. I was already up to 1000 calories per day and went from 80g Protein to about 100g protein. I take in about 200 cal and 20g protein before my workout in the AM and another 150-200cal and 15-20g protein within a half hour after working out. Then Breakfast which is usually eggs around 1 1/2 hr after my workout. I also started doing the elliptical at the same time as the weights. I went from 8 minutes to 10 minutes in a couple weeks and now do over 2 miles in 20 minutes before my sets of weights. I also have started trying yoga. Its amazing how out of shape my core is. Just a simple plank for 30 seconds makes me want to throw up sometimes. I found a cool app for that too called Swork It. It has stretching, exercises and yoga instructional videos. Now that I have longer endurance and am down some significant weight, my next endeavor is going to be 9round. I think that will help me burn a lot of fat. Best of luck @@BrandonKea, it is a huge game changer once you start working out. I stalled for 3 weeks but still dropped size. I went from 5xl to now shopping for 2, sometimes 3xl. Take it easy and only do what you can. Your body will adjust quickly and soon you will be amazed at what you can do. My gym has an assisted pull up/dip machine. I have never done pull ups before. I can do 5 pull ups on that machine because it helps offset your weight. Huge confidence booster and big time motivator!

That app is awesome, I just downloaded it. I am having bypass hopefully in the next few months. I lost over 100 lbs naturally with a trainer and working out but have a congenital heart defect so I can't do cardio but I love to lift. My weight is starting to creep up, so my cardio finally said I can have surgery since I have maintained a 60+ weight loss for a few years, and a few heart surgeries. I am so excited about that app, I have ALOT of restrictions due to my heart, and surgeries. I love that it shows you the way to also do exercises.

[cherri2082 149]

@@BrandonKea - don't get me wrong, weight and resistance training is so helpful! I genuinely believe that calorie and carb restriction is how we lose the weight, but exercise and fitness is how we maintain! I love getting strong and toned.

I only meant to not to rush it. I have a friend who had bowel related surgery, pushed it physically (that cowgirl took like a few days off NOT as per surgeon recommendation) and developed adhesions and other complications. She was the one that warned me to not chance it,wasn't worth it.

Keep us posted on your fitness journey, I found it to be amazing.

I have had my colon removed. I have to have hernia surgery involving where my ostomy was at the same time as my sleeve. Thank you for the info about your friend and her words of warning!! I have already been told by dr to wait for his clearance before doing much besides walking. Regardless! Tomorrow is my day!!