What kind of exercise is "moderate"?

Northwest_Nance · May 31, 2008

So my doctor's written post-op instructions state that "you may begin moderate exercise 7-10 days after surgery". What do you think is "moderate"?

I've been walking on my treadmill -- not real fast, and not for more than 15-20 minutes at a time so far. I should mention that I need a hip replacement and I have pain in my hip that makes it challenging for me to walk for very long. The hip surgeon doesn't want to do surgery until I lose some weight. So anyway..... I'm trying to start out fairly slow in hopes that I don't wake up one of these days to find that I over-did it and the hip pain is so bad that I can't exercise at all.

So last week I got a Wii Fit. Wow I love that thing! Again, I'm starting out slow with it. It has step aerobics which I always wanted to do but I never joined any classes in a gym, because I knew I couldn't keep up with everyone. I'm a real klutz but I'm getting better at the step aerobics and have advanced from the really brief easy beginner level to a slightly faster paced, longer lasting level. The other thing I did was an exercise where you run in place. It shows your little Mii (your own little character on the TV) running along, and the idea is to keep up with but not pass the pace setting Mii in front of you. I stopped running 20 years ago but this is really pretty slow paced and lasts about 3-4 minutes and it isn't nearly as high impact as actually running on the street. I really am looking forward to the day when I'm not feeling winded at the end of that little run.

But suddenly today it occurred to me (don't ask me why I didn't think about this sooner)..... should I even be doing gentle running in place 14 days after surgery? Could I dislodge the port?

I'll go to a support group meeting at my doctor's office next week and I can ask these questions but it's Friday night and I just wonder what you all think.

mstrina27 · May 31, 2008

So my doctor's written post-op instructions state that "you may begin moderate exercise 7-10 days after surgery". What do you think is "moderate"?
I've been walking on my treadmill -- not real fast, and not for more than 15-20 minutes at a time so far. I should mention that I need a hip replacement and I have pain in my hip that makes it challenging for me to walk for very long. The hip surgeon doesn't want to do surgery until I lose some weight. So anyway..... I'm trying to start out fairly slow in hopes that I don't wake up one of these days to find that I over-did it and the hip pain is so bad that I can't exercise at all.

So last week I got a Wii Fit. Wow I love that thing! Again, I'm starting out slow with it. It has step aerobics which I always wanted to do but I never joined any classes in a gym, because I knew I couldn't keep up with everyone. I'm a real klutz but I'm getting better at the step aerobics and have advanced from the really brief easy beginner level to a slightly faster paced, longer lasting level. The other thing I did was an exercise where you run in place. It shows your little Mii (your own little character on the TV) running along, and the idea is to keep up with but not pass the pace setting Mii in front of you. I stopped running 20 years ago but this is really pretty slow paced and lasts about 3-4 minutes and it isn't nearly as high impact as actually running on the street. I really am looking forward to the day when I'm not feeling winded at the end of that little run.

But suddenly today it occurred to me (don't ask me why I didn't think about this sooner)..... should I even be doing gentle running in place 14 days after surgery? Could I dislodge the port?

I'll go to a support group meeting at my doctor's office next week and I can ask these questions but it's Friday night and I just wonder what you all think.

congrats on your weight loss... i use the elliptical trainer for 30-minutes a day - 4-days a week... I was doing an hour prior to being banded.. I don't want to over do it.. but i would ask the Dr. to see what they say for you... But what u are doing as far as walking is fine.. i would not try running yet.. just my opinion...

Jachut · May 31, 2008

Running is moderate exercise for me NOW 3 years out, lol. Meaning I can talk while I'm doing it, my heart rate stays in the 120-135 fat burning range and I'm not sore or tired after an hour's run.

Straight after surgery, easy walking was moderate.

Moderate means gentle and not to hard on your body and depends what physical state its in. Take it easy until you're fully healed, but feel free to do plenty of walking.

After that, well I believe you need to push a bit harder regularly because that's what gets you to the stage where an hour's run is moderate. I can now burn 1000 calories in an hour without exhausting myself in the process - that's a pretty darn effective weight loss/maintenance tool! Well worth the effort I put in to get here.