Many posts by individuals post-surgery about how they became active (in terms of exercise) after formerly living a sedentary life are inspiring. I have always been sedentary (and I'm pre-op). When I exercise, I enjoy it a lot. But I find that I have to truly push myself. It's always a struggle. I easily can find excuses not to go to the gym. So I'm curious about the following: for those of you who did become active, did surgery suddenly change you? Did losing weight itself actually change your motivation? Or, even after losing weight, is it still a struggle (for the formerly sedentary)? The reason that I ask is that I have read that the surgery can reduce/eliminate the hunger hormone as well as decrease the amount of time to reach satiety. I also wonder whether the surgery has some sort of effect on brain chemistry to help turn the sedentary into exercisers. All thoughts are appreciated!

I'm 5 weeks out. I have two knee replacements and weak ankles due to rheumatoid arthritis. So I was not cleared to exercise until 2 days ago, and i need to start slowly. Honestly, I let myself enjoy my 'free pass' for not exercising. But now that i've started, it feels great. I can tell how much the 40 pounds i've lost has made a difference.

Because i've disliked exercise in the past I've started by playing with the Wii. I have a gym membership and hope to be motivated to start swimming soon.

I don't think that the surgery magically makes us want to exercise, but i do think that the motivation comes from a better success rate post-op than pre-op.

:-)

No, I don't think it suddenly changed me. I've always been a person that went to the gym (off and on) and was fairly active outdoors with the family (hiking, horseback riding etc). I'd often have to stop exercising because of an injury. My joints were not happy with the extra weight. Now that I'm 90 pounds lighter I feel SO much better. I exercise and do things (such as kayaking and hiking) because I can! It's an amazing feeling knowing that I don't have a limit to do anything. My body now works with me instead of against me.

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I ran track in high school and was always very active...until I had a bad knee injury while pregnant with my second son. Combine the injury with forced inactivity due to a c-section two weeks after the injury and I had a difficult time walking for several years. By the time I was totally healed, I'd gotten away from the active mindset. I made it to 352 pounds before my inactivity and weight caught up with me. Once the weight started effortlessly sliding off, it seemed natural to start moving more. The more I move, the better my results, the better my results, the more I want to move.

That's my story.