I am really struggling with this! I am about 5.5 months post op. The first three months I worked out a lot, hated every second of it, but I did it. Here I am a month and a half later really struggling to continue working out. I didn't for a long time, and this week I did 40 minutes 4 days a week on the arc trainer. I got done today and seriously asked myself if this is something I can see myself doing long term realistically. The answer is no. If I can make myself continue to do it, it will be til I get to goal weight and then I will just rely on nutrition. Since I really don't plan on working out consistently forever, should I just stop now and take the slow weight loss instead of getting to goal by working my rear end off and then stopping? I'm just babbling. Is anyone losing weight without working out?

Looking good "CLK"!!!

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.

210 minutes is only 2% of your week!

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.

You could try zumba or something like that...

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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".

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.

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.

Oh and kayaking was my shiZ there for a minute.

If I did regular exercise and burned calories and then needed more calories to maintain. I don't know how'd I'd do it without switching from skim to whole milk and making additional unhealthy choices. I do good to get in 1300 - 1350 calories every day. My restriction is still very good, and I cannot eat a whole lot at a meal. I've added three smaller meals/snacks into my diet, sometimes a fourth, just to get the calories. I eat because I need to and it's fun, I'm never hungry. I love it, I hope it will stay like this forever, who knows. I didn't do this for health reasons, it was about 95% vanity, that's it. Obesity runs in my dad's side of the family, with ALL the women.....and I was fighting to maintain my pre-op weight. I'd been off and on a diet for 30 years, but when it comes down to it, I wanted to be thin for once. I wanted to have fun shopping, not hate being photographed, and I wanted to NOT be the biggest girl in the room when the family got together. It was worth it and for me, SO FAR it has not been difficult, who's to say what tomorrow will be like.