I love to exercise & always have! I even did a triathlon at 265 lbs. I had my surgery Oct 8, and have walked a little and swim laps 2 x a week. I'm not sure I should go hardcore with exercising, because I never lost weight before doing it. I'm really nervous that if I start lifting weights & doing cardio that I will stop losing. Any suggestions? What's your exercise routine? Has exercise slowed your weight loss? I am at 235 down from 278, so I still have a lot to lose.

Hi Ellen. Another exercise lover here. It's true....exercise may indeed slow weight loss for several reason....chiefly increased lean muscle mass and increased appetite due to exercise. And it's been proven that exercise is not the biggest component to weight loss, diet is. However, to me health is the big goal, not just weight loss. There is a big difference between weight loss and fat loss. I'd rather have fat loss and increased health....which exercise will definitely do.

So my point is if you love exercise, go for it. And don't worry about the scale as much as your overall health.

Unless you are bulking up like crazy, which we women hardly ever strive to do, you will build lean muscle and lose weight at the same time, provided you are being compliant on the diet. Diet, the high Protein low carb diet in particular, is absolutely the most essential component of weight loss, but it starts to get harder the further out you get from surgery to lose weight without physically challenging yourself and burning off calories. If you are physically capable of exercise and you like doing it, go for it. Why not just cardio at first?

My routine: I do interval cardio 6 days a week (1 day is a tabata class), either 30 minutes or an hour, and I lift weights usually for 30 minutes 3x a week. I am still losing pounds (albeit currently stalled - it happens to us all) and getting ripped. I have been back at the gym since 3 weeks post-op. I lost 73 lbs so far and am almost 6 months post-op, so no, I don't think exercise has impeded my loss at all, and I went from a body fat percentage of 47% to 34%. My cardiovascular health has improved tremendously. I had elevated blood pressure pre-surgery, and now it's 118/78 and my resting heart rate is now 50. Also, I do not eat back any calories, no matter how many I burn through exercise.