Hello Everyone!

My name is Max and I have gone through some big challenges here the last few days. My family came in from out of town to help me the next few weeks. I am used to being by myself or having my fiancee come by (she is doing a diet that requires her to do Protein shakes) and not having any smell of food. My family has been very making food and the smell is just well like heaven some times. I get the feeling to eat and I usually go get a SF Popsicle.

However I have been looking towards the future. I have a question/request for advice... I know I need to start working out and given that I am 373 pounds currently. What is opinion of doing work outs? I was thinking of trying to find a personal trainer that has some experience with someone my size. What has the general experience of most been when it comes to working out? I know I am on weight restrictions so weight lifting is out.

Follow what the dr says first , I started with the elliptical abd when I did I felt like I was going to die, after a couple days I was feeling better . Just take it slow also I started 15 min then moved on every week, tell I was able to get to 60 mins .

Right now my knee is killing me had to stop for a week or so but I think it from losing weight fast and over compensating the shift of weight .. Good luck just take it slow .

When I was in my 260's right after college and just started working out, I primarily walked to be honest. It's good conditioning for your heart when you're out of shape and burns a lot of calories. Using a treadmill definitely helps to work up a sweat when you add an incline. Although I went to the gym, I was actually afraid of ellipticals. Several at my gym had a max user weight capacity of 250, but several went up to 400 lbs, so I used the rowing machine other than the treadmill until I felt better about not toppling over or breaking an elliptical in public. Trust me when I say take it slow. I wanted to get into heavier workout and sometimes pushed too hard resulting in injury to my knees, ankles and groin area.

Fast forward to my surgery this March - I will tell you that I requested clearance from my doctor for several means of working out other than walking 2 weeks post-op, so I would recommend you to do the same. Good luck on your journey!

My exercise has only been walking since surgery. For years I've had foot and knee pain. I started out by parking as far from the entrance to my office and the stores as possible to force myself to get in some extra walking. Then I graduated up to walking around the inside of my office several times a week. After about 8 months, I was walking up to 5 miles a day. Now I'm focusing on speed walking and jogging. Take it a bit at a time and do just a little more each day.

Here's my post where I keep track of my progress.

http://www.bariatricpal.com/blog/9018/entry-31216-nsv-2-you-best-step-off-b-hatch/

I agree about getting a trainer to work with you who has experience in people your size. Or, you might ask the doctor if he'll write you a script for physical therapy. I've heard of some people getting that so insurance will help cover. They talk to you about exercise (which will probably be walking at this point) but they also work with you on balance issues and look for areas where you might be weak (my left shoulder) and help you develop some strength in those areas.

Also, you're probably only on weight restrictions for 6 weeks or so (depending on your doctor) so you could easily ramp up now with walking and then make an appointment when you're cleared to have a trainer or PT work with you once you're cleared. Good luck!

Be careful on personal trainers... too many of them have been watching "biggest loser" and think having you run stairs is no problem...

I was cleared for the gym about 6 weeks post op - but walking was okay before then.

I did easy walking and then joined Water aerobics. Water aerobics was amazing because it protects your joints but as you get fitter you can push harder and harder. After I lost about 80 pounds I moved more to other types of exercise but it was a great way to get going when I didn't want to walk outside in the winter.

I didn't think about the PT part. Which given the fact that my fiancee is an OT (Occupational Therapist) getting some PT help isn't going to be a problem. I have access to them at work and getting an order for PT/OT isn't a challenge for me given that I work in a hospital along with my fiancee. We have access to a center with work out equipment as well. I just figured on working out with a personal trainer would be the best given I can do it away from work and in a gym setting.

I like the ideas about increasing my walking distance. I kind of park pretty far due to company policy requiring us to park our cars as far as possible. In my work area I support about 10 buildings that are within a mile of each other. In the winter I liked to walk to most of the building but with it being summer and getting up to a 108 sometimes I will take our shuttle/car to the locations instead.

Thank you again for all the good ideas. I do appreciate everyone's thoughts.