I am scheduled for the sleeve January 19th. I only exercise occassionally now. 1x week maybe. How soon did you start to exercise post-op and if you did exercise how often and what was the intensity? TY!

I started walking as soon as I came home from the hospital. I walked 6 days a week for the first 4 months. Now I am in the gym 5 days a week. I try to work out at least 45 minutes a day. Sometimes longer. I have always worked out though which didn't help much taking certain medications.

After being released from the hospital I was instructed to walk at least 30 minutes everyday. I'm not permitted to do exercise that is strenuous or involves too much movement for a month after. Also was told to not lift anything for a month (anything more than 10lbs). So at this moment exercise is minimal, I'm only two (2) week post op.

I started walking as soon as I was comfortable which was about 1 week post op. I walked everyday for 30 minutes min. About 6 weeks post op I began cardio every other day. I started out at 30 minutes and within a week was at an hour. I then hit my first stall and was stuck for nearly 3 weeks. Both my trainer and nutritionist and others on this site thought I was eating too little and exercising too much. I was told that given my daily caloric intake of 500 - 700 calories that I should really stick to 30 to 40 minutes of exercise. I just started that in the last week and I have dropped almost 4 lbs since. I guess I learned a very good lesson....I either needed to eat more which for me was not possible or back off some of my exercising time because I could not make up the calories lost and my body went into starvation mode and stalled.

Probably more than you were asking..... Good luck!

I had started building up before. I knew beforehand the more healthy I was, the easier surgery and recovery would be. I did small stuff, and did a 10K 3 weeks and 1 day after surgery. Slow but I finished. At 3 weeks and 5 days I was cleared. I went swimming that day. I was in a competition at the pool, "Olympic" competition. I had a blast doing all the group exercise classes, etc. You will love it.

My races went faster too.

I was not one of those people that was not cooperative about walking the first week. I was miserable and whiny, lol. The idea though that you feel better if you walk is a good one, so at about the 4th day, my first day back home, I walked 10 minutes on my treadmill every few hours. After the first week I was walking a few miles a day, and by week three I was jogging about 2 miles a day. At 5 weeks I was cleared to go back to boxing class, and then after that the first year I ran 3-5 miles a day and did about 2 hours of cardio classes at my gym 3-5 days a week.

The staff at the hospital had me walking laps around the surgery floor the day after surgery. I think it helped me to bounce back and heal. After I was home small walks until I felt better. Start slow and build your exercise up as you progress.

Best of luck to you,

Jenn

I used to exercise a lot 20 years ago. I played golf 2-3 times a week, swam and went to the gym. I was half the size I am now. I had my surgery 5 weeks ago. I started walking right away, but couldn't do more than 10 minutes or so because my knees and ankles hurt so badly. I MADE myself go a little further each time I walked. My knees and ankles are starting to hurt less and less. I now walk for about 30 minutes every day. My doctor cleared me to go to our fitness center and start swimming. I'll also be able to ride the recumbent bike and use the machines. My goal is to get to the gym at least 3 days a week at first and work my way up from there. On the days I don't go I'll walk as much as I can, eventually working up to at least a couple miles.

I also want to be able to play golf again....it's something I really enjoyed and never thought about how much I walked while doing it. I hardly ever rode in the cart unless it was terribly hot or wet.

I was up walking the day of my surgery. The first time I only went to the end of the hall and back. I got up every couple hours to walk and each time I went further till I made it all the way around the floor. I even got up at night and walked. My husband stayed with me so he helped me around each time.

Then once home I walked everyday. Each time going further and further. I then broke it up to walking 20 mins three times a day, and then 30 mins twice a day until around end of 2nd week I could do a whole hour at the gym on the treadmill. Each time pushing myself to go a little faster.

At about the 3 week mark I took a zumba class, it kicked my butt and I only did 30 minutes then 30 mins on treadmill. But the next time I went I did the whole class. I couldn't do all the moves she did but I was continuously moving the whole time. I felt so good that I got thru it.

Then at about 4 weeks I started some strength training with my hubby and daughter.

I try to get to the gym or do something 3-4 days a week depending on my work schedule!!