:help: I need an attitude adjustment. I just can't seem to bring myself the excercise. I am more active...but not exactly excercising. Can't afford a gym or the Y right now. I do have a treadmill at home...but I absolutely HATE it!

Someone tell me why I need to excercise right now anyway. I'm only 5 weeks post op and have only lost

20 #. Surely it would be ok to wait awhile longer...right???

:help: I need an attitude adjustment. I just can't seem to bring myself the excercise. I am more active...but not exactly excercising. Can't afford a gym or the Y right now. I do have a treadmill at home...but I absolutely HATE it!

Someone tell me why I need to excercise right now anyway. I'm only 5 weeks post op and have only lost

20 #. Surely it would be ok to wait awhile longer...right???

the gym is disgusting. everyone there has ipods, be-bopping to their favorite music, while they ride different machines, chatting with their neighbors, lusting for innocent health freaks as they walk back and forth. sweating. news and sports shows on the monitors. more sweaty, sex-starved people walking past you. it's absolutely horrible.

do not go to the gym, and certainly do not make a habit of it :waytogo:

I am three weeks post op and all I am doing is walking approximately 30 minutes a day. Sometimes my husband and I will walk 45 minutes depending on my mood. The gym is not for me, I have tried joining many and I just end up giving them a donation every month for $26 - $30 because I don't go and I am too embarassed to cancel my membership. The key I think is to find something you like to do and it might be a bit easier.

Chin Up:scales:

Sheila

I definitely agree that the key is finding something you enjoy. What I really LOVE is water fitness at the Y. But I haven't been back since I had a mastectomy and I'm a little apprehensive about that with a prosthesis and all. And of course the other issue is the $$$$ They want $50 per month that I don't have right now.:cry

Lynn Marie don't be embarassed about you mastectomy. You don't have to have knockers to be a woman!!! Celebrate that you are alive and hopefully cancer free!!! I understand about the money situation though! Be proud of yourself because you made it through that surgery and now can live to tell about it! I know it is hard for you, but I am sure you are a much stronger woman now!! Congrats to you on your new lease on life. Chin up, hopefully it will get easier!!

What I can't understand is why the Y is so expensive. Sheesh!!!!!!

:help: I need an attitude adjustment. I just can't seem to bring myself the excercise. I am more active...but not exactly excercising. Can't afford a gym or the Y right now. I do have a treadmill at home...but I absolutely HATE it!

Someone tell me why I need to excercise right now anyway. I'm only 5 weeks post op and have only lost

20 #. Surely it would be ok to wait awhile longer...right???

I was banded 9 weeks ago. I started exercising 2 days after surgery. VERY slowly on the treadmill. I can't tell you why YOU need to exercise, but I can let you know why I do. Maybe it'll inspire you or at least stop you from searching for excuses not to.

I exercise because I want to be healthy. I'm obese. Correction; I'm morbidly obese. This brings many, MANY health problems with it. I got banded to stop myself from going off the cliff I was headed for at full speed. I'm pre-diabetic and have lower joint problems because my legs have to carry the extra weight around every day. I need to do myself a favour and not only correct those two issues, but prevent further health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, etc. I've already been able to stop taking my pre-diabetic medication in the short time since my surgery.

The lap band was never meant to be a miracle cure for me. It was a tool to use because all the other diets, pills and gadgets I've tried have failed. More often than not leaving me heavier than before I started. Getting the band isn't going to get me healthy. Eating properly and EXERCISING will.

At the moment I've hit a plateau as far as weight loss goes. It's disheartening when I'm exercising so diligently not to see any results on the scales. So why should I continue? Because I don't want to hit that slippery slope again. I feel great both physically and mentally once I've done my half hour each morning on the treadmill. There are a lot of days when I try to make excuses for not going. Often the hardest part of it is actually getting my butt to the gym to get on the treadmill. But the alternative is to die from an obesity related disease.

I'm one of those disgusting people who has an ipod and sweats away during my workout. I don't chat to anyone, but maybe that still makes me disgusting in gmccon's eyes. But you know what? I'm doing this for ME. It doesn't matter what anybody else thinks of me, or who is disgusted by my sweat or my accessories. It's what I think of myself that matters. I go to the gym to sweat and I expect everyone else is there for the same reason so I'm not quite so bothered by the sight of it.

I wouldn't consider myself a health freak, I'm more health conscious now. It's a far better than the alternative of being a fat slob in my opinion. :waytogo:

I have a treadmill at home that I hate too. Except when I turn on the 100% Disco CD...really loud!

Kelly....honey, Swim...! If You Arent A Lap Swimmer, Get A Kick Board And Go For It, You Do Not Feel Like Your Excercizing At All, You Dont Feel Sweaty, And Your Whole Body Gets Stretched And Worked Out!!! During The Day Pools Are Full Of People Doing Exactly That!

J.

Lynn Marie - I've got a perfectly good treadmill at home as well, and a DH who won't let me add a gym to our budget. I Don't think I've walked a combined 2 hours on my treadmill in the last 2 years since being banded. I feel guilty about it and am convinced I could have done better, faster if I had but I sure am in no position to lecture about excercising.

That said - GET OFF YOUR BACKSIDE AND CALL ME!!! I'd love to have you start walking with us. I know I'm going to be laid up for a while in October with the PS and all but we could still walk the next two weeks and you could keep walking while I'm down. The one gal I walk with (Machele) she is just a couple months out and even though she is just starting this whole journey and I'm getting ready for my PS, she is one of my role models. She helps motivate me to eat right and keeps me moving. When we first started walking. She'd walk 1 lap and then sit on the sideline, then it was 2 laps & 3. Now we tend to walk around 2 miles, even 3 miles sometimes without even realizing it. Lately we've been meeting at the Great Mall of the Plains as it is indoors. Most of the time we walk but sometimes we drift in and out of shops checking out the sales. She lives in Olathe & I'm in KCK, so we've been planning on adding a 2nd day a week out at Legends or somewhere else in this neck of the woods.

The great thing about walking with friends, is that they help make you accountable to going. After all it's easy to ditch exercise but harder to ditch a friend. And its fun to chat in person.

I've also posted a link to a local KCBandsters online group. Not sure if you've seen it before.

http://health.groups.yahoo.com/group/KCBandsters/

Twenty pounds 5 weeks post-op is Good!! I also hate exercise, but I've been doing some exercise that the physical therapist taught me for my back. They flatten out my stomach. I did them for a while and then my back quit hurting. But it has started hurting again so I'm doing them again. Amazing how a flatter stomach makes a difference in clothes sizes. But you are not alone. I absolutely hate exercise. Rather than worrying about that, congratulate yourself on your weigh loss. You are doing very well.

I didn't start to exercise until I lost my first 60 lbs. and now I know that was dumb. I just thought that it would be too much strain on myself to try to do too many things at one time. Well, it is inevitable that if you have more than 100 lbs. to lose you will have loose skin anyway but maybe if you did start exercising while losing your weight you wouldn't have the bill that I did $13,500.00 for a tummy tuck and breast lift, not to mention the butt and thigh lift I have too have done too.

I became addicted to exercising now. I am at the gym 3 days a week with a trainer for weight lifting, 1 day a week at the gym for Water aerobics, and 2 times a day at home on my tread mill. Trust me, while losing weight and lacking the Protein that you will be lacking you don't want to lose muscle mass.

In the process of losing weight it is very important for you to do cardio as it will help you lose weight. You are becoming a new person now and you shouldn't care what other people are doing at the gym for themselves. When they are on the tread mill and I have to warm up on one before my weight training I move to another one. I know there are people over there just trying to look pretty but you shouldn't care about that. You have a new lease on life and that is ALL YOU SHOULD CARE ABOUT.

Josephine

I say the quicker you get exercise to be a part of your life the better off you will be. I see a lot of posts on here that say "I wish I had of worked out in the beginning when weight was coming off quickly."

Is there a mom and pop gym in your area? They are typically cheaper than the big fancy ones? I go to one that costs me $20 a month but has all the work out equipment one could need.

Quit making excuses and get up and on your treadmill. Use things that motivate you. For some its getting a manicure if they do so much exercise or lose so many lbs. For some reminding themselves of all the reasons they got this surgery in the first place is enough. For ME working out I know I am losing weight the healthy way, I am not losing muscle mass. I am gaining muscle and losing fat. Simply put my motivation to work out is I dont just want to be thin, I want to be HOT!

To make the treadmill a little more interesting, get a set of 3lb and 5lb weights and do all kinds of arm exercises while your on it, and only do it for 20 minutes. You'll work up a complete sweat, and be working on your whole body, and it definately won't take up much of your time. You can do it when you wake, get home from work, right before bed, whenever. And you don't have to do it everyday.

Eventually, you will have to increase the time and the intensity, as your body will become used to the movement and it won't take as much work.

But you could easily walk on the treadmill at a slower pace than you normally would and do 2 minutes of bicep curls, then 2 minutes of tricep work, 2 minutes of shoulder presses, etc, stretch each upper body muscle group for 1 minute while your walking, turn around and walk backwards for 2 minutes really slowly, walk sideways, both ways. All really embarrasing things that you wouldn't want to do at the gym but that you can do at home because nobodys looking, and they really tone you up. Theres 15 minutes of walking while doing something else right there. Then have a quick warm up and cool down and you will have had a complete whole body workout!!!

Good Luck getting motivated. I know its super hard. And I didn't start working out until 4 months out, and I completely regret it...

I didn't include exercise for years. It's a real personal thing I think with everyone. I too hated exercise. But once you reach a point in your weight loss journey you'll know when your ready to start. The great thing about the band is that it's always there. Ready to be used again at any point if we aren't really focused on our health at that given time. Eventually though we figure out if you truely wanna be successful and most importantly..not regain the weight. We HAVE to exercise. The great thing for me was that I lost about 60 pounds first before I started so I felt alot more comfortable exercising. But like I said it's a personal thing. Also don't worry about the saggy skin issues. This is a again something that varies from person to person. Mostly age is a factor. But generally it's not gonna matter. If you loose a significant amount of weight..like over 100 pounds. The chances are huge that you are gonna need a tummy tuck no matter when you pick up exercising. Start slow and gradually add more to what your doing. Also I find taking classes a whole lot more fun then just being on a machine. I'm doing a step aerobics class, a spinning class and a strength class every week. They are free with the membership so it's really good.

P.S. Just wanted to add..I LOVEEE my YMCA. Although yes it is really expensive. Probably because they are involved in so many programs trying to help the community. But I love it cause its not like the other gyms at all. It's a family environment. Not all gyms are alike. Just find whatever it is that works for you so you can get your exercise in.

I really appreciate everyone's advice on this. I have told myself that, hate the treadmill or not, I am going to get on it first thing in the morning...no excuses. I have set a goal of 30 minutes, but won't beat myself up if I don't last that long. Something I may not have mentioned in my first post is that my hips hurt really bad when I walk a ways. It's getting a little better, but they still hurt. I also have a knee that wants to give me the blues since I have lost some weight and become more active. So I'll just take it easy at first...but I'm gonna make myself do it!!!

I like the atmosphere at the Y. I wish it wasn't so high...and $50 is a special rate for educators!!! I'll be checking around to see if there is a gym anywhere close that is less.

:car: