I obviously plan on working out after surgery when my surgeon gives and clearance. Do you have to go to a gym? Does anyone have any workout recommendations you do at home and are they as effective as going to the gym. I am a mother of two and want to do workouts that I can still be around my children or at least not have to find a babysitter all the time.

If you are willing to spend $30 on a step platform like the one pictured below, you can perform step aerobics in the comfort of your own home around the kids for a decent cardio workout.

If you are interested in lifting weights, you can start out with an adjustable dumbbell set or a couple of kettlebells for a home-based strength training workout.

I like to work out in the morning before work so I do everything at home. There are so many different videos on utube or at home videos you can purchase. Leslie Sansone has some great walking and toning videos. The Biggest Loser and Jillian Michael video's are really good as well. I work out a minimum of 5 days a week, it gives me energy all day when I work out in the morning.

That will be Drs question to be on th safe side. In my case I was told: do not lift anything heavier than 20lbs for 2 months. 2 months (time it takes sleeve to fully heal /s seal). After 2 months I started with low intensity cardio. By the 3rd month I started doing weight training. Again check with your doctor first. Good luck

I'm nearly 2 years post-op and have never gone to a gym. I started off gradually with walking and increased the tempo and distance over time. When I first started walking, I could only do laps inside my house (I started at 518 lbs). After that, I moved to walking at a park and tried to walk a mile. It took a while for me to do that. At that point, it took me about 27 minutes to walk a mile. Now, I walk 4 miles every morning at about a 13 min/mile clip. At about 6 months post-op, I added weightlifting, kettlebells, and a rowing machine to my routine.

The biggest key is to find something that you enjoy and can stick with. I never felt that I had time to work out, but the added energy has helped give me extra time to be able to fit in exercise. Best of luck!

I hate gyms, don't want to pay for them, or go. I use and have used before Leslie Sansone walking videos. She can be found on YouTube, I think most of her walks are on there and they are WONDERFUl. You can start out with a one mile walk, up to I think she's got 6 miles. She adds weights, and bands in them, and just stuff you have around the house and it really does work. I usually do mine while on the computer then I have a movie or TV show on the television while I'm doing the work out. And you don't need a lot of room to do them. Walking at home is great, if it's snowing outside, or windy, raining, whatever, you can do every day JUST at home. Look her up, I think you'll like her.