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Exercise Half Way To Weight Goal



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I was sleeved May 23 2017. I am 129 pounds down in 11 months. I have worked out but very, VERY sporadically. I have a quarter clubbed foot I had surgery on three weeks after my sleeve and have been healing it. I’m active, walk a lot.

Another fear of mine (perhaps ignorant of me) was concern about starting a workout regiment too soon because before the sleeve I had lost 119 pounds naturally and worked out like crazy :: cycled to gym, did a two hour work out that included a full body circuit of positive and negative exercises isolating the muscles, and at least 45 minutes of cardio, plus finishing exercises, and then the cycle ride home. Then my body said forget it, you can’t lose from here. And I regained.

To cut a long story short I feared exercising too soon after my sleeve would change the natural process of weight loss that happens with the sleeve and mess with my metabolism. Perhaps it was the fear of losing (since age 13) and regaining. The sleeve is the last shot and so far I’m feeling I should have been eating this way all along. It’s effortless. I do follow my plan, eating under calorie because I cannot get more than 2-3 ounces of food in. Sometimes only one or two bites depending on the consistency of the food.

I’m ready to work out. Walking is easy, weights too. BUT I love the elliptical but when I try to get on it lately I cannot stand to use it more than three minutes! This is after a warm up walk. I used to do 45 minutes at a time, followed my twenty minutes of fast cycling and circuit training after, before the surgery. I guess that’s muscle loss and my not having built up the endurance.

I am wondering if others have waited until about half way through their weight loss to work out?

If anyone waited until half way though their weightloss to work out, how did it go? Was it very slow going or ?

I’m curious to hear opinions, thoughts, or any ideas this post may bring to anyone’s mind.

Thank you for reading!

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I'll let other folks weigh in on the waiting aspect, but taking a long period of time off and then getting back on an elliptical (especially an eliptical) is going to crush anyone, but probably more because of muscle memory than any kind of muscle loss. Heck you could workout on the elliptical every day and if your gym came in one day and changed the lifefitness model out for a startrac with a slightly different path of movement it would probably feel incredibly awkward (and limit your capacity) for a while before getting back to where you were.

I tried to get back to the gym as soon as possible because I thought it best to tackle the weight loss by maximizing the caloric deficit from both sides (plus I figured if I could burn off more surface fat while losing the weight I might be able to minimize the loose skin (or rather loose fat) that accompanies the weight loss (still TBD).

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I'll let other folks weigh in on the waiting aspect, but taking a long period of time off and then getting back on an elliptical (especially an eliptical) is going to crush anyone, but probably more because of muscle memory than any kind of muscle loss. Heck you could workout on the elliptical every day and if your gym came in one day and changed the lifefitness model out for a startrac with a slightly different path of movement it would probably feel incredibly awkward (and limit your capacity) for a while before getting back to where you were.

I tried to get back to the gym as soon as possible because I thought it best to tackle the weight loss by maximizing the caloric deficit from both sides (plus I figured if I could burn off more surface fat while losing the weight I might be able to minimize the loose skin (or rather loose fat) that accompanies the weight loss (still TBD).


Thank you so much for this feedback! It clears a lot of questions up for me.


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FWIW, I hate the elliptical. If I make three minutes on the elliptical its a banner day! Find something you like. Turns out, I like to fence. (As in, en garde.) I love it. I fence 5 hours a week now. Plus do weights and what not in the gym. Find what you like. Then do it.

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FWIW, I hate the elliptical. If I make three minutes on the elliptical its a banner day! Find something you like. Turns out, I like to fence. (As in, en garde.) I love it. I fence 5 hours a week now. Plus do weights and what not in the gym. Find what you like. Then do it.



Good idea!!! I love the elliptical, just not this one lol


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Congratulations on 11 months out 129 pounds down. You had foot surgery and still worked out sporadically. Thats fantastic.

Try building a workout routine arournd you personal fitness goals. What outcome are you looking for from your workout? Your endurance, fitness level, and strength will increase with time. It's already been said..yes, find exercise you enjoy.

Bodybuilding.com has some great information on workouts


My experience: Walking an hour a day was my surgeons minimum exercise requirement. I started walking day one after surgery.
My third month I had a major stall. I was walking less. I bought a gym membership and my rate of weight loss was rapid. 5 days a week hour of strength training. Hour of cardio. (Chaged up types of cardio and increased reststance over time)

I hope you find what works for you.
Jenn








Sent from my SM-G920T using BariatricPal mobile app

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I was sleeved in May 2017 too. I was not someone who worked out, and in fact had taken a brief 20+ year hiatus from any form of exercise.

I started working out after I lost 50 lbs (at 280 lbs). I have now lost 145 lbs and am now working out 4x a week.

My weight loss has slowed down since I increased my strength and cardio work, but I am also closer to goal. So while I don't know what's what, I can say without question that while I only lost 3.4 lbs in March, my body composition is changing dramatically as I elevate my work out routines.

I think anything where we gain lean muscle and improve cardiovascular/respiratory health is beneficial. While it may sometimes mess with what shows up on the scale, the scale is not the whole story.

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    • LeighaTR

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      · 2 replies
      1. Selina333

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    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. LeighaTR

        I hope your surgery on Wednesday goes well. You will be able to do all sorts of new things as you find your new normal after surgery. I don't know this from experience yet, but I am seeing a lot of positive things from people who have had it done. Best of luck!

    • Alisa_S

      On day 4 of the 2 week liquid pre-op diet. Surgery scheduled for June 11th.
      Soooo I am coming to a realization
      of something and I'm not sure what to do about it. For years the only thing I've enjoyed is eating. We rarely do anything or go anywhere and if we do it always includes food. Family comes over? Big family dinner! Go camping? Food! Take a short ride or trip? Food! Holiday? Food! Go out of town for a Dr appointment? Food! When we go to a new town we don't look for any attractions, we look for restaurants we haven't been to. Heck, I look forward to getting off work because that means it's almost supper time. Now that I'm drinking these pre-op shakes for breakfast, lunch, and supper I have nothing to look forward to.  And once I have surgery on June 11th it'll be more of the same shakes. Even after pureed stage, soft food stage, and finally regular food stage, it's going to be a drastic change for the rest of my life. I'm giving up the one thing that really brings me joy. Eating. How do you cope with that? What do you do to fill that void? Wow. Now I'm sad.
      · 1 reply
      1. summerseeker

        Life as a big person had limited my life to what I knew I could manage to do each day. That was eat. I hadn't anything else to look forward to. So my eating choices were the best I could dream up. I planned the cooking in managable lots in my head and filled my day with and around it.

        Now I have a whole new big, bigger, biggest, best days ever. I am out there with those skinny people doing stuff i could never have dreamt of. Food is now an after thought. It doesn't consume my day. I still enjoy the good home cooked food but I eat smaller portions. I leave food on my plate when I am full. I can no longer hear my mother's voice saying eat it all up, ther are starving children in Africa who would want that!

        I still cook for family feasts, I love cooking. I still do holidays but I have changed from the All inclusive drinking and eating everything everyday kind to Self catering accommodation. This gives me the choice of cooking or eating out as I choose. I rarely drink anymore as I usually travel alone now and I feel I need to keep aware of my surroundings.

        I don't know at what point my life expanded, was it when I lost 100 pounds? Was it when I left my walking stick at home ? Was it when I said yes to an outing instead of finding an excuse to stay home ? i look back at my last five years and wonder how loosing weight has made such a difference. Be ready to amaze yourself.

        BTW, the liquid diet sucks, one more day and you are over the worst. You can do it.

    • CaseyP1011

      Officially here for a long time, not just a good time💪
      · 0 replies
      1. This update has no replies.
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