I thought I would start a thread like I have seen on other monthly forums to keep us motivated and doing our exercise. Here we can report on our exercise such as kind of exercise, how long working out, results, questions, frustrations, victories, etc. Exercise is so key to our success with the band. So I will start:

Today I did light hands weights for upper body. I have noticed I am starting to get more toned in my arms-which we need with losing weight. Hopefully I can avoid the loose skin look as much as possible with toning up. I also walked 20 minutes on the treadmill.

Walking and swimming, if the pool is not open then I walk 2 miles around campus 35-40 minutes. If I swim I have worked up to a mile in about 50 minutes.

I am going to the gym everyday, weekends included. I do all the weight machines & then I get on the bike for 1/2 hour. I do about 4 miles on the bike. I work out from 45 mins to 1 1/2 hours. It feels great! I have lost 36 pounds & I was banded on 10/5.

I wish i could go to the gym every day, but i cant. On the days i go, i walk for 45 minutes at 3.00 mph, and at a 8% incline. I work on free weights, with the ball, which is very cool. then i go swimming until i get cold, usually for an hour. I use all these crazy video workout tapes, i have salsa dancing, belly dancing, qi'gong, pilates, yoga, ect...i use them when i cant get to the gym. I have also discovered the work out bands, that i thought were really lame, but they are amazing and cheap to buy. It is fun, i enjoy it, and i try to vary my workouts as much as possible. The best is swimming, i cannot think of anything that makes me feel better!

I didn't work out today. I left my house to go to work at 5:00 a.m. I got home at around 6:30 p.m. I just fed my son dinner and now I am finishing a ten page research paper. :faint:I am going to really try to workout tomorrow!

I do the treadmill - usually 2 miles and I walk/jog alternating. I am getting better....I used to only be able to jog for 1 minute at a time, but yesterday I did 5 minutes! I usually jog for a total of 15 minutes out of 30. I have really seen alot of improvement on how much I can jog and am less and less sore afterwards. Also just started weight machines yesterday - woohoo!

Well I joined a gym close to my house. I can't go on the days that I work because I work 12 hours shifts and after running around like crazy all day I must get in enough cardio...ha ha!! On my days off I work out for about 1 1/2 to 2 1/2 hours depending if I do the weight circuit or not. I do 35 minutes on the elyptical and 45 minutes on the treadmill alternating the incline up to 6 and then back to 0. I find that works your butt muscles pretty good. When I dont do the weight circuit I also add in the bike for 20 minutes. I get to the gym about 3-4 times a week. I get 4 days off a week, but sometimes that first day off after working 2 twelves in a row I find I need to rest and just do errands. I have only had the one fill so far, but I think I have restriction. I got something stuck about a week ago....a peice of very tender baked pork chop that I guess I did not chew well enough. I did not PB or throw it up, but boy was that slimy spit nasty and it felt like I had a golf ball stuck in my stomach. It eventually went down, but I am extra careful now.

I went back to Curves three weeks ago and last week I started back to the YMCA (figured four weeks for Curves and six weeks for the YMCA). (Two days each weekly)

So my question to all of you is: have any of you had issues with lower abdominal pain? I've been to the Y 3 times--I workout for an hour on the machines--and now I'm having severe pain in the area below my port.

It IS easing up since Thursday morning (I last worked out Wednesday) but it's still there. I'm blaming the leg press, because when I work that, I do experience pain in that area and end up holding that area while I'm pressing.

Could this be it or do you think it's just working with too heavy weights?? (I've severe kicked back from where I was before surgery) I am such an idiot--I'm considering waiting until January to go back to heavy weights again and kick Curves up to three days a week. What's your thoughts??

there weight go up after a visit to the gym. On days I go to the gym the next day I gain a pound or half a pound. If I skipp a couple days in a row, those are the days I drop a pound or at least the half pound I gained after going to the gym. I know I need to exercise and I am sure there is some explaination. I just was wondering if anybody else noticed it. I just started back on the wait machines a couple weeks ago. I do the machines about 30 minutes then either the treadmill, ellyptical or the bike for 30 minutes. Sometimes a combination of the 3. who knew the exercise bike would hurt so much? my god I though my thighs were on fire (lol). Tomorrow I am going to try some free weights I really need to build upper strength. I think the muscles in my upper body will help hold everything else up (lol) when I start falling to peices.:faint:

Make33- yes the pain around port could be from the leg press. When at my last visit I was asking the exercise physilogist about whether I could start lifting weights and doing ab work. He said I could, but if it hurts my port area to stop and maybe try again after waiting a little longer. He did say that the leg presses could potentially affects port area. So he said if hurts, to back off and maybe wait longer on those that are causing pain.