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When did you start exercising



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I recently had my bypass surgery and wondered how soon after did you start working out? I was very active prior to surgery..trained 3 days a week and worked out 5. I anxious to get back but don't want to rush anything. When did you get the go ahead to exercise and what did you safely start with?

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Literally never--even now, more than three years after surgery. I just walked as necessary for my daily routine. And it didn't impact my weight loss at all--I was quite successful.

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3-4 weeks after surgery i started walking longer distances and now 5 weeks or so post op i am riding my mountain bike. as for heavy lifting i am waiting for a while before that

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I was working out before surgery. For the first 2 months post surgery, I just walked. I did not have the energy to work out more significant until I was eating more calories (and my program did not encourage it until we were able to eat 800-1000 cals/day consistently. I didn't start back with my trainer until 7 or 8 weeks out from surgery, and then we adjusted my weights down since I hadn't been lifting in a while. We were also really careful with the ab work for the first few weeks back since again, I hadn't been doing anything for a while and I'd had surgery!

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I was allowed ( and encouraged) to walk right away. At four weeks out, I was cleared to do everything except for weights. At eight weeks out, I was cleared to do weights (as in cleared by my clinic)

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Like @Recidivist, I didn’t ever return to exercising. I walked erratically before surgery & started back again slowly after surgery. But stoped after a couple of months due to low energy & low BP. Didn’t stop me from losing all my weight & more. I still don’t exercise as such but understand some people enjoy it &/or want to establish healthy behaviours.

Best to chat with your surgeon. They will likely have their recommendations around how much you should exert yourself, how much you can lift & when you can progress & do more. Most tend to advise walking only for the first couple of weeks but there are always variations on this.

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Was cleared at 6 weeks, but as some others here, I don't formally exercise. I just focus on moving more in general and have adopted a more natural, guilty-free, movement-based lifestyle for staying healthy, nothing to do with losing weight. Losing weight for me is a completely separate issue, it is an emotional, mental and keeping up a healthy diet issue.

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I increased my walking 3 to 4 weeks after my surgery to 60 minutes a day. After 16 weeks I was finally able to complete a 30 minute hit cardio workout and also incorporated some lifting into my workout routine (nothing heavier than 30 lbs).

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I began working out after an incident during a game where I was tackled by a larger player under the basket. I realized that if I had been stronger, I may not have fallen. Since then, I've been making a consistent effort to exercise every day, even on days when I may feel down about the situation

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I began working out 8 months after surgery but wish I had started earlier. My weight loss completely stopped until I added exercise in and then it started back up again.

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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
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