Curiosity. Different exercise ideas and less 'chemical' or Veg foods?

Hi Ya'll!

I'm pre op ( going in to St. Mikes Aug 18 ).

I want to start an exercise routine to start the habit back up, ( and to keep my mind off the optifast hahaha).

So, I'm looking for at home ideas for getting active. Not walks. Mostly in home, as Ive had less than positive 'comments' said out windows ( since putting on the pounds), an I know myself, I'm not ready for that yet!

Also, I try to eat as pure as possible, and as we all know, the first few months, and a lot of the overall suggested foods are mostly chemicals.  I had told myself I'm just going to have to deal, but thought I'd ask if anyone on here found less chemical ways to survive the first few weeks / months. Including optimist weeks?

Just curious :-)

You could try to follow DVDs, get something like a Wii Fit, or other video game exercise (you can get Zumba, or Just Dance) or a machine.  What ever you choose, make it something fun.  Something you force yourself to do will not last long.

Cathy

There is so much you can do at home.  do you live in a house or an apartment. If a house do you have stairs use them and if you are in apartment use the stairs. Very few people in an apartment will use the stairs.  You can do low impact jumping jacks or push ups against the walls or take soup cans and do arm raises with them and arm curls.  if you can get down on the floor you could do the 30 day plank challenge. planks are a great way to work the core. Look on the net for some ideas. lots out there

One of my favourites even before I had surgery (and even now) are the dvds by Leslie Sansone for exercising.  Whether 290 lbs or more, they were my go to typically for exercise before I became such a serious walker.  Great thing is I could do them rain or snow days. 

You can find many videos of hers free on youtube.com and then try them out.  What I like about them is that there are no complicated movements, no dancing required (I'm awful at steps) and I could do all movements even at my highest weight.   Simple, simple, simple.  Her "1 mile walks" last around 15 minutes, 2 miles=30 minutes, and 3 miles =45 minutes.  Try out a few and see if you like them.

Dawn

I also like to eat clean, and I think it will be pretty easy post op.  Homemade broths and juices during clear liquids, pureed veg soups with milk or yogurt during full liquids.  Yogurt, cottage cheese, apple sauce are all favourites of mine now.  I am not a fan of artificial sweeteners, so I'll probably skip those products as much as possible.  I also like to cook and I have a couple ideas for how to change up some recipes to make them post op friendly like using greek yogurt to replace fat etc.

Unfortunately, there really isn't a way around optifast.  Once you are post op, I'll be just starting regular foods.  We should keep in touch and I'll let you know what worked for me!

Sonja

Thank you all Very much!

Im excited to get adjusted to all the new things coming for me - your ideas will help me to keep going.

Thank you!

R

Good job! You're off to a great start. I can totally understand not being that comfortable out walking.

I am a huge fan of exercise DVDs and that's where I started off. I agree with Dawn's suggestion, Leslie Sansone has great workouts and you can almost always find them for $10 or less. Many workout DVDs are very modifiable and keep in mind you don't have to do the whole thing. I started off with 10 minutes increments and went from there.

I recently tried the "21 Day Fix" set from Beachbody and really liked it. It has a modifier *****ally gets things down to basics. I wish this set had been out when I started. It's a bit of an investment but there are cardio and strength workouts, even a yoga and a pilates workout. I'd recommend this to any beginner (you can just buy the DVDs on their own, the diet + containers won't really apply)