Wonderful news to share
Well, there's a lot of hard work that's gone into achieving those gains, and in retrospect the work is nothing that you can't get started on now, even before surgery. I'd say the biggest things for me (other than the surgery itself) have been:
* MOVING... I started out by walking at whatever pace I could daily for 15 minutes and pushed myself to go just a little bit farther every day or so. i also started gentle stretching (Wii Fit Yoga, actually). Both of those things really help the immediate post-surg recovery (working out the gas, helping the muscles heal, preventing blood clots). And in terms of movement, before long, I was upping the time, the distance, and the speed of my walking ... now I'm actually running parts of it, and I'm planning to do a 5K walk/run by mid-october. I alternate days when I do a 30 - 45 minute (depending on the day) walk/run with days that I do a cardio/strength workout (Wii EA Active Sports and/or cardio boxing). But it all started by just walking a little bit each day, pushing my mental boundaries, and building that into my daily routine.
* Sugar abstinence... i am a sugar addict and a refined carb addict (breads, pastas, white flour). Didn't realize that until after surgery, but that was pure self-denial. Anyway, if you think you may have an addiction to a particular type of food or food substance, such as sugar, refined carbs, or fats (the most common ones), I'd strongly suggest reading "Anatomy of a Food Addiction" by Anne Katherine and start working on abstinence from ONE of those groups. As sugar will be a big no-no after surgery, it's the one to target first... get through the withdrawal period now, so you're not having to deal with it while also recuperating from surgery.
Hope these help!
Karen
* MOVING... I started out by walking at whatever pace I could daily for 15 minutes and pushed myself to go just a little bit farther every day or so. i also started gentle stretching (Wii Fit Yoga, actually). Both of those things really help the immediate post-surg recovery (working out the gas, helping the muscles heal, preventing blood clots). And in terms of movement, before long, I was upping the time, the distance, and the speed of my walking ... now I'm actually running parts of it, and I'm planning to do a 5K walk/run by mid-october. I alternate days when I do a 30 - 45 minute (depending on the day) walk/run with days that I do a cardio/strength workout (Wii EA Active Sports and/or cardio boxing). But it all started by just walking a little bit each day, pushing my mental boundaries, and building that into my daily routine.
* Sugar abstinence... i am a sugar addict and a refined carb addict (breads, pastas, white flour). Didn't realize that until after surgery, but that was pure self-denial. Anyway, if you think you may have an addiction to a particular type of food or food substance, such as sugar, refined carbs, or fats (the most common ones), I'd strongly suggest reading "Anatomy of a Food Addiction" by Anne Katherine and start working on abstinence from ONE of those groups. As sugar will be a big no-no after surgery, it's the one to target first... get through the withdrawal period now, so you're not having to deal with it while also recuperating from surgery.
Hope these help!
Karen
Most Active
Recent Topics
