well I saw the physical therapist yesterday. Turns out my left hip is weaker than the right. I will find out in a week or two if insurance will cover the physical therapy. I'm hoping so, no pool but lots of exercise stuff.

she told me to start walking more. I thought I was doing good getting in 5,500 steps at least a day. Now, after a mere 15 min walk that wow...I need to do more of this. I didn't realize how broken up my steps were. We have a large yard so I walked around it a few dozen times. In 15 minutes I did .75 of a mile. I plan on doing another 15 minute walk this evenin.

i hate walking, would rather ride a bike. I also hate walking where people will see me struggle. I am slowly learning that I have to put reservations behind me and just do the work. So what if someone says something, I just need to work on me, FOR me.

Walking is great activity. Make it a habit, and it becomes second nature. You can park farther away from entrances, walk up and down all the aisles in a store, etc.

Keep going!

I feel your pain! I was walking more until about a year before my surgery when I started tripping over my right foot. The doctor thought MS, and I had other symptoms that also looked like MS (regular bouts of blurred vision being a big one) but after lots of testing it was decided that I was having some neurological problems caused by my regular migraines. Long story shortened to this - I started back into walking after my WLS, like hours after it, and slowly ramped up to about 7000 steps a day.

I find ways to sneak in the steps like parking far away from the door or entrances as possible, and taking the long way around the block, or an extra lap around the grocery store while I verify I got everything on my list and to put back all the "extra" stuff I picked up! The walking gets easier, especially as we lose weight.

Keep up the great work and good luck with your hip!

I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one who puts stuff back! Like I didn't really want these Twinkies, I was just giving them a ride

Do a tad more, every day and it will get easier. It might help to record how you felt after X many continuous steps (lets use that as an example). In a month of slowly increasing, take a moment to do JUST 1K continuous steps and compare how you feel after a month as compared to when you first started.

You will be amazed.

DON't be discouraged. Let me be a case study.

I used to run half marathons and was training for a marathon. I got an over-use injury and had a kitchen accident and couldnt run for about 11 months in total. Today was my first day back to running. I ran for 1 MINUTE then walked 4 Minutes. It was hard and I used to be able to run HOURS without stopping. But I have faith that I will get there because I used the same strategy/program to get me to continuous running when I first started out as a newbie.

It will work for you. Have patience AND perserverance.

Congrats on doing more walking. I love walking and have worked my way from 3 minute walks to almost 2 hours some days. Do what you can and work up from there.

If you need to walk - please please please get good shoes. Get fitted for them in a professional shoe walking store. They would be expensive but so worth the money. Stores for runners is often very good. They would see you walk - and can recommend the best shoe and inserts.

Then as you would be losing weight - you may need new fitting in 6 months or so.

Why? Because if we have bad shoes we may cause damage to the knees and hips, and spine.

When I bought my first fitted shoes (shoes and insert $200 - ouch) I hated spending that type of money. But...I had spine surgery so my deductible was much more than that. When I have to take time off work to see my pain doc to get yet another injections - I think of money and pain I saved by having better shoes.

Chiropractor visits - 60-100. Massage - 65. One time deal. Shoes - 200 lasted me over 6 months.

I walk outside or in a treadmill- do I consider my shoes equivalent to a gym membership.

Expensive - yes. But I can walk all day in them when I travel. 10-20,000 steps.

Yes! Yes! A million times Yes!!!!

For most of us walking after surgery equals running for non overweight people. The only thing you'll get forcing ur body to jog or run at this stage is INJURED!!!

PLEASE don't hurt yourself .... walking will take off the fat raise your metabolic rate ... don't forget you're walking with weights ...