Am I doing enough?

Hi everyone,   I have a few questions that I would like to throw out there and hopefully someone who has some experience can help me.  I had an open rny in July 2006 and I am down 67 pounds.  I have been going to the gym since I was 8 weeks post op and have been there religiously for 5-6 days per week.  I did take a few days off however b/c I had a hand injury but I am right back at it now.  My question is, I was told to vary my workouts because your body can adapt to one if you do it too repetitively.  Is this right?  I use the eliptical for 30 minutes, then the next day I do interval training on the treadmill (5 min warm up, then alternate 5 minutes walkign at 3.5 mph, then jogging at 5 mph for 1 minute for a 30 minute workout total then a 5 min cool down), I also take an aquafit class.  I am just wondering if this is enough of an exercise variance to keep my weight loss at an optimal level.  Should I be working out longer?, more frequently?, at a higher level?  I am no fitness expert and this is all kind of new to me. I know that within the first year is when you lose the most amount of weight and I want to fully take advantage of it.  If anyone could help or make suggestions about where I could find help I would appreciate it.                  Thanks  Adrienne

Hi Adrienne. You’re doing great. Just keep doing what you are doing. Mostly the "vary the program" thing is for weight training. Your body becomes accustom to that same exercise, wt and reps within 3 to 6 weeks for beginners. Advance trainers might change things every week. As a general guideline, once you hit a wall and can't add weight or reps to an exercise from week to week, it's probably time to change...something. It doesn't necessarily have to be the exercise that changes. It can be the sets, rest time or reps. Only reasons I can see to vary it with cardio is to beat general boredom, just to do something different. Maybe have more intense or less intense days for recovery or doing different cardio machines so you don't get repetitive motion injuries (doing the same thing over and over can cause wear and tear in one range of motion and not strengthen others). Good luck Earl

Thank you so much for the reply,   I was just panicked because I usually weigh myself once a week (sometimes I can't resist and i weigh myself a few times I can't lie) but this week the scale said that I gained 3 pounds so I was panicing and was thinking that my workouts are the issue, that they are not long enough, hard enough or something.  If anyone else has any suggestions please feel free to write.                          Thanks Adrienne

Hi Adrienne, I know it's hard to at first after WLS but don't go into panic mode when you see the scale go up one week to the next after a few months. It's normal. You're transitioning from a total starvation, no exercise mode to eating more protein and calories and exercising so you'll be gaining some lean weight and water you lost during the starvation phase. Just stay consistant. Take some measurements, they will give you a better gauge than the scale. You're doing great. Earl