New to this Forum

Hi everyone, I just had the Vertical Sleeve Gastrectomy on Nov. 5th and want to start an exercise program.  I've never been the athletic type so I'm looking for some suggestions to jump start my metabolism.  Should I start with walking first and if so, how far should I walk ? Thanks for the ideas in advance !

Welcome.   Yeah, walking is a great way to start.  I can speak for myself and probably many that at some point you will not feel challanged and thewalking will turn to running and then running farther and faster.  I must warn you, you may want to run!  I started during the winter and hit the treadmill.  I would walk a little farther each day until I reached my time limit.  Then I would walk a little faster and go farther.  Soon, I spliced in some running and after a while it just became running. My first day on the treadmill after surgery was 3 mph for 5 minutes.  It does not take long to work it up from there. Good luck

Teenie, Welcome. You'd be right. I started by getting dressed and going out all the way to the end of my driveway.  Later I made it to the corner, then to the end of the street.  At that point I started watching how long I was taking and tried to increase the time out.  Go out for half the time alotted then turn around and come back. As Scott said, that lead to wondering how far I was going and then I started marking distance and how long it took (faster, faster, farther, farther).  By the time I ws getting to 3 miles, my brother challenged me to do a local 10K with him and my brother-in-law.  Then I started reading about Scott doing the marathon and a few others doing 5, 10 and 13 K races and read their profiles and their posts and asked questions about their training.  They all answered and were very helpful. I had surgery Sept 26, 06 and in Jan 07 started formally training for my first ever 10K.  I took 2 hours plus to walk 6 miles at first. By race day I clocked a 1 hr 34 minutes.  In Sept I did my first 5K in 27 mins and a 10K in Oct in 1 hr 7 mins.  My goal is to do my anniversary 10K scheduled for April in less than 1 hour.  I am slow but pleased mostly with my slowly improving achievements. The walking and joggin have helped to keep me tones, building muscle and burning up fat.  My body fat ratio was at 19% at my 12 month follow-up and it was exciting to see how pleased my surgeon was with my progress.   I have loose skin but it is far less than I ever imagined and I feel really good most of the time.  But I have to take my prescribe post-op vitamins and supplements; I have progressed to taking in 200 gms of protein a day and drinking 6 (16.9 oz) bottles of water a day.  I also had to up my B-12, B vitamins, iron (multi-vitamin with 28 mg iron 2 or 3 a day), and a potassium supplement.  Your body and gender may have different requirements but I hit some real energy barriers as my exercise increased and the B-12 thing helped me over the first one.  The potassium supplement got me over the second one that included some depression (bananas were very useful initially but the over-the-counter supplements come with less fat).  The increased protein was the last and most effective missing piece of the puzzle.  The 40 to 60 gms a day on the post-op diet are the minimum intake required.  Factor in the malabsorption after bypass and we are only absorbing 50-60% of what we intake so you have to consume 120 gms to benefit from 60 gms, so I am taking in 160-200 gms a day to benefit from 80-100gm and it really helps,...but you have to get your water in to keep from getting constipated or developing kidney stones. (Did i say that out loud???) Best of luck.  Keep us posted on your soon to occur and continuing success(es).   Sorry about the lengthy post.

Welcome, Walk a little more each time you go out.  Don't worry if the distance doesn't seem to far at first.  Just try to keep improving the time and distance.  Elliptical machines are great to start on because they don't pound the knees.  The main thing is to main exercise just like your job, never miss it! If your near a gym I recommend getting involved in some fo the classes to break up the monotony.  I have a passion for spinning and running, and still hate to miss a spinning class.  The running I do solo with my ipod.   Have fun and keep moving all the time. Rob

Welcome. I'd suggest walk as much as possible. I took 6 or 7 short walks every day right after surgery, first just a going a block and walking back. Gradually, I increased the distance and as I did that I decreased the number of walks until I was doing two 45 min to 1 hour walks a day (I was on 7 weeks leave at the time so had all day). I wouldn't  pu**** at first but definately try to go a little faster and farther each time. Walking isn't so much exercise as activity, so I'm a big believer that you don't have to limit your walks to just once a day. Who knows, you'll probably start running like these other guys on here someday soon. It helps to have some kind of goal, like a 5 k or something to motivate you. I decided right after surgery that I was going to throw the discus again at a masters meet. It took almost of year of training after surgery but I did it and still do it. Good luck Earl

I'm new to this forum also. Walking is the best way to start. I made it to the corner the first time but I kept at it and each time I went out I was able to go a little farther. I also invested in a recumbent exercise bike which has been terrific for me since I had so much trouble with my knees due to my weight and the recumbent bike is very easy on the knees.