An interesting view on the gym...From a bariatric surgeon

Someone posted this on the Men's Forum. I viewed it and it made a lot of sense. He didn't go into great detail, but most of his reasoning was pretty sound. Thoughts??

https://www.facebook.com/thesupportsurgeon/videos/7524339315 85044/

I listened to this twice to see if I missed something. I think I agree with most of the things he said, but I feel he needed to add some things...That I had to read between the lines. I agree with you about exercise being very therapeutic and feel endorphins help with coping and relaxing. He didn't bring that point up and he should have.

I think what he was trying to stress was that you can't build major muscle groups while being in major weightloss. It takes calories to tear down muscles (the soreness we feel from working them). To build them back up, making them stronger, takes extra calories. Since it is a struggle to get in those calories (especially the first 6 months), we will have major problems trying to build those muscles. I think what he was trying to stress (but didn't say so) was it is better to work on toning muscles and light exercise (walking, biking, elastic bands, different movements, stairs, physical work) than to pump major iron. That is my take on the video...

I also believe he was correct about the use of the gym and the mental aspect of it. In my own case (first six months), I found that walking and physical work (mowing lawns, pruning trees, cleaning the car, cleaning windows) helped me with my weightloss and aided in the toning as well. Brian

Sadly exercise doesn't replace actual mental health treatment.

I really turned off him when he said about lose skin after weight loss, "Well.. what do you expect? It's your penalty for being obese"

i did like his idea of lose skin is ones earnt badge of honour though

and I believe perhaps he's saying to spend what energy you do have, on getting 'your head straight first, and your nutrition.' I think that is very wise and the fact that you reach for the gym as an answer to weight loss and maintenance is false if you're still caught up in regular bad eating habits because you then do need to work on your 'head' first. As he pointed out, the myth that the gym will get you your 'ideal body' in this case is totally false and will only add to your head issues when your 'perfect body' is not realised.

He does make some very good points but is perhaps too black and white. Because you can do some exercise as long as most your energy/efforts are with fixing your head issues that lead you to be fat to begin with