Exercise and Fitness Forum

The following physical activity guidelines are easy to understand and implement into your everyday life. These recommendations may be used by everyone, including those who are pre and/or post weight loss surgery and individuals seeking non-surgical options for weight loss and health promotion. The goal is not to bombard you with great detail about designing elaborate exercise prescriptions; I simply want to provide you with a place to start. As your level of fitness increases, you may seek an interest more challenging and progressive exercise regimens.

    
Before we get started, I would like to take a moment to clarify a couple of concepts or words that are often thrown around and may cause confusion. The terms ?physical activity? and ?exercise,? are frequently used interchangeably. Although exercise is a form of physical activity, exercise implies planning and specific session oriented goals; it?s organized (or should be). The term ?physical activity? may be used more broadly and includes activities such as gardening, hiking, playing basketball, mowing the lawn, hand washing the car, weight training exercise and cardiovascular exercise. The significance of this will become clear very shortly.

The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the American College of Sports Medicine (ACSM) suggest all adults accumulate at least 30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity on most, if not all days of the week¹. This is a basic guideline aimed at promoting and enhancing health. Now, many of you when hearing this immediately think of 30 minutes on the treadmill or 30 minutes of lifting weights. Although these activities would suffice, there are countless other forms of activity that could replace the treadmill or weights, ultimately fulfilling that 30 minutes a day.

The significance of these previous statements is this. Advancing your health, even beyond the benefits resulting from WLS, does not require an hour in the gym every day. It does not require 30 minutes of perfuse sweating on the treadmill everyday. It does not even require one 30 minute session of moderately intense walking a day. You simply need to accumulate, again I stress accumulate, 30 minutes of moderately intense physical activity on most days of the week. The CDC and ACSM have established there are significant benefits to your health when you include a minimal level, 30 minutes a day, of moderate intensity physical activity into you everyday life.  This does not have to be done through organized exercise programs. We are not talking about losing massive amounts of weight through exercise or physical activity. We are not talking about training or a marathon. We are merely talking about getting healthy by leading a less sedentary lifestyle, and the amount of bodily movement or physical activity required to achieve this.

It is understandable for some of you, accumulating 30 minutes of physical activity, whether at one time, or through smaller increments throughout the day, is difficult or maybe impossible; especially if you are pre or recently post WLS. Let this not be a deterrent; you must start somewhere. If you can walk for two minutes straight and need to rest, do it. Repeat that a couple or several times a day. Each week add an additional session during the day or an additional minute to each session.

The following are a couple of points to consider:

• Set your goals properly. Your primary focus should be the healthy benefits of being less sedentary and more physically active.
  
• Physical activity does not have to be continuous; it does not even have to be the same activity. If you walk for ten minutes in the morning around your neighborhood, walk again for ten minutes during your lunch break and then take 10-15 minutes to hand wash the car when in the evening, you have accumulated the 30 minutes needed to positively impact your health.

We live a life of convenience and although convenience is nice, it is not always good for our health. So in conclusion, don't always look for the fastest or easiest way to do things. Instead of going to the drive through at the bank, park, get up and go in. Don't automatically look for the closest parking spot; park a little further away and and take a few more steps. Learning to think about the little things you do that cause you to be more sedentary can make big changes in your health as you accumulate a physical activity throughout the day.

Are you interested in specific forms of exercise? Click one of the following links to learn more; cardiovascular exercise, weight training, flexibility training.

References

1. Pate RR, Pratt M, Blair SN, et al. Physical activity and public health. A recommendation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the American College of Sports Medicine. JAMA 1995;273:402-407. 

Jeremy Gentles is ObesityHelp?s staff health and fitness expert. Jeremy studied Exercise Science at East Tennessee State University and is a Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist (CSCS) through the National Strength and Conditioning Association (NSCA). He has experience addressing the specific exercise and fitness needs of those who will undergo or have undergone bariatric surgery.