Bones, muscles and what???

Okay, let me tell you we all complain about our tail bones and their sudden reappearence. Making even the most sedentary of us want to get off our tooshes. But whats this with the spine and how against my car seat when i am driving...ouch. How about my elbows from leaning on my desk or my shoulders from carrying bags. Man, I hope I lost fat and not all the muscle that covers my bones. Also, i seem weak. I never had much upper body strngth, but now maybe less...or maybe i just notice t more because i do more. Who knows. So how does everyone else deal with the bones? I have bones in places i never knew that hurt in situations they never did. Bizarre! melinda 16 months post op -176lbs

Melinda - I have rediscovered a bony little rear! I love to go sit in the sun on my breaks. there are wooden benches around the building I work in. I have discovered that I cannot stand to sit on them for more than perhaps 5 - 10 minutes - the bones and the wood collide now and it actually does hurt! My office chair, although well padded, seems pretty hard now too. I am NOT complaining - all that means that this work is working! As of this morning, I'm down 114 pounds and well into normal weight territory! Mom Bear - 245 / 131 (my goal 125).

Hi Melinda, I know your pain personally -- especially the tail bone and spine. The good news is that those DO get better with time. It just takes a while for the bones to get used to being against hard surfaces instead of being insulated with lots of fat. As for the muscles, that only gets worse with time unless YOU do something about it. And yes, that something is exercise -- but more than just exercise -- it needs to be strengthening exercise. This is also known as resistance or lifting weights. Walking is good for the lower body but does nothing for the upper and middle (core) body. If you haven't been doing exercise to tone/retain muscle, too much of your weight loss is muscle. And that will cause you to get weaker. Plus when you lose muscle, you don't get to choose which muscles you lose, so it could just as well be heart or other critical muscles in your body. Someone from our support group lost so much heart muscle that now she's in extremely poor health -- and worse off than before WLS. So, girl, start working on those muscles! You'll be glad you did. I've been lifting weights for almost 2 years and I feel great, have lots of energy, and people who didn't know me before cannot believe I was 200 lbs heavier. I look healthy, toned, and not like a deflated balloon -- as I've heard people say about others who've lost lots of weight. Don't get me wrong, I could use a lower body lift, but I can live without one and be happy. And I'm 52 years old! My upper body is great. I wore a sports bra top yesterday out in the yard and other than some lose skin around the belly, I look good! And I owe it all to lifting weights and ab exercises. Three times a week for an hour. Biceps and chest on Monday. Legs and shoulders on Wednesday. Back and Triceps on Friday. And I throw in a few ab exercises once or twice a week. I also hit the eliptical machine a little before or after training. And sometimes walk on the off days. Good luck! And congrats on the weight loss! Deb

I know what you mean about the bones. I've found several things uncomfortable. My tail bone and spine hurt~when I'm sitting in church against the wood surface on my back, it hurts! I'm squiggling around more than the kids, LOL! Also, I'm a side sleeper at night and I've found that my knee bones hurt if I lay one on top of the other. My kids complain about my hip bones too if they try to lay their heads in my lap. Its those weird little things. I agree that weight and resistance training has helped me so much! I still have a little sag, but not as bad as it could be! I too felt weak for awhile, but not I'm feeling much stronger. I guess it just took me some time. Good Luck and Congrats on your wonderful weightloss!!!!!!!!!!!! Tracy B 328/152 5'9"