Question:
Why is it we can

Get up and exersise every day after surgery but didnt have the will power to so before hand. This has been bothering me! I know alot of had to do with me feeling better but am I feeling better because of the exersise? And if I had done them prior to surgery would it be the same? I will confess I was a huge couch potato before surgery.. I kept up with every day things but other then that forget it. Now I am a water aeorbic junkie and I walk alot. I planning on weight lift training in the near future. I wouldnt even consider this before surgery. Why because I had this surgery my things have change? I even mowed my grass today something I would have never done before. It just boggles my mind how much I want to exersise now and never even considered it before surgery except when I was one of my crazy diets. Anyone else?    — Catherine B (posted on May 27, 2003)

May 27, 2003
You are exactly right. I believe that the best thing this surgery gives us (besides a "tool") is that it gives us HOPE. Our prospective outlook for a hopeful future changes everything. We all know that diets don't work so we know if we diet we will fail and be fat and if we don't diet, we are miserably doomed. Thank God for the HOPE. They say, Faith, Hope, and Love, the greatest is love and while all 3 are Great, I believe without hope, you are lost. Keep up the good work.
   — Dana S.

May 27, 2003
Isn't it amazing! I was a compulsive eater, and my life centered around every meal. Exercise was not in the equation. Now, I move everyday!
   — dimpkd

May 27, 2003
You are right! I held off getting the surgery for years because I thought that all I had to do was act like I actually had the surgery and exercise and eat the post-op diet. I tried time and time again with little success. Not until I was approved and got a date could I eat right and walk every day. The mere thought of not being able to eat everything in site and having a tool to stop me from sneaking a Fat Burger, is a weight lifted off my shoulders (excuse the pun). Hope is the only way to discribe it. The hope of never having to feel like a cat with the pet bird in its mouth, is motivating. The Hope of achieving the one goal U have been reaching for since childhood is enough to give 100 percent just one more time, the last time. I'll know in less about 20 days.
   — Ron T.

May 27, 2003
I think it also has to do with the fact that most of us are no longer bogged down by carbs. Sugar and yeasty foods tend to make one feel loggy. At least that's been my experience. Since eating more protein and healthy veggies, I've got lots more energy. I do find that when I indulge in the carby things, I get sleepy and lazy.
   — [Deactivated Member]

May 27, 2003
I think it has to do with that fact that we know we are gonna lose weight anyway, so it's like why not get up and exercise and do all this other stuff. I'm just so happy that I know i'm going to lose weight anyway, I'm eager to shed my old lifestyle completely. It feels different exercising now, cause I "know" i'm gonna have results. That's how I look at it anyway.
   — Laydie K.

May 27, 2003
As a pr-eop I can say that it is VERY hard to get up and exercise. However, I have been working with a trainer for almost 2 years now. I meet him at 6:30am every M,W,F. In fact I am off to my appointment right now. I want nothing more than to NOT GO! But in the name of health and the knowledge that I will soon be having surgery, I need him now more than ever. I truly hope that it will get easier after surgery because God knows it it hard to do right now.
   — meliss0725

May 28, 2003
Catherine, I think that it's more mental for me then anything, I've hit my last resort and opted for the WLS surgery, knwoing that it was my last attempt and chance to loose it, as with the other posts we've tried the diets, and even exercised. How-ever with every pound and more comming back, the desire to start over and the extra poundage we've placed on our bones put a dampen on exercising. Now with having the WLS, my outlook is totally different, this is my last attempt at being healthy, I know that the first 6 months was easy as I was controled by the tummy, as it dictated everything I ate or didnt eat, but after that first 6 months I know I'm on my own, to reach goal I must strive, make healthy choices, and work out in one form or another daily to reach my goal, to tone up and to be able to have the strenght to feel good about myself. It's a work in process, I'll kick myself in the but for not going to the GYM. I'm just like you, I want to exercise all the time, I stand at my desk and bend and do crunches, I've even bought hand and ankle weights, people think I'm weird, but I'm on a mission, and that's to be the best that I can be. All I can say girl Hats off to you ! For wanting to exercise, I know when I do it I feel so much beter about myself. Post op 12 months down 133 pounds
   — tannedtigress

May 28, 2003
I think part of the reason is that we are looking better and therefore want to continue to do so, and exercise is an essential part of it. Also, the more weight you lose, the better you feel and the more energy you have to move. As an obese couch potato, you have no energy to move. Pass the potato chips, please! For me, exercise is much easier weighing 100 pounds less, however, I do not like it any more today than I did before. Wish I did! I do it because its good for me, and helps keep the weight off.. Period. My dream world: Chocolate and carbs make you lose weight, and being a couch potato has the same effect as working out every day. Yeah, right.
   — Cindy R.