6 month checking in and great day-for the most part!!
I know I posted a few days ago about being down 65 pounds. Well, today (yesterday now) I had to go back to see my regular doctor for the first time since December. He was so surprised to see me! That made me feel so good. We discussed my arthritis problems that I'm still having with my back and neck and he recommended physical therapy and a tens unit.
Then my daughter and I joined Planet Fitness together. Good and bad. I love the friendly staff and non-pressure atmosphere. I found out that I am a lot stronger than I thought I was, but that I have NO endurance!! WE spent two hours with a personal trainer learning all of the machines, then I went to get on the exercise bike. I could barely make it to ten minutes, and that was with stopping every few minutes because my knees were burning! Since that wasn't working out too well, I decided to try the elliptical machine. Ha!! What a joke!!! Non-impact? Yep. Easy? NOPE!! I barely made it to two minutes!! My daughter wasn't done so I went to sit in the ladies room in a cushy chair and had to fight back the tears. I used to ride my exercise bike at home for 60-90 days a day!!! Of course, I was in my 30's then, but I didn't think it had gotten that bad!
Thankfully, I still have my recumbent bike at home, so I will start riding at home again, and go to the gym every other day for weights. The bright side is that at least I finally started. I need to tone up and try to fight some of this flab. It's great to have my 26 year old daughter to go with me. We can push each other when neither of us really feel like it.
All in all, I have to say that today was a successful one. :-)
RNY on 12/20/12 at 307. Highest ever 326 pounds. Goal weight 180 pounds.
I had to ease into the elliptical. Two minutes is a good start. That's all I could do at first. As I was able to add more time, I would do a minute forward and a minute backward. It uses different muscles (I think, anyway) and breaks up the workout. Once you get used to that, you can do two minutes forward and two minutes backward. I got to the point where I was breaking it up with five minute intervals and going for a total of 25-30 minutes. It IS really hard, but your body will get the hang of it eventually. Right now I'm only doing the treadmill, but I do it for about 48 minutes. My gym has wifi and I have hulu+ on my phone, so I walk for the length of a show. I'm gradually increasing the speed. When I started post-surgery, I was doing a 2.0. Monday I did 2.4. Today I will try 2.5. If that's too much, I'll back it down a notch.
Linda, Endwell, NY RNY 11/5/12
HW333--SW 289--GW of 160 5' 11" woman. I only know the way I know & when you ask for input/advice, you'll get the way I've been successful through my surgeon & nutritionist. Please consult your surgeon & nutritionist for how to do it their way. Biggest regret? Not doing this 10 years ago! Every day is better than the day before...and it was a pretty great day!
We've all been there honey! When I started I was out of breath going down my basement steps to my treadmill and could only walk about 10 minutes very slowly. I've worked myself up to 4 miles in an hour and hope to do better than that since I had foot surgery to correct some issues that were causing pain. Just keep plugging along and you will get more and more fit. Soon you will surprise yourself!
