Exercise & Nutrition Q&A - 10/8/2013

I am in an answering mood today, bring on the questions! Exercise? Nutrition? WLS? Cooking? Let me know what you need to know! If I don't know I will find someone who does!

What do you say to someone who wants to exercise but does not know where to start? What would you suggest?  Keeping in mind most of us have had a hard time just walking through a store, with a grocery cart holding us up.

Thanks!

So I get this question a lot but there is usually a 2nd part. LIke "I don't want to join a gym..." or "I have a bad back..." or "I am pre/post-op..." or something to that affect. So my answer would be different with different qualifiers. Assuming that you have all of your function and you just want to get going I would say that walking is the best place to start. Your goal if walking is your primary form of exercise should be 60 minutes a day and that doesn't have to mean walking for 1 full hour. It can mean 30 mins in the morning and 30 mins in the evening. Or if you are really just starting do it 15 mins at a time. A walk to the mail box is almost 5 minutes so just go a little further. You don't need a gym, you don't need a treadmill, you don't even really need good shoes (although it will take a lot of pressure off of your knees, hips, and ankles if you have good shoes). You just need 2 feet and a few minutes. Walk out your front door, walk 7.5 minutes in some direction, turn around and go home.

Now if you are a pre-op I would recommend keeping cardio to a minimum and focus on building as much muscle as you possible can before you start that pre-op diet. From the pre-op diet until the return to full foods you will lose a lot of muscle and the more you have before starting that process the less you will lose by the time you get back to exercise.

I also usually encourage people to learn some basic calisthenics like push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, jumping jacks, toe touches, etc. Even though most obese people cannot do these, it is important to work on them. They don't have to be pretty but they are important for building core muscles. Next I usually tell people to start squatting. They can be body weight squats but squats really are a solid foundation for strengthening the body.

Finally I almost always tell people to start out slow for the first two weeks. If you join a gym do not spend any more than 30 minutes there and I always tell them to find one thing as part of those 30 mins that they really enjoy. After 2 weeks they can step it up. The idea here is to get it into your head that going to the gym is not a burden and its fun.

That is a general approach, I am more than happy to always work with someone to find something they can do and live with but also challenge them. You always need to improve upon what you are doing. Like pushups I always give a goal of ten real pushups. I expect that the first time and maybe the first couple of months will be on their knees. But I also make sure they are trying and eventually doing a couple regular pushups before they drop to their knees and then the goal is 10. Once you get to 10 pushups, 15 and 20 are mere days away. Its about core strength.