I am 7 months post op and recently hit my goal weight. I am a Black Belt in Chun Kuk Do. I also do kick box aerobics to stay in shape. Since my surgery I have been heavy into sparring. It's nice having the greater mobility and speed.

Hi Steven, Glad to see this board here, I had surgery in Oct 2002 and started taking Taekwondo about a month or two after surgery. I am currently a blue belt getting ready to test for my second stripe. I have competed in International as well as local tournaments. I took 5th place in the world for my division in South Korea last year. I love TKD I think its the best thing for WLS patients to loose weight and firm up. Lately I have been occupied by other hobbies (speed skating), but I am getting back into my training mode this week. I hope to hear from everyone else on your Martial arts journey.

I take Taekwondo too. I am a yellow belt going for my orange in April. I can understand. As far as waiting, I would wait to make sure I was more confident emotionally and physically as you said. You have to be emotionally ready to do this i would think. You have overcome so much so far and only you can know when you are ready to take the next step. Congradulations on your weight loss! lisa

I am glad this website is here. My husband, my children and I have been doing Taekwondo since June 28 of last year. My husband has had previous Taekwondo experience. He is blue belt now and we are yellow belts. We have 5 children that are in it. So there is 7 of us that do Taekwondo. Kinda kool huh? I am hoping to have this surgery so I will be more efficient in my kicks. I like it pretty much and maybe my feet will feel better after surgery.

Hello, I had checked this forum a month or so back and there were no postings in it at that time, but good to see now that there are some people here now. I am almost 1 year post op and started studying Tai Chi around my six month mark of being post op. I really enjoy Tai Chi particualry with the school that I am invovled with. I presently live in Scotland and have to travel about 1-1.5 hours each way to get to class, but it is worth it because of the instructor. I did a lot of research about different disciplines prior to choosing Tai Chi and than I researched different schools. what i seemed to find over and over here in this area is that most of the Tai Chi instructors were running classes that focused on the health aspect of Tai Chi and that was it. If anyone knows anything about Tai Chi, they will know that the health aspect is maybe one half of the discipline. There is the applications, the maritial arts side, and the self defense part. None of the schools in a one hour radius of where I live teach any of that except this one. so that is why I go there. You need the entire discipline if you want to really understand the art of Tai Chi, but no one around here seems to understand that. They just see it as a gentle form of exericse that is slow and good for older people and injured folks. Well, done in that manner it is not really a martial art. The instructor that I have originally started in Tae Kwon Do before moving into Tai Chi and becoming an instructor. he also teaches Kung Fu. Which I hope to add here soon and start with that too along with my Tai Chi. I really enjoy the Tai Chi, the sword forms, the grace yet power that it entails if done correctly. Tai Chi is a gentle form of mutiation. haha, that appeals to both the lady and the tough chick in me. Melisa Morrison Success is the best revenge!