Surgery tomorrow!!! Start C25K Wednesday?

I'm having my surgery tomorrow and I am all fired up to hit the ground running - maybe not literally, but then again... maybe...

I'm interested to know the perspective of those of you that have done it.  I only have two WLS friends and neither of them like exercise or envision themselves as athletes.  My husband doesn't have any aspirations to be an athlete either. 

I have never been an athlete but I come from a family FULL of them... triathletes, marathoners, even share DNA with a Special Forces member.  In my professional life, I am surrounded by Marines.  I want to be able to keep up with them and hold my head high. (Heck – I wouldn’t mind them having to keep up with me!)

The one thing I haven't done well in prepping for surgery is to understand what my recovery is going to be like.  I've read everything and the "depends on your body" does not help me with planning. 

Is it unrealistic to expect to do day two of C25k training the day after my surgery?  How soon after did you start getting focused/serious/aggressive about physical exercise?

My doc told me only walking for the first 8 weeks after surgery. I would check with your doc and follow his/her guidelines.

Good luck to you!

I could barely make it up and down my block within 2-3 days after surgery....but I also had
a hernia repair at the same time.

I haven't had mine yet but from what people have told me and what I've read, that doesn't sound like a good idea. You are having major surgery. This is something that takes time to recover.

Ah, no.  And if you can, then my hat is off to you!

I would expect to do short walks with frequent rests on day 2.

Everyone IS different, but I can't imagine running the day after surgery when my abs were as sore as they were.  My stamina was zilch as well.

You are having your stomach and bowel resected and anastamosed in different areas.  Your surgeon would have to be nuts to allow you to RUN before a decent amount of time post op (usually 4-6 weeks).

I was only allowed to walk for the first 6 weeks post op.  Follow your doctors orders.  I know you are excited, but you will have plenty of time to get moving.  Don't rush the healing.


Sarah

I too had a hernia repair so my recovery was a bit more difficult but no way could I train for anything (short of a "poop-a-thalon" since I spent a considerable amount of time in the bathroom trying my best to poo...quite unsuccessfully might I add).

I'd hold off if I were you.

I couldn't even lift more than 10lbs for 8 weeks after my surgery. Taking short walks up and down your street will be enough. Remember you are recovering from MAJOR surgery. So, I would strongly suggest you just walk. You don't want to impair your healing do you?

You have to remember that you're having a major surgery and need to give yourself time to heal. My Dr. didn't want anything more than walking for the first 4-6 weeks. I had absolutely zero issues with surgery and could definitely not have gone running one day post-op, and I was back to work at 6 days LOL!

I started Ease Into 5k at 2 months post-op and still had some abdominal soreness the first week or two just from the position and effort it took to move like that.

Good luck!

I love the fact that you are so ready to get out there and do the dayum thing...however PLEASE DON'T push yourself too hard too fast. I would hate to see you end back up in the hospital because you pushed your body too hard too fast before it was able or ready.

You are having major surgery. Remember, you have having almost ALL of your stomach removed and stitched back together...and 1/3 of your intestines rerouted. You'll likely be in recovery for a few hours and on a morphine pump the remainder of the first day. You will be required to walk even the first day but I know for me 1 lap around the baratric floor wore me out and I wa****ting that morphine pump as soon as I laid back down. The second day was much better and each day continued to improve but you will be getting almost NO nutrition, drinking water may be difficult, which will effect things like stamina and hydration...all things needed to successfully try to start something like C25K. I'm surprised that you will even be home on Wednesday to even attempt C25K since most surgeons require at LEAST an overnight hospital stay.

The young lady who's surgery was scheduled before me on the same day with my surgeon started walking on a treadmill 3 days after surgery because she thought it would be better than struggling to walk outside in the heat (we had surgery in late August). She tore internal stitches and ended back up in the hospital with a leak and was rushed back into surgery to clean everything out and redo the stitches.

Editied to Add:

As for when I started aggressive exercising, I waited 6 weeks before I went to the gym. Until then, walking daily around my neighborhood and the high school track were the extent of my exercise endeavors and man was I TIRED just from that. When I started at the gym, I stuck to things like walking on the treadmill and elliptical until my stamina and cardio were good (about until month 3). At month 3, I hired a personal trainer and I haven't looked back. I workout 5 days a week aggressively. 2x a week in Private personal training session for 1hr doing power weight lifting and then 30 min of heavy cardio. 2x a week a do a group outdoor boot camp program which is heavy cardio and body weight resistance training. 1 day a week I swim laps and do 1 hour of cardio.

I used to exercise heavily in the past before my weight became prohibitive....and its been hard working my way back to what I used to be able to do. Previously I could easily bench press 175lb...now, I am just getting to a point where I can bench 135. I just can't physically eat enough to sustain my body to get back to the power lifting weights I used to do with ease but I'm working my way back to that point.

i think that's something you might want to keep in mind also. Yes, you will be loosing weight, but you will be taking in a DRASTICALLY reduced calorie intake which will effect how much exercise you can do in the beginning and even farther out. You might have the desire to keep up with those marines (which is admirable since I live with one) but you have to listen to you body as well. I sometimes do an extra power lifting session with my BF and his marine buddies (M and F)...and while I can lift more than several of the women, in the past I could easily out lift some of the men....and its frustrating sometimes because mentally I want to do more, but I don't want to risk injury which will completely sideline me for a while.

I've had to realize that I only compete with myself...no one else. I decide to hold my head up high everyday...no matter my weight or physical fitness level. You should do the same or at least strive for that. Don't let keeping up with then be your sole focus!