My exercise story

I've had a few people ask me, recently, about how I got into exercise.  So I decided to make a post to my blog about this and figured I'd share it with you all too.  I want to state, as a disclaimer, that I'm a childfree homemaker.  I'm seriously in awe of all of you who manage to exercise, raise kids, hold down a job, and everything else.  I know that I couldn't make all those things happen - I feel like Obesity Recovery is my full time job right now.  No one should feel like they need to be able to fit 10+ hours of exercise into their lives.  My cir****tances are different than most.  But maybe the tale of my quest to reach exercise enjoyment will be interesting or useful!  

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A few years before surgery, I started trying to make exercise a part of my life. I went to the gym and used the elliptical about 3 times a week. But then I'd stop. And then I'd get back. And I wasn't very reliable. Sometimes I'd try to lift weights but I never enjoyed it.

Then came surgery. I knew that if I was going to change my life, I was going to go all the way. I truly believe that exercise does extremely little for weight loss, but I know that it has many benefits to overall health. I didn't just want the weight loss, I wanted everything. I want to be healthy and strong and to be able to do everything.

Surgery was March 2014. I was only allowed to walk for the first 6 weeks. No elliptical, no running, no lifting, nothing except walking. I started walking in the hospital by doing laps of the wing I was in. When I got home, I started doing laps of my street. Each lap was about a quarter of a mile. I bundled up since it's cold here in March! Once I could do a mile, I switched to the gym and started walking on the treadmill.

On the treadmill, I started at 2mph, 1% incline, and 35 minutes. I went three days a week and increased my time by 5 minutes each time until I could do an hour. Once I could do an hour, I started increasing my speed, .1mph at a time. I kept doing this, .1mph at a time, until I was close to 4mph (3.8) and then I tried running (257lb). And I could do it! (I was past the 6 week mark at this point.)

From there, I started to work on intervals. I would run 45 seconds out of each 5 minute block. Then I increased it to a minute, and so on and so forth. Eventually I switched to Couch to 5k to follow those intervals. In June 2014, I signed up for my first 5k and made that my goal. I wasn't super thrilled with this, though so...

One weekend, when I was visiting my parents to help them out, I tried running outside. I switched to the Zombies Run 5k Training plan, and I ran outside. This was in August 2014. It was an epiphany. A revelation. It was amazing and I was hooked. I haven't been back to the treadmill since. I know I'll have to eventually once there's snow and/or ice on the ground, but I'm loving the outside now.

I ran my first 5k in October 2014 (212lb). The course time limit was 60 minutes, so my goal was to complete within the limit and to not die. I was victorious and my time was 54 minutes and some seconds! I was (and still am) stupidly proud of myself for this.

So that's the running side of things. Now there's the fitness class side of things.

In April 2014 or so, I asked my best friend if she wanted to do any fitness classes with me and she told me about the fitness class passport that the local community college offers. I looked into it and was sold. It's one price and you can do all the classes you want, so it seemed like a good deal for someone like me who can devote a lot of time during the day to fitness stuff. (A lot of the other local options only have evening classes which do not fit into my life at all.)

I started off, in May 2014 (265lb), with yoga (2 classes), pilates (3 classes), and tai chi (1 class). I had studied yoga and tai chi in the past - I loved tai chi and didn't really get yoga. Pilates seemed like something that was interesting. I promised myself that I would stick with everything for a month, since I know it takes time to make something a habit and to really figure out if you like it. I ended up dropping two of the pilates classes since the teacher was a nut and I couldn't deal with her. I love pilates with my other teacher, though!

I maintained that for the summer term and, in the fall term (September 2014), I lost one of my yoga classes (but gained another one in November 2014) and added zumba (like), water aerobics (it's fine, and I like being in the pool), and bhangra (again, bad teacher).

I've also added a lot of yoga into my home exercising. I do a long program one day a week and then I do about 30 minutes of yoga for stretching after my running which is still three days a week.

All of this boils down to finding what worked for me and making sure to really give things a fair chance. The best exercise is the one that you'll do and any other exercise doesn't matter. And I think that the exercise you'll actually do is the exercise that you enjoy. With the caveat that sometimes you've got to force yourself in the beginning.

I do believe that the variety of exercise I'm going has helped me prevent injury and I like to think that, throughout the course of a week, I'm exercising every single muscle in my body that can be exercised :D

And that's my exercise story up until this point! Right now, I'm training for my second 5k, which is a day after my year surgeriversary. I'm doing about 14 hours of exercise a week and I'm feeling pretty fantastic. I feel strong and invincible.

Congrats on your 5k! It's great to see how you progressed,  had a plan in place and followed it. Did you enjoy running before WLS? I just said this in another post, but it amazes me how many people embrace exercise after surgery, at this point in time.. I can't imagine ever wanting to run anywhere .. unless Michael Myers was behind me chasing me. I used to love bike riding, I am hoping once some of the weight comes off I can return to it. 

Running before WLS?  LOLOLOL.   ;)  Um, no.  I think that if I had to run to escape a bear that was chasing me, I would have preferred to have been eaten by the bear than to run.  And I was pretty scared/nervous to start running even post-op.  It seems so... I don't know.  So intense.  And overwhelming.  

But one of my partners is a marathoner and seeing him getting out there to run made me sort of think that maybe I wanted to give it a try too.   But even when I started attempting to run I never would have guessed that I'd sign up for a 5k and actually do a race.  I've just sort of let the journey takes me where it's going to take me, you know?  My method is "try a lot of stuff and see what sticks."  :)  I also couldn't imagine ever wanting to run, and if you told me a year ago that I'd run a 5k, I would have laughed in your face!  But I'm learning that it's best not to discount things just because I never liked them before.  So many more things are possible with this new body.  

Yay, there is hope for me! lol :)  

Thank you for the reply, I'm sure I'll be bugging you with more questions  in the months to come.

There's definitely hope for you!  

For me, I really had to get over the whole "comfort zone" thing.  I had to realize that "hey, staying in my comfort zone is what has gotten me obese and kept me there for so many years.  If I ever want things to change, I'm going to need to challenge myself and do things that are uncomfortable."  

Hi Gwen! I love this post! I have been following your journey since the beginning and you are awesome!  had my surgery close to the same time you did and have lost about the same amount of weight you have. I love following up on you and seeing how you are doing(I hope that doesn't make me sound like a stalker haha!)

Anyways I was having a bad month and not wanting to work out or do anything and I read one of your posts saying how much you work out and your situation(homemaker) and I thought to myself that if you are doing all of this working out why shouldn't I? I am also a kid free homemaker and have plenty of time for working out! So I joined a gym and haven't looked back! I love taking all of the classes that I can and I am up to about 8 hours of working out a week, but would love to get up to 14! You are awesome and are such an inspiration!

Would you mind posting your workout schedule for the week?

How much more weight do you have to lose? Do you feel like your weight loss has slowed down lately? Mine has, I know I am still shrinking but the scale has been stuck in the same place for a while now.

Sorry for all the questions :) 

This is the best comment ever.  Thank you so much!  You're doing SUPER well and I hope you're really proud of yourself.  :D  It's nice to find a kindred spirit as far as exercise classes go.  I had no idea what I was going to like when I started, so I'm really glad I've gotten to try a bunch of things and learn that I actually do like some things!  

My weight loss has slowed a bit recently, but I know why.  I've indulged a little too much recently and my water intake hasn't been optimal.  And I had to eat out a bunch in October so all of that sodium made me feel like I stalled for the entire month!  I am still losing, but I know I can do better if I get in a few good weeks with no restaurants and better liquids!  

My ultimate dream goal that I'm not even sure is possible is 120, so I've got 82 pounds to reach that.  I'll see how I feel about it once I'm closer :P  I figure, once I get to 150 or so, that I'll look into hiring a personal trainer so I can learn how to weight lift.  I haven't liked it in the past, but I know that it will be good for my body once I've lost a bit more weight and I'm hopeful that I'll like it more at my current weight than I did at my past weight.  

Here's my weekly exercise schedule.  I'm actually at 13 hours now because I stopped my bhangra class last week since a) the teacher drives me crazy and b) I've got conflicts the next few weeks.  

Monday
9am yoga at home (I do somewhere between an hour and two hours, depending on what I need, how I feel, and how much time I have.)  This is my "easy" day because I've learned I can't sing properly for my voice lesson if I've exhausted myself with exercise earlier in the day.  Duh, right? :P  

Tuesday
8am 5k training followed by 30 minutes of yoga stretching for runners.  I'm currently doing a sub-30 minute 5k program from Runkeeper in the hopes of improving my time.  I'm not aiming for sub-30 by any stretch of the imagination, but it's a good program and I'm enjoying it.  On most days I train, I do at least 3.4 miles, but some times the plan calls for longer.  
12pm yoga class

Wednesday
9am yoga class
10am zumba class
11am water aerobics class (I like to plan classes that are back to back so I can save trips to the gym.  And there's that whole, "well I'm already here, so I might as well...)

Thursday
7:30am 5k training followed by 30 minutes of yoga stretching for runners 

Friday
9am tai chi class
10am pilates

Saturday
Rest day (although rest days now are nowhere near as restful as they were pre-op, if you know what I mean.)

Sunday
8am 5k training followed by 30 minutes of yoga stretching for runners

My plans for the future involve at least 4 weeks of physical therapy for my shoulder (I think this is related more to weight loss and less to doing anything to screw myself up) so that adds 2 hours to my weeks plus exercises at home.  And in May, which seems very far away right now, I know, I plan to start studying Aikido twice a week!!  I did Aikido years ago with my partner, and I enjoyed it, but I was too ungainly and kept damaging myself.  I'm excited to be able to try it again and, hopefully, my new body will be better suited to the martial art.  I figure I can do it twice a week during the summer, when I don't have choir, and then drop back to once a week during the school year when I have choir again.  

(Long response is long!)

Thank you so much for the reply! You are one busy lady! Like you, I give props to those that have a job and kids and still find the time to work out and eat right! This is definitely my full time job! I feel like I spend all day working out, thinking about what I'm going to eat and planning! I couldn't imagine another full time job on top of this! But I'm so glad I(we) have the opportunity and are blessed enough to be able to have the time to focus on our weight loss! 

You have inspired me to start doing 3 classes at a time at the gym just from your workout schedule lol. I do do 2 classes back to back a couple days but I should and could fit another in too! My gym is weird though, they start classes weird so in the middle of one class another starts so you'd have to leave one to go to another, or show up late to one! It is really dumb if you ask me lol. I will just have to find a way! It is an LA Fitness and there is another gym down the road so I can find classes there too!

My workout schedule kinda looks like yours but not as good lol

Monday-Bodyworks+Abs- gym

Tuesday- 5k training-Home

Wednesday- Mat Pilates & Bodyworks +Abs- Gym

Thursday- Kickbox Cardio(my favorite class and teacher ever!)Gym

Friday- 5k Training-Home

Saturday- Kickbox Cardio & Yoga- Gym

Sunday- Either Rest day or I take a walk

My Weight loss has slowed down too but I know why also. I have done the same as you, quit drinking as much water, not eating as great as I could have been, and eating out a lot and we went on a ship cruise last month and you know the food choices there suck lol. But the last week I have been kicking it in the butt again and I can definitely feel a difference and am happy I started again. I even upped my water again and that is helping a lot! 

The yoga for runners that you do, is it a DVD? I would like more info please :) 

Aikido sounds cool. I had never heard of it before. Good luck and I know you will do great! 

I meant to reply to this sooner but then life got in the way.  Things are hectic right now.  

Your exercise schedule is awesome!  I think that I have access to a kick box cardio class, but I'm not sure.  It sounds like it could be fun!  Although I think my family would disown me if I told them I was adding more stuff to my schedule ;)  They think I'm mostly insane already.  Every month or so I google to see if there are new places in town offering fitness classes.  Just in case.  

I use an iPad/iPhone app for my yoga at home, it's called "Yoga Studio" and I really, really like it.  They've got beginner, intermediate, and advanced programs plus ones for back pain and ones for runners.  I really enjoy the running ones after a run, since it's more exciting to me than just stretching on my own.  I like having the guidance.  :)