PDA

View Full Version : exercise....a nasty word?



coffeelover
07-30-2009, 04:33 AM
In the very good interest of creating new threads....I have one.

I have been trying to up my exercise a bit by adding to my regular daily morning walk a 10-15 minute short exercise in the evenings. I am somewhat discouraged as I am not losing the weight at all (still on pred) by adding the additional exercise. My question is:
Am I expecting too much too soon?
Should I really be exercising this much? (although this is nothing compared to my before WEGS diagnosis.)
Any advice out there?

feeling fat and blue
LIsa Coffeelover

Luce
07-30-2009, 05:29 AM
Lisa

I have been told that exercise is incredibly beneficial as long as you listen to your body and don't push it too far. So as long as you're not suffering as a result of your efforts then I say keep it up!

I'm going to the gym 3 times a week now - I do a step aerobics class for an hour and then two sessions on the cardio vascular equipment.
I'm only on 7.5mg of pred and I'm still not seeing any improvement, I've been told I may not lose any weight until I can get off the pred completely.
However I like the routine I've got into and if I can keep it up hope it will show some benefit eventually.

My only advice is to just keep at it!

Jack
07-30-2009, 07:16 AM
I just about manage to walk to my car. :(

Sangye
07-30-2009, 07:22 AM
Exercise does a lot for you, even if you're not losing weight. As long as you're not overdoing it, keep going. You're keeping some muscle even if you can't see it. And your body is circulating blood in and garbage out, which promotes healing. Lots more good stuff going on that you'll never see on the outside.

Lisa, even if you feel fat and blue (which I totally understand), at least you're not Violet Beauregarde from Willy Wonka. She was the one who turned blue and inflated, and the Oompa-Loompa's had to roll her away to be juiced. Keep your chin up, girl. As long as no one's rolling you away, you're doing okay. :)

Sangye
07-30-2009, 07:24 AM
I'm in the same kind of shape, Jack. It's been 3.5 yrs since I even walked my dogs around the block. But the pool is helping. (Speaking of which, have you started splashing around yet? Hmmmm?) ;)

Jack
07-30-2009, 07:39 AM
....:o....

Sangye
07-30-2009, 07:46 AM
'Nuff said.

jola57
08-09-2009, 02:01 AM
I have, but only in the outside summer sun warmed pool. I get too much of a shock getting into regular pools any help there?

Sangye
08-09-2009, 02:15 AM
See if you can find a therapy pool. The PT pool I use is body temp. The pool's in a regular gym, and anyone can use it. Some community pool centers have warm pools, too.

jola57
08-09-2009, 02:22 AM
No such luck in Mission, would have to go to Vancouver hour and half away.

Cindy M
08-09-2009, 02:39 PM
Hi Coffeelover, I would love to have the...i'm not sure energy...commitment....determination....anything to just walk for 10 to 15 minutes per day or every other day. I do have to say that talking to you guys and gals gives me hope and the yes I can do it feeling. So starting tomorrow I will do some sort of excercise, even if it is going up and down my stairs a few times during the day.

jola57
08-09-2009, 02:49 PM
hey Lisa, today I broke the 90 kg. I'm down to 89.7. Yepee. And this after having Polish food for the past month.

Sangye
08-09-2009, 11:24 PM
Good job! :D:D

Cindy, stairs might be way too much to start with. If so, try walking outside for longer stretches (go for time, not speed or intensity). You can build up a lot of endurance, core muscles and improve your balance just by walking.

coffeelover
08-09-2009, 11:43 PM
Hello my dear friends! I sure miss you when I am gone!
This is my busy season at work, so my time is limited and on my days off I like going to the lake or spending time outdoors somehow. We have so few nice days here in MN.
ANYWAY........back to the thread
My recent "defeat" is I have been working daily on the extra exercise besides my morning stroll and I am gaining weight. Not lots, but each gain is a frustrating venture. ARGHHHHH how frustrating! I will not give up though. It is so easy to feel sorry for yourself and I am refusing to fall in that category. I did have one day of poor me, but the next day was better. I guess that is OK.
It is a common scene, this continued self promotion! I am sorry for those of who who absolutely cannot have any physical activity and I wish you the best. I hope your self promotion and self encouragement keeps you encouraged to keep trying and with all this postive talk help speed your remission time.
I am on to more threads to catch up with waht I have missed this week.
thanks to you all for your constant encouragment. This group is the best thing that has happened to me.
LIsa Coffeelover

Cindy M
08-10-2009, 04:40 AM
Your right, actually today I have decided to actually do some house cleaning instead of just sitting and looking around at what needs to be done. It is taking a bit of time but I do feel like I have accomplised something.

capabayan
08-11-2009, 09:29 AM
I have been trying to up my exercise a bit by adding to my regular daily morning walk a 10-15 minute short exercise in the evenings. I am somewhat discouraged as I am not losing the weight at all (still on pred) by adding the additional exercise. My question is:
Am I expecting too much too soon?
Should I really be exercising this much? (although this is nothing compared to my before WEGS diagnosis.)

I feel your pain (quite literally)!! Before WG, I used to be extremely active - running 2 miles 4-5 times a week, doing serious hiking several times a month, swimming, etc. Then WG hit... and I did hardly anything for about 1.5 years simply because I had NO energy (and also have airway problems due to subglottal stenosis). This past February I was able to start walking, at first only 10 minutes a day, but at least I was up off my rear end actually moving. Didn't see any changes... but after a month or two I was able to add more to my exercising. I have since found the Leslie Sansone walking DVD's to be both challenging and fruitful.
Around May (3+ months later) I finally started losing a tiny bit of weight, albeit very gradually. I was down to 10 mg Pred. I think a huge part of the delay in weight loss is that we need to build up so much muscle first, just to be able to do the cardio exercise that burns the fat. At least, in my case, that was what needed to happen. So I was actually gaining a little bit due to muscle regrowth - which then gave me the strength to start doing more aerobic-type walking - which then helped me start losing weight.
Once that started I lost about 7 pounds in as many weeks. Unfortunately, I then went on 2 vacations and lost about a month of exercising... so now I am trying to rebuild the strength and get off the weight plateau. Could be another week or two before I start losing it again, but at least I know now that it is possible! :)
I guess, having said that, the 2 main points I want to make are:
1 - Be patient and wait for your muscles to regrow. If you are at all like I was, they had some MAJOR atrophying while I was in the early stages of treatment.
2 - Cardio, cardio, cardio. While it is important to not fully neglect some strength training (biceps curls, chest presses, etc), the aerobic walking (that gets you out of breath, speeds up the heart rate, and makes you sweat like crazy) is what will help you start losing the pounds.
It's hard. I know. Sometimes it is discouraging. But it IS possible. :)

coffeelover
08-12-2009, 11:54 AM
Thank you so much Elzabeth! YOU do encourage me to keep it up
Lisa

jola57
08-12-2009, 03:52 PM
Umph, back to 91.7, I feel like a yo yo

coffeelover
08-16-2009, 04:20 AM
Umph, back to 91.7, I feel like a yo yo



I am with you on the yo yo ride.

Maybe if I stop having those lattes?????:p

Doug
08-16-2009, 05:50 AM
Me, too, capabayan! I think the building of good habits sometimes is subverted by an unrealistic expectation that months of neglect are going away after a week's worth of exercise, a month's, whatever. I'm feeling like I can do something about my inverted turnip-shaped body! I have an unassembled tool in my spare bedroom that came just before a round of family visits here. I need to forget the Japanese cat videos and other fun distractions for awhile, assemble the dang thing , then...use it! :):eek:

Martin Thomas
08-19-2009, 09:44 PM
Like Luce I've embarked on an exercise regime and it's had a very beneficial effect. Mine was primarily due to getting a new dog (Newfoundland) so I simply 'had' to get out walking. I've gone from a few yards to a few miles in 4 months and lost 20kg in the process. I still have bad days but during my last consultation with Dr David Jayne and Dr Sivasothy at Addenbrooke's, Cambridge, UK both were highly complimentary and said they believed it had made a huge difference to my recovery. They also suggested they have evidence that physical fitness can contribute to supressing the disease. Certaily losing weight has helped as I need less energy. I have a severe stenosis of the right manin bronchus so anything that means I need less oxygen makes life easier.

However, I am aware that for many WG sufferers it must seem like an almost impossible task. I know I did but somehow I managed to get started - little and often to begin with then began to stretch out the exercise to where I'm at today. Motivation is clearly different for all of us but when you're desperate then it's amazing what you'll tollerate!

capabayan
08-19-2009, 10:00 PM
However, I am aware that for many WG sufferers it must seem like an almost impossible task. I know I did but somehow I managed to get started - little and often to begin with then began to stretch out the exercise to where I'm at today. Motivation is clearly different for all of us but when you're desperate then it's amazing what you'll tollerate!

So true Martin!! For me, the motivation is the hardest part of all... and yet I feel like such a heel always saying "no I don't feel like exercising today." But it's too true sometimes!! And then a day stretches into a week... or a month... and it's so hard to get back into a routine with the walking. Argh.

Martin Thomas
08-19-2009, 10:16 PM
I guess mine has had a double benefit as my dog is a re-home and she has a better quality of life too now.

Gary
08-19-2009, 11:09 PM
I had an MI about 3 years ago and went through cardio rehab and have been walking ever sice then. I started out slow but I am up to walking about an hour a day and 2 to 3 hours on the weekends. But my feet hurt like heck and for me I have to push through the pain.

Doug
08-20-2009, 12:41 AM
I guess mine has had a double benefit as my dog is a re-home and she has a better quality of life too now.

You also get the hosannahs of people like me who strongly support this means of dealing with the over-populations of cats and dogs in pounds: It's a triple win! If you have a digital camera, you'll have to post photos of your dog. Newfies are such beautiful animals!:)

Martin Thomas
08-20-2009, 06:37 PM
You also get the hosannahs of people like me who strongly support this means of dealing with the over-populations of cats and dogs in pounds: It's a triple win! If you have a digital camera, you'll have to post photos of your dog. Newfies are such beautiful animals!:)

Thanks Doug. She's my 5th newf out of 4 rehomes. Pics as requested in my album here (http://bit.ly/I9zLf).

Sangye
08-20-2009, 11:28 PM
Boy, is she cute. I didn't know they were water dogs. I thought they were just bred for their good looks. :)

Doug
08-21-2009, 04:38 AM
Ruby-doo? Is that your dog's name? Anyway, Sangye might find it interesting to know that Newfies are the only dogs with webbed feet! Beautiful, can swim, do save lifes, have great dispositions. (May eat like a horse, but wouldn't run one down and eat it! Ha!) Seems to me their coats have some water-resisting quality, too, but it's been some time since I learned a bit about them.:) Anyway, with a pretty face like that, what's not to love? Eh?! (Sorry, Canadians say they don't say that, but I say they are unaware they do. On the other hand, Many Americans say it, too!)

Sangye
08-21-2009, 07:49 AM
Labradors have webbed feet, too. My dog Lotus is part pointer and part black lab, and she has partly webbed feet! Guess she has trouble with commitment. :rolleyes:

Martin Thomas
08-21-2009, 09:39 AM
They were originally used by the Newfoundland fisherman for hauling trawls and ropes where they also developed an instinctive ability to save life. Almost every boat in the fishing fleet would have had a newfie as part of the crew and even Nelson had one aboard the Trafalgar. They were also used on land to haul logs on sleds out of the Canadian Forests hence developing their evolutionary strength as draft workers.

They do indeed have webbed feet and an articulated shoulder joint (their front legs can be held at almost 90 degrees to their shoulders) which means they swim with a breast stroke style but with alternate paws.

The coat is a two layer system with a soft, under-fur which remains dry (and hence the dog remains more buoyant) due to the outer layer. They're very slow developers often not reaching maturity until 3 years of age and young dogs like mine don't have undercoat so tend to swim more submerged.

They also have the ability to scent underwater (probably many other breeds can do too) and are used in body searches by some rescue organisations. The most spectacular performances are by the Italian helicopter dogs who are used to jump from quite substantial heights (meaning the chopper can hover higher above the 'victim') and have been known to plunge as far as 40 feet! There's video here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFmYaO6Ixdw) and here (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g_D6jnk4lj8) although some of the facts aren't quite accurate and it's not the best but it will give you some idea of what they can do.

Pound for pound they're supposedly stronger at pulling than elephants and 3 dogs wearing special harnesses apparently pulled a 30 ton fishing boat from rest in France some years ago.

They're other attribute is as a nursery dog and they were regularly used in Victorian times to look after young children. Remember Nanna in Peter Pan? Well, J M Barrie, the author had a newfie himself although nowadays the dog is often misprepresented and portrayed as a St Bernard.

Mine is quite a small girl weighing under 50 kg / 110lbs but the larger males regularly make 70 - 100 kg / 150 - 225 lbs.

Amazing dogs. Cute too... but I am biased!

Doug
08-21-2009, 10:57 AM
Martin - Wow~! Thanks for the deep detail on Newfies! Sangye, thanks for the info. on webbedness in Labs. I was unaware (obviously!):) I was aware that Nanna was a Newfie originally, though- you are right- Disney changed that detail for reasons known only to the company, if at all. :eek:

jola57
08-22-2009, 12:28 PM
Maybe too Canadian for Disney eh Doug?

Doug
08-22-2009, 12:56 PM
Maybe too Canadian for Disney eh Doug?

Perhaps! Why not an English sheep dog? As long as you're taking liberties with a well-known story, why not Goofy? Ha!:) Or Pluto. Woof! Woof!

jola57
08-22-2009, 01:05 PM
Or Benji, I loved that dog

Cindy M
08-23-2009, 12:57 PM
Very beautiful dog. I have a multi-shitzu named Mocha. She was the runt of the litter which is why I chose her. She is 5 years old now and has calmed down quite a bit. When she was a pup I thought I had just bought the dog from you know where. She was so mean at times, you couldn't put a harness on her, even putting a collar was putting your fingers at risk. My family laughed at me because I even took her to a puppy psychologist. My dog is normal, just a little more aggressive, but only after the warnings that she does not like what you are doing to her. She is my little lap dog now.

Doug
08-24-2009, 10:51 AM
Very beautiful dog. I have a multi-shitzu named Mocha. She was the runt of the litter which is why I chose her. She is 5 years old now and has calmed down quite a bit. When she was a pup I thought I had just bought the dog from you know where. She was so mean at times, you couldn't put a harness on her, even putting a collar was putting your fingers at risk. My family laughed at me because I even took her to a puppy psychologist. My dog is normal, just a little more aggressive, but only after the warnings that she does not like what you are doing to her. She is my little lap dog now.

Watch out or you'll end up on "It's Me Or The Dog"!:D

coffeelover
08-25-2009, 11:12 AM
Off the exercise thread and onto dogs are we?

Well....I took my Pom to the Renaissaince Fair Sunday and other than him eating all the turkey legs people threw on the ground (I tried to keep him away from them but it was nearly impossible) I had the chance to meet many people (all dog experts of course!) Some even tried to tell me that my dog was not really a pom because they had one that was smaller, bigger, rounder, redder etc)
Oh my....by the end of the day...I was getting quite sarcastic.

By the way I have a lab and a retriever, both of which have webbed feet and are great swimmers.

Which reminds me...this thread is about exercise!
Lisa