ideas to lose weight and exercise

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alexa137
alexa137 Member Posts: 6
edited January 2015 in Working on Your Fitness

I need some ideas, since my last surgery, Sept 26 ive gained about 15 lbs. My first surgery was April 25th so after recovery it was sprint/summer and was walking at least 5 times a week, I even was walking my neighbors dog( she had stage 4 cancer) 3 times a day which helped me motivate to walk more ! so now I need to find ways to lose weight(at home until spring). I cant afford a gym membership(no income) and its too cold to walk outside. also limited in movement because implant bothers me i think it moved onto a nerve and other breast with the lift still feels like im in a harness, i still cant even sleep right. So my upper body movement is not much, i can barely lift a 24 pack of water I would love to have a treadmill in my apt but cant afford it. Can anyone else relate? and give ideas

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  • Moderators
    Moderators Member Posts: 25,912
    edited January 2015

    Hi Alexa and welcome to Breastcancer.org!

    We're sure you'll get lots of awesome ideas from the wonderful members here shortly. In the meantime, there're some great resources on the main Breastcancer.org site that can help:

    • The Exercise section offers different ideas on types of exercises to do, as well as tips on exercising after treatment, advice on sticking to a routine, and much more!
    • The Eating to Lose Weight pages offer some good ideas to adjust your diet to help you lose weight.

    We hope this helps!

  • Manu14
    Manu14 Member Posts: 153
    edited January 2015

    I don't have the experience of the type of surgeries you've had, but there was one point in my life where I lived in an apartment without much money and in a very cold climate in the winter. My "go-to" exercise solution was buying a few exercise DVDs and rotating through them. There really are a lot of choices now days on what is available from dance-oriented to stretching to more hard core fitness exercise. I hope you can find something that works for you

  • barbara510
    barbara510 Member Posts: 19
    edited January 2015

    Hi. I gained 25 pounds ater my mastectomy in 2010 and have lost it in the past 2 years. The biggest thing for me was my diet. I went on Weight Watchers and was surprised how much I was eating. I had to cut back on my food intake quite a bit, especially snacking, I tracked EVERYTHING that I ate. It was very eyeopening. Instead of eating right out a box of crackers I took 6 out and just ate that. I also found that soup is a very satisfying meal that can be low fat and full of full of vegetables. I also eat a lot of protein. Eggs, chicken and turkey. Cheese sticks and yogurt became regular snack. I still worked out, but I gained that weight even though I was exercising. I would also allow myself some cheat days, but would try to make up for it the next day. For me diet was the most important thing I changed. It is hard and I was often hungry, but in the long term it was worth it. I feel good about my weight and have kept the weight off for 2 years. Good luck.

  • alexa137
    alexa137 Member Posts: 6
    edited January 2015

    I had a masectomy in april 2014 and then an implant and breast lift on Sept 26 2014.

    One of my biggest problems is I don't like the taste of many fruits/vvegetables..only spinach broccoli corn carrots and avocados

  • alexa137
    alexa137 Member Posts: 6
    edited January 2015

    Ugh it's really hard when you are home 24/7 especially alone for the most part. But I don't eat sweets. No candy. My usual only snack is popcorn

  • cowgal
    cowgal Member Posts: 833
    edited January 2015

    Alexa137, there are a lot of exercise videos on Youtube that are for free. Pinterest is a good place to look too. Also, you might check your local library and see if they have any exercise DVDs that you can check out. There are a lot of good exercise DVDs, including walking ones like Leslie Sansone and Debra Mazda. A stability ball can be used for lots of different exercises and can give you a core workout by just staying balanced on them.

    As far as not liking vegetables/fruits, I am not a big veggie lover myself but what I found is that I like fresh or frozen and not canned. I have found some recipes that make me actually like the vegetables and are really simple recipes. I have decided it wasn't really the vegetables that I didn't like but rather the way I had been eating/preparing them in the past.

  • NatsFan
    NatsFan Member Posts: 3,745
    edited January 2015

    Alexa - I'm not a great veggie eater as well, but I found you can also add veggies to lots of things without even being aware they are there. There have been lots of recipes posted lately where you can add veggies you've run through the food processor - apparently parents are now doing this to sneak veggies into kids who don't like them otherwise. We tried it with a meatloaf last week - I threw a bag of frozen mixed veggies (lima beans, carrots, corn, peas, etc.) into the food processor to make a paste, then mixed the paste into the meatloaf makings. It made a wonderfully tender meatloaf, and you really couldn't taste the veggies. Just google "hidden vegetable recipes" and you'll find all kinds of them out there.

  • tgtg
    tgtg Member Posts: 266
    edited January 2015

    Alexa--Try returning to brisk walkingt It is still the least expensive form of exercise and it's highly effective, and doing it when it's cold burns even more calories. Also, enlist a friend to walk with you when you walk. Lots of malls even have "measured miles" and many even open early for walkers.

    Commenting on his clients who complain that they can't lose weight even though they exercise a lot, a physical therapist friend said he always wants to tell them, "The only sure way to lose weight is to eat less." (Of the right foods, of course, and with exercising "on the side.") The Austrians and Germans have a funny mantra for saying this--"FDH, Friss die Haelfte" -- which translates, without the linguistic humor, into "Eat half!" Since "friss" is the German word for animals' eating (like our "gobble"), maybe a funnier translation would be "Inhale half"! It really does work, though! If you have a friend who also wants to lose weight, try having some meals together and splitting one order (if you're out) or one portion (if you're cooking) and save the rest for another 1/2 meal or 2). The socializing makes the process more fun and makes dieting seem less deprivational.

    NatsFan--thanks for the meatloaf idea--all of us, including the grands, eat veggies, but the idea of a multi-veggie paste appeals as a substitute for the oatmeal and tomato soup that I use. And, devil that I am, I'll use it the next time my 67-year-old brother-in-law (the stubborn kid in the family who eats ONLY corn) comes to visit!

  • NatsFan
    NatsFan Member Posts: 3,745
    edited January 2015

    tg - hee, hee, hee on your BIL - would love to see the look on his face after you tell him that the delicious meatloaf he just ate was packed with veggies!

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