Stage IV MBC Fitness

Moth, my strategy with fatigue and to avoid overdoing it or even just lack of motivation is to do five minutes at a time. It does not take long to get to an hour and I sometimes find that 5 minutes really makes a difference. This is when on the treadmill. I leave running shoes on and either do a survey or some chore that needs doing. I even get changed that way. I get tired getting ready for the day, I change the top half and then the bottom half, showers are done the night before. Easier to microtask a big task and avoid being tired. Housework is one room at a time too. Exercise can be like this. Longer distance walking occurs outside. The only thing I am missing strength training other than lifting out the washing machine and spinner from the bathtub.

Small goals until I work up to my pre surgery activity level but back at it

oh wow Mae, it looks lovely & pretty warm too! It's a miserable 5C and raining hard here. I love, love, love rain but it needs to be warmer. I used to be ok with 5C and up but now with the neuropathy & all the joint pain, I prefer 10C & up.

Dh & I walked with Olive this morning though and I got in extra steps running around the cancer agency for my rads. And we'll do another walk tonight. I might get over 6K steps today which would be a good change.

Momchichi, beautiful family, good job 5k walking.

Moth, very good discussion about fatigue of C or medications, tiredness of limited moving because of C and medications. I second Sondra and Mae, I don’t push myself anymore, as I hurt my back a couple of times and that cost me staying in bed for days. My goal is up to 20 minutes walk if I can, less than 20 minutes is also acceptable! My old physical therapist and pcp suggested minimum of 250 steps per day is necessary to avoid blood clots. I add pt exercises to that 20 minutes if I feel I can though.

Good to see you all here, happy new year!

Moth, I have exactly the same question about whether exercise is helping me or hurting me. All I know is to try to tune in and discern if I am feeling a little more energized, or just exhausting myself further. Sondra and Illimae, yes! If I do too much, I get injured and then miss more exercise. Like I made a big effort in online yoga class and did too much gardening in one day, and ended up sidelined for a week. As many of you say, pacing, small steps should help. On a tired day I say to DH, “Shall we take a short, slow walk?” Or I approach it experimentally, as in “let me see if I can do this one small thing”. Yesterday I said, let me see if I can plant something, and I planted nine plants! Today, nothing. Trying to be ok with that, too.

Lynn, it is understandable to be nervous after taking a fall like that and I am not sure about the risks of running when you are dealing with a prolapsed bowel as running can weaken the pelvic floor. Check that out with a doctor first. Continue walking as you have done and if the doctor clears running with the bowel, go gradually and do a mix of walk/run. You can also walk super quickly without all the impact of feet hitting the ground during a run. That may be a compromise with what you truly like to do. I am sorry you fell. That alone can make a person doubtful. My right foot used to drag along sometimes and leave me open to tripping over the space between sidewalk pavers unexpectedly and painfully. I actually trained my leg two ways to avoid this. One way is that when I walk outdoors, I keep an eye on the spaces between pavers to step over each one, the other is that I strengthened the right leg to be able to lift it easier. I set up my step bench in the entryway of the hall going to the kitchen and bedroom area. I had tripped over that as well since it was not level, just slightly higher than the living room. With the step bench there, I use my right leg all the time and I continue to employ the foot lifting. When I walked outside learning how to do this, it felt practically like marching but it has worked for a good long time and made me more confident walking.

One thing I will say we have in common, Love the song Love Shack. I worked at a grocery store when that came out and myself and one of the boys who packed the groceries would sing it to each other when it was quiet and no customers around. So much fun.

I hear you on that for sure. I keep my eyes down part of the way when walking outdoors so I can see the gaps between the sidewalk pavers. Though I always lift my feet, that is my weakness if I am going to fall. It has been almost a year but I still feel nervous about it. Last year, tripped and landed hard on my knees. I called my brother because I could not get up. Promptly passed out cold afterword. Don't want that to happen again.

I only did 30 mins of walking and 30 mins of the cubii. That was due to all the calls I needed to make today plus all the packages coming from amazon.

Great job Snowdrop!

Back to work today so it was back to the bike for 20 mins (easy) followed by "weights" workout (mostly bands, one set only of hand weights for arms) and stretching for almost 40. I may take a walk tonight just out of boredom and to get out of the house. If I don't keep this back moving I get worse problems and thats been true even before the mets moved in to my lumbar. I truly miss swimming, though, that was my happy place. Pools shut until probably Easter at least.

thanks Mara, I wasn’t alone in this, your encouragement and tips helped a lot.

Moth, couldn’t agree more “keep moving within our limits” 🤗

Lehrski, seems you had fun up there 👍🏻

Sondra, pools have been closed since first lock down in here and never opened, cases are surging sky high...

I walked slowly and done some pt exercise today. Probably tomorrow I can walk a bit more, just being tired for no reason today.

I did my regular walks plus a bunch of chores which required going up and down the stairs. Made bread and we put away a bunch of ornaments which involved a lot of squatting, sitting on the floor and getting up again which was good functional exercise.

& I love logging my steps with the fitbit. It said I had a good day yesterday

Woot - I did two days in a row on the bike, 30 mins each, nice and easy. Oh and I did bands and weights yesterday. Feeling very good and walking in the evenings too, which means I will probably hit the wall tomorrow and sleep most of Saturday I scored a Disco Ball fro the FitBit for my efforts.

Is anyone interested in a fitbit group for stage 4s? I'm in the general bco fitness one but wonder if there are enough fitbitters here for a separate group? All it does is track your steps and generates a leaders for the week.

I will have walked an hour to and from chemo today which is good. Mostly doing outdoor walking and cubii when I need mindless pedaling as well. No fit bit here.

For cubii users, to get a step count divide the stride total by two. Eg 10000 strides on cubii equal to 5000 step.

Snowdrop, good job on the extra steps.

illimae, can others join that group or is it closed now that she can't add people?

this is me https://www.fitbit.com/user/69TB9G