This probably sounds about as silly as possible, since my maximum exercise per day has been TEN minutes on the recumbent bike. But I would like to up that.
Does anyone have advice or experience on how to increase exercise and to what point? I have the special circumstance of having bad knees. If I overdo it, I have pain. If I really overdo it, I can barely walk for weeks. But I think I have been TOO cautious.
My dr and orthopedic surgeon have not given me any real guidelines on this although I have asked twice. All they say is, ONLY exercise on a recumbent bike with no tension/resistance. They say I should be able to do that without hurting myself.
I started at 5 min/day, 3x a week. Then I stopped for awhile, and now I have been doing 10 min/day 2-3x a week. Can anyone tell me... how do you think I should approach increasing this? Would it be better to stay with 3x a week (with a day in between exercise sessions) and just increase my minutes? Like, maybe next week do 12 min, then 15? Or would it be better to just add more days with the same time (like try 5x a week for 10 minutes each time)? Or maybe work on intensity/speed first?
I want to increase my activity but I feel frozen by stress of trying to figure out HOW to do it. Any insights?
Of course the best advice would come from your doctors. We can't really tell you what to do about this.
I would say, that if I were in your position AND my doctor said it was OK, I would try to increase the time to 15 minutes, as long as I was having no pain. Also, I would do it 3X a week (every other day). But take it very gradually, and stop and ask your doctor if you have pain.
As JayEll said, your doctor should be the one to tell you, however...
If I had to make a recommendation I would apply the running rule which is 10% increase a week due to your knee issues. That's a nice slow, cautious increase which could be increased if you don't encounter any problems. Better to go slower and increase as needed than do too much and pay for it.
I'd be wanting to go with the doctor too. Though I have to admit, I have a knee problem and am chafing against what the doctor said to do...
Can you ask really specific questions about increasing intensity?
And is there anything else you can do? I'm supposed to stick to low impact cardio and my doc recommended recumbent bike and elliptical... ellipticals are great workouts too.
My knees were horrendous, due to being morbidly obese for so long.
I found the recumbent bike actually very hard on my knees. I have trouble bending them. For me, walking was the answer. I started out slowly - 15 minutes, 3X a week and gradually increased. I also did plain old dancing. These things really got me moving and burning calories.
Sometimes I just don't put a lot of confidence in doctors. Oh, I know there are great doctors out there - but the average doctor doesn't get a lot of education on weight loss or exercise.
Although I think we need to take on board what our physicians say, I think we also need to use our own intuition and common sense to figure out what is best for us.
If you increase your activity (either on the bike or walking or whatever) just a little, and find that you tolerate it, wouldn't that indicate that it is truly ok for you to be working at that level? And, if you find you don't tolerate it, then maybe you should only increase by 1/2 that amount.
Then again, maybe I'm simplifying things here.....I'm just a firm believer that our bodies will give us the answers if we just listen.
If you increase your activity (either on the bike or walking or whatever) just a little, and find that you tolerate it, wouldn't that indicate that it is truly ok for you to be working at that level?
Not to offend, but I have to take issue with this line of thinking. You can do huge amounts of damage (particularly in your joint areas) by over working them and not feel a thing. Just because it doesn't hurt doesn't mean it's not causing damage.
I think you should ask some very specific questions of your Dr, for example, "Can I safely exercise X minutes per day, X days per week? Can I use an elliptical? Can I walk regularly?", etc.
I'd take it very slowly, the running rule is always a good, safe one (10% increase per week). But, talk to your doctor. If you ask specific questions you should get specific answers.
And, hey, look at the bright side! Even if you can't exercise more than you are, you've already lost 30 lbs doing what you're doing. Something's working!
I have bad knees too but the direction from my doc was no running and no high impact aerobic activities, so I follow that.
Have you thought about using weights?
For a normal person with the ability to do so, I'd say ideally you'd exercise every day. But as others have stressed here, you need to consult your doctor.
Thanks for all the ideas guys. My doctor (ortho) is/was an idiot IMO... I am in the process of getting a new one. I would go, wait at LEAST an hour to see him, and he would spend 3 minutes with me and race out. When I have asked about the exercise he says "well just take it easy" or "do what you can." He did say recumbent bike or swim. I went and did very slow swim aerobics once... it felt great, but the next day I literally could not walk, just hobble, and it took me weeks to be ok again. So no swimming for now.
I can walk but I have to be careful or I end up in a lot of pain again. This really SUCKS. I cannot believe my weight did this to my knees. The MRI looks terrible. Ugh!!
How much is too much (exercise)?
