Lap Bands, Weight Loss and Strength Training

This will be my last exercise post for a while, but now that I know how much of a difference it makes, I do want to provide you with some kind of pathway.

I talked to my friend Bonney (named after one William Bonney – how cool is that?) about her weight loss at the gym. In her late fifties, Bonney collapsed into a coma and was diagnosed with severe COPD. She was approximately 150 pounds overweight, and after she revived, she was pretty much trapped in her second floor apartment. Traveling up and down the stairs required a tremendous amount of energy and risk so she would only leave a few days a month. After a couple years of this, she discovered that her insurance provided her with a gym membership and access to a personal trainer for a few sessions. She wound up joining a new gym in a somewhat off-the-beaten-path location. And because they were a new gym, rather than getting just a couple sessions with a personal trainer, they assigned her a personal trainer and footed the bill for several months. Her first day, she could barely spend five minutes at the slowest speed on the treadmill. She was also introduced to a round of strength training and resistance exercises. She went four days a week and over the course of eight months, lost 110 pounds. She can now spend about 35 minutes on the treadmill.

I asked her if she had any advice for my readers who are self-conscious in gyms. She said that she’s glad she joined a new gym because the membership was lower – there were just fewer people around. Also, she went at odd times – in the early afternoon or late at night – and that also meant fewer people. They also had a separate section for women and she was far more comfortable there. She loves the treadmill now because it has handlebars that she can balance on – it makes walking easier for her than taking a stroll down the street. The interesting thing is that once she lost 40 pounds or so, the other people in the gym really began to cheer her on. There were a handful of very buff young men who were passionate about their strength training and they became her biggest cheering section. They wanted to hear about her progress and share work out tips with her. Oddly, the people that she was most uncomfortable in front of in the beginning, were the people who became her biggest assets as she continued.

The brilliant thing about weight loss surgery is that it allows you to reset your “set point” – the weight at which your body stabilizes. With a lap band, when you diet and exercise, you can actually lose weight and keep it off – something that fewer than 5% of dieters normally accomplish. Without it, you have a constant struggle for the rest of your life to maintain your weight loss. Strength training and Nordic walking both build up your muscles so that your body consumes more calories as you go through your day. Between that and the Lap Band, you can get to your goal weight or very close to your goal weight and stabilize. From there, you can lead a normal life. You can be healthy and feel beautiful and for probably the first time in many years, not feel deprived. What could be better than that?