Day 4: Welcome Program

Exercise – Make It Work FOR You
With Amber Kay 

Yesterday we talked all about your mindset towards nutrition after your surgery. Today we’re focusing on your mindset towards physical activity and movement. Amber is going to share 3 keys in this area that will really help to make physical activity work for you, even if it hasn’t in the past. You’ll be able to use these simple yet powerful keys to really accelerate your results both before and after your surgery. 

Getting started

If exercise is an area that you struggle with, then you’re going to get a lot out of today’s resource. We’ll take you through a simple process that will change the way that you feel about exercise forever. 

You can download the resource here.

Tomorrow’s lesson

We’ll be back tomorrow with our final lesson - how to succeed! 

You can read the transcript for this video below:

Transcript: Welcome Program - Day 4 (Movement)

Hello I’m Amber and I’m back with Day 4 of your welcome program. Today I want to talk to you about physical activity and movement, and I'm going to share 3 keys in this area that will really help to make being active and moving your body work for you, even if it hasn't in the past. You'll be able to use these simple yet powerful keys to really accelerate your health and weight results both before and after your WLS once you’ve been cleared to exercise.

Now, many people who have WLS struggle in the area of physical activity and movement and we generally see two main issues. Firstly there are people who don't do enough movement and this is often either because they don't enjoy it or because they struggle to make time for it in their busy lives.  The other main issue is people who do the wrong kind of movement and who spend a lot of time being active and yet they really don't get the results that they want considering the amount of effort that they put in. This can often be because they are trying to make up for or in their words “punish themselves” for their less healthy food choices or because their physical activity and movement program is too stressful and is raising their appetite too much.

I'm going to show you 3 keys to making physical activity and movement work for you but before I do that I want you to understand one very, very important underlying principle. Physical activity is incredibly important for a healthy body and a healthy mind, but you can never, ever balance a poor diet with it. If you want to get your desired results after your surgery, whether it’s a weight, a size, or how you want to feel then you must focus on what you eat, because nutrition gives you most of your results for the reduction of unwanted excess weight. There's an old saying that goes, "you lose ounces in the gym but you lose pounds in the kitchen".

Physical activity and movement will definitely help you reduce your weight, but the amount of energy that you burn off when you are physically active and moving your body is really small compared to the energy contained in food. So please, forget about feeling like you should be doing long and tough workouts, especially if you’re doing it to make up for eating unhealthy foods or for drinking alcohol or sugary drinks. In fact, long cardio-intense workouts can lead to an increased appetite and to people meeting that hunger or rewarding themselves with too much food and then undoing all of their hard work.  

It’s much easier to get your nutrition and eating habits right and then use physical activity and movement for its other benefits - as a powerful way of lowering stress levels so that you reduce food-related habits such as emotional eating, to boost your metabolism, to improve your health and reduce your blood pressure, to tone your body, to increase your stamina and strength, and to correct your posture for a better body shape. 

Before I talk to you about the keys I also want to emphasise that physical activity is a form of stress and you must consult with your medical practitioner before starting any physical activity and movement program. It's especially important to check in with your medical practitioner before beginning any type of exercise after your surgery.
 

So there are 3 key ways to making physical activity work for you that I want to share today:

1. The first key is to make physical activity and movement enjoyable and to stop seeing it as a chore, or something on your ‘to do list’ or as a way of making up for poor food and drink choices. People who are physically active on a regular basis and who sustain it do it because they enjoy it. If you have a busy life then the only way that you are going to stick to a particular program is if you make your physical activity something that you really want to do. 

There are many ways to move your body but the best program in the world is the one that you will actually do. So if you don't enjoy jogging or going to the gym then have a think now about what movement do you enjoy that's appropriate for you? Perhaps it's walking with a friend at lunchtime at work, or dancing, or kayaking, or playing soccer with your kids. Perhaps it's golf, or gardening, or bike riding or yoga or pilates. Let go of thinking about what you believe you ‘should’ to be doing and start thinking about what you really want to do. Think about being active as simply moving your body in some way, rather than something that has specific rules or looks a certain way.

2. Become accountable. This second key builds on key number 1 - because even if you enjoy physical activity and movement, squeezing it into a busy life on a regular basis takes commitment and discipline, and one of the best ways to make sure that you stick with your chosen enjoyable activity is to make yourself accountable, and maybe to do it with a partner or in a group. You're so much more likely to turn up and commit if you've arranged to meet someone because if you don't meet them then you feel like you’re letting them down and this social pressure really works. The social element may also make the experience much more enjoyable for you too.

3. The final key element is to start being active at the level that is appropriate for you and then to use the concept of progressive overload. So many people dislike physical activity because they find it painful and hard work. They may also struggle with aches and pains and injuries. When you use progressive overload, you set yourself free of these worries because it means starting out at the right level for you and then consistently challenging yourself with very small and achievable steps. This means that you continue to do just a little bit more and a little bit better gradually over time with your chosen activity. 

So say for example that you walk with a friend for 20 minutes in one week then in a future week, rather than trying to dramatically increase this to a 20-minute jog, you both walk for 25 minutes or you walk for 20 minutes but at a slightly faster pace. This will help you to sustain your new movement habit and make it enjoyable rather than painful. You'll also improve your results and minimise your risk of injury. 

Once you've recovered from your surgery and you're moving closer to your ideal health and weight then you can then start to add in other forms of physical activity and movement that will really accelerate your body results. Activities like resistance training can really improve your body shape and tone, and in our post-surgery program we’ll talk about the different choices available to you, but for now I want you to start thinking about the types of activities that you’ll enjoy in your new  post-surgical life once you’ve been cleared to exercise, and that you can do now if you’re pre-surgery perhaps, if you have the time. I've included a resource for you, which helps you apply the keys that you've learnt today. 

Tomorrow I’ll be back with our final video in this series, and it’s all about how to succeed.