trying to get back in shape after cancer

finshstrong

My name is Susan and I too was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010 and didn't recover and stop chemo, ect until... well it hasn't even been a year. But I, like you, laid in bed very sick for many months. After steriods and the like I gained up to sixty pounds over two years!!!!

I am now trying to get it off.. I have joined a gym and have been working out with a trainer three days a week on strength and doing cardio two times a week. My endurance level is low.. but I am getting stronger every day. Where I had radiation I have range of motion issues but not enough to stop me.

I am annoyed though cuz it is taking me so long to get the weight off.. or rather, everyone tells me I am right on track.. I have lost five pounds but I have been eating healthy for twenty days and working out fo three weeks and have lost only five pounds. I was thinking I would lose (niavely) that I would lose up to ten pounds a month. so I suppose i need to reevaluate my goals.. In any event, I totally can relate to the entire process.. cancer effects linger in every area don't they.

I mean I have restrictions placed upon me ... no overhead lifting.. Idk how long that will be on the sheets. I am taking some physical thereapy (which i hate) for my shoulder of all things...but the truth is idk if my range of motion is going to come back (without pain) b/cuz of the tightgness from the radiation under my arm... so.. i don't really see the point and it hurts to do it so Id rather just work out.

I do feel so much better about myself that I am actually doing something about my weight and my overall health. And I have to say, it feels great to be alive and healthy and working toward something positive for myself. being out of bed and able to have energy and even work out is invigirating.

thanks for creating this site. I hope we can encourage one another to keep on keeping on.

jeshiekah

Hi, my name is Jess, I'm 21 and was diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma last year. Thankfully I caught it quite early in stage 2. But still had to have chemo and radiotherapy. I was also in bed all day. I had chemo every two weeks and so I only had about 3 days between where I felt like I could maybe have a walk up the road. My muscles disppeared and the steroids effected me a bit but not so much because I didn't eat much and was sick quite often.

It took me such a long time to even get back to a normal routine of just getting up on time. It took me about a month to return to work after radiotherapy. I work up London so the commute was the worst bit. I still haven't got my muscles back to what they were, and the weight has just piled on since. So I'm here to get back down to 11stone and enjoy the rest of my life!

X

skdel

Hi! Im Sarah & a year ago I was diagnosed with Renal Cell Carcinoma. I had been sick for almost a year when an allergist I was seeing caught the orange size tumor in the very bottom of a lung CT scan. It was a whirl wind event right in the middle of the 2011 holidays. Had my left kidney and adrenal glad removed and have a lovely 10 inch scar on my abs. I have recovered nicely and have my one year follow up in a couple weeks. My whole life I have been healthy and active and eaten right. When I returned home from my hospital stay I was very thin and weak and as soon as started to feel better I dove in with my "recovery" plan. I got busy getting my muscle mass back and eating anything I wanted - no food rules. LOL. So a year later I am kind of paying for that mind set. I have gained 25 lbs and havent been to the gym since August when I took a new job, I really am trying to work my mind set to my pre-cancer healthy eating daily exercise. And it is really hard. I want my clothes to fit and look good but in the back of my mind I am thinking - *kitten* I was healthy and had no risk factors for Kidney cancer and why do i want to go back to my healthy lifestyle? Any way thanks for letting me ramble!! Good luck to you all!!

LinaS1976

Hi All,

36 year old female and 3 times non hodgkins lymphoma survivor. First diagnosed in 2004 treated with rituxmab, relapsed one year later and treated with R-cop, 4.5 years of remission and healthy twin girls later and relapesed again with same but found in my breast and treated with R-CHOP. Have now been in remission for 18 months and have begun eating right (1400 cals a day) and working out most days doing some weights, and elliptical or treadmill for about 45-1hr. I have only lost 3.5kgs in 4months. I was told that chemo completely kills your metabolism and it will take a good 3 months before it even starts to react.

Chemo has definately changed the way i loose weight and i have to completely change the way i eat to try and speed up the process. Im enjoying the working out and how it makes me feel so thats a bonus but like all you lovely people its hard as hell to get off.

Please feel free to add me as support and hope to get the same support back.

Peace and good health
Lina

finshstrong

we al; can get back... If we can make it through all we went through during chemotherapy, radiation and the other hundreds of drugs, hospitalizations, surgeries, etc. we CAN get our stregnth back. Im living proof I have lost 32 pounds in three and a half months. My body is getting toned, I'm eating healthy and I feel so uch better. My balance still is off, but its so much better than it was.. I'm eating healthy... I work out and continue toward my goals because I CAN... anyone who has had cancer knows about laying in bed and NOT BEING ABLE to do the simpleist of things, ie laundry, mopping. There is nothing more depressing than that.... NOT BEINH ABLE> If you CAN do. I'm not making unrealistic goals Im just being persistent and it has paid off. I feel great, I look much better and I'm so much more happier.

Here's to good health! don't EVER GIVE UP FINISH STRONG!

photog_mama67216

Hi Sarah, I too am having a hard time getting back into shape after having a radical Nephrectomy. I have gained 30 pounds since my surgery that was May 23, 2012. Its just so hard to get back to the gym. I have developed an incisional hernia which gives me some grief if I do too much bouncing when it comes to cardio. I've also been advised to not do any weights until my hernia repair which isn't till this summer. Talk about frustrating. Its so hard to get back into my routine when I cant hit it full force like I was before my cancer. GRRRRR!!! I need some motivation; I'm tired of feeling broken!

finshstrong

that sounds so rough I felt the same way when I had my mascetomy and then landed in the hosital with staph and still had to undergo chemotherapy... it's like... "when is this EVER going to end??"" but it does... be encouraged, there wll be a time when you CAN get up and out and start exercising.. If you can take a slow walk I would recommend it. Just getting outside will make you feel better and elevate your mood.

I ganed so much weight when undergoing surgeries, radiations, staph infections, chemotherapy.... like sixty pounds. It sucks! but like I said there will come a day when you can get up and get going. You WILL feel good again. Don't give up, don't give in and remind yourself that there will be better days. This too shall pass; Now, you might be thinking if I hear another quaint catch phrase I'm gonna slap someone.. but all these things ARE true.

I wish I could take your brokenness away.. I can't. But I can encourage you. We are survivors and you will come out of this. It's gonna take time but you will be able to lose weigt and exercise again. Like I said if you can take a walk, go for it even if it's around your front yard or down to your mail box... it's in the small things we start. Look at your diet, if you eat two tablespoons of dressing on your salad cut it down to one. If you drink Whole Milk, by 2% or Skim. Begin cutting out things that you really don't notice too much and that just add fat to your diet. Purpose in your day, everyday or every other day, to make time for YOU. Take a liesurely walk, light the candles and take a long hot bath, go on a date night. Start in the small things to begin making yourself and your well being a priority again. Not just at the dr's office through yuchy meds with horrible side effects no, in a much more personal and comforting, positive direction You are in charge of your life. Yes you are.

Just for the record, I am now working out and trying to eat healthy. I have lost 29 pounds of the sixty I gained. There was a time when all I did was lay in bed and watch the dust float around in the sun shinging through my window. I was so depressed. I was overweight, I was bloated with water, I had no hair and I would have never thought I would get up again and there would be a better day. But that's a lie that goes through our minds when we are at our lowest. It's evil and causes us to slump further into brokeness. It's simply a lie


Today, is a new day. It is a better day. It is a new beginning. There are people here who will suppport you and encourage you. I am on. Do something for yourself today and begin to take charge again. You will feel better the minute you do it. THIS moment is NEW!

Praying for your good health; mental and physical.. w/ kindest regards, susan.

photog_mama67216

Thank you for the motivation Susan. I know without a doubt that I can do this, just gotta put all excuses aside and get 'er done!