Anyone have advice on starting a workout routine post final j-pouch operation? What is the best way to regain lost ground? I had my final surgery on 16 August and hope to get myself into the best shape I can by December.

Here are my goals:
Run mile and a half in under 9:36
57 pushups in one minute
53 sit ups in one minute

I have no recommendations beyond starting out by walking as much as you can without exhausiting yourself. I sadly have not made working out a top priority with having 5 children I dream of it though Good luck and hope somemone has something of value to add

First suggestion? Go Slow!
You are not on a time clock and Dec may be too soon to expect to be perfect. Give your abdomen time to heal. Even if you look healed from the outside and feel healed from the inside it still takes up to a year for all of the swelling to go down and things to settle back into place or find their new place.
I am a workout addict. I love exercise and at 6weeks post op I am back at it. Every time. Might explain all of the recent hernias, fallen pouches, new surgeries etc.
I am learning that success is not getting back to the original workout scheduel as quickly as possible but getting my body to heal first.
Go light. Walk, and then add some mild climbing. Work your core muscles with pilates (no they are not for wimps!) and slowly add on a week at a time. Rest between workouts. If you feel too much stress or stain then stop. Give yourself a year to get back into shape. And don't forget hydrations and nutrition. You can't build muscle and a healthy body without full nutritional support.
And no heavy weights for 1 year. NO heavy squatting either. Dead lifts are out too.
Be nice to your pouch for 12 months and it will be nice to you for years to come.
Sharon

Since you have 3 specific goals in a matter of a few months, I would discuss these with your surgeon. The one that seems the most ambitious, or possibly reckless, is the sit-ups. I'm not sure how sick you were going into surgery but you do need to give your body time to heal.

Sue

I agree that you need to go slow. Walking is great. You may not be able to do a whole lot with your abs before Christmas. I am 18 mos+ out and I still have weak abs. Course, I just started working them this year. I do heavy workouts now (1 hr+) but I wouldn't have done them last year.

Just take it easy and enjoy the fact that you are alive and well...a great bod will come in time.

Take Care
susan

4 months away, hmmmm.... You look pretty young from you picture, so you may have an advantage in getting back in shape there. But I agree with others that you need to be mindful of the period of time your doctors say no heavy exercise or lifting in order to heal. That will probably be 4-6 weeks before you should start doing anything too rough on your body. So I would say in October you can start back trying all of those activities - running, push-ups, and sit-ups. You'll have to judge things and your pain level. The sit-ups might be tough. You don't want to herniate any of your incisions, and doing too much too soon could.

Otherwise, there is nothing stopping you from attaining your goals. I think you will be surprised how quickly and easily your body will bounce back to where it was prior to your surgeries. I was shocked. But that's kind of built in - our body's desire to maintain equilibrium, that is.

Also, make sure and ask for help here if there are things like adjusting to your new plumbing you need help with in order to copy so you can get back to working out.

Steve

Thanks for the replies! The plan is to take it slow. I've been doing a ton of walking around the neighborhood. I don't plan to do any working out until the 8 week mark.

After my first surgery I was able to get back into the running pretty easily but I didn't even try pushups or sit-ups. Both felt like they would strain my body.

The AF set the date for my next PT test in December. It was chosen by the physiologist and is likely a date that my situation would be reevaluated. The doctor has to clear me before they can test. I would like to do as much of the test as possible and do well. They are going to review my medical condition to see if I get to stay on active duty. Having a good post operation fitness test score on record would do great things for my case. Of course, any injury on my record would erase any benefit from a good score.

Anybody doing situps? A year seems like a long time to wait. However, the doc could give me a waiver for sit ups and allow me to do the rest of the test. Never had a hernia before. Are there things you can do to reduce the risk of developing one?

27 y.o.
1st Symptoms: Dec 2006
UC Diagnosis: Aug 2009
Colectomy/Ileostomy: Oct 2009
J-Pouch Pt.: 1 Jun 2010
J-Pouch Pt.: 2 Aug 2010

I had been really sick before and after my Step 1, so wasn't able to exercise much at all with my ileostomy, other than walking and some basic yoga. When I finally got my takedown I took things really slow. But I'm now jogging, doing weights and going to the gym regularly. I also horse back ride every week.

Basically I started out with walking, as much as I could tolerate. About 6-8 weeks after takedown, I went back to doing yoga. I then gradually started with short sprints during my walks (like 20 strides at a time; I went really slow) and worked my way up to full jogs gradually over about 4-6 months. Horseback riding I also resumed about 6 months after takedown (I almost had to get a waiver for that from my surgeon, for insurance purposes, but I eventually got cleared to go back. *LOL*). Weights I started much later, over a year after surgery. Right now I feel pretty good, and the pouch really doesn't interfere with exercise at all.

I started lifting weights pretty quickly (relatively)after I got home from the hospital, probably 8 to 10 weeks. I also started abs and core workouts, but noticed after a few days of that that I was having strange pains and twinges in my abdomen. I stopped with the core work and the pains stopped. SO, I guess I need to wait a little longer on ab stuff. I am now about 4 months out from takedown.

I was big into heavy weightlifting before I got sick. My final surgery is about 7 weeks from now. I have read that the best thing to do before getting back into weightlifting (or any exercise for that matter) after Jpouch is to build a solid core.

I'll get back its just a matter of time, but I think you should definitely take it slow to begin with.

I think you can be back at it full force by December if you have the energy. I just started working ab exercises into my workout routine (and by routine I mean by biweekly trip to the gym - life with a 2 year old). Oh my gosh, my abs are just gone! I used to have abs like rocks, but have just let them go to mush over the past 2 years. I had some nice sore muscles the next day. But from a healing standpoint though, I didn't have any worries about my incisions or antyhing.

I'm only two weeks post surgery and I feel pretty good. I met with a surgeon 10 days post op to remove the staples. I accidently ripped a couple staples near the old stoma site doing some morning stretching. Luckily everything was healed and the staples were ready to be taken out anyways.

I'm still only walking for exercise right now. I'll research some good core workouts to get started with. Pilates sound like a great idea. I'm going to be optimistic and tell myself I can regain lost ground by December. Thanks for the advice and encouragement.

I started back kickboxing and lifting weights six weeks post-op. I took it a little easy on the ab exercises at first, but now I do anything I want. And I'm a 62-year-old female. Life is too short not to have rock-hard muscles!

Hey, just wanted to give my 10 cents since it looks like we're on a similar schedule and probably close in age. I had my takedown almost 6 weeks ago now on July 31, and in my first follow-up with the nurse practitioner, she said I was allowed to start lifting weights again 6 weeks post-op, but to listen to my body and make sure it "felt right." I presume this includes pushups and sit-ups. It seems like UC and related diseases, as well as our j-pouches, are very individual experiences. Everyone has a different story.

I've always been big into lifting weights and working out myself, and I just started back up yesterday because it felt okay and it's not like I'm nearly strong enough to lift too much anyway. My advice would be the same as I've been getting all along - just listen to your body, and do what feels good without pushing the limits.

Good luck with the RAF - I considered officer candidacy school for the USAF to become a pilot, but bowel resection is a permanently disqualifying factor over here. Nothing but the best to you!

i started back in the gym about two months after take down surgery and started very slow, very low weight and increased very slowly. Can't wait to get back into shape. Going through this whole UC thing was a great way to lose weight LOL, lost about 70 lbs in a short period, now trying to gain some of this back. I'd love to trade stories or experiences with anyone trying to get back into shape, I don't know if I'm allow to put my email on here but it is tommythirteen@yahoo.com . best of luck best of health to anymore dealing with any stage of this monster.