EXERCISE

[Ohio Buckeye]

yeah, sure, that counts.  haha

[sandman]

Hmmmm,  i was wondering, i may not do alot of EXercise but does SEXercise count?   

I don't see why not because for some, sex maybe their best chance for exercise. ;-)

[vandie]

Hmmmm,  i was wondering, i may not do alot of EXercise but does SEXercise count?   

Hell yes.  It counts.

[Zach]

This is the latest about exercise from "Family Focus."  It's a publication of the National Kidney Foundation.

Please see Pages 10-11.

http://www.kidney.org/patients/pdf/ff_su06.pdf

[Zach]

I thought this post would be of interest in this thread as well:

Just curious of a few things:

1) Has anyone lost weight on dialysis? (Any form of dialysis, hemo, pd..)
2) If so, how did you do it?
3) Does anyone exercise daily to maintain strength?
4) If so, what do you do? (walk, run, ect..)

1.  Yes,  I was in shape all my life until I had the transplant and took the predisone and was clobbered by its side affects and gained way too much weight.

2.  Follow the renal diet.  It is a diet that most people should actually be eating in the first place.  I have said it many times and will say it again.  Get a program like the one at dietpower.com  It will help greatly in letting you know just how much you are eating, and how much K, PO₄, Na, and Protein one is eating.  It also has many other features.  They have a trial version so one can see if they want to actually buy it or not.  Try it, the trial version is FREE!

Also measure your food out in the beginning until you can accurately measure something out without actually needing a measuring cup.  Far too many people underestimate what they are actually giving themselves  and they are actually eating and thus consume far more calories than they think they are. 

3.  Exercise, exercise, exercise.  I agree in that dialysis is used as an excuse not to exercise.

     Dialysis patients are anemic.  As such you can actually use a lower exercise intensity than a healthy person and get the same benefits as they do by exercising at a higher intensity level.    So go slow.

Start walking.  Walk for 5 min every other day.  Add time each week to that original time. Whether it be 15 seconds or 1 minute.  Just add a little more time.  Soon enough you will be adding more time each time you walk instead of each week.  Add weight training/weight bearing exercises.  Similar to the what is in the link Zach posted.  Use only bodyweight at first.  Pushups, squats, leg lifts etc etc.  Slowly add weight to that also.  Weight is all around you.  Soup cans, milk jugs, sacks of potatoes. 

One needs to look at long term goals.  It's not going to happen overnight.  Being a dialysis patient is going to cause fat loss to be slower because of many factors.  Just do not get discouraged.  Keep the end goal in mind.

Give youself a goal.  Take pictures, bodymeasurements, stamina time, labs etc.  Then see just what can you do in 12 weeks.  Such as:  In 12 weeks you want to walk 30 min a day and not be exhausted the rest of the day and want to lose 10 pounds and you want to tighten you diet up so your labs are improved over the last month.

4.What exercise I do depends on the time of year.  Currently as it gets colder out I do the elliptical for an 1 hour 4 days a week and lift weights 4 days a week and do the treadmill.  During the summer I skip the treadmill and ride the bike on the trails for 1 -1 1/2 hours.


It is very possible to lose the weight and gain stamina back.

The first couple of years on dialysis I used the same excuse as everyone else does about dialysis.  I was too tired to do it etc. etc etc.

One just needs to get past the lame excuses as why they do not follow the diet and why they do not exercise. 

Take it in small steps.  Eat the perfect renal diet for a 1 day, dont cheat for that one day.  Then try two days and so on.  Move to the point that 95% of the time your diet is tight and you only splurge one day a week or month.

Since I got rid of the excuses I have lost over 100 pounds.

[joseph_towey]

Has anyone tried yoga? My sister, who happens to be a yoga instructor thinks that it would be good for me to try...its low-intensity and provides one with a stretch and strengthing routine...plus they say it is good to help keep one's blood pressure under control. Just wondering if anyone had any thoughts on this.

[tamara]

I've done Yoga in the past and it is a lot harder workout than a lot of people think, some of the positions are quite intense.

I found it a good workout, but I wasn't only doing that at the time I was also doing pilates and gym workouts, all when I started nocturnal.

Now I mostly do water aerobics, do about five classes a week, just find it most enjoyable for now. If I keep changing what I do, I don't get bored with it and I keep doing my exercise in some form.

[MyssAnne]

I finally started feeling better, and started walking half a mile a day. I've only done it for 3 days now, but boy, does it feel good!
When I don't feel good, or am really tired, I really don't want to do any exercise, it seems to really make it worse the next day.
But if I wait til I feel good, then it carries over. Go figure.

[angela515]

I agree with you MyssAnne, once your start doing a little exercise each day, it makes you feel great. I been doing 1 mile (30 minutes) on the treadmill everyday for 4 days now. I don't feel like doing it sometimes (like today) then I say just do it.. and once ya start, it's easy to finish because you know you are doing a great thing. 

[Zach]

OK, everyone in the pool!
 

Exercise for dialysis patients—Of course, you can exercise
http://www.davita.com/dialysis/c/514

[kitkatz]

Pool? There is a pool?  Where?


Or am I jumping to conclusions and flying off the handle again?

[Zach]

Now that I've finished work on the documentary (and out of money so I can't start the next project), I'm finally back to my exercise routine ... on the stationary bike for 40 minutes 3 x week and resistance training 40 minutes, 3 x week.

Now that the weather has cooled off, no excuses!
 

[George Jung]

Pool? There is a pool?  Where?

It's at your local YMCA.  I recently joined and because of my health condition and financial status I received a 95% scholarship.  They offer a variety of programs for all types of activity levels.  Check them out if you have the opportunity.

[Zach]

Pool? There is a pool?  Where?

It's at your local YMCA.  I recently joined and because of my health condition and financial status I received a 95% scholarship.  They offer a variety of programs for all types of activity levels.  Check them out if you have the opportunity.

Outstanding George!

[Zach]

Now that I've settled in at my new location, I can take advantage of the building's complimentary fitness room. 

Tonight I did 3 sets, 10 reps each, light weights:

Leg Extensions
Leg Curls
Incline Bench Cable Flyes
Straight Arm Pulldowns
Wide Grip Pulldowns
Seated Cable Rows
Single Arm Dumbbell Rows
Two Arm Dumbbell Deltoid Upright Rows
One Arm Front Deltoid Dumbbell Raises
Biceps Dumbbell Concentration Curls
Triceps Rope Pushdowns
Dumbbell Shrugs

Lots of sweating, so followed with an ice cold 12 oz. protein shake.  Yum!

[Robby712]

Now that my chiro has me all lined up again I'm back into my routine.  weights 4 times a week on my off days and running or walking (depending on how I feel) 6 times a week 2-4 miles a day.  I definately feel WAAAAAY better when I am working out but I do have those stretches where I have to just sit it on the back burner for a week or two...

I think the key is easing into it.  if you're just starting out lift 15 minutes and walk 15-30.  As soon as you start seeing and feeling the results you will naturally build upon those times without even thinking twice about it.

[stauffenberg]

The sad fact is that since clearing metabolic by-products of protein metabolism is one of the main functions of the kidneys, with no natural renal function exercise will just elevate creatinine, the main by-product of muscle use.  Also, since muscle building cannot proceed normally in renal patients, you will break down muscle tissue while exercising which you cannot rebuild, given the disordered protein metabolism and restricted protein diet.  Anemia will also always set a ceiling to how energetic you can feel, and if you take the world's greatest athlete and muscle-builder and give him a hemoglobin of 90, he will always be tired, no matter how much muscle mass he has or how much exercise endurance he has been able to demonstrate.  Cardiac injury which develops during dialysis and the abnormal fluid load most dialysis patients carry in the blood and sequestered elsewhere in the body will reduce aerobic capacity and stamina.  In males, reduced testosterone levels will inhibit the formation of new muscle mass.

I tried to initiate an exercise program while I was on dialysis and started out doing 10 chin-ups and 30 sit-ups a day.  The total number of each of these activities I could do declined almost every day I continued the program, until by the end of five weeks, I could do zero chin-ups and 5 sit-ups. My capacity to rebuild muscle was simply not keeping pace with my breaking down muscle by exercising.  My pre-dialysis creatinine level also increased from the mid-500s to the mid-700s, and creatinine promotes atherosclerosis.  So what was I gaining?

[Zach]

stauffenberg:

It's obvious from many of your posts that you believe people on hemodialysis can't have positive results from exercising.  The most recent medical literature says otherwise.

In your mind our chronic illness prevents us from exercising, working or going to school, enjoying flavorful foods, having sex, and in general enjoying life.  I think IHD proves you wrong.

Don't you want us to have any fun?
 

[BigSky]

I agree with Zach,


Stauffenberg:

You were not giving your body the proper nutrition it needed.

Without kidneys one needs to treat their body like a machine.  Proper nutrition in conjunction to the exercise it is asked to do.

While some of what you say can happen and does happen it can be lessened some with proper nutrition and exercise.

In less than 12 weeks of training I have shortened my 3 mile times by over 5 minutes.

I exercise constantly.  Weightlifting, aerobics, running, biking, elliptical training, walking, pushups, situps etc etc.

The only time I lost muscle was in the beginning when I did not do any exercise at all.  Since then I have not only stopped muscle loss but have gained some back.  Of course the gains would be significantly higher and my workouts wouldnt need to be so much harder if my kidneys worked, but they do not, so one does what is needed to be done. 

[twirl]

using our pool is the best
my exercise bike has towels drying on it
my trampoline is Slugger's favorite napping place
I did go to a gym that my insurance covered some of it
I would not do the exercises where I had to move my hips back and forth
looked, well, looked like what you might think

[Zach]

As BigSky has said, proper nutrition is an important part of an exercising program (as is being well dialyized).

For people on hemodialysis, the National Kidney Foundation (U.S.A.) recommends:

Protein -- 1.2 grams of protein per kilogram of body weight per day
1.2 g/kg/d is necessary to ensure neutral or positive nitrogen balance in most clinically stable MHD [Maintenance Hemodialysis] patients. At least 50% of the protein ingested should be of high biological value. Protein of high biological value has an amino acid composition that is similar to human protein, is likely to be an animal protein, and tends to be utilized more efficiently by humans to conserve body proteins.

http://www.kidney.org/professionals/kdoqi/guidelines_updates/nut_a15.html

As an example, I weigh 77.0 kg (169 lbs.**).  1.2 grams of protein x 77 kg = 92 grams of protein per day.  This is quite a lot more protein than we were told just 10 years ago.


Also, proper energy intake is required.  Again, I point to the National Kidney Foundation:

Calories -- 35 calories per kilogram of body weight per day
... it is recommended that MHD [Maintenance Hemodialysis] patients consume a diet with a total daily energy intake of 35 kcal/kg body weight/d.

http://www.kidney.org/professionals/kdoqi/guidelines_updates/nut_a17.html

So, using myself as an example, 35 kcal x 77 kg = 2,695 Calories (kcal) per day.


** to convert lbs. into kg. --  Your lbs. divided by 2.2 = Your kg.

[Robby712]

Stauff,

The sole purpose of working out doesn't have to be to build muscle.  My primary focus is maintaining muscle and burning fat...as well as to help maintian a dry weight and work up a good sweat to help cut some fluids.  I can't imagine going an extended period without being able to do it...and I know when I don't I generally feel much less energetic than when I do.

Maybe get yourself a home work out book or just get out to the track one or two times a week.   Variety and keeping things fun is the key...I don't imagine I would want to stick with a plan that consisted of a rotation of sit-ups and pull-ups for very long either.

[angela515]

I started doing my workout DVD yesterday and today. I plan on adding some walking outside, or on the treadmill if it's raining, tomorrow and I hope this helps me at least maintain weight so I stop gaining so much. I wish I had access to a gym and all those machines to do more and weight lifting, but I am assuming walking is better than nothing!

[Zach]

 I wish I had access to a gym and all those machines to do more and weight lifting, but I am assuming walking is better than nothing!

You assume correctly angela515.  Any type of regular exercise is better than nothing.  You've done the treadmill before with very good results.  Congrats on getting back on the program!
 

[Romona]

I joined Curves. I participated in a study that Curves and Avon was doing. They asked for 3 workouts a week. I completed 18 in the study time. I didn't lose much as far as pounds, but I did lose inches. I am using less Ritalin. I go right after work. Even though I was working out at home, it was usually late. I think having the dedicated time to myself right after work has made the difference. I don't know how it will work when school statrs in the fall. I do feel stronger and less tired.