Why stay in shape?

There are a lot of good reasons to stay healthy and stay in shape, but the ultimate decision to follow that kind of a lifestyle is a personal one. We all have to have a personal reason or reasons to follow a course of action. It's very much the old adage about getting therapy, joining AA, getting help for hoarding and the like: before you can get help you have to want to be helped.

For me there are a number of reasons that I want to stay in good shape as well as get in even better shape. The main one being, after going through a second operation, and as many complications and issues as I had post-op, being in pretty decent shape helped a lot. At the same time, I definitely could see the limits placed on my body by the shape I was already in; more flexibility, less body fat, and more lean muscle would have helped recovery even more. Waking up one day about a month and a half after surgery, and realizing I had lost about 18 or so lbs (about 8 kilo), and not that much of it was really muscle to begin with....it was enlightening, to say the least.

Another thing that stood out in my hospital stay, were all the heart patients on my floor who were obese or there for lifestyle related heart issues: blocked arteries, heart attacks, bypasses, stents, the list goes on. Having been through 2 separate OHS and going through rehab again now, just reinforced the fact that I do not want to go through that type of surgery ever again. Sure, technology is improving and they're getting less invasive every year, but having had a "minimally invasive" heart catheterization a week or so pre-op, I don't even want that again. Ever. Trust me, if you've never had to have one, be glad. All of these procedures suck on some level. If you can avoid them by choosing a lifestyle that gives you the best chance of staying out of hospital, then why not? I'd rather take my chances on staying out rather than having to rely again on my chances once I'm inside an OR.