Besides all of the life changes that can occur during the process of being diagnosed with breast cancer to the end of your treatments, your body goes through a great deal of changes as well. Most people think about two things; losing your hair and being sick. Those are true. I did lose my hair, and I was pretty sick. But, what isn’t mentioned so much is the possibility of gaining weight.
I think in all my reading, I only came across weight gain as a side effect of chemo a few times. I told my husband, “Oh great, that’ll be me”. Sure enough I gained 30ish lbs. I’m pretty sure I put 10 lbs on before I even started chemo. (I tend to be a stress eater.) Once I started my chemo, I put on an additional 20 lbs. So here I am seven months after completing my treatments and I haven’t lost any weight. I can’t say this doesn’t bother me, because it does. Although I realize, I have to let my body heal before I expect it to just start functioning the way it used to. I would love to lose the weight, but for now I am trying to approach exercise as something that is just good for my body.
I mentioned in an earlier post that I really enjoyed pilates before my breast cancer. Well, I am happy to share with you that I still enjoy it, and I am almost at the level I was before my cancer. During my radiation treatments my sister came across a pilates program just for women with breast cancer. It’s called pink pilates. We started doing pilates three times a week until I needed to stop near the end of my radiation. It felt wonderful to be doing something I used to do. I felt a great deal of accomplishment.
There are several programs out there that are just for breast cancer patients. Yoga and pilates are the two I see most frequently. Although I do a regular pilates program now, it’s important to remember that after breast cancer treatments, your muscles and tissue are healing and you should take good measure to not injure yourself. Always check it out with your surgeon and oncologist before you start. And, make sure if you cannot find someone in your area that specializes in exercise for breast cancer patients, TELL your instructor what you have just went through; surgery, chemo, radiation – whatever your situation is.
Here are a few links that might be helpful to you and I thought I would share my favorite at home pilates workout.
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| I use this workout at home. |
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