Exercise and Working Out With an Ostomy

Of all the questions I get from people who are new to life with an ostomy, the one about exercise comes up the most. Can I still work out. Can I lift weights. Can I do yoga. Will the bag stay on. Will it leak. Will I look ridiculous at the gym. The questions are usually the same shape, which is some version of, will I still get to be the active person I have always been.

My answer, which surprises a lot of people, is yes. And I am not saying that in some abstract, anything-is-possible way. I am saying it because my own exercise routine did not really change after my ostomy. I still walk every day. I still lift weights four times a week. I still do yoga once a week. I stretch and work on mobility. Occasionally I take a spin class when I am in the mood. I started lifting again at six weeks post-surgery, low and slow, and I have not stopped since. The bag has not been an obstacle to any of it. That is the part most people are not told, and it is the part I most want to share with you today.

My Routine Did Not Actually Change

I want to put that as plainly as I can, because the assumption underneath most of the worry is that ostomy life is going to take movement away from you. For most ostomates with a well-fitted, well-managed bag, it simply does not. The way you eat may shift. The way you travel may shift. But the way your body wants to move, and the freedom to keep moving, is largely yours to keep.

If you are early in your journey and you are reading this from the place of fear that something has been taken from you, please hear me. The kind of movement that has always made you feel like yourself is most likely still available to you. You may need to ramp back into it carefully. You may need a little time to figure out what your body is now telling you. But the door is still open. The strong, active version of you is still in there, and your bag is not the wall you may think it is.

How I Came Back to Lifting

Six weeks post-surgery, I started lifting again. Low and slow. I did not walk into a gym and try to pick up where I had left off. I went back to weights I knew I could handle without straining anything in my core, and I gave myself permission to feel like a beginner for a little while.

That was one of the most important decisions I made. The worst mistake I see people make in the first months back from any abdominal surgery is trying to prove something too fast. Your core has been through a real trauma. The tissue is healing. The way your body braces and stabilizes has changed. You earn your way back to where you used to be by respecting that. Six weeks was right for me with the clearance my surgical team gave. Yours may be different. Listen to your doctor first, and then listen to your body.

From there it was patience. A little more weight one week. A little longer the next. Six months in, I was lifting like myself again. A few years in, the bag was not a factor in any of it. Today, four-times-a-week lifting is part of what keeps me strong, and it has done as much for my mental health and my confidence as it has for my body.

The Day I Walked Onto a Stage in Las Vegas

I want to share one specific moment with you, because it has stayed with me for years, and because I think it tells you everything you need to know about what is possible.

In 2017, I competed at America Fitness Weekend in Las Vegas. I walked onto the stage as an ostomate, with my ostomy, who I have named Ivan, right there with me. The whole way out I had one thought running through my head, which was, just do not slip and fall on stage. That was the entirety of my prayer. Just stay upright.

I had a costume on that had wings, and at the moment when I opened the wings, the entire room jumped up out of their seats. Clapping. Screaming. A standing ovation. I almost lost it right there. It took everything in me not to start crying in front of all of them. It was one of the most amazing moments of my entire life, and I want you to know that an ostomate did that. An ostomate trained for it, walked out on that stage, opened those wings, and was met with a standing ovation. If I can do that with Ivan, you can do almost anything with yours.

I am not telling you that story to put pressure on you to compete at anything. I am telling you that story because somewhere, a woman is reading this who has just been told she needs an ostomy, and she is quietly grieving the active life she thinks she is about to lose. That woman needs to know what is actually possible. Not in a theoretical way. In a real, on-stage-in-Vegas-with-a-standing-ovation way. The active life is not going anywhere. It is right here, waiting for you to come back to it.

What I Want You to Take From This

If you are ready to get back to moving, or you want to start moving for the first time in your post-ostomy life, here are the three things I would tell you matter most.

Hydration matters more than you think. The bag changes the way your body holds onto fluid, and movement compounds that. Drink more water than you used to, and drink it consistently throughout the day, not just when you are about to work out. The day you feel sluggish or off in a workout is almost always a day you have not drunk enough water. Once you fix the hydration piece, a lot of the rest gets easier.

Go low and slow. This is the advice I find myself repeating to nearly every ostomate who asks me about exercise. You do not have to prove anything to anyone. You do not have to be back to your old self by some deadline. Your body has been through a real surgery and a real adjustment. Start with weights you know you can manage. Walk before you run. Build the foundation. The strength comes back faster than you think when you stop rushing it.

Listen to your body. This is the one that gets repeated everywhere because it is the one that is actually true. Your body will tell you what it can handle today, and what it cannot. Some days you will surprise yourself. Some days you will need to scale back. The ostomate who listens to her body and adjusts is the ostomate who gets to keep moving for the rest of her life. The one who pushes past every signal is the one who ends up sidelined. Stay in the long game with yourself.

Your body is still your body. It has been through a lot. It can do more than you think. Walk, lift, stretch, swim, dance, whatever it is that makes you feel like yourself. The bag comes along for the ride, and most of the time it has nothing to say about it. Get back to moving. Stay there. Let it be the thing that quietly reminds you, day after day, that the strong version of you is still very much in there.

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