I Regret Not Moving During Cancer Treatment

My biggest cancer treatment regret was stopping physical activity. I was diligent about mental health through journaling but abandoned exercise which had always helped me through difficult periods.

• Participating in a 9-month cancer exercise research study with structured fitness classes and group discussions
• Learning that our bodies adapt differently to exercise after cancer and require modified training approaches
• Discovering Dr. Kerry Cornia's profound statement: "If you've had cancer, you should be exercising like your life depends on it, because it does"
• Realizing that challenging physical activity—not just gentle movement—is crucial before, during, and after cancer treatment
• No healthcare professional discussed exercise throughout my entire cancer treatment journey
• Exercise might be as important as chemotherapy, radiation, surgery, and therapy
• Three recommendations for post-treatment exercise: consult your oncologist, establish a daily movement routine, and sign up for physical challenges
• Using accountability through classes, workout buddies, or scheduled events like 5Ks to maintain consistency
• Focus on increasing not just lifespan but also health span through regular physical activity

If you want to be part of a virtual workout group for accountability, head to hikelikeawoman.com and click the tab that says "join our training group" where we'll keep each other motivated.

Chapters

• 1:00 My Biggest Cancer Treatment Regret
• 1:54 Joining a Cancer Exercise Research Study
• 3:50 Exercise Like Your Life Depends On It
• 5:30 When Cancer Halted My Movement Journey
• 7:46 Exercise After Cancer: Three Recommendations
• 10:57 Finding Motivation and Community Support

Transcript

Speaker 0: 0:30

When I think back to my cancer treatment experience, I have a few regrets, and one of my biggest regrets is that I just stopped moving my body. I was good about taking care of my mental health. I was so depressed but I was good about writing in my journal how I was feeling. But the one thing that's always helped me kind of come out of periods of life that are just kind of sad and depressing has been exercise and has been getting outside, moving my body, sweating a little bit, feeling the sunshine on my face, feeling the cold wind on my cheeks in the winter, or even going to a gym and experiencing community at a gym or in a yoga studio. For the past nine months I've been part of a research study and that study has been following the effects of a structured exercise program in people who have had cancer within the past five years. When I heard about this study, I was really excited to sign up. Part of the study has been an organized fitness class a couple of times a week. It's also included online group discussions with other people who have had cancer. And then I've had three assessments where I have been tested on bicep curls, sit to stands, a treadmill test, body, fat, weight, all those kinds of things that are not super fun to be tested on but provide really great and valuable information, not just for the researchers but also for me. It's just been great to get all of this data and feedback. I was in one of our group discussions a couple of weeks ago and one of the facilitators mentioned that our bodies adapt to exercise different before cancer and after cancer, and that those of us who have had cancer actually should modify our training based off of our overall cancer experience. I have a bachelor's degree in exercise science, and so that just really intrigued me a lot about how should I be moving my body as someone who's had cancer, but also someone whose livelihood, my income, depends on my ability to use my body to physically help women go on these really epic outdoor adventures. So I spent the past few weeks just diving into the science behind exercise and cancer, and what I've discovered has been so fascinating.

Speaker 0: 3:20

I came across a podcast episode. The episode is called the Science of Exercise for Cancer. In it, rhonda Patrick interviews Dr Kerry Cornia. He's an exercise scientist who specializes in oncology. It's right here. For those of you on video, I will also link it in the show notes below and on the description if you're watching this on YouTube.

Speaker 0: 3:44

Anyway, I'm feeling kind of excited about the progress that I've been making with my own physical training and getting back into exercising after cancer. And then I listened to this episode and in it Dr Cornea says something that's just really profound to me, and what he said was if you've had cancer, you should be exercising, like your life depends on it, because it does. That was such a profound statement to me that I wrote it and I stuck it on the wall in my office. I stuck it on the wall in our little home gym, and it's just been something that I haven't really been able to get out of my mind since I listened to that podcast episode. He talks about how those of us who've had cancer should be exercising, how those of us who've had cancer should be exercising, and it really involves stressing out our bodies, not this low impact zone one walks Like I've thought. He talks about how we need to be exercising before we get a cancer diagnosis, how we need to be exercising through treatment and how we need to be exercising after treatment. And if I could go back in time to four years ago before I found a lump in my breast. I would tell Rebecca to not stop moving just because she has cancer.

Speaker 0: 5:06

When we're diagnosed with cancer, all of a sudden, we have to make all of these decisions about where are we going to be treated, who's our oncologist, how are we going to pay for cancer treatment? How did we get cancer? Do we need surgery? Are we going to need chemotherapy? Are we going to need radiation? We're faced with all of these decisions and for me, I kind of was under the impression that I needed to just take it easy because my body was trying to quote fight cancer. So I was all of a sudden so overwhelmed with work and all of the cancer decisions that I pretty much stopped working out and that continued throughout treatment. And when I think back to my mental health and the times that I've been happiest in my life, they are times when I have followed a very detailed and strict training program. So I'm thinking a lot about exercise. I'm thinking a lot about cancer. Yesterday I was in an exit interview for this research study where I was talking with the woman who's put together this study that I've been part of about exercise, and she asked for feedback and what I got out of the study is when we are facing a cancer diagnosis.

Speaker 0: 6:23

No one talks about movement, no one talks about mobility, nobody talks about exercise. I saw a dietician once and all she told me was try to eat as much as I could, even though I was nauseous. I only saw a physical therapist once after my first lumpectomy, and then I saw the physical therapist for three or four sessions when I was having pretty severe neuropathy after the chemo. But after that there was absolutely no discussion about exercise. Exercise might be just as important as chemotherapy. Exercise might be just as important as radiation. Exercise might be just as important as surgery. Exercise might be just as important as seeing a therapist every week. Exercise is really that golden ticket to overall health span.

Speaker 0: 7:23

And I love exercise, I love working out, I love moving my body, I love pushing my body to the extremes, be it the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro or trekking through the Salcante Pass in Peru. I just love a good physical challenge. But if you've been through cancer and you're finished with treatment and or you're coming out of treatment and you haven't been moving your body, there's three things that I would recommend doing. First, I would talk to your oncologist and see what they recommend as far as movement and get their feedback on their guidelines regarding exercise after cancer treatment. I feel like I'm beyond that point with my oncology team and I'm just going to keep doing what I'm doing because it's making me feel really good.

Speaker 0: 8:18

So second step would be to figure out a way to make exercise part of your daily routine. I wake up fairly early and I walk. I try to walk every single morning. If I wake up late and I'm in a rush to get my kids to school, then maybe I just walk 10 minutes around the park really quickly before my day begins. But if I'm not in a hurry, I might walk three or four miles before I need to be home to make my kids breakfast and get them off to school. But it's finding out what kind of exercise you enjoy and how to make that exercise part of your daily routine, and I know it can be difficult to start something and to make something like that a habit. But if that's a little difficult, then maybe consider joining a gym or signing up for yoga classes or something where you have paid to play, because if we pay to do something, then we're definitely going to do it or we're going to feel really bad about wasting all that money. I love the accountability of a fitness class or a yoga class, or even the accountability of saying to a friend hey, I'm going to hike every Saturday morning and setting up those kind of outdoor exercise dates or meetups with friends. Then there's accountability to show up and actually get the work done. The third thing that I would recommend doing would be to sign up for something that is going to challenge you physically, so you're forced to work out and forced to follow a training plan. So for me, I climb Kilimanjaro every year. That is like the equivalent of my marathon. So I'm always thinking about Kilimanjaro in the back of my mind as I'm training. But the other thing I'm doing is I used to love to run.

Speaker 0: 10:13

I ran cross country in high school. I ran cross country for two years in college and I only ran cross country because they didn't have enough people on the team. So they started recruiting all of the cross country skiers and biathletes to be on the cross country team. It was a big thing, but I used to love to run. I was in the army, I used to be able to run faster than most of the guys and I really enjoyed running.

Speaker 0: 10:38

But since cancer I have not enjoyed running, just because sometimes I feel like my bones and joints really hurt. But I did a 5K on Thanksgiving with my sixth grader and even though I walked half of the 5K, I really enjoyed just showing up for a fun community 5K. I did another 5K a couple weeks ago my kids are really into 5ks and it was really fun and I shaved four minutes off of my 5k time between Thanksgiving and just a few weeks ago and I hadn't even been running. And now I signed up for another 5k in August and so just putting these little 5ks on the calendar and trying to just run a little bit faster and a little bit longer is really fun and that's a fun challenge. And I don't know what your thing is going to be, what that challenge is going to be, whether it's something you try to do every year, like Kilimanjaro, or every quarter like a 5k.

Speaker 0: 11:38

But if we have had cancer, it's true we do need to be exercising, like our life depends on it, because our life does depend on it. If you're interested in diving more into the topic of on exercise and oncology, I will share the link to the podcast episode that inspired today's podcast episode in the show notes and description. I'm really obsessed with exercise oncology right now, so maybe we'll talk about this a little bit more in the future. Anyway, if you do want to be part of a virtual workout group where you can follow a training program that my team has put together, or you just have accountability for your own exercise program, head on over to my website, hikelikeawomancom. There's a little tab on my website that says join our training group and we'll keep each other motivated and accountable. Go out there and elevate your heart rate, move your body and smile, because when we're doing that, we are increasing not just our lifespan but also our health span. Hey, thanks so much. I'll see you next week.