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Exercise is one of the major pillars of health maintenance for successful, lifelong weight loss. By including regular exercise into your weekly routine you will see:
✓ Physical Health improvements
✓ Mental health improvements
Exercise is an excellent way to:
✓ Prevent weight regain
✓ Prevent and/or treat joint/back pain or mobility issues
When can you start exercising after Bariatric Surgery
In the first few weeks after surgery, it’s important to commit to walking a minimum of 20 minutes or around 2,000 steps per day. After 2 weeks, treadmill exercise is okay for most people.
After 6 Weeks
After surgery, wait 6 weeks (unless advised by your specialist) before beginning light, simple exercise. This would include activities like:
● Walking – it’s low-impact, effective for weight loss and easy to fit into daily life for long-term success.
● Cycling – gentle on the joints, improves cardiovascular fitness and can be easily adjusted to match your fitness level.
● Swimming – is a full-body workout that supports weight loss, while being low-impact and easy on the joints.
● Simple resistance exercises – a high protein diet and resistance exercise will help prevent muscle loss during weight loss. This could include exercises like seated leg lifts, squats and workouts with resistance bands or light weights.
Try to incorporate a minimum of 2-3 hours of exercise each week to support your weight loss, build strength and improve overall health.
Sustainable Exercise for Long-term Success
New Activities
Improving mobility makes it easier to get back into exercise. Use this opportunity to engage in new activities, planning for weekdays and weekends. If you find something you enjoy actively taking part in, like cycling club or a fitness class, you are more likely to commit to it long-term for sustainable weight maintenance.
Increase Resistance Training
As you gain strength, it’s important to incorporate resistance training into your weekly routine to support skeletal health and protect from injury. Long-term resistance training could look like attending Pilates/Yoga classes, joining a local gym or engaging a personal trainer. For people with any musculoskeletal disorder, an Exercise Physiologist is the preferred exercise provider.
There are many online fitness programs available and plenty of useful apps to support including exercise into your everyday life. What’s important is finding what is going to work best for you, long-term.
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