Physical Activity after Weight Loss Surgery

Posted: Dec 13 in Weight Loss Blog, Weight Loss Surgery by

What do you do to stay active? Exercise is essential to weight loss success. Even after having weight loss surgery, to reach your weight loss goal you need to find ways to be as active as possible. This means finding a reason to put on those sneakers and get moving every day of the week for at least a few minutes at a time.

Of course, you can’t go from not doing any exercise to running a marathon overnight. After weight loss surgery you’ll need to ease into a more active lifestyle. Instead of getting started with weight lifting or running miles right from the get-go, try finding creative ways to stay active that can help you build up endurance and strength as you begin your weight loss program. Once your weight loss surgeon says that you are cleared for physical activity, you’ll want to find low-impact exercises and low-intensity activities that you can do every day.

The trick to being more active is to find activities that you enjoy. To do this, think outside of the box (and most certainly outside of the gym). Here are a few ideas to help jumpstart your exercise habits:

  • When the weather is right, get outside and start a garden. This is a great way to invest in your home as well as your health.
  • Find a non-competitive community league, like kickball or softball league, and get involved with other people who are looking to become more active.
  • Develop a new hobby that can get you out of the house and keep you active without feeling like exercise all the time. Geocaching, for example, is a great way to explore your neighborhood while staying active.
  • Join a walking club and get together with community members or coworkers to walk a couple of miles several times a week.
  • Use your competitive spirit to challenge friends and coworkers to walk more daily by counting your daily steps with a pedometer. There are plenty of phone apps you can use to track your steps and compare results, as well.

Living an active lifestyle means more than working out for 30 minutes every day. To truly be an active person, physical activity needs to become a staple of your way of living. So aside from your daily workout, try taking on little healthy habits like standing more often than you sit, finding excuses to walk around more while you are at work, and adjusting how you spend your free time to mean fewer hours in front of the TV and more hours outside and on your feet.

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