After taking the lifechanging step of undergoing weight loss surgery, what are the best weight loss exercises to make sure any excess bulk stays off for good?
Whether you’ve just undergone a gastric band, gastric bypass or sleeve gastrectomy procedure, you’ve already made significant progress on your path to permanent weight loss.
Undergoing weight loss surgery is not an easy choice to make. But now that it’s done, it’s only natural to wonder how you can maximise the results of your new life.
Your surgery will make a substantial impact, but there are also other things you can do to help get the best possible outcome.
The importance of diet
A healthy diet has benefits for us all. After weight-loss surgery, though, it’s even more important to make sure you’re eating plenty of fruit and veg (remember your five a day!) as well as choosing low fat, low sugar and whole-wheat options where you can.
Eating the right things will also significantly reduce the chances of you failing to lose weight or putting on extra unwanted weight.
The best exercises for weight loss
As well as a healthy diet, the other key thing to consider is keeping active and mobile. Building exercise into your daily routine might be difficult at first, but with a bit of determination you’ll start to enjoy the physical and mental benefits that follow.
It’s important not to overdo things, though – so here are some of our top exercises for the weeks and months following your weight loss procedure.
The first few weeks
Cardio aerobic exercise (often known simply as ‘cardio’) is arguably the most common form of exercise. Anything that gets your heart pumping and your body moving falls under the cardio banner – so think walking, running, swimming, cycling, and even housework.
In the first few days and weeks after your weight loss surgery, it’s important to do nothing too strenuous.
Walking for weight loss is a proven winner. To begin with, try to limit your walks to just 15 or 20 minutes at a slow, gentle pace – but do make sure you find the time to do a short walk every day if possible.
After three weeks or so, you might also introduce some other low-impact exercises to tone your legs and arms. Hamstring stretches, bicep curls, shoulder rolls, squats and leg lifts are all possibilities.
However, do not think about any abdominal exercises, such as sit-ups, until you are fully healed. Your surgeon will help you to devise a bespoke fitness plan to get you through the first few weeks of your recovery.
After six to eight weeks
Over time, you should be gradually increasing the amount and intensity of your cardio workouts. Now might be the moment to introduce swimming, cycling, dancing or gentle aerobics classes into your routine.
You could also consider light weightlifting or even high intensity interval training (HIIT), where you exercise hard for a relatively short amount of time – although this should only be done after consulting your surgeon.
Exercise tips
Aim to exercise for 30 minutes five times a week, or 15 minutes five times a week if you are using HIIT.
Stop immediately if you feel sharp pain, chest pressure, nausea, or extreme shortness of breath.
If you are doing weights, don’t exercise the same muscles in successive sessions. Give your body time to rest and repair.
Set realistic targets for your exercise and make sure you hit them. The feeling of achievement will soon become addictive!
Don’t exercise until at least two hours has passed since your last meal. This should help you to avoid indigestion or heartburn.
When you’ve tried dieting and exercise and it’s just not enough, bariatric surgery with us could be the start of your journey to a new you. Make the first step by calling our expert team so you can talk through the different options and find out which weight loss procedure could be right for you.