More Post-Bariatric Surgery Tips
So you’ve had your bariatric surgery. No doubt your team has indicated that you need to start and continue a regular exercise programme as part of the new lifestyle you’re creating. So think of this as step two: bariatric exercise!
Exercise isn’t just recommended because it’s a healthy thing for everyone to do-although, of course, it is.
A consistent exercise programme also gives specific benefits to patients who have had weight-loss surgery. Those specific benefits include:
Muscle-toning … we all need that, especially as we get older.
Increasing your energy level (remember how low it was before your surgery?)
Exercising boosts your metabolism. A higher metabolism burns more calories and helps keep your weight down.
Your surgery may have an unattractive side-effect: rapid weight loss may cause loose skin as your body tries to adapt. This loose skin often requires additional cosmetic surgery; but a lot of this secondary surgery can be avoided with regular exercise that will tighten the loose skin.
It lowers blood pressure. That’s a good thing, and may be one of the reasons you had bariatric surgery in the first place.
And, finally, it makes you feel better. If you’re feeling tired and have a low energy level, the last thing in the world you want to do is exercise, right? It’s a paradox that exercising when you feel tired will make you feel less tired-but it does.
Post-bariatric surgery exercise is important for another reason. Exercising strengthens your heart. Any time that you exercise, even if it’s just walking upstairs, your heart pumps more oxygen-rich blood through your body, blood that your muscles need to work. So by working your muscles, you’re working your heart … which in turn is working your muscles, in an ongoing cycle that will keep you healthy for many years to come.
