Exercise is an essential component of any weight loss plan. After weight loss surgery, incorporating exercise into your daily lifestyle is imperative as a means of meeting your ongoing weight loss goals and keeping off the weight long-term. However, that doesn’t mean that you need to start training for a marathon on your way home from having weight loss surgery.

Just as you would start with any other goals in life, exercise is something that you need to ease into. Small steps—literally, as the case may be—are the most effective in helping your body get used to the idea of working out, not to mention helping you figure out what sorts of physical activity are the most enjoyable, and therefore the most likely for you to keep up with.

Tips for Getting Started

As soon as you are properly recovered from weight loss surgery and your weight loss surgeon has cleared you for working out, the first thing that you want to do is to create a plan. Think about your schedule and your weight loss goals, and come up with a fitness plan that is tailored to both. Consider how much time you have to work out, when you want to work out and what you want to do most.

As you create this plan, consider the following strategies:

• Keep your workout as simple as you possibly can. Don’t start out with anything too intimidating.
• Challenge yourself as much as you can, without putting yourself at risk of injury. Push yourself to your limit, not beyond.
• Modify exercises to make them fit your needs.
• Get your friends involved to make your workout more social.
• Download music, audiobooks or podcasts to entertain you as you work out.

Strategies like these can help you stay interested in your workout, and that is the trick to making your workout something that you will keep up with day after day. The biggest mistake that people make when just starting out with an exercise plan is leaving the choice to workout up to the moment. Your workout needs to be part of your daily plan—it needs to be a habit. Leaving the choice to workout up to how you feel in any given moment will make it unlikely that you ever actually reach your workout goals.

Following these healthy strategies can help you develop a great workout routine that will support your weight loss goals. Before starting any new exercise, always remember to check with your weight loss surgeon to make sure it is a good idea for your body’s needs.