Benefits of Exercise Low-Impact Activity

After gastric sleeve surgery, increasing activity through some form of regular exercise will become a fundamental aspect of your life. When starting out, Dr Bagnato recommends a low-impact activity to protect your joints.

Exercising daily will offer considerable benefits to your health. It improves blood circulation, enhances heart health and burns calories, which encourages weight loss.

Why Exercise?

Researchers have found that people who incorporate exercise into their lifestyle before surgery and remain active following their weight loss operation tend to experience great success in reaching their weight loss goals.

In a recent study published in the Journal of Obesity, researchers found that those who became active following weight loss surgery lost 13 pounds more, on average, one year after surgery. The “active” participants were also less likely to struggle with depression and showed greater overall health. An active person was defined as anyone who exercises for at least 200 minutes (or just over three hours) per week.

What is Low-Impact Activity?

Low-impact activity is any form of exercise that does not place stress on the joints. Activities like running and exercises that require jumping can put a great deal of pressure on the knees and ankles. Carrying excess weight adds to the level of pressure placed on the joints, and can lead to pain.

Exercises that are low-impact are less likely to lead to injury, but provide significant benefits to heart health, weight loss efforts and even your mood.

Low-impact activity is ideal for those who:

  • Are overweight
  • Have arthritis
  • Recovering from surgery or injury

Following weight loss surgery, low-impact activities are a great way to help you start working towards your health and wellness goals. Thanks to their naturally low intensity level, many workouts that fall in this category can be started shortly after surgery—at least in small increments.

Getting Started with Exercise

Here are a few popular forms of low impact activity:

  • Walking
  • Swimming
  • Resistance band workouts

Walking is a prime example of low-impact exercise. It is simple, can be done at any pace and is a natural movement that almost everyone can do. You’ll be encouraged to start walking short distances before you even leave the hospital. As you return home from the hospital and continue healing, you can gradually walk longer distances and make it part of your daily routine.

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