Exercise after abdominoplasty

Many patients who have lost significant amounts of weight through either diet, exercise or gastric surgery are very interested to know when they can resume their work-out routines after having a tummy tuck (abdominoplasty). They have made exercise an important part of their lifestyle, and miss it during the immediate postoperative time period.

While there is no scientific paper on this, and each surgeon's recommendations may be slightly different, we recommend a step-by-step return to activities using the following schedule.

3-4 weeks post-op: begin low intensity walking / treadmill / stationary bicycle

8 weeks post-op: may return to work-outs, except for abdominal exercises and activities that require strong twisting motions (e.g. golf, tennis, pilates)

12 weeks post-op: may return to full activities - no restrictions

In my experience from literally hundreds of abdominoplasty patients, we have not seen any problems from this exercise protocol, given an otherwise uncomplicated recovery.