I am almost 3 months post op and having a hard to getting in exercise.

Sometimes finding an hour or two (with travel) to go to the gym is difficult. Try to find alternatives that you can slot in at random times during your day. Incidental activity can be just as beneficial and you don’t have to do all your exercise in one block of time. Exercise snacking, that is doing short boosts of activity, is like food snacking It all adds up across your day. Any activity is good.

• Catch public transport to work? Get off a couple of stops before and walk the rest of the way.

• Drive to work? Park further away. Same at shopping centres or going to appointments. - park further away from where you’re going.

• Go for a walk in your lunch break. Wear some weights on your ankles &/or wrists or a weighted vest.

• Take stairs & not elevators. Walk up escalators or travelators.

• Buy some weights & resistance bands to use at home. Finding a block of 10-15 mins in the morning &/or at night is often more manageable. You can even do it watching tv or waiting for dinner to cook.

I’m an exercise snacker. I do 5 sessions of activity across my day. A couple are less than 5 minutes and others are up to 10 minutes so more than 30 mins a day. Plus as an extra, when I do my 30 mins on my acupressure mat, I rock my hips (back & forth, forward & back, round & round) so constantly moving. My aim was to regain my flexibility, develop lean muscle (not bulk) & support my back, and keep up my bone density.

Honestly I didn't even start exercising until about 4-5 months post-op (bad I know 🤣), but I started with just setting myself the target of going to the gym once a week, just to do 30 mins of cardio or weights.

I found that rather than setting myself massive targets like going 4 times a week when I have started from 0, I was less overwhelmed and more inclined to go. Once I actually built up that routine I managed to go 3-4 times a week and I actually started to look forward to it!

Walking is easily the easiest thing to start incorporating into your day where possible, even if it is just a little bit a day!

For me, it helped that I had a buddy to be accounted for, I didn't go to gym until I was 5 months out but I was walking with my brother almost daily, first it was a mile, then 1.5, then 2 until I had build the endurance to walk 3.5 miles

My brother basically hyped me up to go walk with him, and aside from some sick days/rain, I was walking a lot

Now I have a gym membership and I still use my brother as a motivator haha

I do suggest getting a buddy to help you, if you have someone to answer to, you will be more motivated as to not disappoint them, even if it's only for 20mins at a time, any movement is better than no movement, you got this!

I started with 30min walks on my lunch breaks and youtube videos for weights. Slowly but surely itll get there!

Not sure what exercise you like, if any :)

By the time I was able to exercise (severe post op complications) I just walked each day, gradually increasing my distance/duration. I was so weak at the start I made it like 150 meters down the road and at times didn't think I would make the 150 meters back. Then when my strength improved I went to aqua aerobics for a few months and did pilates once or twice a week.

About six months later I then joined a small (i.e. expensive) gym where they gave me a 30/40 minute plan to work all different areas and it gets changed every few months, depending on how often I go. I have now found what I like with this gym, short intense exercise that I can see the benefits of and feel better for.

look at yourself and think of what you can be

It's rather common to start small! As your energy levels rise, gradually increase the amount of time you spend walking or stretching. More important than intensity is consistency. 💪

After my surgery I leaned in to walking. I want to say I started walking my neighborhood shortly after my surgery. My surgery was on a Thursday, I came home Friday, and I was walking the neighborhood by Sunday. Granted, I was not walking far or fast. Before my surgery at the weight I was I was able to walk about three miles in an hour and I live in a hilly neighborhood and two days after surgery I was only able to do a block but within a month I was walking further. Today I can easily do an hour on the treadmill at the gym and I told my husband that for funsies I want to go to the local outdoor track and just see how much I can walk before I get bored.

5 months after surgery I went back to my childhood love of figure skating. That’s my effortless exercise, a half hour of skating goes by in a flash for me. I recently started weight training not necessarily because I wanted look/get lean, but more for skating and mostly because I was struggling to start our lawnmower and I didn’t want to look like a weakling in front of my neighbors 😆

I’ve actually found that using AI (I use Gemini) is extremely helpful in creating a weight lifting routine. I have just gone in and I asked it to create me a routine using the gym machines and that I wanted it to be focused on helping my skating. I just print it out and bring it with me to the gym.

Three months post-op is still pretty early, so I wouldn’t be too hard on yourself. From what I’ve seen with my wife, who has gone through major lifestyle changes, the biggest challenge usually isn’t knowing which exercises to do—it’s making movement part of your regular routine.

One piece of advice that really stayed with me came from my friend Noelle McKenzie, who happens to be a personal trainer. She always says it’s better to do 15–20 minutes consistently than to aim for an hour and end up skipping it altogether. That mindset helped me stop thinking of exercise as an all-or-nothing commitment.

If I were starting out, I'd focus on walking every day and adding two or three short strength sessions each week using bodyweight exercises or resistance bands. Once that starts feeling like part of your normal routine, it's much easier to build from there.

You're already making good progress at three months post-op, so I'd focus on consistency rather than intensity. Small habits tend to add up much more than occasional hard workouts.