Back to the Gym After Plastic Surgery: The Truth About Your Timeline

Dr. G (00:02):
You're listening to another episode of All the B's with me, Dr. G, and my scrub tech Bri. All right. You're three weeks post-op. You feel great.

Bri (00:13):
Don't do it. Whatever you are thinking about doing, just don't do it.

Dr. G (00:18):
You're watching your LaGree studio's Instagram stories. You're seeing your friends check into the gym and your surgeon says, Take it easy. But what the hell does that mean? So you start Googling and now you're spiraling. Okay, so this is common for our patient, San Diego. Everyone's pretty active and we're about to answer every question you have about post-op surgery and going to the gym.

Bri (00:40):
Yep. The only difference is patients don't ask on week three. They ask on day three.

Dr. G (00:46):
Facts.

Bri (00:47):
Yeah.

Dr. G (00:47):
We get a lot of asks.

Bri (00:48):
All the things they want to do on day three is wild.

Dr. G (00:52):
Yeah. Not only are our patients active, but they become super active like adventurers as soon as they're post-surgery, which I guess is great if you feel good. I feel like maybe one in 30 or 40 patients are like, Nope, I hurt. This is some bullshit. This is way worse than I thought it was. But most people are like, "Can I? " And then insert-

Bri (01:16):
Go to another country.

Dr. G (01:19):
Insert crazy response. Go to another country. Go bowling. Go paragliding.

Bri (01:24):
Skiing.

Dr. G (01:25):
Scuba diving. Tap dancing.

Bri (01:29):
So many things. Ride a bull. I don't know. I'm sure we've heard that one.

Dr. G (01:33):
The other ones I've definitely gotten texted about. I usually get texted and then when I was like, "Aren't you seeing me in three or four days?" And then we'll reassess them. They're like, "Yeah, I thought I'd ask." Yeah. I mean, I get the-

Bri (01:48):
And then I get the, after they see the doctor and I go in and see them, I get the like, "Well, I did start doing this, I just. I'm like, Yeah. Okay. Well, that's fine.

Dr. G (02:01):
Just

Bri (02:02):
They just sometimes don't want to tell her.

Dr. G (02:05):
I know. I get it. I too am like, is it really X amount of time after anything, after getting your hair Brazilian Blowout, getting ... Even after I had surgery at four weeks, I was like, "I feel pretty good." But I'm also a doctor, so I'm going to wait six.

Bri (02:24):
Yeah. Well, that's surprising. Six days? Doctors are the worst patients, doctors and nurses, I swear to God.

Dr. G (02:30):
Yeah. So we're going to talk about getting back into it, getting back to your fitness routine or what have you and what that small ... Two years from now, are you going to remember taking six weeks off? No. So everybody just needs to calm down, but when you're in it and you feel good, it really is. You don't want to do anything else, but whatever that activity is that you've been told you can't.

Bri (02:52):
It's the one thing that you have to do all of a sudden. All of a sudden you're going to take up a whole new hobby post-op day one. I'm going to do karate or something. But yeah, every time I've had surgery, which is quite a bit, the thing I look forward to most is knowing that I can't do anything. I'm not going to exercise. Everyone's going to make me food. Everyone's going to leave me alone.That's the best. I don't have to work.

Dr. G (03:23):
I mean, that is the approach everyone should take, honestly. But yeah, no, I'm climbing the walls. I feel like the worst surgery I've had ever was PRK because you have to basically be in a dark room for eight days. Nope. And you can't use your eyeballs. It hurts. So you can't read, you can't watch TV, certainly can't work out.

Bri (03:47):
Yeah.

Dr. G (03:48):
You're supposed to listen to audible books.

Bri (03:49):
Do you have to lay face down?

Dr. G (03:52):
No.

Bri (03:52):
Is that a different one?

Dr. G (03:53):
That might be a different one.

Bri (03:54):
Yeah. One of my baby daddies was telling me one time that he just went blind in one eye.

Dr. G (04:00):
Oh, I think it's a retinal detachment.

Bri (04:02):
Yes. And he had to lay face down for God knows how long. And I was like, I don't know what I would do.

Dr. G (04:09):
I know. That would be absolute torture. Yeah, I've heard that before from other people. I hope I never, ever have that happen.

Bri (04:16):
Yeah.

Dr. G (04:16):
Because at PRK, I tried listening to audiobooks and it would just make me fall asleep every time. Like just laying there with your eyes closed, listening to a book when that's literally all you can do. So remember- It's making me yawn thinking about it. Actually, it could be worse. So remember that when you could at least go for a brisk walk or whatever afterwards. Yeah. All right. Well, let's hash out some celebrity news. I think probably the most- Tiger Woods.

Bri (04:48):
I have been laughing about him for three days. I'll be laughing at my desk and he was like, "What are you laughing at?" I was like, "These memes are just getting to me. I don't know why it's so fucking funny." Something about him just every time he drives tolling his car is just iconic.

Dr. G (05:05):
Yeah, it's good stuff. And the news just keeps coming out

Bri (05:09):
Also the only one to make money off a DUI, sold out his polos. It's just so good. He said he just looked down at his phone, but ...

Dr. G (05:23):
Yeah, he just looked down at his phone for a second, but he was so stoned out of his mind that was actually 30 seconds of looking and then looking up. He's like the sloth in Zootopia.

Bri (05:35):
They're just so good.

Dr. G (05:36):
I can't believe that shirt sold out. That's wild.

Bri (05:39):
Yeah. Just that color, that exact polo. But yeah, I can't stop laughing. I've sent my sister memes all hours of the night of Tiger Woods. It's kind of sad.

Dr. G (05:50):
Well, we hope he gets better. He gets the care that he needs.

Bri (05:54):
You know what?

Dr. G (05:54):
And a driver.

Bri (05:55):
Just live your life at this point.

Dr. G (05:57):
I know. It's crazy.

Bri (05:58):
Maybe a driver, but ...

Dr. G (06:01):
He likes his privacy.

Bri (06:01):
He likes his privacy.

Dr. G (06:02):
Because nobody cares. What? I don't know. Who's following you?

Bri (06:06):
Privately wrecked cars.

Dr. G (06:10):
Yeah. The irony of-

Bri (06:12):
F1 here we come.

Dr. G (06:14):
The irony of prioritizing your privacy

Bri (06:18):
He looks lit right there.

Dr. G (06:20):
Oh my gosh. The only person, like I said in the OR yesterday, happy about this whole thing happening was Justin Timberlake because he had finally released the footage of his DUI and he was very polite, but you're like, "Please, let's not recapture that again."

Bri (06:35):
Yeah. What are you doing? I'm on world tour.

Dr. G (06:39):
Obviously.

Bri (06:41):
Yeah. I mean, it's five minutes late to my tee time boys.

Dr. G (06:47):
He thought he had it going on because he blew on the breathalyzer, which was a zero. And they're like, Yeah, we're not

Bri (06:52):
Homie didn't take the hydrocodone out of his pocket.

Dr. G (06:56):
Okay, we have to move on.

Bri (06:57):
Sorry. See, I can't stop talking about it.

Dr. G (07:00):
Not plastic surgery related unless he's interested in getting a lower bleph.

Bri (07:04):
Please come in.

Dr. G (07:05):
But speaking of a glow up, Denise Richards.

Bri (07:08):
Oh my God. She looks so good. And the fact that she was so transparently posting everything.

Dr. G (07:15):
Yeah.

Bri (07:15):
So good.

Dr. G (07:16):
I mean, I'm hoping Ben Talei did her a favor on the cost and that's why she's so posting about it.

Bri (07:25):
You don't see Celebrity just openly post before and after of their surgeon.

Dr. G (07:28):
No, but I'm telling you, he's like a $200,000 facelift guy in Beverly Hills. So I'm guessing she's like, "I will let you use my before and afters if you cut me a deal."

Bri (07:38):
Free diamond ring.

Dr. G (07:40):
Yeah. Celebrities don't, You know how they don't pay for stuff. So that's my take on it, but it does look hella good. She looks good. She's such a beautiful person to start with. And I did see some conversation amongst plastic surgeons about how she looked a little pulled or that ... This wasn't from these before and afters, but in her on the red carpet, moving her face. But I tend to disagree. First of all, yes, it's going to settle. And second of all, I think you forget what her proportions were before. Does her mouth look a little bit wider and jokery is what somebody said. But she's always had a large Cameron Diaz type ... It's like Cameron Diaz gets a facelift and they're like, "Oh, her mouth is jokerish. Girl, it's always been that way." Yeah. I think she looks good, man.

Bri (08:33):
Yeah. She looks so good.

Dr. G (08:34):
No hate.

Bri (08:35):
Yeah.

Dr. G (08:36):
Ben Talei's very good at what he does.

Bri (08:39):
Yeah.

Dr. G (08:40):
Just very expensive.

Bri (08:41):
Yeah. She looks so good. I love it. So going into, what is the next one? Chloe Kardashian. The fact that this was even a conversation that, oh my God, she has sparks surgery rumors. No fucking crap. Sorry. That entire family has had so much plastic surgery and then the fact you just are going to-

Dr. G (09:05):
She just doesn't admit to it though. She says it's diet and exercise.

Bri (09:08):
There's, no Martha Stewart. It is not green juice and horseback riding.

Dr. G (09:12):
It's not her protein popcorn.

Bri (09:14):
It's not your BBLs or ... Girl, just own it. You guys all have had it. There's not a single cell in my body that believes you have not had plastic surgery.

Dr. G (09:25):
Yeah, it's wild. Yeah. I know. And she's denying it, but she isn't saying, "Oh, it's from my appendectomy." You know what I mean? You could do that, I guess.

Bri (09:34):
Yeah. But then aren't they more laparoscopic these days? Yeah,

Dr. G (09:39):
But maybe she had it a long time ago. All I know is somebody probably got fired.

Bri (09:43):
Somebody forgot to photoshop.

Dr. G (09:45):
Whoever posted that is now fired. Whatever minion that works for them. Yeah. I don't understand. Just admit you had plastic surgery. No one believes you anyway, so I don't think it's going to hurt your brand.

Bri (09:57):
Right. Nobody thinks you're not on Tirzepatide or whatever. Of course, we love that you're working out every day.

Dr. G (10:06):
Yeah. I mean, I think just because you have liposuction, just because you take a GLP-1 does not mean you get to sit back and eat bonbons. It's all about being healthier and they're just aids or boosts to enhance what you have. So if you get liposuction, you eat like crap, you're going to get fat again, or you're going to get that pudge back or you're not going to sustain your weight loss. No one's saying that you get to do all of that and then walk away from the gym. That's not how it works. Especially those high definition people. Those are the ones that scare me and get high definition lipo. And then I'm like, "Oh, you are committed to that now."

Bri (10:47):
You have to maintain it.

Dr. G (10:48):
There is no way. No way. All right. Who else was up? I've forgotten now. What are other-

Bri (10:54):
Let's see here.

Dr. G (10:55):
Celebrity.

Bri (10:57):
Real Housewives stars fiance shocks fans with plastic surgery. I don't even know who that is.

Dr. G (11:03):
I don't know who this dude is.

Bri (11:05):
The dude got plastic surgery.

Dr. G (11:06):
He got a lower bleph. It looks good. This is, I think, a trend that needs to go away. Perhaps is people posting their afters of certain procedures right away because I think it just scares people off. He looks nuts. Also, why is his shirt off for these poses? It's so weird. There's multiple images if you scroll down of him and I'm like-

Bri (11:33):
All shirtless.

Dr. G (11:35):
Why I'm looking into the distance with my shirt off. Like you could wear a shirt. We're just looking at your-

Bri (11:43):
Is this supposed to be a thirst trap?

Dr. G (11:45):
Lower eyelids. I don't know. No, because they're like, he's taking legitimate blef photos and there it doesn't even look like he had one. I'm so confused. I think so. But fine, whatever. So he had a lower bleph, which is great.

Bri (12:02):
But his lower bleph looked like it was like a skin pinch excision. Yeah.

Dr. G (12:06):
Sometimes they'll do skin pinch with a fat bat. Okay. So lower bleph, not my favorite procedure to do. I'm no longer offering them here. There are actually kind of opposing schools of thought on how to do it. So there's team through the inside of your eyelid, right? So what we call a transconj. So you're going through the inside of your eyelid to get to everything. And then there's the open approach where you go in through an incision on the outside of your eye, right through the skin and muscle flap. I don't think that we have time to delve into what the major differences are and technique, but if you just go in through the inner eyelid, the problem is, is that you're not taking any skin. There's often very little skin that needs to be removed except in like extreme cases. But then what do you do with the crepey skin?

(13:00):
You either have to laser the begesus out of it or to try and tighten it up, or do you do a skin pinch where you just literally pinch a little bit of excess skin, you just have to be careful. One of the reasons to go transconch is that you're not disrupting the anterior part of the eye, the anterior lamella, if you will. I think antifacial plastics tends to like transconj and plastic surgeons tend to be a little both. I think oculoplastics tends to also go through inside the eyelid and they can get nice results, but then they rely heavily on laser and chemical peels to tighten the overlying skin. So it looks like he had the skin pinch part. I don't know what they did with ... I'm thinking they went probably transconj. I don't know. He looks fine now, but I just think on one hand, I like to see immediate post-ops or people posting their journey because you get ... But I feel like just like with Demi, if people are going to look different for three months, like you have-

Bri (13:59):
Oh,iJesse.

Dr. G (14:00):
Sorry. Jessi, you have to let that shit settle.

Bri (14:03):
Yeah. And not plan your red carpet debut that week.

Dr. G (14:06):
Yeah. It's going to look a little wild. Your eyes are swollen. The lower lid might be too tight or I don't know. There's just so many things that could be going on that I'm not sure. It's not going to be your final look. So when you post these photos, I guarantee you people are like, "He looks crazy." And you're like, "Sure, but then he's going to look normal and much better, more well rested, blah, blah, blah, blah, at three months." So it's just part of appreciating what recovery is. And I think, yeah, on one hand, it's good to know that the early result is not your final result, but this is not a very patient society. So we get-

Bri (14:48):
We want to see final results on day seven.

Dr. G (14:50):
Yeah. They're not waiting for it. And I think people panic. And then we could talk about Noah Cyrus's changing face, I guess. I just think, I mean, she's a child. She's 26.

Bri (15:04):
I think she's just getting older and getting chillers and Botox, maybe a little rhinoplasty.

Dr. G (15:12):
I don't know. I can't even tell on the rhinoplasty because if you compare it to a picture of her when she's like a little teenager, who knows? You know what I mean? Your face is going to go through changes. She has all this makeup on. She's heavier. She's got lip filler in. What? Let's just let her live.

Bri (15:30):
Yeah. Of course. Of course you look different as you get older.

Dr. G (15:35):
And from your 12 year old self, girl.

Bri (15:38):
Okay. So maybe this is a good segue into exercising after plastic surgery.

Dr. G (15:45):
Just don't do it.

Bri (15:45):
Just don't do it.

Dr. G (15:47):
So I recently trained on the Preserve breast augmentation, which is a minimally invasive breast augmentation. So the idea is to kind of create the space for a smallish implant without using a knife. So you make a little incision and then you're creating the pocket for the implant using a balloon and then putting the implant in. And one of the perks is that you could maybe do it under sedation, maybe under local. You can go back to living your life next day.

Bri (16:19):
I think that's just crazy. Even if you can, you should take at least a couple days off.

Dr. G (16:25):
Yeah. Put your feet up.

Bri (16:26):
Yeah. That's their stick. You're working out the next day, you're doing things.

Dr. G (16:32):
Well, I mean, I am intrigued. However, I guess there has been one case of someone getting a hematoma, which is a blood collection at post-op day 10, and it was somebody who went back to living their life and was doing a HIT class at day 10. So that's exactly the kind of move I would do. So when you tell me you can live your life, just like with Avalee where they're like, "Take 24 hours off and then go for it. " You're like, "Okay, yeah, I can. " But then the amount of bruising I'm going to have is going to be way more than if I just taken a week off and not a week off, just do something low impact, right?

Bri (17:11):
Yeah.

Dr. G (17:11):
So again, going back to the Preserve breast augmentation thing, although this is an early recovery og where you can do stuff, the recommendation is that you don't go do burpees, which-

Bri (17:29):
I just can't. You're getting a whole breast dog and then you're going to go use your upper body. Take care of the boobies.

Dr. G (17:37):
I know. Protect the investment.

Bri (17:38):
Yeah, I would.

Dr. G (17:39):
I mean, it is saying like, "Oh, you could go get groceries, do laundry," but then again-

Bri (17:44):
No, I don't want to get groceries after surgery.

Dr. G (17:47):
Take the pass.

Bri (17:48):
Yeah. Even if I can, I don't want to. Two to three months. Your husband needs to be shopping for you, cleaning the house, doing the kids. Two to three months. Don't know who needs to hear it, but you can show your husband this clip. Crazy.

Dr. G (18:09):
Yeah. You get a toenail removed two to three months.

Bri (18:11):
Yeah. So sorry. Mole removed, two to three months.

Dr. G (18:18):
Need around the clock care. I do really think people should embrace that instead of pushing ourselves to be like, "Now I got to get back to the gym." You are going to be fine.

Bri (18:30):
Yes.

Dr. G (18:31):
You can do low impact. That is okay. But it's just hard. You have to tell people, you have to be smart about it. So I always say no matter what the surgery, honestly, it's two weeks of not getting your heart rate and blood pressure up because any little vessel that's been cut can then re-bleed and now you have a bleeding problem within the first two weeks of surgery, which is not ideal. So that's number one. And then after two weeks, I tell my patients, then you can start increasing your activity and that can be dependent on the type of surgery you had. So if it's liposuction and knock yourself out, but you're not going to feel like it, you're going to be moving slow.

Bri (19:14):
I forced myself to walk a mile a day on day two. Yeah.

Dr. G (19:20):
You can go slow.

Bri (19:21):
I just wanted to ... Yeah, it was a very, very, very light walk. Yeah. But I was like, "I'm going to get moving. I don't want to be stuck in bed." But I didn't do it because I felt like it. I did it because everyone says a walking promotes healing.

Dr. G (19:35):
Yeah, it helps. Well, you want to walk because it improves your circulation, right? You were laying on the OR table, presumably. You don't want to be just laying around and have potential for a clot to develop. So it improves your circulation. It improves your respiration. So the ability to get up and take deep breaths is much better than when you are laying in bed all day in, what do they call it now?

Bri (20:02):
Comatose. I'm just kidding.

Dr. G (20:04):
Bed rot.

Bri (20:05):
Bed rotting. Oh yeah, my daughter uses that all the time or brain rotting. I don't know what it is.

Dr. G (20:09):
I think it's bed rotting. So yeah, so when you're just laying in bed, you're not taking deep breaths, you just won't. And so your lungs will partially collapse and then you can start to get a fever. You're just going to feel shitty. So get up. When you get up and walk around, you take deep breaths, improves your circulation, improves your respiration, just keeps things moving, drink water. And then so that's why we like walking-

Bri (20:36):
Unless you want a labioplasty.

Dr. G (20:38):
Yeah. Then you need to lay-

Bri (20:39):
Don't start walking.

Dr. G (20:40):
Lay flat. Yeah.

Bri (20:42):
Yeah.

Dr. G (20:43):
Listen to your doctor. So yeah, besides labioplasty, most patients can get up and walk around immediately afterwards as tolerated. And then making sure you're getting up and moving around is a good idea in general. But in terms of increasing your activity after that, do not go back to the gym.

Bri (21:04):
Yeah, don't do it.

Dr. G (21:05):
Wait at least two weeks is a minimum, and then it depends on the surgery. So for some things like liposuction, Avalee, which is cellulite reduction, labioplasty, that's going to be as tolerated because your body is going to 100% tell you whether you can handle it or not, but you're not going to hurt anything. If you have a lot of incisions like an abdominoplasty, you're probably not going to be doing anything too intense at two weeks. Breast surgery, please do not mess with your chest for four weeks, at least.

Bri (21:39):
Yeah. At least. You can take four weeks off upper body. Walk, do squats, build the booty, but just don't use your arms. It's just-

Dr. G (21:48):
Yeah, don't ignore the booty. The booty is important. I think we talked about this on a pre-recovery podcast that if you could do one exercise a day,

Bri (21:57):
Make it Alloclae. Just kidding.

Dr. G (22:00):
That's not an exercise. Do squats because it's going to help you during recovery to be able to get up, stand up and sit back down. It strengthens the bigger muscles in your body, which are like the glutes and the hamstrings and the quads. And so those are, generally speaking, pretty safe to work on afterwards. Unless you had a thigh lift, you should be able to do some squats, some walking lunges, do some walks, do calf raises. Everyone always neglects the calves. You can do that. If you did breast surgery, you can hold weights kind of in a suitcase manner, but don't be racking them on your shoulders or swinging them or doing anything too crazy with your upper body. So if you want to do it a little bit weighted, you can. But I'm telling you, there are plenty of ways to get a workout without having to use weights, just repetition, work the small muscles. I mean, if you don't do lunges normally, you just need to do about 10 unweighted and you're like crying.

Bri (23:06):
Yeah, this sucks. I feel like just be mindful of whatever area you had surgery, just do the opposite area.

Dr. G (23:13):
Right. But I think people get super specific about ...

Bri (23:17):
Because here, Pilates is really big and that's like full body.

Dr. G (23:22):
Yeah.

Bri (23:23):
It's so funny because every patient that comes in, we ask them what they do for exercise and it's like Pilates. And we're like the only people that don't do Pilates.

Dr. G (23:32):
I know. It's not my jam.

Bri (23:33):
I've done a couple. I did one class. Okay. I've done two classes and I literally couldn't walk for like a week and a half. I was so unwell. I think I broke my ribs.

Dr. G (23:44):
I think it's a great workout. It's just not really ... I don't like to do it because you don't get sweaty and I don't feel like I'm getting a workout. So Lagrie is like the higher intensity version of that, which I also haven't done. I think it's good, but if you're ... I always say, are you reformer Pilates? Because then the answer is no. So you're pulling on cables, you're moving stuff around. If you had any kind of upper body or abdominal surgery, the answer's no. If you want to do mat pilates-

Bri (24:13):
I sweated my ass off in mat Pilates and it was all weights. Everything you do is with weights. Oh. So I was going to say that. Don't do mat Pilates. Don't do Pilates. Don't do Lagree.

Dr. G (24:25):
I guess you could do mat pilates if you didn't have weights.

Bri (24:28):
Yeah. Just the squats. But also the one I did is in a hot room and make sure your incisions are healed because you don't really want to be getting that moisture, hot moisture, bacteria, sweat in there. I think just don't do Pilates. I think that's what we should just settle on. We're anti-Pilates is at our stage. Yeah, anti-Pilates. Go get a green smoothie and go home.

Dr. G (24:54):
Look cute in your fit.

Bri (24:55):
Yeah. And you'll be fine. I remember after my surgery, I feel like two to three weeks I started just walking on the treadmill, but I brought my whole ass in my garment, all my garments because I had lipo everywhere. I don't care. I still wore them.

Dr. G (25:09):
Yeah. And walk on the treadmill. So what I've counseled, so labioplasty is one of the ones where you can kind of go back to working out at two weeks. But I tell people, if you're ... I've had college students who are on sports teams. You can go back to training at two weeks, but it needs to be your own individual training and not like the group soccer team workout or track team workout where you can't control how hard you're pushing yourself. And so the same goes for those of us who take classes. You can make not Peloton after labioplasty, but if you're doing something after surgery, you can do it if you're allowed to slack off if you're not feeling good. If you're in a type of class, small CrossFit group where you know everybody and they're going to push you no matter what, unless you tell them you've had surgery, then don't do it.

(25:58):
Do something that you can pace yourself on. So go to the gym, set the treadmill for whatever you want, and then you can slow it down or speed it up as needed. That's a good one. Go take a walk on the beach. Go do, I don't know, some class that you're familiar with, but that you can tell the teacher you're not feeling well or whatever, and so that way you're not pushing it. But honestly, most group classes are going to be hit, training, orange theory. There's nothing chill. Zumba maybe?

Bri (26:29):
Freeze your membership for a month.

Dr. G (26:31):
Put it on pause. Yeah. Everybody has that. Running is one of those where you sort of a lot of times can go back to after a couple of weeks if you can tolerate it, but you're going to wear good compression on the area that you had to operate it on. And again, I say start slow and see where you're at.

Bri (26:50):
Be mindful.

Dr. G (26:51):
I feel like if you're going to do it, do a walk to run progression and then let's say normally you run three miles a day, maybe do a mile and then the next day, see how you feel. If you feel great, do it again, maybe add a little more. If the next day you feel wiped out, then that's your clue that you did it too much. Because remember, you're like going stir crazy because you can't work out, but on the other hand, your body is taking all the nutrition you give it and it's devoting that to healing. So your body is kind of working out. It's healing. So it's working to heal incisions, recover from the trauma, having surgery, clear the anesthesia, get everything back on track. And so that's important.

Bri (27:36):
Yeah. If you're going to start working out, make sure you consume extra, extra protein.

Dr. G (27:41):
Yes.

Bri (27:42):
All that jazz

Dr. G (27:43):
And then when you go back to working out, be mindful of that you've had a little bit of a rest, so don't go back to full speed. So you don't injure yourself because that would be the worst kind of problem, right?

Bri (27:55):
Yeah.

Dr. G (27:56):
You wait six weeks and then you go gangbusters and then you have a new issue. So again, don't go from zero to 60 during that recovery period, take it slow. You can do light stretching, you can do low impact activities. And then when you do go back, make sure you're using that kind of like, how do I feel after what the workout I did yesterday? If you used to run five days a week, maybe start by running two that first week, make sure you're back in before you go full force.

Bri (28:30):
Yeah. Listen to your body for sure. I feel like a lot of times also patients start to work out again and they're like, "Why am I more so I'm swelling up more?"

Dr. G (28:39):
Oh, right. So I always tell people it's like a sprained ankle because I probably sprain my ankle every five years for one reason or another, but if you haven't had it, your ankle's healed finally and your ankle will still be puffy. So maybe you've been cleared, your ankle's stable, it's been six weeks or whatever, and now you can run around on it, but the minute you start doing it, it's going to get puffy. And if you have a long day or you take your kids to Disney or you're standing all day, that ankle is going to be puffy for six months. It's going to be, maybe it doesn't look puffy, but when you compare it to your non-injured leg, it's going to still look puffy. So remember that your surgery immediately afterwards, everything's puffy, you hold onto fluid and then eventually it's kind of limited to wherever you had surgery, so what that surgical site is. And that will go up and down depending on the amount of salt you ate, depending on how strenuous a day you've had, all of those things will factor in. So don't freak out, just get back in your compression or just know that's healing. It's normal healing.

(29:49):
For reels, I think for patients who struggle emotionally with not working out, maybe try to have an action plan of alternative things you could do because literally what if you broke your Leg, what are you going to do? What kind of activities can you do? Because usually, honestly, with a sports injury, a lot of times people tell you to get in the pool and you're not doing that after surgery because of incision. So nope. But what are alternative activities that you have put off because you're leading a busy life and any free time you spend is working out. So what else can you do? What can you organize?

Bri (30:26):
But don't lift heavy.

Dr. G (30:28):
Yeah. Don't organize your closet.

Bri (30:30):
Maybe take up a hobby. Read a book or beading.

Dr. G (30:34):
Beading?

Bri (30:35):
I don't know. My sister just tried-

Dr. G (30:36):
Bedazzle the shit out of stuff here.

Bri (30:38):
And bedazzling. Literally. It's hilarious. Very slay. Yeah,

Dr. G (30:43):
My kids have been doing it. So yeah, find something that you've set aside. Something kind of arts and crafty is a good way to go. Organize the photos on your computer or clean out files or something like that.

Bri (30:58):
Delete those contacts. Delete those friends. Delete those X's.

Dr. G (31:04):
Yeah. Go through photos. Go through those photo albums, whether they be ... Yeah, go through the pile of papers that have been sitting on a desk forever. That's the kind of stuff. I mean, that's not super entertaining, but if you're going stir crazy at week four and you've already binged watched as much crap as you can, but you still don't have the ability to go back to full steam ahead, then just have a list because you'll forget. Do you like to do puzzles? Do you like to color? Maybe do a water coloring book or something. I don't know. Yeah.

Bri (31:39):
Find something boring and basic. That should be the theme for after surgery is be boring and basic because you aren't most of the times of your life. Yeah.

Dr. G (31:49):
And it's such a short period of time.

Bri (31:51):
Yeah. So do something creative, do something easy, be mindful. I don't know. I was going to say, take up a wine drinking hobby, but that's also probably not advised.

Dr. G (32:02):
No. I've had people certify for licenses and different level, have done some more-

Bri (32:12):
An online class or something. Yeah.

Dr. G (32:14):
Because they know they have the extra time.

Bri (32:16):
Use that brain power.

Dr. G (32:17):
That's right.

Bri (32:18):
Yeah.

Dr. G (32:19):
There are things, if you have a good suggestion for what to do when you're recovering from surgery and you're bored out of your mind, please reach out and let us know. If you have questions about recovery after surgery, also feel free to DM, like and subscribe, call the office. Absolutely. Lots of ways to get ahold of us. Remember, recovery after surgery is just as important as the surgery itself. And factor that in when you plan and schedule surgery. It's super important.

Bri (32:51):
Can I get an amen?

Dr. G (32:53):
Amen. All right. We're going to scrub in.

Bri (32:57):
And scrub out.

Dr. G (32:57):
Later. If you're listening today and have questions, need info about scheduling, financing, reviews, or photos, check out the show notes for links. Restore SD Plastic Surgery is located in La Jolla, California. To learn more about us, go to restoreSDplasticsurgery.com or follow us on Instagram @RestoreSDPlasticSurgery. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it and subscribe to All the B's on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever you like to listen to podcasts.