Although plastic surgery has become a relatively common and accessible luxury, it is still a major physical experience for your body, and should be treated as so. After undergoing plastic surgery, you will likely need some time to recuperate and heal. Throughout the weeks following surgery, you should slowly start to feel like yourself again.
But how can you ensure you are back on your feet as quickly as possible? Below we go over some tips for how you can ease back into your regular routine after surgery:
1. Make a Plan
It is typically best to plan out essential items you will need during your recovery before undergoing your procedure. This includes any food and drinks that will help aid in your recovery, medicine, cleaning supplies and surgical garments. After you purchase any necessary items, it may be helpful to set up a week by week recovery plan that will help keep you on track so that you don’t overexert yourself. Depending on the procedure you will be having, you may benefit from setting up realistic, weekly fitness goals. Such goals can include: walk around the block, do simple stretches, etc. These actions should be approved by your doctor to ensure they are safe for you to perform. Creating a plan will help you feel like you are slowly recovering and easing back into your normal routine.
2. Maintain a Healthy Diet
After plastic surgery, one of the best things you can do for your body is to maintain a healthy diet. Choosing a diet consisting of lots of liquids, whole foods, foods high in fiber, healthy fats, lots of calories, and low sodium can help give your body the vitamins and nutrition it needs to recovery quickly and efficiently. Be sure to stock up on all your groceries and have a caretaker assist you with preparing meals for the first week or so after your procedure.
3. Follow Doctor’s Orders
One of the best ways to assure you will ease back into your routine after surgery at the right pace is to follow your doctor’s orders and post-op instructions. Your post-op instructions will be your guide for everything following surgery – what to eat and drink, medicines to take and avoid, how to care for your incisions, and more. Make sure to study your instructions before surgery so you know exactly what to do once you enter the recovery period.
4. Don’t Push Yourself
This is one of the most important rules of surgery recovery: don’t push yourself. Some days you will feel better than others. You may even notice you have a couple great days, and then feel extra tired for a few days after. This is completely normal and OK! Your body is recovering from major trauma after surgery. Listen to your body and trust the process, only doing activities that you feel comfortable with.
5. Be Patient, Trust the Process
“Trust the Process” is universally some of the best plastic surgery advice you will ever receive. The shiny end results you seek cannot be achieved without a little pain and discomfort. But in due time, you will slowly ease back into your routine and be able to enjoy your new body to the fullest!