If you’re thinking about having cosmetic surgery in Thailand, your main thoughts are probably on making sure you get the best service and surgeon.
Undergoing any surgery is not an easy decision and, rightly, you want the best results and to be safe.
Choosing the right service provider and surgeon are one part of the puzzle. The other is preparing yourself for your operation.
What you’ll get from reading this post:
- The top 3 areas you can control to make your surgery better
- Why health and fitness helps recovery
- An instantly actionable fitness and eating guide
Let’s get stuck in…
#1 – Stronger in, stronger out
When undergoing any kind of cosmetic surgery it adds a little stress to the body.
This is totally normal. If your body is weaker at the start, it will take you longer to recover afterwards.
Being strong in a physical sense means improving your muscular and cardiovascular (heart and lungs) systems. When they’re strong, they’re able to cope with stresses more easily along with many other benefits.
When you’re fit, your body is able to deliver oxygen, vitamins and minerals around the body very easily, as well as remove toxins and waste products which occur naturally in our bodies.
If your fitness is low, the body has a harder time carrying out these necessary chores and it takes it longer. That leads to a longer recovery time.
Doing physical activity such as cardio, HIIT and weight training can all help prepare you so you’re in the best possible shape.
More will be discussed on this in the fitness guide below.
#2 – Psychological strength
Being strong in a psychological sense means being relaxed, less stressed and having had
plenty of good sleep in the lead up to your procedure.
Chronic, low level stress such as that which many westerners face today from working long hours and living busy lives can raise levels of cortisol, which is a stress hormone.
High today.com/blog/the-athletes-way/201301/cortisol-why-the-stress-hormone-is-public-enemy-no-1″ target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>levels of cortisol for extended periods has been linked to lower immune function, low bone density and increased weight gain.
That’s one reason why having cosmetic surgery in Thailand is so beneficial. You can de-stress before the procedure, relax on one of the beautiful beaches and get great sleep each night.
We all know that when we’re overworked, stressed and haven’t slept well how easy it is to get ill. Our bodies are overworked and the immune system becomes weak.
The same holds true for our minds. The mind and body are inextricably linked, so if you have a weak body or mind, one will impact the other and vice versa.
You can take control of your psychological stress by making time for good sleep, taking time to relax, organising everything and booking your procedure with a company that you feel 100% safe with.
We’ll cover some actionable ways to do this in the guide below.
#3 – Food choices
After your successful procedure, your body will be in recovery mode. This is when rest, relaxation and good food choices will really help you recover faster.
During this time the body will need higher levels of natural vitamins and minerals to be used as resources for rebuilding and repairing. You definitely want to be eating fresh, whole and minimally processed foods.
Thailand has some amazingly fresh produce, so post operation you are in a great place to take advantage of that. Being so sunny in Thailand also means your Vitamin D levels will get topped up.
As if you needed an excuse to sit on the beach…
But, pre-operation is also very important. Stocking up on fresh fruit, vegetables, nuts and seeds before hand will give the body exactly what it needs to be in the best shape possible.
Stores of fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E and K) will be available for use as and when required if you have topped up before hand.
However, all the other topic-areas/nutrition-food-safety-health/water-soluble-vitamins-b-complex-and-vitamin-c-9-312/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener”>water soluble vitamins need to be consumed regularly to keep levels topped up as they do not stay in the body. An easy way to do this is to try and eat a rainbow coloured selection of fresh fruit and veg each day.
In short, if you put in a solid 1-2 months preparation of no alcohol with lots of good fruits and veg, your body will have all the natural resources it needs to recovery faster and make you look better.
So, how do you maximise your health and fitness? Let’s take a look in these next sections.
A Fitness Guide for your Surgery
We could go into a lot of detail about the best kinds of exercise to do here, but we won’t because keeping things simple in the run up to your surgery is the best option.
The key to maintaining your fitness is regular exercise, which means you should aim to be active 4-5 times per week.
What kind of exercises should you do? It depends on your current level of fitness. Now is not the time to start a high intensity schedule if you’re not used to it.
Pick 4 of the below to do each week for the 12 weeks (or however long you have) leading up to your procedure.
- 30 minute yoga session
- 30 minute brisk walk
- 15 minute HIIT workout
- 45 minute weight training session
- 60 minute spin class
- 60 minute body pump/attack class
- 30 minute swim session
A mix of 4 sessions per week from the list above will keep things varied and work your muscular and cardiovascular systems sufficiently to maximise your fitness gains.
Here are some HIIT home workout videos to try for yourself at home. If you’d prefer a weights based program, check out these full body weights workouts. Or you can find numerous yoga sessions on YouTube.
Sometimes we all need a helping hand keeping fit, so if you’re in London we can highly recommend Rob Jackson from Minimal FiT. He’s a personal trainer in London, Canary Wharf. We’ve personally worked with him and he comes highly recommended. Check him out on Facebook.
If you’re planing on coming out to Thailand earlier than your surgery, there are some great places to train. Unit-27 is one such place we would recommend trying out. We personally train there and love their classes.
For more information on places to train, please get in touch and we will be able to assist you.
Healthy Eating Guide
The first point to make here is this. Eating healthy has two key parts to it:
- Removing the processed, high sugar, high saturated fat, fast foods and drinks
- Increasing fresh, whole fruit and vegetables
It sounds simple in theory, and it is, but in practice it’s very hard to do because most food products available today are heavily processed.
Most of the isles in the supermarket contain packaged, processed foods. Yes, that includes cereal, bread and juices like orange juice in a container.
For more information on which foods to avoid, check out this post to boost your healthy eating results.
What does a clean eating day look like?
Good question. The example below has been taken from this 7-day meal plan. The basic idea is to eat a good balance of carbs, protein and healthy fats all from minimally processed, fresh foods.
The best way to do that is to keep things simple. Think porridge oats or eggs for breakfast, salad for lunch and oven cooked meat and veg for dinner.
Healthier snack alternatives
The biggest hurdle most people have to overcome is snacking. Even when you’re eating 3 good, healthy meals a day snacks can sometimes double the amount of calories consumed per day.
Snacks like chocolate bars, crisps and those touted as “healthy low calorie” options usually contains lots of chemicals and they’re the ones to avoid.
If you need to snack, try finding some healthier alternatives. Here is an infographic to help you pick some healthy, filling and slimming snack options instead.
To wrap it up…
The takeaway from all this is that you’re in control of a large part of how your surgery and recovery goes. You can control your exercise and eating habits to make sure you’re as fit, healthy and strong as possible to aid the recovery process.
This work starts weeks or months before your procedure. Making some small, but consistent changes such as those outlined above will pay off massively.
And they don’t have to just be for the weeks leading up to your cosmetic procedure. These habits can be kept indefinitely to make your life better.
