Physical exercise and loss of weight and body mass index in bariatric surgery: a systematic review

Introduction: bariatric surgery is considered successful when the percentage of weight loss is equal to or higher than 25 %, or when the percentage loss of body mass index occurs above 50 % long-term. Objective: to analyze the effect of physical exercise on body weight and body mass index before and/or after bariatric surgery. Methodology: articles registered in the PudMed, Scopus and Web of Science databases were searched for original papers with open access in English and Spanish that compared one or more physical exercise programs as treatment before and/or after bariatric surgery, with results on initial and final weight and body mass index, muscle mass, and fat mass from January to April 2021. Results: a total of 730 articles were obtained in the different databases and only 7 were selected for the analysis. Aerobic exercise combined with resistance training showed a greater decrease in the percentage of weight loss (% PP) and the percentage of loss of body mass index (% PBMI). Conclusions: aerobic physical exercise in combination with endurance training is the most applied program in subjects with bariatric surgery, and the most important effects are an increase in percentage of weight loss and a decrease in body mass index.