Do you have a gym in your community or nearby? If so, my suggestion is to talk with a personal trainer. Does your hospital have a Physical Therapist on staff? If so, my suggestion is to talk to this person and ask for guidance.

Why not begin working out in a gym and placing some emphasis either on a walking machine and/or doing some walking outdoors. As you feel the urge jog a little in between the walking and see how it goes without pushing yourself or jarring anything loose. The other exercise machines will help your muscular structure and your lung capacity.

Set yourself a few goals; do not set 'superficial' related goals, instead go for 'performance' based goals. E.g., instead of "I want a 6pack!" make it "I want to be able to run 5k!". It will take a long time to get results if your after superficial results; performance results are immediately available. This will mean your motiviation is enforced more often!

A good body is a mixture of diet, genetics, age and effort. The cold hard facts are if you're on the wrong side of 30 and don't have good genetics, the days of having a rippling 6pack are just about gone.

So lets look at each in turn -
DIET
Doesn't play as much of a role as you think; especially if young with good genetics. But pretty much, anything in moderations is A-OK. Forget about calorie counting, no point. Just eat healthily; you know whats healthy. Lean meat sandwich = healthy. Tripple quarter-pounder = not so healthy. Don't have to suffer and go hungry, just don't eat 2 mars bars, 15 cheeseburgers and 13 quarterpounders for lunch.

GENETICS
Not much you can do here; you've either got it or you don't. When you were 18/19/20, could you eat what you wanted without gaining weight? Were you naturally slim? If so, you've got good genetics. If not, you don't. Pretty much just means your going to have to work harder. But for a highly motivated individual this is no problem.

AGE
If you approaching the big eight-five, I think its pretty obvious that an exercise schedule is more likely to induce a heart-attack than a 6pack than for a 20 year old. Whilst these are the extremes, it is a sliding scale. The younger you are, the easier it will be. Once again though, if you're older, putting in extra effort wont be a problem for highly motivated individuals.

EFFORT
Now this is what really sets people apart. Do you really want it? Would you like it.. or do you want? Do you want it handed to you on a platter.. or are you prepared to work hard and take it? Hard works pays off. That simple. You want it - you'll get it.

In terms of what to do..
If you want the 6pack to be visible you have to get rid of the layer of fat covering your abdominal muscles. To achieve this, we do high intensity cardiovascular exercise; but unfortunately we can't do it everyday because we're unmotivated slugs who cant work hard everyday. So we mix it in with easy exercise so we don't go soft and stop training.

So.. hows 3 days a week of running sound? Sounds good to me. Make one day HARD! Two days easy. As you get better increase distance, pace etc. Getting fit is all effort, the more you put in the more you get out. Every single way of training is effective; some are moreso than others, but regardless, no matter what you do, if you work hard, you'll get results.

So thats how you get fit and loose weight. If you want to talk weight-training, ask again in the future and we'll go over it than. But, get your head around this first.

Mike,

So much depends upon the type of surgery, how your recovery has gone and measurements that can only be taken in person. Talk to your doctor and get a recommendation to a good physical therapist and/or personal trainer. Giving you recommendation over the net is malpractice.

Its always a good idea to check with your doctor after surgery. Sometimes a walk for about 30 mins is the best way to start off.

About six months ago I got diagnosed with High Blood Pressure. The heart doctor told me to lose 15 to 20 lbs, but also told me that he didn't recommend me exercising at this point in time (he didn't think my heart could take it). He then told me to cut out caffiene and lower my salt intake. Believe it or not, just by not drinking sodas and not touching the salt shaker I was able to lose 20 lbs. Might be something to look at for you.