Background: Long-term weight loss and improved health after bariatric surgery require patients to adhere to a healthy post-surgical lifestyle, including regular physical activity (PA). Physical literacy is a holistic, multifaceted concept fundamental to an individual's participation in lifelong PA. Physical literacy and its relationship to motivation to engage in PA after bariatric surgery is currently void from the patient’s journey. Purpose: This study explored a post-bariatric surgical patient population at two hospitals in Northwestern Indiana. It assessed if there was a relationship between perceived physical literacy and motivation to engage in PA after bariatric surgery. Method: This quantitative, non-experimental single-stage survey study used a cross-sectional design. The population was a homogeneous, convenience, non-random sampling of post-bariatric surgical patients who voluntarily and anonymously were invited to an email or postal mailed survey. Results: A total of 128 respondents were included in the final sample. Bivariate correlations revealed significant associations between PPLI Summary score (r = .44, p < .001), sub-scales of Knowledge and Understanding (r = .57, p < .001) and Sense of Self (r = .35, p < .001) with the Autonomous Motivation Index. Linear regression analysis showed that the model significantly predicted the Autonomous Motivation Index F(2, 125) = 23.54, p < .001, adjusted R2 = .31. The Knowledge and Understanding score, which significantly contributed to the model (p < .001), increased by one unit and the Autonomous Motivation Index score increased by 1.37. No significant correlations were found between age, motivation, or perceived physical literacy (p > .05). This suggested that perceived physical literacy (PPL) may play a role in motivating post-bariatric surgical patients to engage in PA.