Objective To investigate the latent categories and influencing factors for exercise self⁃efficacy of patients in physical⁃activity intention stage after bariatric and metabolic surgery. Methods Employing convenience sampling method, 100 patients receiving bariatric and metabolic surgery whose physical⁃activity status was determined as the intention stage were selected as the research subjects. Investigation was performed using general data inventory, Exercise Self⁃Efficacy Scale (ESES), Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS), Social Support Rating Scale (SSRS), Self⁃Regulation Scale (SRS). Potential profile analysis was performed on exercise self⁃efficacy of patients in physical⁃activity intention stage after bariatric and metabolic surgery, and multivariate Logistic regression model was adopted to analyze the influencing factors for exercise self⁃efficacy of patients. Results The exercise self⁃efficacy of patients in physical⁃activity intention stage after bariatric and metabolic surgery could be divided into three latent categories as follows: high exercise self⁃efficacy (35.00%), medium exercise self⁃efficacy (42.00%), or low exercise self⁃efficacy (23.00%). There were statistically significant differences in per capita monthly income of the family, pre⁃ and post⁃operative body mass index change values, postoperative duration, HADS score, SSRS score, and SRS score between the two groups (P<0.05). Multivariate Logistic regression analysis revealed that per capita monthly income of the family, pre⁃ and post⁃operative body mass index change values, postoperative duration, HADS score, SSRS score, and SRS score were the influencing factors for exercise self⁃efficacy of patients in physical⁃activity intention stage after bariatric and metabolic surgery (P<0.05). Conclusion There is heterogeneity in exercise self⁃efficacy of patients in physical⁃activity intention stage after bariatric and metabolic surgery, and it is affected by economic status, surgical effect, postoperative duration, anxiety and depression, social support and self⁃regulation ability.