AIBU to worry about losing all my fitness?

[DistantSkye]

Maybe my priorities are all wrong here but I am freaking out!

I have a very recently developed herniated disc which is causing numbness in my leg and severe foot drop. The pain is well controlled and I am under urgent neurosurgery review so I am happy with my care and am not looking for spine advice (well meaning as it may be I think it will send my anxiety into overdrive!)

What I am really worried about is potential weight gain and fitness loss. My exercise of choice has always been weightlifting/CrossFit and running. And I've been told I can't do that. At all. Partly because of my lack of mobility and I guess there's a risk of making the herniation worse. And surgery is very likely.

I am allowed to walk and swim. And have some specific stretches to do. However (and this is where I am being unreasonable) I am terrified of weight gain and losing all my fitness if all I can do is walk and swim. Is that enough? I can't even walk quickly atm, I'm on crutches some of the time! I will of course watch what I'm eating but it is hard! And exercise was my mood lifter too so it's a bit of a shock to the system.

I get where you're coming from but swimming is great exercise. Try it.

You are right, I do just need to try it! Think I always forget how good exercise it actually is as I associate it with splashing around with the DC watching endless "aqua gymnastics"rather than an actual proper swim!

DIfferent circumstances, but during my pregnancy I had to stop any high impact exercise (used to run and do a hiit type class, as well as swimming) due to bleeding. I decided that swimming, walking and yoga would be fine and made peace with that, then lockdown one hit, and the pools were shut. Honestly, yoga and daily walks was enough, I had very little weight gain during my pregnancy, back in pre-clothes within a couple of weeks and regained my fitness relatively easily.
Swimming is also amazing exercise, try going to a lanes session. It’s now my main form (with a a couple of weights/strength sessions) and I have no issues maintaining weight, and still get a lovely high afterwards. I do think finding the right pool and time of day to swim for you is important though, as that can massively impact your experience, if that aspect is important to you.

I'm signed off for a bit anyway so I can have a think about times and pools near me. I am lucky to have a bit of a choice!
Thanks - like I said I know my priorities are probably all wrong but this is a huge shock and change for me that came out of the blue!

Hi OP. I had gynae surgery last year and was very fit, weights, yoga, pilates etc. I was at my fittest and slimmest pre-op. (prolapse).

So I rigorously watched my calories in the post op period. I didn't eat more than 1200 cals for about 6 weeks. I was allowed to start doing yoga at this point and had been walking from day one.

I made a 'no biscuits' rule immediately, despite the endless pushing of biscuits and processed bread toast in hospital. I ate entirely UPF free (which is natural for me anyway).

I then got back to exercising and I'm now 6 months out and have had several set backs, but still haven't put on more than a pound or two.

Ask if you can use paddles with the swimming, this way you can really work on triceps and aerobic activity.

Your priorities were exactly mine too.
Just a caution, I ate so little post op I found it impossible to do a poo for a couple of weeks and ended up relying on laxatives and suppositories.