Crawling My Way Back To The Fit Life

I am starting another book of my fitness series. Here I share its first chapter as I am crawling my way back to the fit life after brain surgery.

Lately, I have been writing a lot about blogging and social media. If you are new to my site and had the chance to read only my most recent articles, you might be wondering about the name of my blog. Why “Debbie in Shape”? If you have been around for longer, maybe you are thinking that I am going through some rebranding. Truth though is that I am still unable to workout as I used to be. In fact, I have not been able to do any physical activity since end March.

[Tweet “Read how I am crawling my way back to the fit life after brain surgery. #fitness #beginning”]

Writing about something as distant to my reality as training at the moment would feel unnatural. I could check the latest news in dieting and exercising and post something to you. But that is not me! This blog is about my experience and sharing knowledge that I get to improve your level of fitness, well-being and skills. For now I have been focusing more in helping others with their blog, social media presence and brand because that is something I can do. But I am looking forward getting back on track again and being able to balance things more.

Unfortunately, last April 23rd I went for a walk and things went bad. I had to mail letters to the health insurance related to my surgery. As my boyfriend was still home, I thought it could be a good idea to walk since I had companion. It was a bad idea though. The distance from home to the post office and back was about 1 mile. One mile that took me 50 minutes to cover and that got me in pain and tears on my way home. Now I know it was too much. But try to think of someone as active as I am not being able to walk…

This month I started walking outside. It is not anything fancy or a wild plan. My first appointment with my surgeon will only take place on May 19th. Until then, I have to take it easy and focus on my rehabilitation. So is what the plan then?

I did some research on the Internet on plans “from couch to walk”. I found some interesting ones. But they all had one thing in common: the participant must already be able to walk for 15 minutes non-stop in the beginning. Well, I guess it excludes me since I do not consider what I have done “walking”. And it was full of stops! So the solution for me is to put together a plan on my own. A plan in line with my physical conditional now. Here is what it looks like:

My ambitions are not high as you can see. My walk from May 1st proved to be the best approach. I was so tired after only 5 minutes that I had to take a long nap in the afternoon. It was already stretching my limits a lot! I am always leaving at least one day between my walks. I want to make sure my body is fully recovered before I move on.

The idea is walking non-stop at an average pace. I am using RunKeeper to follow up my speed as I go. It makes no sense to me to rush myself in the first minutes and then have to call for help on the way back. Note that I am doing this walk alone. I must be extra careful.

I put the four-leaf clover on the day that is going to be my major challenge. On May 19th, I have my appointment with my surgeon. My plan is to walk my way to hospital and back (as I normally do). According to Google maps it is a 1.6km distance and it should take me 21 minutes to cover it. I am hoping that things will go better on May 19th than on April 23rd. It is almost a month difference between the 2 dates. Still, please wish me luck!

My knees are the only concern I have these days. They feel very weak and I am not confident in putting much pressure on them. It is not like they hurt though. But I noticed that I have been walking with bad posture because of that.

Another reason why I am starting this slow is to avoid compensation. My overall form has to be the best I can get. It is necessary that I develop proprioception in this new situation I am experiencing. No need to go crazy, hurt myself, feel unwell or develop bad postural habits. It is not because I am “just” walking that I should ignore the basics. Ideally, we should always aim for optimal posture.

[Tweet “We need to walk before we can run. #recovery #fitness”]

I hope I did not bored you much with this revalidation blog. I will be posting my updates on Instagram. If you want to check who I am crawling my way back to the fit life, please make sure you follow me there.

Have you ever gone through a similar situation that you had to restart from scratch? What is your fitness level at the moment? Are you afraid of starting because you are “too behind”?

If you have any questions or comments, I am looking forward hearing from you.

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Wishing you all a fit week!
#DebbieinShape

* You can also find me on:
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*I am a certified Personal Trainer, but I am not a Health Care Provider. I do not have the intention of prescribe any medical orientation. Any reliance you place on the information provided on this post is therefore strictly at your own discretion.