-
Exercises pre hernia surgery
36 yr old female, with reducible inguinal hernia a good candidate for open no mesh repair. My surgery is in December. I’m in school and work full time and unable to take off school to recuperate from surgery to have it done sooner. I discovered the hernia while getting back into working out after losing about 20-30 lbs of muscle following a battle with adrenal insufficiency. Knowing I have a hernia has been a bit of a mind trip and has led me to overthink and prevent myself from being as active as I want to be. Every time I am active, I stop myself as I’m afraid I am going to make things worse. When I work and study I try to use a walking pad and standing desk as much as possible to get movement in. Given my surgery is four months out, I would like to take the time to become active again. I did have a consult with Dr. Towfigh who said working out would be beneficial as I have a left-sided inguinal hernia beginning to form as well but is not quite enough to perform surgery on. I know squats are not the best but are lunges ok? I’ve watched a lot of videos and done research and it’s all overwhelming and contradictory. Did not realize how stuck I would feel with this diagnosis.
Does anyone have any recommendations or specific types of workouts to do? like video links or individuals with good workouts? I am aiming to stick to body weight-5lbs and I like doing yoga, weights and pilates. The pain I have is generally more pelvic floor pain with a bit of direct pain where the hernia is as I just had covid and coughed a bit. Before covid, there was very little direct pain in the area of the hernia.
Any help is very much appreciated.
-
4 Replies
-
Most people can fast diet 5lbs-10lbs easy using reduced caloric intake or greatly reducing carbs/sugar before surgery.
Past that without weights you are looking at something like a fast mimicking diet, caloric deficit, or a legit fast for 48hrs+. FMD, OMAD (one meal a day), water fast, etc. are all there to shock your body into using ketones instead of glucose for most energy function. Keep in mind you want to be metabolically flexible and be able to switch back and forth between the two. That will enable the best results going into and out of those types of fasts.
Pre surgery I did a quick keto and it worked well to shed 10lbs. A lot depends on your current size, build, etc.
Post Surgery I found that FMD every 25 day, normal diet in between (minus a lot of sugar or “bad” carbs), and resistance training. I lost a total of ~40lbs post surgery, gained about 10-15lbs of muscle in about the last 5 months of modest training (no crazy squats or deadlifts), 600 calories per day of cardio (8Mets or higher) on treadmill, resting 1-2 days per week. I wouldn’t do any of these pre-surgery though and I wait 2 years post surgery (too long) before I got serious into training again.
Men obviously have it a lot easier than women because muscle, testosterones, etc.
FMD is probably the best thing I have ever done in my life in regards to losing weight. You can create your own diet using the formula in the Longevity book by Dr. Longo or you can do what I did and buy Prolon 5 day FMD and use it every 25 days. It is kind of pricey but you can’t fail as long as you only eat what is in the box. Keep the gains going in between FMD by eating smart and at least a modest walk if you are unable to safely do anything else.
The only unknown is the adrenal issue. You don’t want to stress that out anymore by going on a fast or cutting carbs without a doctor supervision. I would inquire first with an endocrinologist and see if it is safe given your condition.
-
I would focus more on reducing body fat and making sure that your body chemistry is right. Adrenal insufficiency is a serious conditon, that you can’t exercise your way out of.
And, heavy lifting, with increased abdominal pressure can make the hernia worse, stretching already weakened tissue. So, trying to work out extra hard to get strong in a short amount of time could be counter-productive in the long run. Good luck.
-
also i would use a hernia belt. underworks makes good ones or the guy that made the video i posted. good luck
-
Log in to reply.