The weird thing that accelerated my recovery from surgery...what was yours?

[pintsizedmallrat 470]

I had VSG surgery in September 2021, and had a REALLY rough go of it recovering. I had a really rare set of complications, ended up in the hospital for a week, and generally felt like I was starving to death for 4 or 5 months.

About six months before my surgery, my husband had purchased me a motorcycle. I'm very short, and it was one of the few bikes I had even a prayer of being able to reach the ground on and be able to hold up on my own. I attempted to take the class to learn how to ride and because of the stress of attempting to hold up a 400 pound machine when it was clear my pre-surgery body was still struggling to just carry 150 extra pounds. It was too much. I couldn't finish the class, never got my endorsement on my license, and the bike sat while I was completely terrified of it. After my surgery and I got to a point where I was alert, able to safely drive my car and didn't have concerns about fainting...we traded the too-tall bike for a three-wheeled one that I didn't have to worry about being able to hold up, that fit my dimensions perfectly.

At the time I was doing much better than in the beginning, but I was still struggling to eat. I was 5 months out from surgery and still only eating 4-500 calories a day because it was all that would fit.

Once I got my license and started being able to ride my new toy, though, I was hooked. It BECAME the reason I pushed myself to eat more, the reason I pushed myself to keep myself hydrated, because I needed to make sure I was nourished enough to be safe, and properly fueled enough to keep going as long as I wanted to. Operating the bike also helped build back a lot of the muscle mass I lost while recovering because it's quite a workout on the shoulders, core, and hips to steer and corner. In a matter of a couple months I went from still incredibly weak, and almost still regretting the surgery, to being stronger, more confident, and having successfully lost more weight than I could have imagined when I started this process. 18 months out, I'm in so much better shape than in the beginning, I'm already considering giving two wheels a shot again, and the confidence I gained by coming out the other side of this life-changing process makes me wonder what else I am capable of that I never dreamed I would be.

TL;Dr this is the story of how my weird little motorcycle helped me recover from bariatric surgery.

What is your weird thing that helped you recover and get to know your "new" self?

[Spinoza 1,235]

Oh god I have nothing at all similar but I am so loving your story I just had to say!

[pintsizedmallrat 470]

12 hours ago, Spinoza said:

Oh god I have nothing at all similar but I am so loving your story I just had to say!

Thank you! I think all of us have that one thing we dreamed of doing that our weight was holding us back from, whether it was confidence or physical abilities or limitations. It's exhilarating to get to finally after many, many years get to ride that roller coaster we didn't fit into before, or wear a hairstyle we didn't want to try because it would draw too much attention, or play a sport we admired from a distance for the first time. I love hearing those stories!