I'll start with my umbilical hernia surgery was worse than most. I had one done more than a decade previously. The mesh had been put over the muscle which was a more common practice back then. Unfortunately, the old mesh was caught up with a bunch of soft tissue and it had to be ripped out. After that, they cut through the muscle to put the new mesh in. I was in a lot of pain for a while.
Between a lengthy amount of research and discussions with my Dr., I knew I was going to be away from lifting for 12 weeks. Immediately I started to panic. All I could think about is how I was going to waste away during that time. Or even worse, get fat. There was no way I was going to let that happen.
I am now 12 weeks out of umbilical surgery and just getting back to training with weights. The other day I received a question on social media on how I stayed in shape without being able to train? The answer was easy, but the discipline was not. I controlled the only thing I could, my diet.
I think I have held it together pretty well. I'm at same bodyweight I was pre-surgery. During my layoff, I was meticulous with my calories. It has been such a long hard road to get in decent shape, I certainly wasn't going to let it fall apart. In addition, I felt quality nutrition would help with recovery. Actually, I even increased my calories by 300 a day over the three months by reverse dieting. I was really pleased with this considering how sedentary I was with no training or work.
The only thing I was allowed to do physically was walk. So as soon as I could, I started. I literally struggled to make a trip down the hallway and back. All I wanted to do was be able to get up and go outside. When I felt strong enough to do so, I started walking to the end of the driveway and back. One day I walked down the street which is pretty level and the next day I paid for it with pain in my abdomen. So I even had to dial walking back a bit, but little by little I increased my distances.
So that was that. A good diet and a little walking went a long way. So if you are down and out don't use it as an excuse to start eating garbage or eat out of boredom. It's not going to help you in any way. In fact, it will probably not help your body recover and even worse it could cause you to be depressed. Instead, control what you can like I did.
Lastly, about coming back after surgery. Here's the best advice I can give, frontload your recovery. I can't tell you how many lifters I have talked to that still have nagging issues because they came back from surgery too early. Those extra weeks you take off to fully recover will pay huge dividends down the road.