Concussion Chronicles #2: The Surprising Truth About 5 Weeks Without Workouts

In this podcast episode of 'Life Boost with Amelia,' host Dr. Amelia, an integrative health and life coach, shares her personal journey of recovering from a concussion and how she coped with over five weeks of physical inactivity. Despite being someone who loves staying active, Amelia discusses the unique challenges she faced and the surprising results of this forced break. Discover how she navigated the emotional and physical aspects of her recovery, the strategies she used to minimize strength loss, and the powerful lessons on the importance of gentle movements and honoring your body's need for rest and nourishment.

Transcript:

Welcome to the Life Boost with Amelia podcast where we're changing the narrative around what true health and success look like. They should give you energy, not drain it. I'm your host, Dr. Amelia multi-passionate integrative health and life coach, entrepreneur, and recovered burnout veterinarian.

Together, we'll explore the science behind how your brain and body work, including the unconscious mind while also connecting with what your heart needs in order to stand up to the norm of feeling stuck on a hamster wheel -working hard yet feeling exhausted and not where you want to be- and instead live a life that makes you excited to get out of bed in the morning and in love with who you see when you look in the mirror.

The reality is if you do what everyone else is doing, you're not going to feel good. Let's break the norm.

This Is A Dance, Not A Race

Hi friend. I am on my morning walk, so it is time for concussion story number two, so I'm six months. Woah, phew, a few six weeks out from getting a concussion and I had been feeling pretty good, but actually today not so hot, and that has definitely been part of this concussion recovery process. I have started to see it like a dance, so I will be having some steps forward and then some steps back, and really trying to see this as learning a dance versus going backwards, you know, imagining that it's a race.

The Guessing Game

So yesterday, it's always a guessing a game of like, Hmm, why? Why does my head hurt today? Why did I take that step back in that dance? And to be honest, I think there are many things. I went for a long walk. I had my weighted vest for the first time and then I had gone for a long walk and then I needed to pee, but I was still like maybe a quarter mile away from my house.

And so I decided to run so that I could get home faster and um, I need to be cautious with high intensity stuff. I haven't been doing that yet, so that probably pissed off my brain a little bit while it's still trying to heal. And then I'm just thinking about lots of things. Uh, I spent a lot of time on my computer because of, , working and dreaming about the changes that I'm making to my six month coaching program.

Lesson Learned

So lesson learned, and this is a time when I am wanting to move forward towards things and I can't go at the pace that I want to, and I'm recognizing that that isn't a bad thing even though it feels bad. So many of these old patterns have surfaced with this new challenge, old thought patterns, what I consider malware from hustle or diet culture.

These thoughts that "more is better", "faster is better".

Fear-Based Thoughts

And when it comes to my body, there's a really interesting observation that happened. That might be something. I think that's what we can talk about today. So, when I realized that I like couldn't walk or work out, it was really interesting observing what thoughts came up around that because I've done so much healing when it comes to unlearning messages from diet culture of restrict and push your body, and that equals health and having a body that feels good.

Just so not true and unhelpful. And so I know I used to really not fuel my body in a way that was proportional to the exercise that I did and I used to, do such extreme exercise, like we're talking like running miles to like a burn bootcamp, super high intensity type workout.

And then after it running miles back home, or I do like two insanity workouts, one after the other, or, just so much running and no time for my body to repair and not fueling it, and that is why I would get injured.. So I have unlearned so much of that. I prioritize days for my body to recover. I see food as such important fuel for my body if I want it to perform the way that I want it to,

A Whole New Level of Pausing

…but this was a whole new level of pausing and not being able to do physical activity for an unknown amount of time. I didn't know if it was gonna be weeks or months, and so the thoughts that instantly came up were fear-based. They were, Ooh, you better restrict because of this fear of maybe gaining weight, losing all my strength.

And so the thoughts went to what can I control? And that old malware conditioning that less is better.

And the the thing is that now I can observe those thoughts. And I can dismiss them. I can see that that's coming from a place of fear and it's totally unhelpful because what I needed to be doing was healing and I, early on, I set that intention.

Setting the Intention

My focus right now is not to have the optimal body it is to heal.

And so what does my body need in order to heal? It needs to feel supported. It needs all of the building blocks that it needs. It needs signals of safety, and that means rest and lots of nourishment, all those nutrients that my body needs because those are the building blocks it's going to use to repair my body.

And the brain is like almost two to three pounds, such a tiny percentage of our body, and yet it uses at least 20% of our total energy. And so as my brain was repairing, I had no idea how many calories that was going to use, but I wasn't about to air on the side of too little. Right? That makes no sense. I would really like my brain to heal and to function the way that it once did.

Prioritizing Protein & Energy

The other thing was that if I wanted to be maintaining muscle, cutting back wasn't going to be helpful. Especially if I wasn't able to be doing strength training like normal. And so really prioritizing protein, and energy to maintain as much strength as I could was a priority.

And so I set that intention really early on that this is a season of healing right now. That is my primary goal, and it's totally okay if I lose strength. It is okay if my body gets softer or if I gain some weight. Because I also have complete confidence in my ability to regain strength and to be the weight that feels my best when it's time to do that.

Releasing Control

And that was such a huge shift for me not needing to control everything because there's so much unknown. But instead, having confidence in my ability to listen to my body and to give it what it needs during seasons of healing or strength.

What Happened After 5–6 Weeks

And so here is what happened with five or six weeks of not being able to do my normal activity. So, instead of focusing on what I couldn't do and just giving up, because that would've been so easy. Like I couldn't walk like 50 feet going for a walk outside.

The first few weeks couldn't go outside because it was so hot and my doctor said that I shouldn't put too much strain on my body and traditional workouts were out of the question, and instead I focused each day on what can I do to move my body in a way that feels good?

Small Movements That Helped

So one big thing I focused on was mobility. Just different stretches and helping to make sure that if I was more sedentary, I wasn't getting stiff, I was improving my mobility.

And then I also, just did whatever I could do. And so like little exercise snacks that were gentle. That looked like today, can I do five body weight squats?

And if that felt okay, I would do that a few times throughout the day. Can I do a bird dog core move, then I'm gonna do that. Some days I couldn't do yoga, some days I could. And so what was a short, really gentle yoga flow that I could do?

A Breakthrough Day

And here's the interesting thing that happened. So this week Monday was a really big day for me because,

i've been gradually testing how weights feel. And on Monday it was the first time I went back to trying to do the weights I had done pre-con concussion. And I actually was able to do more than I have been able to for my lower body.

And so I found that so interesting that continuing to nourish and fuel my body in a way that felt good, and even just little movements of using muscles, even though it wasn't anywhere near the amount of weights I typically do helps to maintain most of my strength, and there are some areas I found that I have lost a little bit of strength, like my grip strength holding onto a heavy barbell and my upper body because my doctor and physical therapist said that lower body was gentler, but I should be really cautious with upper body just because of increasing blood flow, more being closer to the brain.

Takeaways

And so, in terms of my upper body strength, like shoulder presses, bicep curls, that type of thing, that has decreased a little bit. And I think that in a couple of weeks I'll be back to where I had been. And so what are some takeaways from this?

One is, do not underestimate how powerful little bits of exercise can be.

Little exercise snacks, little squats, just a few throughout the day. Or plank. Notice anytime you think, "Ugh, it's not worth it, that's not gonna make a difference". And know that it is. Because every time you're choosing to do something that is helping your body to be stronger, that is making a difference, right?

Versus the alternative of not. All of those little choices really add up in such a big way.

The other thing is that consistency really makes a difference.

It's probably been like 20 years that I have worked out consistently, sometimes to excess, but my body is used to being strong and fit and when I say consistency, I wanna be clear that this is not mean willpower and discipline, no pain, no gain.

If you truly want to be consistent, it requires you to work with your body and to listen to it and to respect it. That means that when you're starting to feel injured or you typically enjoy your workouts, but you're having a day where you just really don't want to, getting curious about what your body is telling you, making sure that you are giving it enough fuel.

That you are honoring periods of rest because that is so important for growing and strength. So that you're not ending up pushing your body too much and sidelined or mentally just done with it because you haven't been honoring the time to recharge in between.

Non-Exercise Activity (NEAT)

And then the other really interesting observation related to this that I made is that, so I really had to be not doing a lot, and you would think that this would've been a great time to do a lot of art because I do really like art, but that's not something that I often prioritize. But I really was not super interested in doing that at all and I realized that it was because it meant sitting still and I was doing so much of that and so what I was really drawn to, were any little tasks that involved moving my body even a little bit.

We're talking folding laundry. Unloading the dishwasher, organizing my closet, pressure washing. I ended up doing a lot of organizing and little home projects that I had just not felt like I had time for or had neglected because I just wanted to be moving my body, and that's that. NEAT. So non-exercise activity thermogenesis, our bodies like consistency.

And so, an interesting thing that happens is often on days that you work out, your body will naturally fidget and move less than on a day when you didn't work out. You're more likely to be moving your body in not traditional exercise ways because your body's just always trying to maintain this equilibrium.

And so I really felt that I was very drawn to opportunities to move in a way that was really gentle because. Normally I'm getting like 10,000 plus steps a day and I was getting nowhere near that. So just keep that in mind. And also notice, on days when you don't work out, does that mean that you are actually more motivated to be doing things even like unloading your dishwasher or gardening or walking a little bit more.

Those things really actually end up making even more of a difference than, traditional workouts.

Reflection

So I'm curious, how do you think that you would react to suddenly not being able to move in the way that you would? Would you have had thoughts that you better cut back or restrict? Would you have intentionally chosen for it to be a healing period and to focus on really helping your body to feel safe and nourished so it could heal?

And what season are you in right now? Are you trying to do two things at once that aren't compatible? Like are you in a season of needing to heal or to shift out of survival mode, and at the same time, expecting your body to change your weight or build strength?

And if that is the case, remember that the very first step is helping your body to feel safe because it's only in that parasympathetic state that we are able to heal and grow and recharge and to thrive.

That's all for now. Sending you so much love, positive vibes and energy.