Being perfectly mid-life, perhaps it’s a crisis. I mean, aren’t most of those driven by an alarming realization about our own mortality?

If it is in fact a crisis, it’s been one that’s driven mostly positive behavior changes. For the past 12 to 24 months, I’ve been focused on my career, fine-tuning some of my stronger professional talents and tackling challenging projects with aplomb. I’ve leaned in, hard, to my extrovert side, making new friends and ensuring I’m regularly connecting with the long-tenured, dear ones. I’m learning to be a better wife, daughter, granddaughter, and Mama. And I’ve returned, pretty aggressively, to the weightlifting, yoga, running, walking, and general fitness schedule of my 20s and 30s.

I won’t say I’m quite back into the shape of those bygone decades, but I am – or was – in the absolute best shape of my 40s, in several metrics.

Yup, was.

In December, I made the decision, after years of miserable symptoms paired with new warning signs, to have a hysterectomy. Everything out, save for one healthy ovary.

It was the right decision, but I knew the recovery period – which varies for everyone, but generally means little to nothing for six to eight weeks, moderate activity for eight to twelve, and mayyyyybe a return to “normal” in three to six months – was going to be tough, mentally and emotionally.

I had to make peace with losing some of my gains, but did I have to lose all of them?

Enter Jessica Valant Pilates, 8 lb. dumbbells, miles of walking, and … The Cubii Total Body.

You don’t have to watch much daytime television (something that has certainly ticked up around here in the time since my date with the scalpel) to have heard ads for seated ellipticals. Generally, they’re geared more toward a demo even grayer than I am. That said, as I ran around getting everything just so in advance of my surgery, I was intrigued by the concept, musing that this might be a nice, non-impact way to get a little cardio in as my insides knit themselves back together.

Most seated ellipticals out there – you can find many on Amazon – are quite inexpensive, but the price, based on my research and user reviews, does appear to have a correlative relationship to the quality.

At $440, the Cubii Total Body is an investment. With its portability (weighing in at roughly 27 pounds), wide elliptical pedals and light, attached resistance bands, I rationalized the spend by planning to keep it under my desk once I was back to work, pedaling away and occasionally doing a few rows while crafting copy. Sitting is, after all, the new smoking. (More on how this is impacting my workdays later.)

Upon unboxing, assembly is very simple, and the Cubii will require a charge to bring it to full power. You can set resistance from 1 (very, very easy) to 10 (shockingly hard). The attached resistance bands are quite light, and won’t provide a challenge to serious gym-goers, even post-op ones like your truly.

I was close to a week out of surgery before I dared try more than a few gentle pedals and pulls, but as I got stronger, the Cubii became addictive. Swoosh whoosh whoosh. I set goals via the app, modest at first, and looked forward to meeting them each day. I started my recovery pedaling journey at a 3 resistance, and now, five weeks out of surgery and back to work, I’ve bumped up to 6. Swoosh whose whoosh. It’s enough to feel I’m doing something without it detracting from my productivity. Even better, it’s not distracting to others: The Cubii is mouse-quiet; perfect to use surreptitiously during meetings. I’ve wrapped up my first week back to work, and I’ve pedaled between 1.5 and 2 miles each day.

Is it an amazing calorie burn? Not really, but I do credit it to helping me manage my weight during this period of light activity. Through walking, daily Cubii pedaling, and a very careful, heavy-on-the-plants diet, I’ve lost almost eight pounds from my first post-op weigh-in. Not bad!

My husband loves it too! He mindlessly pedals away while reading or watching TV, commenting that the Cubii’s smooth movements have an almost zen, meditative quality. Our sixth grader has Cubii pedaling competitions with friends, so, really, it’s a full family favorite.

There’s additional free content on the app that’s kind of fun, too. You can join groups, compete against friends, and even take recorded, instructor-led classes with different themes, like Total Body Mobility and HIIT. I have taken two, and will probably try others.

One CON: The right-hand band somehow got twisted and won’t quite untwist, so the bands now have uneven resistance. Maybe that’s useful – it is a little more challenging now!

Overall, I RECOMMEND the Cubii, with a caveat – the bands are, as mentioned, very light, and perhaps not worth the price difference from the more basic Cubii models. (And, of course, there’s the odd twisting we couldn’t figure out how to fix.) Pedal on, friends!