Need advice on my disc bulge
I was told I have a disc bulge 6-7 months back. It happened when I did rack pulls on the Smith machine, after I learnt from the internet that I was not doing enough back work. For eg., bench and squats i could do 1x bw 15 reps but no deadlift and couldn't do a single pull up. Went too heavy first day as it was easy. The soreness didn't go away for weeks and had light pain when bending and sitting.
Checked with ortho surgeon, used meds and did PT. My MRI showed mild bulge in L2-L3, L3-L4, L4-L5 and that I had LSTV (a common problem in the spine from birth). In between, around 2 months back I also found I had severe vitamin d deficiency (\~11.5) and also always had sleep issues. Took some meds and good on that now. Maybe that also slowed my recovery.
As of today even the mild pain is gone and I never had sharp pain or strength loss in legs. I can do my day to day activities without any restrictions, bending and picking up stuff at home. But there is minor tingling / numb like sensation on the underside of one foot. It's on and off and sometimes there's a light burning sensation. I'm continuing my PT exercises - glute, dead bug etc., and stationary bike, treadmill. But scared to go back to weights. My Dr said it might need surgery if it doesn't recover. I want to avoid spine surgery. In the morning I usually wake up completely fine without anything.
I'm 29M, 175cm and 81kg. I used to be \~72kg. Took 2 years off gym because I had a tfcc tear and surgery. Then this happened after I came back to gym and neglected core and in hindsight was over eager to catch up. I was reading online that each kg weight around mid section puts 4kg load on spine. So that's the thing I'm targeting right now. My extra weight is mostly around that area.
I want to understand if I'm on the right track and if there's any advice for me. Will losing the extra 8-9kg help ? I don't know anyone personally who's gone through the same so I have no idea how serious it is and if it is normal for the issue to remain for this long. Another issue is I'm completely avoiding weight training since the injury and its affecting me mentally.