Maintaining weight loss after surgery

iwilldoit2018

HI

I have lost nearly 60 pounds since January 2014. I did this through WW, MyFitnessPal and running. Unfortunately, I have had to have ankle surgery and it is impacting my ability to exercise. The surgery was pretty extensive and I am on crutches for several weeks. I am watching my calories and food intake, but I am very fearful of putting weight back on due to the lack of exercise. Any suggestions from others who have been in my situation?

AskTracyAnnK28

Change your activity level to 'sedentary', and continue to eat at a deficit. Remember to weigh, measure and log everything correctly.

Oh - and get well soon!

Francl27

Yep, just switch to sedentary and eat that or a little bit less.

pittdan77

I broke my neck last January. Not surgery but the same net effect. I gained five pounds over two months of total inactivity. I thought it was a pretty good outcome. Setting to sedentary is good but also focus on eating more veggies. Go for the bulk that fills you up. I ate oatmeal when I got hungry and kept plenty of fresh fruit and veggies around. Made lo-cal smoothies too.

iwilldoit2018

Thanks for the suggestion on sedentary, i updated my goals to reflect that. Eating more vegs and filling foods will be my focus. I think I will need to do this for about 3 months until I can get back to running. Thanks for the help

juliafromrf

I have been on crutches for the past 4 weeks and 2 more to come. Surprisingly, I have not gained a single pound although I can't weigh/measure my food and was very active before. For me, not gaining is actually a problem but it might calm you a bit - it's not like you will gain extreme amounts of weight, especially if you keep logging.
What I do though is exercising my abs and arm muscles, or basically exercising every body part I can exercise. Just try to find something that works for you and your current situation.

middlehaitch

There is a large variety if seated exercises on YouTube. They are aimed mainly at the elderly but I am sure you could pick up a few calorie burning tricks.

mewilmes

Using crutches probably does burn calories! When I had ankle surgery, I was wheelchair bound as I was too clutzy to use crutches. Ended up putting the crutch on the toe of my good foot and landing all my weight on my casted foot. Not good and it was the end of my crutch career. Hope you heal well and are back to running as soon as possible.

bvifun

I am now 3 weeks out of 6 weeks in a cast for a fractured foot. I maintained my weight with no problem. This is the You Tube video I used http://youtu.be/gghRn_Dkiuo
I also lay on my back with weights on my good leg (the cast provided weight for the other) and did a lot of leg raises and circles. Also I "obsessed" with isometrics on my legs.....I was so concerned about DVT that I wanted the blood circulating as much as possible. This is the first of several lower extremity injuries/surgery where I have not put on weight. As soon as I could, I went back to weighing myself frequently.
Wishing you rapid healing!

iwilldoit2018

Thank you all for the responses. I haven't begun to use the Youtube videos for some exercise options. I am being quite diligent on the calorie counting and trying to weigh all my food for accuracy. I am able to take off the flexible cast and weigh myself now, that helps.

acpgee

I had ankle surgery in July and had to be strictly non weight bearing for 6 weeks. However, from day 1 I was allowed to hop around on the good foot behind crutches or a walking frame (Zimmer frame). This was actually a very strenuous cardio workout. I preferred hopping behind the walking frame as it requires less coordination than crutches.

According to my HRM, my heart rate would be at 140 within 10 minutes, and my burn rate was about 250 kcal in 30 minutes. That is the same burn rate as my regular workout on the elliptical trainer. I tried to take two 30 minute walks daily, up and down the street on the walking frame. I like being able to consume the extra 500 kcal I get from my cardio workouts.

BTW the burn rate in the MFP database for walking on crutches was spot on for me. The entry was made by someone on my FL who broke her ankle and was in a cast for quite a while. She calibrated the entry to her HRM.

DeWoSa

del b/c unhelpful

Good luck!