Weight loss after foot injury

jessihaynes

I injured my foot last year, and I still have pain in it when I walk, jog, ride a bike, etc. I have gained about 100lbs, and would really like to start getting back into shape. Can I get rid of my body fat with only diet and weight machines, or would I only bulk up under my fat? Any advice to what some good next steps are appreciated.

Christine_72

Weight loss starts in the kitchen. Exercise is for health and fitness.
Work out your tdee and -20% to get to the calories you need to lose, or just enter your stats into mfp.

cheekitty

Talk to a doctor first; they may have some suggestions on what you can do that won't aggravate the injury.

Re: exercise, fitness is not my area of expertise. I've been told it's very good to do both cardio as well as weights, and that you shouldn't be concerned about bulking up unless you're specifically going after that (supplements and other things are involved with bulking that most people that are going for general health won't do as a matter of course).

If you're just getting started, there's a lot of Youtube videos out there for beginner's yoga, which may keep the weight off that bad foot while still getting you some movement. Worth a shot?

ktr777

Swimming would be a good cardio alternative that would take some of the strain off of your injured foot. Also lots of low impact body weight core centric moves like rows and all varieties of sit up.

deksgrl

All you need to do is have a calorie deficit in order to lose weight. Since you have 100 pounds to lose, you can reasonably set your MFP goal to lose 2 pounds per week.

Exercise helps create a larger calorie deficit, and is good for your health of course, but not necessary to lose weight only. However, yes, you should continue with the machines. This will help you preserve your lean body mass while you lose weight, which is beneficial for your look and for health. No, you won't bulk up if you are eating at a calorie deficit.

ww1900

first of all, are you under a doctor's care? you need to figure out why the pain is still there after so long. does an ibuprofen before exercise help?

you said a bike still causes pain, but have you tried a recumbent exercise bike on low resistance? when I had foot pain, I could still do this, and gradually built up to some pretty good calorie burning speeds/duration.

they make hand/arm only exercise cycles, but those are pretty rare to find in a normal gym. maybe a rehab facility.

how about swimming? or boxing? or elastic bands for arm movements? chair aerobics?

really anything that gets the heart rate up

evileen99

If you're eating at a deficit, you're not going to build muscle. And women don't generally "bulk up" from weight training; gaining enough muscle to grow in size is hard and takes years.

This is a picture of a woman at her goal weight on the left, and on the right, after a weight training program. Even though she's 14 pounds heavier on the right, does she look "bulky" to you?