Back injury but need some cardio

cyphacipher

A few years back I hurt the first disk in my back. I ended up gaining alot of weight from the steroids and injections and different meds they gave me. Was extremely painful to walk, but I somehow managed and went from 265 to 230 which eased the pain alot and allowed me to live normally. Now I've gained alot of weight and need to get back down to -230, so I need to lose 50+ lbs. Biking at the gym doing 10 miles in 45 min doesn't seem to help (did 8 weeks and lost NO WEIGHT). What can I do that won't hurt me so much?
Edit: I forgot to mention that they built a Planet Fitness near me, and I workout 5 days a week (Mon, Wed, Fri. cardio and weights 2 hours), (Tues, Thurs. Cardio only). I can do elliptical a little (15-20min) until the pain overwhelm me, the treadmill is out due to the constant jarring banging.

Cbestinme

Swimming? Are you getting advice from a doctor or PT? That kind of professional advice could help prevent further injury.

cyphacipher

Yea, I got advice from the Dr. With my MRI showing the disc bulged and slightly cracked he recommended swimming and low impact. I started biking and was good at it, logging about 70 miles a week, but became discouraged when I didnt lose any weight. My legs are massive though... but I need the weight gone.

seska422

Weight loss requires consuming fewer calories than you burn. Exercise is great but you won't lose weight if you are consuming more calories than your body is using.

Log your food for a couple of weeks so that you have some data. You can then look back through to see where you might eat smaller portions and/or substitute calorie-dense foods with other foods that you also like.

CattOfTheGarage

If you didn't lose weight over a significant period, it's not the fault of your choice of exercise - you were simply eating too much to lose. Exercise alone has very poor outcomes for weight loss, as we will naturally become hungrier and eat more to compensate for it. I suggest taking up cycling again if your doctor approves - it's a great low impact exercise - but this time, track your calories accurately to make sure you are in a deficit.

The truth is, you do not need to exercise at all to lose weight, it's all about that deficit. Exercise allows you to eat a little more - but only a little! It's not obligatory. Of course it's also good for health, but not if it's aggravating your injury.

VintageFeline

Echoing the others. Exercise when not paired with calorie control, will make no difference to weight. You need to consume fewer calories than you do currently to lose weight.

Put your stats into MFP, eat what it tells you by logging as accurately as possible.

jondspen

Unfortunately you're limited on cardio with a bad back. Mine is messed up from the military, so I know what you're dealing with. Swimming and biking are your main two options for cardio. Sounds like to lose the weight you will need to start on a diet; In your case, I don't think exercise alone will get the weight off you. Be nice if you could get some type of high intensity cardio in, but would probably NOT be good on the back.

Here are some links that may give you some pointers or ideas....

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/lobliner24.htm
http://www.bodybuilding.com/content/which-cardio-methods-melt-fat-the-fastest.html
https://breakingmuscle.com/strength-conditioning/why-steady-state-cardio-for-fat-loss-is-a-bad-decision

Cbestinme

cyphacipher wrote: »

Yea, I got advice from the Dr. With my MRI showing the disc bulged and slightly cracked he recommended swimming and low impact. I started biking and was good at it, logging about 70 miles a week, but became discouraged when I didnt lose any weight. My legs are massive though... but I need the weight gone.

So doctor recommended swimming. Did you talk to doctor about biking? Did you also see a physical therapist? Sometimes supervised healing, even if slow, may work better in long run, even if anxious for more vigorous activities.

janekana

Cycling for 45 mins is more than enough to give you that cardio exercise, to be honest weight loss isn't as reliant on exercise as it is on diet since there have been people who did little to no exercise but controlled their diet and lost a lot of weight. You may want to look through your logging, get a food scale, and tighten it up more if you find that you haven't lost any weight.

Cbestinme

Great post on the weight loss, that is spot on.
OP the bottom line on weight loss is all about calories in calories out.

cyphacipher

I still cycle 5 days a week on a machine. Haven't taken my bike out the house in a while. The only reason I didn't take the swimming option is I can't swim and I work a 8-5 so there's no real options to do it. Biking was a more convenient choice. I have been posting my stats in MFP for the last week, and I've lowered my calorie intake significantly since the PF opened.

crzycatlady1

seska422 wrote: »

Weight loss requires consuming fewer calories than you burn. Exercise is great but you won't lose weight if you are consuming more calories than your body is using.

Log your food for a couple of weeks so that you have some data. You can then look back through to see where you might eat smaller portions and/or substitute calorie-dense foods with other foods that you also like.

This. I lost over 50lbs without doing any exercise at all. Zip, nada, nothing. Improved all my health markers in the process as well. Get your calorie intake under control and you'll start to see progress.

Cbestinme

cyphacipher wrote: »

I still cycle 5 days a week on a machine. Haven't taken my bike out the house in a while. The only reason I didn't take the swimming option is I can't swim and I work a 8-5 so there's no real options to do it. Biking was a more convenient choice. I have been posting my stats in MFP for the last week, and I've lowered my calorie intake significantly since the PF opened.

That's good that you are logging your food. So long as you stay below / within the calories you will lose weight. One week is too soon to see results, stick with mfp for a few more months. Is your goal something like 1 pound per week or so. If you stick with mfp you'll see it works.

For the other stuff (injuries), doctor, physical therapy could help. Good luck!

cyphacipher

Thanks for the sound advice everyone.

kshama2001

I have back pain off and on (right now on ) and cranky knees. I don't like the treadmill or elliptical but do fine walking on dirt paths in the woods. I started with about 20 minutes and worked up to 75 minutes plus hills.