Weight loss without exercise (while nursing injury)...

teecee60

Need advice as to how to lose weight while following a clean eating plan but unable to do exercise due to knee injury. Do I cut calories to make up the difference? I was following a 1600 calorie plan...should I cut it to 1200?

psuLemon

If you are recovering from an injury, I would eat around maintenance and higher protein to support recovery. You could try to maintain your deficit by lowering calories, but it might prolong your injury if it doesn't have enough resources to rebuild.

ronjsteele1

I broke my leg and tore every ligament and tendon in my ankle 7yrs ago. I ate at what would have been considered maintenance calories for me and I lost 20#'s. I wasn't even trying to lose weight at that point. I was on the couch for 9 months with my leg up (literally) and had multiple surgeries. That was the easiest weight loss I ever had. It takes a lot of energy to heal an injury. Treat your body well during this time so you can heal.

lightenup2016

I recently got a tendon injury in my foot, so couldn't do my usual workouts for at least a week. I did cut back my calories by about 200, and got in a little bit of exercise by using my desk cycle. I ended up losing over a lb that week, and kick-started my weight loss again after a stall. I also felt more rested. Good luck and quick healing!

CattOfTheGarage

I injured my knee 7 months ago, it's just reaching normality now. It wasn't a major injury, just a bad bony bruise, they say, but surprisingly debilitating (would swell up if I did anything strenuous). I did not eat at maintenance during that time, because I was anxious to get some weight off in order to help the healing - when you have a leg injury you really realise how much trouble the extra weight is causing. But I did not try to stick to a big deficit. I set myfitnesspal to lose half a pound a week. It was hard to stick to with no exercise, but I managed it.

If you have a more serious injury, I agree with the others that eating maintenance calories is a better idea, make sure plenty of energy is available for healing.

TavistockToad

If you use mfp numbers then you can still eat 1600 cals?

spiriteagle99

I had a pelvic stress fracture a few years ago and found it pretty easy to cut back on my eating because I wasn't as hungry as I had been while running 5 days a week.

To keep from going stir crazy, you might try doing weights or yoga postures and Pilates exercises that don't stress your knee, or pool running if that doesn't stress the knee too much.

Seffell

TavistockToad wrote: »

If you use mfp numbers then you can still eat 1600 cals?

MFP even for sedentary includes 5k steps a day.