2021, the year I try my best to love myself a bit more

MissBraeBee

Hi all!

I'm a 29 y/o lady who is currently 284lbs. Years ago, I broke my back, 2 vertebraes and one exploded, my tailbone broke too. I'm lucky to be walking today, was very close from ending up paralyzed from the waist down. Now, my back is hurting more and more, I feel my time is getting shorter and shorter, my quality of life declining. I've been overweight all of my adult life and most of my teenage years to be honest. Tried many diets, workouts, etc. Could never lose weight. But for some reason, 2021 seems to be my year. I restarted using MFP around a month ago, so far lost around 5lbs. I noticed calculating and checking what I eat helps me realize what I should and shouldnt put in my body.

But anyway, I wanted to check if any of you had tips to make my core stronger without having to be on my back too much or else I hurt myself everytime.

Looking forward to some helpful discussions

AnnofB

Welcome back MissBraeBee. 5 lbs down is great. Just keep doing what you are doing.

I broke my back last year, L1 to be exact. The most excruciating pain I've ever experienced. Did you doc ever speak about what was safe and not safe to do? Since it's been a few years, you might have a good idea already of what you should and shouldn't do.

Have you been working out regularly, but avoiding ab work or are you just starting to get back into working out?
You can find some standing ab routines on youtube to try. Watch them first to see if they are a good fit for what you are trying to accomplish.

I wish you good health and continued success in your weight loss journey. 🙂

MissBraeBee

I see a chiropractor each month for my back, it improved my quality of life a ton but since I restarted working out around 3 days a week, it seems my back is not liking it. I use resistance bands and booty bands for my workouts My disks are very thin so that is part of the problem too. All of my lowerback is affected. Thank you for your encouragement and hope you are healing well from your back injury!

Speakeasy76

Welcome, and congrats on making the decision to improve your quality of life and on the 5 pound weight loss!

I would definitely recommend going to a physical therapist to help you with core strengthening exercises. He or she will be able to help you come up with core exercises that are appropriate for you, that shouldn't injure you further. I personally have had chronic low back issues due to disc degeneration(but nowhere near as significant as yours), and what the PT's have recommended is not what I could've found myself by looking up basic core/ab exercises. I have also been to a chiropractor, and while I found the adjustments and traction helpful, I really believe it's the exercises that help the most. Otherwise, the problems keep coming back. I personally also have a lot of muscle imbalances throughout my body, so even though I'm pretty strong in some areas, I have some areas that are super weak. Without the help of a PT, I wouldn't know how to correct that.

MissBraeBee

Speakeasy76 wrote: »

Welcome, and congrats on making the decision to improve your quality of life and on the 5 pound weight loss!

I would definitely recommend going to a physical therapist to help you with core strengthening exercises. He or she will be able to help you come up with core exercises that are appropriate for you, that shouldn't injure you further. I personally have had chronic low back issues due to disc degeneration(but nowhere near as significant as yours), and what the PT's have recommended is not what I could've found myself by looking up basic core/ab exercises. I have also been to a chiropractor, and while I found the adjustments and traction helpful, I really believe it's the exercises that help the most. Otherwise, the problems keep coming back. I personally also have a lot of muscle imbalances throughout my body, so even though I'm pretty strong in some areas, I have some areas that are super weak. Without the help of a PT, I wouldn't know how to correct that.

Thank you, yes I'm planning on asking for references for a physical therapist soon, I'm getting so tired to be in pain almost every next day I exercise.

socajam

I agree with everything said above
Have you tried soaking in Epsom salts after your work out - do research on Epsom salts before using