broken with a non-weight bearing leg.....help

onawho

Hello and thanks in advance for reading and offering suggestions. I recently broke my ankle/leg in 4 places and have been assigned bed rest from my doctor for the next 5 weeks. I broke my leg on Jan 29th and I am half way though my recovery. That being said, I joined MFP to help me be accountable for what I put in my mouth and to maintain my current weight (even though its not great) I did not want to ADD anymore.

So I plugged in my stats and I noticed a few nights ago that I must have slipped my finger and actually plugged in my weight at 10lbs less than my actual weight. I corrected the error and the calorie intake jumped up.

But now I feel that I am not "maintaining" my current weight. I do not have access to a scale, nor do I have access to making my meals, as I am alone most of the day and rely on my boyfriend to make my meals. I try to snack throughout the day, but again its hard being on crutches.

I am a select-a-tarian, lactose intolerant, and I believe an allergy to gluten. I try to eat clean foods, I do not shop in the interior of the super market, I recently (past 3 days) had a pity party for not being able to do simple tasks for myself. I am usually a VERY independent person and having to rely on someone is humbling.

I am/was (before my fall) a fairly active person: I walked my dog several times a day at mile at a time. Wore those retone sneakers, I work with horses so I am on my feet; lifting, raking, walking, running throughout my 4-6 hour shift. I am also a zumba instructor and have been zumba-ing for the past 3 years.

I am 5'8-9
large frame
well muscled
and topped out at 245 :embarassed:
yet I wear a size 12. not huge, but not small either.

I am not looking for a magic spell, I know there are none. I just want to maintain/lose pounds while I am in bed rest.

SO.....should I readjust my weight to weigh lower because I feel that my alloted calorie intake is too much for me just laying in the bed. I do "walk" around in my crutches and I do my PT stretches.


TIA!

Tabs_A

Hope your leg gets better and you can start moving around soon! I wouldn't change your weight and input a wrong one. Just because you have the calories allowed to you for the day does not mean you need to eat them all. If you are hungry by all means eat all your allowed calories, but if not stay under and that will help you loose weight. Good Luck!

Vicky14174

you can do strength training with 2 lb, 5 lb and 8 lb dumb bells while on bed rest. you may not be able to do all of the exercises but you can do some. get a heart rate monitor to wear while you do these exercises so that you can log your calorie burn. it's a start anyway.

snookemz

have you changed your activity level on the system? That shoud give you a more accurate count for your situation

naebear99

You can do custom goals I know, and as I recall, you can manually tweak goal intake, too. I know you can adjust your nutrient goals, so I'd imagine caloric goals are there too. Get well quickly, but don't be in a rush; I learned that after my surgeries.

SuzanneRogers

Eat your calories given to you, if you stay at or below you will be fine. I have been healing from 4 strss fractures in my shins, 1 in leg 3 in right.. 6 weeks in a boot. 5 months of no exercise on my legs.. I use a stationary bike to burn calories, you can use legs or arms with the one I have to get a nice burn going.. Might be an option for you with only one leg. Here is the model I bought.. Well worth the money.. http://www.overstock.com/Sports-Toys/Sunny-Motorized-Mini-Exercise-Bike/2497745/product.html

I'm here if you need support.. Recovery from an injury when you are very independent is very hard but doable. So focus on future, get some hand weights and work out your arms, back shoulders to keep you toned.

EricMurano

If I were in your situation I wouldn't worry *too* much about maintaining my weight. I wouldn't count calories but if I did I'd not beat myself up if I went over. The important thing is that you rest and not reinjure yourself and that you get the nurtrients your body needs to fix that broken ankle.

That being said I wouldn't use this as an excuse to eat comfort food all day. Just keep a general balance and when you're healed you can ease back into it.

onawho

thanks everybody,
I have some hand weights coming to me. I guess I am still in pity party mode. Not being able to start to walk until april 6th is killing me. LOL

Julesjhj

First off, congrats on being motivated about your weight and finding this sight! Secondly, I am so so sorry about your fall because I have been there and it sucks!! I fell and broke my leg and ankle about three years ago on xmas day. I was rushed in to surgery and had 7 pins put in to hold everything together. I fell down the stairs on the way out to go feed my horses...I had on Dansko clogs. I too was active taking care of my barn, mucking stalls etc. My life came to a screeching halt. I lived on the sofa for two months and could not do anything between the painkillers and the pain in general, I was a mess. I had always been active/athletic and I felt like a failure and weak. I was unable to take care of my household, family and horses so I had a pity party and gained about 35lbs over the course of the next year.

Enough about me though! Glad you are eating clean and trying to manage your health, this website is great and you will get a lot of support. I'm sending you a friend request. Let me know if you have any questions about recovery. Are you having to wear a boot? I had to wear one for several months.:sad:

onawho

Nope, I do not have to wear a boot as of yet. I am wearing a plastic split that I ace bandage on to my leg. I actually am weaning myself off the splint. I hope I don't ever have to wear a boot.

Katbaran

I was in a similar situation a couple years ago. I had dislocated my hip twice after a hip replacement and had to wear a huge brace that went around my torso on my right side, down my leg and cupped my heel. It had 3 lovely hinges. It was plastic, steel and aluminum with lots of velcro. The only time I could take it off was to shower once or twice a week and hubby had to be right there with me in case I stepped wrong. I had to wear it for 9 weeks. I was worried that I would gain. I didn't. For most of the time I had it, I was too clumsy to go into the kitchen to get something that was bad for me. I actually lost about 10 pounds. Seriously, if you are ambulatory with crutches, you can't really carry a bowl of ice cream or a bag of chips and dip while on crutches. An added bonus for me is that we had 3 dogs at the time that would snatch up anything I dropped.

You should be fine in maintaining your weight, if not losing a bit. The best defense against gaining is that YOU ARE AWARE OF THE POSSIBLITY OF A GAIN!!! You've got it licked by half already!

I hope you heal quickly and are as good as new soon!

onawho

thanks guys!!!