HELP! I am injured and can't workout. Now what?

SkinnyJess

Hi to all! I have been a member since September and was having great success with this program. At the end of October though, I strained a muscle in my stomach. I thought at first that it was a hernia, but I have gone to a specialist and he said it is a strained muscle. He also told me that it could take 6-12 months to heal up. I took it easy for a few weeks, felt really good and then started trying to walk a little bit again for exercise. My stomach pain would come back while walking and also sometimes hurt for a day or two after. I have tried walking different amounts (1/8 mile, 1/4 mile, etc.) but it still seems to aggravate my stomach. I had been walking/jogging about 3 miles a day so it is hard for me to not be doing anything. Since my injury, I have gaining back 2 lbs and I really don't want that to be happening! I have worked so hard to get this weight off and I am getting so close to my goal. Do any of you have any ideas on what I can do to still lose weight even though I really can't workout right now? I know I can't go below 1,200 calories, or so I've heard. I would just like some advice. I know I will have to do it all through diet for now so just curious if anyone else has ideas that may work for me. Thanks so much!

Jessica :flowerforyou:

horndave

In the sme boat, just injured myself and was told to take it easy. Reevaluate your settings and keep walking is the only thing I can suggest. Not a doc BTW. Have you tried doing some weights while sitting?

cassandra1220

I did the same thing with my shoulder. It is so frustrating. Everytime I feel a little better I start back exercising with it and what do you know...re-injured. I thought my shoulder was bad (the pain and the inability of use), but I can still do cardio and other weight training exercises; I don't know what I would do with a tummy injury. My heart goes out to you. :sad: Incidentally, did you happen to ask your Dr. what exercises would be the LEAST aggrivating to the situation? He might be able to give you a better idea of what you can do instead of asking here. (Nothing personal towards anyone in MFP)

thedreamhazer

Well, the big problem is that it's your stomach. ALL exercise is going to be engaging those core muscles. (BTW- Especially lifting weights!)
You're just going to have to watch your calories really closely. Set a goal of weight maintenance until you get better.... I would recommend not trying to lose for now.
Keep walking if you want, but really listen to your body. You'll never get better if you keep aggravating it.

Good luck! It'll be fine!

(PS- Talk to you doctor about this!)

SkinnyJess

Thanks for the advice and encouragment! I did talk to the Dr. when I was there and he said that I could do anything the didn't aggrevate it. At that time, walking seemed ok, but for some reason a few days later it started bothering it. I was doing it all the same way and everything, but it started hurting again. All I know to do is NOTHING! The only thing I can think of is maybe stationary biking, but we'll see. I will change my settings so that I am not active and just try to maintain for awhile. I am going to try not doing anything for a couple weeks and then see how I am. I just took a week off, tried walking a little yesterday and it was bothering me within a couple minutes. We'll see! To the others of you that said you too are injured, my prayers are with you as well as I know this is frustrating! May God touch us all and make us well QUICKLY!

Jessica :flowerforyou:

SHBoss1673

yes, I could see how walking, or most load bearing exercises could cause an issue. Our body uses it's core (stomach, lower back, and oblique muscles) to stabilize us while we do anything that uses balance (walking running, cycling...etc) and as long as you are stabilizing then you are using your stomach. My advice would be to try to do some non weight bearing exercises, like the recumbent bike.

Other than that, you should probably do some research into your diet, if you were losing weight while exercising, and stopped exercising but gained weight, then you probably didn't have the right calorie/nutrient amounts. The ideal diet for weight loss is one where you can lose a moderate amount of weight with or without exercise. Exercise should always be seen as an additional tool used to increase your body's health, not the driver behind weight loss (for the specific reason you are giving in this post actually).

hope this helps.

-Banks

SkinnyJess

yes, I could see how walking, or most load bearing exercises could cause an issue. Our body uses it's core (stomach, lower back, and oblique muscles) to stabilize us while we do anything that uses balance (walking running, cycling...etc) and as long as you are stabilizing then you are using your stomach. My advice would be to try to do some non weight bearing exercises, like the recumbent bike.

Other than that, you should probably do some research into your diet, if you were losing weight while exercising, and stopped exercising but gained weight, then you probably didn't have the right calorie/nutrient amounts. The ideal diet for weight loss is one where you can lose a moderate amount of weight with or without exercise. Exercise should always be seen as an additional tool used to increase your body's health, not the driver behind weight loss (for the specific reason you are giving in this post actually).

hope this helps.

-Banks

I know I don't need to look into my diet TOO much because I know part of the problem is that I haven't been logging. I know... SHAME ON ME! I am back at it today and I am sure with some biking, logging my foods before I eat them, and REALLY watching what I am putting in my mouth, I will lose the weight even without exercise. Thanks!

Jessica