36 F, Handicapped.. Am I doomed to 1200 a day?

Have you checked out an indoor row machine?? Are you able to use those? That would definitely help you get some great cardio and work-up a big sweat.

If you are worried about the 1200 calories a day (or if it doesn't seem realistic,) then you could try only losing 1 pound per week to give yourself a little more to eat or more options of what to eat each day.

As far as exercise goes, cardio can be done from a sitting position or with limited movement as long as you can move your limbs! Keep doing the few things you can do as far as squats and girl push ups to work the muscles you can work, and then if you're having a particularly difficult time standing, do the arm part of jumping jacks for a while and get that heart rate going! If you can use the stationary bike then I absolutely recommend doing that as often as possible! Cardio is more about getting your heart pumping than it is about what particular body areas you're trying to lose from. You can't really control where you lose from anyway so get on that bike and ride ride ride! Do a limited number of things even, like start with as many crunches as you can do as fast as you can, then do a whole bunch of arm movements and try to turn it into a little aerobics workout. Whatever you can do to get your heart rate up is going to take you places. You can definitely reach your goal with what you're working with.

So sorry to hear about your accident. Good on you for the first 30, you are a star.

I am not qualified to talk about the 1200 at all, but the obvious answer to the exercise problem to me seems to be swimming.

Even if you don't go fast enough to break a sweat, walking still burns calories--for a 150-pound person, about 100 calories a mile. and walking uphill definitely gives you a cardio workout (as well as burning more calories per distance). Swimming and rowing, as others mentioned, are terrific suggestions for you. dancing around the house to some music, obviously with some limited motion. walking in place in the house...marching, if your hip can handle that.

Best of luck to you. You have an additional challenge there, but you can definitely do it!

I have a bone disease and have had many orthopedic surgeries throughout my life. I actually wrote a blog about it last night because my knee is bothering me. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Cait_Sidhe/view/a-brief-history-of-my-knee-519491

My point is, that no, you are not doomed to 1200 calories. Like you I thought the same thing when I first started. Walking burns calories. Swimming burns calories. Bicycling and elliptical burns calories. Lifting heavy weights burns calories. All of these are low impact exercises you can do right now. You can raise your TDEE (maintenance calories) doing them as well as burn calories, become fitter, and look better. I never thought I could exercise, it turns out I was wrong.

At 40 years old, technically disabled, 4' 10 1/2", my current TDEE is in the neighborhood of 2180 calories. I calculated this based on my current weightloss rate at the level I am eating at right now (1430 calories and I am losing ~1.5 lb/week) but the number http://fitnessfrog.com gave me is very close to what my math gave me. I plan on raising my calories about 100 per month until I am at maintenance, or more rapidly if I get to goal before then.

If I had continued to eat 1200 calories a day, there is no way my TDEE would be this high. By eating so low, you are dooming yourself to an even lower metabolism. If very overweight it's okay to eat a very low calorie diet. But if not, it can and will mess with your metabolism.

ETA: I have had surgery on my hip (as well as other joints). I walked with a cane for over a year. I speak from experience that not many people can.

Have you seen a personal trainer? They might have some ideas for you

If you are already walking, have you thought about Nordic walking? The use of the poles increases your arm movement which will raise your heart rate. If you are wanting to increase the intensity, this certainly helps!

Here's the UK centre with more info:

http://nordicwalking.co.uk/

Exercise is by no means mandatory. You can create a calorie deficit without it.

I would agree on swimming, I really need to get back into that myself. I have scoliosis and bad knees and even my physical therapy stuff burns a bit over 100 calories in 30 minutes so everything you do will help. How good is your flexibility? Maybe a fat burning yoga or even hot yoga? Ball exercises are also helpful.


Also... Brohoof

^^^ what Cait_Sidhe said.

you should look into getting an HRM, then you can just go by that reading and not have to guess it based on what mfp thinks for you.

Also shoot for a .5 to 1 lbs loss per week. you will be able to eat more that way! its not a race.

I have a bone disease and have had many orthopedic surgeries throughout my life. I actually wrote a blog about it last night because my knee is bothering me. http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Cait_Sidhe/view/a-brief-history-of-my-knee-519491 ....

If I had continued to eat 1200 calories a day, there is no way my TDEE would be this high. By eating so low, you are dooming yourself to an even lower metabolism. If very overweight it's okay to eat a very low calorie diet. But if not, it can and will mess with your metabolism.

ETA: I have had surgery on my hip (as well as other joints). I walked with a cane for over a year. I speak from experience that not many people can.

Thank you so much for your input! (And everyone elses!) I will up my calories and try to do the workouts I CAN do. My only concern is how do I log such things as just the arm parts of jumping jacks, and so on and so forth.

if you use the TDEE - 10/20% method, you don't log exercise, because you calculate your TDEE (how many calories you burn in a typical day) to include the kind of exercise you do, then eat 10, 15 or 20% less than this, and do all your workouts but you don't need to log them. There's a thread "in place of a road map" that explains step by step how to calculate this. most people, even if completely sedentary, can lose weight eating more than 1200 cals/day, and this method of calculating calories is accurate for most people (medical issues can mess up the numbers, but if necessary you can adjust them based on real world results). It's very unlikely that you're stuck with eating 1200 cals/day, even if you were completely unable to do any exercise at all. This method of calculating calories may be better for you as you'll only have to work out your total calories for everything, rather than repeatedly trying to calculate your exercise calories which really isn't going to be easy if you're adjusting how you do the exercises due to your injury. Personally, I find this method easier because I don't want to calculate my exercise calories all the time, and I don't even have the injury problem to contend with as well!!!

you don't have to sweat for exercise to be effective. Sweating just means you're hot, nothing else. Go at whatever intensity you can safely do, and do whatever exercises are safe for you to do. Anything that makes you move is beneficial. Walking has a ton of health benefits. Squats are a fantastic exercise. Do what you can do and stick at it. You may find as your muscles get stronger that you can do more than you could before. There's a great you tube video of a man who was disabled (due to an injury) and unable to walk, who from doing whatever exercises he could, ended up able to run, not just walk. This probably isn't possible for everyone with similar problems, but it could be a potential benefit from exercise. When your muscles are stronger, that can help in a lot of cases.

:flowerforyou: my situation is similar to yours. i was in a bad car accident with a spine injury! i used to go to the gym & used their pool for back injury's. several hours of arobics helped to loose weight fast! i am sending you a friend request because together i think we can meet our goals!

52, handicapped, and a SWIMMER..and LOVE IT!!

I would say, SWIM, SWIM, followed by..more SWIMMING!!
Good luck..
it has been working for many of us!
Snitch

Hi MuteFox!

I can so relate! I figure for those of us with limitations, we have our exercises and stretches from physical therapy to get us started on flexibility and strengthening. I think the pool is the least likely to flare up pain, depending on what's done. Even walking in the water back and forth would be great and take a lot of stress off the body.

I've had my share of back surgeries and had a double fusion 5 years ago. It wouldn't be too bad if I was able to do the exercises the PT wants for the back (and I know from previous back surgeries that it'd help), but I have nerve damage from a pelvic surgery throughout the pelvis, left hip. and left leg and the sciatic nerve tends to flare up the nerves that were damaged in that surgery. I've tried spinal injections prior to PT in the hopes it'd calm and/or break the cycle, but it's been a stubborn one!

I don't know if you can do this, but the one thing I found I could do in PT was the recumbent bike as the rear end's sitting and back is supported, so it's easier to pedal.

BTW, I ended up with 1260/day, i feel your pain! If you'd like to add me as a friend, please feel free to do so. It's nice to have friends who understand and can help figure out what hoop to jump through so we can keep improving our health and movement! Oh, if you look for the thread of a woman who is starting her weight loss journey at about 620 pounds (it's in the title) there are some links to exercising while sitting links that may be worthwhile.

Kat