Swimming an option?

That's bummer with knee, not much to do when that's not available.

About only lower body iso lift that won't use it is the hip machine for extension and flexion, I guess calves too.
Then all upper body stuff.

But yeah, that's not going to burn as much during the session nor in repair since the muscles aren't as big, excepting for glute on hip machine.

Swimming can be decent calorie burn.

Was biking done with proper 90 cadence or higher, tension low enough to support that, no standing?

You may have to revise that eating plan to leave more calorie where you want them.
If activity has gone down, then body doesn't NEED the extra calories, though you personally may still WANT them.

Is work first thing in morning? Can you skip breakfast or make it much smaller if not actually active?
Can pre-workout snacks be smaller since workout isn't as much?

This is indeed what happens every winter when I can't do the level of cardio as easily as I love doing.

I'd be curious what study your doctor is thinking of regarding breakfast skipping and diabetes. I would think that if breakfast skipping gives you better dietary compliance it would be the way to go.

I'm not convinced that skipping breakfast is inherently bad.

To getting a 3 pm crash after having lunch, and fruit making you more hungry.

Maybe there was a reason your Dr was talking pre-diabetic stuff. Sure there wasn't some concern there? If not, old info may be getting relied on.

Do you eat protein and fat with each lunch? And have you tried eating the protein and fat before the carbs in the meal?

Those 2 reactions just sound like standard low blood sugar from too big an insulin response from a meal with too many carbs. For you.Insulin does too good a job lowering blood sugar below where desired before it's backed off and glucagon is released.

You weren't really hungry, you didn't really need to eat, but with low blood sugar you'll sure feel hungry.

I rarely eat breakfast now - always used to. Never a problem making it to lunch at noon, or even 1-2 pm if conference calls at wrong time.
Now, I do eat dinner late at 7-8 pm usually, and a snack before bed late at 11 pm. So my time between meals is tad more than 12 hrs. If your last meal is 6 pm and no snacks, I could see being hungry and needing something for breakfast.

Even a glass of milk is decent ratio of carbs/prot/fat.

And I like the Balance on Zone bars for a mid-afternoon snack (since not only is dinner late, workout may be right after work). 200 cal and good, well, balance of macro's. For me. 40/30/30. Even if that's not rest of my diet.

What does the swimming hurt, knee? That may not be good use of legs if that's the case.

When you saying biking lowest gear, you mean easiest gear, right? I guess that's no good, though, you do need some pressure so not just empty spinning too easy.

Yeah, I used to be like that, I'll try getting back to not eating breakfast and see how that goes. Or just have some milk. I'll have to try the Balance on Zone bars, do you get them at a grocery store? or do you need to go to a health food store/GNC?

You are in one difficult mess. I hope you can cope while you heal so that doesn't have to be drug out or repeated again to any level. Ugh.

Yep, Target has decent selection and their own brand of them, Walmart just depends on the store since they stock what sells, and that can vary.

Do you have access to a rope trainer or something similar?

You can get in some serious HIIT workouts with those....I am DYING by the end of it. You can get a killer cardio workout in with just that and it's all upper body. Pullups, pushups, dips, and core work all done at a rapid pace or tabata style with keep your heart rate up too.

I have knee issues as well and have had to abandon heavy squats.

Depending on my pain level, I will do hip thrusts, straight leg deadlifts, and back extensions for lower body. Some days I can get in a really good leg workout with minimal knee pain by not always.

Wishing you a quick recovery!