Help needed with exercise please

suziecue20
suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
edited November 23 in Health and Weight Loss
I am back to front with exercise. When I'm very overweight [like now] I find exercising, even walking or doing my housework, painful and stressful [I have a hairline fracture in my back and the extra weight makes my back even worse. When I've lost the weight [as in the past] I could move and walk, cycle, do heavy gardening without pain and actually ENJOY exercise. I see lots of people on here who are very overweight but seem to find quite strenuous exercising motivating and enjoyable. I am 67 but don't want that to be an excuse because there are lots of very active 67 year olds around - some people even run marathons into their 70's and 80s.

I am losing weight on my deficit and doing very light levels of exercise - a half hour walk (not a stroll but certainly not a power walk) and 10-15 mins on my exercise bike [I want to build the time]- I see everybody doing sooooo much more than me and feel like a wimp!

Should I push myself even though it's painful and unenjoyable at the moment or just do what I can until I lose a couple of stone (28lbs). Any help welcome.

Replies

  • editorgrrl
    editorgrrl Posts: 7,060 Member
    edited September 2015
    suziecue20 wrote: »
    I am losing weight on my deficit and doing very light levels of exercise. I see everybody doing sooooo much more than me and feel like a wimp!

    Should I push myself even though it's painful and unenjoyable at the moment or just do what I can until I lose a couple of stone (28lbs).

    Why would you want to cause yourself pain?! You're doing great! Stop comparing yourself to other people.

    Exercise for fitness; log to lose weight. And please listen to your body. Do not push yourself too hard just because other people are more active than you. That will only make your back problems worse.

    You've already answered your own question—as you lose weight, you will gradually become more active. And talk to your doctor about which exercises are best for you.
  • suziecue20
    suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
    Thanks editorgrrl, much appreciated :)
  • lorrpb
    lorrpb Posts: 11,463 Member
    No do not add stress to that fracture. Everyone had different abilities and limitations. Do what is comfortable for you. Pool activities might be a good option if you have access to one. Can your doc refer you a phys therapist who can give you safe yet effective exercises? Keep it going you're doing great and I love your spirit!!
  • suziecue20
    suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
    Thanks lorrpb :) - I used to love swimming but vanity is stopping me exposing myself in a swimsuit at the moment. When I get more svelte I'll be into that black lycra and into the pool again
  • soapsandropes
    soapsandropes Posts: 269 Member
    Do not force yourself to exercise when it is painful. Keep doing the things that you love and keep you active. You can lose weight through diet alone (as you know).
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    I was heavier than you when I lost 30 pounds swimming at the Y in the most hideous suit ever
    carried by Walmart ;)

    I have this one now and do not feel self conscious in it:

    0e4tlp1b3769.jpg

    I no longer see the same model but Women Within does carry others from Swim 365 that are similar.
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Also ask your doctor for a referral to PT and ask about gentle yoga.
  • pmm3437
    pmm3437 Posts: 529 Member
    A hairline fracture is a bone injury, and you need to seek a medical opinion on how to treat it/recover from it.

    At the same time, you can talk to them about appropriate levels of exercise until it is healed.

    You should be minimizing activities that aggravate the injury, allowing your body to repair, not increasing activities that will cause more pain and slow down the process.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,226 Member
    It sounds like you're doing just fine. You are achieving your core objective (the weight loss); you are doing some exercise, as you are able, to retain strength; and you have a reasonable expectation that weight loss will let you increase your exercise in future. Applause!

    I don't think you should feel in any way negatively about yourself. You're working hard toward your goals, and making rational choices. What others do is completely irrelevant.

    As an aside, I think you're doing more than most people would do. In my experience, a large number of people with pain let it relegate them to inactivity, and eat themselves into increasing weight by eating as they did when they could be more active, which makes them even less able to be active, and so on. But you aren't seeing a lot of those people here, since it's a weight management forum.
  • WBB55
    WBB55 Posts: 4,131 Member
    You are so critical of yourself. I don't exercise enough. I can't be seen in a bathing suit.

    My mom's always been like that. Don't be like that. No one cares what you look like in a bathing suit, they're too self conscious about how THEY look in a bathing suit. Stop comparing yourself to others. You've EARNED THE RIGHT to stop comparing yourself to others. Others haven't been through the things you have. Why compare yourself to them?
  • maryann9wood
    maryann9wood Posts: 75 Member
    If you can find a water aerobics class or aqua arthritis, you will find you are the average age, the average size, and wearing the average suit. I'm 15 years under average, 20 pounds over, and started with a really ugly suit - and fit right in!
  • suziecue20
    suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
    pmm3437 wrote: »
    A hairline fracture is a bone injury, and you need to seek a medical opinion on how to treat it/recover from it.

    At the same time, you can talk to them about appropriate levels of exercise until it is healed.

    You should be minimizing activities that aggravate the injury, allowing your body to repair, not increasing activities that will cause more pain and slow down the process.


    I have had this injury (changing a barrel of beer when I ran a hotel lol) since 1984 and because of its position in my spine I cannot have surgery because the risk of being paralysed is too great. At a charity auction a few years ago my OH won a session with a top UK sports physiotherapist for me. After examining my back he said there was a tremendous amount of scar tissue that had accumulated around the hairline fracture and gave me very gentle exercises to do, which I still do to this day. Unfortunately I just have to live with it.



  • suziecue20
    suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
    Thanks everyone for your support :) - I will do what I can, when I can!
  • suziecue20
    suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
    kshama2001 wrote: »
    I was heavier than you when I lost 30 pounds swimming at the Y in the most hideous suit ever
    carried by Walmart ;)

    I have this one now and do not feel self conscious in it:

    0e4tlp1b3769.jpg

    I no longer see the same model but Women Within does carry others from Swim 365 that are similar.

    Very nice - Yes, this kind of swimsuit I would venture into the pool with - thanks!

  • michellemybelll
    michellemybelll Posts: 2,228 Member
    edited September 2015
    well i think the most obvious thing here is the reason why you can't do the same types of strenuous exercise others your age/weight can do. You have a hairline fracture in your back.
  • PinkPixiexox
    PinkPixiexox Posts: 4,142 Member
    Do not push your body to limits it is unable to reach. Your body doesn't like intense exercise at the moment - listen to it. It's never let you down yet.

    Carry on exactly as you are. You're losing weight and getting healthier by the day - please don't push yourself. You are doing just fine. Well done.
  • enterdanger
    enterdanger Posts: 2,447 Member
    edited September 2015
    I agree with swimming. Don't worry about what you look like. I'm 45lbs over weight and I swim laps a couple days a week. Have you ever seen the swim suits they make for people who swim laps? Damn thing is so thin I think you can see my csection scar. I still wear it cause don't look if my fat offends you. I do wish though it wasn't so obvious when I get cold.

    Most of your weight loss will come from diet, not exercise. So if it hurts, don't do it until it feels good again.
  • callsitlikeiseeit
    callsitlikeiseeit Posts: 8,626 Member
    do what you can. dont worry about what other people think. We got a pool several years ago and i LOVE being in the water and in the sun. Even at 260 pounds and a size 22/24 i got in it, in a bikini- to hell with what anyone else thought!

    NOW... i look a lot better (though i still have a long ways to go) in a size 12 bikini, but it took time to get there.

    as you lose weight, you will likely have more energy (i know i do), and FEEL like moving more, and it will likely be less painful. But as others have said, dont do anything that causes PAIN. look for gently exercises and low impact activities that help to get you moving and still make you feel good!

    i would also ask your doctor for advice on activities as well as healing time for your back- you dont want to make it worse, you want it to heal so you can do more.
  • suziecue20
    suziecue20 Posts: 567 Member
    Thanks for all your advice, which I will act on. I will stop fretting about what I can't do and concentrate on what I can.

    My back injury is a permanent one but I know I will be able to do more as the weight comes off.
  • tomatoey
    tomatoey Posts: 5,446 Member
    Don't do anything that causes pain.

    I feel you on this, though:
    suziecue20 wrote: »
    I see everybody doing sooooo much more than me

    My temporary (albeit probably dysfunctional & not totally successful) way of dealing with that kind of resentment is to avoid looking at anyone having fun with sport or fitness, & to try to avoid activity-related material that doesn't pertain to rehab. Keep your eyes on your fries, & compare yourself only to what you did yesterday or last week.

    The thing about going to the pool is that everyone's actually fairly anonymous in a non-descript bathing suit, cap, and goggles (if you wear them out of the changeroom, like I have to with my prescription ones bc I can't see otherwise). And seriously, seriously, no one cares what you're doing (or what you look like)! I understand it might be a hard thing, though. But really, swim gear = a uniform, more or less.
  • Kimegatron
    Kimegatron Posts: 772 Member
    Not sure if it's a possibility, because it's so expensive, but can you get your own therapy pool installed? I just saw that on last week's "To Catch a Contractor", where this ladies foot was messed up
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