Damage to lower back can't exercise? How many calories per day

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irishmisst
irishmisst Posts: 9 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I'm normally extremely active, I do insanity workouts and was running 4-5 mile per day. I have damaged my lower back to the point I'm struggling to do basic things. I've paid to see a physio who has advised me to take things very easily and walk if I can but aanive a two year old with a buggy I can't as this involves pushing. My question is how many calories should I eat per day? I'm 33 uk size 8-10 and weigh 134 pounds ( majority is muscles ).
I'm so worried about weight gain until I can work out again any advise is appreciated. Also any workouts I can do in the meantime?

Replies

  • nickisa28
    nickisa28 Posts: 116 Member
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    I don't have much advice for you re keeping the weight off apart from eating less but as a fellow back pain sufferer, I find swimming a good exercise for when my back is out and it's something I can do with my kids. If I take another adult with me, we take it in turns to play with the kids while the other does a few lengths.
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    I've had recent back problems so I can sympathise.

    Calories wise I would drop 100 -150 and see how you go from there - monitor and tweak as required but I certainly wouldn't recommend any drastic changes.

    Exercise wise I don't think that anyone online would be wise to contradict what a healthcare professional had said to you after a 1-2-1 consultation so follow their advice. They have recommended walking (when you feel you can) so do that - even if it means sorting out childcare whilst you do so.

    When you feel ready for more discuss this with your physio but from my experience impact exercise (running) and anything that involves spine compression (barbell back squats) was out of the question for a quite a while.
  • ouryve
    ouryve Posts: 572 Member
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    Set your activity to sedentary in mfp and you goal to maintain. That should give you a better idea than anyone here, can.

    The exercise you can do safely will depend on your injury. If it's muscle spasm, take an anti-inflammatory then drive to a shopping centre with a smooth floor and push the buggy around there, as movementreally is your friend, here. If you've done something like rupture a disc, then you do need to be more cautious.
  • Ws2016
    Ws2016 Posts: 432 Member
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    What are you doing to strengthen your back and core?
  • irishmisst
    irishmisst Posts: 9 Member
    edited August 2016
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    I have a 3 finger separation from my pregnancies so my core and back are weak. I have been gave several general exercises to do by my physio to help my recovery, these include hip stretches and small back arch movements
  • TavistockToad
    TavistockToad Posts: 35,719 Member
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    are you trying to maintain your weight or lose weight?
  • StealthHealth
    StealthHealth Posts: 2,417 Member
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    Not sure on the frequency that you've been recommended for those stretching exercises but something that I found very useful was to set 3 or 4 reminders (per day) in my phone. When the phone buzzed - I did my stretches.

    My (completely subjective) experience is that the work you do in the early days to get over an injury had a much greater effect than the stuff you do later on.
  • amusedmonkey
    amusedmonkey Posts: 10,330 Member
    edited August 2016
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    From experience with back pain, days when I can't do basic things I actually burn fewer calories than what is assumed for sedentary. My advice, set to sedentary maintenance for a couple of weeks and eat 100-200 calories below that. Unless the damage is bad like in my case where I can barely move for 4-6 weeks, you should be able to do at least basic movement after two weeks where your maintenance can be considered sedentary. Stay at maintenance until you recover. Don't push weight loss if you can't handle eating lower calories.

    You could try to play with the numbers on this calculator:
    http://www.sailrabbit.com/bmr/

    Set your activity to "immobile" or "constricted lifestyle" and see what you come up with.

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