Cannot exercise due to debilitating illness

I have recently started doing strength exercices with a resistance band. I find it is much softer on the body than dumbbells

All you need for weight loss is a calorie deficit - no exercise necessary. In the past I lost 50lbs with zero exercise.

Sounds like especially for you with your condition any exercise should be to improve how you feel and not just to earn extra calories to eat. Don't focus on the calories burned number - low or high it is all good if it helps your condition and isn't good if it knocks you out of commission for a week.

You don't have to exercise. You just need to control consumption and be in a calorie deficit to lose weight.

A.C.E. Certified Personal and Group Fitness Trainer
IDEA Fitness member
Kickboxing Certified Instructor
Been in fitness for 30 years and have studied kinesiology and nutrition

Hello, I understand 100%. I am at the start of my weight loss journey and im struggling to shift anything! My doctor said I will struggle more as the medication prescribed for fibro is known to put weight on. There are different levels of fibro and it seems your severe like me. Even a having a shower can leave me exhausted. I used to walk 3-4 miles a day and go horse riding. Today I managed a slow 20 minute walk, but im overjoyed that I managed it. Feel free to add me.

I have fibromyalgia, osteoarthritis and a joint injury that did not heal properly even after surgery. I am still exercising. You have to ease into it VERY slowly. I made my records public, so hopefully you can view my exercises. Before I was on MFP, I started out a couple years ago just doing easy yoga poses and tai chi for seniors alternating every other day short workouts. Mayo Clinic has a video on fibromyalgia with yoga poses designed by Rodney Yee especially for those with fibro. I also like Susan Seranden's Yoga for Weightloss, but after the joint injury, I can no longer do all of the poses. I added in Windsor pilates DVD, just a 20 minute workout and I didn't push super hard. I did it on my bed because I could not get back up off of the floor. I added Walk Away the Pounds with Leslie Sansone, the one mile walk is 20 minutes I believe. I do it without weights. Kathy Smith's march to fitness is another workout I have used. You have to learn how far you can go without a flare-up. Do NOT push super hard, even if they tell you to. I got a super thick exercise mat about 1" thick to put under my yoga mat once I was able to get up and down from the floor. This helped so the hardness of the floor did not trigger pressure points. Then I was able to do some yard work and more things around the house which also burn Calories. Your Calorie-burning activities do not have to be hard-core exercises. Now, I am able to lift weights, but it took me a couple of years to get to this point by very gradually adding in more challenging exercises. I modify, such as doing wall squats with my back against the wall sliding up and down with dumb bells in hands. I do McGill sit ups for my crunches because those do not hurt my back. An exercise ball is also wonderful for fibro since it cushions and supports, and you don't get on the floor as much, but my cat popped two of them before I gave up on owning one. Swiming and water aerobics are also great, especially in warm, shallow parts of a lake or a heated pool. With fibro it is extremely important that you do exercises with proper form. I took a weight lifting class over winter break at a local college and I took a kinesiology 101 as a college course where I learned about exercise. You can try to look for a personal trainer who is familiar with fibromyalgia if you can afford it. Or talk to your doctor about seeing a physical therapist who can show you good exercises to do and proper form. Otherwise, make sure you exercise in front of a mirror to check your form as you exercise. I know that if I get even slightly off proper form while doing lat pull overs, I will start getting spasms right then and there. Proceed with caution. I started most of my weight lifting exercises using only an empty bar, no weight or 1lb dumb bells. When your muscles start to twitch or shake, stop that exercise and move to the next. If an exercise does not feel right, find another one for that body part. I tried a bunch of different core exercises before I found ones that did not hurt my lower back. Make sure you warm up before exercising. Make sure you stretch GENTLY while muscles are still warm AFTER exercise. Just a slight stretch, no pulling or yanking or forcing anything! The next thing I want to try is a foam roller to work knots out of muscles. I have been researching it on youtube. I cannot afford massage therapy. I have friends with fibro who alternate weeks between chiropracter or accupuncture and massage therapy, but they have money or insurance that will pay for it. I do not. Something that helps with muscle spasms is making sure you are getting enough magnesium and potassium. On a low-cal diet I do not get enough, so I supplement reasonable amounts. I also stay way from preservatives and foods that I have found to cause flare-ups. For me, the worst ever flare ups were when I bought banquet TV dinners on sale. I tried them three different times, different dinners and every time I had back spasms so bad I could barely wipe my own behind in the bathroom and was bed rest for 1-3 days each time. Tracking your food is good and you can note in MFP when a flare up starts so you can go back and look at what you ate and did in the days before it started. Do not try to exercise with muscle spasms. Just warm up and do yoga, tai chi or gentle stretches if you do anything. Moving your joints keeps them lubricated with fluids since blood vessels do not penetrate into the center of joints. Movement also keeps your lymphatic system circulating since it is squeezed along by muscle contractions. Walking is good, but start out with a 5 minute walk per day and never increase your exercise by more than 5-10% of what you did last week. Do not start out thinking you can walk for a couple miles or an hour because you used to. The longer you stay inactive, the more you lose. With aerobics you lose 1-2 weeks progress for every week of non-exercise. With strength training, you lose 4 weeks for every week of non-exercise. So if you have a flareup, go back to where you were that many weeks ago to start up again so you don't trigger another one. Perhaps I need to write a book, this was long. lol.

Dear CindyNeedsOne you may be gaining muscle at the same rate you are losing fat. I can feel my arms have toned up quite a bit, but my weight loss has slowed down. I suppose we need to start taking body measurements to see if we are losing inches. I feel like my pants are slightly more loose, so that is a good sign.

My mother has fibromyalgia. She has been trying to find exercises that work for her, from thai chi to swimming. There is a workout dvd by The Fibro Guy (endorsed by the UK Fibro charity) that we have been doing together. It's working great for her so far. There are so many levels you can choose from and he really stresses taking it slow, building up the levels gradually, and getting plenty of rest. The workouts are 30 mins total (including gentle warm up and cool down) 2 times a week.
Just wanted to mention it for anyone with fibromyalgia looking for exercises.