Okay ladies. I went to the doctor the other day and found out I have a bunion. It sounds so gross when I say that word! LOL! But its actually like a dislocated bone. Well I have several options. Both involve some kind of surgery. One being three week recovery but possibility of coming back. Other option 6-8 weeks in a walking cast. The way it sounded they actually would break my foot and put a pin in it. I know at some point I will have to have this done. Shoes are getting more and more uncomfortable. But as I very recent maintainer. Being this immobile for so long scares me to death. I thought maybe I could do the treadmill or something. But after talking to a friend tonight. She had broken a toe. You cannot do that much in these walking casts. Any suggestions what I could do to not gain back to much weight. I could maybe just do some upper body lifting ect...I want to make the decision soon. The more and more I think about it I would want to get it done before the summer. Thanks in advance ladies!

stationary bike? i'd suggest a nice heart to heart with your doc... the goal for this period should be not to gain weight, and not to focus on losing...

i'm sure you wouldn't be able to do water aerobics with the cast...

but you should be able to do something.. after all, you'll be walking on the cast. running is out, but there has to be SOMETHING...

Hi Losing! Ouch on the bunions! I’m familiar with what you’re talking about since my younger sister has them too. She’s got the same problem with shoes and knows she’ll have to do the surgery some day.

Boy, do I hear you on the fear of not being able to exercise! Most of us exercised a lot to lose the weight and still do it to maintain, so not being able to is scary. The same thing happened to me when I had skin removal surgery this year and I probably pushed getting back to the gym a little too hard becasue I was so afraid of gaining.

My suggestions: first, talk to your doctor. Explain that exercise is a very important part of your life and ask what you will be able to do when. Ask if you can really walk in the “walking cast”. Second, I think you’re right that upper body work shouldn’t affect your foot at all, so you should be able to keep working out those muscles. There might be some leg exercises you could do also (with your doc’s OK), like light leg extensions and leg curls that aren’t really weight-bearing. As for cardio, I agree with Jif about the bike or even possibly an elliptical since there’s no impact. When I was in physical therapy, they had what they called an “arm bike” that was cardio with the arms, but not all gyms would have that.

Right now I’m dealing with some sore toes, so I have to avoid impact and bending my toes. But I’m finding that there’s still a lot I can do for cardio and with weights. My doctor said it’s either stress fractures or tendonitis, so I have to wait for X-ray results to see what’s going on. My big fear is the same as yours — that my doctor will try to limit my exercise time. I don’t mind modifying what I do, but don’t want to be told to take a month off.

Good luck and let us know what happens!

stress fractures???? oh meg... i hope with all my heart that it's not stress fractures.. that speaks of bone problems in general... not liking the sound of it. you will be restricted to some degree, because ya gotta heal. but here's hoping it's not serious and that it's VERY temporary...