Hello everyone,
I guess I'll start by tell you a little bit about me. I'm 28 years old and have only recently been struggling with my weight. I mean the last few years anyway. I'm 5' 3" and carry all my weight in my mid section. It sucks but I guess nobody is happy where they carry extra weight.
I've always been active whether its playing sports or just out doing stuff. The in October I tore my ACL. All my activities have been put to a standstill and I am just gaining more and more weight. Of course my injury couldn't be like normal injuries where there is a surgery and everything is fixed. Of course not. I get to have the difficult injury. I've had one surgery already. That was just to explore my knee and see what’s holding the rehabilitation up. Apparently my ACL was torn far worse than the MRI showed so the Surgeon took it out completely. Now I waiting to have the second surgery to give me a new ACL. So it’s not even like I can do a lot of walking because after I walk to far my leg swells and nearly every step I take feels like my knee is going to give out.
So here I am frustrated because I'm getting fatter every day, and I can't even expend my frustration out in activities so I am eating. (Hey I just figured that out while writing this). I did start lifting some weights. At least my arm can be in some sort of shape I guess.
Well that’s my story...
I found this website on accident and I am thinking this may have been no accident after all.
I'm looking forward to making new friends who are in the same boat as me.
Oh and any advice on what I can do to help release the frustration besides eating would be much appreciated.
Take care everyone!
Oh yeah, I know about that boat. I think the majority of my weight came after I shattered my right leg. Everyone said it would take 8 weeks to heal-- nope, it took about 4 years before I could walk without pain. It still swells up unless I wear elastic socks (which I recommend so you will avoid further vein problems). The skin on my leg also got horrible. I picked up some kind of infection while in the cast and my leg is now naturally red and permanently bruised. All I can say is cut down on the snacking and diet. I actually think that a whole lot of exercise is not needed. If you have a swimming pool in the area, that would be good low impact exercise. You can also do more abdominal crunches and upper body strength like shoulders and biceps. I believe I have read that any exercise is better than none, even if you can't bear a lot of weight, you can exercise the other parts of your body. As far as dieting, cutting out in-between meal food is important, also cutting out desserts and sweet drinks. I usually go for water only, except a few cups of coffee in the morning. Good luck, and I hope you meet your goals.
I tore my meniscus and ACL and had surgery on both just a few months apart, then when I was rehabing my knee I hurt my back and now have to have spinal fusion surgery so I understand not being able to be active!
Like the previous poster said, cut out foods with high calories, if you are not being as active as you used to be, you don't need to eat as much as you used to.
I use a recumbant bike and some weights, along with short walks and ice my knee afterwards.
Good luck!
This will sound a bit crazy, but could you go to a park somewhere and use the swingset? You could kind of rest your bad knee and use your good one to push . and then maybe without the pressure on your bad knee, you could swing your legs back and forth. It might work.
Also, ask your doctor about swimming. Even if you just lay on your back in the pool and don't kick much, it would be better than sitting and again, the weight would not be directly on your bad knee.
Meanwhile, just do what you can and tell yoursel fit is only a temporary setback. Focus on getting healed and that will help you in the long run.
Barb
Hey! don't let the ACL tear let you down! You shouldn't have to rely on an intensive exercise regime to stay a healthy weight. Start focusing on your diet while you're out of the exercise game.
