HI I am 35lbs overweight some is from stress some is from a previous surgery on my ankle I had 9 months ago that left me not able to walk for 5 months but mostly it's just because I like CAKE! Anyway before I gained that 35 lbs I had lost 25 lbs on the Dukan Diet and you know what they say you go on these fad diets as soon as you stop you gain all the weight back plus some more, well I am proof of it. I am about to have ankle surgery again because the first bone fusion did not work so this time they are making me keep weight off my ankle for even more time. So my question is how do I lose any kind of weight when I am not able to do cardio also what should I eat? I do not want to balloon up any more I am very disappointed with myself for letting get this far. So if anybody has any words of wisdom for me I would appreciate it. Also I should add I am a 48 year old female so as you all know it's a little trickier now to lose weight then say 10 years ago...Anyway Thank you

Hi there Trinity,

Welcome aboard.

You don't need to exercise to lose weight. You don't even have to give up cake necessarily. And although it isn't maybe as easy at 48 as it was at 28, it is absolutely doable.

My advice is to figure out based on your age and gender how many calories your body needs to maintain the weight you're at right now assuming that you are completely sedentary. There are lots of calculators online to help you do that.

Take in less than than that and you should start to lose weight. Or you can do trial and error if you're not inclined to count calories. By that I mean cutting back portions until the weight starts to shift. Or you can use a program like WW or Atkins that gives you a prescribed eating plan that should help you eat at a calorie deficit. Make yourself an experiment of one to find our what works for you.

You're right in that stopping a diet, whether it's a Dukan or any other, usually means a return to old eating habits and a regain. Any way of eating ( WOE ) that you can't follow and enjoy for a lifetimes is likely to fail.

I can't really give any advice on what to eat not knowing what your tastes are, but what I can tell you is that in my experience, nothing's off limits, not even cake. ( Bearing in mind, of course, that some people truly can't eat some things, i.e. diabetics, those with celiac's, etc. Also, some people feel certain foods are triggering for bingeing, so they abstain. )

My motto is I can have whatever I want, just not as much as I want whenever I want. It comes down to deciding how to fit what I want into the boundaries of what my body is able to burn off.

Hope that helps! Good luck with the surgery.

Thanks so much for your advice. Hopefully I can find something that helps

That's a lot to deal with! Are there upper body exercises you're open to doing? Push ups are great cardio, and you can keep your weight on your knees instead of your ankles. I also googled videos on cardio without the use of your legs and it came back with lots of results https://www.google.com/webhp?sourcei...t+legs&tbm=vid there's always something that you can do, do what you can.

Without vigorous exercise your body will need less fuel. I know on the days that I'm sedentary I'm less hungry, and days that I'm on the go my appetite grows. So pay attention to that. You'll get through it!

Thank you guys so much I just need to get back to how I know I should be. My husband is in the Navy and our move before this one was a bad one for me. My husband chose shore duty in Alabama so I could be closer to my father who was ill and for 3 years I was the most depressed I'd ever been in my whole life and the only comfort I found was in food. First my 13 year old dog got sick and passed away, I was traveling every other weekend 16 hours round trip to check on my Dad, he got worse moved in with us, I got really injured then my father passed away I had just had ankle fusion surgery and had to deal with that and the passing of my Dad we were getting ready to move again and then I started having severe panic attacks that kept me in and out of the emergency room thinking I was having a heart attack...I know it sounds like a really bad country song but the truth. Now I just need to get back to how I should be and I want to feel like me again. I want to break up with junk food!!! So thank you for your help, I really appreciate it!!!