Please help: how to lose when injured

[TG007]

Hi everyone

My lower body is out of commission.

I have gained 20 pounds or a few inches and menopausal.

I need help on what to do to be in shape and lose some inches please !

I can't do cardio or legs because my feet and knees hurt.

So this month I've been working on mesocycle 2 without legs everyday (1 day rest a week). I understand I can lift weight every day if it's different muscle groups. Please advise if this is wrong.

In the mean time I am also working on clean diet.

Thank you!
TG

 

[lisa_la_machina]

TG, so sorry to hear you are injured! Hopefully you can get back to the cardio and traditional lower body weight workouts soon, but in the meantime my advice is that your nutritional intake is going to be the biggest factor in whether or not you lose weight. Truthfully I think this is how it works for most of us. Even when you are able to do intense workouts, you can't out-exercise a poor diet (as the saying goes). That's why Cathe always encourages healthy eating with the rotations she posts. So the weight work you are able to do is great for body composition, but my experience is that diet is going to be 90% of your equation for weight loss.

In terms of your current weight training approach, I would say you are fine to work different muscle groups each day so long as you feel like it's not affecting your performance from day-to-day--i.e., that you aren't so sore from the previous day's workout that you are having to go lighter or easier on your workout the next day. You definitely want to make sure you're able to train with proper form (to prevent any further injury!) and also work hard so that you just aren't going through the motions.

There are my two cents! HTH and get better soon.

 

[Beth-B-Fit]

TG-sorry to hear of your injury. Have you thought about using the pool for cardio? Can you ride bike? When my lower leg was in a cast I did what you are doing-upper body weights and abs. Like Lisa said I cleaned up my diet and managed to not gain any weight. I drank lots of water and herbal tea and ate fruits and veggies. It's tough, I know, but at least now it's summer and fruits and veggies are in season!

Good luck,

Beth

 

[Cathe Friedrich]

Hi everyone

My lower body is out of commission.

I have gained 20 pounds or a few inches and menopausal.

I need help on what to do to be in shape and lose some inches please !

I can't do cardio or legs because my feet and knees hurt.

So this month I've been working on mesocycle 2 without legs everyday (1 day rest a week). I understand I can lift weight every day if it's different muscle groups. Please advise if this is wrong.

In the mean time I am also working on clean diet.

Thank you!
TG

Hi TG....

So sorry to hear you are temporarily out of commission for legs and cardio. We all know how hard that can be as it has happened to all of us at one time or another.

Your diet will be super critical for you right now. Eat as clean as possible. Try to avoid all processed food and eat food as close to its natural wholesome state as possible. If possible stay away from all starch based products, pastas, breads, crackers, cereals, pancakes, all those "beige" foods. Eat lean proteins, dark leafy green veggies and whole fruits (most all berries are your best choices for lower sugar content and antioxidant benefits) but a half of banana is good fruit choice to add in with the lower sugar fruits on workout days. I always have an apple. It comes in especially handy when I am starving and can't hold out while I prepare a meal...I munch that down while I'm cooking or eat one just before I go food shopping so I am not tempted to buy foods that are not in my best interest.

As far as workouts...yes you can do all upper body workouts in Meso 2 but instead of viewing your workout program weekly (as in 6 days on with one rest day) view your workout program as "ongoing" and just workout upper body with weights every other day (ie: Meso 2 workouts on Mon/W/Fri/Sun/Tues/Thurs/Sat etc). On the days that you are not lifting you can do cardio boxing workouts that involve upper body only (an upper body boxing workout on the heavy bag would be a GREAT cardio workout for you). I seriously encourage you to look into it. But like anything else ease into it so that you develop the right muscles in the right manner to support the high intensity workout without developing an overuse injury from doing too much too soon.

Overall I recommend doing cardio boxing two days a week, a Meso 2 workout every other day, keep a tight diet and you will be MORE than satisfied!

I hope you feel better soon too!

 

[TG007]

Thank you very much lisa_la_machina !
Thank you very much Beth-B-Fit !
Thank you very much Cathe!

I'll follow the advice to the letter!