How to lose weight with knee injury? (makes exercise near impossible)

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NathalieAndrews

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I am just not losing weight, mostly because I sit on my butt too much. But I can't do cardio, I can't do most of the decent strength exercises, I just can't do much of anything with this knee! I wish I hadn't busted it, but I did, so now I got to make due as it is. Any tips or thoughts for how to lose weight despite being very still-sitting due to to injury? I mean, it won't last forever, but doctor said I should expect another month or two before I can get back to my regular activity levels :/

I've cut all sugars, most of the other carbs, except a little now and then to not starve the body too much (and then it's usually whole-grain and healthy). I've switched out all soda with sugar-free drink and water. I try to eat at least 3 to 4 times a day, but small meals. I make sure to not get dehydrated, as that slows fat burn, but I am running out of things to try, to at least have somewhat of a progress!

Any tips and advice?

What I eat:
- Meats, red (cow or pork mostly)
- Broccoli & spinach & peas & white beans
- Low carb + low fat + high protein yogurts
- Soups of various kinds, usually with added mushrooms or meat
- Fruits and berries in limited amounts
- Dark chocolate once a week or so to stave off sugar cravings.

And that's about it, I am not very inventive or good at cooking so my options are increasing very, very slowly.
I try to ensure I remain properly hydrated, and I don't often feel hungry, but girlfriend says I eat too little :/

I try to get 1200 calories (but sometimes land under, it's tricky), but that's approx, because I refuse to count calories too closely and weigh my food as I am worried about triggering an old eating disorder issue. Too much control isn't healthy for my head, so I go for the approx and try to "eat after my hunger"; yet eat slowly, mindfully and stopping as soon as I don't feel hungry anymore.

I lost 5 kg the first month, before my knee died on me; but the month after I haven't lost anything at all, just sitting on that same stupid 80 kg limit. I'm 30 years old, 164 tall and weighing 80 kg. I'd prefer to get to 65 kg, so only missing about 15 kg before I am basically happy with my weight. Should add that I add muscles easily, and think I've added some on my upper body. My shoulders in particular seem to have gotten a bit heavier. Walking on crutches does that to a person.
 
What is your bodyfat %, for those of us that carry a lot of muscle the scales are a poor guide.

at 1200 calories you are very unlikely to be building much in muscle especially if you are already experienced in lifting. While it is possible to build muscle in calorie deficit, it wont happen if that deficit is substantial,for muscle gain in deficit exact conditions need to be met including being substantially over fat, low training age (newbie lifter) the right training program and perfect nutrition.

Low carb / Keto is very effective for loosing fat and maintaining muscle in a calorie deficit without actually counting but it does take time for the body to adapt, that adaptation period is reset every time you carb up with your bread. On low carb get your carbs from green leafy vegetables, it is almost impossible to over eat your veg.

For comparison, I am the same height as you I usually weigh around 90 kg (the only reason this matters is for competition) with a healthy bodyfat % bordering on athletic bodyfat% I have eaten low carb / keto for years to maintain, I do not track calories but I do track macro's (protein, carbs, fats)
I am also almost 45 years old.

Cardio with a knee injury is possible including using a stationary hand cycle at the gym other options include stationary bike with the bad leg left to hang or rest in a comfortable position while pedalling with only the good leg. Also it is possible to use an erg (stationary rower) and row without leg drive or only drive with one leg. Knee rehab can take a long time I have been there it is not a fun process waiting for the healing or doing the proper rehab.
 
I've honestly never checked. Could be possible for me to check that at my local gym or something, or maybe at my doctor's. I wouldn't say I am super muscular, I don't usually lift because I don't like how quickly I look "big and buff", being a small woman. But compared to my girlfriend, who's very small and slender, I do have very visible muscle in the upper body, mostly biceps and shoulders. Due to a youth spent horseback my ass and thighs have also always been kinda muscular, but like said; I don't actually lift and the strength exercises I do is mostly revolving around strengthening core. I injured my back a year and a half ago, and after that I had to train a lot of core to strengthen my stomach/chest area.

Keto? I will google it :)
And how low is low carb? Right now I am almost not eating any carbs at all, except from what is in the vegetable and fruits. When you say leafy greens, does that mean precisely that; only leafy green salads of sorts, or do other vegetables like broccoli and pea's count as well? How long is usually the adaptation period, and how much/what kind of carb would reset it? I don't eat bread. Or rice. Or pasta. Or anything similar, but I admit I've been tempted to have some pasta once or twice. I assume that would reset the no carb adaptation period, so if I did that on my cheat day that weeks work would be kinda busted? Meaning that'd be like food I could eat only once a month or something?

Ah, yes, I have heard of the stationary hand cycle, I'll check that with the gym when I am cleared to start going there, plus get my butt to physio as soon as possible :) Girlfriend kinda lost weight pretty fast, and her body doesn't seem to be putting in the breaks the way mine is doing. Mine seem to really be all "nope! hell if we're doing this!" and it's annoying, lol.

Thank you for your advice!
 
leafy veg include not just salad stuff but broccoli, cauliflower etc. just not the high carb high starch veg like potatoes and corn etc. if your doing internet research take a look at ketogains as some sites will recommend high fat which is also not good, low carb does not mean high fat.

it takes about 2-4 weeks to adapt and loose cravings

I am pregnant at the moment so I have a higher carb limit but outside of pregnancy I usually have under 20 grams of carb or occasionally up to 50, all from vegetables
 
I did some research, and they did indeed recommend high fat. What was more frustrating was they also said to cut down to half the protein, but with low fat, low protein and just 20 g of carbs I don't get how I'm supposed to reach the 1200 calories (ca) that I should stick close to (or at least not dive that far under). It's actually been one of the trickier parts of this process, ensuring that I eat closely enough to what I ought to, while still not eating all that much of any one thing :/

20 grams seem to be roughly a plate of veggies, split on 4 meals a day + protein which shouldn't be eaten that much of either. Although maybe it adds up. I honestly have no clue how much protein I eat in a day, I've just basically been adding it for every meal (like, an egg with some veggies for breakfast, some meat with veggies for dinner, etc) I'll try to note up roughly what goes for all my meals tomorrow, maybe I'll get a better overview then :)

Thanks for the correction though, I got really confused about the high fat thing.
 
forgot to add it should be net carbs eg. 100 grams of broccoli has 7 grams of carbs however 2.6 grams of those carbs are fibre so only count 4.4 grams towards carb count, that is a lot of veg for not many carbs.

Protein needs to be adequate so a minimum of 1 gram per kg of bodyweight (this can be fine tuned depending on activity and bodyfat %)

fat is only enough so you don't feel like your starving lol

one popular low carb fruit is avocado, I don't eat it due to allergies, but it has a very good nutrition profile.

don't try to cut overall calories to harshly, a big deficit will often leave people hungry, when your hungry the temptation to binge on something less than healthy is strong.
 
Oh, okay. Yeah, that leaves room for a bit more carbs than I first thought!

Avocado's are yummy, I just gave up on them a while back because it was so hard to find them fresh and getting browned. I guess it's time to give it a new try, lol. It's delicious when it's crushed and added some spices to.

Aye, I try to ensure that I don't drop too far in caloric count, which is hard when you're not counting, lol, but I trust that my body telling me if I am hungry or not helps in this regard. If I feel like I am starving, I add an extra meal. It feels intuitive enough, guess I'd actually have to count to know for sure.

Like, I am pretty sure I went too far below today, judging by what I ate and how I felt at the end of the day, but that was for practical reasons as it was my first day back at the university and I had no idea what to eat at school. I gotta research healthy lunch options, stuff I can bring to lectures.

Thank you for all your help :)
 
Knee pain can be crippling at times however there is something you can do about it. Try adding warm moist heat to the injured area for 10 minutes followed by applying ice for 10 minutes. There is also Yoga for Knee Pain routines found on Youtube. This 20-minute yoga routine can be done on your back relieving pressure from your knees while strengthening muscles and tendons in your entire body. This routine really works well. After a day or two, you may feel relief from knee pain. Topical creams and lotions also provide relief as well.
 
Patricia Lynn said:
Knee pain can be crippling at times however there is something you can do about it. Try adding warm moist heat to the injured area for 10 minutes followed by applying ice for 10 minutes. There is also Yoga for Knee Pain routines found on Youtube. This 20-minute yoga routine can be done on your back relieving pressure from your knees while strengthening muscles and tendons in your entire body. This routine really works well. After a day or two, you may feel relief from knee pain. Topical creams and lotions also provide relief as well.
Click to expand...
Random yoga routines from unknown people should not be recommended for injuries for which you have no knowledge. The application of ice or heat also depend on the age and specific details of the injury.
 
Thank you, Patricia, I might go back to Yoga at a later point, when I get the green-light from my doctor, it's definitely good for the body usually. Did the MR today, so I'll know within a week or two how to proceed with this. Until then I am being very careful, so no worries Trusylver. I contacted a physiotherapist yesterday, so I'll be getting some aid with this before the MR results come in.
 
Cut Back on Sugars and Starches
The most important part is to cut back on sugars and starches (carbs).

These are the foods that stimulate secretion of insulin the most. If you didn't know already, insulin is the main fat storage hormone in the body.

When insulin goes down, fat has an easier time getting out of the fat stores and the body starts burning fats instead of carbs.

Another benefit of lowering insulin is that your kidneys shed excess sodium and water out of your body, which reduces bloat and unnecessary water weight

It is not uncommon to lose up to 10 pounds (sometimes more) in the first week of eating this way, both body fat and water weight.

This is a graph from a study comparing low-carb and low-fat diets in overweight/obese women (3).

AN2-body_weight_time_chart_fat_carbohydrate-1800x1368-spot-v2.png

The low-carb group is eating until fullness, while the low-fat group is calorie restricted and hungry.

Cut the carbs, lower your insulin and you will start to eat less calories automatically and without hunger

Put simply, lowering your insulin puts fat loss on "autopilot"

[Spam Removed]
Bottom Line: Removing sugars and starches (carbs) from your diet will lower your insulin levels, kill your appetite and make you lose weight without hunger.
 
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Dietary advices above are mostly good. Food with anti-inflammatiry properties such as broccoli is known to help for people with arthritis. But when it comes to exercise, there is one option which appears to be missed in this thread (at least I haven't seen it): this is SWIMMING. Swimming is one of the few exercises where being overweight gives you some advantage (better stability and buoyancy in water). Swimming doesn't put strain on your joints, as you are not struggling with gravitation when you are in water. You can easily control the intensity of this exercise according to the level of your pain and discomfort. And swimming definitely helps in loosing weight! Here is the link to a scientific article published in the Journal of Exercise and Rehabilitation that proves this point: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4106774/
 
During knee injury it would be very difficult to do lower body exercises. So most of the people go for dieting but to come out of injury proper diet is also essential. You can do upper body exercises but it will put a lot of pressure on the lower part. So light exercises and yoga wouldbe effective and need to have a check on the diet chart. Because during injury you are sitting whole day and could not burn the fats so proper dieting is also essential so that you can maintain a proper body balance.
 
I'm going to second the comment of the poster from a few posts above mine who mentioned swimming. Swimming would be the best type of exercise to do with a knee injury or other joint injury.
 
The Original post is from 2017 and NathalieAndrews has not been on the forum since then.

I am closing this thread because it has attracted a lot of spam
 
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