Best weight loss exercise for someone with an injury?

Is there a pool close by? You could perhaps do some exercise in the pool. Walk in the pool, jog in the pool, lift weights (gently!) in the pool. Being in the pool puts much less stress on your body. It would be worth speaking to a trainer and your doctor if you go to a gym with a pool just to make sure you don’t cause yourself further injuries.

However, exercise is effective on visceral fat (internal fat) but not so effective on the external fat. The best way to get rid of that is through changing your diet. Look at your portion sizes, look at what you’re eating and count calories. You can do that even with an injury.

Walking starting off slowly and increasing the pace and what @Earthbound_Misfit suggests, pool exercises. Could you perhaps manage a bit of cycling on sunnier days?

Swimming is a good idea, but walking is just fine. Contrary to popular belief, you don’t need strenuous exercise to lose weight… Just stick to a good, low fat low energy (carb) diet, and walk.

And whatever you do… do not succumb to the Christmas indulgence craze like some people do (cough me cough)

“Additionally, I’d like to lose some weight by February/March, so what’s the most I should lose by then, so that it won’t come back?”

This one is a bit hard to know without knowing your personal situation. But to put simply, the more you have to lose, the more you will lose.

If you don’t want it to come back, stick to a healthy diet, with the occasional indulgence, after you lose the weight.

A community pool is a good option, yeah, and there is one pretty close by that I could use. A bike is also an option, but where I live it’s not going to be nice weather for quite some time (rain 9 months of the year here).

@bomyne I’m already clamping down on the holiday cravings and I’ve started eating better, too.

I’ve never had weight issues before, but my injury – which I’ve been dealing with for a few years now – has prevented me from being as active as I’d like to be/usually am. I really want to get back to feeling like myself again.

If you’re eating right, then just walk. You don’t need to walk overly fast, and you don’t need to jog or run.

If it’s going to rain, then you can do this indoors… One way I like to do it is go down to your local shopping center and walk. Spend an hour or so just walking. Look though the shops if you want, but it’s under cover.

Indoor pools, as mentioned above, are a great idea too.

The bike option someone mentioned above does worry me a little though… I mean, it is a very nice and simple way to exercise, but if you have a crash, you risk doing a lot more damage to your injury.

Whatever you decide to do, good luck.

Why won’t the rib injury heal. A few years is a very long time.

@gailcalled My muscles healed incorrectly after a car accident and are holding everything in the wrong places. I have to go in regularly to have my ribs adjusted if I want to be pain-free. My entire left shoulder blade muscles became fused to my back (so the shoulder blade never pops up off my back at all, no matter how I hold/move my arm). I’m in the process of having the muscles torn away so that they can hopefully heal right the second time around. I’m also looking into a brace so that something can literally push against my ribs to keep them in the right spot while my muscles heal.

Oh, man. The infinitely varied ways in which the body can torture us. Good luck with all that.

Weight loss/gain is really about consumption of calories vs calories burned. While exercise is good for your body for many other reasons, long-term, healthy shifts in calorie consumption are what result in weight loss.

Exactly what @hominid said. Weight loss happens in the kitchen; exercise is for your health.

Weight loss isn’t easy, but it is simple. For some reason, people insist on making it more difficult than it is.

You do not need cleanses, detoxes, “kick starts”, low carb, low fat, paleo, gluten-free, vegan, Weight Watchers, or any special exercise program to lose weight. It’s calories in vs. calories out. If you refuse to count calories, that’s your prerogative, but you have no clue how many calories you’re eating unless you count them.

Also, please don’t restrict calories by too much. Google “TDEE calculator” to get a good estimate of how many calories your body burns per day, subtract 15–20%, and that’s how many calories you should eat to lose weight.

If you have 25+ lbs to lose, 1–1.5 lbs per week is healthy weight loss. The closer you get the goal, the less you’ll lose per week, say .5 lb per week. Don’t be afraid to lose slowly, because quick fix weight loss strategies work, but they’re usually temporary.

Get the term “dieting” out of your vocabulary. If you want permanent results, you need to make permanent changes.

Walking and swimming are good, and I encourage you to do them, but don’t think you’re going to be able to out-exercise a bad diet with those exercises. Walking doesn’t burn nearly as many calories as people seem to think.

Good luck.

I also found this and this for you.

Now that I think of it, I’m curious to know what you mean by “weight loss exercise.” Are there some exercises that hinder weight loss that I’m unaware of?

I’d say light walking is best, maybe interspersed with some weight training, you can walk with leg weights on for extra muscle workout, start light, 3 lb. weights and gradually increase. However, as already mentioned the main thing is to reduce your calories.
A 500 calorie cut per day results in about a pound a week weight loss. For long term results it is best to not lose more than 1–2 lbs. per week.

Your kidneys, liver and gallbladder also work harder during weight loss, removing excess fat and toxins and you do not want to tax those organs that could result in other issues as well, especially gallbladder.

Also be sure to drink plenty of water.

@livelaughlove21 Yeah, I don’t know why I specifically put “weight loss exercise” there. Mainly, I’m interested in exercises that will help me burn calories but that I’m capable of doing with my messed up rib. I’ve already started eating better and I love water in general @Coloma. :)

Definitely check out your local pool. Working out in water not only helps you prevent more injuries but it provides resistance too. You can get weights to use in the pool and walking in the pool or even jogging is really effective exercise.

I lost over 40 lbs just by walking. I built up stamina, ate right (more veggies than junk food) and got a pedometer and aimed for about 10,000 steps a day.
Usually I just walked on my lunch hour or (when the days weren’t so short, in the evening after dinner).

After walking for about 5–6 months (getting progressively faster and going for slightly further distances)...I joined my local Y and shocked myself when I had the ability (stamina) to run. I pushed the speed knob on the treadmill up till it felt about right and kept going (running) while it felt good. I ran a 5K at 6.0 mph on my first attempt on the Y treadmill. I smiled the whole time and didn’t even realize how far I’d run until after the workout summary appeared on the screen.

So, listen to everyone who says “go walk” – it will really work as long as you watch what you put in your mouth, too.