The FastDay Forum

@Polly in Oz, some great advice and very wise and philosophical observations in the posts so far.

Re your original question, I had my ACL replaced while on my weight loss journey, but I found the rehab exercises seemed to work in helping keep my activity level up. And my weight loss did not slow.

But the injury has posed some challenges for weight maintenance as I think my lowest weight was obtained when I was doing more exercise than I am currently. I am now not "allowed" to run or do HIT cycling, because of the risk to my knee (I did start running and aggravated my knee quite badly, so my surgeon said NO RUNNING or anything high impact). It takes a lot of walking or gardening to do the same amount of exercise as running, and time and weather conditions are not always favourable!!

What is your current BMI and how much weight are you wanting to lose? You certainly had amazing results to start with, and perhaps shouldn't expect such a rate to continue. As you will have read, successful weight management is all about finding a sustainable strategy that works for you. You obviously/ presumably enjoy exercise and so far have managed on low cal every day, but it is worth thinking about what you will be able to manage longer term.

Best wishes and good luck! And do join us in the WWC.

Polly I wish you a speedy recovery.

I have a few things that have caused almost complete lack of mobility. For the first 3 months and 3 stone that I lost, (I'm in my 4th month) the only exercise I got was walking to my car and back and finding a seat ASAP if I went anywhere. Exercise is for health, diet is for weight loss. The two combined are wonderful but anyone can lose weight without exercising.

Staying to the diet when things go wrong be them physically or mentally is something I have found so far to be able to do. Unlike any other diet which I would throw in the towel with if I hit an obstacle. I think because I was sick and tired of looking and feeling the way I did 50lbs ago. Also I knew that it would help my back, hips, knees if I lost weight and OMG has it ever. If I had waited to be mobile and able to exercise before I started fasting and losing weight.... Well I simply would never have lost any weight as the two were completely entwined. I needed to lose that weight to get moving.

What I am saying is, if something happens like an injury that causes you to be immobile try transferring that energy into maintaining your weight loss goals through diet alone. If you get board because you can't get about then spend some of that time looking for delicious low cal meals, reading success stories, finding tips and useful fasting info, blogging, reading, entertaining yourself to keep you away from the fridge. I don't work so I'm home alone a great deal of the time and have had to cope with ignoring the call of easy access to food. Although there's never anything in I could really sabotage my diet with.

My mobility has increased dramatically over the last month, from walking for about a minute to now 25 mins and being able to take a proper walk. I've not been into fitness for years since my accident so I don't suffer from getting anxious over missing exercise classes etc but I certainly know how it is to spend a year hobbling around the house, using canes and utilising mobility scooters to get around. So keep your eye on your goals, and where you want to be with your weight loss. It's amazing how much weight you can lose by hardly moving at all.

Good luck and I hope you are pain free soon. X