How Can I Get Fitter

Chooky

I'm a 45 years old male and I have a big weight problem,

The problem is i only have 1 leg, it's gone from right up at the top of my thigh near my hip,
I lost the leg in a road accident years ago and the weight has slowly gone on.

I was 22st 7lb about 3 months ago, (I don't know how much a human leg weighs but it must be a few stone and the weight I am is with only one leg)
It felt like i was dying and finding it hard to lose weight, I have been cutting down on every thing.

The diet is now roughly like this : -

Breakfast @ 9am would be 2 slices of toast using brown bread and a glass of tropicana orange juice.

Lunch @12.30, maybe a tuna sandwich on brown bread, sometimes nothing

Dinner @6pm, Beans on toast with 2 slices of brown bread and a full tin of Heinz baked beans.

@ 8pm, I would eat maybe an Orange or a Apple

I'm drinking lots of water through the day and not eating or drinking anything else other than the above.

After aprox 3 months of the diet I'm now at 19st. 10lb. loosing aprox 2 and a half stone has made a big difference but in need to lose more and I feel stuck.
I'm almost at the point of Despair.

I need to start to do more exercise but it's difficult as most things need 2 legs, walking, running etc,
So if anyone has any help or useful ideas I would love to hear them.
Thanks.

bricky06

First of all congratulations on the weight loss so far!

I'm no expert, just offering an idea, how about a rowing machine?
You should be able to push off with 1 leg, I think, and it would be great for cardio which would make you feel a lot healthier.

seamus

First off, 2 and half stone in 3 months is a fantastic weight loss, well done. Don't feel down or stuck about that, you're doing brilliantly, way better than most people do.
If you keep up even half that rate over the next 6 months, you'll be down 3 more stone to nearly 16.5 stone.

In terms of one-legged exercise, the first thing which popped into my head was cycling. You can get a handcycle, but it's also possible to cycle a standard bike using just one pedal.

However, a rowing machine also sounds good. There may be a physio who specialises in this kind of thing.

ray jay

Chooky wrote: »

I need to start to do more exercise but it's difficult as most things need 2 legs, walking, running etc

You'd be surprised.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vh8r2ca8Id8

If you're losing weight with your current diet, keep it up. Join a gym or buy a set of weights and read the stickies to get some tips on diet and exercise. You may even want to start a log to record your progress. I guarantee you'll get plenty of support if you stick with it!

Fittle

Firstly, well done on the weight loss - that's a great achievement in 3 months.

Secondly, from the menu you've shown us, you don't seem to be eating any 'dinner' i.e. carbs or veg? While your menu does have protein and some fruit, it's quite minimal - I'm no expert, but at 6pm, would you not opt for a very healthy stiryfry (for example) with chicken and loads of veg?

Lastly, are you ambulant at all with a prosthetic leg?

Burkatron

Fittle wrote: »

Firstly, well done on the weight loss - that's a great achievement in 3 months.

Secondly, from the menu you've shown us, you don't seem to be eating any 'dinner' i.e. carbs or veg? While your menu does have protein and some fruit, it's quite minimal - I'm no expert, but at 6pm, would you not opt for a very healthy stiryfry (for example) with chicken and loads of veg?

Lastly, are you ambulant at all with a prosthetic leg?

First of all, congratulations on the weightloss! You're doing great....heres the but!!
Fittle is right in what she says above but I'm going to go 1 step further, the diet you'er on is unsustainable, I'm amazed you've managed to keep it going for this long! You need to make better food choices & eat more!

Chooky wrote: »

The diet is now roughly like this : -

Breakfast @ 9am would be 2 slices of toast using brown bread and a glass of tropicana orange juice. Add some protein into this...Eggs,milk meat, fish whatever

Lunch @12.30, maybe a tuna sandwich on brown bread, sometimes nothing This is probably the best thing you're eating & you're skipping it meaning you're going from 9:30-6 on 2 slices of toast & a glass of Orange juice

Dinner @6pm, Beans on toast with 2 slices of brown bread and a full tin of Heinz baked beans. Again little to no protein or veg!

@ 8pm, I would eat maybe an Orange or a Apple This is a step in the right direction

I'm drinking lots of water through the day and not eating or drinking anything else other than the above.

If you add excercise to the situation with the above diet you're setting yourself up for a big fail as you will not function properly on such little calories! You need to rethink everything. Read the stickies in the forum, they have great advice!

FastFullBack

Where do you live? These guys train once a week in Dublin http://www.fai.ie/domestic-a-grassroots/football-for-all/amputee-football.html

Would be perfect for you.

Chooky

Thanks for taking time to reply,

Answering some of your questions and taking some of your advise.
I had a 3 egg omelet on Thursday instead of the beans on toast and tonight i'm having a chicken stir fry,
And i'm eating a bit more fruit, got some big pears this week but the limited diet is also to do with the limited budget, been very broke i'm sticking to the basics but I will vary a few meals a week.
Not knowing the right things to eat but now i'm going to make a few changes but I still want to keep the caleries way down.
I would think the rowing machine is the way to go as I think it should be doable with the one leg.
They can be had for about €50 on adverts but a the moment that's way out of the budget but i am going to make a serious effort to save up for one,
I did try the cycling machine a few years ago but it was not really any good for me as your only pushing down and waiting for the peddle to come back up
and I also tried strapping my foot onto the peddle but it was a real pain in the ass.
As for joining the gym that's also a problem as i live out in the country (Galway) and have no car, the wife does but she is working three and a half days a week so uses the car for that
and then she visits her parents, goes shopping etc. etc. so I rarely get chance to use the car but also there would be no way of affording to join the gym unless we stopped feeding the kids
(They are eating proper meals, it's only me on the beans on toast)
As for the weight lifting I know anything is possible,
Before I put all this dam weight on I was very strong and would have been able for that but now with all the weight it's a hard enough just managing the daily chores.
I have no usable prosthetic limb right now, so i'm on crutches all the time and have been for a good few years now.
For now i'm just going to try and keep the weight coming off and I know every bit make a difference,
I think I was just a bit down last week when I put up the original post but sometime I feel that i'm getting nowhere
or because I have so much weight to lose and think it's never going to happen.
The main thing now is to start to "do more" and try a few basic exercises, I know I WILL get there how ever long it takes.

Any further advise appreciated.