diet and exercise with broken ankle

kawiGirl

hi all! i recently broke my ankle and have several more weeks in a boot. i am dieting (just the basics: cut back on what i am eating, one diet drink a day, lots of water, nothing sugary), but i am having a hard time exercising.

i was wondering, do any of you fellow curlies have any simple exercise ideas that i can do while injured?

also, are there any helpful diet tips that anybody can give me?

i know that because of the way i am built, it will be easy for me to put on weight, and i am by no means skinny now (just slightly on the pudgey side). i really don't want that to happen and i would love to actually lose weight, if that's even possible, while injured like this.

thanks to everybody who has any ideas.

2poodles

Let me start off by saying - sorry about your ankle!

I suppose you can at least do upper body resistance training. And, if you have access to a gym, some of them also have the arm bikes (I don't know their official name) - but you hold onto the handles and spin the wheel with your arms, thus getting a cardio workout without involving your legs. Good luck!

BekkaPoo

Crunches? :dontknow:

There are also a lot of Pilates moves that don't require you to stand.

PixieCurl

What about swimming? If you are you allowed to take the boot off to shower, maybe you could swim?

Otherwise I second the recommendation for upper body resistance/strength training. Dumbbell bench press, seated cable rows (or you could do modified bent-over rows, supporting your injured leg somehow), assisted pull-ups/chin-ups if you belong to a gym that has a machine, lat pull-downs, dips if you can do them.

Honestly, though, the exercise won't make that big of a difference in terms of weight loss in the short term. It absolutely is key for long-term weight loss, but diet is much more likely to help you achieve short-term results, especially since you're very limited in your cardio options.

yv0nne

Don't swimmmmmm with your ankle broken. It will not help .. being a lifeguard/ instructor/ swim team coach for the last 7yrs, I can tell you that's a BAD idea. However, if you can get in the water you can walk. Stay in the shallow end and just walk around. It will provide enough resistance to get your heart rate up AND it will cause less stress on the ankle than regular walking. As your ankle heals, swimming will definitely help rehab it, just not while it's still healing.

PixieCurl

yv0nne wrote: »

Don't swimmmmmm with your ankle broken. It will not help .. being a lifeguard/ instructor/ swim team coach for the last 7yrs, I can tell you that's a BAD idea. However, if you can get in the water you can walk. Stay in the shallow end and just walk around. It will provide enough resistance to get your heart rate up AND it will cause less stress on the ankle than regular walking. As your ankle heals, swimming will definitely help rehab it, just not while it's still healing.

Thanks for chiming in. I'm not an expert so I wasn't sure about the swimming but thought it might be a possibility.

sherry7899

Hi,

Do you still have a VCR? The fitness instructor Margaret Richard has a strength training tape called "Getting Better." She filmed it after foot surgery, and all the exercises are done either sitting or lying on the floor. I can post a link to her website store if you like.

I hope you feel better soon-
Sherry

Josephine

I would do upper body exercises, including pushups on your knees, situps, you can also do kickbacks for your butt(where you are on all fours and push your leg up) and lift your legs while on your side to work the thighs(sorry not sure what it's called). My ankle is not broken but my foot is kind of bruised so I haven't been putting any pressure on it either this week.

anonymous_46846

With regards to dieting, you can do the following for accelerating recovery:

- Calcium should be at no less than 2-3 grams a day. This can be achieved with diet (plenty of milk and cheese) but if you use supplements, use calcium gluconate or carbonate.
- Magnesium should be at 1 gram per day (use supplements here, dont take mg oxide but mg citrate)
- Importance of taking vt D3 as it helps absorption of calcium. Buy a supp that offers over 100% of RDI and go out on the sun as much as needed (without sun protection). You only need 15 mins or so, so you wont burn.
- Increase protein intake. Since you are a girl, 1 gram per pound of bodyweight is good.
- Remove all sugars, carbohydrates obtained from fiber rich sources.
- Do not be afraid of saturated fat in moderation. Eat red meat and some boiled eggs.
- The whole vit B spectrum. Since I am guessing you dont pound 1 kilo of steak and a dozen of eggs per day, you will need to use a supplement covering the range of B vits.
- Do NOT diet. Dieting puts your body in a state of catabolism where tissue is broken down and thats the reverse of what you want. Eat slightly over maintenance and do not be afraid of gaining weight. Repairing a bone takes energy and the extra calories will be used for repairment. Just make sure you avoid sugars.
- Eat plenty of berries, they have antioxidants which have yet to be synthetised into capsules.
- Vitamin C: use as much as needed until you start getting a runny stomach (diahrrea). The ceiling seems to be 3 grams at the start but you can build up to 15 grams a day no problems (I take between 5 nd 8 grams per day). Divide your doses into 1 gram every 4 hours. Make sure the vit C you buy contains citrus flavonoids which aid in absorption of ascorbic acid (known as vitamin C by supplement stores) and together have great synergy. Vitamin Shopp has a lot of different Vit C products, check them out.
- Vitamin A: buy a product that has RETINOL and not betacarotene. Retinol is the powerful form of Vit A and aids in collagen formation. Or you could simply take some cod liver oil everyday.

Do not be afraid of using high doses of this. All the vitamins, save for vit A & D, are water soluble so any extra is simply urinated and doesn't accumulate. As for vit A & D, you will be taking a low dose so no concerns there, plus it will be for a short term anyway.

Also, do NOT exercise whilst having a broken ankle! This is dangerous and any exercise you do will confined to little straining which will not yield any results. Let the body recover, eat smartly, take your supplements and you will be back to bouncing around very soon.

If you need any more help, let me know.

Take care,

Rogelio