Last post Mon, May 26 2008 9:15 AM by NineLives. 7 replies.
One of the "joys" of both getting older and having a spinal cord injury is your metabolism SLOOOOOOOOOOOOWs down. I don't know where this belly came from (yeah right), but I hate it.
Not like situps are a possibility anymore being fused from C3-7 never mind the lack of upper body strength.
Any suggestions for exercises I could do to get rid of this belly? I do have some leg control and I ride my exercise bike 20 minutes a day.
Notwheels
I know you do not want to hear it but eatting less and eatting healthier will do so much for you.
For cadio like an exercise bike, it usually take 15 minutes of hard petalling before it really starts doing any good. You say you are on the bike for 20 minutes, start doing it for 25 minutes... then 30 minutes once the 25 is too easy. Each time you add mintues, go down a level or so on the resistance and work back up.
Metabolism will raise again when your body has more muscle.
Also, what about crunches? Even if you can not lift yourself up you can at least tighten up the muscles and hold it for a few seconds at a time. You would be surprised how much that can actually help... Good Luck
Instead of focusing on working out THAT area.....try to focus on getting your heart rate up for at LEAST 20 minutes so you can start to burn fat...and you'll have to consume less calories than you use. If you can manage both of those for some time, you should start to drop some weight-in your belly too! Course...I know it's easier said than done! Good luck!
Hi Notwheels,
How incomplete are you?
Rather than doing situps, how about raising your legs when laying flat?
If you can't do that, you could try an abdominal stimulator. They don't work for everyone, but if you have a bit of residual muscle tone left in your ab's, then the stim unit may help.
Eating a healthy diet also help, and cutting the alcohol intake, it's not fun, but it works,.
If you have good use of your arms, just pushing your chair will burn excess calories, or even better, do plenty of cardio exercise.
Hope the above helps. :)
Simon
Apparelyzed - Spinal Cord Injury Support
YOUR NOT ALONE ! I EAT LESS AND STILL NO CHANGE !!!!!!!!!!!!! RAINEY
Eatting less helps more than eatting all you can, but that is not all. Watching what you eat and when you eat it, I have started eatting rice cakes at night for snacks after dinner. Breakfast is suppose to be the biggest meal of the day and dinner is suppose to be the smallest. This is not the normal routine for most people today though. Also lots of water helps keep the hunger down, drink a full glass of water before you eat any meal and it will help. But it still leaves what you eat, if you choose a doughnut over a salad then the sugar of the doughnut is going to be stored in your body as fat. This is your body's way of reserve energy. Starving yourself is also not good because then your body will store fat for energy when you are not eating. To lose weight anywhere you have to be using up more energy than you body is taking in. I am not saying anyone is doing any of this but these are the common problems that we addressed in the health classes I have taken. Good Luck
Im getting a degree in exercise science so I should be able to help.Your diet is going to be 60-70% of your sucess of losing weight. First off you need to limit as much of you can of refined carbohydrartes. Such as white flour, sugar, salt and prepackaged foods. I agree with the other post of your biggest meal being in the morning. Example would be 5 egg whites and 1cup of slow cooking oatmeal. You also should be eating 5-6 meals a day. But in smaller portions. All of your portions should be the size of the palm of your hand. Eating more frequently of every 2.5 -3hrs will speed up your metabolism. Stay away as much as you can of fast digesting carbs as you can such as sugar, white bread and limit your fruit intake. Focus on whole grains, vegtables and lean proteins.
Now the second equation is exercise. Try to weight train 2-3 times a week. Lean muscle mass will speed up your metabolism. If you dont have acess to a gym go to walmart-K mart and purchase some exercise bands. Now for cardio you should do cardio 5 times a week if possiable. If you are able to use a table top handcycle try working out on it and increasing your time to 30 mins and if you have to start off doing 5 mins until you reach 30 min do this 2-3 times a week. Then try doing a program called hitt on the handcycle. Try pedaling as hard as you can for 30 sec and then 30 sec easy do this a total of 6 times. This will really rev up your metabolism. Another thing that really help was getting invoved with a kids basketball team. Im able to get exercise and be a role model. Hope this helps and dont get discouraged. One day at a time. GOOD LUCK!!
