Easy and Healthy Ways to Lose Weight After an Illness or Injury

When I hurt my back I lost a lot of muscle tone and gained a lot of weight, and in physical therapy, I found out I was not the only one, lots of people who sustained an injury become less active and it affects their metabolism and eating habits. Even if you are eating healthy, (which is hard to do when you are bed ridden or people bring you yummy, high cal "comfort food" as a get well present.) it is hard to lose the weight when you are less active than normal. It is easier to get takeout or eat prepared meals since you are likely not up to standing for long periods of time cooking, and these are usually less healthy meals. In addition, you likely lose muscle mass when you are bed ridden; the same muscle that actually normally burns more calories. While doctor's appointments and physical therapy and surgeries, etc., might keep you busy, they do not burn calories like your regular errands. The appointments were also so exhausting, it was easier to get take out afterwards then to cook good food, so I ate very few veggies or other healthy foods. I also found myself very bored while recuperating and eating became one of the few fun things to do, and then I did a lot of it. The problem was, even though I was in physical therapy and exercising, none of it was cardio or aerobic, so it did nothing to stop weight gain. So if you are gaining weight while recovering from an injury or illness you just want to implement some easy changes to lose some extra pounds, here are some tips.

Increase your fiber intake. Increased fiber intake alone (without any other diet or exercise changes) can cause a 7 pound weight loss. The RDA of fruits and vegetables is 6 -8 portions. Including fruits and vegetables into your diet not only is much lower in calories, but good tasting fruit seems to eliminate the heavy fried carb cravings (the kind that make you mindlessly finish off a bag of potato chips).