Hello,

The SCI newbie with a lot of questions!

I had my accident 17 May 2007, I got out of Hospital 11 September 2007.
I moved back in with my parents.
In the hospital my weight was 87kg, Now that I'm back home I gained 13kg and it's all because of my mothers great food that I cannot resist.
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I exercise daily but my stomache is getting bigger by the day!
Does anyone have any advice on getting the weight off!
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I stretch my legs in the morning and I do a 100 pushups

In die afternoon I sit behind a exercise bike and I cycle my legs.

And in the evening I get inbetween the parallel walking frame and I do 15 laps.
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Watch what you eat, that is your problem.

when you combine the interests on your profile with mummas home cooking no wonder you are putting on the pounds. you seem to live a sedentary lifestyle which will contribute to being out of shape.Try to increase your general activity level and maybe add a sport to your list of interests with the extra benefit of increasing your social activity.

Thanks guys,

What dieets do you follow?
Or what activities do you do?

It'sn not complicated- just eat less, smaller portions are the easiest way to do it, it just takes a bit of will power.

I've lost about 20-25lbs in the last 6 months. I don't think of it as dieting though. I changed the way I look at food. Before I ate what ever and whenever, normally unhealthy choices. I finally realized that eating is an addiction just like anything else you can become addicted to and is bad for you, smoking, drugs, drinking...etc. People get a habit of eating, just to be eating, weather they are hungry or not and then even after becoming full they continue to eat instead of stopping because the food taste good. After I changed my mindset I looked at what was most detrimental to my health that I was eating.

Cola's, or any thing carbonated actually. They always make me feel bloated, there is nothing in them that is good for your body or health. My last one was about 3 months ago and that was only because I had it with alcohol. I've since started sipping my drinks on the rocks.

Fast food was next on the list. I could eat from Taco Bell, Sonic, Burger King...etc. every day and multiple times a day. Again nothing that I was eating from those places was doing anything good for my health. I would always feel like crap after eating fast food, it's nothing but bad proccessed frozen food that is heated up. I haven't had any fast foot for over 6 months now. At first it was hard not to pull into the drive through on the way home from work, but now just the thought of eating what I used to almost makes me sick. I feel so much better now/

Those are the two biggest changes I have made and I think it has paid off, not only in my weight loss but in how I generally feel on a day to day basis. I've changed a few other things also, but nothing like, don't eat carbs, or don't eat this or that. Just don't eat/drink non healthy stuff. i don't count calories or fat grams or any of that, so I don't see it as a diet, i see it as a change to the way I was living. i feel healthier, not bloated after every meal, I have more energy, i've lost weight and my cholesterol is no longer high.

For you, you can still eat your mommas cooking, just don't eat so much of it.

russ and texas wheels have given you some good advice on nutrition so i wont go into that part.
some simple ways to increase your activitie levels include staying away from power chairs if possible, parking as far from the door as practicle when you go to the shops, turn your preasure relief into an exercise session, get one of those pedometer things that measure how many steps people take and put it on your upper arm to get some sort of base measurement then find ways to increase those numbers.
For organised activities you cant go past joining a sports team rugby, basketball, tennis, atheletics, swimming, sit ski on snow or water there are heaps some sports like rugby have classifications and with your level of injury you may have to much function (assumption) to compete but would usualy be welcome to train( increase activity for weight management)
I thought i should point out that i'm able bodied and first got involved with sci by working part time to make a little extra money while studying to be a personal trainer.since then i have also studied massage therapy,life guard and swimming instructor. i now work as a health care assistant full time and trainer for wheelchair rugby athelets three afternoons a week and go away with athelets to tournaments. ( i love that game).

Hey guys,

Thank you for the advise on the food issue,

We don't have any of those fast food places you mentioned and I think the only thing we have in South Africa that you also have is KFC and McDonalds," They are about 2 hours away from me"

I generally eat healthy "a chocolate here and there",

I drink maybe once a month and then its only one beer!

I do what I can for exercise, We do not have physio fascilities nearby,

I live very far from a city.

Sport events for the disabled are minimum or non existent.

Thank you again,

Hi mdeyzel and welcome to the forum!

There sure are lots of us dealing with this same issue. You need to navigate to Spinal Cord Injury Health Issues and then click on Weight Control and Nutrition Following Spinal Cord Injuries.

There are lots of postings and answers to many of our shared questions.

you have to do a few things but if you follow this you should start tightening your stomach

1 get you blood tested most sci victims lose testosterone and hgh along with other things that may come up in the physical;
the dr will prescribe you human growth hormones or hgh this will fat build muscle mass and is knokn to regerate cylces that can repair a injured cord,
2. depending on dr. u will be issue a version of testorone that your body is requiring anyone over 27 testosterone loss. this will replace lost testoroneand improve musclr strength
3. diet diet diet 5 small meals a day consisting of meet fish chix vegetables
u can either go online to find out how many callories you rely. a few companies will monitor u free w there products. www/maxmuscle.com
4. excersise plan depending you capabilies consisting crunches sidecunches twists, you can use machines to hekp as well. get an excersise ball and do crunches w a partner. stomach fat is the hardest to get rid off especially when you a para/quad u need to alot of excercise eat healthy and get test and get hgh n testodterone

Thought I might add my 2 cents that having a disability does not render someone no longer "able-bodied." You have probably noticed this with the quad rugby athletes with whom you work! I prefer the term "non-disabled" because it does not promote the distorted impression that having a disability renders a body useless. Just different, and often stronger!

Check out the South Beach Diet -- all about choosing low glycemic carbs that keep your blood sugar sustained rather than spiking and causing bursts of sugar to turn to fat while alternately causing bursts of insulin to drag you down again. I am a victim of meal skipping and scavenging whatever is around -- unhealthy as can be. But, at one time, I was following the food choices of the South Beach Diet (though not following the diet itself), and miraculously I felt more energetic all the time. I need to get back into that, but law school is making it hard to manage
And as for beer, any is too many -- the maltose sugar in beer is the most fattening thing on the planet. Switch to a different drink if you can. And as a general rule, pair any carb (especially sugary one), with a protein and a fat to slow down the absorption. Seems counterintuitive that consuming a fat can make you less fat, but in moderation, and a healthy fat (like olive oil), does indeed have a slimming effect.
Good luck. Eating habits are hard to get into. Smaller meals, more frequently, is also a good idea. Again, as a chronic meal skipper and candy-bar filler, I'm not one to preach. But, these are the things that I have learned and that have worked for many people I know and for myself too when I have had the time to implement them.