Obesity Discussion Forums

[elderboots]

I know that I have told everyone that I have had some surgeries for my back. I have been trying to get rehabilitated, and get back to work. Ever since I have been off work I have felt kinda worthless. I have worked all of my life. I had my last surgery in October, and was hoping very badly to get well enough to return to work. Over the last 2 months I have been in therapy, and work conditioning. After that I was given a FCE ( Functional Capacity Exam). Well that test did not go very well. Today I had my last Dr. visit. This visit was to go over the results of my exam, and to let me know where I stood on going back to work. The Dr. told me today that I will never return to my old job. He said that my back will never be able to hold up to that kind of work anymore. As if I didn't feel worthless enough! Now I have to look at going into something that I do not have to use my back. This means that I will have to go back to school. To do what? I am not quite sure yet. I know that I must think positive, but this is proving harder than it sounds. Not being able to walk , and run like I used to anymore makes me want to find comfort in other things such as food. The Dr. said today that if I could change my diet that I may be able to control some of the pain better. I need to figure out how many calories per day I need. I also need to figure out what kind of exercises I can do that will be more low impact, but still enough to lose the weight. I know that if I could just begin to lose I would be able to feel better about myself. Going back to college at 31, and having to be around all those younger people frightens me a little too. I feel like others are making fun of me. My self esteem is really low right now. Under the circumstances, what should I do now? Didn't mean to be so long. Sometimes when I get started it's hard to stop. Thanks!

[Ireland]

I dont know your backround or what the surgery was but there are things that you should be able to do to help yourself. Get a list of exercise that you can participate in from your doctor.

I was cleared to use a thing called the XL Glider. It is like a strider but is uses your weight as resistance, no programmes. and as it glides there is no pressue on your back or legs. It (in my opinion) would take awhile to loose weight using as I did a kilometer (took 20 minutes) and was only starting to sweat. This is not ideal but it is a start and may be what you need to rebuild your strength

Hope this helps

[Obesity Discussion]

Originally Posted by elderboots

I know that I have told everyone that I have had some surgeries for my back. I have been trying to get rehabilitated, and get back to work. Ever since I have been off work I have felt kinda worthless. I have worked all of my life. I had my last surgery in October, and was hoping very badly to get well enough to return to work. Over the last 2 months I have been in therapy, and work conditioning. After that I was given a FCE ( Functional Capacity Exam). Well that test did not go very well. Today I had my last Dr. visit. This visit was to go over the results of my exam, and to let me know where I stood on going back to work. The Dr. told me today that I will never return to my old job. He said that my back will never be able to hold up to that kind of work anymore. As if I didn't feel worthless enough! Now I have to look at going into something that I do not have to use my back. This means that I will have to go back to school. To do what? I am not quite sure yet. I know that I must think positive, but this is proving harder than it sounds. Not being able to walk , and run like I used to anymore makes me want to find comfort in other things such as food. The Dr. said today that if I could change my diet that I may be able to control some of the pain better. I need to figure out how many calories per day I need. I also need to figure out what kind of exercises I can do that will be more low impact, but still enough to lose the weight. I know that if I could just begin to lose I would be able to feel better about myself. Going back to college at 31, and having to be around all those younger people frightens me a little too. I feel like others are making fun of me. My self esteem is really low right now. Under the circumstances, what should I do now? Didn't mean to be so long. Sometimes when I get started it's hard to stop. Thanks!

I don't see why people would make fun of you for going back to school, in fact I always had respect for people that went back to school later on in life! Besides, for all those people know you're getting a grad degree or something! If you're going back to school and need to figure out what you want to do, have you considered first seeing what degrees/education your local school(s) offer? Have you considered going online and seeing what jobs are available in your area? Maybe you'll stumble upon something you didn't know existed?

Regarding low impact exercise, swimming is great, as is using an elliptical machine.....and I already posted in the other thread about helping you count calories so I'll help you over there!