A long-term injury of any kind can really slow you down.
Depending on the extent of your injury, you may be unable to do much of anything while you heal and recover. Even small injuries can result in downtime while you nurse yourself back to health.
Taking it easy is often crucial to encourage proper recovery, but doing very little can quickly lead to weight gain and loss of muscle tone.
If you’re wondering how to avoid gaining weight while you recover from an injury, read on. Our tips will help you to stay focused on your overall health while you encourage your injury’s healing.
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Why Do Injured People Gain Weight?
It’s not uncommon for people in recovery from an injury to gain weight. If you are recovering from an accident or surgery and have already noticed that you have put on a few pounds, you are not alone. This is not uncommon at all.
The reasons this happens are numerous.
First of all, if you are recovering from an injury, you are likely not as physically active as you were before the incident. Even if you are not someone who exercises on a regular basis, you may not be aware of how many steps you take on an average day while performing normal, everyday tasks.
If your doctor has suggested that you take some time off from work and other activities while you recover, chances are that you are doing far less than you normally do. This can quickly translate to weight gain.
Even if your injury is somewhat minor, you likely are not as active as you were before. If you are someone who is quite active under normal circumstances, your new activity deficit can be especially large.
Furthermore, not only are you likely much less active during your injury recovery, but you are also probably eating more. Extra time, boredom, and excessive time at home while recovering may lead to more frequent snacks and visits to the kitchen.
When these factors converge, it’s no surprise that many people often gain weight while recovering from an injury.
How to Avoid Gaining Weight When Recovering From an Injury
Fortunately, because weight gain so often happens to people waiting for an injury to heal, experts have learned a number of excellent tips to help keep those extra pounds at bay.
Even if you’re on the lighter side and are not too worried about gaining a few pounds, it’s wise to learn how to avoid gaining weight while recovering because these tips are good for you, too. It’s easy for anyone to become lazy and lethargic while recovering. But it’s wise to focus on your overall health even during this period to help you recover more quickly.
Each of these tips will help you to avoid gaining weight while recovering from your injury, but when used together in concert, you will experience the most success.
Move Every Day
As explained above, one of the biggest reasons for weight gain during injury recovery is a lack of movement. Although you may not be able to exercise in the same ways you did before you got hurt, it’s crucial that you make an effort to get moving every day.
Your injury may keep you from doing things like running or swimming, but that doesn’t mean you can’t do some weight lifting. If the injury you have is in your upper body, you may still be able to go for walks.
The best way to proceed when it comes to movement during recovery is to speak with your doctor and to ask for recommendations. He or she will be able to suggest some activities and exercises that you can do that will help you stay fit while still allowing you to nurture your injury recovery.
Track Your Food Intake
During your recovery, you may have noticed that you snack a lot more than you did before. Much of this is due to boredom and access to food in your home.
One way to keep better track of the foods that you consume is to track your food intake. There are a number of websites and apps that will assist you in doing so, but even a simple notebook and pen will work.
When you write down what you eat, you can identify patterns and you also may find that you eat less if you know you’ll have to track every bite.
Plan Your Meals
Another way to ensure that you eat healthy every day is to plan your meals ahead of time. If you know what you will eat later and know that you have something to look forward to, you may be more inclined to skip a snack that you don’t need.
Also, planning your meals can be a big help while recovering from an injury because you can order all the ingredients you’ll need ahead of time instead of worrying about running back and forth to the store.
Snack on Fruits and Vegetables
To keep your appetite at bay, fill up on fruits and vegetables. These healthy snacks provide nutrients that will help you recover without too many calories. Chop up fruits and vegetables ahead of time so they are always accessible for you when you are craving a little snack.
Hydrate
Drinking water can also help you to snack less often. Also, staying hydrated will help you recover more quickly. Our bodies need water and it’s up to us to supply it. Most experts suggest that everyone should drink at least a half-gallon of water per day; start early in the morning and you should have no difficulty achieving this goal.
Don’t Gain Weight While You Recover
Once you have recovered from your injury, you will be excited to get back into the swing of things. As a result, it may not be all that difficult to shed a few pounds you gained while you were on the mend.
However, it’s much easier to simply not gain the weight to begin with. Now that you know how to avoid gaining weight while recovering from your injury, you can apply these tips and stay fit and healthy in the meantime. Good luck!
Whether you are recovering from an injury or not, if you are interested in learning about our medically assisted weight loss program, we would love to share more information with you about it. Please contact us today.