Women tend to be more "self-conscious" about their weight and I *hate* my quad tummy (that has gotten bigger over the years and has nothing to do with food) but us quads have no stomach muscles so there is nothing I can do about it. I eat very little and eat healthy but have only gained weight. Mostly in the girth, hips & arse over the last 3-4 years.
I have found out how I CAN (from experience-even though it was bad experience) lose weight and that is by staying in bed 24/7 for several months. Not all of my weight is water weight anymore but the two times that I was in bed with wounds (2001 & 2004) I was very thin after about five months in bed. What is funny, however, was that I ate much more (much more) during those times and now I only eat about a quarter of what I was eating then. And I am eating the same stuff. Just less desserts (IF any dessert) and not meals in bigger quantities like when I was in bed. But I can't have a life being in bed 24/7 day after day, week after week and month after month so my body is going to do what is going to do. I feel out of proportion because just a little above my bellybutton -the rest of me is quite slim. So gravity and aging won over the last three to four years. Prior to that my face, neck, and arms were pretty heavy looking and the bottom part was "okay." Now I am just the opposite and everything went south! To answer your question, I have not been able to exercise since the onset of acquiring syringomyelia (1994) because it only exacerbates my autonomic nervous system and increases my pain levels (like Dan described). So, I have just learned to live with it. I just don't like my hips almost going over the edges of each side of my seat! Don't worry about it... I have seen you and you look great! <---- Now people can run with that rumor and think "Lori has the hots for Greg!" LOL Lori Michaelson Age - 44 C4/5 complete quad, 29 years post Tucson, AZ On Tue, Dec 16, 2008 at 1:08 PM, Greg <[email protected]> wrote: > > > How many of you exercise regularly? I use to, but it never seemed to help > much. I stopped for years, but after years of quaddom and taking meds, pain > pills, etc. I fined myself getting tired a lot, low energy, low stamina, > etc. So I started to try exercising again. To soon to tell if it's helping > yet. > > My old leg bags use to have these great rubber straps to hold > them on my leg. Not the cloth/elastic kind they now have. I saved lots of > the old ones for just this reason. I tie them together and make loops on the > end. I use them as exercise bands. I can use them many ways, various > lengths, double them up, etc. Most often I loop it over a bar on my ceiling > and loop it to my hands. It works pretty well. Who knows, maybe I can loose > some of my man boobs. I wish there was a way to loose my quad tummy. > > > > Best of health, > > Greg > -- Lori C4/5 complete quad, 27 years post Tucson, AZ
