I've been a hard core about my exercise for the past 10 years (power lifting, running, kickboxing), never missing more than 1 week for vacation. It't been a big part of my weight management and stress management, and now I'm on Atkins where exercise is a must, and I've ruptured my ACL so I can't do anything. It sounds like after surgery, I'm going to be out for a few months as well.

My weight loss on Atkins has been very slow (around 1 lb/week), and I've stayed at 20 - 25 grams of carbs, so I'm really concerned about how to deal with no exercise from a weight loss perspective as well as the stress release part.

I will continue to do upper body workouts although I think I'm going to have to nix the free weights for now, and I'll use machines for my good leg, but cardio isn't feasible, and I'm worried my slow weight loss will stop.

Any one have some experience with this sort of thing? I'd love to hear ideas or about other's experiences.

Thanks!
DHM

i dunno if a cast is used for ACL or not but is it possible to swim?

you could get a fairly good cardio workout by swimming with your arms and just letting your legs trail behind.

Unfortunately, I do have experience with this. I have torn BOTH my ACLs. Definitely stick with machines at first instead of free weights. Cardio--- swim city baby!! I did almost all of my cardio in the pool. Then when I was cleared, I could walk on the treadmill. Then I could run, etc. The first ACL took me a long time to recover from, about 10-11 months before I was back to my old self. The second one only took me 3 months to get fully back in the swing of things!!

So, best of luck to you in your recovery!!
Linda