Hi and Welcome. Today I want to discuss, How to manage your weight while being wheelchair-bound.
I myself am a Wheelchair user. I've been in one since Kindergarten, and ever since, I have not yet to manage to walk so I understand everyone's pain and troubles. However, there should be no excuse to do anything. You can do everything you want while being in a wheelchair, it just requires a tad bit more work/effort. Anyways, let's discuss weight management.
So people in wheelchairs can exercise. If you thought otherwise, you're wrong. Just because you cannot use your legs does not mean you can't work out. If you're capable of moving your upper body, you can get in a good workout to promote weight-loss. And You should be exercising on a daily to improve and develop muscle and bone strength. You do not need legs to lose weight, and in fact, you do not need to work out in order to lose weight; when it comes to losing weight, focus on your calories.
Calories dictate how much weight you're going to gain. If you consume a lot of calories on a daily basis, you're going to gain weight. You must find out how many calories your body needs in order to maintain a good healthy weight. To find this out, I recommend using a calorie tracking app or find an online calculator that'll calculate how many calories your body needs in order to sustain a healthy weight. However, some calculators aren't accurate, so what I recommend is to track your calories for about a week, determine how many calories you've been consuming, find the baseline, and from there, manipulate your calorie intake to see results. So, let's say you've been consuming about ~2000 calories daily, and you're gaining weight from this amount. Now to lose weight, you must consume fewer than 2000 calories. So you have to deduct about ~200-500 calories from your average calorie consumption that you have figured out. Now, you'll be consuming about ~1700 calories daily to see weight-loss results. Along with exercise, you can promote more of a fat-loss process. Exercising just helps burn more calories, resulting in weight loss. The main factor that drives weight-loss is being in a calorie deficit.
While being wheelchair-bounded, you must prioritize your diet and nutrition since it's more of a challenge for us to manage weight. If you focus and prioritize your diet and nutrition, weight management will be much easier to go about. Eating healthy has tons of benefits. It improves mental health and physical health; it improves energy and performance, and recovery. If you were to eat vegetables and fruits and other healthy foods, it'll help detox your body, making it much more efficient to lose weight and to promote weight. Hydration is another factor you must focus on. Avoid sugary drinks and beverages and only focus on water intake. Real Juice is good, but none of that sugary sweetness that most Americans indulge in.
With that being in mind, you now know what you should do. Focus on Diet and Nutrition. Healthy nutrients = healthy body. Consume lots of vegetables because they contain a lot of good healthy nutrients and fiber. Fiber is key to help things move within your gut, making it better to lose weight. Focus on exercising if you can. Have a proper sleeping routine, Do not indulge in sweets, nor excessively consume foods. Have a well-rounded balanced diet, no limiting or restricting any type of nutrients. Do not use any extreme fat-loss protocols because they are duds; they end up failing because it's unrealistic. The main goal and drive are to focus on Diet and Nutrition. That's the only thing we, us people in wheelchairs, should really focus on. That ultimately dictates your health and longevity. If you don't eat healthily, your longevity, performance, recovery, and weight management will be impacted.