Good low impact exercise for losing weight?

[WeaponZero]

I need to lose weight, but nerve damage to my left ankle limits the type of exercise I can do. Because my ankle can just 'give out' at any moment, I can't do any exercises that require it to be relied upon to support weight. I can work my upper body just fine, but I need some good ideas for cardio stuff to lose weight given my bad ankle. Obviously running, jogging, high impact aerobics, and lifting weights with the legs is as well too. Any suggestions? So far the only one I can think of is exercise bike...

[MrSchneider]

Bad ankle?

make sure you have the correct shoes, the wrong shoe on the wrong foot can be bad for the ankle, knee, and back. It all depends on how your foot lands naturally and the padding on the shoe.

but there is stair climbing, swimming, bike, rowing, cross country skiing,

consider going into physiotherapy training and get an MRI. you may have damage to the structure of the foot you don't know about, or it may just be nerve damage. in which case, training would be the best method.

try this

feet together, eyes open

feet together, eyes closed

now stand on the left foot, eye open

stand on left foot, eye closed

If you sway a little bit while standing on it, and then more so when your eyes are closed,

you may have lost some motor control in your ankle.

look into proprioceptive exercise and peronei strengthening

or, as I said, to just go see a physical trainer.

[Littletad]

Bicycle crunches. Calf raises on your good leg. Jumping jacks, use your bottom foot for support and not your whole foot. Stationary bike is good, avoid treadmill climbing unless you can use your top portion of the foot just fine.

And for the really hard stuff Muay Thai kicks. Try Shin Kicks. I do about 200 on each leg every other day. Do front straight leg kicks if the shin kicks are too hard.

Just try some of this stuff little by little. You won't see development on your legs until a few weeks but that's good. Also do leg raises and leg extensions, these do not require your ankle all that much. Good luck.

[Emilymarie77]

Any sort of movement is good - especially if you have been idle for a while. You shld also make sure that you do anaerobic exercise that triggers anaerobic metabolism, which builds lean muscle.

From what I was told by my trainer, anaerobics sustains your metabolism throughout a whole day but aerobics just sustains for appr an hour or so - according to certain studies in that field.

Are you able to briskly walk? I like the glider - less stress on your joints because you are not lifting up and stepping down each time - its just one continuous movement.

[HaggardDiva]

I would say your best option is swimming. It has GREAT benefits, and can be done with almost anything along the lines of what you have, including joint pains all over the body, bad backs, etc, because it doesn't put pressure on anything. And actually often helps such conditions. But more than helping those things it definately helps slim and tone the body, and fairly quickly as well. Swimming is one of the most pain free and effective workouts a person can do. Good Luck!

[palek]

For my money, swimming is the best all-around exersize to be had, and it's extremely low-impact. I used to come home and do 50 laps every night, and I never felf better in my life. This, combined with a healthy diet, will keep your weight in line as well.

[GwenTheAnnoying]

Swimming works really well

[lilKoi]

Try shadow boxing