Hayley,
I broke my shoulder yesterday! It's the upper humerus so it is in a sling for four to six weeks. I am at least 50 lbs overweight but used to be very fit about five years ago. I was getting back into fitness with yoga and I had big fresh September plans for a lifestyle overhaul. Now what???
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Welcome to what we call adversity. You thought you were going to be challenging yourself this September but instead you are being challenged by something else: a broken shoulder.
A broken shoulder is not something to take lightly. The shoulder is our most mobile joint in our body and when it is injured it presents us with a lot of problems. It sounds like you have broken the bone and the muscles are still intact, so that is some good news. But while your arm is healing, you need to let it rest, and although six weeks sounds like a long time, it will go by quickly. When you are sling-free, talk to a physiotherapist about to how you can ease yourself back into exercise, but I would suggest beginning in the pool with either swimming or water aerobics and then slowly easing yourself back into yoga and strength training.
The good news is you can still get yourself into shape and continue to see the weight drop on the scale. You had already committed to rocking the month of September, and you still can, but switch your focus from the workouts to the kitchen. We all think that exercise is the key to weight loss, when really it is mostly about diet. I have been working in this industry for 10 years and I know that until my clients overhaul their diet they are basically wasting their time in the gym.
Spend these next six weeks learning how to cook new recipes, creating habits of planning and prepping your meals, and getting rid of the “junk”. Late summer and early fall are great times to explore local farmers markets, and since you won’t be hitting the gym for the next while go explore a farmer’s market on the weekend. The bonus to a farmers market is that unlike supermarkets they are usually located in rural areas or in parks which will allow you to go for a stroll before picking up your fresh produce. Do as much walking as you can, keep up that step count.
This shoulder injury is going to throw a bit of a road block into your working out for the next few weeks but you can still go ahead with your plan on overhauling your lifestyle. When the time comes that you are ready to hit the workouts hard, remember that you just spent 6 weeks heeling and you are going to be weak, so be kind to yourself. Start out slow and take it week by week. Sometimes injuries like this are a blessing in disguise as they show you how tough you can be while giving you an opportunity to try something new.
