Exercising several days a week can be tough enough for anyone who is trying to lose weight—but when you suffer an injury in the middle of a fitness program, you may feel like you can't reach your goal. Bob talks with a caller named Leslie who has two small children, works full-time and recently suffered an injury while training for a 10-mile run.

Leslie says since she was about 11 years old, she has had trouble controlling her weight. About six months ago, she says she took up running for the first time with the goal of getting in shape. "I signed up for a 10-mile race and I had a coach, and I overtrained—I ended up with a hip fracture and my running had to stop," Leslie says.

Leslie says she is now seeking a low-impact fitness routine that she can do while recovering from her injury, but Bob says Leslie first needs to take a closer look at what caused her injury. "When your life isn't fully where you want it to be, you overcompensate in some other area—and in your case, you actually sustained an injury," Bob says.

After talking about Leslie's busy life and her tendency to indulge in emotional eating, Bob says Leslie needs to change the way she thinks about exercise. "A lot of times folks that overexercise are doing that because the eating issue is there," Bob says. "They are still eating a lot and they get great comfort in exercise because they know they are burning calories and compensating for the fact that they are misusing food." Leslie says she recognizes that her busy lifestyle often puts her in situations where she overindulges in unhealthy food, and she says she's ready to make certain diet changes. "If I cut out all sugars and all breads, I am much happier, much healthier and much kinder to my family—and I don't eat as much," Leslie says.

As for an exercise program that Leslie can use while she recovers from her fractured hip, Bob says swimming is a good place to start. "Swimming is great because it will give you a really good toning exercise," Bob says. "It's not the best weight loss exercise, but that is okay right now because it will take the stress off your body."

Concentrating on strength training with weights and bands are ways that Bob says Leslie can burn calories. Once she can handle some light-impact exercise, Bob says walking uphill is a good place to start. When she is fully recovered from her injury, Bob says Leslie should vary her workout and never run more than four times a week. "We get overuse injuries when we do the same activity over and over," Bob says. "So cross-training is a really great way to get fitter—and more muscles get trained the more activities you do."