fitness plan without squatting, main goal is weight loss
My Post got removed from /fitness due to their rule about medical conditions. I don't want medical advice though, I need weight loss/fitness advice during a time of possible injury. I'd a aprreciate any input.Hi guys,First things first, stats:I'm doing 5/3/1 for beginners, finishing up with week 1 of the 4th cycle tomorrow. I had to restart with weight lifting and fitness last fall after being in the hospital 3 times the year before which obviously stalled progress. I'm Male, 27, 5'9" (175 cm) , 187 lbs (85 Kg). My main goal is weight loss. I want to lose another 10kg, so roughly 20 pound. I started lifting a few years ago but never took it serious and it always was an on off kinda thing, some more serious and some off phases. I started with over 115kg/253lbs, so I already know how weight loss works in general ;). Right now I eat around 2000kcals per day with one cheat day per week and I'm losing roughly 500 g/1 pound per week, so it's all good.In the very beginning of weight lifting I never cared about form and it probably has already taken its toll on my joints. For the last 1.5 years I made a conscious effort to improve on form. I think my form is okay but I'm as flexible as a brick, which is something that I believe is a hindrance for improving my form. Now about the squat:When I'm doing squats, my knees hurt like crazy. The pain starts during exercise and persists, sometimes for a day, sometimes for some hours or other times, squatting does not hurt at all but my knees hurt a day after.I was doing squats wearing tennis shoes (only gym footwear I own) for the longest time but I started doing them barefoot a few weeks ago in the hopes that it would fix things but to no avail. Last Wednesday was the last time I did squats and my knees hurt so much that I decided to stop squatting until I can see a doctor. When I'm stretching and squatting as deep as I can without any weight (so doing a 'third world squat') my knees already hurt from the bent.So here's my problem: I shouldn't ignore this any longer so I first want to go to a doctor to know how fucked my knees already are. Where I live, the earliest I can talk to a specialist is in April though. I still want to reach my weight loss goals until then but I'm a one trick pony when it comes to fitness (read: weight lifting). I think doing 5/3/1 without squatting is nonsense and through this, I also came to think about my overall flexibility and form again. Should I perhaps start working on this before worrying about anything else? I want to emphasize that my main goal is still weight loss and not gaining muscle, which is secondary right now. I think that I would probably benefit from becoming more flexible. I can't do a third world squat without losing my balance for example and I could find many more examples of my inflexibility.So what kind of plan can I do when losing weight is my main concern, knees need to be checked and flexibility is pretty bad. I still want to do a 'real' workout thrice a week, going to the gym and exhaust myself. And I would mind eating less than I already am during the week.Sorry that this is all over the place, I already restructured this post twice ^^. I would appreciate any input.