I feel for you friend! I broke my cervical spine a year ago in a motor vehicle accident and miraculously escaped complete paraplegia. I have terrible scars from the accident but I can still train how I used to.
The fundamentals you will need to learn is fat loss is 80% diet and 20% cardio. This is good news for you because you can achieve excellent results with little or no cardio if you strictly diet.
First you will need to count calories, this is absolutely essential! There are a number of programs available that take the hassle out of spread sheeting your calorie consumption. I recommend Calorie King but Fit Day is also popular.
Next you need to calculate your maintenance calorie consumption determined by your weight. This will typically be between 2000 and 2200 calories for an untrained individual. As a beginner you must log your daily calorie intake to get a serious concept of how much you eat.
Next you need to be aware that you need to be in a calorie deficit of 7700 calories per a week to lose 1 kg or 2.2 pounds a week. You shouldn't aim to lose more than this a week and any less you will find frustrating with slow results. This means you will be looking at a 1200 calorie a day diet.
Next you need to look at your nutrient partition. You should aim to derive your calories from between 30% -40% from protein; 20% - 30% from fat; and 30% - 50% from carbohydrates. Most individuals find slightly better results from having carbohydrates on the low end.
The foods you should be consuming most are lean chicken breast, lean beef, tuna, eggs, milk, protein shakes and frozen vegetables. These foods are high in protein and low in carbohydrates and fat. Foods to consume moderately are bread, rice and pasta. Foods to avoid entirely are pizza, ice cream, chocolate, ham burgers and fried foods.
Next you need to moderate the size of your meals. This will be a large shock to you! You will need to buy a kitchen scales and measuring cups to measure out portions of food. You should aim for 5-6 meals a day with no snacks. Breakfast should be your largest meal at 400 calories while the remainder of meals should be around 200 calories. This requires dedication and is the real measure of how serious you are. 200 calories is surprisingly little food (2 slices of buttered bread, a protein shake with a cup of milk, 200 g of uncooked chicken breast).
You must appreciate that small amounts of food add up significantly and ruin your progress! One slice of pizza is 364 calories! This is a third of what you aim to lose in terms of calories each day and would effectively ruin your progress! You have to learn to discipline yourself!
Try not eating anything for a whole day as an exercise of discipline. This isn't a weight loss strategy but rather an exercise of will power. You need to learn that feeling hungry is normal and not an excuse to eat unless in accord with your diet! This is the mind game and many people on this forum are very poor at this. Many on this forum resort to appetite suppressants and fat burners of limited effectiveness as a poor substitute for discipline. If you can fast an entire day and not engorge yourself the next day you have will power and will succeed!
Next you need to pull it all together and get it perfect! If you are dedicated and buy the Calorie King package and pay attention to your food consumption logging it every day, you should eventually figure out a diet for yourself that you can adequately manage within the guidelines I have set. Once you have gotten this perfect for 2 weeks, then you should consider a fat burner.
Why not use the fat burner from the very start? Because fat burners are of limited effectiveness as many learn. The best fat burner from over the counter ingredients is the ECA stack (Ephedrine, Caffeine, Aspirin). But even the ECA stack at max dosage (75 mg of Ephedrine a day, 600 mg of Caffeine and 1500 mg of Aspirin) only equates to a calorie deficit of 200 calories! The best OTC fat burner is only equal to 2 slices of buttered bread a day! Why bother then? Because 15 minutes of running at 14 Km/hr is only equal to 2 slices of buttered bread and a can of tuna in spring water! Calorie burning by whatever means is simply equal to a surprisingly little amount of food, so small amounts of food really count!
The subject of cheating also warrants discussion. Simply stated don't do it! Many people on this board who have excellent diets will argue that a cheat meal once per a week is good for maintaining metabolism. But I argue against it because cheating implies a relaxing of discipline which is the most important part of dieting. Also throughout the course of your regular life you sometimes find situations where it's just about necessary to eat a meal provided by somebody else. You should try your best to log this in your calorie log and concede that you cheated without planning it. Keep in mind small amounts of food count! One cheat meal of half a pizza equals two days of dieting wasted!
Next is lighting weights, just because you are restricted to a wheel chair doesn't mean you can't lift weights. There are power lifters who are paraplegics in the para Olympics who have incredible upper body strength. Accessibility to gyms will likely be a concern so you may consider buying gym equipment for your home. Ebay is a great option for this because many people buy gym equipment and don't stick to their goals and sell it at cheap prices! Don't be like them!
What can you achieve? A lot! You could quite reasonably get to a slim 10% BF by following the instructions I have outlined. With persistence and harsh discipline 6% BF is even possible! As I stated fat loss is 80% diet and your diet will have to be perfect! While you may be limited in terms of cardio, an ECA stack once you have perfected your diet may mitigate this.
Please don't bother using the ECA until your diet is perfect! There are too many people on this boards asking for a psychosis from abuse of stimulants because they find they don't work very well and experiment by stacking them together and upping doses! This has significant risks in terms of blood pressure, psychosis and serotonin syndrome.
To summarise this long post. Get a calorie spreadsheet calculator and log your calories. Aim for around 1200 calories a day split into 5 meals. Buy a kitchen scales and measuring cups and start measuring your food. Eat the healthy food choices I recommended and aim for around 30% protein, 50% carbs and 20% fat. Practice strict discipline and accept that you will be hungry for at least 25% of the day. Once you feel ready and prepared for the investment of money and effort look into buying some home gym equipment from eBay. Most important of all, don't believe you can't achieve your goals because you are a paraplegic! I promise you it's possible.
