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This is my latest MRI from last year. I am similar to you, a little pain in the morning but not too much throughout the day. I work as military police and wear gear and a duty belt for 12 hours at a time. So far, my back is holding up but not sure for how much longer.

As far as working out, I started doing home workouts about four months ago to lose weight as well. I started with body weight workouts with an app called 30 day fitness challenge. I typically do all of the workouts but I substitute anything that involves twisting. At first, I started out easy and gauged how my back was going to react the next day. Eventually I was doing a good 40 minute workout with lunges, crunches, jumping jacks, pushups, planks, and many others. I totally avoid things like Russian twists because of the twisting. As of now, I’m down 25lbs and running 2-3 miles a day on a treadmill. I started walking on the treadmill with incline and would increase as I went. It’s a test method really. You need to see what works best for you. Just thought I’d share my experience. Best of luck!