My Mum is 56 and is obese, a smoker and drinks a few evenings a week.
She struggles to walk very far without getting out of breath, she complains about aches and pains in her legs and hips, she has a definite wheeze in her chest, breathes extremely heavily and is pretty sedentary in her job too.
I've recently been seeing more of her since restrictions started easing and she's much worse than a few months ago. She seems so tired and struggles to stand up after sitting down for a while. My mum used to be very athletic, a runner, a swimmer, fantastic netball player in her younger years. I'm gutted that she's come to this. Her eating habits are pretty bad, she loves bread, cheese and other heavy carbs. She buys countless apps and books to help her lose weight, but barely moves her body so it seems pointless. She always used to be so mobile, I'm shocked at how sedentary she's become.
I'm trying to be kind and supportive but I'm so frustrated that she's not adopting the very basic strategies to change her lifestyle. I also don't want to upset her. She buys one book, reads it and moves on to the next without adopting the strategies and thinks she will magically find some sort of quick fix. She just needs to focus on the basics but she won't listen. I feel lucky to have a youngish mum in my mid-thirties and I don't want to lose her prematurely.
She recently bought a vape, but now vapes and smokes and hasn't replaced smoking with vaping! Her friends smoke and they're all partial to a beer so I don't think her social circle helps.
I'm not sure how to help her? I just want her to be healthy and able to enjoy her grandchildren. My friends mums are all older than mine and seem to be much fitter.
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General health
Worried about my obese, smoker, drinker, unhealthy Mum
12 replies
Choochababy · 15/04/2021 23:53
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