Help me with my fitness please

[Merryoldgoat]

I’m very overweight and on the bariatric pathway. I don’t want the surgery so I need to turn it around but I’m overwhelmed by the mountain I need to climb.

I am making progress with weight loss albeit slow but I really need to exercise more for health - I know weight loss is mostly about diet.

Have you transformed your body over 45?

I have a knee injury which makes things harder but surely I can do it.

Feeling very low today.

I have found doing yoga with adriene on YouTube is so motivational for putting me in the right frame of mind for eating healthy and wanting to do more exercise generally. I definitely notice it if I haven’t done it for a while and go back to it.

Like you, I have a child with SEN and she loves doing Just Dance with me on the Nintendo switch. Surprising how many calories you can burn and it’s fun! I think the key is to plan things you enjoy and for me, it’s having a mix of things so I don’t get bored. So exercise bike while watching telly, a just dance or grow with jo session, swimming with the kids, a bike ride or nature walk etc. If a friend asks to meet for coffee or lunch and weather is nice, I usually suggest a walk beforehand or instead of that and everyone always thanks me for it!

Good luck and believe in yourself!

I’m on day three of no snacking and healthier eating and doing ok. Bit hungrier than I’d like but broadly speaking can distract myself.

I have two loads of laundry to put away so that should help a bit!!

I lost a lot of weight walking!! I walked a LOT every day and it really worked. The huge difference for me came from getting a Fitbit and setting daily steps goals. It was fab. I still switch it back on if I need a boost again. Get a knee support OP and some fab trainers and go for it.

@Retrievemysanity

Thank you for you kind words. It’s hard to stay motivated but I thankfully have lots to keep my busy so trying to concentrate on that 🤞🏽

The huge difference for me came from getting a Fitbit and setting daily steps goals.

Yes, me too. I only had about 10 kilos to lose, but having a FitBit really helped. I set it for a 250 calories per day deficit.

I recorded every single thing I ate, and if I was cooking at home, I weighed things. I was completely accountable to myself, and if I ate a 100g bar of chocolate or two Mars bars in a row(I used to do that very easily) the calories went into my FitBit record.

It very quickly taught me about making choices. Do I really want to blow my day's calories on something that will leave me hungry? And writing it all down makes it very clear.

All I do is walk. It is so underrated.
I've lost weight and now maintain my weight purely by walking daily.
The benefits of walking is amazing.
I walk around two hours every day with a good podcast going. It improves overall fitness, heart health, mental health and is free and accessible to everyone.
Start slow and before long you'll notice an improvement in your health (e.g. that hill you struggle with will get easier) and you'll be able to go for longer, faster walks or change it up and try another exercise once you feel confident to do so.
I have bad hips and awaiting hip replacement so walking is doable with bad joints too.
Google the benefits of walking it is one of the best, low impact, free exercises you could ever do.
Small goals. Maybe get a step tracker and try to get to so many a day then increase as your fitness improves.
You can a zillion percent do this 💯

Grow with Jo on YouTube. She’s amazing, she also has a Facebook group, grow with jo unified.
I have dodgy knees and I do her walking or tabata workouts usually. I was very slow to start with, no where near her pace but the workouts were all so adaptable. Best of luck.

I don't know if different trusts run it differently but my husband had a personal trainer assigned as part of the bariatric pathway - they were a bit more specialist in regards the understanding that with the extra weight there's additional considerations with a programme, as well as being aware that there may be mental stumbling blocks in the way (although there was the counsellor assigned to also help with that) and the dietitian was also really helpful.

Like I say, it may be that it differs between trusts but the support network we've had has been exceptionally helpful

I lost 40lbs on low carb (borderline keto) and Fast800. I’ve always been super sceptical of diets but this really worked for me. I think it helped being able to eat higher fat as long as carbs were extremely low so it didn’t feel completely restricted.

You need to make a plan for when it rains or you don’t feel like going out! Mi can easily do 6k steps in an hour walking up and down my kitchen or living room (it’s about 8 steps in each direction) …. Stick headphones in or the radio on and go for it.
I struggle watching tv as it’s a fixed point to look at and makes me feel a bit sick! I also don’t do as many steps with the tv on as I get drawn in!!

wear good trainers or the very least good well fitting slippers - they take some of the impact and look after your knees.

if you love to dance - you can always kitchen disco! It doesn’t have to be walking.

don’t knock gentle movement. It’s probably more productive/effective for weight loss than serious cardio (that just makes you hungry and binge eat!)
….. make sure you’re eating enough everyday, but in a calorie deficit. You don’t want to get starting and stuff your face and undo all the good work!

good luck! It’s much harder to do it than say it. But know you aren’t alone! x

Thank you for all of your kind encouragement.

I’m finding today tricky as I had some bad news today about a colleague but I’m going to keep plodding on.

My knee is really not up to much I’m discovering but I have my rehab exercises and am trying to just be more active.

I’ve lost a sneaky 3lb since Monday (glycogen I know but still) which has made me happy.

Hi OP, you can do it. I lost 4 stone with walking everyday and then classes at the gym with weights. I joined slimming world and kept the weight off. Been 4 years since I started. I am 50. I also work out in my own home with excerise DVD's

A friend of mine lost 8 stone with walking everyday and watching her diet. She has kept it off. She is nearly 50 and became depressed with her weight. She looks amazing.

Small steps at first. I stopped going to Slimming World after 18 months but knew how to keep my weight down. I weigh myself once a week at home now and put half the fee from SW into a tin. Every 3 months. I treat myself to an item of clothing or a little treat. It keeps me on the path and if I fall off it I get back on. Still put a little bit away each week.
Good luck.

Log everything on MFP. Try and eat more protein.

Start with walking, 10,000 steps a day but try and up to 15,000. Can add swimming or yoga. Invest in some 4kg weights and add resistance training.

What exercise would you enjoy?

Yoga is hard on knees but pilates can be great to help build muscle tone and help you feel stronger.

Could you do seated or standing with dumbells?

Does cycling on a gym bike hurt your knee?

Maybe experiment and you might surprise yourself. Could a physio advise best exercise for your knee?

And I should say, I lost three stone which crippling back pain... I really do understand how demotivated you can feel when you have an injury but when you start to feel stronger and fitter - wow it's an amazing feeling

You can get a lot of useful exercise without even trying by wearing ankle and wrist weights as you go about your daily business.

Also, have a look at Lucy Wyndham Read on YouTube. She has a lot of short workouts (7-10 minutes) for people who are not very fit or mobile.

A high protein diet helps combat cravings for carbohydrates.

I tried everything to lose weight, just couldn't stick to anything.
Finally decided enough was enough & did Exante, not for everyone but I needed the issue with food removed completely for a while.
Lost 7 1/2 stone in 11 months.
Once you get past the first few days you don't even feel hungry, watching the scales go down is a massive buzz.
I didn't really exercise till I was a few stone down then joined the gym.
Massive good luck, it can be done.

@MeridaBrave

Thsnk you but I absolutely cannot log all my food. It creates really disordered eating for and food obsession. I need to free myself from that misery.

And as before I absolutely detest walking - I can tolerate 20-30 mins but realistically I won’t walk 10,000 a day and planning to will set me up for failure.

@BryceQuinlanTheFirst

I like dancing really. I used to dance a lot and was so much fitter but kids put paid to that as DH and I couldn’t afford two classes per week plus babysitter.

Yoga was hard on my knees but I could definitely look at Pilates. Thank you.

@FannyFifer

The meal replacements are great - I would consider them for sure if I can’t get a handle on things.

What about ballet tone / barre? Lots of YouTube vids

@BryceQuinlanTheFirst

I never even thought of that! I’ll look.

Good luck OP . 3 lbs off is a great start! I find low carb eating suits me best too. If you love dancing, I’d look on YouTube for a low impact dance workout.

You mention obsession with food/disordered eating so I thought I’d mention that my best friend does overeaters anonymous. It’s a 12 step plan like AA which may not suit everyone but prior to starting she did diet after diet and would yo-yo constantly. Her life revolved around food - either eating it or trying not to. She’s incredibly strong willed but eventually realised she had an addiction and it needed to be treated like that rather than diet after diet. The focus was on avoiding trigger foods altogether (much like an alcoholic avoids alcohol) and having ways to deal with trigger situations. She’s maybe 5 years in and has been a stable weight for ages and eats really well but avoiding certain foods that, for her, would trigger a binge. The issue was treated and the weight naturally stabilised if that makes sense. No worries if not for you (and I’m sure there are other approaches for disordered eating that might be better for you) but worth a though on approaching in a different way.

There are other ways if can’t log food, eg the Paul McKenna hypnosis, really focusing on only eating when hungry. Or take a photo of everything you eat and share with a trusted friend. Make sure most of food is nutritious Eg cut down on processed.

Re: walking. There are other ways to get exercise, maybe get a tracker, see what steps you do and try to increase gradually, eg each week. I rarely do less than 10,000 a day but I walk the dog, I walk to local shops, really try and avoid using car if I can. Would cycling work? Or exercise online? Or if you can afford join a gym as cross trainer very good. I paid a subscription to Les Mills whe gyms closed for covid, but there is quite good free stuff also. Just need to be more active and running not great with injury.

Have a read of Kathryn Wooton's story, I think it might give you some inspiration. She's in some of the fb wild swimming groups that I am and has lost even more since this article was written
www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2021-12-30/its-changed-my-life-county-durham-mum-loses-20-stone-sea-swimming

Definitely stay away from the calorie counting and do what inspires you to move more and enjoy healthy food. Sort your mental health first.

a few years ago I was in a bad place with a divorce, knee injury and bloating/stomach pains all the time.

I had a Wega intolerance/allergy test and was diagnosed with sugar and yeast intolerance from too many antibiotics, so I saw a nutritionist, I then also bought some books called I Quit Sugar to inspire me to change my diet. I stripped bread and refined sugar and started to change my diet with lots more vegetables and home cooked food. I bought good quality organic vegetables that tasted much nicer and made all my food including packed lunches for work and made sure I had lots of good foods to snack on. I never cut down on volume at all, in fact probably increased! I started the day with coconut porridge and berries everyday and still do.

I was unhappy (as above) and a friend suggested joining her for a Zumba class during lunch time at work. It was good to move and I enjoyed it and found having something to do with a friend motivated me. But I was so uncoordinated! Another friend told me about a weights class she went to, I was so scared but plucked up the courage to join her. I found I really enjoyed it and I was so motivated by the challenge and as I went more often and I could do more reps or higher weights it made me feel great. From that I decided to try other classes on my own. One had some running in, I told the instructor I had never run before and he encouraged me to do it slowly. I got more and more confident as the weeks went on. I found the weights were helping with my injuries by strengthening my all round muscles. All the years of physio I had done with no results and this was the best I had ever felt.

as I started losing weight completely unintentionally I felt so much better about myself and the changes escalated.

I also then won an Apple Watch at work and the fitness journey I was on went further, I could see all my results of different activities and how far I was moving.

I did lots more walking too as I wanted the “me time” and this eventually turned into some jogging too. I was shocked at myself!

I bought new slimmer clothes and felt amazing stood there in the changing room mirror. I couldn’t believe how much had changed without ever counting a single calorie or standing on scales.

I started to feel good about myself and that was all from these small changes that started from making me feel good from the inside out. The good food that didn’t make me feel in pain and the exercise that I enjoyed and gave my mental health a massive boost. The weight loss and injury rehabilitation were amazing added bonuses. I never set out to lose weight, I just wanted to feel healthier and happier.

Two things:

1. Losing weight when you are very overweight is hard! I'm not saying that to put you off but you need to give yourself permission to find it hard and be kind to yourself if you find it difficult. If you beat yourself up for the little slip ups or the times progress is slow then it makes t harder to carry on. So just accept that you are doing something challenging, it won't always go well, but that doesn't mean you can't carry on.

1. Do it because you love yourself not because you hate yourself. Do it because you want to be healthy and strong because you deserve that, not as a punishment for being fat. Show yourself some love. Treat yourself to a nice haircut/new clothes/new makeup (whatever floats your boat). It's so much easier to treat yourself well when you are feeling good than when you are feeling bad (see point 1).

Good luck ☘