Help/ Advise Please

cmsimpson74

I have managed to lose 3 stone and have reached a weight I was happy with. I am 40 yr old female 5ft 4 tall and am 131- 133lbs. I was running twice a week, playing netball once a week and trying to do some exercises to strengthen/tone muscles 2-3 times a week. I started with pain/stiffness in hands around March this year followed by knee pain in early August. I cut out the exercise to tone as my knee was crunching all the time and now only run once a week (knees permitting) and cycle once a week when I can. Have bought rollers to put bike so I can try and get on the bike daily to help my knees.

I have finally been diagnosed with oesteoarthtis with inflammation. I have read that weight loss can help ease joint pain. When I saw an osteopath he said for my height not to lose anymore weight and I am getting lots of comments that I don't need to lose anymore weight. I was happy with my weight but have read for every 1lb you lose you reduce the stress on your joints by 4lb.

My dilemma is do I now try and drop a couple more pounds to bring my weight down to 126-128 lbs (I got roughly a 2-3lb weight increase due to water retention) to see if this will help ease my knees or do I stick as I am. I was controlling well with low dose of gabapentin until cold weather hit and now have to double the dose and top up with painkiller.

Any advice greatly appreciated
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sofaking6

I'm just under 5'4 and I think mid 120's is a perfectly safe and normal weight. Maybe the doctor just meant that you're getting less bang for your buck (or pound, as it were) after already taking so much stress off of your knees? Maybe go see about a second opinion on that? Sorry for your pain

obscuremusicreference

This height-weight calculator suggests that you weigh between 119-129 pounds (excluding the BMI recommendation, which has a much wider range).

Good luck!

hamoncan

I'm mid 40's and running, too much biking and similar stuff is just too hard on the joints and back - my primary exercise has got to be walking and short simple workouts if I want my joints and back to be pain free - getting old sucks

Liftng4Lis

You mentioned several times you were happy with your weight. This is your answer

cmsimpson74

Thank you everyone for your replies. 30-40 mins of cycling does seem to ease my knees. I have decided that over winter while my knees are uncomfortable most days I am going to stop running Hopefully when the weather improves in spring and the temperature rises I can get back to running.
Have come to the conclusion that work doesn't agree with me, as my knees were pretty good yesterday, but uncomfortable today.
I think after Christmas I may try and shift a couple more lbs and see how I feel. if i'm not happy then I can always try and increase weight again by a couple of pounds.