Needing help/advice

zaqu170

(Sorry for the long read) Today, not more than 2 hours ago. My mother at the age of 50 and about 300+ lbs. Took a fall of the second step (of three) and fell on her knee and elbow. She's had multiple knee surgeries throughout her life and her first was somewhere between the age of 10 and 16. Me and my sister have been trying to think of ways to help her loose some weight. Except. My mother is very stubborn and always gets upset and shuts us out for a few days if we bring it up to her. She loves her diet Pepsi and drinks it often. I've been trying to help her quit by getting her to slowly start drinking less but I don't think its working. This fall could be our only leverage to convince her to start. Me and my sister both want to loose some weight and want her to join. We want our kids to be able to run around with their grandma some day. But before we try to use this fall to convince her I need some help. I need to know how to get it out there, what things I can say to not upset her or to make her feel like we just called her fat or put her down. Anything will help. I've even been thinking of easy exercises I can do with her if I somehow pull this part off. Thank you for reading

pinuplove

You can't make this change for her. She has to be ready, willing, and motivated to change for it to happen. Once she's there, I'm sure she will appreciate having you there to help and support her! Until then, you need to give her the space to make her own decisions. It's hard when someone we love is engaging in what we see to be self-destructive behavior to just sit back and watch, but apart from modeling better behavior, there is very little you can do or say to help until she's ready.

I'm not sure why you called out the Diet Pepsi specifically, but rest assured all evidence points to artificial sweeteners being safe and far preferable to sugar/hfcs-sweetened soft drinks.

perkymommy

zaqu170 wrote: »

(Sorry for the long read) Today, not more than 2 hours ago. My mother at the age of 50 and about 300+ lbs. Took a fall of the second step (of three) and fell on her knee and elbow. She's had multiple knee surgeries throughout her life and her first was somewhere between the age of 10 and 16. Me and my sister have been trying to think of ways to help her loose some weight. Except. My mother is very stubborn and always gets upset and shuts us out for a few days if we bring it up to her. She loves her diet Pepsi and drinks it often. I've been trying to help her quit by getting her to slowly start drinking less but I don't think its working. This fall could be our only leverage to convince her to start. Me and my sister both want to loose some weight and want her to join. We want our kids to be able to run around with their grandma some day. But before we try to use this fall to convince her I need some help. I need to know how to get it out there, what things I can say to not upset her or to make her feel like we just called her fat or put her down. Anything will help. I've even been thinking of easy exercises I can do with her if I somehow pull this part off. Thank you for reading

The answer is simple. You can't do it for her. You can't make her eat better or exercise. She has to do it for herself. Suggest to her what to do but leave it at that.

It's her life and her choice. She will have to eventually get to the point that she will want to do it for herself.

SisterSueGetsFit

I agree with what is written above, as far as she has to want this for herself. What I would suggest, is to make your own healthy lifestyle changes and hopefully you will inspire her to do the same. I wish you the most sincerest of luck.