Losing mobility
Options
nordukes
Posts: 12 Member
I'm 200 lbs. overweight and 67 years old. I am losing my mobility. Walking is very difficult and painful. Can anyone give me suggestions on where to start with walking for exercise. Like how long, how many times a week. Has anyone else ever had this problem. Oh, I also am diabetic and have lipedemia in both legs. My legs are very heavy. I need help! I want to lose weight, but cannot seem to get it together. I want to count calories, but so far I am losing the battle. My motivation leaves me even though I try everyday. Thanks for any suggestions.
9
Replies
-
Do you have enough money and/or a health insurance that would pay for more personalised help? - Because honestly? It sounds like you may need somebody in real life to support you and help you through this.8
-
Here are some short beginner type videos:
Basic yoga stretch
https://youtu.be/QbJeM2_x3uA
Marching
https://youtu.be/wiLV-ryiU78
1 mile walk at home
https://youtu.be/k_SoCdUlBvM 1 -
Start weighing and tracking your food now.
Weight loss is about CICO. Losing some weight should help with some of the mobility issues and make it easier to walk. Go on a 5 min walk today if you can. Walk 5 min every day until it gets easier then do 6 min, 7 min, etc.4 -
Echoing the suggestion to check in with a health care professional (specifically a physiotherapist).
There are also seated exercise programs (both cardio and weight bearing) they you could try.
YouTube may be the fastest way to see what's available from verified, certified healthcare professionals who are also social media savvy and ethical.
Best of health to you 🤗3 -
I agree with getting professional help. Do you have a Dr.'s ok to workout? As @MaltedTea said a physiotherapist would be a great resource. In the meantime could you do some basic arm exercisces such as bicep curls using canned vegetables or water bottles for weights? If a short walk is too much try sitting in a chair that can't move and march your feet for a minute or 2 gradually increasing your time. Youtube is a great resource for seated exercises.
Are there a couple of small changes to your diet that you could make to your eating right now - I started by making gradual changes such as reducing and then cutting out snacks such as baked goods. I have recently started drinking my coffee black except on weekends. I dip bites of salad into dressing rather than putting dressing on my salad. I use a couple of sprays of spray butter rather than a smear of butter. I made these changes and many more over time and though my weight loss is slow I am feeling better all the time. Log your food every day. Don't forget the hidden calories. I find the recipe builder has been helpful for me.
As for motivation I think about my "why." I was diagnosed with prediabetes and I am hoping to keep it from progressing to diabetes and that is what keeps me motivated. Good luck- I know you can do this.4 -
I have learned everything I know about aging well from my mother, who is 85 and just had a hip replacement. I am 59 and very grateful for her example.
She has always remained active, telling me proudly what she CAN do, avoiding discussing what she CAN'T do. She still swam regularly in the past summer, as she wasn't walking well. She also exercised on a recumbent exercise bike that she has at home (given to her when a friend passed away, it looks like it comes from the 80s). During the summer, she did a bit of gardening and walked as much as she could, saying she was "getting in shape for the operation." I felt that was pretty admirable and hope I can be as proactive when I face such challenges in the future.
Now in recovery from the operation, she has a walker, but she's doing very well and will probably ditch it within a few weeks. She's looking forward to resuming the recumbent bike and outdoor walking. She feels that indoor pool facilities are just not worth the risk at this time and the outdoor pool is now closed. Working out in water (swimming, aquabike, water aerobics, etc.) is one of the great ways to either rehab or just plain exercise, so it is a loss to us all.
But, again, I take her example and focus on what I CAN do. Being able to walk 1 mile is better than not being able to walk at all. Exercising on an exercycle beats no exercise at all. I am very susceptible to dismay at my aging body as well as the limitations of quarantine-- it all sucks!-- but giving up is even worse!3 -
I'm 200 lbs. overweight and 67 years old. I am losing my mobility. Walking is very difficult and painful. Can anyone give me suggestions on where to start with walking for exercise. Like how long, how many times a week. Has anyone else ever had this problem. Oh, I also am diabetic and have lipedemia in both legs. My legs are very heavy. I need help! I want to lose weight, but cannot seem to get it together. I want to count calories, but so far I am losing the battle. My motivation leaves me even though I try everyday. Thanks for any suggestions.
I think the "beginner" walk video above might be too much for you right now - I did something like that, perhaps that exact one, and it was too much for my knees, even though I regularly walk several miles at a time.
Ideally I'd like to see you work with a physical therapist who can give you recommendations tailored to your specific medical needs.
Meanwhile, you can start small. Walk to the mailbox. If that's easy, do it twice. Still easy? Walk down your street until you feel like you should turn around. Hold there for a few days, or walk a little farther each day.
In general, do what you can each day without exerting to a point where you can't do anything the next day. Progress as you can, which might look like adding distance every few days, or every week, or every other week.5 -
I'm 200 lbs. overweight and 67 years old. I am losing my mobility. Walking is very difficult and painful. Can anyone give me suggestions on where to start with walking for exercise. Like how long, how many times a week. Has anyone else ever had this problem. Oh, I also am diabetic and have lipedemia in both legs. My legs are very heavy. I need help! I want to lose weight, but cannot seem to get it together. I want to count calories, but so far I am losing the battle. My motivation leaves me even though I try everyday. Thanks for any suggestions.
Perhaps you are having difficulties because you are making the common mistake of setting an overly aggressive calorie deficit. Although at 200 pounds overweight, while you can safely lose two pounds a week, perhaps start with setting your calories in MFP for a weekly weight loss goal of a half pound per week. After you are comfortable with this, bump it up to a pound a week. As you find the foods that fill you up for less calories, you can increase your weekly weight loss goal.
Understanding satiety: feeling full after a meal
...Tips on how to feel fuller
So how can we best try to enhance these feelings of fullness to help us control how much we eat? Here are some top tips for helping you feel fuller:- Foods high in protein seem to make us feel fuller than foods high in fat or carbohydrate, so including some protein at every meal should help keep you satisfied. Foods high in protein include meats such as chicken, ham or beef, fish, eggs, beans and pulses.
- If you are watching your weight, opt for lower fat versions, using leaner cuts of meat, cutting off visible fat and avoiding the skin on poultry as this will help reduce the energy density of the diet, which can help to enhance satiety (see below).
- Foods that are high in fibre may also enhance feelings of fullness so try to include plenty of high-fibre foods in the diet such as wholegrain bread and cereals, beans and pulses and fruit and vegetables.
- Alcohol seems to stimulate appetite in the short-term and therefore drinking alcohol is likely to encourage us to eat more. Alcoholic beverages can make you forget about your intentions to eat healthily by making you lose your inhibitions. Alcoholic drinks are also calorific, so you should cut down on alcohol consumption if you are trying to control your weight.
- The ‘energy density’ of food has a strong influence on feelings of fullness or satiety. Energy density is the amount of energy (or calories) per gram of food. Lower energy density foods provide less energy per gram of food so you can eat more of them without consuming too many calories. Low energy density foods include fruit and vegetables, foods with lots of water added when cooking such as soups and stews, and lower fat foods. Click here for more information on energy density.
7 -
Start with where you are. You can break up exercise into short 5 minute segments a few times a day until you can do longer ones without exhaustion but try to do some movement every day.
When my husband had his knee replacement, he started with a walk down to the mailbox and back, once or twice a day, using a walker. When he could do that easily, we walked a bit farther, to the corner. When he could do that without too much pain, we walked around the block. Then two blocks. Eventually he got back to being able to walk for miles at a time. It took time and a willingness to endure some pain/strain, but he got there by being determined.
As others have said, losing weight is the most important issue right now. Weigh and log everything you eat. See where you can make changes. It is a daunting task, but it can be done, if you are willing to try.4 -
" I want to count calories, but so far I am losing the battle"
Doesn't the fear of going into old age with badly restricted mobility, dependant on others and in pain give you all the motivation you need to count calories / reduce your food intake?
Frankly it would terrify me, one of my biggest motivations isn't simply to live long but to have as many good years as possible.
As for walking - do what you can, when you can but it's for health, mobility and independence and not for weight loss. Don't distract yourself from the #1 factor in weight loss and improving your current health issues - how much you eat.10 -
" I want to count calories, but so far I am losing the battle"
Doesn't the fear of going into old age with badly restricted mobility, dependant on others and in pain give you all the motivation you need to count calories / reduce your food intake?
Frankly it would terrify me, one of my biggest motivations isn't simply to live long but to have as many good years as possible.
As for walking - do what you can, when you can but it's for health, mobility and independence and not for weight loss. Don't distract yourself from the #1 factor in weight loss and improving your current health issues - how much you eat.
I absolutely DO NOT want to live long if I’m miserable: can’t get around, dependent on others, etc, so one of my primary goals is to get as many good years as possible. I want to be one of the 80 year olds who can outlast people half my age out on the hiking trails 😜5 -
100% agreed. The possibility thst I couldn't get off the toilet or wipe my butt at some point is strong motivation to me to do my best to live a healthy lifestyle.
Best wishes to the OP, hope you can find your "why".2 -
I found myself in the Obese Class 2 this past spring, and decided to change it. I had difficulties with daily tasks that you can probably imagine. Weight bearing has been tricky for me the last 10 years because of a life changing injury. The first 20 pounds I lost just by logging my food here and maintaining a 1 pound a week deficit. No exercise. What amazed me most? How losing just a few pounds would help with pain and function. 12-15 pounds in, I was already noticing how much less pain medication I needed, how much easier moving was. Small changes can make big differences, and a few weeks can start changing the rest of your life. Sticking with what works, and baby steps, and I'm nearing 45 pounds lost. You can do it! Good luck on your journey.7
-
Echoing the suggestion to check in with a health care professional (specifically a physiotherapist).
There are also seated exercise programs (both cardio and weight bearing) they you could try.
YouTube may be the fastest way to see what's available from verified, certified healthcare professionals who are also social media savvy and ethical.
Best of health to you 🤗
To be honest, I would not suggesting starting any sort of exercise without medical direction. There a a lot of YouTube things out there but it would be difficult for a novice to determine what is good vs totally BS to potentially harmful,3 -
I agree with others about getting more personalized attention. I'm disabled and was doing modified workouts, if you have access to a pool that's a great way to start exercising once you have a doctor's approval, when I first started exercising I'd walk in a pool a couple times a week. Stretching and basic strength training like core exercises help a lot with mobility. I've had back fusions and found strength training helped the most with being able to lift and move, stretching helped loosen up stiff joints so walking was easier. Cardio helped with getting my blood sugar down and going off medication. If you want some seated exercise videos or walking ones send me a message and I'll send you my playlists.1
-
There are sitting exercise videos online and on TV. Start with those. Start with walking 5 min a day. Each week add 1 minute. Count calories for a week just to see what your baseline is. Then you can develop a plan. It will probably be easy for you to see where you can make small adjustments.1
-
I'm 200 lbs. overweight and 67 years old. I am losing my mobility. Walking is very difficult and painful. Can anyone give me suggestions on where to start with walking for exercise. Like how long, how many times a week. Has anyone else ever had this problem. Oh, I also am diabetic and have lipedemia in both legs. My legs are very heavy. I need help! I want to lose weight, but cannot seem to get it together. I want to count calories, but so far I am losing the battle. My motivation leaves me even though I try everyday. Thanks for any suggestions.
For me, getting the switch to flip in my head, and really *mean it* when I said I wanted to lose weight: That was key. I wish I had a magical answer to that.
Some things I think helped:
* Not thinking about motivation or will power, but about habits - the *doing*, more than the desire/will/wanting. Changing habits, a step at a time. Recognizing that it's easier to break an undesired habit by replacing it with a new and better habit, not by trying to white-knuckle it via "willpower". Example: If stress snacking, replace snacking with meditation or breathing exercises (or prayer, if that's in your toolkit).
* Making things *not* a choice. I don't think about whether I'm motivated to brush my teeth; I just brush them. This one does take a little willpower at first, but just as the spark. If (for example) you decide to walk out to the mailbox every day before breakfast to start the walking process, just get up and do it. Don't even let your brain think about whether to do it, just do it, like the tooth-brushing.
* Create an encouraging social micro-climate. At first, I subscribed to/followed fitness/health newsletters (from good quality sources) to give myself a sense that eating right and being more active were normal things for people to do. There are free online sources from various senior organizations, for things that may be more age- or condition-appropriate (Silver Sneakers, AARP, that sort of thing.) These MFP forums have some great content and support for people of all ages, sizes, fitness.
* Motivation is fleeting. Persistence at changing habits is IMO a more helpful orientation. Small, gradual changes add up, and reinforce each other. If something goes sideways, no point in guilt and self-recrimination, just learn from it, and start back up again. Keep going.
(BTW, I'm 65 next month, lost about 60 pounds here at age 59-60.)9 -
An afterthought:
This is maybe idiosyncratic, maybe even Just Me, but it helped me to recast weight management as being a tradeoff between current convenience/ease and future health/well-being.
I make some adjustments in the present that are a little inconvenient, some extra effort, maybe sometimes feel like sacrifices at first (until they become fixed habits). That's all those little steps that get me sticking with a calorie goal most of the time. It feels like a lot of work right at first, because there's learning & skill-development involved, and just the friction of making a change, working against inertia.
The payoff is in the future. Current Ann is maybe mildly annoyed and inconvenienced, but future Ann has a much, much better shot at health, vitality, independence and happiness - those things will be a BIG thing, for future me. I need to care about her, or I'm essentially buying my way into future difficulty and pain, via current unwillingness to change.
It's human nature to value current self's pleasure over misty future possibilities.
But weight management is like so many other things we do in life: Maybe we save up for a downpayment on a house, giving ups some little niceties to do so. We slog our way through education or entry-level jobs, to build a long-term career. We save up some money for retirement, giving up some earlier-life pleasures in order to have more comfortable later age. And so forth.
Current self, caring about future self, investing in her. Weight management is that sort of thing.10 -
The payoff is in the future. Current Ann is maybe mildly annoyed and inconvenienced, but future Ann has a much, much better shot at health, vitality, independence and happiness - those things will be a BIG thing, for future me. I need to care about her, or I'm essentially buying my way into future difficulty and pain, via current unwillingness to change.
It's human nature to value current self's pleasure over misty future possibilities.
But weight management is like so many other things we do in life: Maybe we save up for a downpayment on a house, giving ups some little niceties to do so. We slog our way through education or entry-level jobs, to build a long-term career. We save up some money for retirement, giving up some earlier-life pleasures in order to have more comfortable later age. And so forth.
Current self, caring about future self, investing in her. Weight management is that sort of thing.
Current Ann is on a roll lately. Well stated!
There’s a lot of people on this forum that are in their 60’s, even 70’s, who have turned it around.
I’m a baby at 58, but seeing my mom bedridden first years, eventually spoonfed and diaper changed, because of failure to acknowledge diabetes was galvanizing for me.
My husband said something to me a few years back, as I was crying at the failure to perfect some corner of a little house we renovated together. “It’s better than it was before.”
You may not make yourself perfect, but can you shoot for better than you were before?6 -
I am so overwhelmed at all the responses. And I thank each and everyone for all the information and suggestions. I am going to try to put them all to good use and turn myself around. Thank you all soooooo much!8
Categories
- All Categories
- 1.4M Health, Wellness and Goals
- 391.5K Introduce Yourself
- 43.5K Getting Started
- 259.7K Health and Weight Loss
- 175.6K Food and Nutrition
- 47.3K Recipes
- 232.3K Fitness and Exercise
- 391 Sleep, Mindfulness and Overall Wellness
- 6.4K Goal: Maintaining Weight
- 8.5K Goal: Gaining Weight and Body Building
- 152.7K Motivation and Support
- 7.8K Challenges
- 1.3K Debate Club
- 96.3K Chit-Chat
- 2.5K Fun and Games
- 3.2K MyFitnessPal Information
- 22 News and Announcements
- 926 Feature Suggestions and Ideas
- 2.3K MyFitnessPal Tech Support Questions