Multiple Sclerosis MFP's

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Husband has MS... don't know where to start

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1981simm
1981simm Posts: 123 Member
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Hi, I am the spouse of a man with RRMS. He has quite a bit of weight to lose. He works as a coal miner even though his doctors are trying to get him to go on disability. He gets home from work and wants to rest, he has weekends off and wants to rest... my question is how do you exercise "with intent" when you are exhausted? His walking is getting worse and ampyra didn't help. I feel really bad watching him but i don't want to push him to hard. (I'm an outdoor lover) Tysabri has helped with his heat sensitivity and halted the progression of lesions for 18 months now. How do you fit in a workout? I am afraid of feeding him less lol he's a big boy and he's hungry! Any help is appreciated

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  • squeakyfish
    squeakyfish Posts: 109 Member
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    I've found that more important than working out is eating less. Working out is good for my health, yes, but I just eat more to compensate - because I get hungrier! Resting is really important. I think it's smart to respect what your body is trying to tell you. If he's tired when he gets home, maybe you both can go for a walk together on the weekends or perhaps there's a pool nearby where he can do some exercises. Our pool has an amazing number of water aerobics classes but there are always the water belts, weights,etc available for use.

    Don't be afraid of feeding him less, LOL. You can be pretty sure that if he's overweight, he's taking in more than he's burning. Since he's not able to burn much more at this point, you have to address the input. You can add bulk and quantity just by changing some of the foods you eat. Fruits and veggies are low cal but can help him feel satisfied.

    In my own experience (as a formerly obese person with MS), I was walking 4+ miles daily (just because I enjoyed it) and regularly doing tough workouts in the gym. My weight didn't budge and in fact increased because I ate too much! I'm now down 40# and have kept it off for more than a year. I finally figured it out and counting calories and monitoring exercise has made all the difference.

    My advice would be to start making very small changes. Add in whatever exercise he can tolerate on the weekends (but do something fun together, that way it's not that you're making him exercise - because that will backfire on you!) and make small changes to his diet. Add a salad at dinner while serving a slightly smaller portion of dinner. Nothing too crazy. Keep eating real food, not diet food, just eat a little less. It really does work!
  • psmd
    psmd Posts: 764 Member
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    I agree with the previous poster. I assume as a coal miner he is extremely active at work. I would focus more on diet. If you haven't ever attended any support groups for MS, they are really helpful (National MS Society is a good place to start). Anyway it is definitely possible to lose weight with MS--I have significant fatigue and so I don't work out as much as I would like but I've found that all the weight I've lost has been due to diet mostly. Good luck to you guys!
  • Yurippe
    Yurippe Posts: 850 Member
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    When fatigue is at it's worst there are some easy things you can try to keep active. Every bit of moment is more calories burnt than sitting still. These also help with muscle spasticity. If he watching TV at night this can be done at the same time.

    http://bikenct.nationalmssociety.org/docs/HOM/Stretching.pdf

    ETA: diet is ~80% of weight loss in a statistic I just made up. Seriously, this is where you'll see the most of your impact.
  • bigldesigns
    bigldesigns Posts: 102 Member
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    Ive lost 40kg (89lb) over the last 12 months with diet alone.. and I'm not actually eating less either.. I've removed all food products containing Milk Protein and limited my gluten, sugar and saturated fats...(reduced packed foods)
    The Milk because there are so many important reasons for people with MS to cut animal milk but the rest, as it really reduces the available snack foods..

    I found once I stopped snacking on snack foods and replacing them with single ingredient items like fruit(fresh and dried), veggies, (like carrots, celery etc) even air-popped popcorn (with nothing added)) and made all my meals from scratch - limited packed food, the weight just seems to fall off...

    My meals are huge.. i eat about 9cups of veggies a day (between veggie soup for Lunch and my huge dinner plate full at night )

    I'm still averaging 1/2kg (1lb) per week after a year

    Its not about how much he eats, but the quality of the food..

    Have a look at the Terry Whals for more info on helping MS with the Paleo Diet.. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLjgBLwH3Wc)


    Allie

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