Just turned 44, 110 to lose arthritic knee - advice?

You can lose weight purely through controlled calorie intake - figure out how much you need, and be honest about your activity - looking after 5 kids you're probably not sedentary.

Losing some weight will probably alleviate some of the pain of walking (speaking from my mother's experience with arthritis), but in the mean time have you tried a support of any kind? A lot of people here have also found relief from knee pain after regularly exercising the muscles in the legs, making the muscle alleviate some of the strain from the joint, but your mileage can vary.

You can do all the exercise you need at home; some form of progressive resistance exercise will greatly support you throughout this process, and that can be anything from pilates to yoga to bodyweight strength exercises to weightlifting and gymnastics. Zumba and such like are more cardio exercise and while still good for you, need to be balanced with some form of resistance exercise to promote lean mass retention as you lose weight.

Don't try and lose weight too fast either; if you exceed the rate at which your fat is used to make up for a calorie deficit, the remainder of the deficit has to be accounted for in muscle, bone, organ tissue etc.

Good luck

Um....I'm 42 and don't consider myself an "older lady". :laugh:

But yes, weight loss without surgery or diet pills is within your grasp. I did it, and am still doing it, so are many others on this site.

I won't get into my whole dramatic story here, instead I'll just say that I began by changing what I was eating as well as accurately measuring and logging EVERYTHING I consumed. Both those things took some time to figure out and get comfortable with...it didn't all happen overnight. The nutritional component of weight loss is super important, but also requires a lot of experimentation and tweaking. Stick with it. Keep things as simple as possible, especially in the early days. Be very patient with yourself and the process, and be tenacious. Keep after it.

I started exercising by simply walking a bit each day. After about a month of that, I felt like doing something else, so I added kettlebell work (this is just what I did, you should do whatever interests you and is something you think you'll stick with). A month or so later I wanted to lift weights, so I joined the gym. I've kept all those things as my exercise to this day, adding little bits here and there, or changing things up...but it generally remains the same because those are the activities I really enjoy. If you find something you love doing and look forward to each day, that's really best for a lifestyle change, which is what you want. Think of the long term with all these changes you want to implement, and if you need to, break them into smaller pieces. For instance, if you think you'd like to become a runner, be okay with walking short distances and building upon that over a long period of time.

To answer your question about weight loss and exercise, no, I don't think you need to lose weight before exercising. I would get on to working out your diet first, and exercise by doing things you can do right now, at your current weight and with whatever issues you have.

Best wishes :flowerforyou:

I turned 50 this past April and have arthritis in both knees. I have to be very careful what I do for exercise because anything strenuous will make my knees blow up like water balloons! I started slow and mostly stuck to walking because that was the exercise that I enjoyed most and it didn't bother my knees too much. Then, someone here on MFP recommended Leslie Sansone walking DVDs. I looked them up and bought a couple and I was hooked. Her DVDs are very easy, very simple and you get one heck of a workout with them. They are more like low impact aerobics but so very simple and easy on the joints. She breaks them up into miles and, depending on how you are feeling and how you are progressing, you can do anywhere from 1 mile to 5, on some DVDs, 4 on others. The most amazing thing was when my hubby decided on his own to join me when i was exercising with the DVDs! You might find your hubby doing the same. I also ride bikes but, not as often as I would like because, even when wearing braces on both knees, the "up and down" motion of the pedels is more than my knees can handle. I was sure that when I had lost my weight, my knee problems would lessen. Strangely enough, the opposite has happened because I am now more active. As far as I am concerned, though, pain in my knees is a small price to pay for being healthy for the first time in my life. By the way, I am envious of you that you still have children small enough(I am assuming) that you want to be healthy for. My twins are now 20 and basically on their own. I wish I had gotten smart and done what I needed to do while they were still small. Oh well. At least, I'll be ready when the grandchildren start coming.

I'm 44 and in the same boat. I want/need to lose over 120 lbs and I started here. When I first got on and logged my cals, I was amazed at how much I was eating. And how many calories were in the simplest of things. Logging accurately REALLY helps you see what you are eating. Eating fresh foods and lean meats is a great start. Changing some of your bad habits slowly helps too. Like, I quit soda MANY years ago, I eat sweets very occasionally. I had to give up chips (my weakness) But I dd these things in stages because feeling deprived is a recipe for disaster. I also learned to make some of our favorite meals a more healthy way.
And yes, you can get moving even with your bad knee! Walk when you can. Don't worry about distance. But each time you go...go a little farther than before. Your kids will LOVE to help you with this one.
Please feel free to add me as a friend-fair warning though I'm in a plateau right now and trying to push through it, but I would love another mfp friend!
I wish you success and happiness!