Short, heavy, bad back and diabetic. HELP

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CandaceComic
CandaceComic Posts: 5 Member
in Introduce Yourself
Hello,
I am looking for others that might be in a similar situation. I am 5'5 270lbs, I have a bad back and I am also a type 1 diabetic. I have over the last 3 years put on about 100lbs. Combination of depression, injury and laziness. I want to seriously start to take on a new life and I am hoping to find friends who can take that journey with me or help with any tips, advise or just normal support. I would lile to loose 120lbs but more importantly I would like to make healthy choices.

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  • delboy757
    delboy757 Posts: 41 Member
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    I'm also not the tallest and overweight. Determined to loose weight. Hope this app works u to.
  • mpacuan
    mpacuan Posts: 18 Member
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    Hello! Ive met a couple at my gym who are diabetic as well, the thing they tell me is why they wanted to change their lifestyle and become more active. My advice is find what keeps you going, set a manageable goal and take it step by step, as for workouts try avoiding anything that puts alot of strain on your back, if your a gym member hop on the treadmill or eliptical and set it on a moderate incline with a moderate speed for about 10-20mins, or you can do fasted cardio as soon as you wake up in the morning, air squats are also good as well, push ups/knee pushups sit ups, jumping jacks, cable workouts at the gym are also good and have instructions on what muscles they target, its gonna be hard for sure but keep a positive mind! You got this!
  • tomwasilj3w
    tomwasilj3w Posts: 186 Member
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    Hey Candice!

    I can relate with you half way, I'm short (5'6") and have a bad back (really bad). I've neglected my bad pain for so long that it's progressively gotten worse. Now I'm trying everything to get it back to where it was but it's definitely not happening overnight.

    Sitting long periods hurts my back the most so I've tried to limit how long I watch TV or sit on the computer. Yoga has helped me the most with my back pain. It stretches out the muscles and strengthens the ones you normally wouldn't use which strengthens your core overall.

    Working out my core as helped a lot too. Alot of ab exercises, hip rotations, as well as lower back exercises like light weight dead lifts or better yet, the lower back machines where you sit in a chair and push against a bar that lifts the machines weight. Can't remember the name of the machine but this helped me alot.

    I'd recommend looking up some yoga videos on YouTube. Yogawithadriene is my favorite.

    Hope this helps a little bit. I log daily and try my best to motivate and support my MFP friends. We can be friends if you'd like, I can add you or vise versa.

    Good luck with your journey to a healthier lifestyle!
  • cmufireupchip
    cmufireupchip Posts: 9 Member
    edited July 2017
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    Congrats on making a stance to change your health. How is your progress going?

    I would recommend starting out with walking up to 10,000 steps per day just to get a baseline. I'm not sure what your financial situation is, but I would highly recommend a fitness activity watch such as polar(polar a360 is effective and pretty inexpensive on amazon) to track your steps. Once you get up to 10,000 per day for two or three weeks try incorporating other exercise like elliptical, bike riding, swimming, low impact exercises as you don't want added stress from running on your joints at this point. Minimum minutes of moderate cardio is about 150 minutes per week according to american diabetes association(my mother is diabetic).

    Doing anything weight barring will help anyone, but just be gradual with it. Type in basic weight training and incorporate some ab exercises like basic crunch, oblique exercises, and lower back exercises if it doesn't hurt your body. You don't want to rush into anything to soon as you could injure yourself pretty quickly. With that said, I would recommend seeing your doctor first to make sure you won't have any issues with your past injuries and your medical history.

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