Disabled trying to lose weight - Weight Loss Support

Weight Loss Support

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Disabled trying to lose weight

jacko786 profile image
7 Replies

Hi everyone im 29 with a muscle dystrophy disease (LGMD2B). I was hoping to find out what is the best way to lose weight? Or if there are any other members who are disabled and have a diet plan that works and have lost weight? (I walk with crutches) limited to walking long distances or heavy exercise?

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jacko786
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7 Replies
IndigoBlue61 profile image
IndigoBlue61

Hello and welcome to the Weight Loss Forum jacko786 😊

First of all none of us are medically trained so we have to advise you to speak to your healthcare professional before changing your diet or exercise.

However, i can tell you that successful weight loss is more about what you eat (or don’t eat) than exercise. We have members who are very restricted in their exercise due to a variety of condition, yet still lose weight. I have arthritis and can only walk short distances without sticks, but have lost almost 3 stone and kept it off for over a year.

I'd like to invite you to join our Newbie Club, which we hope will be a good place for you to connect with members, who are also just starting out. If you just post a few words to introduce yourself and respond to others there, you'll soon break the ice. Here's the link

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

You'll find all the information you need to navigate the forum in the header and a link to the 12 week plan, so please take the time to read it carefully.

Wishing you all the best

Anna

jacko786 profile image
jacko786 in reply to IndigoBlue61

Hi thanks for the advise I have take your points on board and I will definitely be joining the newbie club

IndigoBlue61 profile image
IndigoBlue61 in reply to jacko786

I am glad to hear that jacko786 😊. I’ll see you over there!

Hi and welcome!!

Pineapple27 profile image
Pineapple27

Hi jacko786 and welcome!

In terms of disability - the great news is that it's entirely possible to lose weight without doing any exercise whatsoever! There are many of us on this Forum who have additional barriers to losing our weight - whether it's age, the side-effects of medication, thyroid problems, disability, illness.... it just means that we will have to put in that little more effort to counting calories and keeping an eye on portion sizes as we are likely to need less calories because of our inability to burn additional calories through huge amount of exercise....

I have a disability that I was born with (shortening of all four limbs as a result of the drug Thalidomide my mum took when pregnant with me). As a result my mobility is minimal - and was further reduced following a serious head on car crash in 2002 when I broke my ankle. I went on to have ny ankle joint fused and am still in constant pain with it. I mostly use a wheelchair outside of the house.

I started my weight loss journey at 14 stone - 5 and a half years ago. I am just 4ft 9" tall and so was classed clinically obese.


I was 49 years old and had been trying to lose weight all of my life since the age of 9. My disability makes exercise difficult (I am very sedentary and use a wheelchair outside of the house).

The one thing that I realised very early on in my journey was that I was just eating FAR TOO MUCH! I was a short, middle aged, sedentary female and I was eating the same as 5ft 9" active man (my now husband!). No wonder I was piling on the weight!

I started my journey at the end of February 2012, and managed to lose 4.5 stone in 2 and a half years through calorie counting and logging/weighing all of my food.

Then re-gained some, lost some again and have now managed to more or less maintain for the past 6 months at around 10 stone. Still considered "over weight".

Ideally I would love to drop another stone to 9 stone and maintain there.

My weight loss journey has been long, but I am still learning new tips and tricks to help me along the way and what's more, still enjoying the challenge! I would say that my behaviour around food has changed massively - I have learned to respect food, to "break" it's control over me, and to be able to modify how I behave with food. Just because food is within sight doesn't mean I have to eat it! I don't see eating the way I do as meaning that I am missing out any more - in fact I am now able to enjoy my life and have regained the ability to do things that I struggled to do or even found impossible to do!

Here are a few of my past posts which I hope you will find helpful and inspiring. I won't try and tell you that my journey was easy - and you'll see that there were many blips along the way, but 5 years down the line, I feel about 20 years younger than I did when I was lugging around 4 stone more.

Please do pop back to the forums and share your journey with us - we are here for you, day and night and happy to share your success or support you when you need it.

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

elliebath profile image
elliebathMaintainer in reply to Pineapple27

Your story is so inspiring @Pineapple27

I am sure it must be helping lots of people .

jacko786 profile image
jacko786 in reply to Pineapple27

Hi thank you so much for replying your story is really inspiring it has given me motivation to achieve my own goals. Thanks for the links will check them out.

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