I'm 5ft9ins, 66 years, 20st4lbs. BMI = 39. I really need to lose weight but am Diabetic and have bad Arthritis. Any helpful hints?

[Dogs5-Cats14]

Pain means that I can walk only about 10 yds with help. May have to go to Hip Replacement. Blood Sugar is very important and limits what I can eat. Really need help.

[HoPE-JoY]

Hi!

It is great that you are considering making some changes in order to lose weight. My first bit of advice is to go for it! It is easy to allow your brain to trick you into delaying any attempt at losing weight. I know the prospect of changing (sometimes lifelong) habits can be scary but take that first step now, keep marching on and don’t look back.

Set yourself some specific smaller goals:

- Aim to lose 5% of your bodyweight first (around 14 pounds for you). If you follow the NHS weight loss plan you should be able to achieve that in about 7 weeks (losing 2lbs a week). Often we set our hopes too high and expect to see radical changes too quickly, by losing weight steadily you are more likely to keep the weight off permanently and even that 5% weight loss will make such a difference to your quality of life.

- If you can only walk 10 yards at the moment then do that every day this week but increase it by 1 yard each day - by the end of the week you should be walking 17 yards. Exercise is actually beneficial to help reduce pain from arthritis - I suffer with inflammation in my left knee and when I first started exercising initially the pain was worse but with some encouragement from my sister I carried on and as the weeks went on and my muscles strengthened it got better.

- Try and keep to a daily calorie intake of between 1800kcal and 2300kcal - because of your weight it is best not to try and limit calories too much - if you stick to this you will lose weight healthily.

In terms of your diabetes (type 2 I assume?) this should not affect your ability to eat a healthy balanced diet. Check out the ‘EatWell Plate’ to see what this looks like. I would recommend that you replace any sugary snacks with whole pieces of fruit - as a diabetic your body should be able to cope with 2-3 pieces of fruit a day.

I wish you all the best with your weight loss and I hope that this has been of some use. Let us know how you are getting on. You can do it!

[Dogs5-Cats14]

Hello

Thank you so much for your advice. I shall start the exercise regime today. Fruit will have to wait til Wednesday when I get shopping. Meanwhile I'll do my best with what I've got in.

Again, Thankyou

[Penel]

Perhaps swimming or aqua fit might be ok for you?

If you haven't done so already make sure you swap any "white" foods, like white bread, pasta and cereal for the whole grain version. I found my weight loss was helped by having protein for breakfast.

I don't know what advice you may have been given by you doctor, but this link has some interesting information on diabetes from Dr Briffa.

drbriffa.com/category/diabe...

Good luck.

[Dogs5-Cats14]

Penel - Thank you for the link which I found helpful.

[GRUMPYA]

My advice is to start at about 1800 to 1900 calories don't try to follow the plan the nhs website suggests with 1 calorie allowance fits all ( I don't know why I am assuming you are female if you are male you can eat more) if you follow the link to the nhs bmi calculator it will suggest a range of calorie intakes for you. The lower end will help you lose a safe 2lb a week. I don't think you said if you are a type 1 or type 2 diabetic, but if you are insulin dependant it may be a bit slower. I would strongly recommend that you check the calorie allowance and run it by your diabetes nurse at the local practise,then stick to a healthy diet for diabetes. Brown bread fruit and natural products as much as you can. Hopefully your mobility will improve as you lose weight and even if you can't walk more standing with the support of a frame making sure you are standing tall and pulling your tummy in will help with muscle tone. Swimming or walking up and down in the pool is excellent. Most pools have a disabled changing room and will allow a carer in free or for a token amount. Their hoists will do heavy weights (I've never been asked my weight and I used to be heavier than you)

Exercise is good for you but you do not need to do it to lose weight, it's just a good thing to do. If you can just move a bit more and maybe do some upper body stuff by moving your arms about and lifting some tins or bottles while in your chair it will all help. Then once you have lost a stone or 2 you will be able to do more.

Good luck it can be done, I use an electric wheelchair and have lost over 20lb so let's show 'em!