Weight loss needed

[Alisonjj]

Hi everyone, I’m 52 years old and really need to lose weight. I was skinny all my life which I took for granted, but in 2015 that dramatically changed when I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. This was very bad in my feet and ankles. Exercising has been difficult and funny that doing the Couch to 5K app to get fit led to me being crippled, then diagnosed with the rheumatoid. Now it’s a struggle as can’t do cardio exercise plus anything banging my feet, I have an exercise bike which I use daily but still struggling to shift weight. I need to lose 10kg and my tum, bum and thighs need fat removal and firming. Desperate for ideas pleeeeaaaasssseee! 😁😆

[Minniewinny 5 stone Maintainer]

Great to have you join us Alisonjj

Welcome and enjoy the forum...

Sorry you've developed arthritis- I am sure you will find lots of support and advice on the forum.

I'd like to invite you to join our Newbie Club - which is what I call the sat-nav to the benefits of the forum and we trust will be a good place for you to connect with other members, who like you are also just starting out on this forum. Please post a few words to introduce yourself and respond to others there, you'll soon realise the encouragement and support this forum offers.

Here's the link:

healthunlocked.com/nhsweigh...

Lovely picture of you and lovely doggie...

Cheering you on to reach your goals 🎉🎉🎉

[Alisonjj in reply to Minniewinny]

Thank you for the welcome post, looking forward to joining the community and finding encouragement as well as supporting others.

The dog is our beloved Labrador Mia and last year added our second Labrador called Murphy. With 4 daughters now left home and just a young son left, the dogs are our replacement children to fill the gap 😄😁

[Minniewinny 5 stone Maintainer in reply to Alisonjj]

I can understand that. Well done for not getting 2 dogs at the same time.. We got 2 and they ganged up on us at every training session.. we'd give the command... they'd look at each other and run and play 🐾🐾 🤣😂🐾🐾

[Pineapple27]

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis Alisonjj - I guess you are still coming to terms with it? I hope that meds are giving you some relief?

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 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 stight 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...

[Alisonjj in reply to Pineapple27]

Thank you so much for your kind post and sharing your lovely story. It gives me hope and fills me with positivity reading your advice. It’s very true about food and I’m always saying I only eat small amounts but I think I need to look at what I eat. I eat bran flakes for breakfast, then lunch which will sound strange but I have porridge oats and a banana or cereal bar. Dinner homemade lasagna, curry or chicken breast, new potatoes and vegetables. I’ll have a yogurt and if need a snack I have fruit. I don’t drink alcohol, not since 2012 and don’t smoke. Just think I need to do more exercise especially core.

[Pineapple27]

That sounds like quit a carby diet to me... with lots of oats/grains - perhaps can you try something like soup for lunch? Or a salad - that’s what I try and have each day as it takes me a long time to eat.

Carbs will provide you with instant gratification, but will soon feel hungry again.

Protein for breakfast will help you to feel satiated for longer - a boiled egg or scrambled egg?

[Alisonjj in reply to Pineapple27]

Thank you so much for the advice and I did worry although I’m eating small amounts and don’t snack, that I’m eating the wrong stuff. I’ve some soup so that’s a good start plus i love scrambled eggs, can I have it with brown multi grain bread or is that to much carbs again. I could also have tuna salad.

[Pineapple27 in reply to Alisonjj]

How’s about with a little smoked salmon? 🙂 maybe ocassionally as a treat (that is also good for you?)

Do you like avocado?