Having to lose weight due to as health issue is hard

[arepa]

Hi everyone,

This is my first post here and I just wanted to talk about something I’m going through that makes me sad, and know if someone has a similar experience…

I’m 33, 68kg, 1,66cm. I’ve been lighter and heavier than this is the past. When I got to 72kg, I was not feeling well about my appearance and joined weight watchers. I was excited and motivated to lose weight and reached 65.5. Put on a bit of weight later, never seriously tried to lose it again. I just try a bit, but without putting real effort.

The thing is that I don’t think I really want to lose weight. I’m more or less confident with how I look right now. I don’t think 68 (or 72) is too much. I eat healthy and love to eat. When I lost weight, it took me lot of mental and social effort. I did it in a healthy way, and made sure to have at last one social event with no food/drink concerns per week, but still, this all took such a big mental space that would be really overwhelming now that I’m juggling more things in life.

The problem is that I have a feet issue since the age of 17 that in the last years it evolved to ankle osteoarthritis. It’s getting worse and sometimes it feels so debilitating… and not easy for my friends and partner to understand why I can’t walk for 10 minutes. I’m just really sad. Not much to do but some physio that doesn’t help much, pain relief medication for crisis and carry as little weight as I can. Then try surgery once it gets really bad.

No doubt it would be good to carry less of my own weight. Any kg counts really. I’m trying to find the strengths to do it.

[springersrule Moderator 76kg]

Hi Arepa and welcome back to our forum. Firstly can i just say that your current weight does put you in the 'healthy weight' category on the nhs BMI calculator so unless you feel the need to lose more weight you could just maintain as you are

However, if you do want to lose a little more then joining in with the activities we run on this forum will really help you. The forum is all about peer to peer support and our members are very supportive and helpful. We have lots of clubs running and they can all be found under Pinned Posts, here's a link to them. healthunlocked.com/weight-l...

We advice joining in the the Weigh In and Daily Diary as a minimum, the more you participate the more you get out of it

With regard to your feet... I hear you, it is so hard to be motivated for anything when you are in pain and struggle to walk but there are other things you could do. There are lots of seated exercise videos you may enjoy on YouTube. I've done quite a few myself as a fellow osteo arthritis sufferer. I've had a few joints replaced already and am due a hip replacement tomorrow. I can say for me that weight loss has been so much more about the food i eat than the exercise i can or can't do at any given time. Over the last 2 years i have lost more than half my body weight and spent a lot of the time using walking aids , either crutches or a rollator. Maybe walking aids are something you could look into to help you be a little more active and be able to join in with your partner and friends. Take a look at one of our other posts, Fit is Fun, that could give you some ideas too

I hope you to 'see' you around the forum and if you have any questions or get stuck please just shout out.

Best of luck xx

[arepa in reply to springersrule]

Thanks, springersrule, I hope to lose one or two kilos, it would make a difference. I'm definitely in the healthy weight for everything else, but this combo of feet/ ankle issues is the only thing making me want to reduce the load. I might operate soon so I'll see how it goes xx

[Hectorsmum2 Visitor]

Often dieting can lead to disordered eating, you are a healthy weight and being underweight has its health issues too. I am much much heavier than you and have arthritic ankles, knees and hips. I have found very careful gentle exercise ever so helpful. I go for a short walk everyday and my ankles have got much stronger. I am very gradually increasing the length of my walk and take days off if there is a flare.

[arepa in reply to Hectorsmum2]

Thanks Hectorsmum2. I didn't get into much detail but my issue is a bit complicated. I have a malformation in my feet that leaves me with little support for my body - so it's a combo of unhealed stress fractures, osteoarthritis and chronic inflammation in the ankles. I need to avoid walking, but I have been doing other strengthening exercises with my physio. I'm not heavy at all from any other point of view but losing a bit of weight seems like one of the few things I can do to help. Unfortunately, I had some days last month of not being able to walk at all so I just wanted to get some support. In any case, I might operate soon so this might help