Controling and losing weight???????????? - Fibromyalgia Message Board

ckfarmer2000 · 08-29-2007, 04:33 AM

Hello All,
I am looking for some advice from others on what do you do to lose weight? I have had FM for several years and it is slowly getting worse. You all know the aches, pains and foot pain. I use to jazzercise and go to a gym, but I can't do that anymore. I bought a bike and thought that would be easier because I would be off my feet, but after a short bike ride you pay for it the next few days. I have a big garden I do and I like to keep busy. I am not a person that likes to be idle. Moving around helps, but I am not losing any weight. I am bigger now then I have ever been. I try to eat healthy, salads and stuff, but the mid section is not getting any smaller. I have tried yoga, but I am 46 yo and I just can't do some of those moves and postions. I like to walk, but my foot pain is so bad that I can't tolerate it for very long. Does any one else have any ideas?
Thanks,
Jo

bluelakelady · 08-29-2007, 08:43 AM

hi jo,
ask your doctor to put you in physical therapy. i started with aquatic therapy. there are many exercises they will teach you to get you started on the road to being able to exercise those pounds off. it is how i did it. it took 2years. at my highest weight i was 198. i am now at 126 this morning. i am 5ft and 5in tall. i use the scale every day. every day. being able to see the difference helps. sure there were weeks when no pound were leaving. i was okay with that knowing that muscle weighs more than fat. i am able to exercise now. walking too. and i was in a wheelchair for 6 months once upon a time. that was when my weight really went crazy.
i realized i had to just allow myself to have pain in order to get as healthy as i can be. i am back in p.t. now for strengthening after another stroke. each time i have one all muscle goes bye bye and i have to start all over. it is always worth it. i will not stop living my way. pain is an aspect of my life. an aspect, not the whole me.
please don't wait as long as i did. i thought i could not do it. i was wrong. fibro wanted me to think i could not do it. my other illnesses said the same thing. they also were wrong. i had to take the decision making away from them and return it to me. so i did. we all have better quality of life now.
peace,
bluelakelady
ps. i am over 50 years old. it can be done!

moonbeam24 · 08-30-2007, 11:03 PM

Hi,

I have a lot of the same issues. Especially the foot pain! I just joined Weight Watchers and so far I've lost about 5.2 lbs in 4 weeks. The plan has a couple different options for eating that are good for anyone. They advocate starting out at 20 minutes every few days and building from there. I do have a couple of suggestions--Leslie Sanson is an exercise guru who created a set of dvd's/video's for a program she calls Walk Away the Pounds. You start out by walking 1 mile (in front of your TV!). I like it because you don't just walk in place--you do a lot of other activities as well. She uses some light weights, but you don't have to and you can modify or slow down anything. Plus the tape from start to finish for the 1 mile is only 10 minutes long! Sometimes I do that 2 times a day to get in my 20 minutes.
Aquatic exercise is good--but to be honest--when I'm overweight the last thing I want to do is get into a pool in a bathing suit in public right? Another suggestion is to buy a pedometer. I got one for like $5 at Walmart. You put it on your waste and it counts the number of steps you take per day. The average person takes about 4000--but to stay healthy and lose weight you should take anywhere from 6-10000 steps per day. When I first got it, I didn't look at it for the first day--because I wanted to see how many steps my average day was. I was shocked to see it was only 1500! So the next day I worked up to 2000 and each day a little bit more and now I average 3800-4000 a day. This is great because you walk when you can. It could just be to the bathroom and back or to get the mail. Sometimes I would read, but I would take a few steps. I also started putting objects farther from my reach--like the remote, or my water bottle, so I could get more steps in. The great thing is that you lose weight just a few steps at a time!

ckfarmer2000 · 09-04-2007, 04:55 AM

Thanks for the advice.
I'll look into the tapes. I would much rather excercise at home than go in public. It is just hard to keep motivated when your feet are killing you. It is nice to talk to others that can understand our flustration and I think it helps motivate me more when you know someone else has the same symptoms and they are doing things. I'll get one of those pedometers and see what my steps are. I amstarting a new job tomorrow, so maybe that willhelp.
Thanks.
Jo