For experts or women over 40, please!!!

[BigBear85]

Hello everyone I am a very frequent visitor of this site and I notice all the advice that people share with one another. I'm coming to ask for help with my mothers weight loss. Even though I've lost a lot of weight I noticed that she really can't follow my plan and routine so I'm hoping someone here who has experience and knowledge can help me.
Here we go, from my perspective I think that my mother should stop focusing on weight loss and just focus on living a more healthy life. For example... she smokes, eats southern style cooked food and doesn't really exercise. She's currently 49 years of age and is really caught in her ways but does want to be healthy. She has a slightly low count in her hormones from a thyroid problem which keeps her metabolism from working fast. So with all of this said.. How can I help my mother get healthy and ultimately loss the weight she wants.

 

[koncrete]

BigBear,

I really think you answered the question for yourself. She smokes, eats unhealthy food, and doesn't exercise. The thing you have to remember is you can't want her to lose weight more than she wants to lose weight. You can lead a horse to water but can't make them drink it.

If she is serious about wanting to live a healthy lifestyle then she has to change her bad habits. This doesn't mean she has to change everything tomorrow, start off slow changing one thing at a time and as she starts to feel better and healthier about herself it will be easier to change the others. Be each others support systems and encourage one another, because its alot easier for a person to continue living with their bad habits than it is pick up new healthy ones.

Good Luck,
Casey

 

[pattycakes1]

BigBear,

I totally understand what your mother's going through. As a woman ages, it becomes more and more difficult to lose weight, especially when she becomes less active. I'm not sure if she wants to quick smoking, change her eating habit or become more active. If she wants to lose weight, you could start by asking her if she wants to go walking with you. That's a start. My daughters got me walking. I wanted to quit after the 3rd day, but I kept at it and soon I was enjoying it, so your mother may learn to like it.

As for her diet, you can contribute by suggesting adding a salad, or more fruits and vegetables. Go slow. It's easier to add one or two veggies/fruits each week than it is to drastically change her eating habit. Take little steps and see how that works out.

I know, she should quit smoking, but that's easier said than done. Perhaps getting her on daily walks may help her cut down on the cigs.

Hope that helps.

 

[clever_plant]

Well, a couple of practical suggestions might be

Obviously stop smoking and if that isn't possible, cut down as much as possible. cutting down won't remove cancer or chronic obstruction disease chance but it will decrease the chance for a bad chronic obstruction disease linearly compared to her reduction in smoking.

Some exercises that might be easier to deal with for her would be exercise bikes, or maybe one of those exercise bikes that basically has like a big lazy chair instead of a seat, to make it only about the legs moving and not about balance and such.

When it comes to cooking, an easy way to start would be to try to do switches like.. instead of saturated fats, use mono unsaturated fats where possible (or just unsaturated fats). leaner dressings and such...

but really, the main thing I would suggest caring about is the smoking and her cardiovascular health, weight loss should be a distant third compared to those two, but it can go hand in hand with both of them

What you can do.. well... since I have no idea what your mother is like its hard to give advive on that... but let her know that you love her, care for her and wants her to live a long life... tell her to stop whining and get started... use your key to her house and remove all unhealthy snacks from her house every night.. I mean.. it depends a lot on her personality what would work best?

After going on for years about how it would be good for her and being understanding and such with my mother, i told her to stop bitching and quit the fags and start eating healthy, asked her whether her life or her love for cheesecake was more important and such.. and that was a much better help for her than any cuddling was.. so.. I mean... you know your mother

 

[weightlosstips1]

I totally understand your situation. As others said, it would obviously help if she quit smoking or at least cut down, but obviously just MOVING, walking or dancing would help. Talking even expends calories! If she thinks of it as feeling better instead of a 'diet', it helps. As they said, she has to think of being healthier and hanging around longer for the kids and grandkids, etc. A little at a time is Key. Otherwise, she won't continue it. Go for walks, outside, parks, recreational areas, somewhere she enjoys, even malls. If she likes to dance, that's GREAT! She can eat healthy things that she enjoys. It's just cutting the bad 'fried', oils, etc., there are good healthy ones. There are also a lot of good, healthy southern style type foods she'd enjoy but would be healthier for her.

The thyroid can be a problem. There are food items that help increase metabolism, etc. Some of the best ones that she might like are:
Green tea
Grapefruit
Yogurt
Almonds (but they're also high in calories)
Turkey
Apples (and they help you feel full longer)
Spinach: it’s also a great source of antioxidants, iron, vitamin C, magnesium and potassium
Beans: keep you full longer and your body has to burn more calories to process them
Jalapenos: They do speed your heart rate up, as well, so if she has heart issues, I wouldn't suggest them (or much)
Broccoli includes calcium and vitamin c, and boosts your metabolism and helps the body absorb more calcium
Oatmeal
Soy milk and soy milk cereal are loaded with calcium, but stay away from the sweetened ones
Curry increases the calories your body burns and speeds metabolism
Cinnamon can be added to things, and helps the body metabolize sugars more effectively and maintain steadier blood sugar levels. It can also help lower your cholesterol.
Coffee speeds up metabolism, but can also speed up the heart rate, and I wouldn't suggest having much.

Hope this helps