exercise help please

[wolf63]

I am 40ish and female and very overweight. My highest weight was 22st and I currently at 19st 9lbs.

Most of my weight is around my belly (it is huge)

I have been dieting slowly (for a change) for a few weeks. Most of my previous diets have been radical and have never lasted very long.

What bothers me is the possibility of yards of excess skin sitting on my belly and boobs. Is there a way that I can minimise the problem that I could have with it?

I am trying to walk 10,000 steps a day - that is one hell of a walk. Luckily due to ill-health I don't work and have been out and pounding the streets.

Any help would be great.

[joggerjayne]

The difficulty is ...

If you are too ill to work ...

... you are probably too ill to do serious exercise.

[wolf63]

I used to work as a civil servant (24 years and 33 days) but suffer from manic depression. I live on 'private income'.

I bounce around from being manic/psychotic down to depression and have the attention span of a fly.

[caththecrazy]

Swimming - I used to go swimming twice a week with a very large lady - at first she could hardly do a width but now she swims 100 lengths easily. I had to give up as couldn't keep up with her.

[Velvetee]

The important thing with weight loss, particularly if you are obese, is to lose it slowly. You cannot guarantee you will not be left with loose sagging skin, because your skin has had to stretch alot to accommodate the weight increase over the years and may have lost suppleness and elasticity.

Walking and swimming is a good form of Cardiovascular exercise, which will help to burn calories and improve you Cardiac health and fitness. You do, however, need to do resistance training, which will help tone up muscles, help prevent sagging and increase your metabolic rate.

When you go out walking, wear a heartrate monitor, ensure you are working between 65 and 80% of your Maximum heartrate, this means your heart should be beating between 117 and 144 beats per minute. As you get fitter, you may need to work harder to maintain this rate.

[Pigletion]

There are lots of exercises you can do at home after your walk that are low impact and use your bodyweight (well a percentage of), like squats, lunges, tricep dips,sit-ups etc. They will help tone you up too. Make sure you know how to do them correctly so as to prevent injury - another good reason to tone up is it helps prevent injury!

Definitely losing weight slowly is the sensible thing. People who crash diet always complain that they put all the weight back on, but logically you will if you go back to eating the same foods in the same portions that made you fat in the first place :o)

Exercise is also good to get the blood flowing to the skin, which will help. Smoking is also bad for skin elasticity, so I would avoid that. Exercise is also good for mental health, sadly it won't cure you,but can make things a bit better. Also try and vary your walking routes and try and walk circular routes rather than somewhere and back again all the time, I find this can be a mental battle when I go for a jog if I have to recover the same ground.

Good luck with it

[wolf63]

Thanks everybody. It has taken me about 8 weeks to lose the stone - last time I lost so much weight quickly and bounced back up to 20st 9lbs.

Walking is a good idea - BC (before Cats) I had a dog and that was good exercise. But there are health, killer kitties and money reasons why I can't get another.

Swimming is out - I know the pools are clean but there is bacteria lurking there.

I have a couple of resistance bands that I will try. My thighs were heavy even when I was thin so I need to work on them.

I will take my diet one step at a time.. Thanks.

Susan

[Jan1957]

Just wanted to say well done for the weight you have lost. I know how difficult it is. I have become disabled in the last year and put on 3 stone because I can't exercise and also suffer from depression which as you will know means some days it is hard just to get out of bed.

I am trying to find exercises I can do to help me lose weight whilst sitting down because I can't put any weight on one leg but am having difficulty with this.

Keep up the good work and you will get there and I hope I will too.

[tamborine]

If you found work you liked, it would keep you active & circulating - less chance of depression?

[wolf63]

tamborine - I am not depressed because I hate my life, my partner or my work. My life is good and I am satisfied.

Depression CAN be caused by life events and can be a biochemical problem.

Manic Depression/Bipolar disorder is akin to Schizophrenia in many ways. I get aural and visual hallucinations. I am unable to do the simplest tasks because I am unable to understand the instructions. The list goes on.

The good thing about AB as we are all equal - nobody know what colour, sex, age we are. Any disability the person has becomes invisible.

Although I know that you went well your comment shows no understanding of the torment that some people in this world suffer.

Sorry to take my frustrations out on you. :-)

[Jan1957]

Well I was trying to give you some support there and you just ignored me.

Stop focusing on the negative. You've done well up till now. Just try and carry on and ignore people who don't give helpful advice.

[wolf63]

Sorry Jan - I got distracted by the other post.

I am actually a pretty laid back and positive person. I have a typical Scottish sense of humour (dry, dark and cynical).

I think that as we get older we accept ourselves and we stop trying to impress our friends.

My two cats take care of me - thugs that they are.

Thanks everybody.

[Jan1957]

It's okay Susan. I'm just feeling down tonight myself. Was in quite a good mood but hubby came home in a bad mood and took it out on me. He'd just had a bad day at work.

Have you been watching The Biggest Loser on ITV? Today was very emotional. It's trying to get the incentive to do it yourself and I think you should be proud of the fact that you have lost the weight you have. One day at a time love and don't be so hard on yourself.

xx

[tamborine]

I said work 'you liked'....there must be something that could please you and keep you active, rather than monotonously pounding 10k steps a day.

Foolproof to losing weight is the Fern Brittain rubber banded gut - with excess skin surgically removed. However, if you are fit/strong/large Y worry.....takes all sorts to make a world. My 'larger' friends are full of fun & all laughs.

[wolf63]

Jan - hope you are better today. Luckily I don't have a partner - just the cats.

Tamborine - it was unfair of me to pick on you. I 'work' in an Oxfam book shop two half days per week. The work is easy and the other volunteers are great company. I enjoy the company. I don't have any major hang-ups about being fat but it would be nice to have some energy. My mental health is erratic and I just want to improve my physical health.

It's Wednesday - Lotto day!

[cassa333]

If you have one close you could try Curves. It is very easy and only takes half an hour a day.

Look it up on the internet.

I am very overweight and I go and it is so much easier than pounding the streets with everyone dodging out of your way. You don't do so much damage to your joints and things as well.

At my last doctors (before I moved) they prescribed the GYM and the nhs paid for the membership! you could ask your doctor if they still do this in your area.

[4getmenot]

Dance, put your fave cd on at home and dance not only is it good exercise it lifts your mood too :-)

[rinkins]

Good idea 4get.

A member of my family suffers from rapid recycling bipolar disorder Susan so I can understand how it gets sometimes. You are doing very well by the sounds of it. When you have a bad day just jump on here and I'm sure you'll get heaps of encouragement. I admire you for getting into some voluntary work and losing weight the sensible way. Just give it time, you are already heading in the right direction xx Good Luck

[rinkins]

I also meant to add that she also lost a lot of weight in the end and now been referred to a surgeon to have the excess skin removed so don't panic. However, she has had to prove that she can keep the weight off (though I am not convinced she lost it in the most sensible of ways, but even so has kept it off). It has taken her a couple of years but she got there.

[wolf63]

Cassa - I forgot about Curves. I had a friend who went and I am not sure that it is 'me'.

Pigletion - I bought resistance bands a couple of years ago. I might burn off some calories trying to find them.

Tamborine - I am not sure that I like the idea of the bands in my stomach. I have read so many horror stories. I have always been fat and find that most people don't care.

rinkins - I worked for the Benefits Agency and I last worked Oct 2003. Looking back I must have been a nightmare to work with . I have been volunteering for Oxfam for about 3 years - it is great fun and I can do what I can in my own time. I had the shakes the other day - I was on the till - it was 'fun'

To be honest I posted this thread to get ideas of how to lose weight without getting baggy skin. I will do walking and stuff but my belly is huge.

I hope that your family member stays balanced for long periods - it is such a misunderstood illness.

Susan
Frankie de Tom Cat and Princess Merlin.

[rinkins]

I'm not sure there is a way sweetie without getting the baggy skin but once you get stronger/fitter maybe some toning will help? You sound like you do better than my relative, she has "lost" herself in her illness in some respects, lost any idea of what is a normal reaction and what is her illness which is sad. And yes it is a misunderstood illness, particularly for anyone who has not really come across it. And it's amazing how many famous people suffer that we don't even realise, because for some, you can live a relatively normal life. I am very encouraged by what you have said. I think you are making a remarkable effort to help yourself, something which is very easy to not want to do.