Hi there,
I am desperate to lose weight. My carers get me up at 9am and I am in my chair until 10pm.
I do not eat chocolate, biscuits etc but my abdomen is huge and I am very self conscious.
Anybody got any ideas please.
Thanks
Liz
You have my utmost sympathy, Liz. I am desperate to loose weight too, and like you, I stay away from the sweet treats to no avail. It seems to me that there are a couple of things that cause us to be in the unhappy condition we’re in:
Our condition - if we cant walk, we cant really excercise the way able bodied people do. However there are specific work outs we can do that has MS in mind. If you go to You Tube and search ‘work out with Multiple Sclerosis’ it comes up with a whole slew of videos suggesting ways that we can excercise despite the dreaded lergie.
Our Meds - most MS meds have side effects of weight gain - nearly all of mine do, unfortunately. There’s not much you can do on this front other than have a chat with your GP/Neurologist/MSNurse to see if anything can be done to adjust such an effect without you having to put up with MS Problems
Lastly - and this may be a bit of a sensitive question, but have you trouble with your bowels? Mine are extraordinarily lazy, and I really need lots of help with them. I find that this issue causes lots of bloating and discomfort that no ammount of fresh fruit fibre and water will fix! I’m going to see my continence nursing team next week hoping to discuss an off-licence drug for what is known as ‘slow transit constipation’ ( a common problem in women whether they have MS or not) to see if Im eligible to take it.
Please dont be too self conscious or worried. There are lots of things that can be done to make life better!
K 
x
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I’ve struggled with losing weight for years. Really struggled. Manage to lose a couple of lbs, but it takes a month or so, and the weight loss was so slow I gave up. A consultant recommended I cut out carbs. No bread, potato, pasta, rice and so-on. I watch my carbs like a hawk, and try to stick to under 20g a day. Basically it’s the Atkins diet. In 3 months, I lost 2 stone. I’ve had a break from the diet for the last month, and concentrated on maintaining the weight loss just so I could have a break, but have just started up on the diet again. It might be worth giving it a try. I was surprised how (relatively) easy it was to calorie counting, and if I feel hungry, there are plenty of carb-free things I can snack on. I tend to eat a lot of chicken, and have a chunk of chicken if I’m hankering for something (I buy the pre-cooked chickens, and eat it cold with salad or cooked veg). I don’t get hungry now either. Might be worth giving it a try - there’s nothing to lose (except weight!). I’d resigned myself to forever being a fatty (just over 16st 5lbs, at 5’6" - now I am 14st, but aiming to lose another 2st at least) but it really seems to be the diet that works best for me.
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Wheat bread and wheat pasta seem to cause weight gain and bloating some some. There are so many meal ideas available without wheat that I try. I used to eat a lot of wheat bread and get stomach bloating. I cut out wheat bread and now rarely get bloating. Supermarket gluten free bead can be expensive, so I sometimes make homemade gluten free bread.
I often replace potato with sweet potato, nice mashed on it’s own or make carrot and sweet potato mash. Also butternut squash instead of potato.
l think Lenney has the right idea - l too keep off any grain - and also eat sweet potato and butternut squash. l try to keep to the 5-2 diet - this has been so successful for me. l am now 9st 8lb having lost 20lbs. But the most important part for me is that l have much more energy. Carbs make me so tired. l do not eat breakfast - but late morning - noonish - l might have scrambled egg with smoked salmon - or smoked haddock with a poached egg. This will last me until the evening when l might have chicken breast usually cooked in an Asian style with lots of garlic/ginger/chilli/ sugar snap peas or mangetout - even spinach which l grow in the garden - the perpetual type - coconut milk - mushrooms and a few rice noodles - all cooked in a few minutes in one pot wok.
We differ so much with this awful disease - l have ‘rapid - transit’ - chronic diarrhoea - to be slightly constipated would be a luxury to me. And l never sleep much - never in the day - and if l am lucky 3 or 4 hrs at night or an on. l do not take any prescription drugs - apart from sativex. But l do take lots of supplements - vitd3/magnesium/K2 - and all the B Vits -which of course help with fatigue/ memory/brain function. l expect this is why l do not sleep.
There are lots of exercises that can be done - even sat down - or in bed. Especially with a stretchy band. Works out your muscles and joints - and you can do just a few minutes - but often - for a result. And any form of exercise will renew your energy levels.
l have had ~PPMS for 33yrs - and have learnt the hard way not to rely on prescription drugs - too many side-effects.
To be honest, Lenny, I’ve avoided all root veggies on my diet (but I have been very extreme by cutting back to under 20g of carbs a day), but it’s amazing what you can still make by using different ingredients. Might try substituting for those when I eventually get to my goal weight!
I made a mushroom sauce a few weeks ago using extra thick cream instead of flour/butter/milk, and it tasted just as good as usual, but took a while to reduce down to a thick sauce.
Also made a lasagne-type thing (with just one layer of pasta sheets to separate the meat from the cheese sauce) and made the cheese sauce by again using extra thick cream instead of flour/milk/butter.
Chicken breasts sliced to create a pocket with danish blue cheese inside and cooked in foil in the oven is nice too with some cooked veg.
I also get camembert in the round boxes and throw them in the oven for about 35/40 mins, and use celery sticks to dip in and scoop out the runny cheese. Yummy.
All this cream, butter and cheese would usually be a no-no for dieters, but I was losing about 3lbs a week!
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Hi everyone,
Thanks for all your replies.
I unfortunately only have the use of one arm so cooking is difficult, so I do rely on ready meals occasionally.
I will give you an example of what I eat, feel free to comment and advise
I have a ham or chicken sandwich with super seeded bread.
For my main meal it is mostly salad with chicken , light mayonnaise
Dessert is two clementines.
I know this boring, but it is all easy to prepare.
I also rely on carers to hoist me on to the loo so I am wary of anything that might upset my stomach etc.
Anyway, I am off to make my ham sandwich with lashings of mustard!!!
Liz
I’m lucky. If I don’t want to cook, I have a very amenable OH who does it for me. It’s rare that I make a meal these days, but he is good. He was the one who did the chicken idea for me!
Doesn’t sound like you eat a lot at all, to be honest. From a carbs point of view, the bread is a no-no (approx 16.6g per slice, so 2 slices takes you over the 20g a day limit I stick to. Some people don’t limit their carbs as much as I do), but it’s not like you’re eating a lot of it.
Watch out how much mayo you have - that can be quite carby. Light mayo is approx 9g per 100g, whereas ‘full fat’ is about 0.6g per 100g. I still find the difference shocking! 100g is a lot of mayo to eat in one sitting, so the amount you’re having probably isn’t going to affect weight much anyway.
The clemantines are a bit as well - approx 12g of carbs each.
There’s nothing that really screams out at me as being terrible, but I guess the above puts you . Do you drink anything with sugar in? Tea and coffee or soft drinks/squashes? They can be surprisingly carby too. I use ‘no added sugar’ stuff. If you need a chocolate fix, you can eat the 80% (or more) stuff without piling on the carbs too. Doesn’t taste as nice as the milk chocolate, but doesn’t do much damage providing you don’t eat too much of it!
I lost a stone by cutting calories own to 1000 per day maximum. I don’t lose weigh on anything over that.
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