Hi everyone, I want to pick your brains. Have any of you got any good ideas as to how I can control my weight. So, I’m wheelchair-bound, have very limited use of my hands and arms making exercise practically impossible. I don’t think I eat too much but I have this fear that one day I won’t be able to fit in my wheelchair. I have a normal sized breakfast and then a sandwich for lunch and then maybe a piece of toast for my tea. But every now and then I do go berserk and have a couple of bars of chocolate, the thing is I don’t want to give up my chocolate it’s something I really enjoy and I don’t think I should have to give that up.
So any good ideas would be brilliant. Thanks a lot
Hi Jane, I kind of get the drift how it is for you. It must seem an impossible task.
There’s the hard way & the very hard way. Eat less, drink water & buy one of those electrical impulse belts. Strap it around different parts of your body. I can imagine it will be a shock to your system. My theory is MS sets the body like cement. The less we do, the quicker it dries up, until it becomes ridiculous to manage.
Stay cool & keep active Jane. If you like nuts. Try eating one walnut every 2 hours. They contain many different vitamins & minerals. Extra virgin olive oil & krill oil is great at dissolving body fats, apparently. Adding strap on weights, makes you try harder too.
Hi Jane, its something that i worry about too. Since ive been in the chair ive slowly put on weight , its not a lot but im aware that it could slowly carry on creeping up. Chocolate is my weakness too. I have some mobility just around my own home but im so weak and tired that i cant do much. ive decided to try to join the disabled swim group, i used to go and its only 50p for a swim, they have excellent disabled facilities our local pool , there is a special chair lift which lowers you nto the pool. Maybe they might do similar where you live.
From what I’ve read, the Krill oil & other essential oils. They apparently break the lardy type fats down. They are, after all what block arteries in the first place. The electric pulse belts I mentioned, are used by people in offices who sit in chairs all day. They stimulate muscles into action. Exercising without moving. It’s not too serious a jolt. There’s videos on Youtube of the results. Peoples physics, might get your heart racing too. Win, win.
Green veg & salads, cause the bodies digestive system to work. It will cause a stink, but that’s what bathing is for. Hydration & removing dead cell tissue. I’m no guru, I’m just stating the obvious. A punnet of Strawberries & Blueberries are in need of recycling. Someone is going to be pebble dashing the loo.
Hi Jane, I have managed to lose 2 stone over the past few months (started in November in actually 6 months… but slowly is good!). I see the culprit in your diet was the same one in mine… BREAD!!!
If you could cut the bread out of your diet you could really lose some serious weight. I suggest you replace the lunchtime sandwich with a low calorie soup (Covent Garden soups do some great ones called Skinny Soup) and a couple of oatcakes (very good for slow release energy).
If you are still hungry in afternoon have some protein… always handy to keep a couple of hard boiled eggs in fridge for those 'I have to eat something moments!!! Or have fruit. Try to eat some fruit everyday.
In the evening have a salad and more protein. If you can’t prepare a salad yourself could you maybe buy pre-prepared salads or ask someone to make up a plastic tub of salad that will last you a few days?
Again add some protein… boiled egg, low fat cheese, sliced turkey, cottage cheese… protein not only gives energy but it keeps you fuller for longer.
My big problem with portion size, so I started getting Wiltshire Farm Foods as their portions are on the small side (my portions were more on the level of a meal a man doing manual labour might eat!!!). I have one of those at lunchtime followed by a low-fat yogurt and for tea either a salad or a Skinny Soup and 2 oatcakes.
So I have managed to lose the weight. I am not in a wheelchair full time but I don’t get much exercise due to fatigue and use either wheelchair or mob scooter outside.
Hope this has given you some good tips. And remember the TOP TIP… cut out the BREAD… don’t even buy it!!! It is really lethal for piling on the pounds!
I won’t be quitting bread personally Pat. Whole meal seeded bread, dipped in soup is a must for me.
Just purchased some coconut oil spray. Super high in Omega 3 & 1 calorie per squirt. Been spraying it on dry joints. It smells amazing, lubricates & soaks in. It’s meant for cooking cakes, but I know it’s potential for other uses. Dirt cheap too.
Eat anything in moderation, but in general. Choose the healthier diet to increase a failing system.
Armchair aerobics. Small tip - find an advert you hate - and then watch it rather than fast forwarding it and punch the air while it’s on - make sure you don’t overdo it, and do a short burst. It will get your heart rate up, and you can do it sitting down (and it doesn’t have to be elegant or precise).
Anything that increases your heart rate will help, even if you’re sitting down to do it - and it really doesn’t have to be for long - every little helps.
I’ve lost two and a half stone over twenty months.
I’m very strict about my bread. Firstly, I invested in a bread machine so I’m in control. I make small rolls and loaves on the 45 minute pizza dough setting. I have a small amount of white flour and the rest is whole grain and rye. Some seeds make it really tasty. I then shape it (the creative bit) and bake after its second prove. It then gets sliced, divided up and frozen.
The rest of my diet is fruit and veg. Sometimes I’ll have meat.
It’s been a relentless drive, somewhat hampered because I do like a glass or two of beer and wine. It’s my chocolate.
Wow!! Thanks for all your tips. I can’t imagine living life without bread, mind you the bread I have is seeded high protein, it’s yummy. The the other problem I have is that I can’t hold a knife and fork so rely on finger food. Today for my main meal my carers did me rice cakes with Boursin cheese (scrummy) and then I had an apple. I do have fruit every day.
Sometimes I put my headphones on and have a bop in my wheelchair, great fun.
Well done to all of you who’ve lost weight and stuck to it
A 3 minute boil in the bag, microwave rice with mixed veg is awesome. I plonk a tin of fish on top once cooked, add a salad dressing or vinaigrette & after 1 more minuet. As a one person meal, it tastes amazing. For two, it’s just twice as many items, in the same time. 3 & 4 & so on. Very healthy & low cal. Simple as putting butter on bread. If you can’t hold scissors or press buttons. Order in. There’s plenty of home delivery services. If neighbours get jealous, show them a finger or a picture of one, if you can’t do that. There’s always a way.
I’m not wheelchair bound, but I’m not very mobile. I lurch around at home on crutches and use wheelchair and scooter everywhere else. Vigorous calorie burning exercise is impossible for me. I do go to a gym where they help me with strength and stretching and the nearest I get to aerobic exercise is the hand bike, but can’t do that fast enough to burn any useful number of calories. I can’t use a knife and fork, and have only limited use of a spoon. My appetite and my sweet tooth didn’t diminish at the same rate as my activity level, so my weight crept up. A number of years ago before MS took hold of me I lost weight with slimming world, so although I didn’t go back to classes I went back to the principles of the regime. It allows for treats too. You don’t have to be hungry, but I concede if you fancy chocolate or biscuits then a piece of fruit doesn’t hit the spot. It’s about getting the right mindset and eating the right amount of the right foods. I won’t pretend it’s easy, but as someone said already there’s the hard way and the hard way. There’s no magic bullet. I’ve lost the three stone I gained, but it took over a year, but I feel and look better for it, but can’t seem to shift the layer of fat round my tum and bum, presumably on account of the amount of time I spend sitting.
I do know a lady (not with MS) who was super morbidly obese. She turned to hypnotherapy and has lost nine stone and taken up running. I know the running isn’t going to happen of course. Hypnotherapy is not a magic bullet either though, the therapist can’t force you to do something you don’t want to, but some people have benefited from hypnotherapy. Im not recommending it, just mentioning it.A reputable therapist is expensive (I dare say a disreputable one isn’t cheap either!)
i really do wish you luck with this. I know only too well how hard it is.
Well done Flowerpot!!! I have lost 2 stone and am still dieting to lose another half a stone. I’ll then be down to 10 and a half which was my weight pre-MS. (I’m 5 ft 7 ins tall so that’s a good weight for me). But I really have had to cut my food to less than half what I was eating. It’s got easier as time has gone on and now on the rare occasions when I eat out I can’t always finish the portion (something I never thought would ever happen!!!).
With hypnotherapy I think people have really already made the decisions but the treatment sort of confirms it for them. But that lady is fab to have lost 9 stone!!!
The trouble I found with both Weight watchers online and Slimmers’ World online is that they all include an exercise plan which of course isn’t possible for us esp not on a daily basis.
Some smart cookie out there needs to set up a website for disabled people to lose weight (sorry I used the word COOKIE… I’m now having cookie fantasies).
I am sure there are people on here who have good tech skills and could set up a website or an app for disabled people to eat well and lose weight??? Or maybe a forum which is just about losing weight with disability???
If I put all my good ideas into action I’d be a billionaire by now… lol…
I am in awe of you all with your weight losses. I can diet for about 6 weeks then I lose interest and before you know it the weight is back on and then get depressed about it. I have so much to lose weight for, my clothes don’t fit, my health and my daughter gets married next year.
I can see myself at the wedding wearing a tent.
I really wish there was an online slimming club for disabled people, I might actually keep motivated longer.
