dianet
Cathlete
My sister and I have been struggling over how to or whether we should approach my mother about her health. She has always been pretty overweight, but lately it has gotten much worse than usual. She grew up on unhealthy food and fed us junk food growing up (to give you some idea, we each used to have out own box of Ding Dongs each week, I ate Little Debbie snacks all the time, fried foods and taco bell were a normal meal - any wonder why diet is hard for me now?). However, lately it has really be catching up to her. Her body fat is 43% based on my body fat scale (obese) and she just got her cholesterol checked and it is sky high. Her doctor told her to "eat less fat." How unhelpful is that? My sister and I are really worried about her health. My grandmother, her mother, is also very unhealthy and very very sick now, and we don't want to see the same thing happen to my mother.
My mother has previously been on high protein, low carb diets which have made her lose a little weight, but she always gains it back, and more. I also think these diets have given her a horrible picture of what a normal meal is (bacon, sausage, lots of red meat, etc.). Aside from eating unhealthy foods at every meal, she also has a huge problem with portion control. She cleans up her plate at every restaurant, no matter how big it is, when everyone else was stuffed after half a plate. I think part of this was because she was very poor growing up and was told over and over again that she had to clean her plate or would get in trouble.
What I have done so far to try and motivate her is buy her several Leslie Sansome Walking dvds. She said she likes them, but probably does them at most once a week. One is not even out of the wrapper yet. I have gone for walks with her when I am home visiting, but invariably she gets injuried within 2 days of trying to exercise (her back hurts, knees hurt, feet hurt, etc.).
As for diet, I have purchased her a diet book that I like a lot (Daoust's The Formula, which is 40-30-30 eating that seems pretty healthy and moderate). My sister and I told her that we can all do the diet together with her so she can be encouraged and have some support. She didn't seem interested and said she will start it in like month so that she can lose a little weight for a cruise which is 2 months from now. She was not really concerned about doing it for health reasons, though I told her it would be good to do to follow what her doctor said. Her husband, my step-father, is also very unhealthy and overweight, and would NEVER care to go on a diet, which would make it harder to have a lifestyle change.
So I guess my question is, what else can we do? We have given her the tools, but she doesn't seem to want to use them. I can't force her to have motivation, I can't scold my own mother when she eats horribly, and I don't want to make her feel bad by telling her how badly she needs to do this.
Any tips? Was there a "turning point" for anyone out there that made them change their perspective and get serious about their health and fitness? I just don't want her to end up very very ill like her mother because she waited too long to get healthy.
Thanks for any tips.
- Diane
My mother has previously been on high protein, low carb diets which have made her lose a little weight, but she always gains it back, and more. I also think these diets have given her a horrible picture of what a normal meal is (bacon, sausage, lots of red meat, etc.). Aside from eating unhealthy foods at every meal, she also has a huge problem with portion control. She cleans up her plate at every restaurant, no matter how big it is, when everyone else was stuffed after half a plate. I think part of this was because she was very poor growing up and was told over and over again that she had to clean her plate or would get in trouble.
What I have done so far to try and motivate her is buy her several Leslie Sansome Walking dvds. She said she likes them, but probably does them at most once a week. One is not even out of the wrapper yet. I have gone for walks with her when I am home visiting, but invariably she gets injuried within 2 days of trying to exercise (her back hurts, knees hurt, feet hurt, etc.).
As for diet, I have purchased her a diet book that I like a lot (Daoust's The Formula, which is 40-30-30 eating that seems pretty healthy and moderate). My sister and I told her that we can all do the diet together with her so she can be encouraged and have some support. She didn't seem interested and said she will start it in like month so that she can lose a little weight for a cruise which is 2 months from now. She was not really concerned about doing it for health reasons, though I told her it would be good to do to follow what her doctor said. Her husband, my step-father, is also very unhealthy and overweight, and would NEVER care to go on a diet, which would make it harder to have a lifestyle change.
So I guess my question is, what else can we do? We have given her the tools, but she doesn't seem to want to use them. I can't force her to have motivation, I can't scold my own mother when she eats horribly, and I don't want to make her feel bad by telling her how badly she needs to do this.
Any tips? Was there a "turning point" for anyone out there that made them change their perspective and get serious about their health and fitness? I just don't want her to end up very very ill like her mother because she waited too long to get healthy.
Thanks for any tips.
- Diane
