How to get mom to workout??

L

lis1

Cathlete
Hi everyone,
My mom is 53 and I would like her to start eating better and exercising purely for the health benefits. She's probably 20-30 lbs overweight. She started to work full-time (she's off Wednesdays and weekends) last summer and is still pretty tired when she gets home at 6 that she just makes dinner and rests then goes to bed at 9:30.

Her exercise: She's a nurse so walks a lot at work, which I realize makes your feet tired. She just bought an elliptical trainer and can only do it for about 5 mins. She rarely uses it though so she's not improving.

Her diet: She eats well at work and when she makes dinner at home. But we eat out a lot and she does not make healthy choices (fried meals and Pepsi) and also has buttered popcorn a lot at night.

If you have any tips or similar experiences, I'd love to hear them! Thank You!!
 
Hi,
My mom is 64 and has been overweight her entire life. She does not eat healthy at all and has belonged to TOPS for as long as I can remember. I finally talked her into doing a video, it was a Leslie Sansone one, and she does it every day! I'm thrilled!

I don't think I will ever talk her in to lifting weights which is what she really needs but at least she is doing something besides playing computer games.

Even if your mom walks a lot at work she is probably not keeping her heartrate up for an extended period of time. My mom is a nurses aid and thought she was in good shape but couldn't finish the tape.

Just keep encouraging her to do something she enjoys. It took me about 3 years to convince my mom to do a video and she likes it so she is still doing it.
 
Since I'm the 59 yr old mother, and I exercise, and I am just now getting my daughter to exercise, I'm coming from a different direction. I now use Cathe's tapes, but I started with Kathy Smith's tapes, and also do T-tapp, which is a good isometric program. You may want to suggest videos that have short segments of exercise. I recently took Kathy Smith's Functionally Fit tape out of the library, and it has two short sessions for the lower body that were strenuous but very good, and your mom could work her way up; the instructions are excellent. For weights, Tamilee Webb's I Want Those Arms also is good, there are only 2 sets of 15 minutes and your mom could work with 2-3 pound weights, if she is willing to try.

Leslie's walking tapes are supposed to be excellent, those were a good recommendation.

There is also a series called Quick Fix workouts which have 3 sets of 10 minute workouts. I have seen them on sale at Target, and they have gotten good reviews.

Finally, if you got her one of the books by Miriam Nelson, a researcher at Tuft's University. I think they are called Strong Women something....., and they are for women who haven't exercised. I've given them as gifts to some of my friends. At your mom's age, she needs to be thinking about osteoporosis and flexibility; these books provide exercises and information that would be in line with her nursing background. You can probably find them at any library, and I believe they may also be out in paperback. If you find them, and like them, you can generally get them much cheaper at Half.com or bookfinder.com

Finally, if you could find some easy tapes at the library and preview them, and maybe just do them with her a few times, sort of mother/daughter bonding, as a fun activity, that might help.

Or...you could buy her a dog (just kidding)

Hope this helps.

Susan
 
My mom is about the same age. She has an e-track she uses. In the beginning she could only do a few min. She would do a few mins. several different times a day or take a break and do a few more min. until she worked up to longer and longer times. Also, it's probably mentally easier in the beginning to tackle small chunks of time. She also uses Denise Austin tapes because they are at a speed she can do. I've lent her other tapes. She doesn't like Kathy Smith. She did like the Firm Basic with Traci Long, Karen Voight's Streamline Fitness and Reebok's The Step w/Gin Miller. There are others, but I can't remember now. My mom does not want to workout an hour a day (unless it's broken up into 30 min. in the a.m. and 30 min. in the p.m.). She may never work up to Cathe level, but she is content with that. She is more likely to use tapes that are abt. 30 min. She has exercised off and on in her life, but the thing that motivated her the most was finding out she had high blood pressure a few years ago. It's hard to help someone else workout, because in truth they have to be motivated to do it and it's unlikely that you can do that for them. They have to find their own motivation. I hope some of this helps. Maybe there is something in here that you can use. Angela
 
Thanks

Thanks everyone! I appreciate all of your comments and they're all helpful. It's true though that she has to be motivated to want to do it. I'll try one step at a time though. Maybe I can get her a pedometer since I read it's a good motivator and you need to take 10,000 steps daily (which is a lot) for health.
 
My mom is 54 years old (she lives in Germany). As I started out to exercise at home I would tell her on the phone. (She used to downplay it - like exercise videos are not effective) But she was impressed by my arms the next time she came and visit so I showed her some of the videos. By the time she left she had 3, 5, and 8 lbs dumbbells in her suitcase and a copy of the Firm's Upper Body Workout. She does not do the video. She just get's the exercise ideas from it. Then I bought her a copy of "Strong women stay young" and she does the exercises in the book four times a week. Last time I've seen her she had lost all of the flab in her upper arms. Older people do not always like to workout with an exercise video but for my mom the book did the trick. That way she can get the weight lifting in while she is watching TV.
 
First of all, YOU want her to eat better and work out, but does SHE want to? If she has a friend at work who was successful at working out and losing weight, she may be inspired by her.

"When the student is ready, the teacher appears." The magic word is "ready."
 
Ditto what Honeybunch said. If SHE doesn't want to work out and eat better, YOU are not going to convince her. You can't "make" anybody want to do anything. The motivation and desire for change has to be there before you even come into the picture with your suggestions.

I do understand your wanting your mom to be healthy. It really is tough sometimes to understand why "others" don't get this exercise thing the rest of us here seem to have discovered. Again, it's a personal choice, and all the convincing in the world isn't going to make a difference until she makes the decision herself.

Good luck!
Jeanne
 
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