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My mother is 66 and is approx 5'9" and weighs just over 300 lbs. She is currently being treated for high blood pressure and diabetes. She has recently started having issues with her legs giving out on her due to the stress on her body after all this time. I have tried having talks with her about weight loss and nothing seems to get through. She still is convinced that she can just magically lose weight on a low carb diet and can't seem to understand why I think bacon and scrambled eggs is not an acceptable breakfast. I lived close and was single for a long time up until recently so it wasn't a big deal to come over and help with this and that a couple times a week. But now being engaged and having a toddler running around and a 1st trimester pregnancy to contend with I simply cannot do what I was doing before. And to be honest I should not have been doing that. While I cant live her life for her, I feel like I cant stand by and do nothing either. I understand in the end it's all her decision, what I'm looking for is some advice on things that have been proven effective helping nudge someone onto a healthier path.
Optional Information: Gender: Female Age: 65 Already Tried: Just about everything.
Hello,I'd love to give you some great advice on how to coax your Mother towards a lifestyle change that will almost certainly require weight loss surgery to achieve (being roughly 150lbs), but the reality is that people have to arrive at that decision themselves. Every once in a while I have an older patient come in, saying they don't want to change but are being coaxed by a doctor or family member to undergo weight loss surgery. Invariably those patients do poorly, as their heart was. Ever in the game. I think pushing your mother towards an effective weight loss solution is going to fail and leave all parties frustrated and bitter.Of course, that doesn't mean that you cannot provide supporting evidence and enticements to help her arrive at the decision herself. Give her a concrete reason to improve her health, not just a canned response like "you will be healthier or you will live longer. Tell her that it will be easier for her to enjoy time with her grandchildren when all that extra weight isn't around, about how much more energy she will have, and about how much mor she will be able to do with the increased mobility afforded by significant weight loss. An indirect sympathetic plea like that is much more likely to convince your mom to make a lifestyle change than pointing out how she is eating wrong.If you have follow-up questions, please ask away. I'm not sure if I have given you the answers you seek.Good luck,Dr Dan
Experience: ASMBS Centers of Excellence Bariatric Surgeon