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JARLATHK - do you have any one helping you with the caretaking of your wife? If you don't, you're going to get burn out soon.

I saw in your profile that your wife is 76, I am guessing you're somewhere in that age range. Helping someone with mobility problem will require physical strength. From reading what many posters have said, after a few years of supporting and lifting their loved ones with mobility problem, their backs are shot to he!!. Don't let that happen to you. Good that you're working out and staying fit.

Since you're new to caregiving, do you know of some resources to get help for you and your wife? If not, post your question as a separate post under the Questions section, not Discussion section. More people will see and will respond to you.

A family friend whose mother also had mobility problem found a doctor who did house calls. Some hairdressers some will come to you, just have to pay a little extra for their time and gas. It would save you some trips if you could arrange for house calls.
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Recently because of caregiving and nobody to relieve me I have been doing some exercises with weights at home.Starting Monday I will return to my gym routine.This includes socializing as much as working out.Today my exercise will be taking my wife to get her nails done (both hands and feet).This involves getting her dressed and into a wheelchair.Then from the wheelchair into the car.Reverse all this when we arrive at the nail salon.Repeat all actions when returning home.
I am exhausted just thinking about it.I can't wait for next week when we will have do this all over again for visits to her doctor,dentist and hairdresser.I am now realizing what kept her busy when she was well.
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JARLATHK - Welcome to the forum. So glad you found it. I stumbled upon it by chance almost two years ago and have been a frequent visitor ever since. Most everyone here is a caregiver. One thing 99.99% of us share is the feeling of stress and burn out from caregiving. So, we come here to vent, to ask questions, and to share our experience with one another. Feel free to post your own questions whenever you want. Although many of us here are women, there are a number of men who take care of their wives, too.

It is good and important for your mental health that you find time for yourself, and to exercise is even better.
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I am a new caregiver for my wife and I am just getting things sorted out.
She has mobility problems and is rapidly developing Alzheimer's.
I have now got 10 hours of home care weekly arranged to allow me to go back to my 4 days a week gym workout and a few hours for shopping.
I have only been out of the house once in the past 2 weeks and it gets pretty lonely and confining with nobody to have a sensible conversation with.
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Send - you're so right about the weight fluctuates. I weighed myself just now, after the usual morning routine and before breakfast, I'm down 2 pounds. I was very surprised. I expected it to be the same. But I won't let that temporary weight loss give me permission to over-indulge.

Question for everyone. How many calories do you think you consume each day? Anyone keeps track?

I haven't kept track of my calorie count, but my guess is around 1500.
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Good to know Send. I'll weigh myself the same time each day, early morning before breakfast, so the the results should be consistent. Will report back in a week.
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Some days, just walking the dog is enough!
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Polar bear,
Looked this up on the internet.
Also, I think one may drive themselves nuts weighing daily, but really, I would be doing that too if I owned a scale.

Here it is:
"Daily weight fluctuation is normal. The average adult's weight fluctuates up to 5 or 6 pounds per day. It all comes down to what and when you eat, drink, exercise, and even sleep."

Wishing you all successes in your efforts to exercise.
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It is disappointing to report that I just weighed myself and as suspected I gained 2 pounds since November.

I will renew my effort to exercise daily. I've been doing it on and off only. This week and next, I am going to weigh myself daily in the morning just to remind myself to not over-indulge.

Hope everyone is working out, exercising, keeping fit and eating healthy.
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Way to go CW and Send.
Keep moving. :)

I have been doing a lot of farm work. Been using my vibe platform machine, and still riding my bike. I gave up on exercise video, as I think I do enough exercise.

Send when your done with your heating pad, may I borrow it? :) Wheelchair down hill sounds quite fun.
Actually it is pretty warm tonight, maybe an ice pack would be better.

Cwillie- Be careful of the coffee jitters. I am not a coffee drinker. But once me and DH were driving from our vacation and just wanted to get home so drove straight through. I was trying everything to keep away on my driving shift. So I coffeed up, I was so jittery.
Scary when you realize you can actually sleep with your eyes open.
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JuliaRose,
Your ten days of rest have expired!
Please consider re-committing your morning to getting outside for walking.
Open the door, go out onto the porch in your jammies x 3 days.
Next, get dressed in your athletic shoes, go out in front, get the mail, empty the trash.
Next, walk 1/2 way around the block.
It is much more important to walk than do weights, lifts, crunches, etc.--imo.
Get your heart started.
If you sneak out, when you are not quite ready, or no one notices....Just the adrenaline rush will start your heart pumping, and before you know it, ten minutes later you can come back inside....

Are you ok buddy,???
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After reading the heroic efforts of the exercise buddies, I drove with dH to the local park. (1/4 Mile). Intention was to get out and walk 5 minutes, but walked up a hill halfway, trying to reach a patch of poppies mixed with Lupines, right here, in our local park.
Discovered a Walking Course with logs, instructions, etc. Made dH jump over the logs, I stepped over them. He took pictures of the wildflowers too far for me to reach. Nice, too...people are walking their dogs uphill.

Where is my heating pad?

Next time, maybe I can bring my wheelchair, use it as a walker, and if I go too far, hubs can wheelchair me down the hill....Just kick it honey, see how fast it goes.

P.S. Good for you CWillie!
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I had two cups of coffee this morning so I knew that heading to the coffee shop for another one wasn't a good idea, making my self walk without dangling that carrot was difficult but I did it anyway.
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Yes, Smeshque!
Just putting on the new shoes and new socks. Went to the laundromat as exercise or, the proper term, moving more, eating less.

Did I repeat that enough? Ha ha ha.

Still hoping it works and I do not give up. Changes are hard.
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Snoopy- it is "Hurtle"

https://www.amazon.com/Hurtle-Vibration-Platform-Equipment-HURVBTR30/dp/B01CK31J0Y/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=hurtle+vibration+fitness+machine&qid=1554174502&s=gateway&sr=8-3
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Smeshque, I've heard of those machines. If you don't mind, what's the name of the one you're trying out?
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Has anyone ever tried a vibration fitness machine?A friend of ours has been using one for about 9 months now, he lost about 30 lbs and his aches and pains are less. He was so adamant about me having one, He just thinks they are dandy. So he sent me one, I got it today, I have used it twice already. It is great. You actually feel like you have worked out. It also loosens up the body. Just wondering if anyone has tried one. I am going to use it faithfully and see what the outcome is. Will let ya'll know.


Happy Sweating everyone!
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Send- that was at least 350 calories burned right there. :)
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Shopped last night for some work out clothes, and shoes to go with it.
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Cwillie- Loved that comment. :)You make me smile.
PB- I hope that your arm doesn't give you too much trouble. Great perseverance.
Kbus- Keep up the walking, good job.
Snoopy- You are far from a slug.
Julie- Hope you are doing alright you will get back in the groove.

I have not been able to do my video. But I continue, the cycling at night. When the weather is good, have started walking again with Mom. Lots of physical labor around the place. So getting exercise whether intentional or not,

Keep it up everyone. Doing something is better than nothing. Small goals turn into big ones. A body in motion, tends to stay in motion.
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I've been doing crunches twice a day.
Captain's in the morning, Nestle's in the afternoon 🤣

(sorry, when I read that I couldn't resist posting it here)
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Now that it's spring here in the Midwest, I can finally get back to doing a quick neighborhood walk during the day when mom takes her nap. Feels great to be back outside again. Trying to do a DVD workout in the early morning, but I seem to always cut the video short and give up.
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Calling all online exercise partners...

A new week is here. Are you all still exercising? I am but kinda slacking off.

My left arm has had a pain near the shoulder for a long time, over a year now. I couldn't raise that arm above my head at one point. But I've been working and strengthening it, so now, it is strong enough that I could use it to pull off my t-shirt over my head but not without pain. The joint still hurts. But compared to last year, it has improved 80%. My goal is to get it working 100% by year end.

So this week, I am going to focus more on my left arm. I'm going to use my left arm instead of my right arm to lift and hold things at least 5 times a day. I also read that by doing new things, the brain will develop new neural pathways (or whatever they're called), and that lowers the chance of getting Alzheimer's.

Happy and healthy exercising.
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JuliaRose, sorry you've had trouble to deal with. Best wishes to you.

I've been a slug recently, too! This week my sister is away and it's just me providing care. Late nights, early mornings, cookies, too much coffee. My dad and I got out for a walk by the bay a few days ago but now the rain is back again. BUT I am pausing now. . . .

OK, back to the computer after having done a few girl push-ups!
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JuliaRose - Sorry to hear things at home aren't going well. Hope they will settle down soon.

As far as exercise, pushups are good. Just do what you can when you can.
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*dreaming of hiking trails* That would be so nice...

Hi, everyone. Things are not going very well at home, so I’ve been preoccupied. I’ve done a few pushups, etc, but gotten out of the habit of exercise videos. :(
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In my experience low carb definitely needs to go with higher protein polarbear, and make sure the carbs you do have are higher in fiber.

I made a trek to the coffee shop this morning but that hardly counts as exercise, it will probably be a while until the hiking trails are fit to walk again.
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Well, my goal this week is to cut carbs out of one meal each day. Hasn't worked out too well. I just don't feel full without carbs, then I ended up craving some bread or rice. Last night at dinner, I cut 1/2 of the carbs out of the meal and replace with more protein. And I did the same for lunch today, cut out 1/2 the carbs I normally consume. I think I can do that. But no carbs at all just doesn't leave me feeling satisfied.

How's everyone doing with your exercise/fitness goal for the week/day?
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OK. I'm up and feel like having breakfast. But I'm going to exercise first... gotta stay disciplined... : )
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PB- Don't feel bad, I believe winter is an enemy for weight loss, because naturally our bodies crave more food, especially carbs, because of the cold. It tries to protect us. :)
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