I had been away for a while, living in the city when Mom had her stroke. Dad was having a hard time taking care of her so I decided to 
move back to my home town to start helping out as a caregiver.
When I got there I noticed Dad hadn’t lost any weight since I had left. At that time I had been concerned about him and made him promise to take up walking every day to try and drop some of the weight. Now, returning, I see he hasn’t lost anything!
“Dad, I thought you promised you were going to lose some of that weight?”
“Well, I promised I was going to walk every day and watch what I eat, I did that. I feel much better, just haven’t lost any weight.”
I didn’t believe him. If he was really exercising and eating right he must lose weight, right? He needed to lose that weight or he was going to develop heart disease! Right?
Wrong.
Being overweight but healthy
After some research online I found out seniors who maintain a healthy activity level but do not drop any pounds can still reduce their risk of heart attack and stroke. According to research published in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association there is practically no connection between body fat percentage/body weight and risk of death.
As long as a reasonable amount of physical activity is maintained seniors have little to worry about.
The study focused on senior males but it has been indicated that the results would most likely apply to women as well.
Further study is needed to see whether this would apply to severely obese people as well.
How to help
If you are worried about your aging loved ones physical health but cannot be there regularly to walk with them or help prepare healthy meals, consider hiring a home health care professional. Home care professionals can provide anything from 24/7 care and companionship to weekly check-ins.
For more information on how to reduce your risks of heart disease visit the American Heart Association’s website at www.heart.org.
We hope this was helpful. If you have any questions or if you know of a senior that could benefit from our vast array of home care services in San Antonio, please call us at 877.890.8394 or email us. We accept most long term care insurance as payment and have a full-time staff supervising quality-trained home care personnel covering the San Antonio, Texas area.
