Hello and Welcome,
First, congratulations on keeping yourself as healthy as you have until 89! Looking forward, let us gain a new perspective of your situation. You are active
despite the knee replacements and
heart attack. The BMI should be higher for those in the older age range as studies have found that to be a little
overweight as one ages leads to lower death rates. So, you are currently in the
obese range at over 30, but you do not have as much to lose as you originally had me think when you said you were grossly overweight.
Moving forward, research on clinical subjects has shown marvelous results with the supplement resveratrol at 150 mg/day in respect to
weight loss and cardiovascular protection. Please discuss with doctor, who probably hasn't heard of it. However he can research it and locate the clinical studies. Also resveratrol made from grapes is far superior to that made of knotweed. Stay away for all over the counter weight loss supplements due to your heart.
The calculations say that - without activity- your
basal metabolic rate is about 1400 which is what you would burn staying in bed all day. Since you have heart problems, the type of meal plan to follow would be the
DASH diet, which is available online. Focus on restriction of
saturated fat and replace with canola oil and virgin olive oil. Eliminate all added sugars as they are bad for your heart and are empty calories. Think...no juice with added sugar. Limit serving size to 4 oz /day and focus on two fresh fruit per day rather than juice.
You probably will not lose much weight at a calorie level above 1200 no matter what my calculations say - from the voice of experience. Train or retrain yourself in eyeballing serving sizes as that is the way these extra calories sneak on in.
There are programs you can watch to use as a structured exercise program that is compatible with your limitations.Most are some version of "Sit Fit" and contain cardio and strength training that can be done from a seated position.
You may always reach me by going to Healthcare Magics portal at http://www.bit.ly/askkathyshattler.
Sincerely, Kathryn Shattler, MS,RDN