Losing weight

It certainly does. I have nursed many respiratory patients (was the sister of a Chest Ward once and managed a Community Respiratory Team) the positive effects of weight loss on breathing are enormous. Well done for trying I'm sure you will feel the benefit very soon- juts keep eating healthily and taking gentle exercise.

rubylady I used to be overweight and found that I got breathless when walking up even gentle hills or climbing stairs. I blamed my asthma and it might have been partly responsible. However over the last four years I have lost over three stones in weight and it has made such a difference. I can walk for miles up and down hills and I now just get a little breathless if I have to climb lots of stairs.

As Teetime said healthy eating and gentle exercise will help. I really believe that walking is one of the best exercises - if you have not walked much before just start off by doing 5 or 10 minutes a day and then gradually increasing as you get fitter.

It also helps if you have support to lose weight - that is one of the things that also helped me. If I can help any further please let me know.

rubylady I would endorse everything Lapwing says especially about getting support.

I too have lost 3 stones in the last 2 years and do not think I could have managed it without the support of a slimming/healthy eating and exercise group.

By joining a local group I met a great group of women, non-judgemental, all in the same boat who have helped to motivate and keep me on track when things got tough. I am also a 100% fitter, do not get breathless on exertion, can walk for miles and have much less joint pain from osteoarthritis. Oh and dare I mention stress incontinence which has virtually disappeared.

Look around for a group in your area or an on-line slimming group.

Good luck

DH has lost 2 stone and his snoring has stopped completely. I lie awake at night trying to hear if he is still breathing, where as before it was like sleeping with an asthmatic warthog. He also gets less breathless when doing things around the house.

At the same time he has started to take more exercise, he got an 'exercise on referral' form from his GP, which gave him three months free membership of our local leisure centre and doing regular exercise has also helped.

Ruby I've lost weight too since retiring and having more time to take exercise and we eat more healthily too.
I've only lost just over a stone but it has made a big difference to how I feel generally, and most of the joint pain I was getting in knees and right hip has gone.

Just think about it - if you are carrying round even an extra 10kg, like I was, that's like going round with a large bag of potatoes in each hand, everywhere you go, all the time.
No wonder having excess weight makes people feel breathless and their joints painful.

Go for it - you'll have a new lease of life.