Help from the NHS?

Caz

Repeat Offender
Hey guys,

Just had a question, thought maybe some of you might be able to help answer! I'd started going to the gym but stopped going when I started CD on SS, just didn't have the energy! Now that I'm on the 1000 plan I figure I've got more energy, so I should try and get to the gym and stuff and get exercising. First of all to start promoting a healthy lifestyle for maintenance and beyond. Secondly, to help shift the pounds still. And thirdly, to try and prevent some of this sagging and loose sin from appearing!

My problem is, over the summer there's no way I can afford to do the gym. It's about £30 a month, or there's a PAYG scheme, but that's still £3 a go, and I want to try and go 3 times a week. But like I said, I just can't afford that over the summer unless I find a job, which I'm hoping to soon enough! After the summer or once I got a job, I would just pay for myself.

I heard that sometimes the NHS will pay for or subsidise gym membership. I was wondering if anyone had any experience of this? Is it even true? I suppose I just need to talk to my doctor about it, right? Any advice and experience would be greatly appreciated!

xx
 
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Also, is it possible to speak to the nurse about it rather than the doctor would you think? The nurse at my surgery is lovely, I like her. There are two doctors, one is great, but a guy, and not sure I'd feel comfortable talking to him about that. The other, a woman, can be really hit and miss to be honest, and often isn't the most helpful!
 
Hi Caroline I have not heard about the NHS doing this but does not mean that they don't. I recently cancelled my gym membership as could not really afford it and I brought Davina McCalls workout DVD 2 disc boxset for £20 and find this a really good work out so could always be another option for you if you are able to do it at home. XX
 
Hi Caroline, my NHS Trust offers this and does free WW/SW or RC for 12 weeks as well.

Check with your doctor, you get 12 weeks at specified gyms, for example ours is our local leisure centre. If you lose 5% of your body weight and they can see you are making an effort to lose the lbs, they can extend for another 12 weeks.

There is also something called exersize referall if you are on a low income or have depression as you feel overweight, a friend has this for 6 months at a time and she pays only £1.25 for every thing, ie swimming £1.25..........whereas I pay £3.90 ! You can also add a friend on this one so they pay £1.25 so you have an exersize buddy!
 
I have an exercise DVD, but to be honest they don't really work for me! I have to go somewhere away from my normal setting and get into the right, this is exercise time mindset. The other problem is that at the moment we don't really have a living room, it's been taken over by my sister who has had to move back in for a couple of months! There's no room in there for that with all her stuff, the sofa is now permanently a bed, and we just don't bother to use the room and basically let her have it as her bedroom until she moves in a couple of months.

I actually do quite enjoy the gym when I go and will be in there for a good hour and a half doing a mixture of cardio and resistance. I really want to get back into swimming again, but my pool charge £4.80 for a swimming session!!! Which is madness. I think it's because the pool is outdoors and is only open for 4/5 months of the year.

I think I'm going to speak to my nurse about it. While part of me doesn't want to burden the NHS, I do feel like actually if I'm really putting in the effort, if they can and will help, maybe I should let them. I'm spending a fair bit doing this diet, and it's working, and I'm putting in the effort. While I'm a student without a job, I just can't afford the gym.

I think I'll definitely speak to my nurse about it and see what she says. The 12 week thing or the exercise referral both sound good. I don't mind having to pay something towards it, I just can't afford the full cost! I'm overweight, have asthma and an underactive thyroid, my dad has diabetes of the genetic kind, and my grandfather died of a heart attack or some kind of heart condition. So I really do need to lose weight! And exercise should help with my asthma and hypothyroidism anyway.
 
I did this with my nurse, and it is usually free and you can go for weekly/monthly weigh in depending on preference and it promotes healthy eating. She told me about the gym subsidisation scheme, and from memory I think it might have been called PALS!!! It did involve heavily subsidised gym membership but was only applicable in certain gyms. Hope this helps.
 
It's all down to what your local Primary Care Trust have allocated to the pot for obesity. Your practice nurse should be able to tell you what's available in your area. Good luck!
 
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