Way to go on inspiring a friend and teaming up with her to help her turn things around. I think one of the best things we can do when we have achieved success (in weight loss or in any part of our lives) is "pay it forward" by sharing our experience, knowledge and support with others.

I think with her medical issues, her first stop should be with her family doctor. She should ask him for a referral to a nutritionist. With her issues, hopefully she could get at least one visit covered by insurance. Being young, nearly 300 lbs, and diabetic, I would just want some input and guidance from a medical professional. I think a nutritionist's input or a diabetes specialist's input would be helpful since a lot of general practice and family practice doctors really don't know that much about nutrition and weight loss.

I would think the next step would be to get a good pair of walking shoes and start hoofing it. You could walk together and then maybe do 15 minutes of hand weights. What is your regular workout? Could she watch you for inspiration or ideas? I'm not sure how diabetes affects her ability to exercise. I know my friend's son has a particularly hard time with swimming -- apparently it is particularly demanding on the body, so it really messes with his blood sugar (he has juvenile diabetes, not obesity-induced).

Maybe this is the start of a career for you -- could you be the next Jillian Michaels?

I have two best girlfriends with whom I do this. Both are significantly heavier than me. One is highly motivated and keeps pace with me completely and even surpasses me, which honestly blows my mind. She's amazing! The other needs a lot of hand holding, which is fine.

Who knows which way your friend may go, but she's going to need very different things at the beginning. With my friend, I just started walking with her to help keep her motivated. Walking with her is not a good work out for me. It's not long enough or fast enough to benefit me much. So I look at it as just more movement in my day, and there's nothing wrong with that!! But it's not my "workout". But I would never tell her that! I tell her things like, "Wow, we walked the same distance in less time today," and stuff like that.

I just try to take her where she is and I try to let her take the lead on weight loss talk. It's hard because I like to talk about it! I'm sure I'm not perfect at it and I probably say stupid things, but I try.

Mostly I'm there as a listener and a motivator and I share what I know WHEN ASKED. She's got to find what works for her on her own terms, which is hard for me. I'm a "fixer" by nature.

I don't have too much to add, but I wanted to say how great it is that you are taking her under her wing. It is very kind of you, and hopefully you can keep her motivated enough to lose the weight.

Other than that, I agree with the other posters. Start out walking with her. Don't worry if it's not a good workout for you, you can always add in a workout of your own later.

Of course, the big thing is food. She is going to need you to help her stop eating junk and start on the healthy path.

You look GREAT by the way!

i agree with the others that seeing a doctor and also starting with walking would be great.

but i just wanted to say that that is so great that you have inspired her and that she talked with you about it. congrats on your hard work to get where you are, and it must be rewarding that someone shared with you that your efforts had a positive influence. it sounds like the two of you will have a lot of fun together. very cool.

I agree with everyone else in saying that walking is the simplest and easiest thing to start out with. You've been doing this for a while so she's not at the same level as you, so if you start her off doing your workouts she may feel a little overwhelmed.

Congrats on helping another girl take control of her life. She has a great source of inspiration. Keep us posted on both of your progress and have her sign up here on 3FC!

I started out at 330 pounds and my exercise then was walking in place 5-15 minutes a day then after a couple months of that, I graduated to Leslie Sansone WATP series.

Good luck to you both :hug"

Really good of you to help out a friend Sierra, personally I would suggest including high intensity workouts instead of just duration cardio, it gets much faster results.