Help with my mother

[xUrban_Nerdx]

My mother has asked me to help her lose weight but I'm not totally sure how to go about it. She doesn't really have the money to join a gym just yet so cardio will have to be outdoors for now. I also have a few dumbells of my own.

Her stats
Age:55
Weight: ~ 180lbs
Height- 5'4
she also has a few problems with her knee so I'm wary of making her do a lot of running.

I reckon I'll be ok with helping her keep her diet in check but I'd like some help with coming up with a cardio and weight training programme. Any ideas/help would so be appreciated. Thanks x

[nakedbabytoes]

Is your mom my mom??
She just asked my help on the very same thing,today! And her stats are nearly identical.

I'm focusing more on straight weight loss to start out, getting her down to a more fit weight so she can do more excersizes. She's willing to do treadmill/walking outside & just bought an elliptical.

I need to figure out her needed maintainence cals, then how much for deficit to achieve gradual weight loss over time. She's used to either doing Weight Watchers(points system) or Slimfast shakes(liquid diets) so quick loss(upwards of 6lbs per week) but quick regain when she goes off them. So she yoyos all the time. My whole life, she's lost & gained more times than I can count!

I want to help her break this cycle. Eat sensibly & count cals in real world senarios, so she can maintain it over time. What would be a good cal count for these ladies to start loosing the lbs?