"Workout for whales" needed or 15 minutes of something?

Lady_Magenta

I am heavily overweight (325 lbs) but down 23 lbs from where I started not even two months ago.

Someone asked me if I work out today at a different thread. I know I need to but where do I start and is what I have planned even realistic? When I call it "Workout for whales" I don't mean it disrespectful and I don't try to be funny. But at my age (60), with my weight, laying down on a yoga mat is not in the cards (yet). There are some health issues and a bit of pain as well.

My joints are aching and I am huffing and puffing like a locomotive, but less than just two months ago. My doctor wants me to start slowly and to be honest, I have done a lot of research in the last weeks. I bought a pedaling machine because I saw it on TV and it made sense. One of these impulse buys turned out to be not too bad. I can pedal manually or let the machine do it for me, which I dislike because it shows my limitations. I ordered a small, affordable set of dumbbells (not too heavy) and have looked into chair yoga. That's about it for now. Just walking up and down the stairs 10 times, or going 10 times to the end of the backyard and back would be such an accomplishment.

I need to relearn how to walk longer distances. The combination of age, weight, health, and pain has been hindering me in the past, and of course my laziness. I thought I start with 15 min a day doing something out of the ordinary that feels like exercise -even though it might be laughable to many.

How do I log just 15 minutes of something?

Is there anything else that I could do that would slowly help me to work with my limitations toward being more active?

Is it silly that I wish to walk for 1/2 a mile without having to stop or sit down?

p8m6bwghh9

Congrats on the 23lb loss🙂
I have never been an exercise person but
http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1
Has good info
Just try to move every day because every little bit helps. No that is not a silly wish.

cmriverside

Congrats on deciding to take back your life from food.

Yes! Everything you're doing is fantastic! Any movement at all other than sitting is great. I found that exercise builds on itself. The more I do, the easier it becomes and that happens quite quickly. The body is really an amazingly adaptive and miraculous machine if it's worked and fed properly. I'm 70 and I'm active every day but I had to work up to that when I was 80 pounds over weight. Now I've been at a healthy weight for 17 years. Keep doing what you can do.

Focus on logging food, too. That's where you're going to get the most benefit from this site.

TracyL963

Google Walk at Home on youtube. Many videos on-line with low impact walk aerobics. No choreography type work outs for beginners (or people that just hate choreography).

Also look for plus sized yoga. Taking care of flexibility will help you stay active.

Corina1143

DDP yoga? I've never done it, but heard good things.
You want to walk to the end of the backyard and back 10 times? Start with 1/2'way one time, build on that. You can do lots of arm exercises with light weights (or none) while sitting.
Good luck!
Congratulations on your success in losing the first 23!

Adventurista

Exercise is so helpful for the body beyond weightloss, and it is amazing sometimes how much better we can begin to feel after a few weeks of consistent movement and strengthening.

It is important to protect the body and joints, and not to push into injury.

Do you have access to a pool and water exercise classes - easy on the joints and surprisingly helpful with improving flexibility and range of motion. Often with music, so kind of fun.

There is a huge amount of seated exercise videos online for free that range from cardio to strength training, with all sorts of tools like handweights, balls, towels, bands... from easy for range of motion, flexibilty, warm-up, cool-down... from a short few minutes to longer workouts.

You can start with 1 or 2 mins for 1 or 2 or more times a day just walking or doing something... and build up. It does not have to be long workouts or difficult or painful..

I like to sample the videos and classes for ideas on what to do and after awhile, i could do my own workouts ok, but I feel like I get better rounded balance and pacing and variety when i follow someone online or in classes.

The important thing i think is just start. Don't wait for later - movement is something that can be fun and will help you feel better sooner.

Search net for chair yoga by Sherry Zak. She has many calm, seated 5 min, positive little things with seniors, and either you will feel right with it or go hey, maybe something a little faster... it's so worth it

Lady_Magenta

Sadly, there is no pool close by, but I looked at walking at home and since nobody can see me, I will try out different things and take breaks when I need one.

Thank you so much for all the helpful tips and advice. Also, thank you for not dismissing my request. I know most of you are in much better shape, much younger and hopefully also healthier and not as big as I am.

p8m6bwghh9

I also found some options at a local senior center. Not sure if that is an option for you but there was a wide variety of folks that were very welcoming, motivating and encouraging.

AnnPT77

Lady_Magenta wrote: »

I am heavily overweight (325 lbs) but down 23 lbs from where I started not even two months ago.

Excellent progress: Congratulations!

Someone asked me if I work out today at a different thread. I know I need to but where do I start and is what I have planned even realistic? When I call it "Workout for whales" I don't mean it disrespectful and I don't try to be funny. But at my age (60), with my weight, laying down on a yoga mat is not in the cards (yet). There are some health issues and a bit of pain as well.

My joints are aching and I am huffing and puffing like a locomotive, but less than just two months ago. My doctor wants me to start slowly and to be honest, I have done a lot of research in the last weeks. I bought a pedaling machine because I saw it on TV and it made sense. One of these impulse buys turned out to be not too bad. I can pedal manually or let the machine do it for me, which I dislike because it shows my limitations. I ordered a small, affordable set of dumbbells (not too heavy) and have looked into chair yoga. That's about it for now. Just walking up and down the stairs 10 times, or going 10 times to the end of the backyard and back would be such an accomplishment.

Honestly, that sounds like a good plan. The sweet spot for improving fitness is some combination of things that's just a manageable bit of a challenge, maybe a few minutes of "whew" right afterwards, but energizing rather than exhausting through the rest of the day(s).

Too many people overdo right away, so crash and burn. Gradual, steady progress is the key, IMO. If you have that manageable challenge in the picture, and keep chipping away at improvement, increasing exercise when the current routine gets easy (i.e. not challenging enough) . . . that will create progress. You can increase challenge when necessary by increasing duration, frequency, or intensity; or by changing type of exercise. Mixing exercise types is likely to be more sustainable, so I like that part of your current plan.

I started being routinely active in my late 40s shortly after full-bore cancer treatment. Trust me, I was quite physically depleted at that point! I started with some gentle yoga (community education classes) a couple of times a week, and gradually progressed from there. Over the long haul - like 2-3 years - I utterly surprised myself (and many of my long-term friends) by actually working out 6 days most weeks and even competing as an athlete (not always unsuccessfully). Now, at 68, I'm not competing much, but still active most days of the week, and fitter than average for our demographic.

You can make huge progress, with patience and persistence.

I need to relearn how to walk longer distances. The combination of age, weight, health, and pain has been hindering me in the past, and of course my laziness. I thought I start with 15 min a day doing something out of the ordinary that feels like exercise -even though it might be laughable to many.

How do I log just 15 minutes of something?

You log it as 15 minutes of whatever it was. (No one here will be laughing. We'll be cheering.)

The main point of exercise, IMO, is not weight loss. It's better fitness and health. Sure, it burns a few extra calories, and that's nice. But that's not the biggest payoff. The payoff is in moving becoming increasingly easier and more fun. That's useful in everyday life, and creates a positive spiral of feeling better, doing more, getting fitter, feeling even better, etc.

I was active for a dozen years while staying obese. That didn't make fitness useless: To the contrary, it was a huge quality of life improvement, and improved my heath vs. what it would've been (and had been) without the exercise.

Only at 59-60 did I finally lose to a healthy weight by getting the eating side of the equation under better control. That, too, was a big quality of life improvement: Less joint pain, better mobility, simply feeling better in a variety of subjective ways.

The combination of both, healthy weight plus improved fitness, that was gangbusters.

Go for it. You won't be sorry, I predict. Gradual progress is progress. Overdoing in the short run just increases injury risk, and injuries derail the plan until healing happens. Slow and steady wins the race, for both fitness and weight loss.

Is there anything else that I could do that would slowly help me to work with my limitations toward being more active?

Is it silly that I wish to walk for 1/2 a mile without having to stop or sit down?

It's not remotely silly. Keep increasing your walks by a few feet at a time without resting, as you're able to do so. Stick with it. Good things will happen.

I'm cheering for you to succeed: The results are worth the effort!

trixsterjl31

If all else fails and you can find a pool. Swimming is very low impact on your joints. If you cant do more get in the pool and walk back and forth at chest level for 30 minutes. Walking even slowly at heavy weights and expanding the distance is always a good option. Look into joint supports if you need them. Pro-tip get a cloth that you can put below the brace to avoid chafing. Do zumba for beginners and just do the best you can to follow along. A lot of them on youtue, just keep moving for the 30 minutes. If you are sweating you are working. Just a few thoughts.

Corina1143

Just walking up and down the stairs 10 times, or going 10 times to the end of the backyard and back would be such an accomplishment.

I need to relearn how to walk longer distances. The combination of age, weight, health, and pain has been hindering me in the past, and of course my laziness. I thought I start with 15 min a day doing something out of the ordinary that feels like exercise -even though it might be laughable to many.

How do I log just 15 minutes of something?

Is there anything else that I could do that would slowly help me to work with my limitations toward being more active?

Is it silly that I wish to walk for 1/2 a mile without having to stop or sit down?

1/2 way to first goal. YAHOO!

Retroguy2000

Walking is all you need at first. If you can work up to 10K steps per day that would be great, and as you do more of it, and lose more weight, it will get easier.

You don't need to do it all at once either. It could be 15 mins here, 30 mins there. Listen to some podcast or YT or music while you do it.

A mall is an option, because you can walk around it and rest easily if needed.

A pair of light dumbbells isn't going to do much for you. The better option would be machines in the gym, or you could start with a set of bands for home. I recommend the Bodylastics set, which were $20 on Amazon last time I looked.

cmriverside

At your weight and with 15 minutes of exercise, I wouldn't worry too much about logging it, to be honest.

When there is a lot of weight to be lost, it's easy to lose weight and it's okay if you're not getting things logged perfectly at this point. Close enough is good enough. There are plenty of exercise entries in the database. Pick something and log it and move on. None of us get the exact numbers.

It's also okay at your weight to lose a little faster.

It also gets easier - all of it. Logging, exercise, food choices. One of the great things about weight loss is seeing how good habits and good choices build on themselves and lead to better mood and self esteem.

Don't let perfect be the enemy here. Just do it.