Walking is a great exercise! Check out you tube for exercise videos (free!) to find something that could work for you! Good luck!

muimi07, I, also, have to be careful because of my legs (too much surgery and more to come). My physical therapist visits weekly and gives me leg exercises to strengthen them, and my occupational therapist comes weekly, too, and gives me arm exercises to strengthen them. It's really tough when we start, isn't it? I work up a sweat with just 20 reps. I'm supposed to walk the length of the apartment building and take two sets of steps, but sometimes my legs just hurt too much.

To avoid stress on your joints, I strongly recommend a stationary bike. There's nothing better, in my opinion. As soon as I'm stable on my feet, I'm going to go to Salvation Army or Goodwill and find a bicycle I can ride. I used to really enjoy it, and when the weather is nice, it's so fun to ride. I live close to a city garden that is planting fresh flowers now; I saw pictures in the newspaper, and I sure would like to get over there.

Anyway, about 20 years ago, I was morbidly obese; I was 5'11" (gravity has shrunk me; I'm now 5'10") and was 253 pounds. When the doctor told me that, I was shocked and scared; I thought I was going to drop dead any minute, and I was taking care of my mother after my dad died. I did everything he told me, and I lost 73 pounds. Of course, now I'm here because I've gained almost 20 of those pounds back. I got rid of my fat clothes, so I have to lose weight if I want to get dressed. With my recent weight gain came a high A1C. I'm now on insulin and, thanks to that and now MFP, my blood sugar seems to be doing okay. I have to focus all day, every day. This is day 3 for me, and I've lost 7 pounds of water weight so far. I'm anxious to see fat drop off!

You can use your band for leg, arm, and abdominal exercises, as you know. I used to have a couple of those but they got lost in the move (along with quite a bit of other stuff). I'm going to get another exercise band; thanks for reminding me!

Linda

Hi Michelle. I understand your challenges and commend you on increasing your number of walks. But...you cannot out walk a bad diet. For weight loss, concentrate on what you eat. For better health, do what exercise you are able to do. Eat fewer calories than you use. When I started MFP, I could not walk any distance at all so I decided I needed to do it by calorie counting alone and I lost 35 pounds that way. Sometimes I can walk more now so I am happy about that.

muimi07 wrote: »

Hi all,

I have lupus and am morbidly obese (205+ lbs on a 5'2" frame). I've been good about changing my eating habits and now it's time to add some exercise. Any recommendations for things that are good for larger girls that are easy on the joints? For now, I've been doing some band exercises (15 ~ 20 minutes a day) which have been working out okay. I don't have a lot of room and can't afford a gym. Thanks!

Start off walking just a little bit each day. It helps. I have lupus as well it really helps my joints. But remember to start off slow.

If you haven't gotten out much you can add small bursts by doing isometric type exercise during commercial breaks. Your core is extremely important to keep strong. Rubber band is excellent for that. Another is an exercise ball (if you have room) just sitting and balancing during your favorite tv shows will build you up. They come with instructions and a dvd too. Diet is by far the most important thing you can do besides fitness. It seems hard at first but when you realize how devastating illness can be diet starts becoming a lifestyle. This is for you and you are worth the effort. In the event of autoimmune diseases and degenerative diseases slow and steady is really the only way we can do this. I have rheumatoid disease. Between steroids and pain it is hard to imagine ever getting slim again. It is a fight.
Evette

it is chair exersices

i do them when my back doesn't hurt - not today work was too hard.

If you can join a gym with a pool, then swimming laps or taking a water exercise class is best. If you have Medicare, sign up for the Silver Sneakers program. For $15 per month, there is over a dozen gyms in my area, I can go to any of them for that one fee, most of them have pools!
Another good exercise is cycling on a recumbent bike, most gyms will have one of these.

Hot yoga has done wonders for my fibromyalgia

You're more than welcome panda xx

star1407 wrote: »

Hi Ginny. As soon as I'm out of bed and over this flare, I'm going to try these exercises xx

DDP Yoga has an exercise routine for people who are stuck in bed! If you can afford it, you should look into it.