Exercise: Where to start?

My mom lost a lot of weight by walking and eating right. She has some pretty major medical issues including joint pain and Parkinsons. She started just walking around the kitchen table a few times a day. Then graduated to the treadmill. She never got to more than 15 minutes at a time due to her medical issues, but she did this several times a day and lost over 100 lbs over a few years.

In regards to weights, there should be an intro class that the YMCA can provide at no cost. I know my YMCA gym has it. They will show you how to use the cardio equipment and the weight room machines.

I would work out whenever it's convenient to you. Some prefer mornings and some prefer evenings. I usually run 5x a week in the mornings and lift about 3x a week in the evenings.

Great job with the walking! You can do tons of strength training with resistance bands and dumbbells. I did and it worked wonders for me. Check Goodwill periodically for 8-10 lb dumbells. Availability is sporadic but much cheaper when you find them. You can do quite a bit within that range, esp upper body. 1-3 lb weights wont challenge you for long. I have almost no back & hip pain any longer.
5'7" female
SW 301
cw147

I am working to see if I can come up with some alternatives for you to consider. With an old knee injury, hip/back issues, and current weight, let's looks at what you can do.

1) Resistances bands, can do upper body work, arms, shoulders, core, presses, etc..
2) Light weights 1 - 5 pounds, lat raises, curls, hammer curls, one arms rows, upright rows, tricep extensions, presses, flys etc.

Note: when I started two years ago I had to use soup cans to do any type of lat raise.. LOL

3) Walking can certainly help and is great exercise. You can always increase volume/intensity of your walks and make these challenging.

4) YMCA, see if they have a pre-lifting program or introduction program. You can certainly use any of their low impact machines.

What you really want to do is just use your body weight, learn good form, and modify exercises. My husband had back fusion surgery many moons ago and had limited mobility and now that he has lost weight and gotten stronger, he is not perfect but can do most exercises pain free.. except lunges,, they kill his knees..

I predict that as you lose some weight, you will only get stronger and stronger, your limitations will become less.

Get on YouTube.... I love fitness blender and Rebecca Louise

When I first started adding activity all I could manage was 5 mins walking on the treadmill at 3km, I had very poor mobility and a lot of joint pain. Getting on to or off of the floor would take me at least ten minutes.

But I started where I could and did that 5mins at 3km several times a day, then I steadily increased the duration until eventually 20lb lighter I could manage 30 minutes at a stretch. Then I started C25K, but instead of running I did intervals of faster walking, so the "walk" sections were at the 3km/hr and run were at 4km/hr. Once I completed week 4 I started again, increasing both my walk and run speeds by 0.5km/hr. I also joined a gym and was given a programme that was within my limits but slightly pushed me, no floor work and ball squats rather than the real thing.

As time has gone by I've lost a pretty good amount of weight and become more capable, by pushing myself a tiny bit more each session, I've increased mobility and flexibility to the point where a couple of months ago I was finally was able to get up and down from the floor, not as easily as everyone else in the classes, but I can do it. I can also do bodyweight squats and even barbell squats and have just started C210K, but with actual running. But it's taken almost a year to get to this point, a year of constantly pushing myself a little bit further while making sure I don't push too far.