weight trainng

Exercise for your health, eat at a deficit to lose weight.

Do you see a physiotherapist? Can you get a training program that you can do that will benefit you?

I can't advise about weights and arthritis, but if you are wanting to do a machine routine this (below) may be useful.
It is a 3 x week routine and hits all major body parts.

https://www.bodybuilding.com/content/ultimate-beginners-machine-workout-for-women.html

You may find it worth meeting with a physio therapist to build a programme specific to your needs, or at least running your programme past your PCP for clearance.

Cheers, h.

are you osteo or inflammatory? i don't know if any of this will help - i have rheumatoid arthritis but i'd be misleading you if i pretended it's aggressive or done any real damage yet. i'll give you some thoughts basd on my own experience, but keep in mind that what works for me might be all wrong for you, depending on situations.

i prefer free weights over machines. afaik i don't have any erosion apart from maybe a bit in my hands, but machines make me uncomfortable because they force you into fixed movement patterns and my joints seem to have more trouble with that.

also afaik i haven't had a flare since i started lifting [no, i am NOT saying that there's any correlation - i hadn't had a recognizable flare for a while even before i started]. it's hard to tell because you don't always associate the symptoms of a flare with their cause right away. however, if i did get one i probably wouldn't lift or i'd probably lift very lightly, just because i'm pretty skittish about stressing flared joints. and i also get a major dose of fatigue with a flare so i'm not sure i'd even make it as far as a gym

i personally have been doing 'compound' lifting. that's lifts using a barbell, where more than one major joint at a time is involved. i like compound lifts because your feet are on the floor the entire time. so that means your whole body is involved one way or another in moving the weight. i do NOT think you should just leap up and go start doing deadlifts, because i know nothing about the situation you're in. but i do like compound because of the way you get trained into creating and maintaining stability from the feet up.

strength does help. so there is that, but if you already have erosion you might be in a different situation that requires some different approach than the one that i use.

i'm not a believer in new age and woo, especially when it comes to arthritis management. when i was actively flared up i was taking naproxen and sulfasalazine for it and i was rude to all the people who wanted to tell me about how some family member's dentist's wife 'cured' theirs with some whacked-out 'alternative' thing. but with that said, i do take creatine. it doesn't control or cure the arthritis, but the way it pulls water into your muscles just makes me more comfortable.

you could also try finding a trainer who might be willing to work with you. that can be a challenge, because ime it was really difficult to find someone who would take me seriously once they learned that i had r.a. or alternatively, hard to find someone who was experienced enough to understand r.a. does make me materially different as a client from anyone else. another avenue might be to look for a local arthritis 'society'. personally i loathed their 'welcome to having r.a.' boot camp, but i was in an extremely pissy mood to begin with when i took it.