Advice for exercising at home whilst obese?

YES, this is a huge problem for a lot of people, and a point where it is very easy to get discouraged. Cheers to you for keeping a positive attitude for this!

My best tip is to do what you can, when you can do it. If you can only do a walk around the block, just do that until you can do more. If joints are your trouble, you can look up low impact workouts and try those.

If you want to do squats, lunges, etc, make sure you keep good form and don't let your knee go in front of your ankle. Try to see your feet. That will protect your knees. It might feel weird to stick your butt out but it will be worth it.

Also, don't worry about what your friends are doing. We are all different, and you have to find a workout that works for you in this moment. Someday, with lots of practice, you might be able to keep up with them, but for right now, work with what you've got!

Yoga DVDs might be a good start if you are looking for something easier on the joints that you can do at home. You can also look up body weight exercises or calisthenics.

When it comes to workout DVDs, I'm not afraid to press pause or to just stop for a few seconds and go back into it when the hard part is over. When you are really out of shape, moving at all is better than not moving or not doing it the way they video suggests. Do what you can and work your way up. Yes, you want to be challenged, and no one gets anywhere if they aren't putting effort in, but if you're hurting, you probably put too much effort in or you have problems with form.

You might want to consider seeing a trainer for a session or two if you aren't sure what good form looks like. I don't think you need a gym membership or to see one all the time, but you should know what your body is supposed to look like when you're doing the exercise the right way to avoid injury.

I am going to say that if you're that overweight and out of shape (not judging, just saying) I think you'd do better just to do simple exercise like walking around the neighborhood or a mall or just walking up and down flights of stairs. Things that will get your heart rate up, and just do them in small increments. Twenty minutes or so three or four times a week. Perhaps part of the reason you fell ill was because you pushed your body too hard too quickly. Watch what you're eating and start out slow, take your measurements and you should start to see a change. As you get more fit, you can try more intense activities.

At 5'6 and 240 lbs, I began slowly walking around my neighborhood2-4 times per week. A few months later I began short stints of light jogging. That was 77 lbs ago.

I now do Kickboxing and Zumba classes along with lots more running... real running which I just started. Got 25 lbs more to lose.

It sounds like you have too many options ...IMO. find 2-3 LIGHT activities and rotate between them until you can increase intensity or graduate to harder activities.

when i was 5'5" and 206 I did my elliptical (the very cheapest i could find) and some of 30 ds (i still cant really do level 2 though because i have a back problem and not the best knees in the world lol i do what i can though!) a walk, a bike ride, walking up and down stairs at home, I personally LOVE callanetics. (i just skip one thing on there that is a little rough on the knees) but its a great stretching DVD (the old one not so sure about the new copycat ones.)