I'm thinking of buying a stepper exercise machine.

The best exercise is one you know you will stick to.

I have no experience of a stepper but I did buy a £200 walking pad off of amazon in January. Last year I got 4000 steps a day, now with the walking pad I make sure I make each day up to at least 8000. It lives in front of the TV and I use it in the evenings. It works for me becuase I have to exercise at home in the evenings becuase I have young children to look after and I don't like to do anything too aerobic before bed.

@RedDoughnut I do all my workouts out in the garden. You only need a patio or something, not much space required. I don't watch videos live, just watch them through before and make a quick note on a post-it of the exercises and timings etc if I can't memorise them.

Wow so many negative and unnecessary replies. Anything that gets you moving more is good in my opinion.

I say go for it, I have a walking pad as I have a desk job and it's scary how little steps I do in a day as working from home.

I will sometimes use it even on the days I do go to the gym if I feel I haven't done enough. Great for when the weather is rubbish and can easily be stored away.

I don't know why everyone is being so down on this bit of kit in particular.

I feel down on this bit of kit as at £40 it's likely to be a piece of junk that will break and end up at the tip within six months.

Buy an 8kg kettlebell for £22 from Decathlon. Look up bodyweight, kettlebell, HIIT, and mobility videos on youtube (e.g. Caroline Girvan, Lebe Stark) and make up your own workouts once you've got the basics under your belt. You can do a million times more in 30 minutes with one kettlebell and your own bodyweight than you ever will with this contraption.

I don't know why everyone is being so down on this bit of kit in particular. If the OP is able to use it while watching TV, and actually uses it because it fits in with her lifestyle, then it's 100x better than any other piece of equipment that she doesn't use, or not buying anything and saying 'go for a walk instead' - when she can't find the time to actually do that, so doesn't!?

Following for inspiration. Also really struggle to fit exercise in. Young children, full time job ( teacher so no chance at lunchtime and work most evenings in order to balance early evening with kids) . Trying to walk to work ( about half an hour) but only manage a couple of times a week due to needing to pick up / drop off kids. YouTube videos are ok, but wonder if would better with a cross trainer or exercise bike

Well done on the weight lose !

DP tried one for a brief period after he'd hurt his back. It was in a separate room at the other side of the house and the noise was loud enough to stop me hearing the TV in front of me. I don't think that your family would appreciate that in the same room as them trying to watch something, even without the possibility of the sounds of you breathing heavily (if you're doing it enough to gain some useful effect from the thing).

Having said that, when I tried it, it didn't seem to be designed with female hip structure in mind, as the position you had to place your feet in to use it put pressure on hips and knees.

Could you use your home's stairs for exercise? Go up and down stairs a certain number of times and increase number of times and your speed as you get fitter. If you don't have time to do a load in one go you could do it in short sessions through the day e.g. every time you go to the loo.

Well done on losing three stones. That's one hell of an achievement.

I bought a cross trainer but after a few goes found that the distance between my feet (pedals) was way too wide. I think it was made for someone with huge hips! In the end I had to get rid of it. Something to bear in mind - if there's a way you can find out stuff like this in advance it would be sensible otherwise building it then returning it is a huge waste of time and effort.

Ignore all the naysayers OP!

I was told the same when I was thinking of getting a cross trainer. Three years in and it's still the best thing ever! I use it often especially in bad weather. I do also do a lot of other exercise but it's so handy to have something upstairs I can just jump on, no travel time. No fuss.

Go for it!

Why can't you do other exercise while they're watching TV?

This forty quid stepper will do nothing to aid your weight loss.

Also re access to the fridge - dont buy crap to keep in there in the first place. And no, before you say you buy it for the kids your family don't need crap either!

Upstairs in your bedroom with your phone, 15 min walk/ march.

Lesley Sansone Walk at Home,loads of videos on YouTube .

There's loads on amazon around that price.

Walking pad

A skipping rope is a good idea.

Can you point me towards a walking pad for £150 please? I've only seen them at £350+! Thanks!

Can you get a cross trainer? I bought one a couple of months ago from Decathlon in the sale, it wasn't cheap but i figured i needed something that will work properly. I use it 5 times a week, once or twice for 10 minutes of high intensity and the other days around 25 minutes at a gentler pace while watching something. I am losing weight, it's slow going as i haven't changed my eating habits (zero willpower)
I find the cross trainer good as it's more of a whole body work out.

You would be better with a walking pad. It would cost another 100 though.

I have an exercise step that I use. I prefer going out running but that isn't always possible so this keeps me doing at least some exercise every day and was cheap.