Please can someone tell me how to get fit?

[NannyPlum7]

This really. I don’t know where to start.

I am a hater of exercise. Really wish I liked it, but the truth is I loathe every second of it. I enjoy a walk but that's about it.

I am now approaching 40. I want to lose a stone and be fitter and healthier.

Where can I even begin with this..?

How old are the children would they like to learn taekwondo or something similar maybe it’s something you could all do as a family. The self defence side of a martial arts is beneficial for all of you and the fitness aspect is a winning combination. Just a thought my boys used to love it and they gained many friends.

I could have written your post at the start of the year!
I have made some small changes, the weight is coming off (about 1lb-1.5lbs a week on average) and I’m feeling much fitter. In total I have lost almost 2 stone since the start of January. These are the changes I made:

• Walking every opportunity I get! I got a treadmill for the house (or a walking pad) would do the same. Even if I have 10mins in the morning before school run, I jump on for a brisk walk. Same after dinner in the evening for 20mins. I try and get out for a lunchtime walk each day and then do longer walks when I can. I’m averaging between 10-15k steps per day. I love my walks, I pop my headphones in, listen to happy music and get some thinking time/mental headspace.
• Dropping breakfast and just having a cuppa to get going in the morning (not quite intermittent fasting but reducing morning calories)
• Trying to have a protein heavy lunch (or a Huel drink also keeps me full)
• Eating a normal (healthy ish) dinner
• Reducing snacks (snacking on fruit etc)
• Tracking my calories on nutracheck app. This also links with my Fitbit watch so is able to calculate how many calories I am using up with my walks so how big my calorie deficit would be for the day.
• Cutting out alcohol except for special occasions.

I’m actually really enjoying my new routine and am loving my walks!! Hope some of this is helpful :-) As others have said, find an exercise you love and you’ll want to do it, and if that is walking, that’s fab!

I do weekly pilates classes. Really good for improving muscle tone, balance and flexibility and I also find it helps my mental health.

I completed the couch to 5k programme recently and my aim is to keep running 2 to 3 times a week.

Swimming is also really good and relaxing.

I am not a big fan of the gym as I find it rather boring and too repetitive.

I became a vegetarian in my 40s and I found that it helped me lose weight :).

Walking is lovely but it's not enough if you want to be what most people understand as 'fit'. We need resistance training and some cardio that will actually get your heart rate up,

I've joined a squash club. I'm not fond of exercise, certainly not running, or gyms or exercise classes, but I figured that bashing a ball against walls might be fun, so found a local club that does coaching sessions and went for it.

I have found my 'thing'... so much fun and I come away beetroot red and soaked in sweat and know that I have really had proper exercise! And I seem to have a bit of a knack for it. I'm heading for 60, and while I walk the dog, dig an allotment and have an active job, I can see it's not enough ... bodies need pushing a bit.

Have a go at lots of different things..many sports have taster sessions, until something takes your fancy. Where I live there are ladies netball groups, squash, badminton, all sorts; I bet you can find something where you are,

I go to small group personal training sessions with a strength focus and then do cardio twice a week on my own. I didn’t used to enjoy exercise but quite honestly I wasn’t working hard enough to get the endorphins! It’s never been about weight loss for me but I was worried about fitness over 40. Now I love it and it’s the best thing for my mental health.

Interestingly I was talking to someone else at the training sessions and she said the doesn’t enjoy it but she needs to be fit so she does it. She got the trainer to change from saying “Did you enjoy it?” at the end of the session to “Are you pleased you came?”

So, perhaps don’t spend too long looking for something you really enjoy and go for something you can afford and is convenient and commit to it for 3 months? You might find you love it!

This. I’ve just finished week 6 and now running 25 minutes which is unbelievable, I honestly did not think when I started week 1 that I’d be able to do it, but it just works and without knowing how, you realise that you can keep moving and not keel over.

This is a marvellous idea! So achievable, and kills lots of birds with one stone! Thanks! 😁

Switch your diet around. Eat your main meal at lunchtime, a big bowl of porridge for dinner/ supper and something lighter for breakfast. Find one type of cardio exercise you like and do some weight bearing and stretching exercises in your normal day like having ankle and wrist weights.