Tips to start exercising at 50?

[CountUpTo3]

Any good motivational fitness apps, where you get little stars for completing things, or tips for turning exercise into a habit?

I'm in a real mess. Turning 50 this year, last five years have been really stressful at home/work and I haven't been paying attention to myself at all. Now I'm back up to BMI 29, with arthritic hips/knees, pre-diabetic with high cholesterol and high blood pressure. Get out of breath walking up hill. Rubbish sleep as being fat makes me snore and I wake myself up. Feel very ashamed.

I know I need to get over myself and start fasting again, and do some exercise, but just thinking about it makes me want to cry. I really, really hate sport/exercise: it makes my joints hurt and I've always been really bad at it. I've forced myself to do stuff over the years (Couch to 5k, gym classes, rowing, cycling, walking, swimming, pilates), but have never found anything I enjoy. Anything competitive totally turns me off (so rowing didn't go well!). I damaged my elbow doing yoga during lockdown and have just got myself into a huge funk about everything. Literally crying rn, so maybe menopause mood swings not as sorted as I thought.

Haven't ever really got that 'endorphin high' - instead, exercise makes me feel rubbish while I'm forcing myself to do it, then really achy and depressed afterwards.

I really need help with my motivation. Don't have many local friends and my job is pretty full-on, so not much time in the week. I'm a really indoor person but super-social. Don't drink or eat meat. Will happily walk to the shops or to get the train, but feel like just 'going for a walk' is a horrible waste of life. Feel totally out-of-touch with my body. Anyone been here and got any tips for how to turn themselves around?

I joined the Walk 1000 Miles community on fb. The challenge is over the year. People respond to mini-challenges, which can be finding a tree that looks human; a brew with a view, that kind of thing. Members post pictures of their walks. There’s loads of support on there.

That was three years ago, after hip surgery. I’m now walking 2000 miles a year, and have had a second replacement. I was arthritic too! There are lots of local groups too. It’s more social than punishing.

Good luck!

Really sorry to read this.
If exercise hurts maybe see your doctor before embarking upon further training. Perhaps concentrate more on your nutrition instead. If you like indoor stuff you could try the Wii Fit game, lots of adult hrs of fun there. Can be played with friends (so social) or alone and is gentle exercise too! I can recommend wearing Fitbit. Some of them are relatively inexpensive and have some great motivational functions. I love mine and find it really helpful.
You can do this.
Stay strong & good luck.

After an x-ray showed arthritis in both hips and SI JOINT. I started with an osteopath who's given me specific exercises rather than me rushing into exercises that make things worse

Much the same here but a lot fatter. Working on it.

Go see the doc re meno moods and please don’t be too hard on yourself.

You do not have to fast, you can if you want but there are plenty other ways to loose weight. At least do t till your mood has stabilised.

Start exercise gently. Have you tried weightlifting? I have got quite into that.

Little & often when starting out. Even just 10 min at a time. Walking is very good for you-I listen to podcasts or audiobooks & chill out.

but diet is also really important as well. Keep processed stuff to a minimum & loads of fruit & veg.

I have gone from breathless to fit over the course of a year. I’d recommend flexibility, resistance and cardio training starting low key initially. All these elements are critical for menopausal women to age well.

cardio: get a pedometer app and get your steps up to 7k over 6 months. Throw some swimming in instead if that helps?

resistance: weighted exercise could be at the gym lifting weights or at home.

flexibility: yoga with Adrienne online is great.

Exercise helps arthritis as long as it’s the right exercise

walking is essential for base fitness.

I like Leslie Sansone because you can do it at home or outside. She has paid versions but here is a YouTube. (I am 53) she has 1 mile to 5 mile “walks”. Here is the 1 mile starting one. Also now that I have seen this thread I am going to alternate my 3 mile with the video from @thesonicoscillator who posted above. I checked it out and it’s really good!

I've also heard that Pilates is very good in general @CountUpTo3 - perhaps I've been unlucky though as I've never seemed to have particularly good teachers!

Would you be able to PM me a Peloton code please @Rebel2? I'm nearly over a stinking cold and have decided that the exercise must start again

I started with tai chi on YouTube

Sent

I swim regularly but I often don't want to. I tell myself little lies. I tell myself - you only need to do 20 mins and then when I have done 20mins I tell myself I can finish if I want to but hey how about I do another couple of mins. Before I know it I have done 45 mins. The thing is sometimes I have to stop after 20 mins so that the lie I tell myself is not fully a lie. Mind games.

I also do feel great after a swim so I remind myself of that when I really really don't want to go. In fact this is the main reason for swimming. If you are not getting anything out of exercise I think it will be hard to motivate yourself. It sounds like you have tried a lot of different things too. Perhaps you need something really fun focused e.g. roller skating.

Thank you so much for the link @Rebel2, and I'm so sorry I haven't contacted you before - it's been a tough week with DTS1 (ASD), he's really tired and the meltdowns have left me reeling. I'm hoping to try some Pilates or similar to calm myself down

@CountUpTo3 I hope you've found some motivation and discovered some exercise which suits you?

Hope you enjoy, you might like the yin yoga or the meditation too
I'm going to try one of the new mobility classes this weekend

This sounds very much like me! 50, overweight, prediabetic and dodgy knees/hips, also never really been an exercise queen. But I have managed to lose 30 Ibs this year by making some changes.
Obviously improving my diet but I found what helped me was to make exercise part of my routine. So its habit for me to walk and feed my dogs first thing in the morning but now I added 30 mins exercise on the end before I shower and have breakfast, 5 days a week.
I stick with all low impact stuff so 15 mins weight training with dumbells 3 times and 15 mins beginners pilates/core (YT session) 2 times a week followed by 10 mins cardio on my mini stepper (aiming for 15). I have a vibration plate that I do my weights on and its great if you have arthritis.
Also pedometers are great and a weight/diet tracking app is good too (I use cronometer) just to see how you're doing. I dont think I ever get that exercise high people talk about but I do feel quite smug with myself after Ive done something healthy which tends to cheer me up all day!!LOL

I look like the kind of person that's into yoga and long walks etc.. But what actually worked for me was kettlebell workouts. I sign up to a local woman who does kettlercise videos. She yells about getting bikini really and how good our abs are going to look - I should hate it but it's great! I can do the workout at home and jump straight in the shower - although she does the classes in-person too. Getting stronger is very addictive.

I also swim on rest days - but head-out-of-the-water breaststroke for about a kilometre! It's nice and relaxing but still gets the blood pumping.

I recomment qigong too - it's a great way of getting in touch with your body and realising how amazing and beautiful it is - not your enemy but something to take care of and treat well!

Sorry for the radio silence - I have been reading everything and taking heart!

I'm a wuss about walking and thanks for the suggestion @DParse but as I work from home, it's about seven steps from bed to 'office'. So have pestered friends and enlisted them for (windy/wet!) walks over the last 3 weeks and have averaged 3k steps per day (up from a few hundred so chuffed with this). Have also agreed to a long weekly walk, which we've scheduled @Chocolateydrink so I hope it becomes a habit.

Have dusted off the Wii @PowerPose and enrolled DC into getting it all set up and working again, so hope to start Wii Fit / Just Dance too. On a daily level, I've made time to fit in my long-neglected 'Mommy MOT' physio exercises and have made a colour-in chart (thanks for the nudge @Mi@MistySkiesAreGone), so that it's more annoying to miss a day than to do the physio. I remember that they really made a difference to my 'core' muscles and my confidence, and I'm a lot less shaky than I was 3 weeks ago.

Not sure I can quite manage a trainer to myself but thank you for the encouragement@BIWI and @LadyJuliaGrey - another friend has recommended someone who works with 'women in the prime of life' ie 50+ and I'm going to see if I can get a few of us together for a joint session and see if we can set up something regular if it works out.

I'm also hunting for a local aquagym class as I used to do one regularly, and remember that it was so much faff to get there and get into the water, that I never did it 'half-heartedly' because I felt like I owed myself the effort (like you in the pool @Jewel1968 - what you said really resonated!). As for the YouTube workouts and other ideas, I have noted them all down in case I lose this thread and will refer back, hopefully as I get fitter!

I'd really like to say thank you to everyone for their tips. Without being soppy, it's really heartening to feel like I'm not alone in this!