Where to start. Please help

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My head is full of excuses 'you'll never get the weight off', 'you've not got time', 'it won't make a difference' but I'm trying my best to battle it and do more exercise. I know 80% of my issue is food so will work on that but I want to get back into exercise.

Hiit worked really well for me a few years ago. I'm thinking of doing hiit for 20 mins (you tube) and 10-15 mins on my cross trainer 4-5 times a week. I've just bought some free weights but got a set of 1-3kg weights and it seems you tube exercise videos use much heavier weights.

Can anyone guide me? Aiming to tone up, feel healthier and lose a stone. I have an Apple Watch too. Any advice?

How active are you generally? What exercise have you enjoyed in the past (as opposed to what ‘worked‘?

Use the move App with your watch, set a certain amount of exercise minutes per day & a general movement goal.

The App will set you different activity targets each month & give you a 'badge' when you've done it - I find that really motivating!

Hi OP, that all sounds good to me.

I can recommend 'bodyfit by amy' she has so many free videos, some require weights, others are bodyweight.

She is absolutely lovely, not scary. Her line is 'be where you are today'. She gives moderations too.

I've been working out for many years and workout at home and have a little weights collection that I've built up from aldi. The weights I use most at 5kg but 3kg will be fine to get you going.

Good luck!

I did enjoy hiit but I'm now in my 40s and feel like hiit knocks my body up too much. I'm planning on doing a bit of it alongside the cross trainer. I find the cross trainer is a mindless movement and I can only manage 10-15 min without feeling bored.

I tried the weights tonight and was really surprised that no exercise use minutes on my watch moved. It was a full body 20 min work out so maybe I need heavier weights?? I used 2kg. I didn't set it as an exercise on my watch either.

I'm wanting to do this for my future health. Coordination and strength are something a physio said were really important moving into our 40s

@Moredarkchocolateplease thank you x

For me finding the thing I enjoyed totally changed my approach to exercise. I now love it and prioritise it. It's life changing. For me that's lifting. So I'd focus on what you enjoy, and experiment to find that. I would never have thought weights would do this to me.

And to answer your weights question, yes you'd soon need heavier than 2kg but start where you need to start. That's the beauty of weights, you start where you need to then keep building, and be amazed at how your body responds.

I've recently got back into exercising more. I have a 24/7 gym only half a mile away so walk there at 5am for a workout before work and jog home afterwards.

I do 10-15 minutes on the watt bike as a warm up and have just started to incorporate some faster intervals during the final two minutes. then I do 15 minutes of 40 secs on 20 rest of bodyweight stuff eg battle ropes, squats, press ups, deadbugs so one fast, one lower, one upper, one core and repeat trying to do something different each time but I do 2 periods for things like single leg deadlifts!! Then I do 20 minutes on the machines and finish with 10 mins on the arc trainer. its not a perfect routine but its getting me back into enjoying the exercises - I like the lack of need to think about the interval session whilst having the flexibility to change it eg if I'm tired or my legs ache - then I would do more core stuff. I just have a list of exercises written out and choose from those

As time goes on I will incorporate dumbells and kettlebells into my interval exercises and do a more focussed machine/free weight workout such as legs one day, back/shoulders/biceps another and chest/triceps on the third. Just need to sort out my diet/food intake and I will be looking like a mature model in no time!!

I have the RWL app and stream onto my TV. There are hundreds of workouts on there and I do a real mix depending on how I feel. I've consistently done 4-6 workouts a week for nearly 2 years so I'm pretty self motivated now. I also do 5k jogs when the weather is nice. I have lost weight but that was more diet but now I'm consistently moving my body and I've clearly toned up and built muscle I find it harder to gain weight (I think that's the big difference with regular exercise). My motivation wasn't weight loss tho, it was more to get fitter and stronger as I approached menopause age. Plus my mental health is so much better.
Find something you enjoy xx

When you start exercising select the appropriate type of exercise on your watch first in the Workout app. It should then pick up and log what you've done. If you don't start an exercise it's pot luck whether it realises you are exercising or not.

I absolutely love weightlifting

When I started I was 57 and fairly unfit and even I used at least 4kg dumbells. 2kg is nothing.

I'd recommend weightlifting but start off with a PT. Form is important. A PT will give you the confidence to train on your own

Fat loss is driven by diet. And that is diet in the sense of day to day eating not some specific fad. Generally, calorie deficit = fat loss and eat plenty of protein for satiety and avoid muscle loss.

But that doesn't mean exercise isn't important. It is, for cardiovascular health. Best for that is brisk walking. Outside is less boring. 30 mins + a day. Strength training helps you to maintain bone density and (slowly) increase muscle which in turn (slightly) increases your metabolism.

That sounds a lot right. The good news is picking one thing to change at a time and working on only that until it is a habit you don't think about is a step in the right direction

Oh and HIIT is not the magic calorie burner it was made out to be with amazing long lasting effects, nor is it meant to be a high percentage of the total we do.

If you can afford it, I signed up to the body coach app nearly 3 years ago and it's been incredible. Losing weight is mostly about the food and it's a whole exercise/food plan with monthly cycles. I eat more than I did before, exercise less and am fitter/slimmer/feel healthier than pre-children. You start at beginner level and work your way up.