Very overweight and want to start gentle exercise at home - looking for app/YT suggestions

[icebearforpresident]

The title says it all really. I’m a size 22, weigh over 18 stone and although I’m healthy at the moment I know it’s a fast ticking clock, I want to start making changes to my diet like cutting out alcohol and snacks (I’m a crisp fiend) and doing some gentle exercises at home.

I saw an ad for the Better Me app showing wall Pilates which I quite liked the look of, however when I signed up it was £24 per month after a 7 day free trial. Is there anyone who does similar on YouTube I could try following? It doesn’t have to be Pilates but must be easy exercise for beginners. I like the idea of having a program to follow

Beyond that I work 3 days a week so moving forward I plan to do some walking on my days off. I walk to and from work (not a long walk I admit) and am on my feet at lot there as well. There’s no gym nearby to join and I hate the gym anyway.

I’m realistic, I don’t want to run 10k tomorrow and know that getting to a healthy weight will take time but at the moment want to focus on losing a stone or two and go from there. Any and all suggestions welcome!

Have a look at excercises with resistance bands. Nice gentle way to start. Also I start my stretches in the shower after washing off soap. Muscles nicely warmed up. I touch toes, do side stretches and rotate shoulder joints. Once dry I have a short routine of stretches with resistance bands a physio designed for me. Combined with daily walking and gardening keeps me fit.

I would recommend the following, both of which are perfect for beginners and the unfit:

• Lucy Wyndham Read
• Yoga with Kassandra

Both are very calm and gentle, yet effective.

You really don't have to pay for exercise routines - there is so much free stuff on youtube.

Joanna Soh does some low impact beginner workouts, not necessarily Pilates but just gentle cardio. Blogilates does Pilates and has some nice beginner stuff.

I would do a search for some and watch a few different ones and just go with someone you like.

I'd second Lucy Wyndham-Reid. That's how I got started, she's brilliant. I love her walking tours of various places and often do one at lunchtime (I work alone so am not scaring my colleagues with my huffing and puffing). She mixes walking on the spot, or round your room, with simple body weight exercises to add strength and mobility. She's got hundreds of workouts, a whole lot are 7 minutes or so, so you can string a few together once you're a bit stronger.

I bang on about Hasfit, but I really enjoy their workouts. You can find them on YouTube and do the workouts for free (with ads breaking them up) but I love the app. Membership is around £45 for the entire year and you then get programmes to follow. I'm working my way through the Menopause 90 day programme at the moment. They mix up cardio, strength training, low impact hiit, flexibility and injury prevention in just this programme. There are chair workouts too for the injured and less mobile, which might be a good place to explore at the very beginning.

Another vote for Lucy Wyndham-Reed.

I'm obese and exercising (though not runnkng this time round), and to protect my knees I'm starting the NHS runner's exercises for knees which I've done before.

Just to add a bit of variety there is FitOn which is an app that has lots of free workouts. There is a Premium section but lots of free content. There are all sorts of workouts.

On YouTube I like Yoga with Adriene or Get Fit With Rick (walking workouts) Joe Wicks has lots of free content and not all of it is HIIT

I have a Les Mills subscription which I think is good value for money and goes well with the second hand spin bike I bought.