knackered knees, what excercises can I do to lose weight

[susue]

Both my knees have been very painful for over a year now so a visit to the GP led to an x-ray and off to the consultant. I have been told that the cartilage in both knees has worn away. I am only 44 and need to lose some weight to lower my blood pressure but obviously can't walk far, certainly can't jog, unfortunately can't afford to go swimming. I need some good excercises that I can do at home for my waist up I suppose!! LOL!! Hope someone has some ideas for me

sorry to hear this....I would recommend yoga....if you go on www.youtube.com and look up nerissa fields she has a range of clips of yoga exercises,performed by teenagers up to 88 year olds. there are plenty of seated exercsises along with, standing and sitting on the floor. you could start doing the seated ones. i could only manage seated ones in september 09 and have built up to being able to do an hour of yoga once a week, exercises in any position. it may take some time to see the benefits but you will tone you and gain the strength to try other yoga exercises, and then maybe progress to other things such as cycling (just bought myself a exercise bike from argos for 30 pounds). I am starting off doing one minutes sessions, and have built up to 10 minutes. There are also exercise dvds you can buy..I wonder if you could look at your local library to see if you can rent one.

Sorry Swimming is out of the question. at my local council pool there is a womens only session once a week which costs 1.80.

also have you taken any cod liver oil tablets, and importantly glucosamine tablets. Taking these religiously helped my knees enormously with pretty quick results.

hope this helps.

I really recommend swimming, I also have bad knees as does DH and its the one type of exercise we can both manage easily and its great for keeping in trim and healthy.

You say you can't afford it but mnay councils are offering reduced rates for swimming or "go for less" cards so you can exercise for lower rates.

Worh looking into, perhaps check at library or on local council website.

exercise alone won't shift weight, particularly if you're not able to do really vigourous aerobic exercise

I'm afraid you're going to have to eat less in order to lose weight - which will definitely benefit your joints as well as your blood pressure

and swimming would be my best bet to start off with - although not breaststroke

if you're on benefits you may well find that you can get v cheap or even free swimming - the other thing to ask is if your GP can prescribe exercise - our local leisure centres have a scheme whereby GPs can send people there for a certain number of free sessions - worth looking into

Thanks for all the replies. I am following a diet from the practice nurse and am losing weight at a steady pace which is brill but also feel I want to do more to help it along a bit quicker. I will contact our local pool and the library and see what they have to offer. I have another appt next Wednesday with the nurse so I'll have a chat to her too. I've never done yoga before, I always thought people were very agile and didn't think I'd be able to do it. I'll look on you tube now, thanks all