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Weight loss chat

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Exercise ideas for someone who weighs 26 stone to do in the house?

10 replies

AppleJuiceAvid · 22/03/2026 20:42

Any exercise recommendations for a woman who currently weighs 26 stone? They wanted to buy a walking pad, but can't find one with a high enough weight limit. They are agoraphobic and feel too anxious and self-conscious about their size to go to a gym.

OP posts:
Littletreefrog · 22/03/2026 20:44

I would start by looking at seated exercises there will be loads of videos to follow on YouTube.

evilharpy · 22/03/2026 20:44

Get Fit With Rick, great walking workouts on youtube. If they like it there is also an app with more choice and no ads.

Changingplace · 22/03/2026 20:46

There are lots of free online exercise routines on YouTube, maybe some online beginners yoga?

Or an online weights program? You can start with whatever weights feel comfortable or actually start following the movement without using weights at all.

MakingPlans2025 · 22/03/2026 20:48

Walking on the spot. There used to be some great Team RH videos on YouTube for e.g. 3000 steps, 5000 steps. Or just march on the spot while watching tv.

cityanalyst678 · 22/03/2026 20:51

I walk round my house before work, just to get a couple of thousand steps in first thing.
As people have said, there are loads of online fitness videos. It doesn’t matter if it’s only a few minutes to start with. Add a minute each week and before you know it they will be in a great routine.

Birdsongisangry · 22/03/2026 21:14

I think seated exercises would be the way to go, unless they're particularly tall I would think most standing exercises would be a lot on the joints. Lots of low impact exercise videos on YouTube. Walking up and down stairs would be good if they're mobile enough.

Lemonthyme · 23/03/2026 07:50

Sorry to edit the post, I accidentally pressed "send" too early.

Fitness Blender is great. You can search by type of exercise, no equipment needed.

Fitness Blender

As you get more experienced, you might want to introduce some weights but could start out with some water bottles.

Some of their work outs you have to pay for but they have about 600+ which are free and I've never paid for any of them. There's a wide range of types of workout including some "starter" and low impact type of things which might be a good starting point.

Apart from that, just trying to increase the step count might work.

snowibunni · 23/03/2026 08:09

Adapted (seated) Ti Chi?

Standing up and sitting back down more frequently.

I think unless they are quite fit already it's a big ask to start walking loads, even if using a pad.

Have they a smart watch so they can see what their baseline steps are? No good aiming to do 10k steps if there base line is 1000. Much better to aim to do 10% more each week.

loveyouradvice · 27/03/2026 14:13

Lots you can do at home... I've frequently been housebound

Two questions - Do u know what their motivation is? Do u know what they enjoy?

When I've low capacity, I do some simple dance-like exercises when just walking round hte house (and I literally mean waving my arms around and swaying)... I adore dance...

And I wear a pedometer... it can be so motivation seeing how many more steps I do each day - and yes I keep a record so I can see it increasing. It might be as simple as going from 1,000 a day to 1,500 in the first week... just in gentle 2-3 min chunks, walking round the kitchen when I go to boil the kettle etc

And yes, when I get fitter, I love walking on the spot when watching telly... you sort of don't notice it....

CarelessWimper · 29/03/2026 19:47

I would agree with Get Fit With Rick on YouTube. There are varying lengths from 5 minutes to over an hour with great music options. He is very big on not worrying if you mess up the steps and very positive.

He has some speed ones and some abs and salsa ones which are a bit more challenging.

I would also think about getting some dumbbells and trying some seated exercises

Fit On is a great free app with a wide variety of workouts

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