I am currently weighing in at 290lbs. and I am looking to find some good exercises. My mother in law has a gazelle so I got that out and started using it yesterday. Today when I got on I turned on some tunes and went to town. 15 minutes flew by and I didn't even notice. Is this a good way for me to exercise? I was bouncing and bending so it was more of a jog it seemed like than a walk.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

when i first started at 305, the first month or so all i did was walk and do some very light strength training exercises. I slowly added more intense work outs and weights after that. I think you are doing great. Just do what you feel comfortable with and dont get ahead of yourself. You dont want to burn out too quickly. The longer you exercise the better, worry about increasing the intensity as time goes by. good luck

The gazelle is great! I believe it is not as hard on your knees as jogging but it gives you a good workout. 15 min is really an impressive time for your first go. I think I started with 5 minutes anf built from there. Stick with it and you will see results.

awesome, thanks! i was worried because i saw someone say on here that they hurt themselves by doing too much at first, but i felt fine doing it and wanted to go another 15 but was worried since i had read that. i'll keep it up!

As long as your comfortable and your body seems to recover okay 15 minutes isn't too much. I was doing 20/30mins when I started but that was only walking and doing WATP videos so it was fairly mild... although those damn "lift the knees" really sucked those first few weeks at over 300.

Elliptical type work like the Gazelle is fairly gentle on the body.

If that is all you can do then it is an excellent way for you to exercise. Kudos to you for doing it and before you know it you will be doing an hour and wondering where that time went.

Just do what you can at the beginning. If you have access to water aerobics or a pool I was able to burn a bunch of calories in that environment. I also did some Richard Simmons workouts (10 minutes the first time, increased by 5 mins every couple of days), because I was not in shape at all. At the beginning, just moving is the best thing you can do.

I started at 345lbs and my knees were hurting sometimes from my weight so jogging (even if I could do it) was out of the question because of the pounding on the pavement.

I joined the YMCA and tried every machine in there to see which one worked best for me and the elliptical works best. No impact on my knees and ankle and burns the most calories for me.

Also I found that brisk walking and being aware of how I was walking ie; walk smoothly not pound the pavement, also worked for me.

Also I hired and worked with a personal fitness trainer (no result because I didn't change my eating habits enough!) for 6 months and she told me that running or power walking on the beach in the loose sand burns MORE calories than any machine. I tried this and it definitely works but the beach is 10 miles a way from me and not feasable to get out there every day.

The elliptical works best for me. When I started 2 months ago I could barely do 30 mins. at #1 resistance lowest height setting. Now I do an hour a day at #8 resistance and #4 height with virtually no impact to my knees or ankles.

I tried an elliptical myself and I'm so incredibly uncoordinated I did terrible on it. It's a wonder I didn't fall off and break my neck!

I found for me, a regular treadmill on a gentle incline, plus some heavy lifting with freeweights, and yoga (and sometimes pilates but that's infrequent) were the things I was best at, at over 300 lbs. I also have done Jillian Michaels's 30 day shred and the cardio kickboxing but I can't do the jumping she wants, so I wasn't getting as much out of it as I could have been.

Basically, just listen to your body and if you are doing too much it will tell you. Best of luck! I need to jump back on the exercise wagon myself.

Ellipticals are great, especially with the heart rate monitor and "estimated calories burned". Since I have recently restructured my workouts to emphasize cardio, I am working on an elliptical machine for 4-hours per week, and I am getting great results.

Can anyone suggest exercises that a person who has a knee problem can do without popping out her knee? When I use the stepper, treadmill or eliptical machine, you can hear my knee grinding. Thanks for the help!

Hehehe, when I saw your mom had a gazelle, the first picture that came to mind was riding around on an antelope. Congrats on the exercise - it's always hard to start, so it's great that you could do 15 minutes without too much of a struggle!

what about swimming?

Swimming would be good. I need to find/join a gym with a pool. Thanks for the suggestion!

I'm 320 and not very active, so I've been doing some yoga! I have the biggest loser weight loss yoga as well as the yoga just my size with meghan garcia! (good for an inflexible person like myself!) Both DVD's and both good for a nice workout! Its not easy, you will set, but its not as intensive as some other things