My mom is 50+ and is trying to start an exercise program to lose weight. She wants to do it at home on her own time (dvd's or the such) because she cannot afford a gym membership. I have encouraged her to use some of my aerobic dvd's (denise austin) and she said they are too much for someone starting out overweight and older. She has no access to the internet so I thought I would post here to see what others are doing.

Do you have any advice for someone who is 200+ lbs that is starting out and older? She is convinced that my dvd's are for 20 something's that are already in shape.

Walk Away The Pounds is pretty gentle and low impact in the beginning. She has higher mileage DVDs, 4 and 5 miles, but the 1 mile DVDs usually take about 15 minutes. The 2 mile DVDs are about 30 minutes, and so on, and so on...

I forgot to mention...her website is walkathome.com

I atarted with the walkaway the pounds and now my mom does it as well. She started with the 1 mile and now doing the 3 miles. Also, a gentle yoga or stretching video would help as well. My mom is 69 and she likes them.

Although it will involve a bigger investment than a DVD I can highly recommend Wii Fit as a good starting point for someone who has not done much exercise. It won't make an athlete out of a couch potato but it will get your mum moving and building her balance, flexibility and stamina.

Kitty

Print out the couch 2 5k program, maybe, and buy her an mp3 player/radio as a present?

I think the Wii, as a gaming console, might be a no go. My 50 year old Mom wouldn't - but she actually lost a solid 20 pounds by starting work as a gardener during the summer at a golf course. Lots of walking and packing healthy lunches.

Richard Simmon Videos/DVD's would probably work for her. I have used some of his videos in the past. She can check some out of the library and see if she likes them. There are also some Weight Watcher videos but I haven't tried them. But just do what she can do and start out slow. Another exercise idea is a mini trampoline. But start out a few mintues and work your way up to more time.

Leslie Sansone's walking dvds are probably you're best bet for at home walking.

Can she walk outside?? at the mall? at a community center, etc...?

Good for you for trying to help her

My mom just turned 60. She walks on her treadmill 3 or 4 times each week, but I just convinced her to try the first level of Power 90 Sculpt which is the strength circuit with my resistance band as I've just completed 4 weeks of the program and will be switching to The Firm this week.

Mom has osteoporosis and though she's pretty small, she's somewhat flabby and I'm hoping this makes her feel a bit more comfortable in her skin.