How to improve my fitness at 71

I lost 20 pounds at the age of 74 and came down to a size 12. I did it with the aid of the Zoe nutrition plan - all the principles are free online if you don't want to pay for a personalised assessment (which I did). I utterly changed the way that I eat so that my diet is now mostly beans and lentils, vegetables and fruit, nuts, seeds and grains. My weight has remained effortlessly steady for 18 months, I never feel hungry, am bouncing with energy and hardly get any problems with my osteoarthritis. I walk every day and drag my shopping trolley home from town, but otherwise don't do any fancy exercise. Truly, I am what I eat.

couchtofitness.com/
Couch to fitness. It’s free though you need to sign up with your email to access the programme. There’s a beginners programme - 9 weeks 30 mins 3x a week for different levels. There’s the option to do at home or meet others in a park.
It’s very effective. three people demonstrate each exercise, one at a different level of difficulty.
When I did it a few years ago if I couldn’t do one exercise to start with for the whole minute I’d just walk it through for a while.

I also like Petra Genco on YouTube on my tele.
I prefer to exercise at home but after a few weeks the motivation can go, mostly because something crops up to break my routine.
Use weights for arms and shoulders. I use 2kg weights but water bottles are fine.
Join a virtual walk or just walk more. And like someone else mentioned swimming. It’s a great total body workout and you gradually build up your stamina. Count the number of lengths you can swim in 30 mins then build up to a greater number.
Now I just need to do all this routinely lol

Tilly8 I’m in exactly the same boat as you and started yesterday. Check in with me if you like and if you think it may help motivate you.

My chiropractor says that the best exercise is what you enjoy, as you are more likely to keep it going. I enjoy the gym and so do keep going, but I find it helps to listen to podcasts, music or audio books which I get on line from the library. My gym has many older members as well as the trendy Wendys but I've never felt out of place. We really do get all shapes and sizes and people are quite friendly. There is a reduced fee for seniors too which is useful. Walking is a really good exercise too and you just need some comfy shoes.

If you are on instagram (he may be on other platforms too - Facebook, etc) have a look at Justin Augustin. He posts lots of ideas for low impact strength training that is very gentle. It’s all free on Insta but I believe you can also pay for other content on his website but I’ve no idea how it differs from the free stuff.

Suggest you invest in a Fitbit Charge 6. For starters it will give you your fitness level and how to improve on it

Rosemary Conley has a great website with exercise and diet suggestions for older people, plus a weekly newsletter you can sign up to. It's brilliant, give it a try
rosemaryconley.com/?srsltid=AfmBOoqQW3Rj4e9OVeTsjmRYeJrSvjnokIliH4AgvMiG90Yix9Q8D3uc

Walking and reducing carbs works for me

Keepingquiet

“I will happily be your holiday fitness buddy for the next few weeks!”

Sorry keepingquiet! I didn’t see you’d made an offer to be a fitness buddy to Tilly8 before I sent my msg offering the same. No treading on toes intended.

Walking, definitely.

I was left quite weak and wobbly after a nasty dose of pneumonia a couple of years ago (I was then 74) and a dd booked me a session with a local physio.

She gave me various exercises to do - nothing too strenuous or demanding - for e.g. core strength, balance etc.

If you’d like to pm me with your email, I could forward them to you.

Matelda

I lost 20 pounds at the age of 74 and came down to a size 12. I did it with the aid of the Zoe nutrition plan - all the principles are free online if you don't want to pay for a personalised assessment (which I did). I utterly changed the way that I eat so that my diet is now mostly beans and lentils, vegetables and fruit, nuts, seeds and grains. My weight has remained effortlessly steady for 18 months, I never feel hungry, am bouncing with energy and hardly get any problems with my osteoarthritis. I walk every day and drag my shopping trolley home from town, but otherwise don't do any fancy exercise. Truly, I am what I eat.

Totally second what you wrote about the Zoe programme, Matelda, I didn't need to lose much weight but I've lost inches of my hips and thighs and agree about never being hungry and feeling full of energy.

I'm 71 and have regained fitness over several years since a knee injury by walking, swimming and cycling. I used an app called Google Fit which is quite basic but does step counts and I find it helps to see my distance increase.
I was also bought a smartwatch for my birthday. It's a Huawei one that cost about £40, again I love how you can see a measure of how much you are walking, standing and moving plus measure many more exercises and things such as heart rate and sleep.
I was a regular gym goer, using the cross trainer and recumbent bicycle but it's not very well maintained at the moment so I do my own thing.
Classes help with having company and inspiration but do keep going and you'll suddenly notice that a hill that was previously difficult is now easy, that's a great moment!

Because I've had a bad back and sciatica I was referred to a physiotherapist, who in turn sent me to a basic fitness course. I'm afraid that this was a dead loss, I was probably the fittest person there and the exercises were not even remotely energetic, more about mobility I think.
However they have referred me, via the local authority, to a gym where I pay a small subscription and can use all the facilities, take all the classes, and swim. I'm getting going properly tomorrow and hope to be reasonably fit before too long! They offer gym exercise classes and various other things including Pilates.
I have been trying to lose weight without success for a few months, but am aiming for a kg per week which will make a difference in time. I do know people who successfully take the dieting medication but am not keen to do this as I don't know what happens when you stop taking it

I started watching Melissa O’Neill on YouTube and downloaded her free 7 day workout - it is yours to keep. I have been following her exercises for 4weeks and lost inches from bust,waist and hips. Some of the exercises I can’t do but just sought alternatives e.g. chest fly (lying down) in place of push ups. I highly recommend. She does use weights, which I already had, but as others have said use water bottles or tins if you don’t have. I am 69.

I am 69 and have worked with a personal trainer for 3 years on on abs, core strength,, weights and cardio at a small gym. I have really enjoyed it and am very fit and strong now. I also walk for 20 minutes a day..
Pilates and yoga are good for flexibility and strength too.

Im in a similar position - only I needed to lose more stones! I could never contemplate going to a gym or swimming pool so I jointed restless events (https://events.restless.co.uk/) - an online retirement community and focussed on the fitness classes - particularly the pilates with a great physio called Helen Tudge.
I started with the seated class and progressed to the standing class and then the pilates with handweights class( now changed to a strengthen and stretch class).
Although the classes are payable you can pay a yearly subscription and then do as many classes/online events as you want. You get sent a link to a recording too if you can't make the actual live class and you can do the classes on repeat over the week between the actual events. I also sampled Tai Chi, Discoaerobics, and a dance class called Move for Life during which I work up a healthy sweat!
Doing an assortment of these 45 min classes on 5 mornings a week, I have lost 2.5 stone in about 6 months -(2 - 3 dress sizes!) but much more importantly I am stronger, fitter, more flexible and have lost my developing stoop!! And that's without giving up cake completely!

I joined my local David Lloyd about a year ago, purely for the pool. It’s not cheap, but I reasoned that shelling out every month would make me go - and it’s worked well so far. I usually manage twice a week, and do 20 lengths per session.

They run Aquacise classes, but they don’t appeal. I once went by mistake when one was on - there was still one free lane for swimming, but TBH the very loud music and the instructor yelling her head off were quite enough to put me off. Evidently very popular though - the pool was full of mostly fat old ladies!! (So I wouldn’t have felt at all out of place 😂)

DL offered me a free session with a personal trainer when I joined, but as I told them - entirely truthfully - I’d run a mile.

The DL is extremely convenient - a short - free! - bus ride away. Our council pool/gym complex has been demolished. We’re supposed to be getting a new one in 5 years but I’m not holding my breath!

Last winter I just seemed to go to pot, eating whatever I fancied and not doing much. I do go walking with a group, only about 3 miles as different fitness in members. That's once a week. I did go swimming but tore a muscle so that's been off and will be for a while. My DIL is a fitness instructor and advised cycling even on a machine and any weight lifting. I have small rubber dumb bellsthat I give a go two ir three times a day. Improve your strength and youll be able fir a lot more intensive exercise if yoh want. Walking is good but not as good as cycling. A reasonable diet, low carb, above ground veg and some fruit. Pears and apples lowest reduce the bread and pasta. Nothing needs to be cut out completely, just even try to reduce amounts.. I have lost 8 lbs since early May.

As well as all the good advice above, I've just started playing tennis with friends ..there's always 3-6 of us..we're not very good & barely get it over the net more than 8 times but it's good fun, bending down a lot to pick the ball up & hand eye co-ordination is also good for your brain ..cheap too and gets you outside!

Walking (I do at least an hour a day.)
Strengthening exercises with small weights - I do 20 mins a day watching a YouTube video. We need to build muscle later in life.

I keep everything I need upstairs - shoes, coats, bags - that means I have to walk up and down many times a day. I got rid of the TV and sofa so that I have to watch things on my computer screen, sitting on the computer chair. It really encourages me to get up every hour or so because its uncomfortable. No snacking between meals ever and last meal at 6pm so that I get 12 to 14 hours of 'fasting' before I eat again at breakfast. I always have a small salad as a starter before the main meal. Fills me up so I eat less. Then the meal is focused on protein and veggies with minimal carbs. No bread in the house (my big weakness) and use hummus instead of butter or marg as a spread. Only use the car once a week for the grocery shop and walk or cycle the rest of the time. None of this is formal exercise, but it all helps and once you have formed the habits becomes second nature.

Try a low impact exercise class or exercise for mobility class. Not just good for you physically but also socially.
We have some great classes here where I live and there's always social events going on too.

My local authority has a get back to fit programme. An hour a week for 10 weeks. It comes with a free swimming pool pass. I have lost just 3 lb at the half way mark, but feel so much better.

I got a free slimming world prescription from the doc a year ago and a stone down in a year, but they have gentle keep fit videos online and it does make you think about what you are eating even though the recipes are a bit pfaffy

PS I am 73 and did nothing much for 20+years

PPS my local U3A has a walking group full of people like me

Lots of advice and info and to add to it, I’d say take a look at yes2next.com where there are lots of different videos from five mins upwards and they’re done very gently by a lady and her mother in her seventies, You could start on those and add in some walking and a change of diet and see how you go. If all of that is daunting, you may prefer to go to some groups for support but I think you need to tackle it from all angles and in a way that you can sustain otherwise it won’t be effective. So baby steps but regularly…..

Such excellent advice here. I walk and lift weights sometimes and am fairly slim but my problem is sweet stuff. I eat lots of fruit and veg but love cake and chocolate. I’d love to wean myself off them. Does anyone have any advice?

I do more walking now and have noticed the difference. I am asthmatic so hills do tend to make me slow. The most I've walked is 10 kilometres. But that was a one off. 2 to three km a couple of times a.week, could be just walking to the local shops and back, or a walk round the block. Doesn't have to be far, all add to your wellbeing.