Okay, true confession.... so I am a born and bred couch potato. Have hated gyms all my life. I'm the kid who was always chosen last for every team sport. I don't have any fast-twitch muscles, am terminally clumsy, and even as a skinny child would get a stitch in my side if I tried to run or jog more than about 100 feet. I learned at an early age that I could hide a paperback under my gym bloomers and sneak off as soon as roll call was taken and hide under the bleachers or behind a bush and read thru gym class without any of my gym coaches ever catching on. LOL!

Now at the age of 60, I know for a fact that I am NEVER going to be an exercise fanatic. I am never going to get into lifting weights or doing cardio work-outs or anything like that. I would rather shoot myself than commit to lifting weights or going jogging. If a bear is chasing me, maybe I will run...or maybe I would just let him eat me as the lesser of two evils.

DH and I do walk about an hour (3 miles) 4 to 5 times per week but except for doing occasional fun things like going out dancing, I know myself well enough to know by now that those hour-long walks are going to be IT for me as far as a formal exercise program.

However, I fell into a low-carb WOE 10 months ago and have dropped about 65 pounds (from 265 down to 200). I am looking and feeling a whole lot better. Plus my ankles and knees no longer hurt all the time. I hope to lose another 45 to 50 pounds but my rate of weight loss has definitely slowed down. I am hoping to rev up the weight loss while not losing muscle mass.

To that end, I have been wondering about getting some ankle weights and a weighted vest to wear while walking. My goal is not necessarily to gain muscle mass, just to keep the muscles I already have.

I have read that wearing weights while exercising is generally NOT a good idea because they can lead to injuries due to the body not being used to carrying that additional weight. But, since my body IS already used to carrying more weight than I currently have, I'm wondering if it would be safe for me to do.

What I'm thinking is that I would start with very small weights - maybe 1 to 2 pounds around each ankle, a half pound on each wrist, and 10 pounds in the body vest. I know I can carry 15 pounds without noticing it. Then, as I lose additional weight, I would add a corresponding amount to the weights I carry so my muscles continue to have to carry around about 215 pounds when I go walking. So, if/when I get down to my goal weight of 150 pounds, I would be carrying 65 or so pounds of weights with me while I walk - distributed to approximate the locations of the lost fat. That way my muscles would continue to have to work about as hard as they do now (and a whole lot less hard than they did when I was 265 pounds.)

Does this sound like a reasonably safe plan for increasing my level of exercise?

A weight vest (or backpack with stuff in it) would be a good idea, since you used to wear a 65-lb "weight vest". Or you could choose walking routes with hills. But I would not use ankle weights for walking - they will alter your gait and could set you up for injury. Ankle weights can be used for more controlled exercises at home.

If you aren't worried about looking goofy, you could exercise your arms by walking with nordic poles - it gives a full body workout and using your arms makes your legs last longer.

That's what I often to with ordinary ski poles. I started using them for balance, but found they added exercise for my arms, as well as helping me on the uphill parts of the walk. One doctor told me that I should stick to level walks because of my diabetes - apparently it's hard on the joints, but whichever direction I go from the house, half of the walk is uphill.

I don't like exercise either. A long walk works, but I haven't even done that lately. And not much of an excuse this winter - hardly any snow and we had the driveway graded, so I'm not falling into ruts. Except the rut of sitting here in from of my computer.

Unfortunately, doesn't sound good to me. 4-5 hours with essentially 65 extra pounds will still be hard on your joints, as if you were still overweight.

To me a safer bet would be to make 1 or 2 of those sessions, a combo of walking and strength training. Remember par courses? Or heavy hands? Some parks nowadays have stations set up where you can do the mildest kind of bodyweight exercises that you could stand because they are brief breaks in your walk. You could carry hand weights and add arm presses and curls, squats, and lunges to develop your muscles. But not for a whole hour. What you want is pushing your muscles harder (to keep muscle) and for that you would use more intensity for less time-under-tension as they say.

If you don't do resistance exercise, you could lose muscle mass from ageing even from walking. Ask anyone older than you what they do. The spry ones almost always do something besides walking. Unless they are lucky genetically.

I think for that you will want to find a way you can stand, to do resistance exercise too. Walking is like sawing, and resistance exercise plus food is like sharpening and restoring the saw. If you do nothing but saw with weights you could still lose muscle mass. Well unless you do so much walking with weights that it's basically high volume endurance exercise, but there are downsides with that too. Inflammation and joint stress mainly.

I hate exercise too so I think of conditioning like brushing teeth and do it the minimum possible. I like T-Tapp because they have 15 minute programs I can do 2-3 times a week and that's it. (it's whole body, resistance, and rehab).

Thank you all for your suggestions.

Dierdra, what you're saying about ankle weights makes good sense. I have two pairs of tennis shoes, one quite a bit heavier than the other due to having a much thicker sole. I usually swap back and forth between the two to give both pairs a chance to fully dry and air out between wearings. I've noticed a difference in gait even wearing those heavier shoes. So, I'm scrapping the idea of "ankle weights".

I'm not worried about looking goofy when I walk BUT when DH and I walk, it is always hand-in-hand and we spend the time talking over our day. Instead of being an "exercise session" the walk is our special time together....away from telephones, computers, and other interruptions. I don't want to stop the hand-holding in order use ski poles to exercise my arms. LOL!

DH and I do keep up a reasonably good pace (about 20 minutes per mile) but, as I said, I don't think I have ANY fast-twitch muscles and I am HIGHLY prone to side-stitches. I can pretty much walk at what I call "talking speed" all day long, but bump it up even a tiny bit over that and I quickly get a very sharp side-stitch (kind of a cramp in my diaphram). If I try to keep going, in about 2 - 3minutes I wind up doubled over and puking. Sorry if that comes under the heading of TMI (Too Much Information.)

My idea about adding weights (limited now to weights in a vest or tight fitting backpack) WAS NOT to add 65 pounds of weight immediately. I already know that 265 pounds was too much for my knees and ankles! My joints pretty much quit hurting tho when I got down to about 220. Now that I'm at 200, my idea was to start carrying about 15 pounds now and add more weight to the vest/backpack as I lose more weight. I would keep the total amount that my feet have to carry around at about 215 pounds.

I get what everybody is saying about needing to build "core strength" but I know myself well enough to know that the only way I will EVER do anything like that on a regular or semi-regular basis is if either:

1) the "exercises" are movements that I can totally incorporate into my daily life instead of having to specially remember to them do as "exercises" - even if we're only talking about 10 or 15 minutes per day. (eg., getting up out of a straight chair without using one's hands/arms for leverage strengthens the leg and glutes...so I've learned to habitually cross my arms in front of my chest before standing up so that I WON'T use my arms as leverage. Excercise without thinking of it as exercise.) OR

2) The movements are part of a FUN social activity. Eg., ballroom dancing or skating or playing a some not too overly competitive sport. (BTW, while I love to dance will very happily waltz, two-step, or square dance with a partner half the night away, I have tried a variety of "dancercize" classes and absolutely HATED them all! Always found excuses to never go back after the first session! Don't know if it is the sight of spandex and sweatpants or the lack of social interaction with a partner but dancercize turns me OFF as thoroughly as social dancing turns me ON.)

So, suggestions for FUN SOCIAL activities that will get this couch potato moving a bit more?

About ten years ago, I took ice skating lessons (me and a flock of eight-year-olds!) just so I wouldn't be so likely to kill myself on the ice. I bought a decent pair of ice skates, too. As a senior, I could skate for free at lunchtime near my workplace. But it's an outdoor rink, so only good from November to March or so.

Now that I'm retired, it's more of an effort to get there. But I still enjoy cuing up "my" inspirational skating music on the iPod and pretending I'm Dorothy Hamill, even as I'm just skating around and around. Very low impact, but works those glutes pretty good!

Years ago, during one of my most significant weight-loss phases (60 lbs) I learned the value of resistance training, and now I can't live without it. I use videos in my home workout space. Love the variety and favorite instructors. Wish I could sell motivation!

Best wishes.
P.S. I hated "dancersize" too. And Zumba. Too silly! But I like my choreographed step and aerobic routines on video. Go figure.

Never was much good on ice skates but I used to roller skate quite a bit as a teen-ager. I'll have to find out if there is a roller rink anywhere nearby. I THINK I could still do that and not kill myself. But roller skating is still not "resistance training", is it?

Well, no. Skating isn't resistance training. But I'm one of those nutty people who actually enjoys exercise. I won't say it's automatic. But I've learned how great I feel--and how good I can look--when I'm working those weights. So I make it a hobby. I collect videos and "toys" and plan the time. I think I'm motivated primarily by fear--fear of old age. At 68+ I am totally in denial--and I plan to stay that way!

I have friends who say their "Silver Sneakers" exercise buddies are fun and social. They have them all over I think. It's like-minded people who want to stay fit but don't particularly find gyms fun.