Fitness recommendations to gradually increase mobility while recovering from chronic illness
So I've had hypothyroidism since at least 2020, maybe longer. I've been gaining weight and losing both mobility and stamina since then. It got to the point where I couldn't put on my shoes without an extra-long shoe iron and would get too winded to continue after depressingly short walks.
I was diagnosed earlier this year and put on levothyroxine, and I already feel a lot better. Managing that medication is obviously something to work with my doctor on, but I haven't gotten much advice on how to address getting my body back to where it was prior to the illness really getting into gear. I wasn't crazy active back then either, but it's like night and day to compare me now to me in 2019.
I attempted to start some low-level at-home strength training and to start taking more regular walks back before I was diagnosed, but I struggled with even extremely mild beginner-level stuff absolutely wiping me out and my endurance never increasing. Now that I'm being treated, I suspect I will be able to build up strength/stamina/etc. more easily, but emotionally I'm still pretty vulnerable to feeling like exercise is something insurmountably difficult, which obviously makes it hard to start a more regular routine.
Losing weight is something I should do, but it's not my #1 priority here -- I mostly want to improve my mobility and stamina so that I can increase my activity level at all without feeling like shit. Most beginner-level exercise recommendations, be they strength or cardio, start at a level that is above what I can currently physically accomplish. So any recommendations for ways to get started more gradually so that I can make some amount of this exercise part of my routine would be really appreciated.
This feels like an issue a doctor, preferably your doctor, should be listened to on.
But, assuming any medical conditions are covered and controlled by proper treatment that don't present some sort of medical obstacle to your activity levels, just start getting more active.
Take it slow. It's going to be a climb. Right now, getting up and walking to the mailbox might leave you needing to catch your breath. Okay, just accept it. The human body, again absent medical obstacles, is adaptable. This week, the goal is to walk to the mailbox. And you don't set a schedule for when any sort of "next" occurs. You just work on mailbox walking.
When mailbox walking ain't no thing, maybe you walk to the corner. Or you walk to and from the mailbox a few times. Just start building your activity level. Eventually you're taking a daily walk of the generally recommended length (usually about 30mins) and if your only goal is general activity for health, congrats you're there at that point.
The key thing in this is to not set schedules. People love to hold out for perfect, or to hammer themselves over not being perfect instantly. They'll go "but I can't even make the mailbox, and I've been trying for two weeks." So? Why is that an issue? If you're being medically treated, and the doctor hasn't said "oh, and don't go being active", then you're just out of shape.
It happens. It's not a sin, you're not a bad person, you're not anything except someone whose body has adapted to not being used. Adapting it to usage takes time. Some people will take longer, or shorter, than others to do that. Because people are different. It has nothing to do with anything else. Focus inwardly. As long as you're being self honest, and genuinely trying to work on your activity levels, you'll get somewhere. It's inevitable due to how the human body adapts.
Again, as I opened with, doctor. If you have/had medical issues that pushed you into inactivity, and the doctor has treated them successfully, then you just start adjusting your activity upward. If you're crippled physically in some way (could be hormone levels, could be a missing foot, whatever) it's disingenuous to protest "but I can't walk, I can't do things" because those issues would constitute a medical obstacle which the doctor should have primary control over as you deal with everything.
But once the doctor has fixed anything fixable, and said there's no medical reason to not be more active, and you decide you want to be more active, you just do it. Day in, day out. So many people want some magic solution that involves less work, less effort. That's easier.
Sadly, magic only exists in story. The rest of us have to put out. I could have a body like The Rock. Except I'd have to (putting aside the steroids) closely monitor my diet and put in three to five hours a day in the gym, and those hours couldn't be me standing around pretending to lift. I'd have to actually get my ass under bars and planted in machines pressing and puffing and lifting. I'd have to put in the work.
Dwayne Johnson has, even if he's cheated with steroids. Even the steroids didn't magically give him that body. They helped, but he still clocked the hours to get there. He wants it, and put in the time, and got there. It's no different for anyone else, even if their goal is just to be able to walk without panting. You set yourself the goal, and you decide you're going to honor your own wishes and not put yourself in a position where you're lying to yourself about what you want.
Do you want to be more active? Great! Now all you have to do is something, every day. Maybe it's making it to the mailbox, and maybe at some day in the future it'll be you heading out to a local park each and every morning to walk for half an hour. It's your call, and it's as easy as being honest to yourself about it.
Anyone who isn't a doctor telling you that it's impossible is probably wrong, and very possibly an asshole. If the doctor says no, listen. But if the doctor says "you're cleared for activity", then you just start. Every day, something.
Then your body does what it does and recovers and adapts just a little bit, so the next day is maybe just a little bit easier. And again, and again, and after many days you're strolling through the park like it ain't no thing. Maybe it happens after a month, maybe it happens after a year. No time frame. The point is the activity, not the goal.
I feel strongly on this issue because my father has spent decades pretending he can't do shit. And being angry about it. He doesn't seem to grasp the concept of "a little each day." He had a tree fall in his yard, and had them chip it in place to avoid paying a haulage fee, and then called me up upset over "how impossible" it was to get rid of this huge mountain of wood chips.
And I mean huge. It was basically as big as a two car garage. Taller than the roof of a car. I told him to just move some every day, but he couldn't see how that would accomplish anything. So I had to spend over a week putting in an hour, forty-five minutes, that sort of thing, with a shovel and wheelbarrow.
Yeah, the first two days, it didn't look like a lot had happened unless you remembered how big the pile was. By the third day, I'd carved out a very obvious gap where chips had been taken away. After I finished spreading them all around the property (they went everywhere, seriously; if it was ground and not in use for something else, it probably got chips), he was glad they were gone, but didn't learn a Godamn thing because he still looks at any sort of project around the house as impossible if he can't do it start-to-finish within a very finite amount of time.
Meanwhile he can't bend over, shuffles when he walks, and despite the best efforts of his doctors doesn't really have any sort of healthy mobility. He gets around, but not easily. And actually doing stuff, no. And it's not because he's old, he's been like this for a long time, well before he got old.
So just chip away at your activity levels. Today mailbox, on some tomorrow to be determined after we're there, it'll be daily walks in the park. Between here and there are a lot of little steps, and they all happen one after the other, spread out day by day. It's no more complicated than that.
Ask your doctor for a referral to physical/occupational therapy. Mine gave me some gentle strength building exercises to do that are building strength in my hands.
Have you talked with a physical therapist? I would start with walking and with gentle exercise routines such as tai chi or feldenkrais.
You could read about stroke or coma rehab if you can find the information
Agree with most of the other commenters and have a few other thoughts.
Exercise can be daunting. You need all of the inertia to be there to get you dressed for it, to the place where it will take place, and enough momentum not to stop partway through. I think when it's an activity you enjoy it takes away some of the initial energy. I really like swimming, but it turns out I hated lap swimming and using the pool. But I love open water swimming and it's now the highlight of my day rather than a "well... I really should do this..." kind of event. If that is walking, mild hikes, or even bird watching lean into the ones that feel good, you'll stick with those.
When I started open water swimming I had a good friend to go with. I think had he not been joining me I would have gone about 1/3rd of the time I go now, even though I enjoy it. Sometimes it's just too easy to put off the initial effort needed to go. To sleep in or just "not feel like it". Having external accountability is a great way to stick with it. Plus, you foster/deepen those relationships and get some additional social time. Just make sure you like the person and want to be around them, otherwise it can become another reason not to go.
It's really easy to get excited and dive too deep too quickly. I have a 2 chronic injuries that take me out of my hobbies for about 6 months every 1-2 years. Inevitably when I return to activities I start with too high of frequency and intensity, quickly re-injuring myself. Starting slow always makes me feel like I'm not doing enough now that I can but future rosco in 2-3 months who is still doing it and ramping up intensity will thank me. Also, a huge point to highlight, that those that are already in shape burn way more calories and can engage in much more intense workout in a much shorter period of time. (I shared the part in that video where they talk about how it works, but effectively the idea is the amount of "effort" a very fit cyclist can achieve in 20 minutes might take a beginner 2 hours, and so to burn the same number of calories is much much harder). So be easy on yourself and realize that the level of effort you need to start out is sooo much higher than once you're fit again.
I do some traditional weight lifting (honestly for vanity reasons as I'm a very skinny/lanky person) but the majority of my activities are things I find fun and would want to do regardless. They include:
I think hiking is the most fun for me when I'm starting back out, plus I get the added benefit of being in nature, identifying plants, and watching/learning the seasonal patterns. I usually start off with very flat terrain (I have knee issues) and slowly ramp up to elevation. If nature isn't in close proximity I also like walking around the neighborhood judging gardens and getting ideas for my own!
Hope some of that is helpful and stoked you're feeling more yourself, found a diagnosis, and are getting back out there!!!
EDIT: After rereading, changing my suggestion to water aerobics. Getting weight off of you body/joints and having support can be really helpful. Many public pools have aqua aerobics classes that are fun but to start I'd suggest getting a float and heading down to the shallow end of your local pool.
For cardio and mobility, I can recommend VR. Much more fun than just standing in your room doing weird exercises. Quest 3 is reasonably cheap, I think.
My fave workout in VR:
I've played BeatSaber before and really enjoyed it! My wife and I have been toying with getting a VR headset anyway so thanks for the reminder that these count as exercise!