Excercise for very obese

laurakenny5817

Hi everyone,

I am very very overweight and really unfit and am desperate to change. I want to start excercise (I currently do zero!) But no idea where to start. I'm going to start walking and work my way from there.

Can anyone recommend any other excercise I might be able try that I'll be able to do to mix things up a bit?

Thanks in advance

myheartsabattleground

Zumba!!!

newereveryday

Jessica Smith TV on YouTube. The beginner workouts of hers are the ONLY ones I've been able to handle at my current fitness level as a very obese person myself.

itsbasschick

i lost weight doing only walking as exercise. walking uses your largest muscles in your body, and you don't have to walk fast - just walk continually for as long as comfortable.

you could look into chair exercises - there are entire exercise and yoga routines for people with mobility issues. you could also look into getting a resistance band set like bodylastics and doing routines for those.

ChristopherLimoges

It honestly depends on your weight and the impact it currently has on your body. Harsh exercise routines could cause more damage than healing. I'd start light unless otherwise.

saphin

Swimming and / or aquarobics can be great and with the water supporting your body weight there is little chance of injury. Cycling (either stationary or outside) can also be a good calorie burner and only partial load bearing so less damaging to your knees and hips than something like running.
Be careful on your food logging and do not eat back all your exercise calories though; adding exercise can help to lose weight, but only if you don't overeat. CI<CO.

beadgalsarita

I started with (and still do) aqua aerobics. It's not as accessible as walking, but I find it much gentler on my knees and feet. Plus the classes tend to be very welcoming and non-intimidating, as the age and weight of the participants skews higher.

KDar1988

Water aerobics is great. Takes all the stress off your joints.

Bob314159

Walking - 4 years ago I found 30 minutes on level ground exhausting, last year on vacation in Manhattan I was able to walk 12 hours with only a break for lunch.

Now I also lift weights. I won't run till I get down to less than 20 lbs overweight - too much knee stress.

jvanessa89

I lost over 50 pounds from just walking and change of diet. Just start slow and do what you can right now. Eventually start walking for longer distances and experiment with faster walking speeds. Walking up hills is great exercise!

rsvpensembles

I am very obese myself. I started by getting a fit bit to recognize my habits. Its made me more self aware. Starting w a 10k step goal seemed impossible so i lowered it to 3k and gradually have worked my way up. I am not at 7k steps per day. Exercise wise i started by walking w my dogs a little bit here and there and joined planet fitness and committed to once a week. I hated exercising. Then, A friend introduced me to the most anazing gym called eze fitness boot camp. Its cross fit circuit training in a group setting. My husband and a dear friend joined with me and in the last 6 weeks ive learned to LOVE exercising! See what your friends are doing, if someone belongs to one give it a try! If i didnt have the support around me i wouldnt be so willing. Its a big committment and a huge eye opener for me. Always remember your journey is a marathon, not a sprint- rome wasn't built in a day! Wishing you the very best in your journey! You are already taking the right steps.

jgnatca

I was where you are. Start small. Set mini-goals. If it gets too easy, raise the bar. Here's a list of at-home exercises and stretches I put together.

https://www.pinterest.com/janetkarasz/fitness-at-home/

1. Stick with low-impact. You can follow any exercise video simply swapping out all the jumping and twisting with a low-impact stepping.
2. If you feel any joint/tendon pain, sudden sharp pain, or snapping, stop doing that.
3. Core muscles; core, core, core. The core supports everything else.
4. If you can't do push-ups, do wall push-ups. Slowly lower yourself to the floor.

You are doing the lifting at the right weight if you are straining your muscles to keep your form, at about twelve reps.

Walking is great. Any water activity is great as it removes the strain of gravity.

Make sure you are doing something you love to do, because you will be doing this a while. If something is deadly boring, admit it and find something else that works.

happyauntie2015

I'm very obese as well and started out walking and riding a stationary bike. I have now added in strength training and the elliptical. Start slow to avoid injury I learned the hard way I wasn't taking rest days and ended up with a knee injury. Good luck!

shawnkturner

I think the key in whatever exercise you start doing is to set yourself mini goals and then a larger achievable but tough goal. I was very obese (22 stone) and I set myself a 12 month goal to complete a half marathon for charity. Obviously unrealistic when I set it but each month I'd set a mini goal. The first month was to be able to jog without stopping for a mile. Then upped it to two and so on. Come race day I finished the full 13.4 miles and while it wasn't exactly record time, it was a massive achievement.

So basically my point is set a big goal, break it into smaller milestone goals and believe me you'll get a kick when you hit those mini goals and will be chasing the next one!

Good luck!

laurakenny5817

Some great advice, thank you everyone! X

belimawr

Bob314159 wrote: »

Walking - 4 years ago I found 30 minutes on level ground exhausting, last year on vacation in Manhattan I was able to walk 12 hours with only a break for lunch.

Now I also lift weights. I won't run till I get down to less than 20 lbs overweight - too much knee stress.

I lost a good amount of weight walking as well. It's going to be slow going, honestly but it's also something you're likely reasonably good at and doesn't require anything other than time and dedication. It's easy.

@Bob314159; as far the running I started with more then twenty pounds and no problem - no pain unless i overdid it. I was still more like fifty over. Dude give it a shot if you're truly interested.

jaynee7283

I recommend the walking as well. If you are very very overweight, even just 30 or 45 minutes a day at a regular walking pace will burn significant calories for you for many, many months. Then as you get used to 30-45 minutes a day, you can go up to 45-60 minutes a day. Then work on going a bit faster. Modest changes to to the intensity/length of your walking regime will continue to encourage caloric burn.

MissusMoon

laurakenny5817 wrote: »

Hi everyone,

I am very very overweight and really unfit and am desperate to change. I want to start excercise (I currently do zero!) But no idea where to start. I'm going to start walking and work my way from there.

Can anyone recommend any other excercise I might be able try that I'll be able to do to mix things up a bit?

Thanks in advance

Don't go and commit to anything fancy or expensive. Start walking. Just ten minutes if that's all you can do. Build up gradually.

snowflake954

Great advice OP. Do what yo like to do and start small, gradually working your way up to more. I like swimming and acquagym myself because I have OA and it's easier on my joints. I do alot of other things too--yoga, gym, walking, stretching... I like to branch out.

lorrpb

Take it in small steps. In addition to walking, do wall push ups and squats, however far down you can go. Consider getting a resistance band for torso rotations and some other light exercises, these can be made harder as you progress. As said above, building core strength is very important to everything else.

Don't overdo it. Pace yourself, you will get there just as fast, if not faster. I've been at this 2 years and couldn't walk more than 1/4 mile when I started. Now I can easily walk a 10k, run 30-40 a few times a week, do weighted squats, etc, and all kinds of other stuff I've NEVER done in my entire life. (61 yo).

Remember how bad you feel now, write yourself a letter or a page in your journal. Take pics. Never forget this, because it will be the fire that keeps you going. You can do this.
SW 301
CW 159
GW 150
2 years

belimawr

lorrpb wrote: »

Don't overdo it. Pace yourself, you will get there just as fast, if not faster.

(Emphasis mine)

This can not be said enough. I'd like to point out, as no one else has, that it serves two very import purposes.

Firstly, you'll avoid injury.

Second, you'll avoid getting discouraged. If you end up hurt - or even just plain exhausted - from overdoing it, you may lose motivation. You can always increase exercise if you're unhappy with the reulst and feel you can do easily do more, but you don't want to have to decrease exercise after learning the hard way.