Beginning my journey, need help.

Butterflybele

Hi everyone! I really need some advice when it comes to the fitness part of my journey. I seem to be doing okay with the eating part, and have already lost some weight by watching what I eat. But exercise is what is my road block. I'm sitting at 220 pounds right now and am very weak. Have never really worked my body out. I have gone to the gym a couple times with my super fit friends and each time a leave I feel as though I can barely walk. And the next several days to come are even worse. Should I be taking it slow and trying to build my endurance and muscles up? Or is it normal to feel so incredibly sore after just one workout.

MichelleSilverleaf

Hi! I'm 20 days into my journey, a little higher up on the scale than you. I just started with seeing where my limits were in terms of the kind of daily exercises I do/wanted to do, and kept to that until I felt ready to push it. 20 minute walks soon became 30, my 2.2km bike ride got faster. It just takes time and not pushing yourself too much beyond your limits.

Nony_Mouse

Start slow, and find exercise that you enjoy. Even with walking, if you're not used to it. Go for 20 mins, hell, even 10, and build up. For strength work start with body weight stuff. Even pretty gentle yoga incorporates body weight exercise (I highly recommend Yoga with Adriene on YouTube), and there are a ton of good beginners bodyweight programmes around.

A bit of soreness is normal and good (that tells you that a) you are working your muscles, and b) you're working them enough that they have to repair themselves), a lot of soreness, especially to the point of barely being able to move, is not.

Butterflybele

@Nony_Mouse Thank you so much for the advice! My soreness right now on my second day after the workout is pretty horrifying. With trying to keep up with my friends who majority work at gyms or are use to fitness is just not reasonable.

AnvilHead

Butterflybele wrote: »

@Nony_Mouse Thank you so much for the advice! My soreness right now on my second day after the workout is pretty horrifying. With trying to keep up with my friends who majority work at gyms or are use to fitness is just not reasonable.

Don't try to keep up with your friends who are already in good shape. Start off gradually with whatever you're doing and work your way up. DOMS (delayed onset muscle soreness) is completely normal when starting an exercise program, is much worse if you overdo it, and yes - it hits its worst two or three days later!

I've done this many times in my life - go back to lifting weights after a layoff, hit it hard and heavy, then not be able to raise my arms high enough to wash my hair for three days afterward without it feeling like somebody is stabbing dull, rusty, red-hot, acid-covered knives into my arms. Or can't sit down or get up from a chair without screaming in pain. No fun.

Take it slow, take it easy and the DOMS won't be as bad. As your body becomes accustomed to the workouts, it will diminish and finally you won't experience it anymore.

2plebeian

Butterflybele wrote: »

@Nony_Mouse Thank you so much for the advice! My soreness right now on my second day after the workout is pretty horrifying. With trying to keep up with my friends who majority work at gyms or are use to fitness is just not reasonable.

Don't keep up with your friends. This really is the best piece of advice I can give you. Don't try to live up to someone else's standards if you're not used to working out. It leaves you broken and demotivated.

Incorporate cardiovascular activity whenever you can. Walk to places you'd normally drive to (say you go to the store for a small errand and you'd drive 2 miles? Walk those 2 miles!) In the gym, I'd suggest focusing on strength training. People who only do cardio will indeed lose weight, but they'll often lose plenty of muscle too. Try to eat around 0.8-1 gr of protein for each lbs. You'll be able to maintain muscle mass (no worries, it won't make you "bulky" or "manly"...). Strength training allows you to lose weight and not look skinny fat once you've dropped some of it.

Other than that, I don't know your height, age, or general level of physical activity, so I can't really help you when it comes to diet.

Butterflybele

@AnvilHead thank you! Is there anything I can do in the meantime to help with the soreness? Or prevent it from happening before hand?

AnvilHead

Butterflybele wrote: »

@AnvilHead thank you! Is there anything I can do in the meantime to help with the soreness? Or prevent it from happening before hand?

Best thing you can do in the meantime is stay hydrated and incorporate some very light movement/exercise into your recovery. Ibuprofen can help with the muscle soreness, and I always find hot showers or a soak in the jacuzzi/spa to be soothing.

To prevent it from happening in the future, know not to overdo your workouts.

Nony_Mouse

Butterflybele wrote: »

@AnvilHead thank you! Is there anything I can do in the meantime to help with the soreness? Or prevent it from happening before hand?

What @AnvilHead said. Gentle stretching can help (again, check out Yoga with Adriene, any of her beginners series will be good for this). Magnesium supplements can also help with muscle soreness and recovery. And for the future, if it hurts too much in the following days, ease back

Butterflybele

@Nony_Mouse Thank you so much for the advice

DebLaBounty

Do you belong to the gym? You could ask one of the trainers who work there to show you a beginner's workout routine. If you continue to go with your friends, tell them you're going to go easier. They were beginner's once, too, and maybe they forgot how hard it is to start. If they're lifting 50 pounds, you try 5 or 10. If they're doing 2 sets of 12 reps, you do 1 set of 8 at that much lower weight. Try it! And congrats on your progress so far.

Momepro

Personally, I prefer swimming, water aerobics and chair yoga. They are low/no impact, work your whole body and can easily be scaled and adapted to your current body levels.

Momepro

Also, the circuit training routines (like at Curves) are a pretty nice place to start. The last time I did really well fitness wise was when I could do the Curves and a half hour of deep stretching workout.

amtyrell

Start slow and build a habit. So start by adding in a daily walk. An extra 500 steps a day every day. Do that. 500 steps is not too much but do it extra every day. Then add 500 more next week. Keep adding 500 a day average every week until you are up at 10k or 11k a day. Then try gym but go in and do 15 minutes . Take it slow build the habits

Butterflybele

@amtyrell Thank you for the advice, maybe I should look into getting a Fitbit! I love your idea though, i definitely think that's the direction I need to go in!

rachrach66

Add me open diary we can motivate each other