Is this enough to start?

kekagel
kekagel Posts: 94 Member
in Fitness and Exercise
I'm at the beginning (again) of a very long journey. I weigh 395 pounds, I'm 5'4". I'm homebound, with no exercise equipment at home. I saw a TikTok video recommending this seated routine for people that have been sedentary for a long time. I set a goal to do this once daily for a week and see where I'm at. I started Sunday and have completed it each day. I can get through it, though my arms/shoulders start to burn on the wings. And because of my size (there is too much thigh, belly in the way) my leg extensions don't go out in front of me, they are at a wide V.

In the past I have a tendency to try to over do things and then I quit. I want to take it slow this time, form good habits, but I'm constantly over thinking things. Is this enough? Am I kidding myself that this could ever lead to real weight loss? I feel very much like I'm making excuses rather than doing actual hard work. I do have arthritis in my knees and I know I couldn't go run a marathon or anything, but is this a good start?

ankle rotation X10
heel raise x10
knee extension x10
shoulder roll X10
side to front raise x 10
side to front raise x10
neck turn x10
torso twist x10
wings x10
reach and row x10
toe raise x10

I also roll my wrists x10, make a fist x10, and do "spirit fingers" for awhile to help loosen up that area.

Thoughts? Thank you.

Replies

  • bojaantje3822
    bojaantje3822 Posts: 257 Member
    Everyone's gotta start somewhere and you're doing at least 130 movements more every day than you were before. I think it's a great start.

    I've never been in your position but I did go from very active to basically sedentary during covid so when I restarted exercise I chose the place closest to my home (no excuse not to go when the weather sucks) and stick to twice a week until I felt fit enough to try 3 times a week. You're the only one who will know when you're ready to move on to doing maybe 12x each movement, or 15x, or the same 10x but twice daily. But don't beat yourself up over starting slow. Getting injured is much worse for your progress than taking things slow.

    As for helping with weight loss (sorry, no idea how to quote on my phone), it's probably not gonna allow you to eat the same way you did when you were gaining weight. But it could help and regaining your mobility would certainly help towards a more active lifestyle. One step/toe raise/shoulder roll at a time.

    Personally I think it's really cool that you decided to take this action. I'm rooting for you!
  • JBanx256
    JBanx256 Posts: 1,479 Member
    First of all, kudos to you for trying. Doing something is generally better than doing nothing ("a bias toward action").

    That said, what you are doing doesn't have a lot of promise specifically for weight loss. The vast majority of your weight loss success is going to come from what goes into your body (eg, your diet), rather than the calories you expend. But the good news is, you should be able to make some pretty small tweaks to get the ball rolling and as long as you stay consistent with them (you didn't gain that weight in a week so don't expect it to come off in a week, right?), your weight will start to go down. As you lose, you can build on that success and make some further tweaks etc..as your bodyweight goes down and you lose some bodyfat, you'll gain the ability to move more and add more exercise (at your own pace, of course).

    Best wishes to you!
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    Your diet is going to have a ton more impact on weight loss than your exercise. That is true for everyone. For the vast majority of people, calories expended with deliberate exercise are relatively small compared to what they burn merely existing and then going about their day to day. Even with vigorous exercise, people don't burn what they typically think they do. Weight management largely comes down to calories consumed...regular exercise can increase your overall calorie requirements, but realistically it's not a huge number outside of basically trying to kill yourself with exercise.

    You should keep doing what you're doing because it's good to move. The human body was meant to move and regular exercise has numerous benefits that have nothing to do with weight management. At this point, the important thing is to just get the body used to moving regularly.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,556 Member
    On the weight loss front, eating is the major contributor for most of us - specifically, eating a sensible bit less than we burn through the combination of just being alive (breathing, heartbeat, etc.), daily life chores and job, and intentional exercise (if we do some).

    Exercise is good for increasing calorie burn by a little, but even quite intense exercise burns surprisingly few calories compared to the "being alive" and "daily life" categories.

    For example, these days I'm fairly small (5'5", 120s pounds, though I'm formerly obese):

    * My "basal metabolic rate (BMR)", that "just being alive" thing, is estimated to be around 1300 calories daily. (Yours would be higher.)
    * My daily life and chores - based on experience with calorie counting - seem to be around 700-800 calories daily on average, maybe a bit more. (Yours would depend on both your size, and what your daily life is like.) That's usually called "Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis (NEAT)", technically.
    * My exercise, since we're still in Winter-y times here for my activities, is around 225 calories per day. That's a small fraction of my daily total! That's what I get for around half an hour of stationary bike or rowing machine, going hard. Jeez!

    Here's the thing, though: Exercise is good for health and fitness, so you're doing a good thing, with your routine.

    Yes, your exercise will burn some calories, and that's helpful.

    Beyond that, it will make you stronger (we know this because it's being a challenge for you to do: Challenge creates progress). It will help you keep your existing muscle mass while you lose fat, by reminding your body that you like your muscles and plan to use them. (Many people don't realize that overweight people tend to have more muscle mass than always-slim people who have a similar total activity level. It comes from just moving our bigger bodies through daily life.)

    Also, like JBanx said, you're creating more "bias toward movement" in your life. Statistically, it's common for us to move less in daily life when overweight. If we've been overweight a long time, that's ingrained in habits, and may not automatically change as we get lighter. Making it a habit to move more can help reverse that, though. You'll see lots of ideas in articles about this - the "park further from the door", "take the stairs" kind of advice, that eventually becomes increasingly doable if we work at it. There's a thread about that kind of thing here:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss/p1

    Not all of those ideas will work for everyone, but some may.

    For health and fitness, intentional exercise is a good thing. An excellent approach, when starting, is to find something that's just a manageable bit of a challenge, and do that. Then, as we get fitter, that thing gets easy, so we increase the frequency, duration, intensity or type of exercise, to keep that bit of manageable challenge going. Ideally, there would be a bit of strength challenge, and a bit of increased heart rate - both manageable, challenging but not exhausting.

    That's how fitness is built, for anyone. We start where we are, find that manageable challenge, then increase the challenge as fitness progresses. You'll surprise yourself with what you accomplish, long term, as long as you stick with it!

    Since you're feeling some burn when you do the exercises, I think you've found the challenge. (Exercise can be valuable without creating burn or sore muscle or panting, but the signs are a bit more subtle when that's true. That there's that "hard work" burning sensation at the time is an indicator, too, though.)

    TL;DR: I think you're doing great. "I want to take it slow this time, form good habits" is how many of the long-term successful people here have gone about it, whether we're talking about weight management, fitness improvement, or both. Go, you! I'm wishing you much success, and betting you can accomplish it with this approach.
  • MaggieGirl135
    MaggieGirl135 Posts: 1,032 Member
    @kekagel I think what you’re doing is exactly what you need now, exercise-wise, and I’m rooting for you. Building good habits is so critical! You’ve been given great advice above; exercise is important, but most weight loss is achieved through diet.

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