Unfit and new to exercise is exhausting me

floppybackend

Ive started up on just 2 days a week. A legs, bums, tums and aqua aerobics. However, I am fine at the class and a few hours later I am zonked. I spent 2hrs napping yesterday afternoon I could not do anything. Slept flat out all night. I am aching a bit but nothing bad but the exhaustion. How do people new to losing weight exercise every day? Ive been told to ride it out but I have to work and family. I am not flat out but am putting in a good effort. How long will this last?

MikePfirrman

You will adjust. If you don't, within around two months, something is off. My wife reacted to the chemicals in the pool from water aerobics and got really sick (public indoor pools have, typically, around fifty gallons in chemicals similar to Agent Orange. It's toxic stuff).

Some people don't react to it. My wife was feeling tired around menopause and started doing water aerobics and ended up with full blown Fibromyalgia from the chemicals. She's since recovered, but I'm not a huge fan of water aerobics for obvious reasons. There are other options such as Tai Chi or yoga.

littlegreenparrot1

I don't know if anyone does go from nothing to a lot of vigorous exercise every day. I certainly wouldn't recommend it, its a good way to injure oneself as well as get tired out and fed up so you quit. Gradual build up is much more sustainable. Its also worth thinking about what exactly you do, for example for myself a run every day would be to much, but some yoga/a swim/a walk on the days in between are just nice things to do, and would be fine.

Specifically to your question, I think it will start feeling a bit easier quite quickly if you stick with it. Or at least my experience is that I adapt in a few weeks. These are suggestions for what might help, exactly what works is individual (and also might change as you get fitter) so worth having a try.

Are you logging the exercise eating a bit more to account for it? If not you should be, you are already eating at a deficit, if you add exercise and don't eat a bit more that makes the deficit bigger, which can have an impact. Some people don't like to, I always do or am ravenous.

Are you eating something shortly before or after your class? That can help, can just be small, banana or whatever.

Think about what your eating in terms of carbs and protein and change it round a bit to see if it makes you feel better. For example, if I'm off for a long run at the weekend I need porridge, bacon and eggs would not do it for me at all. My husband is the opposite. You might do better with a bit more of one or the other.
Hopefully you find a strategy that works.

snowflake954

Totally normal. I've been doing acquagym for 25 years, and still remember when I started---I could hardly crawl out of the pool. It passes in a couple of weeks. Look at the others doing it, if they've been at it awhile, you'll see that they are fine after. I always have a fruit gummy piece of candy after (not gummy bears, this is made with fruit juice), for a fast pick-me-up. I'd stick with it for awhile, it's great exercise.

PS: Our pool is private, and don't know what chemicals they use, but I and my husband have been fine for 25 yrs.

floppybackend

Its a private health club and the pool is tested every 2hrs. There is no issue there as I have no sinus or eye issues (which I used to have) and def not related to chemicals. Same issue when doing the gym class. Im 52 and havent done anything for a number of years plus Im about 2 stone over weight. Lets hope its a couple of weeks then.

knotmel

I’m going to join the chorus of voices saying this is normal and it will improve quickly. Swimming for me has always been a huge drain when getting back to a routine, which I have always attributed to the extra calorie burn of keeping warm in the cold water, which could also be a factor with auquafit.

One thing that helps me when I ramp up activity again after a longish break is to eat at maintenance rather than a deficit while my body gets adjusted to the new demands I’m placing on it (just a week or two). When I don’t, I’m tired and ravenous, which is a dangerous combo for me. It won’t make a huge difference in weight loss over the long term, but supports in developing the new exercise habit to support good health in the long term.

I hope that if you stick with it, you’ll be feeling more energetic soon!

AnnPT77

I'm not going to join the chorus. If you're that exhausted, I think you're unnecessarily overdoing for your current fitness level. That's not any kind of diss. We start where we start, and starting the key good thing. When I started working on getting more fit, after cancer treatment in my 40s in my case, I started slowly, built up my routine gradually. That's what I suggest for others, too.

In particular, you say "How do people new to losing weight exercise every day?" My answer would be "Not all of them do".

Exercise is good for a person, an investment in your future health and a wonderful model for your family. But it's 100% optional for weight loss.

What you need to do to lose weight is get your calorie intake a sensible amount under the number of calories you burn. If you want to, you can do that entirely on the eating side of the equation. You already burn calories just being alive (breathing, heartbeat, digestion, etc.). You burn calories taking care of your family. Eat less than that by a manageable-to-you amount, and you'll lose weight.

Sure, exercise burns some calories, but for most average people, it burns dramatically fewer than the "being alive + daily life stuff" calories. On top of that, if you over-do exercise, it can actually backfire: Think about it. If you sleep more, sit more, at times when you normally would've been cleaning house or chasing kids or grocery shopping or whatever, you're burning fewer calories in daily life, and that cancels out some of the calorie burn from the exercise.

For most people, especially when new to it, a half hour to hour of exercise is probably only going to amount to the same number of calories as . . . oh, maybe a peanut butter sandwich on good whole grain bread? That sandwich would be around 400 calories, and 400 calories for an hour's exercise is quite a good amount to burn in that time, for most people. Do some burn more, by going harder, allocating more time, having larger bodies, etc.? Sure, but that's not so typical.

It's great that you want to exercise. But it would be fine to start doing that gradually. If you're exhausted after 2 days a week of that particular thing, it's fine to start slower, with regular walks in the neighborhood or around the park, or a group class for 50+ folks, or some 10-minute mild YouTube fitness videos a couple of times a week, or a weekly gentle yoga class, or whatever.

Then, when that feels easy (maybe too easy!), add something else. Gradually increase duration, frequency, intensity or difficulty of exercise, trying to keep just a mild, manageable challenge to your then-current capabilities. Fitness progress can be made that way.

Yes, you might adapt soon. But bulling your way through this isn't the only option that can lead to weight loss and improved fitness. There are other options, and you can choose what seems best to you. Push yourself is one option. Start milder is another. Don't start exercise at all right now (but do it later when feeling better and maybe a little lighter weight) is third option. Any of those can get you to your goals, assuming you add appropriate exercise eventually.

Also, since you did seem to think that daily exercise is essential for weight loss, I'm concerned that you may also have heard that it's always necessary to cut calories super-hard (1200 or less daily), or to adopt some kind of complicated eating rules extremely different from your normal eating. Those things aren't essential either.

Only eating somewhat fewer calories than you burn is necessary for weight loss. Setting yourself up on MFP for a pound a week loss rate, then eating that amount of what you normally eat is fine. (MFP intends you to eat back your exercise calories, too, if you do exercise.) You may find that you need to rearrange the portions, proportions or frequencies of some of your normal eating in order to stay full and energetic on lower calories (like eat more veggies and less cheese or butter, stuff like that), but you can figure that out on your own by trying it, and seeing how you feel.

Cutting calories hard is a stress, and new exercise is a stress. Trying to learn some whole new way to eat is also stressful. Stress is itself exhausting, so I'm wondering if that's part of the picture for you.

I know it seems like a lot, but honestly 2 stone (28 pounds) isn't a huge amount to lose. I wouldn't shoot for more than that pound a week, with that little to lose . . . and I'd slow that down for the last 10 pounds or so, to half a pound a week. That helps keep nutrition and energy where they need to be for a busy, demanding life. Yes, that will make losing 2 stone take a little longer, but it will also make it more doable, keep you more energetic and probably in a better mood along the way, plus help you figure out how to rearrange your eating routine to stay at a healthy weight long term.

This doesn't need to be a brutal forced march, it can be a gradual remodeling of routine daily habits. It works.

Bona fides: I lost about twice that much weight at age 59-60, and have stayed at a healthy weight since, so I'm speaking from experience. I had gotten more into healthy exercise earlier, in my 40s after cancer, but used that approach I recommended of building up slowly, and it worked fine. At this point, my exercise capacity and performance is higher than average, and I carry more muscle mass than average, for my demographic. (I'm female, 67.)

Gradual approaches work fine, and it won't take infinity. Sometimes a slower route that we can stick with happily will actually get us to goal by an earlier calendar date than a more extreme regimen that triggers backsliding, breaks or maybe even giving up altogether. The time is going to pass, the only question is how to spend it.

You don't have to do it the way I'm suggesting, you can absolutely power through it as so many others are suggesting. That will work, too, after an unknown period of adaptation that probably won't take super long. But it's not the only option.

snowflake954

Another thing you can do if you really like acquagym is to do less. You don't say how long the session is, ours is 50 min. I do 30, because I swim for 40 min before. I do my 30 min and then just get out of the pool and go (I also do it because the showers are less crowded). After all this time the instructors know me and it's all OK.

tomcustombuilder

Out of shape and untrained and you need to take it slow otherwise the repercussions will do more harm than good. Your body doesn’t want to be shocked and will act accordingly not to mention the discouragement of continuing. As mentioned, the exhaustion and soreness DOES subside over time however it just isn’t the best approach. It’s human nature to give it the “All Or Nothing” approach when you’re tired of being out of shape. You want results ASAP.

To exacerbate the issue, many will also drastically cut calories immediately further pi*sing off the body. When starting, go easier than you think you should and the following day assess how you’re feeling. Turn up the volume if you think you can handle more. Incremental changes upwards and you’ll be miles ahead in the long run not to mention you won’t injure yourself.

JaysFan82

I was 388.6 pounds when I started. I began swimming laps VERY slowly for 20 minutes a day and let me tell you, that first week was not fun lol. I was SO sore and tired. I just kept at it and slowly increased

I now run 5.5km a day, 5 days a week. Took me a year to get to this point but I'm here! Down 147 pounds!