Exercise Help

toridehaven

Would someone please suggest an exercise program/routine for me? I need to lose 100 pounds and am having a hard time finding something that I can do everyday that won't make me so sore that I have to stop for several days at a time. I know walking seems like the most logical thing but my shins kill me 5 minutes in. We don't have an option for water aerobics in my town this time of year. I tried 30DS and popped something in my leg and was down for a week. I can't afford the gym or a personal trainer. I stretch, warm up and do everything I can to avoid injury. The honest truth is that I am just so overweight my body can't handle the stress of exercising.

If there is anyone else out there who has struggled with the same issues please let me know what you did to overcome and succeed. I do not want to give up, I have too much riding on this. If you have any specific exercises, videos, websites...ANYTHING please let me know.

loosinit42806

if you can or have access try UTUBE look up beginner Zumba or workouts try pilates, or old school workouts they are low impact and still help!

Also (walking,squattuing,doing lunges,use small weights a big exercise ball)
so many at home workouts

qtgonewild

Walk. Walking was my only exercise for the first three months. Walking and counting my calories (on mfp) led me to losing 43 pounds. I then felt comfortable enough to join a gym. Greatest thing I ever did for myself. I love it. However, I really miss my outdoor walks. Just start off doing what you can do. As the days go by you will see you are able to walk longer and faster. It really works.

becksxxx70

Dance! Just dance around at home to your favourite music, get your body moving.
And once you start getting used to it, introduce other things like gentle walking.
Build up gradually......every little helps.

cwolfman13

Your weight loss is largely about your diet. Your exercise is for fitness. You don't have to workout and train everyday...in fact, if you're working out with intensity you need 1-2 rest days per week. You should sit down and think about what you'd like to accomplish from a fitness standpoint...that will help in determining how you should be working out. Pretty much any good fitness regimen is going to have elements of strength, cardiovascular fitness, mobility and balance, and flexibility. Your specific fitness goals will dictate to what end you're performing those workouts...i.e. if you run marathons, weight training is helpful but you're not going to lift like a bodybuilder and you're going to spend a lot of time working your cardiovascular endurance. A basic fitness regimen is going to have a pretty balanced representation of all though.

Any exercise burns calories...so if that's all you're worried about just do whatever is clever and remotely enjoyable.

amosmoses88

I weigh 229.2lbs. I started out at 246 last year and lost 31lbs just by eating right and the exercises I did low impact because I have a disability and bad balance. So all this fast stuff and hardcore workout is near impossible for me right now still. lol.

Start out doing beginner yoga and beginner pilates. Trust me, it works you, just isn't as harsh as the more experienced types.

Youtube has TONS of videos and I like a few videos on the Fitnessblender channel that have low impact cardio, yoga, and pilates.

Also, I understand walking is tough. It is for me, so I was doing the Leslie Sansone videos. I bought one online for my ps3 through Vudu for 2.99. It's the beginner one, I think it's 5 mile walk or something.

And I'm going to be totally honest with you. You are going to hurt regardless when you first start. It's going to hurt like Hades, but the more you do it, the easier it gets and the longer you can do it. I always pushed myself further each time and each time, I felt myself getting a little more better.

Giving up is only what your mind is TELLING you to do because of self doubt. You have to push past that and tell yourself YOU CAN DO IT. Because you know what? YOU CAN! You can do it all! Don't let pain keep you from getting healthy, don't let it rule you. YOU CONTROL YOU. I'll add you, trust me, I struggle daily, but I make something happen every day unless I absolutely can't tolerate it. Just do something every day. AND SIGN YOURSELF UP FOR A CHALLENGE!

I'm doing a 30 day squat challenge. It's not a lot, but it's SOMETHING. I suggest you sign yourself up for one and go by it for 30 days. I can email you a picture of the challenge I go by. You don't go by any single one really. You can pick any challenge. There's TONS on pinterest. lol.

Qween_of_Heartz

How long did you walk? 1 mile? 2? and how fast??? did you do it outdoors or treadmill?

Terry2001

Rebounder or mini trampoline .... just jog on it ....I started out at 15 minutes., and now go 1 hour its great exercise., and easy on the knees.

Edhaedha

My shins were sore from training a couple weeks ago. I am glad I stuck at least with walking. Maybe 15 minutes is better than nothing?

LoisMT

The walking is a great exercise, especially in the first few months you start...it's something you can do in both indoor environments and out. Walk as much as you can, whenever you can, and challenge yourself! Also sit-ups and push-ups, stretching...however many you can at first. Whenever I've lost weight (this time, approx 24 lbs so far, from when I started last Jan), it's been from eating a close-to-vegetarian diet (cutting down on meats, replacing proteins more with beans, some nuts, etc), cutting out most processed foods and a lot of carbs, walking much more and (for me) going to the gym and doing cardio (swimming, machines) when I can. Lots of counties and cities now offer free aerobics type classes in outdoor parks in nice weather (zumba, step cardio, etc). Also Y's are often more reasonably priced, and I think many have sliding scale pricing?- especially that would be good for swimming, which is also great weight loss exercise. Town or city pools can often, also, be very reasonably priced in nice weather.

Autumngolds

I do Fitness Blender workouts (they're all on Youtube). I think they're great for starting off with. When I first started exercising I was looking for videos, and anything I tried was too hard and left me in a lot of pain afterwards. But they have some low impact videos, and if you like them you can stick with them until you can do the harder ones. I lost a lot of weight with them, and when I stopped losing it I knew the main problem was my diet, which is when I joined this site. The Fitness Blender videos have a calorie burn estimate on their website (the higher one for heavier people), a lot more accurate than lots of calorie trackers, so it's quite easy tracking the calories from them on here. They have quite a few more low impact videos than when I first began with them, including one sitting down routine. They have a lot of in-between difficulty as well, so when you're ready to move on it doesn't have to be in a really drastic way, you can do it slowly. I think it's quite hard to find other videos like that; most seem to be low impact or you need to be fairly fit to do them, without finding that area in between. I was very heavy and very, very unfit when I began exercising. It took a long time, but eventually I started enjoying it and being able to work up to more difficult videos. And I feel more light, I can bend and squat down more easily; if you're very heavy when you begin, you'll notice the difference in every movement you make. Keep looking until you find something doable for you, because once you do it'll be so worth all the work.

LoisMT

Standing and cooking healthy meals, and doing household chores, can also be great exercise! The more one is on one's feet, and not sitting in front of a TV, or at a club/restaurant/etc, the better. In the spring and summertime, I also lost a lot of weight gardening (at my community garden, very very cheap to rent a plot through my city), then I saved a lot of money on vegetables too, and ate very healthy. When I was done gardening, I often wanted to go swimming, too!

Annie_01

Would someone please suggest an exercise program/routine for me? I need to lose 100 pounds and am having a hard time finding something that I can do everyday that won't make me so sore that I have to stop for several days at a time. I know walking seems like the most logical thing but my shins kill me 5 minutes in. We don't have an option for water aerobics in my town this time of year. I tried 30DS and popped something in my leg and was down for a week. I can't afford the gym or a personal trainer. I stretch, warm up and do everything I can to avoid injury. The honest truth is that I am just so overweight my body can't handle the stress of exercising.

If there is anyone else out there who has struggled with the same issues please let me know what you did to overcome and succeed. I do not want to give up, I have too much riding on this. If you have any specific exercises, videos, websites...ANYTHING please let me know.

When I started I had 100lbs to lose...was out of shape and had joint issues. So I started with exercises designed for seniors...which I am one but...they also were all that I could do at the time. I also bought a set of resistance bands for upper body strength training. I started with the light weight band and worked my way up. Also useful was a set of light weight dumbbells...3 lbs so that I could use those.

Look for exercises that will help you do your every day tasks. For me one of those tasks was getting up and down out of chairs. So I made that part of my workout routine. Think about what you do daily...things that you might struggle with and find exercises that will help you do those things.

I now work out 6 days a week. I have increase my weights and duration. I am doing exercises now that I thought I would never be able to do. It won't happen over night and yes...you will have some sore muscles from time to time. As long as it is not the joints hurting...just keep pushing through it. If the pain is actually in the joint...give that joint a few days rest and try again.

I also found yoga stretches that have helped me get my joints and muscles a little looser.

If you need links let me know and I will see if I can find the ones that I used when I first started.

Good luck.

ElikaCousland

Walking! I know it may not seem like much when compared to 30DS or P90X, but walking really is an awesome way to get in exercise. It's natural, low impact, free, and you can do it anywhere. Walk around the block, walk in place watching TV, go window shopping, whatever.

I know it's easy to get caught up in the whole "you need to bust your butt, pour sweat, push through the pain" hype, but that kind of exertion is unnecessary for weight loss - and for someone with a lot to lose, can be downright dangerous. There is no reason to push til you puke in order to lose weight.

Do what your body can handle. If you can only go for 10-15 minutes at a time, rock that 10-15 minutes! If you do 15 minutes three times a day, that's a solid workout, and you won't be beat up from it. Consistency is far more important than intensity. Good luck!

EDIT: Just reread the first post and saw that walking hurts your shins. I'm not sure of anything more low impact than walking, as that's what I did for exercise when I was at my heaviest (nearly 300 pounds). If I were you, I would focus mainly on your diet and not stress about exercise until you drop some of the weight and it's more comfortable to do basic exercises like walking. Exercise is NOT required in order to lose weight - it's all about calorie deficit. Exercise just helps achieve that deficit.

craft4fun

Get a pedometer. & try to increase your steps evey day. Start out walking in your home during commercials, dance to your music.....even if it is just for part of the song. Good luck.

kat2475

I have back problems so I have to pace myself so I don't get bogged down with pain. Some of my favorites are Turbo Jam and Hip Hop Abs. They are effective but don't make you feel like you've been hit by a truck the next day.

Annie_01

One last thing...

There are some great chair aerobic routines out on youtube...I still do some of them since my knees and hips won't take much pounding. That is where I started with aerobics...now I can actually do some standing up...if I can get my feet going in the right directions!

Twinmamamarion

I echo the *dietdietdiet* refrain. Stay within your daily net calorie goal and you will lose weight.
With a goal like yours, I'd definitely check in with your doctor or a nutritionist.
But yes, exercise is good for your heart. Check out Walk Away the Pounds on YouTube to start. It's boring, but very low impact.

Annie_01

Here is a seated yoga stretch routine...I have done this one many times.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lfwsGu6seCA

I also do this one (it is in the floor) for stretching out my lower body.

http://www.doyogawithme.com/content/yoga-athletes-60-minute-all-levels-class

Even if you can't do all the moves they will start to loosen up your joints.

50_to_lose

Anything you do that makes you breathe harder would be cardiovascular exercise.

Repeating movements that you do already such as getting out of a chair, walking

upstairs, getting up from the floor or getting out of bed etc are all movements

that your body is used to making and therefore you should be able to repeat these

movements with a low risk of injury.

Also doing boxing movements quickly with your arms while stationary will increase

your heart rate and the twisting motion will strengthen your core muscles.

Lying on the floor and lifting your legs one at a time will also strengthen your core

and elevate your heart rate.

Just a few ideas.

meshashesha2012

since you;re just starting out, i would first suggest getting used to devoting tie to exercise and start developing a baseline of fitness and endurance to build up from. there's plenty of time to go balls to the wall and trying out different things, but for now just get into the habit of exercising 30 minutes a day 5-6 days a week.

go for a walk, dance, yoga, etc. just do something where you're not killing yourself.

once you get in the habit of doing those 30 minutes (takes about 3-4 weeks to develop a habit) then start thinking about adding more time and adding more structured stuff , but for right now just develop the habit

you also might want to be careful with adding in bodyweight stuff like squats and pushups (right now) those things take a base level of fitness in order to perform correctly and if you start off trying to do squat challenges, push ups challenges etc you're potentially setting yourself up for injury because the odds of you not doing the movements correctly will be high

tfleischer

I found an article that may be of help to you:
http://www.fit-pro.com/ME2/dirmod.asp?type=Publishing&mod=Publications::Article&mid=8F3A7027421841978F18BE895F87F791&tier=4&id=CDF71F1F3B044BF9AED819DA2AD0CCF5


http://www.laparoscopic.md/exercise/stretching
This one has photos as well as specific stretching exercises for obese people.

http://exercise.about.com/od/weightloss/a/obese_exercise.htm
THis one has great links to other sources, including ideas about "online personal trainers" instead of face-to-face trainers which may be out of your economic range.

An earlier Poster said that weight loss is about diet, exercise is about fitness. There is a great deal of truth to this.

Change your diet, a lot.

If you will honestly log here on MFP, you will begin to see how foods that you thought were low cal and healthy are not. You will learn to make better choices. This approach will become a lifestyle instead of a diet, if you will do it regularly and with consistency.

As you lose weight, you will be able to increase exercise, which will help you even more.

Misty901

I have the same problem with walking. Shins start burning after a 1/4 mile and then ankle locks up about 1/2 mile mark. Believe it or not stretching has really improved my distance. Every day I do hamstring stretches and other flexibility exercises. When walking pick a route that has resting spots where you can stretch out during your walk. Always take water with you on the walk, because when the muscles dehydrate they start to hurt as well. I find malls make a good place to walk in the winter. In my area there are a number of parks that have exercise stops along walking trails that are great in good weather.

Its to bad you don't have access to a pool that would be the best alternative. The big key is to keep moving. When your legs are giving you problems, do some upper body workout. Even in exercise classes they tell you to only do what you can. I use a punching bag for a low impact workout. I don't really have much footwork going on, but still get a decent cardio benefit by keeping my upper body moving. Also it is a great stress reliever.

toridehaven

I cannot say thank you enough! These suggestions are a great starting point for me and right now I am willing to try anything! Thank you again everyone!