trying to exercise

chrissythepoet
chrissythepoet Posts: 19 Member
Hi

I'm Chrissy and I have a few questions.

I just started exercising. I started dieting in November (due to the holidays I gained back what I had lost). I feel great because of the dieting. Like the old saying you are what you eat. If you eat a lot of little debbie snacks then you will feel bad all night and be depressed all night. If you eat a banana then you will feel like you had a snack and weren't depriving yourself.

Okay...so I started the walk away the pounds 1 mile video on youtube. I figured it would be easy. But...it's not. I always feel so out of breath when I do it. Someone said I should go to the pool. Well, I'm around 350 and can't get down the little ladders at the public pool.

So I want to know. How do I breath when I exercise? How can I make exercise fun?

I like praise dancing but I can't afford a dance video right now. Also if I do 5 minutes of exercise is that enough to burn calories?

Thank you for listening. I know I have a long journey to go. Please feel free to friend me
Chrissy

Replies

  • sparklefrogz
    sparklefrogz Posts: 281 Member
    Hi Chrissy,

    I'm pretty new here myself but my husband is approximately your weight and he is on a journey to get fit too. The big thing we have to remember is to modify things for him as needed and measure his progress against his own yardstick, not mine or anyone else's. He's carried around lots of extra weight since he was about 8 to 10 years old, and his joints are pretty much shot from that plus a lot of weight yoyoing and general abuse during teenage years (he was in the cadet corps...), so running is right out and even basic bodyweight exercises can be difficult or need severe modification depending on how his knees and feet are that day.

    What physically active things do you enjoy doing, or did you enjoy in the past? You can usually engage in some form of them, even if it's little by little at first. You will ramp up as you keep doing it, I promise. At this point anything you do helps. You are looking to build habits and change lifestyle more than "burn X amount of calories". (Also, one of the bonuses about being more overweight: you burn way more calories doing the same thing for the same time than you would if you were lighter. My man burns twice as many calories as me for any exercise we do together...)

    You mentioned praise dancing; I've not practised it myself but wouldn't it be possible to simply play some music that moves you and, well, move as the Spirit moves you? Maybe something from Youtube or a CD you already own? I bet if you started your day with just one song, it would put a good start to your morning. If you have a reflective practice or reading/study you do then, it would dovetail nicely with that too. :)
  • Sedna_51
    Sedna_51 Posts: 277 Member
    I want to second all the things that sparklefrogz says above- especially about measuring yourself against your own yardstick! I used to feel worthless because I couldn't do what I thought of as "real exercise"- running, heavy weightlifting, kickboxing. But I'm gradually learning that any kind of movement counts, especially early on. I hate running for a lot of reasons, but I love to walk and dance and do beginner yoga and Pilates; those are my main forms of exercise, and now I actually /enjoy/ getting up and doing something with my body on a regular basis (well, most days!)

    "You are looking to build habits and change lifestyle more than 'burn X amount of calories'". Yes, yes, yes. I want to sew this onto a pillow and keep it on my couch. I have been pretty successful in my fitness goals after joining MFP, and I think the main reason is that I am taking things very slowly. I tried to choose small, achievable goals to work towards, instead of my past tactics of "do everything at once, then feel awful when I stumbled". I didn't exercise at all at first, so when I started exercising, I tried to do twenty minutes of something I enjoyed, twice a week. Then three times a week. Then thirty minutes, three times a week. It took longer to do, but I think I'm much more likely to keep doing what I'm doing this way.

    One last thing- I get out of breath easily too. I thought it was because I was out of shape, and I would beat myself up about it. It turns out I have exercise-induced asthma. So I looked for exercise that wouldn't give me an asthma attack, and I had to give myself permission to stop and get my breath back whenever I needed it. (Which is silly- it's not like I had a gym coach yelling at me, but sometimes it feels like there's one in my head.) There's no rule that says you have to exercise for X minutes straight- you can stop, take a breather, get a drink, and start back up as many times as your body needs to. Eventually as you practice, you'll be able to go longer and longer.

    Best of luck, my friend! I'd be happy to be friends if you're interested!