Too big to exercise?

Rhea30

I have a problem where 30seconds - 2 minutes into a workout I feel like I am DYING. I've heard several theories: I'm not breathing right, I just have to get my endurance up, and then that I'm physically too large right now to do heavy cardio. Is there any truth to this? I've seen several bloggers who were trying to lose 100+ lbs that didn't start an exercise regimen until they'd lost about half of that so I was wondering if it's true. I certainly don't want to use that as a cop-out, but I also don't want to endanger myself exercising in a way that isn't good for me. Any thoughts? Or should I speak with a doctor about it?

Speak to a doctor about it, could be high blood pressure or anything. Also don't think you have to start out doing alot. I actually started out just doing one minute and nothing heavy, just a light stepping semi jog in place because I would get the same feeling. I can fully jog now up to 30 minutes comfortably. So speak to a doctor and find out what you can or can not do and even if its just a minute or a few seconds that is still good and better then nothing. Walking is also a good exercise if you're heavy so you might want to start with that.

bethdris

I too agree with seeking your doctors/dietician advice. The workouts you listed, I didn't start with at 244. I started on a elliptical machine, swimming, then went to walking outside, and a treadmill. Swimming is a great way to start! The most important thing is that you started! Keep it up

JPal5

Definitely start with walking and maybe add a little yoga as well?

bcattoes

I weighed 290lbs. I lost 10 lbs and then started walking some. I started off only walking about 10 minutes. After about 1 month I was up to 30 minutes per day. Some days I can walk 50 minutes split up into a morning and afternoon walk. It would be best for you to see your doctor to ask how much you should be exercising.

Very good advice here ^^

Walking is a great start. In fact, if you never did anything else you'd still improve your healthy greatly and burn calories. But once you lose some weight and build up your endurance with walking, you can add other more strenuous exercises if you want. Doing too much too soon can lead to injury so check with your doctor and listen to your body.

thrld

The great thing about walking is that you don't have to do it all in one shot. My 90-year old great aunt used to walk 4 miles a day.
But not all at once. She would go out 5-6 times for walks throughout the day. She had been doing it for years, and lived to be 104.

Krissy366

Thanks for all the responses! I'll definitely see a doctor soon to see what I should be doing. I've tried a variety of things, never lasting more than a day or two on each: 30 day shred, couch to 5k plan, various workout videos. I think I'm trying to do too much too fast because I never exercised AT ALL. I'm going to start just walking and building up my endurance for other things.

Yes - speak to your doctor, and until then, stick with walking. Walking is fantastic exercise. You do not need to be doing those other things right now (though you certainly CAN if your doctor says it's no danger). Eating right and walking will do wonders to get you started.

BeeElMarvin

Walk




A lot

^^^^^^^^^

Buckeyt

Like others have said, consult a doctor. If you're fine then remember that most people quit way too early. they don't realize that they can do more than they think.

Muhammad Ali was once asked how many situps he does. He said he didn't know becuase he didn't start counting until it started to hurt.

Arthemise1

My exercise is primarily walking. When I started in April at 290 pounds, I could barely do 20 minutes on the treadmill. Now at 274 pounds, I can do an hour at the park with no problem. I slowly upped my time. I don't think I've gotten much faster, but my endurance is much better. I can even jog a tiny bit, but I'm worried about hurting my knees. I also do water aerobics, which is pretty easy, but you feel it in your muscles later.

So do see your doctor, and if he or she okays it, start slowly and do what you can. You'll get better at it with time.

jzaz903

i was 270 at the beginning, and started exercising before i got my eating under control. in fact, i got my eating under control because of exercising and being at the gym.

walking is perfect, especially if you don't have a gym membership. you don't have to walk fast, you just have to do it. if you do belong to a gym or want to, i would start by doing any cardio machine with low-intensity-- think going on the treadmill for walking, using very little resistance and not going very fast on an elliptical or bike, etc.

the most important thing is to not give up! do something like that, and make your goal a little bigger every day. maybe you can only handle 20 minutes today, maybe by next tuesday you want to work up to 25 minutes. every little thing helps!

(for the record... i was like you in january. i started working on the cardio machines, went to zumba classes, and pushed myself to work harder every day. i'm just now comfortable with starting couch to 5k, and it kicks my butt every time.)

marylouise123

I started this journey at 295.. I started out with 20 minutes of Leslie Sansone walk away the pounds workouts.. Now I am up to at least an hour. Plus I do Wii boxing, Wii Tennis & I have several DVD's I do.. I even have done some Tae Bo & biggest loser DVD's.. Start small & work your way up.. Walking of any kind is a great start..I am down 33 pounds & 34.5 i nches so I know something is working... I have noticed alot on here that people jump right into the hard stuff & get discouraged when they can't do it.. Sometimes it works for people.. I have a bad knee so I started out with what worked for me.. I would rather do a 30 minute walking workout then try to do something that I just can't complete.. When I get more weight off then I will try that stuff.. The important thing is to move.. I do more yard work now, clean more... I know to some people this stuff is not a workout - but your still burning calories.. Good luck....

Yes2HealthyAriel

Oh wow I thought I was the only one, makes me feel a bit better. When I first started in April I could only workout doing jogging in place or a fitness video or step aerobics for a total of 2-3 minutes at a time. What I did, was do what I could then rest, then all through out the day when I noticed I had been sitting or being inactive for an hour or more I would get up and do another 2-3 minutes of exercise. I continued to do this until I could do more. One thing I could do without getting out of breath was going for slow walks. As you go along you will build up your endurance. I can now jog in place for 9-15 minutes straight. For me a big factor is humidity. I am originally from Oregon and still have not gotten used to the high humidity in the south. On high humidity days I can not go as long and get winded a lot faster. Just take it easy and do what you can and never give up. If you would like to add me for support go ahead and add me as a friend. Hope my info was helpful.

vim_n_vigor

Like you already said, see your doctor.
I had a lot less to lose than you when I started. I started by walking. At first it was only 5-10 minutes at a time. I was winded, tired and sore. But I kept going. When it started to get easier I added 5 more minutes of walking, or a flight of stairs. I was winded, tired and sore... see where this is going? A year later I am doing 45 minutes of Zumba or running a day (6 days a week) plus an hour or more of walking. I lift weights and feel so much better. It takes time. If you have never really exercised in your lift, those videos are going to be pretty demotivating in my opinion because they kind of assume that you are already at an ok fitness level or better. Turn on some tunes and walk in place!

BrianSharpe

I'm with the others in "talk to your doctor first" but I'm pretty sure that he or she will suggest that you start with something low impact and relatively low intensity, such as walking, water aerobics, stationary bike etc. as these will burn calories and, probably more importantly, improve your cardiovascular health, lipids etc.

You could also probably start some light strength training. There are a bazillion different exercise you can do using dumbbells, which are relatively inexpensive and don't take up a lot of space in your home.

The key is starting slow and progressing at a reasonably conservative rate and (really important) being consistent (ie walking 3 to 5 times weekly or more more and strength - even a few minutes at at time - 3 times per week)

EDesq

I have a problem where 30seconds - 2 minutes into a workout I feel like I am DYING. I've heard several theories: I'm not breathing right, I just have to get my endurance up, and then that I'm physically too large right now to do heavy cardio. Is there any truth to this? I've seen several bloggers who were trying to lose 100+ lbs that didn't start an exercise regimen until they'd lost about half of that so I was wondering if it's true. I certainly don't want to use that as a cop-out, but I also don't want to endanger myself exercising in a way that isn't good for me. Any thoughts? Or should I speak with a doctor about it?

An exercise routine is not something that you have to do at one time. Break it up into Manageable segments over the course of the day. You will be surprised how much just a little activity helps a very large person. As you progress in your wt loss increase your routine and toning efforts.

NotGoddess

Definitely make an appt to get checked out by your doctor. You don't want some underlying issue affecting you that you don't know about. If you know, then you can work around it.

Like others have said, start walking. Let your body tell you for how long or how fast. Rest when needed. LRR. You'll build up cardio endurance and soon walking a mile or two or three won't be a big deal-maybe not easy, but definitely do-able. Then look into doing the c25k if your doctor gave you the green light. You'll already know you can walk that far, and it'll make the first few weeks easier in perspective if not in doing.

Just remember your goal right now is just progress of any kind.

foxbat2828

I started at around 295 and could barely do more than about 5 minutes on a treadmill when I started back in November. Last week I did 99 minutes on the elliptical. It can certainly be done, but realize that those first few weeks, you are not going to necessarily be running a marathon.

Start out small. Walk. Each day add a little something different TO YOUR LIFESTYLE as opposed to your exercise routine ... although you can certainly add to your exercise routine too. For example, one thing I started doing after I started my routines, is I started walking down stairs. I know that sounds strange, but instead of taking the elevator from the third floor down, I would walk down the stairs. It put some extra steps in my day so that outside of my workouts I was getting to add some activity. Instead of parking right next to the elevator doors in the parking garage, I started parking a couple of spots down, so that I walked a few extra steps ... after a couple of days, I'd park one or two spots further away. Eventually, I started getting more and more stamina while working out and that transformed into starting to go UP the stairs at work. I find now that I take the stairs all of the time instead of using elevators.

This will all come to you, but the biggest enemy is time because people often get frustrated because they don't see change quick enough ... but it will come if you can wait it out. It will take time with some small, even miniscule, results early on, but then one day you'll notice that adding an extra minute or a 1/2 degree incline on the treadmill doesn't feel like anything at all. At that point, the light goes on and the burden gets lighter ... I promise.

kgprice11

My friend who has lost 99 lbs. so far actually got a fitness trainer because it was to hard to workout alone and too hard to keep motivated, therefore he hired a trainer at his gym and started eating healthier and so forth.

shar140

Good idea to talk to your healthcare provider, and lots of walking to build up your endurance!

I started at 260+ lbs (double the weight I should be!), and I couldn't even walk around my block (not even a mile!) or up just 1 flight of stairs to my boss's office (SO.Embarassing.). I eventually built up to that, plus adding a lap around another block, then adding more laps around that smaller block (I didn't want to venture too far from home, lol). I also found a women's only gym that had a circuit (similar to curves, but had more equipment - cardio, weights, etc), so I'd do that plus the recumbent bike. Lots of walking, like others mentioned! Split it up too, like others said. I would walk at lunch sometimes (I kept a pair of sneakers at my desk), and walk in the evenings.

That was 75+ lbs ago. Last weekend I ran a 5k in 35 minutes. You'll get there. :flowerforyou:

mello

First of all, like almost all here have stated....consult your doctor to be cleared.

I was 328 when I started and I have been doing cardio from day one. I felt like I was about to pass out as well, but after being cleared from doc, I realized this was just due to my weight and previous inactivity.

I started walking on the treadmill for 15 mins at a time.
2.0 for the first two mins
2.5 for the next two mins
3.0 for one min
Then I started that 5 min interval all over again. You will be suprised how fast you are able to adjust your speed up, increase your time and add incline.

I still do intervals, I only do 30 mins a day but I make it count. If I was told I had to exercise 2 hrs a day to get results I would have quit long ago!!!!

Oh, I also strength train two times a week as well.

All my best to you!! :flowerforyou: