Improving fitness levels

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Moonlight17
Moonlight17 Posts: 173 Member
in Health and Weight Loss
I know this may sound weird, but I have been sedentary pretty much all my life, and recently embarked on a workout program and my fitness levels are complete rubbish.

How long does it take/has taken you to see an improvement in your fitness levels and to lose weight?

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  • Mokey41
    Mokey41 Posts: 5,769 Member
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    It depends how much you do, how often you do it and how dedicated you are.
  • Moonlight17
    Moonlight17 Posts: 173 Member
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    So say you start working out regularly and daily every day, will it improve your fitness a lot? Or have I got no hope at all? Sorry I'm new to all this :(
  • pamwhite712
    pamwhite712 Posts: 193 Member
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    So say you start working out regularly and daily every day, will it improve your fitness a lot? Or have I got no hope at all? Sorry I'm new to all this :(

    Take me for example. I was VERY sedentary a month and a half ago. I have a treadmill. At first it was a struggle for me to walk 2.5 mph for even 30 minutes. Now I'm up to 3.0 mph for 60 minutes a day, and I'm going to have to increase my speed because it's getting a lot easier for me.

    So if you keep at it every day, even if it's hard at first, you will get more fit. You'll have more energy and just feel better in general.
  • GoddessG
    GoddessG Posts: 175 Member
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    I have a Bowflex (bought it used). BEcause I am obese and lazy, (and because it hurt my back too much to walk - even to the mailbox), I use it for rowing (mostly leg work done from a sitting position) and strengthening core muscles plus shoulders. Occasional work on arm muscles.

    How long did it take to feel results from exercise? Well, the low-impact cardio that I began my diet with did nothing for me.

    I sure "felt" the results right after I began Bowflexing. I'm about 6 weeks into Bowflexing at least 5 days/week, and I feel it with every step I take & every move I make. It's hard to believe that I'm still fat, I feel so good! (And because I put the Bowflex in front of a TV and VCR/DVD player, I can watch motivational videos to inspire me or good movies to take my mind off the exercise.) I do it in the morning before my husband gets up.

    I too was sedentary, but now I have so much energy that I'm no so certain that I should call myself that any more. I am doing more things during my day. It happened so naturally. It's not like I forced myself or anything. It's just much easier to do a task than it was, and I enjoy feeling how fit I am becoming (underneath the fat).
  • aynhagenbarth
    aynhagenbarth Posts: 75 Member
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    2 years ago I was 203 pounds and extremely sedentary. I was given a treadmill and I could barely walk at 3.5 for 30 minutes, but I did it. I did that every day for a week. Then I started doing 40 minutes then and hour....then I moved up to 4.0. Then I started doing the Jillian videos, until I lost 60 pounds. Now I love to run, and I am extremely active. But at the beginning it was tough. I would say it took me a couple of weeks to where I wasn't feeling winded at 3.5 and a month before I started feeling good. Don't give up there's always hope!!
  • Moonlight17
    Moonlight17 Posts: 173 Member
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    Thank you everyone! Given me hope that I can change my life around and be fitter and active.. Eventually and not too long into the future.

    All your replies mean a lot x
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,868 Member
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    So say you start working out regularly and daily every day, will it improve your fitness a lot? Or have I got no hope at all? Sorry I'm new to all this :(

    Yes...that's how you improve your level of fitness...just don't over train...easy to do when you're a beginner because everybody wants to go balls to the wall. When I first got back into fitness pretty much all I could do was go for a brisk walk 3x weekly without over taxing my body...pretty soon that turned into 5x weekly...then eventually that turned into doing an aerobic level exercise 3x weekly and a recovery zone exercise 3x weekly...then adding strength training 3x weekly. In four months, I've made huge improvements in my fitness level, but am not even close to my level of fitness when I ran track, played football, or my Marine Corps fitness level.

    Losing weight and upping your fitness are both a slow process that take dedication and perseverance. If it was easy or quick, everybody would be fit and everybody would be at a healthy weight.

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