Obese MFP'ers - question!

I think you have to give yourself some time and slack. I know for me it took a while. I know I felt I was dying doing advanced taebo. I just hung in there. Huff and puff take water breaks. I just did my best. That last go round the weight fell off (with fruits and veggies too) 30 lbs in about 3-3.5 months. Trying to replicate. This time it's staying off.

I was (still am?) completely out of shape. Not only obese but sedentary. I only started this process 10 days ago. I began with water aerobics (water strength training too) because I just literally could not bear the stress of my weight. Every tendon/joint hurt after 2 days of working in water. I posted on MFP frustrated; and someone told me to give myself a break and that it's hard to start after being sedentary for so long. I took a day off and started back again after that. It was better. Took another day off and substituted light walking instead of aerobics. Went back to water aerobics and felt much, much better. So good in fact that I did a trial run of level 1 30 day shred. Found it hard but made it through (except had to sub wall pushups for real pushups). Muscles hurt after but in a really FEEL GOOD way.... I think each day is better and better. When you are too too too sore, give yourself a day of rest in between and then get back at it...

I noticed an almost immediate increase in endurance when I was swimming. First swim I was hard pressed to hit 100 meters for each stroke in 30 minutes, by the next week, I was able to make a full 400 meters in about an hour and a half. Month and a half later, I'm up to 400 meters in under an hour, and I've swapped out my easiest "rest" stroke (side stroke) for the butter fly in all the sets, and I'm starting to add it back in now instead of taking the 2 - 3 minute break between sets.

Same goes for the treadmill. When I started (about 3 weeks ago with this one), I was struggling to keep it at 2.5 mph for 15 minutes, now I'm up to walking an average of 2.8 for 30 minutes on a .5 or 1% incline.

I started with walking, a little farther every day. Then I moved onto exercise DVDs. I made it a goal to get 25% of the way through, then 50%, then 75%, then 100%. This gave my body time to get used to exercise, I didn't get hurt, and I didn't feel defeated.

You should feel improvements every time you workout in the beginning. I started with boot camp style videos and using the eliptical. The first time I did the video I thought I was going to puke. The next time I did it that feeling got better, not gone completely, but better. Whatever workout you do should never feel easy no matter what size or fitness level you are. If it gets easy you need to kick up again. I am in 100x better shape than I was last March when I started working out but, I still do workouts that make me want to die, lol. Funny thing is that when I am done with the workout I feel awesome. Like I really accomplished something. Best feeling ever.

My highest weight was 354, even then I was able to run pretty regularly and do situps and pushups, pullups, played basketball, all that jazz. I have always been able to get around well for my size. So I guess it really depends on how well you carry your weight. But even so, there is room for improvement. In about three weeks when I first started full time exercising, I cut my mile from 16 mins to 7 mins. You just sort of build your way up and dont rush into it if you can't really handle it.

When I could run a mile again without stopping then running that same mile faster... it took several weeks, but that's when I felt better about fitness than just lifting heavier. Now, I rather lift an extra 5 lbs onto my PR's.

If at some time in the recent past you were doing "hardcore workouts," you will probably get back into it a lot faster than you expect.

Before a year ago, I spent the vast majority of the prior ten years either lying in bed, on the couch, or sitting on my butt. Yes, ten years. Last summer I decided to start walking on a treadmill, and I easily and quickly saw improvement. After a couple of months, I grew weary of that "nutritious food and exercise" thing and went back to sitting on my butt and eating ice cream.

About the beginning of February this year, I grew weary of the "eat crap and laze around" thing and went back to eating healthfully and using the treadmill. I wasn't where I was when I left off, but I definitely wasn't back where I'd been back in the summer either. It grows easier every time I use it-- or rather, I increase the challenge in different ways each time I use it, because I can handle it.

Here's the reason to start slow, almost to the point where you're not even sure you're really challenging yourself: You will improve quickly, and you will like that feeling, and you will keep doing it. If you start a little too tough for what you're ready for, you won't see the improvement as quickly and you may become frustrated and you may quit doing it. Doing it totally beats not doing it, even if you're not doing it super tough.

Good luck!

I am my own worst enemy when it comes to exercise. I find something that looks interesting, get all the proper gear, read up on it, do everything possible associated to the exercise and then I do day 1. It feels great! I'm proud of myself. Then I do day 2 and suddenly my feet hurt. my ankles hurt. my knees hurt. Day 3- I give up. Instead of taking it slow & steady I'm off like a shot and injure myself. I have horrible feet & ankles to begin with so doing higher impact exercise with an extra 80-90 lbs on my body is not smart, but still I insist on doing it. In my head I'm a skinny little runner. Too bad my head hasn't told the rest of me that. :embarassed:

Have you tried yoga? I know a guy who had some serious joint issues and got into amazing shape doing ashtanga yoga. It's very strength oriented, but there's a lot of stretching as well, and zero impact on the joints.

Just do it. Five days a week at first.

If you can do 16 minutes today, try for 17 tomorrow. Take two days off to stretch and relax, then get right back at it.

Once you are able to do 30 minutes, you can reduce the frequency to three times a week, and start picking up some light weights.

In January, I damn near killed myself trying to run to the end of my block. I could do 10 push-ups on my knees, and about 5 sit-ups. Now I am able to jog 1/4 of the track each time I go, and I am slowly building up from there. I haven't tried push-ups or sit-ups in a while, but I use a 45 pound barbell twice a week.

It gets MUCH easier the more you do it!

It only takes a little while to notice a difference. I just re-started working out again, maybe like a week and today I went up the stairs without being totally winded like normally.
I think it varies from person to person, probably age will have a lot to do with it, how frequent you actually work out and yada yada. But it really shouldn't take long to notice small differences

I started as class III obese (morbidly obese -- BMI 42+/-) and am now about midway overweight (bmi +/- 28)... I actually started exercise about 3-4 weeks into the journey after losing about 10-15 lbs. I started slowly and progressed relatively rapidly once I really got into it.. Now, I miss it when my schedule does not permit it. I got up to 65 min cardio and an 45 min weights most days but have increased the weights and decreased cardio to about 30 min most days (though sometimes I still do the longer cardio time).. My focus has changed over the months. I would say, start slowly... don't worry about how long you do it.. just do some daily... Increase as you are ready. Do something you enjoy doing.. or are confident that you will enjoy doing... REmember.. If you enjoy it, you will keep it up more readily than if you don't enjoy doing it. Best wishes on your journey.

It was at least six months in when I noticed a difference. As my weight dipped it got a little easier to jog, and now it hardly bothers me to jog for 60 minutes at a low speed. Over time my body adapted to the shock of exercise. That doesn't mean I'm no longer challenging myself. I am always sore after 2 - 3 days of activity, and sometimes worn out after intervals. But at this point in time my body bounces back quickly. My heart rate used to stay above 160 + with any jog, now it only goes that high when I sprint, and hangs around 120 - 140 with a slow jog.

When I was fat every workout was an uphill struggle, and I felt mentally as well as physically destroyed. I could feel the effects over the next couple of days. Now I recover fast and my body gets with the program within minutes. I am almost always sore after weights too, but it doesn't feel like I've been run over by a truck like it used to.