Too big to exercise?

I"m 5'2 and my heaviest weight was 224. I started slow with just walking a couple miles a day.

I started with Richard Simmons - I know it's old but, he really motivated me and he has bigger people doing his workouts with him in the video. I had to buy mine on Amazon but saw a couple at Walmart. I'm still large but have worked my strength up considerably I would recommend starting with Sweatin to the Oldies

Walking is where I started at 258 lbs. I walked in the freezing cold outside to get my butt moving. Once you get better with walking and your body is more in shape for excercise try the BIggest Loser DVDs. I love them and they helped me lose a lot of weight - see ticker. You just gotta get moving and using mfp to log your food intake is key too.

Good luck!

I started at 266 lbs, down to 231 now. I have a recumbent bike that's easy on my back, knees, and legs (which is good, because I have Fibromyalgia. It's the one exercise I can do a lot of as long as I'm careful about leg cramps).

I also do strength training with free weights. At the gym: stationary bikes, treadmills, and weight machines.

You aren't too big to exercise, girly. You just gotta find what works with you.

I'm 5'11" and started at 365ish on the elliptical. If I wasn't too big then you should be fine. Did I get on it the first time and do an hour? No. Was I probably sore? Sure. The point is that "I can't feeling" you are feeling is just your mind telling you it'd be easier to just watch TV rather than exercise. Power through it.

I'm 5'3 and I starting weight was...well I said 196 because that sounded better then 200, in my head....but anyway, my starting exercise was just walking, walking as fast as I could for 20 to 30 minutes and every week I would increase the walk time. You can do this, it is so worth it

Nope, you're never too big to exercise.

My starting weight was 290. I lost my first 15 pounds just playing on my Wii Fit. That was month 1. The second month, I joined my local gym and started doing easy 20 min. walks on the treadmill 3-5x per week. I found Leslie Sansone's Walk Away the Pounds DVD's for home. Lost about 10 more. Then I tried out the elliptical and started doing weight machines. 10 more gone. I then got together with a personal trainer for a month and started strength and circuit training with medium free weights for 1 hour 2x per week. Then I started C25K (running program) and learned to run. By this time, I was 247 pounds. 8 months into exercising, I ran my first 5K at 230 pounds. I didn't have a fast time or beat any records but I finished!! Along the way I also started lifting really heavy weights. I found the Stronglifts 5x5 program. Barbell compound lifts - squats, deadlifts, bench press, rows, overhead press. I didn't lose too much more weight but the inches started flying off. Lifting changed my body shape so much! The jiggly bits started disappearing. My body was noticeably firming up. And man was I getting STRONG! Every day life has become so much nicer since I started lifting. It makes every day activities so much easier like bringing groceries in, moving furniture, ect. Also my chronic back problems have improved by 95%! My back used to kill me all the time. Not anymore

My point is to start small and gradually work your way up. When I first started I could barely do a 15 minute Leslie Sansone workout video. Now I can do her 1 hour 5 mile superwalk. I look forward to my workouts. If I don't exercise I feel weird like something is missing. Find something you like to do that you'll stick to and make exercise a part of your lifestyle. You won't regret it.

You can do it!!

I started cycling when I was about 216. I couldn't handle running, but I could handle sitting on my butt and reading for an hour a day.

I started running when I was just under 200lbs. Kept running on the C25k program till I had lost 20lbs, at about 180.

To start, erase CAN'T from your vocabulary. If you go into this with a defeated attitude, you may as well quit now because you're not going to get anywhere. This is mental as well as physical.

If the exercises you're doing hurt that bad, take it down a notch. Start with walking or other forms of cardio. Both the elliptical and arc trainer are low impact machines that will burn massive calories. They're easy on the knees and something I was able to do after a complete knee reconstructive surgery.

If you're interested in taking the home DVD route, I suggest the Extreme Makeover Workout dvd. It's a lot like the 30 Day Shred, but Chris Powell has aimed it toward those just beginning and are really out of shape or injured.

What you eat will also play a role in how you feel when you exercise.

It helps to lose a bit of weight before starting exercise, but it isn't necessary. I started off 70+ pounds overweight and at nearly 60% body fat. I did the keto diet for 3 months, lost 30 pounds. Then I started Couch to 5k and I lost the remaining weight over the course of another six months. I am now down into the lower 20's in body fat %. Personally I recommend my approach, but only because it worked for me.

You need cardio to burn fat. How you go about that really isn't important. You can walk, hike, run, lift weights, bike, whatever. I am skeptical of the workout DVD's because I always mistrust someone who is trying to sell me something, especially when it comes to diet and weight loss. There are too many hucksters out there and I just default to mistrusting them. However, if they make you sweat, and increase your heart rate enough to get you into the 140-160 BPM range, then go for it. All that matters is you get your heart pumping at a higher rate than is normal. The most important thing is to find something that you can do on a regular basis and not dread it.

THE MOST IMPORTANT THING YOU CAN DO FOR EXERCISE IS FIND ONE YOU LIKE DOING.