Going from sedentary to active...advice needed

You can do it!!!

You need to MAKE time for exercise. Protect your exercise time like an infant. Almost 3 years ago, I was 250 lbs with a lot of excuses. I was working as a nurse full time and also doing my BSN online. I had NO time......I made time! I put me first and that is the only way I succeeded at weight loss.

You need to do cardio AND weight train....even if you have to lift furniture until you can afford a gym membership. Look at garage sales for hand weights and start there. Watch videos online that use normal household items to strength train. They are out there. Get started now before your health declines even further. Lot's of support here.

Hi Littlefoot, you've already got some good advice but I thought I would throw my 2c worth in. Whatever you do, you need to be confident that you can do it week in, week out - don't take a really difficult regime right from the start that you end up dreading to carry out because it's too hard - you will set yourself up for failure. Strength and cardio are a great combination.

Petrina79's advice on getting a pedometer is very valuable advice. Use it and identify where your most inactive parts of the day are then figure out how to get some steps in them. For me, I try to get a 1 hour walk in each night and I really look forward to it - no music for me, I use that time to unload all of my thoughts and stress for the day and it works wonders for getting to sleep a couple of hours later. I also found that sitting at a desk all day doesn't accumulate the steps (who knew?) and I try and get up and walk whenever I can. I only started losing weight in January and as I got fitter, tried to add some harder core exercises (running up hills, early morning jogs etc) and found that I started to dread these exercises because they were just taking too much out of me, so I just walk more now. So if you get a pedometer and start by moving a bit more - park your car further away from the shops, if you are on the phone, walk around (slowly) while you are talking, if you are watching telly just get up during the ads and take a trip up the stairs and down again (or a weight rep), you will find that every little bit counts. The stairs you are doing are a great idea - if they are taking too much out of you - slow down.

Regarding strength training, keep a set of dumbells handy - a cheap 20kg set from a big box store is less than $20 around here and plenty to get you started. Combine that with some simple bodyweight exercises such as squats will get you started.

Final advice, have fun, make sure you look forward to the exercises and don't make it a logistical nightmare. If you need to get to a gym that's hard to get to and you haven't any clean enough clothes anyway and you really think it's not worthwhile unless you spend an hour there which will be too much, then you won't do it. If you start off at home with a few exercises between your existing activities and add some walking, you'll see the benefits within a few weeks and you'll keep going. There's nothing better than adding a bit more weight because the bicep curls you are doing are really just a bit too easy now or figuring out that a little tweak to the day can add another 1000 steps - just do it!!