What type of exercise for obese women

Sorry I didn't start at your weight but I'd recommend the same. Strength training

With bodyweight or free weights or whatever you enjoy but start now to help maintain lean mass while you lose fat.

I'm sure others can advise on good cardio but I don't like it so....

Honestly, just find something you enjoy and are likely to stick at.

Go to YouTube and search for Launchpad. It's designed specifically for obese people.

Well done on the 10 k! Sounds like you do plenty

Like I said, do what you enjoy BUT if you can stand it, I'd suggest - progressively increasing the weights so that it's heavy (for you) and maybe do the cardio afterwards so you have more energy for the strength stuff.

But that's just a suggestion - you do a hell of a lot more than me

ChubbyVAgirl wrote: »

Thanks everyone for the advice! I currently try to go to the gym 5-7 days a week for an hour at a time. I usually do 20-40 minutes of cardio and 20-40 minutes of light weights. I did my first 10K this year and completed it in just under 2 hours! I'm going to do the same 10K this year but hope to have my time down. I've heard a lot about the C25K I downloaded it but haven't had a chance to use it yet.. have you seen any improvement since using it?

Well done on your gym commitment. As above I'd suggest switching to heavy weights (for you) as you want to retain as much muscle mass as possible whilst losing weight (don't worry about getting 'bulky' as its almost impossible to gain muscle eating at a deficit and anyway its difficult for women to gain significant muscle mass without a great deal of dedicated training).

As for C25K - I went from struggling to run for literally 1min last May to so far this year I've run 6 Half Marathons, a number of 10ks (quickest was last weekend and took me 52mins) and run my local 5k parkrun most weekends (my 1st 5k took me over 50mins last August, my current PB is 25:17) and I'm now training for a spring marathon (ran 14 miles this morning) so I can definitely say I've seen some improvements since using C25K! What I will add is I really disliked the first few weeks on it as it felt tough but then I started seeing and feeling improvements - now I'm totally addicted.

Best of luck

I started heavier than you at a "super morbidly obese" BMI and have recently crossed over into "overweight." Including exercise has been a big part of my success so far (frankly because it helps me eat enough so I don't feel deprived, but also because DAYUM my body has been very cooperative about retaining lean mass while I've lost >145 lbs so far).

Here are my thoughts:

1. Right now, the most important thing for you is establishing a habit you'll stick with. The "effectiveness" should be a low priority. Focus on making sure you do have a stable routine and that you stick to it. Start out with low goals. I started with just a few minutes of stretching every day, but quickly progressed to adding 20 minutes of light cardio, and then built up steadily from there until in a month or two I was doing 45 minutes of light cardio 6X a week.

2. It's gonna suck for the first several months no matter what you do. But that's okay! You can push through. And I promise, once you've got a few months under your (rapidly loosening) belt, it does start to feel really really right. For the first few months, it really actually helped me to workout pretty much every day -- taking days off (planned or unplanned) interrupted my momentum and made me dread getting back to it much harder. Because I wasn't lifting heavy weights and was essentially just doing cardiovascular conditioning and mobility work at first, taking rest days wasn't really as important as it becomes once you're doing high intensity work or lifting heavy. I also made it a habit to "talk myself" into exercising by making myself dress out for it, even if I didn't feel like exercising. It discouraged me from making exercise something I did "if I had time" if I had an obligation to change my clothes at least. But my point is, you may have to play some psych ops with yourself. It's okay -- just keep at it.

3. Threads like this inevitably attract advice from well-meaning fit young people who have never been obese and who often give, frankly, terrible advice based on a failure to account for your probable limitations. Unless you're VERY young, you'll probably want to stay away from high-impact activity until you lose more weight. (Generally, that means any exercise where both feet leave the floor from time to time: running and jumping are the prime examples. By the way, "high impact" and "high intensity" are not the same thing. Once your cardiovascular system is conditioned, you can do "high intensity" work even while very obese.)

4. Understand that while it's perfectly normal and okay that right now you will have limitations in terms of endurance, joint pain, reduced mobility, balance and bio-mechanical issues because your center of gravity is probably located somewhere different than it is for people with standard-issue body size, etc., none of those things mean that you can't exercise. There's always a way to get in some exercise. You'll just have to be open to modifications. Workout vid wants you to do jumping jacks? LOL no thanks but I'll do power jacks instead. Yoga vid tells you how relaxed you should feel during sivasana? LOL not with the junk in my trunk -- I'll have to keep my knees bent and feet on the floor. Etc. A sense of humor and a willingness to experiment will go a long way.

5. Specifically, I started with FitnessBlender.com, which offers tons of free streaming workout videos. The really great thing is that they've tagged all their workouts by difficulty level, so you can just filter to level 1 (those are pretty much stretching only) and level 2 (stretching and relatively easy cardio and "toning") while you're acclimatizing your body to regular exercise.

6. Walking is a FANTASTIC fat-burner when you're obese. SRSLY. Walk as much as your knees will let you. And yes, understand that your knees and possibly your heels will object at some point. Listen to them, and don't push them too far at first. Get a decent pair of walking shoes, and maybe some orthotic inserts for plantar fascitiis (pf is a common complaint among obese people who walk a lot. I had it, and it went away after I lost some weight though.) Just gradually work your way up as your joints let you.

7. I got a kettlebell last year and found that was a great way to get in a very sweaty, sweaty low-impact workout using a bit of resistance. Best fitness money I ever spent.

I started out at your weight. I joined the local aquatic center. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I swam and did the water aerobics. Tuesday and Thursday I did the treadmill and stepper plus the weights. During the week for regular exercise I walked and when I went to the store to shop I parked further away from the entrances.

Start out slow though. If you push to hard to fast your body will protest. When I started walking I was PATHETIC to the extreme. Could only last 10 to 15 minutes at first. The swimming I had less trouble with. Still, it was sad. 2 laps and DONE. Then we moved and the new places around here were just plain out of my price range. The good news is that when I left I was doing close to 30 laps at a time...and walking was up to an hour.

Just remember, You don't get there overnight so don't stress too much. It took me 2 years to get to where I am. Been in maintenance now for about 3 years.

ChubbyVAgirl wrote: »

So I'm just under 300 lbs (296) and I'm wondering if anyone has found a good weight loss exercise routine that has helped who started around my weight?

I'm obese. 5'2", 249.5 lbs.

I'm a swimmer. That's the only significant exercise I've been doing since I started this diet back at the end of September and I've lost about 11 lbs so far.

I swim because I love it, and because I want to do big open water swims. Swam a mile this morning and it took me around 50 minutes. (I'm slow)

But I got into swimming as exercise because it was easy on joints and even walking made my calves cramp up. It doesn't NOW, but it took some pretty dedicated swimming (30-40 minutes every weekday) to do it.

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Walking. A simple, effective, and total body workout.

I started at 335 and am now 306. I walk a lot and I mean a lot! Get good shoes and watch for shin splints. Take a day off if you need to to let them heal up. I started off walking a mile or 2 each day very slowly but keep getting faster and faster. Ellipticals and treadmills are great, too, but I am taking advantage of every nice day to be outside and walking before its too cold.

Start at the beginning - diet.

Make sure your calorie intake is reasonable/appropriate. No exercise plan in the world will help if you're eating more than you should be.

Assuming your intake is where it should be, exercise can be about whatever you want. Ideally you'll want a nice mix of strength training and moderate intensity steady state cardio. Strength training can be as simple as body weight exercises and/or resistance bands right on up to a dedicated gym routine with free weights. It all depends on what you enjoy, what you're comfortable with, and what you have access too. Same with cardio - a brisk walk can be more than sufficient, or you can swim, eliptical, group exercise classes, etc.

At this point your focus should be getting your intake correct and getting some exercise. How you do those things is largely up to you.

I was just into the "obese range" for my weight after having my son when my weight stopped going down post partum..Being busy and a new mommy, I decided to use wii fit. I did the strength training and yoga exercises and then exercised for at least 40 minutes using the step aerobics. Somedays I would add in hulahooping. It got me down 25 pounds. My husband & I would occasionally walk the park which is about 45 minutes long so that helps too. as long as you are building up a sweat (or feeling the burn in your muscles) for half an hour a day, I'd say it's a good exercise. good luck

Swim, swim, swim.

Nothing burns more calories than swimming. It's also easy on the joints, doesn't make you feel hot and sweaty and is one exercise where the fat doesn't hold you back.

When I was 250 pounds, there is no way I could've run. Some people can, but it couldn't. I'm about 180 now and find it difficult. But I swam just fine.

If you don't like wearing a bathing suit, get a one-piece jogger...and get over yourself.