Looking for a general start

TheJourneyForward
TheJourneyForward Posts: 4 Member
in Getting Started
Good morning, I’m new to the app and new to trying out losing weight in a healthy manner for my body and mind. I haven’t done any workouts for a couple years and due to mental illness among other things I found myself let go and without strength. I’m hoping to lose 40 lbs in the next 6-12 months as a starter goal.
With all that being said, a lot of workouts seem hard for me and I’m struggling to maintain the confidence in some HIIT workouts viewable on videos.

I currently have not much arm strength and find it hard for push ups, sit ups, and maintaining tightening my core and was wondering if there is any helpful tips that I could try.
I’m also working on intermittent fasting as a way to get myself focused to achieve my goal.

Replies

  • goal06082021
    goal06082021 Posts: 2,130 Member
    Hello!

    The good news is that you don't actually need to exercise in order to lose weight - it all comes down to calories in < calories out, and it's much easier to reduce calories in than it is to increase calories out. Exercise is mostly for fitness/wellness, so you should absolutely incorporate it into your daily routine as much as you're able, but it's not necessary for weight loss specifically.

    I'll also validate that it's REALLY hard to find true "beginner" workouts if you're just Googling around for them; with Pinterest especially, you'll find a lot of garbage infographic-style workouts that are either just crappy workouts in and of themselves or that assume a certain base level of fitness/ability. HIIT is categorically not a beginner type of workout, but it's having a Moment(tm) right now so there's also a lot of stuff out there calling itself "HIIT" that isn't.

    Walking is a perfectly valid way to get some cardio in; weather- and COVID-restrictions-permitting, perhaps start going for walks outside. Walking is an endurance sport, so you do need to start smaller than you think and build up; start with a brief, maybe 10-15 minute out-and-back (set a timer for 5-7 minutes, walk until it beeps, turn around and go back the way you came), and add a minute or two each day.
  • rosebarnalice
    rosebarnalice Posts: 3,488 Member
    Consider taking things in steps so that you can focus on building healthy habits over time. Maybe something like this could work:
    1. Week 1 & 2: Weighing Food & Logging Consistently: focusing on weighing and measuring foods accurately and getting in the habit of logging everything is a good place to start--even if you don't make dramatic changes in your eating patterns. Start noticing those times of day that you are feeling truly HUNGRY versus those when you're just "NOSHY" and want to eat something even if you're not hungry. Observe how many of your daily calories you tend to consume in the morning versus mid-day versus at night. When do you eat your fats? Your veg? Your sugars and sweets? Just becoming moe aware of these patterns then gives you some things to begin to change.
    2. Week 3 & 4: Reducing Calorie Goal and Staying at or Under It. Once you have a handle on your eating patterns and weighing, measuring, and logging is feeling more like a habit, NOW put some of those observations of week 1 & 2 to use. When do you consume and crave sweets? Is that a time you can perhaps substitute a piece of fruit for your afternoon cookie? Are you getting enough veggies throughout the day? Can you increase your veg at lunch and reduce the carbs? How are your portions? Can you be satisfied with 1 piece of toast instead of two?
    3. Weeks 5 & 6: Tweak that Time Clock. This might be when you want to focus on adjusting your intermittent fasting/ eating intervals based on what you've learned from Weeks 1-4. Do you need breakfast first thing in the morning, and can deal with an early dinner so you have something like a 7:00 a.m.- 4:00 p.m. eating window? Or maybe you're one of those that really doesn't feel like eating when you first get up, so a feel you can put off your first meal until later in the day and so your food window is more like 10:00- 7:00?
    4. Weeks 7 & 8: Up the Activity. Adding activity does mean pumping iron and running marathons. Maybe it's walking around the block climbing the stairs, or or doing some simple strength exercises with tomato cans, or some basic yoga moves for strength and balance. Be patient, start small, and build up. Maybe you can only walk for 10 minutes at first, but if you keep doing it, you'll be able to do 15. . . 20. . . 30. . . .45 over time.

    This may not be the best schedule for YOU, but the idea is not to get overwhelmed and taking things on a bit at a time.
  • nanastaci2020
    nanastaci2020 Posts: 1,072 Member
    Walk. If you can only walk a short distance then walk that short distance. Do it a few times a day. And gradually increase either the distance or the # of circuits.

    Look for beginner exercises online. Use household objects to start doing simple things like bicep curls - a water bottle perhaps? Move up to bigger as you're able. Wall pushups. Squats. Leg lifts. If you can only do a few, then do those few and rest 45 seconds then do a few more.

    But keep in mind, exercise is for fitness & health. It can supplement your weight loss efforts, but weight loss is about how much you consume. Accurately & honestly logging your intake. Look for little ways you can change what or how much you're eating, and build from there.
  • lemurcat2
    lemurcat2 Posts: 7,885 Member
    edited April 2021
    You've gotten some great advice. I'd also try to take things in steps to get habits down and have some achievable goals for each week. I'd probably start by getting in the habit of logging and therefore understanding how you can cut calories, and also by walking.

    After that I'd go through my days to figure out tweaks to improve them and work on that -- cutting back on cals, maybe increasing nutrition if that seems to be an issue when you look through them. If IFing is something you want to try, you might want to spend a week just focusing on that or, perhaps, on eating your meals at regular times, whenever those times are. It will be good to look at everything as finding out what works for you and feels sustainable or like it makes things easier.

    For beginner workouts, I would NOT start with HIIT. Most of those are either challenging or not really HIIT (and nothing special about HIIT) or both. I'd think about what types of workouts you enjoy. If you like following videos online, I'd search for beginner ones. If you like or are interested in something like yoga or pilates, that's another way to build some strength. Do you have weights? Do you enjoy cardio (interested in running or biking or swimming)?
    So on.

    There are lots of core exercises (beginner pilates might be a place to look) and for push ups you can start by doing them on a chair or table or even against the wall -- you just need something sturdy. I'd look for something on beginner body weights.

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