How can I start exercising?

Clos eyour eyes and leave out the door. It is just the first step to make.

Sometimes it is good to make an appointment with youself in the calendar and put this one on premium or mark it red.

Best tipp to make an appointment with a friend, but I know from experience that this is often not consistent.

Hope this helps.

Regards. Bee

First, I want to be clear about one thing that may not apply to you, but for sure is a common misperception among new folks here: To improve fitness and burn a few extra calories, exercise doesn't need to be gym-based stuff, doesn't need to be some punitively intense thing, doesn't need to be unpleasant. If a person likes gymming, great. Same for intensity. I don't know anyone who likes "unpleasant".

Ideally, find some way of moving more that you personally enjoy, or at least find practical and tolerable. There are so many options: The videos mentioned above, walking, dozens of kinds of dancing, a martial art, yoga, active VR or video games, swimming or other pool activities, playing with kids, gardening, hobbies like carpentry that involve movement, and many other options.

Once you find that thing or combination of things, the sweet spot is a total exercise plan that is manageably challenging. Ideally, it would leave a person feeling energized for the rest of the day(s), not fatigued. (A few minutes of "whew" right after an activity is fine.)

The "enjoy" part is because any exercise we enjoy, we'll tend to do more often, and that's 100% more beneficial than some theoretically better exercise we procrastinate and skip at the slightest excuse. The "manageable" part avoids overdoing (which is counter-productive for weight loss OR fitness improvement. The "challenge" part is what gradually creates fitness improvement.

A total exercise plan considers the types of activity, the frequency, the intensity, and the duration - that should add up to the "enjoyable, manageable, mildly challenging".

Over time, with repetition, the combination that's manageably challenging will get easy. If the person wants to keep making fitness improvement, it's then time to increase one of those things - frequency, intensity, duration, activity type - to keep the manageable challenge.

I can't tell you exactly what to do, but the above is how I'd suggest thinking about it. Don't make it more unpleasant or difficult than it minimally needs to be. Thinking "enjoyable, manageable, mildly challenging" IME reduces the amount of "motivation" required. Just think of ways to introduce more movement into life - whether official exercise, or daily life routine. That'll work.

Best wishes!

pick an activity that you think you can 2-4 times a week and then start by setting your timer for 2mins, and tell yourself that if you aren’t enjoying it you just have to do 2mins.

ideally habit stack it, so it’s easy to continue to do, so for am walks set your clothes out ready to go, for after work take your shoes and change them before you drive to where you walk. Make it easy for future you to follow through 🙂

Start slow; start walking, doing beginner classes, or even join a sport or two. The thing is that beginning to exercise is really slow and you definitely won't like it (I know I didn't), especially because you're physically "weak" (not an insult, just meant you're not really used to anything yet?) but as soon as you get into a good rhythm it'll get better, I promise! Find exercises you like to do (ex. After a while I found out I really like running and weightlifting) and just enjoy the process. Working out will make you feel a lot better, and all you need to do is just… begin. Even if you don't enjoy it, even if it's 6 in the morning and you're preparing to work out and you're thinking "Ugh, I really don't want to do this," it WILL get better! You need to have that "I won't stop even if I'm tired because this is how I will get better and I will thrive from it" sort of mindset (It's what I normally have nowadays) and yeah. Remember that you need discipline and not motivation to keep working out consistently, and it's okay if you get things wrong because if you keep doing this stuff you WILL improve. I wish you the best of luck on your workout journey!!

Above comments are all excellent!

You're making YOU a priority, improving your health, and exercise is part of that, thus make your exercising a priority as well. For me, I hit the gym before work as know after I just want to go home, and parking, crowds are easier. And walk the dog on weekends. Look at your routine (where can this fit in), what do you enjoy? (dancing to the TV, walking the malls or trails, swimming, lifting filled milk gallons, activity is activity!), and plan/prepare ahead. If you have a friend to be accountable with, that helps too!

What have you been doing during the past 2 weeks? And what is the plan for next week?

You can do it!!

Mall walking can be a relaxing and climate controlled way to get started moving more. Window shop while you do a few laps!

I once read an interview with an ultra runner, and she said something that really stuck with me when they asked about how she motivates herself for training.

'Its not about whether or not I want to, the decision has already been made'

So now I make the decision. In the same way I clean the bathroom, it's not about what I want -it's just something that needs to happen.

It looks like evemorningstar is a wisher, not a doer. She hasn't responded to any of the amazing advice on here. I doubt she has even looked. To all the Doers here, don't waste your time and effort writing all the best/sound/ advice for people who don't appreciate it. There's a ton of information on here that can help all these wishers. They are just being lazy and want to know the "secret" to instant results. If they realize that they are the problem, and that they need to change their lifestyle (the same thing all the Doers have done), and they make prioritizing their health over convienience and tictoc, then they will be on the right track. All the information is on this site. You can't help wishers.

You have gotten some great responses! Here is what has worked for me so far.

I began walking for 15 minutes per day 4 days weekly in the house. It seems like nothing but this helped me to build the habit of daily movement. I did make little changes like parking my car further away from the office or grocery store and using the stairs instead of the elevator. Before long I was walking for half an hour. Presently I make at least 10,000 steps daily.

For me motivation is not always there but it's discipline and commitment to self-improvement that causes me to move daily.

I hope this helps. Good luck on your journey!

Don't do exercises you hate. Start with something not so bad. I hate walking, walking even a few yards causes pain for me. I don't like the dark or rain so going out rain or shine for a walk is something I will not be doing. Maybe you don't like to exercise in public or know what to wear. You can start in your room, wearing whatever you have on. Stretching is easy, touch your toes even if you can only touch your knees, do that 10 times a day. Then add sitting bending forward. You only need 3 minutes a day and soon you can stretch farther. Mom tried walking but felt silly walking in public so she walked in her yard with her cat. I like going to the gym as a social activity. I do aqua fit HIIT classes almost every day. No pain, meet lots of people, sit in hot tub after. Go to the weight room 3 days a week for 5 machines. I don't do much weight or many reps but I go. I wrote down how much weight I did so if I improve I will be happy. Today trying TRX for the first time. I will never go for a walk no matter how many people say it is a good idea.