Day 1 of Exercise Failed - Need Encouragement

I fail in this area big time! Most of any of my weight loss is from cutting food back a lot. What I do is Wii Just Dance and the Fitness games for when I feel not so motivated. Take it slow and work yourself to each level, dont try to do it all at once. It might take time, but you will get there and can! Good luck!

Hey there!

First of all, congrats on losing 13 lbs in 3 weeks, thats wonderful!!! Especially just on food cutbacks!!!

Second of all, exercise is hard! I remember when I first started exercising again. I decided to take a Zumba class thinking it would be fun and easy because I love to dance. It kicked my *kitten*!!! And the instructor considered it a beginner's class. I looked up your profile and you're 2 years older than me so I think we can relate to each other.

I started Zumba at 230 lbs, dropped about 15 lbs and ended up hurting my foot so I needed something else to take the weight off. I found MFP and have lost 6 lbs since I started that.

I'm finding the best way I'm losing the weight is to do both.

Please don't get discouraged! I recommend taking it easy at first, maybe take a few brisk walks to get your heart use to exercise. Do you have any weights? Do some basic weight lifting and ab work outs to build up some muscle. If it was easy, everyone would be in super awesome shape and people wouldnt eat the crap that make us fat in the first place!

Think about it, practice makes perfect. Have you ever played an instrument? Did you get through a song the first time you played it? Or how about cooking a complicated recipe from scratch...did it taste excellent and come out the way you planned at first?

You'll get there, don't put yourself down cuz you'll just talk yourself out of it!

Btw, I've been on a shortage of exercise since the end of October and can't get back into it so I understand what you're going through. Sometimes its hard to read these message boards and see how great other people are doing.

Take care,
Casey

Even if you don't make it all the way through you haven't failed. You're pushing yourself as hard as you can go, and it's a LOT better than sitting around not doing anything!

I always have to remind myself that when I do weight stuff, I get annoyed if I just can't handle the full reps for every set... but it matters more that you're trying and giving it your all for however much you can do than that you make some arbitrary target. You'll get there if you keep working, and every second you spend working towards it counts for something and makes you stronger and healthier. Don't give up!

You will get stronger, just start with little steps. When I started I could barely do 20min of Cardio, now I am doing 60-100min of High intensity cardio each day! So don't worry you will get stronger and stronger each time you do it, and it will become more and more easier as you lose weight
Just keep doing a little more each time, as soon as it gets easy make it a little harder, if it's too hard make it a little easier and just work up your strength

First of all - congrats on your first day of exercise! You did not fail, you did something new and even if you didn't reach your goal for today, its still more than you've done before, right? So give yourself credit for starting something new.

Exercise certainly is hard, but you WILL get better and it will take time to do so. Just be consistent and keep at it. Listen to your body, if you need a break, take a break, if you think you can push through another minute, 30 seconds, 10 seconds, etc. go for it. Your efforts, no matter how small you think they might be, are better than doing nothing at all.

Don't beat yourself up over it. Excercise is hard and it takes a few trys to find your groove and even what you like to do for excercise. Sometimes when I'm really unmotivated I say I'm going to go pretend to workout. By the time I get dressed and get going I'm fine but I have to let myself think I'm going to slack to get myself in the gym. Also I like classes. Specifically body pump and spin. 2 reasons...when other people are with you it keeps you engaged. also chances are you're not going to quit half way through class since you know everyone will see you walk out early. Good luck and just keep moving ...one day at a time.

that's normal. I always liked exercise even being really overweight, but when you do more than normal, for you that's exercising in general, it'll take time to build up endurance. a little bit at a time and you'll get better, and see improvements if you stick w/ it.

It does get easier. Start small and stick with it. If you've been living a sedentary lifestyle, your body isn't used to all this movement and it needs more time to adapt. When I started the 30 Day Shred with Jillian Michaels I couldn't do jumping jacks for 30 seconds without stopping - now I just finished a 25 minute run. I share that to help encourage you that hundreds of people just like you are doing it, but even more aren't. Congratulations on being one of those ready to make a change and get moving!