Hi everyone. I've been on 3fc for about a month and just found the 100lb club. Although I'd probably be better off in a 150lb club. If you've seen my posts before (and there have been many) I don't wanna bore you to tears.

I posted my profile yesterday so you can all take a look at that if you want to.

I just really wanted to say hi and that I'd love to get to know you all.

I'm 2 1/2 weeks shy of my 43rd birthday and need to lose a lot of weight. I know this is crazy but this is the first time I've seriously attempted weight loss since my early 20's. Started putting on a huge amount of weight (150 lbs) after I got married some 20 years ago, and now just seriously decided to get rid of it, hahaha as if it's just like getting rid of yesterday's trash.

Anyway, I am doing very well with the food aspect of my weightloss journey but am pretty much sucking at the exercise part. I have a very sedentary lifestyle. At this point I have a lot of pain in my knees which makes everything very difficult. Anybody got any ideas on how to get myself motivated to exercise and what exercises have you done as a beginner? Any input would be appreciated.

Looking forward to getting to know you all better.

to the board! Post often so we can get to know you.

As for excercise advice, the best advice I can offer is to start out slow. Maybe just a walk around the block. What I have found for myself is I needed to find an excercise that I enjoyed doing because that is the only way to stick with it. I look at it as a lifestyle change and I would not want to commit to something that I did not enjoy. Once you get going, you can challenge yourself and push yourself harder. I know alot of the chicks use excercise DVDs (WATP, etc), that might also be a starting point.

Well thanks for the warm welcome and no need to worry - I will post often - I love this place. I was walking the past month or so, even got up to about 30 mins at a fairly decent pace. And then the weather got cold and now my hubby is under the weather (I do know those are not good excuses). I have been looking into the WATP dvds and think I just might give it a try.

I also have knee pain but I really try to exercise at least a little bit every day. I agree that you should start slow and build your exercise.

I recommend water exercise to prevent injury. If you're not comfortable swimming laps, there are great water aerobics classes out there will give your knees a break. I love to swim laps - it's a great form of exercise.

Welcome! It looks like you're doing a great job so far according to your stats, and coming here will help you even more! This board is so great -- it's really kept me on track on my journey so far.

Believe it or not, you might actually get addicted to exercise. As recently as July, before I started this weight loss journey (the last of many, I hope), I hated exercise as much as the next couch potato (and I've been one of those for years). I'm addicted now, just a few months later. I honestly can't wait to get out of work and go to the gym. Crazy!!

I had some knee pain at first, probably just from carrying around all this weight, but I don't feel it anymore. I started out slow, with short walks, and I built up my speed and the length of my workouts gradually. I go to the gym and do cardio, I walk around my neighborhood, and I use the Walk Away the Pounds videos (I love those). It helps me to keep a spreadsheet where I log my progress, and then I can see how I'm improving. I'm up to 52 minutes of cardio and will be moving to 55 next week (this includes a 5-minute warmup and 5-minute cooldown).

Visit the Exercise forum as well -- I like posting in the Exercise Accountability thread as another way to make sure I'm staying on track. I can't stress enough that you should start out slowly -- just do as much as you can and gradually increase it. If you try to do too much at first, you'll just keep hating exercise!

Welcome to the 100lb forum, it's great to have you here! I've seen you around in a few other places

Water is fantastic because it takes pressure off your joints, so I agree with Jessica and suggest exercising in water if you're able to. Another thing which everyone has said, is take it slowly at whatever pace you can -

I wonder if low-impact yoga would work? I actually don't know but it came to mind. I wonder too, if strengthening your leg muscles would help to alleviate some of that pain? Maybe someone here would know the answer to that one... I know the pressure would be there on your knees still and strenthening your leg muscles might not change your knee joint.... but maybe it would help to distribute some of that force as you exercise??

Welcome again! I know what you mean, I love this place too. Good luck, I'll see you around!

Welcome!! You're doing good so far. Like the others said ~ start out slow. I was able to do one of the WATP tapes ~ I am way out of shape and if I can make it through ~ probably just about anybody can.

I hated exercise too. I committed to a certain number of minutes of exercise each month. I started small and built from there. Making a commitment to it was really the only reason I got it done many days.

Oh, and my right knee hurt too. I took it easy, and it's good most of the time now! (Losing over 100 pounds helped too!)

Now, a year later, I am starting to learn, if not to like exercise, to appreciate the results! I am doing much MORE and more interesting things -- like yoga -- and stuff Inever thought I'd do -- weight lifting.

It's like, for the first time in my adult life I'm learning what my body can do. It's kind of cool, actually!

WELCOME!!

About the water thing - I know this is ridiculous but I know if you saw me you would agree - My legs are my fattest part of me by far and I just can't get into a bathing suit. I just won't do it .

And it's kind of like a vicious cycle with the knees, I can't lose weight because my knees kill and my knees kill because I've got all this extra weight on me. But I am doing it slowly and hopefully the knees will improve and it's mainly the right one too, wyllen.

Thanks all for the welcome and the terrific advice which I am definitely listening to. Everybody's so smart here!! It's great.

Oh gosh Michelle, I am so sorry to hear about your mom. I can easily see why you would be off track - don't be so hard on yourself a week is not much time to grieve. You can't just expect things to be "normal".

As a matter of fact I had started a thread in the exercise video forum asking about WATP dvds and everyone was very helpful. I will get around to ordering one online either today or tomorrow. It sounds like something that could be for me.

Again, I'm so sorry about your mom. And I look forward to hearing from you soon. And thanks so much for the warm welcome.

Michelle ~ so sorry to hear about your mom. My thoughts are with you. Take care

Michelle - Losing a mother is one of the roughest things anyone can go through at any age (in my opinion). I lost my mother when I was 15 and I can say that it is a hole that nothing else can fill. It does get easier, but I will miss her always.

"Fed"Up - I have found that the elliptical is great for my knees - much better than the treadmill because there is no impact. Both losing weight and building up the leg muscles help a lot too.

Michelle