Hello and good morning!

I've been reading through the forums, trying to get the feel of everyone. I just joined

I was wondering, how did you start exercising? And what has been working for you? I started walking three times a week for 20 minutes. I haven't done anything this past week because I've been so down about my car being broken into this past Tuesday They stole my radio and other personal belongings, and they managed to find my ipod. It just upsets me not being able to listen to my ipod while I go for walks, but I'm all better now. I can't be whining about it forever, so I'm starting all over.

Between my school schedule and free time, I will try my HARDEST to walk everyday for 30 minutes. Then at night I plan to do simple weight lifting an hour or two before I go to bed.

I'm taking baby steps, and hopefully I'll add on more minutes at I progress!

Welcome Jessickaya! I'm so sorry to hear about your iPod - people suck!

Congrats to you for breaking the umbilical iPod cord - it's not easy! I still struggle with it but it took me a whole semester in Europe to get me comfortable walking without it!

As for exercise - I have plantar fasciitis and weak ankles so those were all the excuses I needed to NOT exercise! But that's all they were - excuses - and when I moved to Europe I had no choice but to walk a mile every time I wanted groceries, which to me was monumental, but I did it!

I was feeling really strong after a few months and started walking just for the fun of it because it became easier. Then I sprained my ankle in Germany on a trip! I was so p***** off at losing my newfound freedom that I came back with a vengeance - I now do an elliptical trainer 40mins a day and sometimes throw in a walk or swim! So I approach it as a challenge - life was like, "bet you can't" so I proved it wrong!

Your program sounds great! Keep us updated!

Thank you for the welcome Raichu Yes, people do suck! It happened at my home too, but I'm glad they didn't break into our house. And that is awesome! So cool that you got used to walking that mile. I have to go up the stairs everyday at school, and I still find myself very out of breath. Hopefully one day I'll be able to run those suckers as if they were nothing. Were you originally from the US when you moved to Europe? Sounds like a neat story!

The very first time? I started taking water aerobics with the little old ladies in my development. I was very overweight and my joints hurt and needed something low impact. I didn't like to sweat, so pool it was. I was the youngest person there by at least 3 or 4 decades but I had fun. The ladies were all very nice. I then moved on to joining a gym and walking. Then jogging on elliptical and weights.

This time? I bought DVDs and am going through them.

Just take it in little steps like you are doing and build on it when ready.

GL!
A.

I did baby steps in the beginning when I was really out of shape. I coudln't jog for 3 minutes without feeling out of breath. I had to go REALLY slow on the elliptical. I basically stayed with it even if I felt really out of shape. I figured if I pushed myself a little every day I would start getting better and better.

I started off pushing myself to do a minimum of 30 minutes every day of fast walking. I slowly incorporated jogging for a few minutes then walked when I couldn't do it. I slowly increased that time to 40 minutes, then 50, then 60. I also slowly increased the intensity until I was comfortable.

I also used the elliptical so my knees could get a break from time to time. I realized if I hurt myself, I would just delay my time in the gym so I tried to safe.

It's really important to stretch before you exercise too so you don't strain something. I would always wake up in the morning and do some pilates to start off my day. (baby steps)

It's definitely a balance between pushing yourself and knowing your limits. I didn't skip the gym either in the beginning. I wanted it to become 2nd nature and a routine.

Best of luck to you!

I went through a couple phases & am continuing to evolve, so to speak.

Phase 1: Somewhere about 250 -- I wouldn't weigh myself, I was too afraid, so I just know I was probably over 250 -- I started walking whenever possible in my old neighborhood, which was hilly & old & has concrete sidewalks. Walking for errands mostly. I was trying the "just take the stairs & park further away" approach. This wasn't really exercising, just movement. I also started trying to move around my apartment & at work more, getting up out of my chair, almost fidgeting. This probably helped me get to what I've posted as my starting weight here, which is 247. So, not much weight loss. But it got me moving, it made me buy better sneakers & it showed me where I was, physically.

Phase 2: Walking every day for the sake of walking -- that is, for exercise, not for errands. Particularly at my office, where we're in a pleasant office park on Long Island Sound. Maybe a half hour a day. This really didn't help much either, as far as weight loss. Weight came off due to my eating. But my legs were getting stronger. I was kind of "learning to walk" -- the rhythm of it -- and also toughening up my feet with blisters & bandaids.

At this point, I got a pedometer, determined to do the 10,000 steps things. The pedometer was a kind of turning point.

Phase 3: Walking an hour every day. Without fail. In the morning, mostly, as the summer came on. In the heat & humidity. Waiting out rainstorms, worrying whether I'd get in my walk. Walking hard & fast now, getting into speedwalking. Working out a route, and then trying out routes at the park. This was a very long phase as I sped up considerably. I walked faster than some people ran. I was nearly an obsessive walker.

Then ... injury. Briefly, I have horribly arthritic joints in big toes, particularly on the left, which led me to heel strike really hard on the left foot. Which gave me plantar fasciitis. I ended up at the podiatrist's.

Phase 4: Podiatrist said I couldn't walk. I was addicted at this point. But he said I could bike, with the weight off my foot. So I mustered up my courage & began using the on-site gym at my company, which had exercise bikes. (I even drove into work on the weekends.) You don't know how I trembled at entering the hallowed halls of a gym, where I felt the likes of me had no place. Again, a period of adapting. My butt hurt from the bike seat. I rubbed it sore & bleeding, actually. Got bike shorts. That helped. My butt probably just got numbed & calloused, though, cause I really got into the stationery bike.

Phase 5: When no one was looking, I got off the bike & tried the elliptical at the company gym. My foot was a little better then, which made this possible. Also tried running intervals when walking. Dragged out 3-lb. dumbbells (bright red plastic-covered, don't you dare laugh) and found a Jillian Michaels podcast for a dumbbell routine. Did them during "Biggest Loser" while watching TV.

Phase 6: Joined the gym at the nearby college. Used their very sweet elliptical, a Precor, and sometimes a bike. Also tried rowing. Moved up to 7-lb green dumbbells at home. A college student oriented me on the gym but took me through about 20 machines in 20 minutes & so I never touched them. Not even once. But I signed up for a weekly yoga class through our local high school's adult ed evening program. Exciting discovery: So I can move my whole body! Not just my legs in cardio? Not just dumbbells? Whoa! There was this whole terra incognita between thighs & shoulders.

Phase 7: With "foot care" and "whole body exercise" in mind, I decided I could brave showing myself in an athletic swimsuit & added a beginning swim class at the local community college once a week.

Phase 8: The college gym had weird college student hours (it opened at 11 AM on weekends, was closed when the college closed) & besides was closing for the summer. So I signed up for a local gym, a bit expensive, but classes there were free. For a long time, I just went there to use the bike & elliptical, talked to no one, kind of hid in the corners. An affluent neighborhood: Lots of slender trophy wives about.

Phase 9: Director of gym chats with me several times, and I become less fearful. Started taking classes at the gym. Pilates, yoga. Became a regular. Really thinking about my entire body at this point. Took a circuit training class & started being curious about weights other than dumbbells & heavier dumbbells. Ventured to lie on a bench & do some dumbbell moves like that.

Then ... injury. I was hit my a car. My right hand became unusable for about six weeks.

Phase 10: Tried the arc trainer hands-free. Tried spinning, to see if I could keep up with the class. Became addicted. Had a plantar fasciitis flare-up from standing hill sprints on the spin bike. Went back to Pilates again. Picked up New Rules of Lifting for Women. Read it, retreated, intimidated but terribly intrigued. This past long weekend, took the book to the nearly empty gym & tried some of the things it showed, as one-offs.

You find me in Phase 10. Phase 11 is probably going to see me get more serious about weights & challenging myself with heavier weights. Some slight remaining wrist & elbow fragility from my accident has made this a bit more tentative.

I, too, started by walking. When I moved back to Seattle after an ill-advised five year hiatus in central Illinois, I sold my car and decided to use city transit. Just walking to and from the bus stop really helped. Over time, I started skipping sections that I would normally ride...for example, on my way to work I would take the first bus and skip the transfer bus, opting to walk the last mile and a half. Eventually I got to the point where I was walking the 3 miles to and from work every day.
Now I've started running and have become a fitness dvd junkie for resistance training and kickboxing.

I started with the Walk Away the Pounds videos at home. I was a single Mom of 2 back then, working full time and taking 3 college courses on the computer at that time. I was busy and found the exercise videos are very convenient!

Sorry to hear about your ipod =[.
Yes, progression is good! I started off with going on my mom's exercise bike for twenty minutes a day. I increased it over a couple of weeks to almost an hour but I didn't see any results (due to that, I believe, as well as some other food-related things) and eventually I got my eating down and bought one of the Walk Away dvds, the five mile challenge I believe. It was hard for me, this was like far more intense than just being on that bike. After a few weeks on Walk Away I bought the Biggest Loser Cardio Max six-week "bootcamp" dvd. Oh man. I remember the first day I was really just like "This is too crazy for me!" But I stretched it out over three months and a couple of weeks ago I finished it, able to do every single level with almost no trouble at all. Now I'm on the 30 Day Shred and coupling that up with my other dvds to get more minutes in, it's about 50 or so minutes a day which is what the complete dvd for the BL was before so I'm good where I am at the moment. So yeah! Good luck!