I am another that says you should do what you can. I first started exercising using the same principle. I was much bigger than you, but I found that I could pretty easily have 3 sessions of 10 minutes of walking. Even after I lost a good bit of weight and increased my exercising, I found the three short sessions of walking helpful. For one thing, since I walked on my breaks at work, it kept me out of the break room and away from the vending machines.
Exercise when you know you'll do it. I have a hard time fitting in 30-40 straight min (unless it's a rainy day) so I do a quick work out in the morning, then one in the evening, and sometimes even one later at night. It all depends on how my day goes.
There's some very solid evidence from studies by Standford and Johns Hopkins that says you still get very much benefit from mini sessions of exercise. I say do what you can and work on your personal bests! Don't care where you have to start, as long as you start somewhere.
Here's a write up on some of those studies. Very encouraging for those who are tight on time and/or can't tolerate much activity at once.
"They" are always changing their minds. I've pretty much no longer believe anything that says you have to do things a certain way to get the most out of it, food or exercise-wise. Someone once sent me something about how you have to time your fruit, otherwise you're doing it wrong. Give it break! These are pretty much the only things I "believe" any more.
1. Eat food, not too much, mostly plants. -Michael Pollan.
2. Eat less, move more.
Obviously, if you're training to be in peak performance for some athletic endeavor, "move more" isn't enough. But until you're at that point, I think it's all good.
I agree with this entire post! I really think all this change in theory is related to the business side of weight loss, selling foods, products, equipment and so on.
At the end of the day, weight/fat loss is as simple as eating healthy foods in reasonable portions + exercise.
ETA: I get exertion headaches so I cannot exercise at a high intensity for long periods of time. Besides walking, I won't exercise more than about 30 minutes at a time (and that's pushing it, I usually last about 15-20 minutes) and I am still losing at a healthy rate, so a little bit at a time is still effective.
Soooo.... maybe I should just look at exercise as a simple means to "movement is good for you" ~ THAT IS... I shouldn't count on it for weight loss, but rather for fitness.
This! Someone on these boards once said "I exercise for fitness, I eat well to lose weight." That stuck with me big time. I get my heart rate into cardio level and just go. I exercise to be strong, to have healthy insides and I eat less (and healthily) to lose the weight. It's a different mindset, but when I'm less focused on the weight loss side of exercise and more on the fitness side I notice things from that angle. Things like "Hey! I went an extra 5 minutes or boosted my resistance or did an extra set, etc." I pay more attention to the signs that I'm getting healthier and not just the number on the scale.
