After several years of taking care of certain members of my family and ignoring myself I've gotten pretty overweight, 183 lbs. I just turned 20 and decided I wanted to change my life and take better care of myself. I just joined Weight Watchers yesterday and wanted to incorporate exercise into my "new lifestyle". I just have no clue where to start! I have a Schwinn exercise bike that I have only used a couple of times, it has twelve different programs. I'm a beginner and was wondering how long I should push myself to go on the bike and how many times a week. Any other exercise tips or routines would be very much appreciated

Tracy,

From my many years of dieting and exerciseing with trainers, also speaking from the time i was in the Army, I would say 40 minutes 4 days a week to start. Try to fit in some weight training also. 40 minute cardio and 20 minutes lifting some weight is a great way to start. Muscle burns fat. Keep that in mind. Nothing terribley heavy, but you don't want to cheat yourself either. Work on perfecting this plan for about a month and start increasing your time by 10 minutes and then increase to 1 hr.

With the right eating plan, I am sure you will do well.

Thanks so much for your help!

When it comes to exercise it should feel natural. I truly believe that your body craves exercise but should be introduced to it gently. Listen to your body and eventually you'll figure out what's best for you. My advice is to start walking everyday. Take longer routes like parking far away or getting off a subway stop early and walking the rest of the way. Walking is something that is not too hard on your body, is low impact, is free, and it gets your heart rate up. It's also something you can do everyday and build into your lifestyle.

After a while your body will start to crave more. You may break out into a jog, or you may graduate to an elliptical machine or aerobics or dance classes.

The point is that you should start moving as much as you can without hurting yourself. Good luck and let us know what happens.

I started exercising at 280 pounds. I got out of breath easy and fast! I joined Curves and I started using the Walk away the Pounds w/ Leslie Sansone. You can start out with 10-20 minutes of walking or do the 1 mile and build up. I built up to the 2 mile, then 3, then 4 & 5.
Curves became too easy so I quit and now I have dumbbells and do things like the Shred...it is fun when I pick an old dvd that I used to do when I was heavier and I remember it being so hard and now I can keep up with them!
I suggest just going at your own pace. IF you do dvds and it becomes too hard just go to walking in place or do side steps until you can continue on. I did this alot when the moves were too complicated or hard for me...
Good luck!

I too started with walking in place for 5-15 minutes. I went from that to Leslie Sansone to jogging in place 40 minutes and now I do Jillian Michaels' DVDs, TBL DVDs and various other cardio/strength interval training DVDS plus weight training. Take your time and build your stamina up. You'll get there

Thank you so much everyone for the advice! I'm thinking about purchasing the Burn Body Fat Package by Leslie Sansone since a couple of you mentioned her. It might be better for me to follow a workout routine rather then create one on my own Thanks again everyone.

When you say TBL I'm guessing that's The Biggest Loser DVDs? If so, which ones do you use? I'm using the CardioMax and Strength Training and I was wondering how well they really work?