Hey there, I have been trying to make myself an exercise plan to follow and need a little bit of advice.

Right now I'm 240lbs and have just been doing little things here and there to get more active. A lot of exercises are still extremely challenging for me, even running is difficult still. I did however come up with two types of exercises I feel comfortable with: Going for a walk outside, and water aerobics/jogging in a pool. (weather pending for both)

I plan to walk for at least 20 minutes per day, and water aerobics/jogging for 30-40 minutes per day. I'm wondering if this is too little or too much exercise to get every single day.

Some people recommend only doing 30 min - 1h 30min per day, some recommend to do over 2 hours a day. What do you guys think is a good time duration to start with at my current weight? And do you think that these two exercises are good choices to start out with to burn some extra calories?

Do what you can stand without dreading it, or hoping a good excuse will "come up". Even if that feels like it's not enough, it's ok, because after a week or two you want to increase it, even if just by one lap or half a block.

I also really recommend you go a distance, not a length of time. If you go a distance, on a day when you feel lazy or sick or whatever, you can just go slower, but still feel good about it because you got basically the same workout. If you go for a certain time period and there is a day when you are going slower, you feel bad about it because you didn't really do your full work out.

It has less to do with your current weight than your current aerobic shape. If you feel up to it and it doesn't burn you out, than I say go for it.

Its a personal choice, primarily. Make sure you log your exercises somewhere too (sparkpeople.com, fitday.com, etc) to make sure your getting enough calories so you don't stall out

I think it's easier to start out slow so you don't injure yourself and/or trying too much too fast and quitting. Be sure at the same time that you push yourself a little bit so you see results - slowly increase the duration of your workouts, etc. When you get to a lower weight, you may be more comfortable doing other exercises. I hated running, but now that I'm a lower weight, I'm trying for a 5K in August.

Rowing is also a good exercise, very little impact on the body, but is a great workout!

Thanks for the feedback everyone!

That's a wonderful idea to measure walking by distance instead of time, I never thought of doing it that way before.

Im hoping once I get down to a lower weight that more exercises will become easier for me to do

Exercise gets easier as you lose weight, but also just as you get stronger. You may not be able to run YET...but you will if you really want to. I wasn't running at my high weight. In fact I was around 190 when I started, so I'd had a 45 lb loss before I even tried.

I think what you are doing sounds great. Just make sure you are constantly challenging yourself, whether that's taking a path with hills, increasing your speed/intensity, increasing the time, etc. Throughout your day look for ways to move more. Every little bit helps.

I think what you're doing sounds great. i agree that it's better to start slow and work up than it is to hurt yourself.

The only thing I'd add in is weight training if you feel up to it - maybe using a resistance band or something like that.

You said you like walking and swimming, but both are dependent on weather. You need to have something for indoors so that you don't have to let the weather control you. Leslie Sansone DVDs are good. You can also just walk or march in place while watching TV, as long as you make sure you keep a good pace and don't let yourself get too lazy with it that burns about the same calories as a nice brisk walk. If you add some hand weights in you can get some light strength training done at the same time.