Hi Audrey!
I was a total couch potato before I started to lose weight. I mean, I was convinced that I detested, loathed and despised exercise (and stunk at it, shades of grade school gym class!) I never broke a sweat if I could help it.
All this started when DD and I joined a gym and I -- realizing that I was beyond clueless -- signed up for five weeks of personal training. Best $ I ever spent in my life!
My trainer started me off with 20 minutes of elliptical, three times a week - and I thought I was going to die! But within two weeks, I was up to 40 minutes a time and by the end of the first month I was doing an hour a day, every day. I only missed five or six days of cardio during the year I was losing weight. It was my big calorie burner. BTW, the elliptical is the only kind of cardio I did due to bad knees.
My trainer also started me off with a three day a week weightlifting program. I fell in love with weights right away because -- wonder of wonders! -- I was good at it (fat chicks are strong chicks from carrying around all that extra weight) and I loved challenging myself. I was so excited after my first session that I couldn't sleep that night!
I progressed to five weight workouts a week, doing three with my trainer and two more on my own.
Add in the occasional BodyPump or yoga class, and that's what I did for the year it took me to lose the weight. Five years later, I still do pretty much the same thing!
I sure do go on
... aren't you sorry you asked?