How should an overweight person introduce exercise into his or her life?

Question

If exercise is introduced too much too quickly, could it have a negative impact on a person's heatlh?

Answer 1

Yes it should be done gradually. Start with short walks of 15 mins builing up to half hour in about three weeks. Then consider gentle exercise that leaves you slightly (stress slightly) breathless. yuo should be able to increase the amount of exercise from there. When you are comfortable with 20 to 30 mins exercise a day consider joining a Gym and taking further advice from there.

Answer 2

My ideas? Try to do 200 minutes of cardio a week. Remember fat does not turn into muscle, so you need to lose your fat while putting on muscle. Work hard, but don't over 60 minutes at a time. Do planks and other abs exercises on alternate days.

On training days, do 5-10 minutes of cardio to warm up, then do your weight training. Do 30 to 60 minutes more of cardio, then go home.

The best time to eat is just after your workout within an hour when your metabolism is raging. For your muscles, incorporate some isolated soy protein or whey protein. Whey is more potent but the soy tastes better!

Don't look at your scale as the be all and end all, but get a measuring tape to check your progress, and that will show more tangible results.

Read magazines like Shape, Womens Fitness, Fitness, etc to get tips and to stay motivated.

Good luck and stick at it. This plan has lost me 20 lbs in 12 weeks so far, just go for it!

Answer 3

I have been in excercise and fitness for approx. 20 years. I am not certified, just read alot and work out. You will not have any negative effects on yourself so long as 1) Get a check up by a physician to make sure you are ready to start excercising again and 2) Start slowly. I do not know your current condition but I would recommend you go to the library or bookstore, sit down with a coffee and start to read. You need to be realistic and look at excerise programs for us normal people. I would not recommend that you look at programs in body building magazines until your fitness level is improved. Also diet is very important. I would recomend a book called Body For Life by Bill Phillips. It is an excellent program, and diet, and is something that everyone can do, and I personally have several friends that have done very well on the program. Good luck.

Answer 4

ease into it, his/her body may not be used to the added stress and the strain could leave you sore and turned off by the idea of excersize.

After all it's supposed to be fun a lifestyle

Start by walking more, drinking more water and getting good sleep.

If your on a diet remember to stay from it once a week. You can't expect to hold out forever and you need to keep things realistic.

Cardio is best for weight loss ie.. walking, jogging, stairs anything that gets your heart rate up

Snack on healty foods and try to stay with natural ones too.

Biking can be fun and is less strenuous on the joints and you can cost down hills :)

Aim for 2-3 times a week to excersize

After 20 times they say excersize becomes routine and has a better chance of sticking wth your lifestyle

good luck, don't try to hard, ease into things and with time you will see results.. If anything else know that your healthier which will bennifit you in latter life.

Answer 5

the bigger problem is losing too much weight too fast, you shouldn't try to lose more than a pound a week 2 at the most, too much weight loss IS dangerous because it doesn't allow your body to adapt to it.

start off by using machines like the cable weight machines. while they aren't the best way to get into shape, they'll prepare your muscles to move to free weights later, but make sure to maintain proper technique throughout the range of motion and only do two to three sets of 8 to 10reps.

and only try to do the exercises about two to three days a week and work up to 4 or 5 days at an hour each.

some people say working out five days a week can be dangerous, but you have to be careful about it, if you think you're too sore to train, then don't try to push yourself.

I personally do upper body on mon,wed, & fri and lower body on tues, thurs to get a more rounded workout.

and by doing this I went from 230lbs to 180lbs, but I've slacked off and went back to around 208.

but set a goal weight or ask about a bmi test which'll give you a good idea where you want to target your weight range.

good luck

Answer 6

Here is what you need to do, if you are serious about losing weight and keeping it off. Eat 6 small meals a day about every 4 hours. Here what that will do for you, your metabolism will increase (i.e. Loose weight) and you will have more engry. If you go on a diet and eat less, your metabolism will slow down and store to fat. That is why diets dont work. Only the size of your fist, carbs (examples:baked potato, pasta, oatmeal, beans, corn, melon, apples, fat free yogurt, whole wheat breads)in one and protien (examples:chicken breast, swordfish, shrimp, turkey breast) in the other. You can also eat vegetables and salads with any meal, they dont have none or little fat). 30min cardo exercise every day. Any of these(examples: walking, jogging, swimming,running, biking, ect), Monday cardo, tues upper body (arms: curls, tricep extensions,pull ups, front press)(abdominals: leg pull crunch, leg raises), (chest: bench press, butterfly, pullover)(shoulders: front press, arm pullover, cross county skier machine)(back:seated row, lat pull downs, back extension)(YOU DONT HAVE TO DO IN ONE DAY, mix it up) wed cardo, thurs lower body (legs: leg pull,leg press, squats, lounges) fri cardo, sat upper. Sunday eat anything you want and dont exercising, you do this on sunday so your body doesnt go into starvation mode. YOU NEED TO TAKE SUNDAY OFF. If you stilck with this you will have a great body. also drink aleast 8oz of water daily! Stay away from Mcdonals, Wendys, ect because there is nothing good for you on the menu's even the salads are bad (beaon bits, cheeze, dressing, ect) Good Luck :)

Answer 7

Indeed. Slowly warm up to it. Start with light cardio (a brisk walk in the morning) but do not over do it. Brisk walks don't sound like they'd be that effective, but think of them as a gateway exercise. You have to start somewhere, afterall. People don't become overweight overnight, and you can't expect to see results until you allow yourself to feel them. So do it right, start off slowly. Find a program that works for you (I recommend asking your doctor).
Good luck! We control our own lives, and you've made a huge step in the right direction!

Answer 8

The issue here is saying:

"Okay, I'm going to push my body farther than I've pushed it so far. I'm not going to kill myself, but I want to reach a level in which I feel comfortable to understand and develop the belief that I can actually do this, that exercising is possible."

Some people are more out of shape than others. But continually proving that you can do it creates a positive perception towards exercise. So try gradual increase without dogging it.

Keep going, but don't kill yourself in a way that makes you think it's impossible and you shouldn't try it.

Get it?

I hope it helps..

Answer 9

Yes, they could over work their bodies and cause damage. They need to start of some what between average and slow then work their way up, their bodies are not used to that kind of thing.

Answer 10

should just do what you can without over doing it. read tips on exercise programs to help you better and more on this site