Do you ever feel like you're too far gone?
Is it possible to make a drastic turn around. I've been eating healthy for a few months now, but I just started exercising. Have you made a drastic change in your health?
I want so bad to be healthy. I want to be skinnier too, but I want so bad to be healthy and have stamina and all that good stuff. I feel like I've wasted so much of my youth. Does 5 minutes of cardio even do anything?
Give me your thoughts, please.
Every little bit helps... in a week or two you'll be able to do 10 minutes, and a week or two after that 15.
I know it's hard. I have serious problems with exercise too because of pain. But every little bit helps. If you can only do 5 minutes do 5 minutes 2 times a day. Space it out. As long as you stick to it, it will get easier.
Good luck!
Every little exercise you do helps your health. If you feel like you're pushing yourself then you're definitely doing something! It is possible to make a turn around, but I wouldn't call it drastic- it will take time and patience.
I have noticed a huge change in myself now that I'm working out and paying attention to my body. In almost everything I do (even little household tasks), I notice how I've improved since I started.
It is not pathetic at all. No matter what your age, it is absolutely possible to make a turn around. I've seen it. I've seen it on here. It doesn't matter how much cardio you can start out doing. Just do what you can. If all you can do is walk a little, then walk what you can. If it's 5 minutes then it's 5 minutes. Do that 5 minutes and then next week, strive for 6 minutes. Any kind of exercise is helpful...no matter how little it is.
Honey, we have people on here who have lost a LOT of weight and it did not happen over night. Slow and steady wins the race.
You are here on this site. That is a great start. You've already taken the first step.
good luck :-D
Hmm.. you're 230 pounds and feel like you're dying with 5 minutes of cardio? I think maybe you should go to a doctor and talk to them about that.. it could be asthma or something like that..
Hang in there - when I started I was 233 and could only walk slowly for 10 minutes on the treadmill - try increasing it by 10 minutes every week - it works - now I can run (okay jog) for 40 minutes without the need of life support and I'm down to 190.
I also struggle and go very red when working out - often people come up to me to ask if I'm okay.
I think maybe you would want to check with a doctor just to be sure nothings wrong. I started at 235 pounds and cardio definitely wore me out, but if you are going at a low pace, you should be able to do more than 5 min. I lost a good 20 pounds or so before I really started working out though.Just try walking for longer each day. Sometimes, the first 10 minutes are the hardest to get through, but if you can push past that period, you get into a rhythm. Just keep at it and you will do better! You can do it!
I might have exaggerated a little.
I can do probably about 10-15 minute of dance dance revolution and then my heart is pounding and I start wheezing and stuff. I also cant walk up more than a couple flights of stairs without sweating and getting my heart rate going fast. I just feel like I have the body of an old lady, and I'm only 20. I know that I gotta build up and get healthier, but I just feel so pathetic. Its so embarassing to be wasting my youth like this. My biggest fear in life is that I'm going to get old and look back on my youth and regret wasting it. I want to run, jump, dance, and play. I just want to be a 20 yeard old, ya know? I want health so freaking bad. Its crazy.
Not at all pathetic. If that's what you can do, that's a lot more than most people have even tried to do at all. When I first started, I did about 10 min cardio and that was about it. Now, unless my body is really tired, I can do 45 minutes, pushing myself to keep pace at higher levels too. I did find that it was easier for me to keep it at a slower pace with some resistance on my elliptical to build up my time. Then, I started to increase the pace and resistance.
I do suggest you talk to your doctor, though. Tons of people have what is called exercise induced or sports asthma. Do you have allergies at all? Basically, asthma is triggered mainly by exerting yourself. I was diagnosed as a kid, but it went away. Until I was at college and could do 30 min cardio in the brand new gym with great ventilation and air conditioning...but if I was walking 3 blocks with the tiniest of inclines, I'd be winded. I was very embarassed until I realized it was asthma.
Oh, and work in some strength training, some weights. It will help with all those things and increase your metabolism. Cardio's good, but you only burn when you're on it. Weight/strength training build the muscle (or helps you keep them while you lose if you have a bit to go) which helps burn more in the long run. And no, it won't build massive muscles.
Editted to add: You got your post in by the time I finished writing this. A lot of what you're saying like getting winded by the stairs, the wheezing, etc, are the same symptoms I have that indicate that I have asthma.
how do you find out if you have asthma or not? sometimes I have little panic attacks too, where I get nervous and really out of breath. Is that a sign of asthma, or is that unrelated?
If you have a lot of anxiety, it could just be a panic attack. Panic attacks mimic symptoms of a heart attack from how others have described them. I just went to my regular doctor and he had me blow into this tube thing "as hard and fast as possible". And then I was told something like, well, you can breathe as well as a 90 year old woman! Basically tests your airflow.
My mom has asthma so I might have it. I remember when I was in high school I always stayed home from school on the days I had chest colds because I couldnt handle walking up three flights of stairs with a chest full of mucus or whatever. I did go to school once when I had a chest cold and I had to rush to the girsl bathroom, drop my bookbag, and lean against the wall to catch my breath. It was scary. I could just be really out of shape though. I dont know. Thats why sometimes I feel so far gone.
The advice to check with your doctor is good. If you've never been physical before, it's best to get the advice of a medical professional before you start.
When you're good to go, here are 2 suggestions you might want to try to start slow and build endurance.
Treadmill Idea #1 (15-16 min) -Walk 3 min (whatever speed you're comfortable with),Jog 1 min (or modify this with faster walking),Walk 3 min, Jog 1 min (or modify this with faster walking),etc
As you build endurance, lung capacity, etc, you can start to increase the speed you walk, the speed you jog, throw in some incline, etc.
Treadmill Idea #2 (15-16 min) - Set a walking speed, every 1 min, increase the incline by 1.0, go to incline 7.0 or 8.0, then every 1 min, decrease the incline by 1.0 until you get back to zero. As you build endurance, consider increasing the speed, total incline #, or time on treadmill.
Hope this helps!
Yeah, that's another thing for me too. When I get a cold, I wheeze a lot more. The big thing I've found that works for me is to make sure that I'm drinking while I'm working out, staying hydrated helps a lot. And breathing through the nose instead of the mouth.
It really did make me feel better about myself when I found out that it was asthma. Because it was no longer about how I was out of shape (pathetic) and about me having a health condition (ie, not my fault). I don't do this, but I know one of the kids I work with winds up using his inhaler right before going to gym, so that it doesn't bother him. So, maybe going to the dr. and finding out it's not you will make you feel less "so far gone" and more able to do it.
Original Post by jessicasbc:
how do you find out if you have asthma or not? sometimes I have little panic attacks too, where I get nervous and really out of breath. Is that a sign of asthma, or is that unrelated?
It could be asthma, a panic attack, or a combination of both of them, or something else entirely. Sometimes the closing of the airway from the asthma can trigger panic. I've had both to a very mild degree. My asthma is usually exercise triggered when I'm out of shape, but just keeping to a steady schedule seems to actually fix it after about 2 weeks. I do have to stop or ease up when I start having issues, but the more I do the better it gets for me. Also, the panic for me is really triggered my the unfamiliar asthma as I had rarely done any exercise intensely enough previously that triggered it.
Start with whatever you can do. Your tolerance will built up. Eat a clean, balanced diet. Add strength training and cardio to your workout routine. Workout 4-6 days a week. Strength training 3 days, (not consecutive)
Do some calisthenics type exercise. Push-ups, sit-ups, crunches, squats, lunges. Just do as many as you can to start. Stretching and breathing right. during the day just move. Take the stairs, take the long way, part your car furthest distance from the door. Over time you will notice a difference. Start small and work your way up.
hi jessicasbc, hang in there! we are very much the same. i'm 21 and had a starting weight of 209lbs or 95kg. over the last almost 5 months i've dropped 37.5lbs or 17kg. when i started i felt just like you're feeling now. it all felt like a huge insurmountable task, but the trick is to changing one little thing at a time. i too felt like i'd wasted a lot of time being overweight, and i didn't want to get to the end of my twenties feeling the same. the best tip i could give you is to not think of it as being on a diet, it has to be a lifestyle change your capable of maintaining. making a huge sudden change would never have worked for me. i altered my eating habits gradually and increased my activity gradually. over time you will realise you're capable of more exercise and making healthy choices regarding food becomes second nature. the first month was probably the hardest for me, but after that it gets easier. eventually i realised that burger just wasn't worth it anymore :P stick with it because the results are so worth it.
x
Hi Jessica, from what you say, you could have mild asthma, or you could just be out of shape... it doesn't really matter either way - if you are having breathing difficulties during/after exercise, go to the doctor and get an inhaler to use before you exercise (you don't need a steroid, just a simple salbutamol/ventolin inhaler). Then use it as needed. You might find that as you get fitter you don't need it any more because your lungs are like any other part of you - the more regularly you exercise them, the better condition they'll gradually get into.
Original Post by jessicasbc:
how do you find out if you have asthma or not? sometimes I have little panic attacks too, where I get nervous and really out of breath. Is that a sign of asthma, or is that unrelated?
You sound just like me! I had the same thing...I was about 230lbs and I'd feel like I couldn't breathe, then I'd panic, then I really couldn't breathe! It started with me in my mid 20's when I was under a LOT of stress with my job and partying too hard and not getting enough sleep. I finally (after much procrastination) saw my dr and he did some heart tests (nothing invasive, just time consuming like wearing a monitor for 24 hours) then he sent me to a pulmonologist. The Pulmonologist was the best doctor I've ever seen. He tested me for asthma, you breathe into this machine then take a puff of medicine and breathe again. It turns out that my issue was allergies and allergy enduced asthma AND panic attacks. They put me on nasal spray and allergy pills along with zoloft (for the panic) and I felt SO MUCH BETTER! Now at 37 I have learned how to talk myself out of a panic attack and I don't need the allergy medicine anymore...so no meds and I'm down to 207lbs. Honestly I think quitting my stressful job helped most of all! Good luck!
No matter how far you've gone down the wrong path, you can always turn back. It'll just take longer getting back, so be patient. :)
There have been lots of good suggestions. Here are few more things to think about. The fact that you are 20 is acutally a plus for you. Many people don't begin to get in shape until their 40's or later. Then they really feel like they wasted a lot of time. When you are 40, you look back at your 20's and feel like that was a million years ago. My mother-in-law is 70 and she just lost 23 pounds. She feels great. She walked 1 1/2 miles with me the other day. Something she hasn't done in years. So it is never too late and time is actually on your side. It may take you a year or more for you to reach your goal, but you have your whole life to look forward to - many, many adventures yet to come. I don't know if this is making any sense at all. I guess what I am trying to say is, you are starting at a good time in your life. Relax, be positive, and you will get there.
The second suggestion I have for you, is get a pedometer. I just got one and I wear it all day. I get a big kick of seeing how many steps and how many miles I cover in a day. Every day I try to increase my distance from the day before. This includes parking further away from the entrance whenever I drive somewhere, running up the stairs to get something whenever someone in my house is looking for something, getting off the couch even if I don't feel like it, etc. For some reason, the pedometer motivates me to keep moving. And it is also helping me see that you don't have to be doing formal exercise to burn calories. At some point in may day, I also take a long walk with my dog. Wearing the pedometer somehow motivates me to go further. I don't know - give it a try. It may work for you.
And I do think that 5 to 15 minutes of cardio is worthwhile. You are doing 5 more minutes a day than you were doing before you started your journey. Keep it up. You are doing well.
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