I recently received a question from a Youtube viewer of mine named Mehru Nissa stating that this person finds it hard to exercise because they weigh 200 pounds. So I thought I would answer my viewers question in the form of a Youtube video and as a post here on my Blog. This is an important question that many people starting out on a healthier lifestyle has and therefore the answer can be applied to a great number of you.
Firstly I would say that you ought not to start running if you are starting at a fairly heavy weight which I would consider 200 pounds to be. I began running when I was at my heaviest and I now realise that his was not the best thing to do. I believe that the problem I`m now having with my knees emanates from running at my heaviest weight. Running is a very high impact exercise and creates a great deal of strain upon you lower limbs and joints. Every time your foot hits the floor when you run three times your body weight crashes through your knees, shins ankles and feet. Three times your body weight over and over again with each plant of a foot is a huge amount of weight for those limbs to absorb.
If you are of a certain weight which makes exercise very difficult for you I would suggest to start out by simply walking, put on your shoes and walk. Walking is a wonderful form of exercise and I walk regularly. Not only does walking work your body but it has also been proven to aid the workings of that mysterious blob otherwise known as the human brain. Walking clears the mind and allows you to think straight, I often compose my poems and short stories whilst walking.
If you are starting from scratch in terms of exercise and find that you can only walk for ten or fifteen minutes in the beginning then that is fine, just walk for however long you can manage. Walking for ten or fifteen minutes is better than doing nothing at all.
There are two key elements to being successful when you first begin to walk. Firstly, do whatever you can but do is consistently. Consistency is the key. Do whatever you can but do it regularly and you will find success more quickly than you could have anticipated. If you can only manage ten or fifteen minutes of walking because of your weight then do it but do it daily or every other day. If you do this you will be amazed at how quickly your ability to exercise will improve and after a couple of weeks you will be able to double the amount of walking that you do.
the second key element is to never compare yourself to other people. It`s all too easy to watch Youtube videos of people running, cycling and hiking for hours on end and become downhearted by the fact that you can only manage a ten minute walk every day. It doesn`t matter what other people can do. The only thing that matters is what you can do, right now, today, for yourself. You might think that walking for ten minutes a day is not helping much but if that`s all that your body can do right now then what you are doing is the very best thing for you and your health. Do what you can and ignore other peoples abilities.
So, if you are overweight and finding exercise to be difficult then begin by just walking, walk for however far you can until you are too tired to walk further and then set that time and distance as your daily target. But do it consistently and within ten days or maybe a fortnight you will be able to walk further, you will have lost some weight and fat and your brain will be working much more efficiently. Best of all your body will thank you for giving it the opportunity to do what it does best and move by flooding you with those wonderful endorphins that will make you feel happier and healthier.
Below is the Youtube video I made in response to my viewer and you may find that I expand on some of the ideas that I have made on this Blog. post.
