Does exercise ever get easier?

[HurryUpPleaseItsTime]

So I shall preface this by saying I am very overweight. I have just started slimming world in the last few weeks and am losing weight steadily sticking to the plan but the last week I've joined the gym. I'm going 2-3 times a week.
Trouble is, I'm finding it very hard going. I know exercise is meant to be, but I can't even run on the treadmill for very long. I can jog on it for 30 seconds-1 min before I have to turn it back to a slower pace and go back to a brisk walk. I'm surrounded by über thin gym bunnies (who all look lovely!) and they can go for hours on the equipment.
Will it get easier the thinner I get? 1 hr in the gym in the morning at the mo is wiping me out for the rest of the day! Determined to do it this time as I need to, not just for my sake but for DCs too.

Yes. Honestly!

When I started Couch to 5K it was hell. Running for a minute could leave me looking & feeling like a boiled tomato. But the thinner you'll get, the less weight you'll have to carry.

Can I suggest something? Keep a diary. Or at least just keep making brief notes somewhere of what you did in the gym & how it felt. Then go back & look at your earlier entries in a few months' time & see how far you've come.

Yes. It gets easier very very quickly. After the first three or four sessions you will notice a difference and you will keep on noticing, until you look back on how you were and can't believe how you now are.

Yes it does get easier and more enjoyable. You have made a great start already.
Can I suggest that you have a chat with a gym staff member and find a gentle exercise class to kick off with. You will find it easier and more enjoyable than the treadmill. Mixing it up is better for your progress too.
My gym do a 'body vie' class which is very gentle.
Keep going, it will get easier.

Thank you both, it's really encouraging to hear. I'll keep it in mind when I feel like giving up! Just desperate to get this weight off - so fed up of being fat.

The diary thing is a good idea!

3boys have considered the classes but given how spectacularly unfit I am I'm worried about not being able to keep up with the rest of the class

It will get easier.

Don't try to do too much too soon, you could injure yourself. I hurt my knees quite badly by upping the distance on the treadmill too soon.

Yes, it certainly will. In fact, if you keep it up for a while you will get mildly hooked on the endorphins and start to actively want to move. I won't say I always feel like putting on my gear and doing a class or whatever, but I genuinely feel rotten if I don't work out so motivating myself generally is not an issue.

It will absolutely get easier. If you have a bit of cash to spend, a fitness tracker may help motivation as you'll actually be able to see your resting heart rate go down as you get fitter.

Yes!! But maybe the gym isn't the right thing...

I go to a class 3 x per week and have made loads of friends there. I go to see the friends and have to do an hour of exercise while I see them, so you almost don't notice the exercise!

I hated exercise, most of ever stuck at anything was about 2 weeks. I've been at this class for 18 months and really look forward to going!

Find the right exercise and the rest will fall into place!

Yes definitely. As a fellow unfit fatty though I’d caution low expectations in how fast it gets easier !
Day to day it seems a struggle but, for instance I started c25k in November. Repeated week 1 a couple of times as I couldn’t manage it , neatly died doing week 2..... then went on holiday 😂

Had an active holiday abroad for 3 weeks but no gym etc.

Back this week and I have done werk 1 again and finally it seems almost easy! Looking forward to week 2 next week .

Btw if you don’t know c25k week 1 is running 1min, walking 90 seconds x8. So nothing very difficult fit most people but it’s taken so long 😂

Don't try to do too much too soon, you could injure yourself. I hurt my knees quite badly by upping the distance on the treadmill too soon.

That's a really good point, I did something similar and had to stop running for over a month, which was infuriating.

Have you talked to any of the trainers at the gym about putting a programme together for you? I did that & it was really helpful. The idea was that I could just extend things then as they got easier.

Yes! I think you'll be surprised how you progress. I would say gym is fab if that's what you're happy with. Finding something you enjoy is half the battle. But also, see if you can find some kind of plan to follow or goal to achieve so you have a bit of an idea of what you want to do in each session, and also have a bit of a marker to see how you're getting on over time.

Well done and good luck! :)

I was at zero fitness a year ago. (Difficult pregnancy then ankle injury) Walked out of a couple of gym classes and went home and cried as I was so upset at how unfit I was. Found a class that I loved- aquafit, and built up my strength and confidence , and then discovered more classes that I love.

I've just done 2 spin classes back to back.

I'm mildly addicted to the endorphins. I love tracking my exercise on my new Fitbit, watching my resting heart rate decrease as I do more exercise.

Stick with it, but definitely start off gently. Running is so high impact, your knees are so precious, be careful with them!

Spin is addictive, but you have to start and go easy on yourself ( mentally)

Stop comparing yourself to others in the gym 😃

Compare yourself this week to how you were last week

This week I can run for 35 seconds each burst of running which is 10 seconds more than last week

Run, cycle etc against yourself and set your own small goals for each week

Most of all find classes that you enjoy and try many - but more than once, you may find something difficult at first but give it two or three goes before writing it off for a while

Yes, and it's quite fast. I just got back in the gym after breaking my ankle in the summer and piling on some weight, so basically after a couple of weeks I can run faster than two weeks ago, and those twisty sit ups where you touch elbow to knee I was struggling with, but am now doing with ease. Some things are still hard, so I can't lift the weights I used to, but am increasing, and my thighs hurt like a bastard on the cross trainer, but it's getting easier.

To be fair I used to go to the gym a lot, so have some muscle memory I assume, and this is me just getting back into it, but you'd be surprised also as a newbie. When I just started years ago I couldn't believe how knackering it was but how quickly I was able to improve.

Keep at it. Honestly. Every couple of weeks try to do a little more or something different, even if it's only ten seconds more before you take a break.

You won't regret it. Right now I'm doing six days a week, normally I'd do four or five.and I'd say in normal times only one or two of those sessions I actually wanted to do, the rest I forced myself.

You will also feel fantastic afterwards when you get into it. This is the hard bit.

OP I am massively overweight but working on it with a change of diet and exercise. I've lost three stone is almost six months.

My exercise is walking which is progressing to a bit of running. I was just over 21 stone when I started and I have arthritis in both of my knees so it's been really painful at times. I've stuck with it and it is definitely getting easier. I am much faster now and can even do a fair bit of jogging. I have noticed a huge difference in my knees, massive difference.

I won't say I'm enjoying it, some days I do some days I don't but the scales going down is motivating me. But to answer your question, yes it is definitely getting easier and I love how much more I can do.

Keep at it, it's incredibly hard at times but I'm sure you know that once you have done something, you feel much better afterwards.

Its probably a good idea to get advice at what equipment you should be using. I always found the cross trainer was most effective for weight loss and once you've lost a bit you'll find it all easier. Good luck!

Have I found my people? I've just been reading a thread from 2012 about fitness for the incredibly unfit, and was hoping for a more up to date one. Here's my situation: I'm 58 and housebound, caring for my Dad (dementia, prostate cancer, hydrocele, left leg amputated at the knee, bed and chair bound). I'm overweight (on week 3 of low carbing, it's working) and at the end of week 1 of exercising. I've got an elliptical cross trainer thing here in my room, some weights, a weight bench, an abs crunching roller thing, and an aerobics step.

12 years ago, I went to the gym for the first time in my life, and fell in love with it. Managed to get up to doing 5k every other day on the treadmill (plus weights, swimming, and all that good stuff), but after a year or so the car died, and I couldn't get there any more (no public transport where I lived). I lost 5 stone, I felt great, and then I kinda stopped.

So, as of this week I'm back at it, only this time in my bedroom! I am as unfit as an unfit thing - the first day (last Monday) I managed 5 x 1 minute on the elliptical - the lactic acid burn in my thighs was the issue, it hurt too much to get to the stage where I got breathless! By Thursday I managed 3 and a half minutes, and I'm planning on trying for 5 in one go on Monday. I'm vaguely following the Body For Life For Women plan (same as I did 12 years ago), which means aerobic exercise every other day, alternating with upper body weights and lower body weights, and a day off on Sundays.

The plan suggests 12 - 20 reps of the weights exercises at the lowest weight. Well, I managed about 5 before things hurt too much! There seems to be a bit of a difference between exercising at 46 and at 58! I am absolutely determined to keep this up though - I will get fitter and I will lose my excess weight. I have around 4 stone to lose, I think (I don't weigh myself because I tend to obsess about it if I do), and I'm giving myself until next Christmas to do it, which is probably rather generous, but I'd rather not feel too pressured.

If anyone else is at my dire level of fitness, do you fancy a thread for us to talk about what we're doing and how we're getting on? I don't want to hijack this thread really, so if there's any interest I'll start a new one on Monday (unless someone else does it first, please poke me if you do). If you can already run for over a minute, this will probably not be for you - I've been looking at various 'beginner' videos on YouTube and despairing, cos I am nowhere near fit enough to get through one!

There must be other people as unfit as me? Please show yourselves!

Yes it gets easier. DH is overweigh, did couch to 5k at the end of last year and is now choosing a 10 k race. He started with running for a few seconds at a time with walking in between. I swim, and when I started I struggled to string 2 lengths of front crawl together. Im now one of the head down front crawlers in the fast lane (depending which session I go to - some are faster than others). I miss it if I can't go for some reason. When I was ill I couldn't wait to get back, although I had to promise to ease myself in gently.
Basically, the more you use your muscles the stronger they get.

Classes will help motivate you and push you in a structured way.

Eleven months ago I went to a power walking treadmill class which turned out to be a running class. I’m overweight and was horrified....told the instructor I wasn’t running and he said fine. I walked fast, everyone else ran. I turned up the next week and said I wasn’t running but did a little bit of jogging. The following week I jogged more. By August I could run 10k non stop, very slowly but I don’t care. I injured myself between sept-dec and am just getting back into it but can already run 5k without stopping again.

Keep at it.

And doing HIT type training of a minute at a faster pace, then active recovery and then faster again is great. Keep doing that and the time you can run will get longer, the recovery times shorter. Look at couch to 5k programme.

Couch to 5k is a proven way to improve your fitness and to learn how to run; definitely echo the recommendations. It's all gradual and you don't have to do it in the number of weeks the basic programme sets out - the idea is you repeat weeks until you can complete the runs, so you can do it gradually if you need to. To start with the idea of running for five minutes or ten minutes or twenty minutes without stopping might seem completely out of reach but you can get there! A good tip is to run really slowly - basically as slow as you can and it's still "running" rather than walking. If you can run any slower then you're not slow enough. It seems ridiculous but you work on the length of time first and get faster later.

I was going to add what others have said - walk! Walk on the treadmill gradually upping the incline and speed. You won't overface yourself and it is great for fitness! Make sure you get out of breath and sweaty. You can then move onto running when you are ready.

I think it does get easier, but it's a process. You won't wake up one day and magically be and feel super fit, but you will look back over the course of 6 months and be amazed by how much you have improved!

Running is really hard work- Last summer I thought I was pretty fit, working in an active job, able to swim 25-30 lengths at a decent pace and cycle 24 miles without working up to it. Then I started running and honestly it was horrid. I could barely manage to run 1km to start with. However, the more I ran, the easier it got, and I was running 5k comfortably before I stopped due to lack of daylight.

So I'd say leave running for a little while- walk briskly, use the other machines, do some weights (building muscle will give you lots of health benefits and help you feel stronger and fitter). I would aim for moderate intensity exercise to start with, around 60% of your max heart rate, or able to talk comfortably while exercising.

Also, make sure you warm up properly- I've read before that this is especially important for women, and it's important for avoiding injuries. For running on a treadmill, even if I've already warmed up on another piece of equipment, I usually start with five minutes of brisk walking (about as fast as I can comfortably manage), then move up to a jog for five minutes, before running at a higher speed. I'm not very good, but I find this much easier than getting on the treadmill and attempting to start running straight away.

Don't forget whatever you do will be benefiting you way more than sitting on the couch- 30 minutes of brisk walking is great exercise and will give you lots of health benefits. If you are genuinely very unfit, personally, I wouldn't start trying to run until you can do this comfortably. I'd do higher intensity cardio on a bike or cross trainer, as it's much easier to slow down on these if you are struggling.

Also, I do think getting a personal trainer to make you a plan will help if you're not sure where to start.