So upset I cant excercise, cant get my breath

[JessicaC1992]

I've let myself go, I'm smoking too much, and my weight has gone up. I tried to excercise last night, and I'm just out of breath before I even approach anything that'd burn calories. Very frustrating. Has anyone else had this where being out of breath prevents meaningful excercise, I only tried a few minutes of youtube aerobics.
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Any sort of exercise will burn more calories. And it's a common issue for people starting exercise to push themselves too much. You need to find an exercise level that, to start with, still leaves you enough breath to be able to hold a conversation with someone. To start with that might just be walking, or to just to do a youtube video at your own pace with frequent breaks (and definitely look for one aimed at beginners). The main thing is to exercise at your pace - if you stick with it you'll see your fitness levels and what you are able to do increase.

I find that 30 minutes walking a few times a week, or every day if possible gets your fitness going again. It won't take long.

What do you enjoy op? There are so many good things you could do like swimming or yoga, that don't send you into a breathing panic. Just walking will be great for physical and mental health. We need to walk before we can run.

I’ve tried to get fit many, many times over the last decade! Finally decided the key is consistency. So started with walking. I got up and walked 30 mins 5/6 days a week, week after week. Then slowly started doing a mid walk jog. Now up to jogging a very slow 10k. I would spend 15/20 mins walking and go from there.

You will get better by building up your aerobic fitness this includes doing more walking etc.

Just start walking OP ....30 mins a day....as brisk a walk as you can.... you will build up stamina

I also recommend walking to start with. You can gradually build up to walk/runs over time. Couch to 5k is a very good program and you can repeat weeks as many times as you need to. You will be burning calories I promise and starting off carefully will mean you won’t become discouraged and reduce the chances of injury. It’s surprising how quickly you start to feel the benefits and it will encourage you to incorporate other healthy lifestyle changes alongside it.

I agree just get out and walk. That's what I started doing. I walked several times a week. You become able to walk faster and for longer and then you can try the aerobics videos.

Thanks to all above, I'll try to get out walking a bit, and regularly. I'f I'm walking though, I'll probably have a few ciggys aswell, which doesnt help.... but atleast the excercise is started.

Start slowly, good exercise habits are based around consistency.

When I first started (with a PT) I just did basic things for about a month. Incline walking on a treadmill, body weight squats and lunges. I also did slow step ups to work on my balance.

It was hard going and not hugely exciting, but I'm really glad I started so slowly rather than pushing myself too hard straight away.

Improving fitness takes time and won't happen overnight, just be consistent.

Just walk. Go outside, put some music on, and walk. Even if you only go round the block.

Download MyFitnessPal and count your calories. Do what little you can, and over time it will improve.

Obviously you know the smoking has to stop too, perhaps replace with an ecig?

@LindaEllen

Just walk. Go outside, put some music on, and walk. Even if you only go round the block.

Download MyFitnessPal and count your calories. Do what little you can, and over time it will improve.

Obviously you know the smoking has to stop too, perhaps replace with an ecig?

One thing at a time, the smoking stays for now, lol.

Yeh you are going to have limited lung capacity until you stop smoking unfortunately. But you can definitely still build up brisk walking in the interim. Good luck!

Maybe try yoga or Pilates which is less intensive but will still work your body. It concentrates on your breathing which may help too

If you don’t want to try plain walking why not start off with week 1 of Couch to 5k , but rather than moving on to week 2 keep repeating week 1 until you feel more comfortable. Its 60 secs running then 90 seconds walking to start with, just remember the ‘running’ isn’t all out school sports day but instead should be jogging as slow as you can go ! .

If you don’t think you’re up to that then another good plan is the use the C25k app but alternate fast and slow walking. When you do the walk sections the aim is not to go as fast as you can, but to get your heart rate down - so a slow stroll is ok. In the fast walk or run sections don’t over do it but think about the pace you can maintain for the whole effort.

You’ll probably notice a difference in 3 - 4 weeks so stick with it and build up slowly, repeating weeks until you feel ready to take on the next stage.