My life was changed when I stopped going to the gym for a long hard work out and switched to what I call “strength snacks”. I do two circuits of three exercises twice a day.

I think that walking can be a great start. But also doing some sort of resistance exercise is also important and useful. You can start with a body weight routine and move up to weights once you are solidly into the routine.

https://www.nshealth.ca/sites/default/files/documents/pamphlets/1563.pdf

I always say, get a dog. Youll walk every day, you play in the park or backyard. Plus dogs are just awesome companions and help with positive attitudes.

Its a commitment, but i couldnt imagine not having a dog with me. Humans and dogs belong together.

Walking is a very good start, yes. And start slow.

When you get high at night, go for a walk. Night walk is lovely.

Also whenever you think about it, stand on one foot, sounds odd but it’s good for your body. Little exercise breaks, go up the stairs and back down a couple of times.

Mostly I want to say - building a habit takes six weeks. Force yourself every day for six weeks. After that it gets easier because you will feel better on a day you exercise, than a day you don’t, and because you will have found the time of day that works. Habit works a lot better than willpower, but you have to power your way through those first few weeks. Commit to six weeks of daily something. Push ups, walking, whatever.

https://leisureguy.ca/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/rcaf_xbx_5bx_exercise_plans_text.pdf

All you need is a stop watch. 15 minutes a day, and you advance at your own pace.

There’s a reason it’s been around for so long, it works.

At one point I was 275 pounds, type 2 diabetic, and it was hard just walking upstairs. I was perfectly content to let my diverticulitis slowly kill me and let my ex-wife reap the benefits. That’s how miserable I was. That was about twelve years ago.

When she decided that she would rather start fucking other people, it was my time to gather some self-esteem and slowly work my way out of my problems. I bought a trailer with a piece of land using a secret 401(k) account that I’d had, and that began the long journey to where I am now at 63.

I quit smoking a pack to two packs of cigarettes a day and started dieting and exercising. It was excruciatingly hard. There were stretches where I quit and gained back some of the weight. What I started with was walking. There’s a greenway where I live, and the first time I walked it I thought I was going to die. It’s mostly flat, but it was July, and there I was. It’s four miles from one end to the other and then back to my truck. I didn’t make it all four miles the first time. I turned around almost near the end and walked back very slowly. It turned out to be about seven miles round trip.

Through that health plan I started using my gym membership, using the exercise bike a few days a week, and continuing to walk. Then I started adding in hikes. There was a point where I got down to 196 pounds. I’d really like to be 180, but time will tell.

It has been a long, long, long struggle because I was a schoolteacher and a bus monitor. I would get up at 4:00 a.m., and during wrestling season I would get home at 7:00 or 8:00 at night, go straight to bed, and do it all again every day during the school year. The weight would come back slowly because I wasn’t exercising as much. Then I’d have the summer off, bust my ass losing weight, and continue the cycle.

Here I am now, 63 years old, and stuck around 203 pounds, taking 1 mg of Ozempic a week on top of Metformin. I still have type 2 diabetes, but I’ve learned to control my diet much better. I cut out all sodas, which was a big one, and other processed sugars and foods. Will I occasionally go to Village Inn and have a buffet? Yes, sure, once every three or four months. Will I occasionally stop at Bojangles and get a biscuit and Bo’Rounds before I go hike? Yes, I will. The thing is, you need to be consistent and push yourself when you want to quit.

Now that same greenway I can run from one end to the other and back. I’m not running fast, but I can. I’m now doing 5Ks and an occasional 10K, and fall is my favorite time to do those. To add into my hiking, I’ve taken up fly fishing, which I’m almost as bad at as golf. But the bottom line is that I’m getting out and doing something every day.

Today I’m going over to Lenoir to run the mountain bike trail, which is preparing me for the Dirty Santa five-mile run in December. Granted, I’m retired and have way more time on my hands than I’m used to, but that’s what I did and still do. It may not work for some people, but it’s working for me. I also have an exercise bike, a mountain bike, and a gravel bike. Sadly, the running is taking a little bit of a toll on my joints, so I’m slowly transitioning to bike riding.

My suggestion to you is be consistent, and when you feel like you want to stop, push yourself a little harder. I always pushed my wrestlers to be in the best physical shape they could be in, with the most endurance they could possibly muster, because to win matches you have to be stronger and faster than your opponent. I didn’t take my own advice very well until about ten years ago when I realized that I was going to die if I didn’t get my shit in one sock. That, and I couldn’t bear to think of the soldiers who had worked under me when I was a military officer seeing me as a weak, body-fat tub of lard.

Now get out there and get to it. It doesn’t matter what you do as long as you’re doing something.

The hardest thing is to just do it regularly. Whatever it is. Have a set time every day you do it. If it’s walking, do it rain or shine at a certain time every day.

Count your calories and try to burn more than you consume. There are lots of apps out there to help but I used omnom and it is great.

Lots of people say to take progress pictures in front of a mirror so you can see your progress. It can be motivating.

There’s no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing. Get yourself a decent hiking jacket, trousers and shoes.

Basic cardio. Walk 30 minutes at a 12 degree incline, 2.5 - 3.0 MPH, 5x a week.

Legit, if you do ONLY this, you will lose weight.

After two weeks of doing this, add on 30 minutes of weight lifting 3-4x a week. Nothing crazy, just get your muscles working.

Do that for two weeks. Congrats - you’ve been exercising for a month. Keep scaling up but listen to your body. Stay hydrated through the day, and 1lb of protein per lb of body weight that you’re supposed to weigh.

I have a weird suggestion: work out high. Nothing intense - a walk or some floor exercises would be good. Go very easy for a couple of weeks at least.

When i was super depressed it was so hard to get started that working out high was just easier. Eventually, the exercise became more important and i even started to play some sports. Pretty quickly i was exercising more than getting high. These days, i refrain from smoking weed so that i can do better in the leagues i eventually joined.

Bonus: through the leagues i met some nice people.

The best way to start is to find little bits of extra activity in your day: park at the back of the lot and walk a few extra hundred feet. Get to the store early, grab a cart you can use to make the walk easier, and do a few laps around the store. If need be, there are workouts on youtube you can do in your bed, if you’ve gotten big enough that walking is difficult.

That sort of thing.

Once you notice these activities getting easier, increase your difficulty and begin training harder.

Just walking around or going for a short hike is a good start. But, spoken from my own experience: the best first step is to stop getting high. Usually helps with depression and anxiety as well. It did so for me. It’s not easy, but it should be the first thing.

Get a little high, pick a high energy album to put on headphones and go for a walk/jog. I used the Zombies Run! app to get from walking to running. Having a voice directing me when to run or walk helped a lot and it is designed to build you up from walking. The story is whatever, but I think having any narrative to follow makes a huge difference over just basic instructions

It’s biking for me, specifically mountain biking. Though, if I’m particularly busy or not feeling well I’ll still try to just bike around the neighborhood

Walking, and add a weighted vest or backpack. Start light, like 5lb/2.5kg for a week or two, then increase by that much a week until you get to 40% of your body weight in a few months.

I find that 30lb/15kg is a great place to stop though, much more feels pretty rough.

Then just walk around. You can listen to music, podcasts, nature, bird sounds.

Do that 45 a day and you’ll be significantly healthier in a few months.

Depending on where you live, a bike can do wonders. I hate the gym too, but being able to ride my bike and see different places and things at my own pace is really motivating for me.