Overweight? Here's How to Start Exercising Again

When you are overweight and you want to reach an ideal weight through exercise, with a little bit of effort, you can achieve great results.

Reviewed and approved by Doctor Carlos Fabián Avila.

Written by Grecia Morillo

Last update: 09 October, 2022

Sedentary lifestyles have become part of the reality of the majority of the population of the world. So, being overweight could be due to lack of time, lack of motivation, a poor diet, or simply any excuses that arise in the day.

With a sedentary lifestyle, this begins to manifest in your health and body. For this reason, it is necessary to do exercise at least 3 times a week.

Then, we can ask, “Can I reach my goal by doing exercise when I’m overweight?” Of course you can. And, you’ll even see the results faster if you follow physical and dietary rules carefully.

Benefits of exercise when you’re overweight

• Enables you to lose weight naturally
• Improves physical strength
• Helps to maintain mental health
• Fights cellulitis
• Gives you more energy every day

How to start exercising when you’re overweight

Follow the advice of a nutritionist

This is not about trusting in just any nutritionist. It is important to find a qualified nutritionist. This way, you’ll avoid breaches or the risk of a service that doesn’t give results.

From there, you’ll be able to renew your dietary habits. A nutritionist will recommend the best kinds of foods according to your body type and your usual lifestyle.

By doing this, you’ll reduce your calorie intake and be able to start your plan little by little to lose weight.

Start by getting off your chair

It isn’t necessary to run a marathon to be able to say that you’re doing some exercise. And, this is especially true if it’s your first day.

What you should do to get started is get off your desk chair. For instance, walk during the day, whether that be at home or at work.

You can also make the effort to change your lifestyle. For example, leave your car at home and walk to your destination.

Remember that walking at least 15 minutes a day makes the difference between a sedentary body and a healthy body.

One more step

During the first few days of your change, it may feel difficult to keep going. Why? Well, at first, you’re not used to doing exercise continuously during the day.

However, once you’ve got used to constant exercise, you can start with a higher goal. Or, exercise under the instruction of a trainer.

A trainer will propose to you routines for your current level of physical strength. This way, your work out sessions will be systematized.

Find any motivation

You can never have too many reasons to do exercise. So, keep up your motivation and your desire to continue, without getting bored or rushing towards results.

For example, you can find a vision that makes you proud of what you’re starting to do for your health. After all, there’s nothing better than focusing on your progress.

Also, you can start with small goals and then make them even bigger. Just try to do so without allowing laziness or lack of motivation to be an excuse.

And, there’s no better reason to do exercise than to want to feel happy. Doing exercise makes the body secrete serotonin, endorphins and dopamine, the hormones of happiness and well-being.

Don’t skip meals

If you’ve tried not eating at a certain time, you may have realized that this is not healthy. What’s more, it causes a rebound effect, because having not eaten anything, you’ll want to eat double at the next meal time. It actually slows down your metabolism.

So, skipping meals is a stimulant to progressively lose muscle mass. And, this is unfavorable for the health of both your bones and your body.

Always one step forward

As the days go by, with consistency, you’ll start to see that you’re losing weight and that your body is getting closer to the ideal weight.

At the same time, the exercise will also be working to tone and gain muscle and to improve your body form. You shouldn’t consider stalling, because by continuing, you’ll reach the success that you were aiming for: a healthy body.

It is also important to change your exercise strategies along the way because over time you’ll need to increase the difficulty of your exercises.

Always keep in mind that to start doing exercise when you’re overweight, you need to get motivated and convince yourself that you can achieve whatever you want!