I think a lot of people struggle with how to even start with exercise and output, and there are certain schools of thought that say you should focus only on input when you're starting the fight against fat and recovering from food addiction (spoiler alert: you'll never recover. You're gonna have to be focused and aware for the rest of your life) so they tend to just get a bit overwhelmed and do nothing. My biggest, most awesome advice when it comes to working out, exercising, whatever you wanna call it is "just do something". Anything that you weren't doing before is going to help. The exception to that rule for actual numbers on the scale lost is heavy weight lifting. I lifted big for a really long time and I got super strong...but gained weight. That's because muscle weighs more than fat. You really need to take in a bunch of different methods of measurement and feedback when it comes to your loss, because things like body fat percentage and body measurements can be as or more important than actual weight. This week, for example, I've maintained my weight (which, at 100.4kg is massively frustrating...come on double digits!) but I've lost 1.4% body fat and several cm from all over my body. It's just one of those things. I might be holding onto water, or my cycle might be at a certain point where I'm bloated or whatever...and the weight just doesn't change every day like it does at other times. Also, it could just be that for 4 days, no change in the scale number is just bloody normal and I've gotten too used to losing -something- every day.
My current workout looks like this:
20 minutes on the treadmill doing alternate minutes at 9 and 5.5km/h (1 minute warmup at 5.5, then into 1 min of 9,1 min of 5.5, rinse and repeat until 20 minutes is done or until sweat gets in your eyes and you're falling off the treadmill because you can't see any more).
20 minutes Iyengar yoga (by myself, mostly lateral poses, inversions and deep stretching)
I can't speak highly enough of yoga, especially for fat bodies. In the beginning it's really offputting and difficult to get into/hold each pose, but regular practice with a suitably qualified teacher (someone who is sympathetic to the plight of the fat person is a massive help) will make you a more bendy, awesomely stretchy person who is stronger and more able to hold the poses for longer and get more benefit from them. I've had a really big decrease in anxiety levels with regular yoga practice, too. It's kind of a whole body and mind helper.
I hate the treadmill, I'm not gonna lie. I always trudge into the cardio room and make noises about how awful it is, then I get on the damn machine and I do my thing, and I still feel shit. There's no magic awesome feeling of "I just ran" until you get to the endorphin stage and 20 minutes aint gonna do that for me. I do feel good about the positive impact on my health that I've given myself, though, so there's definitely a positive reward from it all. I think it just depends on having the right mindset and focus, with the willpower and determination to really change things.
Other things to do if you're at the point where exercise hurts in really bad ways because of stress on joints and things are low impact/no impact exercise like swimming and water aerobics. Basically, anything to get the heart rate up and the sweat flowing (yes, if you're doing it right, you'll still sweat in the water).
Everyone starts somewhere. Forget embarrassment, forget your pride, and start moving. Your body will thank you in the long run.
One last thought on exercise. I do feel that it's vitally important in establishing healthy habits for your new life. HOWEVER, the phrase "you can't out-exercise a bad diet" is absolutely true. 90% of this battle is all about what you put into your body, and I'll go into that in my next post.
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