Start small and be consistent. A few years ago at over 300lbs I started by walking around the park across the street. About .5 miles. Every day I tried to add 1%.

After six months I added a light jog for a mile.

Six months after that I was well enough to start HIIT classes. Six months after that I was strong enough to start real weight training and distance running.

Three years later I am down ~80lbs, able to run 10 miles at an 8:00 pace, and bench 205.

These aren’t extreme numbers for someone who started off reasonably healthy. But if you’ve been sedentary a long time, the difference in how you move and feel will be shocking.

Starting off can pose real challenges to your sense of self-worth, because you feel pathetic when you see how small your initial efforts are compared to what you see online and in media. It’s important to shift your mindset toward self-comparison, being slightly better than yourself yesterday.

If you’re struggling because you have chosen other priorities over your body (e.g. coding, family) in your 20s, I promise you, you will get there with consistent effort and compounded effort over time.