How long?

I am making a nuisance of myself to my friends by asking them what they would like to know about fitness.  One friend, and presumably more than one, would like to know how long it takes to get results when we start working on our fitness.

It depends.

 

Which is a crappy answer, but be patient with me for a moment.

 

Some kinds of fitness activities make us feel better basically immediately.  We get a mood burst on the very first day we begin walking.  Most of us will notice a pretty good improvement in our cardio within a week or two assuming we aim for five or six days per week of about half an hour of work.

 

Weight training can take a little longer.  We get faster results if we work two or three times per week than we do if we have one workout per week.  If we’re doing two weight workouts per week, we should notice that we can increase the weights in about a month.  Changes in body size can also occur in that time period, but results will vary depending on what we’re eating.

 

So the slightly nuanced answer is that, with reasonable effort, we will begin to feel better somewhere between right away and in a month.

 

Go play.