Try setting up a consultation with a personal trainer to help get you started with an exercise program. These fitness professionals will help you find a workout that can help you lose weight and keep your weight loss off permanently. Tell your trainer about your weight loss goal and diet and they'll be able to work with you to meet those goals. In addition, ask them about exercises that may be more comfortable for you. If your excess weight is causing joint pain, they may be able to teach or show you exercises that lessen your pain. Many times you can get a free or promotional consultation with a trainer when you sign up for a gym membership. Also, try using a trainer just a few times or until you get the hang of the workout. You don't necessarily need a personal trainer long-term if you don't want one. Aerobic training is a great exercise to burn calories. This will not only help support your weight loss, but you'll also notice a variety of other benefits like increased energy and improved moved. It's recommended to incorporate 150 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity each week. However, the more exercise you do, the more calories you can burn, which may help increase your weight loss. If you have a significant amount of excess weight, start slowly with exercise. If you cannot do 150 minutes per week, that's OK. Start with just 10 minutes per day. Include cardio exercises like: fast walking, biking, using the elliptical or swimming/water aerobics. Strength training is another form of exercise that will help support your weight loss. Include 12 days of strength training each week. Strength training helps build lean muscle mass which, over time, burns more calories compared to fat mass in the body. Increasing your muscle mass will help you burn more calories all day long. Strength training can also help tone and contour your body to help you achieve a more lean and toned look. Strength training activities include: weight lifting, yoga, or resistance bands/tubes. It's important that you find a type of activity that you genuinely enjoy; that way you will be more likely to stick with it and do it on a regular basis. Try a variety of exercises that you think you may enjoy. This will give you a good idea of what exercises you'll most likely keep doing long-term. Think outside the box. Hiking, dance classes, kayaking, or team sports are all fun and exciting forms of exercise. Switch up your routine. After a while, an exercise routine may get boring or old. Switching up your routine every once in a while can help keep it fresh and fun. Exercise with a friend for a social and motivating workout. You're more likely to keep going if you're working out with a friend.

Summary: Meet with a personal trainer. Add in cardio exercise. Incorporate strength training. Find an exercise that you enjoy.

If you spend the majority of your days doing things you don't enjoy or feel connected to in any way, then it's no wonder you're feeling down. Find time, either on the weekends or during work/school breaks, to do things you are passionate about. These activities should be active (though not necessarily physically), engaging activities. Passive activities like watching TV or surfing the web don't count. The key is to do something that occupies 100% of your attention and forces you to be in the present moment rather than letting your mind drift off to negative thoughts. If you don't have any enjoyable hobbies or interests, then find some. It could be an outdoor activity like golf, tennis, swimming, or hiking, an artistic activity like music, painting, or photography, or a philanthropic activity like volunteering at an animal shelter. Having tangible things to work toward will instantly make you feel more enthusiastic about life, and give your life a sense of purpose. Your goals can be personal, having to do with your career, education, or personal relationships, or they can be external, like striving to make a positive impact on your community. Set both short-term and long-term goals. For example, make a list of things you need to get done today, like finishing your homework, buying groceries, or walking the dog, and check each one off as you go. This will give you a sense of accomplishment and motivation to leave the house. If you are having trouble setting long-term goals because you don't know what you want to do with your life, then start by asking yourself what kind of legacy you want to leave behind. How do you want to be remembered by people once you are gone? What kind of impact do you want to make on the world? Whatever your long-term goal(s) are, be sure that they are things that you genuinely care about and want, not necessarily things that your parents or people around you are pressuring you to do. While you want your goals to be realistic, they shouldn't necessarily be easy. Easy goals won't push you past your comfort zone or make you feel accomplished or excited. Don't underestimate your own abilities by setting mediocre goals. If there are specific people or things in your life that are truly getting you down, then it's important to remove them as soon as possible. If your job is making you miserable, then quit. If you are in an unhappy or abusive relationship, then end it immediately. There will always be aspects of your life that annoy or irritate you, but that doesn't necessarily mean getting rid of all of them. The key is to determine whether the benefits of having the person or thing in your life outweigh the negative. For example, school or work may be exhausting, but the benefit of being educated and able to support yourself financially are worth the hard work you put in. Similarly, the support and unconditional love you receive from your family are a fair trade for the occasional fighting and bickering. No matter how wonderful your life becomes, it will always seem horrible if you have horrible thoughts. Our thoughts have the power to transform the world around us for either the better or the worse. Happy people aren't necessarily the ones with the best circumstances; they are the ones with the best attitudes. Learning to pay more attention to your thoughts is the first step toward becoming more positive. Notice when you are having excessively pessimistic or negative thoughts, and tell yourself "I'm being very negative right now." Eventually, you will learn to become your own happiness coach by reminding yourself to stop approaching things from such a negative point of view. Having a sedentary lifestyle is not only detrimental to your physical health, putting you at greater risk for obesity and cancer, it also negatively effects your emotional health, causing you to feel lethargic, bored, and apathetic. You should get at least 30 minutes of physical activity everyday. This doesn't mean you have to join a gym or play an organized sport. Even the simple act of walking around the mall or park for an hour is enough to do the trick. It's especially important to conscious effort to get up and moving if you work a desk job or are a student and spend most of your time sitting at a desk studying. Buy a pedometer to track the number of steps you take in a day. If you are walking enough, then you don't necessarily need to have formal exercise every day. Make small lifestyle changes to fit more activity into your day. Park further away from your destination, take the stairs rather than the elevator, and do chores around the house.
Summary: Spend more time doing things that you genuinely enjoy. Make goals. Cut out the bad. Learn to control negative thoughts. Get active.