Ready to start an exercise routine with obesity? Follow these small steps and build your strength gradually. Image Credit: Paulus Rusyanto / EyeEm/EyeEm/GettyImages

Regardless of your weight, starting an exercise routine is an important step toward your healthiest you.

In fact, if you have obesity and you're active, you're more likely to be more metabolically healthy with better blood glucose, blood pressure and lipid levels — important factors for mitigating heart disease and diabetes risk, according to January 2018 research in BMC Obesity.

Though exercise alone may not lead to significant weight loss (it's important to combine activity with a healthy diet), where it does shine is in helping dieters more easily maintain weight loss (if that's your goal), per a January 2014 review in Progress in Cardiovascular Diseases.

Exercise is even more effective when paired with a healthy diet. Download the MyPlate app to track your calories consumed and burned for a complete picture of your overall health.

Still, you may be worried about how to start an exercise routine, especially as someone in a bigger body. "I was once obese. One of the biggest challenges I faced was the physical ability to actually exercise. My body hurt from the extra weight, and my endurance was extremely low," Katie Hug, certified personal trainer and health and wellness coach, tells LIVESTRONG.com.

Those are all legitimate concerns, but they don't have to be barriers. "There are several things you can do to make the exercise program less stressful on your body," says exercise physiologist Alicia O'Connor, director of personal training at the Medical University of South Carolina's (MUSC) Wellness Center.