Another Fitness Thread...Sort Of

Happy New Year Everyone!

Possibly a loaded question y'all but.... Where should I start when it comes to losing some weight? I visit to a doctor will come shortly but i want to be prepared for what i fear is coming. It feels as if i'm about to step into a Jiffy Lube and am about to hear all of the things wrong... (i anticipate blood pressure, pre diabetes, etc). Recently, once i start doing anything beyond regular walking, the headaches begin. Assembled a firepit, headaches began toward the end. Cleaning the garage, same thing. (You get the picture)
I'm 5' 6," the scale says 218 lbs and turn 34 later this month. I am not sure what the norm is but i doubt it is anywhere near where i currently am. Due to issues stated earlier, i cut the excess sugars out. I used to drink at least two cans of soda per day and kicked those away to help with the headaches. Now that the holidays are over, working out as atop of the list. My goal is not to be a gym rat who says "bro" every other second but i would like to shed some weight and yes, change the overall diet. I realize the weekly beef fajita cookouts will need to go but i would prefer to stay active with the kiddos than to struggle with keeping up with them.

Don't kill me please. lol

 

Out of personal experience, headaches can be from lack of hydration. How much plain water you drink per day?

 

Welcome! The first thing I suggested is to portion control. Eat more vegetables, fruits and salad. Please don’t eat until you have food coma that’s a bad sign. Lol

 

Best advice I can give is to start small. You have plenty of time and so many people jump into fitness and can get burned out quickly. I would start with weekly goals that push you but are achievable and you can do with the kids. I started by walking everyday for a minimum of 30mins for about two weeks (dont worry about pace). Then one of those days I turned into a mile jog. And worked up from there. If you want to get into weights and other gym stuff I would get a trainer. It takes the guest work out of everything. Tell them your goals and let them develop a plan for you. But, it sounds like you are headed in the right direction with eating healthier. Again its a whole life style change so start small and let momentum take over and turn you into a fitness nut.

Best of luck to you!! Keep us posted on the progress.

 

Vinnie Tortorich has the best fitness advice. Start slow and then slow down he says.

He also famously says “you can’t outrun a bad diet”

The big lie of the weight loss and fitness industry is that you can work the weight off. This is completely backwards. Fitness is GREAT for you health. But if you’re overweight it is because you are eating unhealthy foods which destroy your body’s hormone prodction/receptions. I know because i was fat my entire life from age 10 to now. Still working on losing my gut, ive had it for 25 years, but im down from 225 to 194. Thats after dropping to 182 before adding muscle from lifting



Im 35 and i also started this journey because i was getting winded chasing my kids. Now i can do pushups with them on my back

 

Baby steps. Pick something you can do, and focus on it. If weight loss is the goal, diet is the key. I am 5'6" and fat, so I am doing nutrisystem. It's expensive and a bunch of small portioned processed food crap, but the calorie deficit and portion control habits are good. Basically it's 5-6 small meals/snacks eaten in 2 hour intervals. With the habits I am building from it, I will then transition to healthier foods on the same schedule. All this is being sprinkled with a bit more physical activity. I'm not going nuts. I'm fat and easily winded, so I am going at it slowly.

I don't expect to be skinny overnight, but in a month I dropped from 42 inch waisted pants being tight (honestly needed bigger ones but was cheap) to them falling off of me. I'm in 40 inch waist pants now, and they are starting to fall off of me too. First time in my life I'm going to have to go buy clothes smaller than what I currently have.

Stick with it, and you can get there. Health is an individual thing, so don't be discouraged if somebody else's "Cure all" doesn't work for you. You just gotta find what DOES work for you.

 

Look up Jason Fung on youtube. I forgot to mention him, but he is the groundbreaker on weight loss

 

Keep it simple. Which means don't kill yourself doing crazy diets. You need carbs. Let me say it again...you need carbs if your going to be active. Yes protein is important but so is carbs. I see too many people cut out carbs and lower their calories to point that it's stalling out their metabolism. Need carbs for fuel for the fire!

 

I'm about to go down the fat loss journey myself. Fell off the wagon hard for reasons I won't go into. I'm 5'5" and 210lbs. I should be around 175 according to my doc. Luckily, all my numbers (blood sugar, cholesterol etc) are perfect. Doc gave me shit and said I have the fat of a couch potato but the numbers of an athete. Told me to get back on the horse. So off I go again...

Check out eatthismuch.com. You put in your data, figure out how many calories you want to eat in a day, and how many times per day you want to eat. It the generates meals for you, gives you the recipes and will even give you shopping lists.

 

Nice! I will have to look into that.

 

I know it bucks the trend, but calories are not all equal. I eat 3000 calories per day of fat and protein. Im struggling to put weight on by doing that. I ate a 20 inch long full rack of ribs for dinner plus more stuff. I can’t gain an ounce.

If i ate the same amount in carbs i would be blowing up

 

Your muscles are starving for carbs. Lol

 

There is no science proving this, what part of a human cell is made out of carbohydrate? None. Even if it were true. The carb requirement of muscle growth would be smaller than the amount of vegetables i eat. Gluconeogenesis will make plenty of glycogen to replenish muscles.
My point was that i should be getting fatter eating this much, not staying the same. Ive put on 12lbs of muscle so i was meaning im not just packing on weight for the sake of weight

 

What is your diet like. When do you eat, how often, how much at each sitting. Headaches often turn out to be a hydration problem or a low blood sugar issue from lack of calories. You can over-eat in the grand scheme of things but still not have enough in you while you're doing strenuous activity. The way my wife is for example, she never bothers to eat breakfast but eats heavier meals later in the day, the opposite way you're supposed to do it. You're not eating enough for the times of day when you're active and taking in more calories at the times of day when you're not doing anything. You can still consume enough in a day to make you over weight, but at the same time not have enough calories in you at certain times a day when you need it. Eat minimal or no breakfast, go out, clean the garage or assemble a fire pit, you might get a headache from insufficient calories. You're now so hungry you gorge yourself at lunch and dinner, when you're less active and your metabolism slows down.

I am a runner and weight lifer but have never been a particularly big diet guy. I usually tell people, you don't have to get super anal with your diet. You can if you're the type of person that needs that structure. Very often people who go with too crazy of a diet eventually get so miserable they can't stick to it. Just eat a decent breakfast, reasonable portions of the most decent foods you can get for lunch and dinner. Snack on fruit or something else health in between. No food after 7 or 8 if possible. If you want to indulge occasionally pick your days when you let yourself have a nice desert and stick to that.

Don't be afraid of weight lifting and calisthenics mixed in with cardio. Lean muscle mass burns fat more quickly, even when at rest.

Make exercise and reasonable eating a habit you hate to break, then build on it once you can't not do it.

 

Clean up your diet, moderate fasting, drink a lot of water and sports. Start slow til you get used to it.

 

Didn't think of that one. Though most of these events occurred during cold weather. My current liquid intake consists of two bottles of water and a moderate size of coffee in the morning. Thanks again for the feedback everyone.

 

you tend to drink less when it's cold.

 

It typically consists of a decent sized lunch and no other full meals until maybe supper. I snack here and there like and apple but quite a bit of it is what i would consider unhealthy. I tend to avoid breakfast.

 

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.po...-Carbs-Important-Building-Muscle-45710121/amp

Take a look at this article. Basically your wrong.

 

An article from teen vogue is your evidence for the glory of carbs? The opinion of a gym owner is less than scientific

 

I wish the best in losing weight and shaping up. You can do it, and maybe this health coach can help. Have a safe and healthy new year!

https://youtu.be/qQbwfmpXrdc

 

Lol... I know it's one source of material on the internet and I could keep on putting links that you will dispute but if "teen vogue" knows the value of carbs maybe you should revaluate what you think. Regardless do what you think is good for you. I will keep on doing what I think works.

 

I'll add my last year to this. I weighed 234 pounds December 12th 2017. I have never weighed that much. I started walking an hour on a treadmill 4 days a week, jogged a few weeks later, and after a month or so I started running. Usually 3-4 days a week for an hour. Was pretty tough to be consistent because at the time I worked shift work. By August 21st 2018 I weighed in at 186. As far as eating I pretty much ate the same except I quit snacking, especially working the night shift. I always drink 250+ ounces of water a day. I also cut down my pop intake (so tough to quit). But I honestly ate pretty much the same (burgers, pizza, tacos, etc).

Since then I have definitely slacked off here and there but my weight hovers at 190 ish. I haven't lost anymore weight, so frustrating but I'm pretty sure it's my diet. Or I think I'm getting bored with only using the treadmill. I'm struggling for sure.

Thinking about a gym membership just to take a break from just the treadmill to change things up?

 

I want a diet based on beer and chips with weekend rewards focused around whiskey and seegars

 

@Iowa12tundra

It appears you are comparing competitive body building to the average person just trying to improve health.

Those two individuals have very different nutrition requirements. The average person doesn’t need carbs for anything. Eating some of them is fine, as long as it is from vegetables and very limited fruit as a treat. But still a small portion on overall diet. If that is a picture of you, congratulations, you’ve done well, and your dietary needs are not the same as an overweight guy trying to improve health. Just like they are different from a triathlete and a sprinter

 

"The average person doesn't need carbs for anything." What kind of statement is that. I could keep this going but someone needs some carbs so his brain can properly function. You keep up with your carb bashing for the average person.

 

“Two individuals have very different nutrition needs”

I’m with @Iowa12tundra you need science Jeff. Two individuals in the absence of disease in fact have similar physiological function and nutritional needs. I won’t respond again to your comments, internet fighting over diets is dumb but happy to have a conversation.

OP, the start slow, clean up your diet and stick with it is the best advice in here. You need to both reduce caloric intake and move for a minimum of 150 min of moderate to high intensity every week. The type of exercise doesn’t matter, your fat doesn’t know, so if you have fun doing something that gets your heart rate elevated stick with it no matter what people tell you. It will work.

 

It is a simple fact. If one eats no carbs, he will not die. The brain will not die, you can live on ketones, there are thousands and thousands of people who have proven this. I have nothing against having up to 30-50g of carbs per day, its just important where those come from. The average american today is eating many many times more carbs than we ever have as humans.

 

You have the first step down, identifying the problem and trying to fix it! Like others who said before, start small. You can workout all you want as hard as you want but if you dont watch your diet... working out won't have as good as a result as if you trained your diet as well. I used to eat/drink junk food all the the time and try to go for a run or swim and wouldnt be able to last that long. When I cut all the junk food out (let's be real, not all of it lol) I felt better on those exercises. Again, this is my experience. Cut the sugar drinks out and the alcohol (if you do) and drink water... occasionally some fruit juices with low sugar. I'm not saying do not eat because your body does need the energy to burn during exercise.. just don't eat junk food. Carry around a flask of water wherever you go (I do). Drink even when you're not thirsty. Like said before, in colder months you dont feel thirsty or dehydrated but youre still losing water content in your body and needs to be replenished. Also, when you do train, train smart. Workout according to your heart rate. Find your resting and your target heart rates where you'd like to be when working out and keep it within that range. If it dips below your target, push harder. Going way past your target rate, tone it down until you build up to that point then you can build from there. I cant tell you what workouts to do. Find workouts that fit your needs. Include the kiddos at times when working out, itll build them up and keep you motivated to keep doing what you're doing. They'll see the struggle, motivation, and the passion you have for it so when you're on those days where you "dont feel like it" they'll give you the kick to get going again. Best of luck and stay on it. It'll all workout if you stay disciplined to it. Happy new year!

 

First off I mean this with no disrespect.

I recently went on a cruise with my family. The common them on this cruise ship was the astronomical amount of fat people. America truly does have an obesity problem. I was amazed at how much food these large people were eating. It was as if they went on a cruise for all the free food.
My point is, IMO a healthy weight boils down to food intake. Limit the amount of food and the type of food and you’ll lose weight. Cut out sugar, eat balanced meals in the right proportions and get moderate exercise and you’ll lose weight and feel good. Drink water, plenty of it and make it your go to drink.
I’m 5’11” 175 and cutting sweets did wonders for my weight.
Good luck OP.