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My hitbox is too large... (Fitness)
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Hey everyone. So, I've been steadily gaining weight over the past while. A year ago I weighed in at like 200 pounds, I've gained between 10 and 15, fluctuating since then. Mostly the reason I'm concerned is because I'm pretty sure the reason this is happening is because my lifestyle is very sedentary.
I try to walk at least 30 minutes per day, but that's only moderate exercise at best. I mean, it's something, but I'm under no delusions that walking will maintain my weight and health. Other than that, I get some exercise during the week but nothing in much bulk. Some dancing one night per week for a few hours, but it's rarely strenuous, singing, that sort of thing.
So this brings me to my question. If I go to sleep and wake up half an hour earlier, I can get to work an hour before I usually start. I would like to make an attempt to start a fitness program for myself, but I am woefully uninformed. I used some google-fu, but to be perfectly honest, a lot of this stuff doesn't make sense to me for various reasons.
Given the schedule I am willing to attempt, 1 hour per day in the morning, M-F, and my goal of weight loss/maintenance first, and then also general health and fitness:
1. What is a good workout to start with?
2. How can I adapt that as I go? Will I need to?
3. How do fitness? Etc.
I will gladly accept links to places with reading material of course, as long as that reading material is for beginners. I know next to nothing about this.
For reference, my goal weight would be 190.
I try to walk at least 30 minutes per day, but that's only moderate exercise at best. I mean, it's something, but I'm under no delusions that walking will maintain my weight and health. Other than that, I get some exercise during the week but nothing in much bulk. Some dancing one night per week for a few hours, but it's rarely strenuous, singing, that sort of thing.
So this brings me to my question. If I go to sleep and wake up half an hour earlier, I can get to work an hour before I usually start. I would like to make an attempt to start a fitness program for myself, but I am woefully uninformed. I used some google-fu, but to be perfectly honest, a lot of this stuff doesn't make sense to me for various reasons.
Given the schedule I am willing to attempt, 1 hour per day in the morning, M-F, and my goal of weight loss/maintenance first, and then also general health and fitness:
1. What is a good workout to start with?
2. How can I adapt that as I go? Will I need to?
3. How do fitness? Etc.
I will gladly accept links to places with reading material of course, as long as that reading material is for beginners. I know next to nothing about this.
For reference, my goal weight would be 190.
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Calculate your base metabolic rate on an online calorie calculator and eat fewer calories than that. For me, I aimed for 1 pound a week loss while dieting. If you want to build muscle after losing fat you can start a bulking program but for now you just have to eat better and eat less.
Also diet alone doesn't help my general fitness. I am looking to lose weight, but I am also looking to improve my general health.
Sort of, not really. What you are asking is that if you run for an hour and burn 1000 calories, in theory that's 1000 'free' calories you can eat (or ~1/3 of a pound you burned). However, our bodies don't REALLY work like that.
When you are running or doing other exercise, our bodies want to refuel and repair. If you try to diet heavily while working out, you'll find yourself hungry all the time, as well as tired, sore, injury prone, and irritable. You won't be able to get enough food, and - let's face it - if you don't have the willpower to eat a bit healthier in general, you aren't going to have the willpower not to pig out when you feel like you are absolutely starving every minute of the day. In the long term, it's very easy to regress if you don't make overall lifestyle changes or if you crash diet (or crash exercise).
Lifestyle changes are key - fitness is a marathon, not a sprint. If it takes a year to get to your goal weight, but it's in a way that's sustainable, that's better than losing all that weight in four months and packing half of it back on over the next year.
It's definitely worthwhile to start a fitness program, and I would highly recommend the C25K (Couch to 5k) program for a beginner. Running is something really good that almost anyone can get started doing, and it's nice because you see gains very quickly compared to a lot of other types of exercise.
Working in some strength training (body weight exercises are a good start) is good too. Don't worry about bulking up with muscle and gaining weight. If you're putting muscle weight on faster than you are losing fat, AWESOME. If you are like most people, you really don't care about the number itself - rather your appearance - and if you lost 25 lbs of fat and replaced it with 25 lbs of muscle, I doubt you'll mind that you still show 210 on the scale.
Also, adding muscle has a secondary benefit in the passive calorie burn. A pound of muscle burns something like 10x as many calories as a pound of fat simply by existing.
Since this time last year, I went from weighing 220 down to 190, and barely able to run 5k on the treadmill to running my first half marathon in a couple weeks (and regular 8-10 mile runs). I started with a goal to average two miles a day running, and now I'm up to ~25 miles a week. I probably run more and lift less than I should, but now that it's almost winter I'll probably be back inside and lifting again. You can do the same with some hard work and dedication.
Seriously. It's kind of a video-game running program on your smartphone (assuming you have one). Where a story plays in your headset and you gather supplies to build a base.
It got me from stopping my run at 15 minutes to running 5 and 10ks without even thinking about it because I was listening to the story. And then I'd look forward to the next day's run. That's never happened to me before.
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Are there any good 24/7 gyms around where you are like Planet Fitness? As well as being reasonably priced, they've got plenty of info about basic stuff you can do.
Adjusting my diet (not RESTRICTING) by avoiding greasy foods, sugary foods, most bread got me losing about ~1 pound a week. I added swimming 3-4 days week to that and I lost about 12 pounds in 5 weeks. If you like we can do a support thing together, maybe we post our workouts to shared google doc or something and keep each other accountable.
I tried T25 as well, and it's quite a bit easier, but also a good workout. it's way quicker and no stuff to buy.
I think there is a shorter version of P90X now as well.
I'm not a beach body shill or anything, it's just the only at home stuff i've tried.
You know, my company's fitness center has a pool, but only on the main campus. In fairness, the main campus is only like a couple blocks away, so realistically if I wanted to swim that would be an option, and a good one almost certainly.
Woke up today and did 10 minutes on an elliptical which I did not like (because it was a weird ramp machine, and it was very uncomfortable to run on). I will try a treadmill once I actually buy some running shoes this weekend, also, but I then spent 20 minutes on a stationary bike while reading a book. Took it slow, I'll likely push myself a bit harder on Monday, but so far so good.
Also now I have a better idea of what exactly I need to bring along to make this morning workout thing comfortable (towel, stuff for shower etc.)
re: Accountability, that might not be a bad idea. Probably wait a couple weeks though, it's entirely possible that moving my sleep schedule like this is going to be untenable and then I'd need to find someplace else in my weekly schedule to put this time. I will have to seriously consider this swimming thing, though. I used to swim a bunch and the only reason I didn't jump on it in the first place is because it's a few blocks away. But come on, a few blocks ain't nothin.
Don't go on a diet that stuff doesn't work because people usually just go back to their normal eating habits. I find it's better to gradually change your diet over time.
If you regularly drink soft drinks it's by far the worst offender that you should eliminate first. They're high in calories and they don't fill you up so there's practically no limit to how much you can overload your calories intake. Get used to water. It's the most refreshing drink of all. Other than that you probably eat too much carbs, just like everyone. Less white bread, pasta and fries, more green vedgies.
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I don't eat terribly, but I don't eat well either.
I've basically eliminated soda except when I'm eating out (and sometimes even then), though I still drink sweet coffee in the morning. Fast food is only when absolutely necessary, etc. I actually don't eat that many carbs in an average week, though I could definitely use more green stuff. Meat and dairy comprises a ton of my diet, not sure how good or bad that is, but I definitely don't feel like I overload on carbs.
I think the most significant thing I could probably do for my diet would be to limit my portions. I tend to probably eat a bit too much, or try to finish plates I should leave unfinished, that sort of thing. Take stuff home for lunch tomorrow and what have you. That being said, I am definitely watching my diet, but the changes I'm making there are "softer" changes- nothing hard and fast, because while I have been moderately conscious of what I'm eating for awhile, I am currently getting extremely little to no exercise, which is obviously the first area of improvement.
Nice trick to eat less is serve yourself smaller servings at a time. It's soooo easy to plow through that huge plate of food in front of you when you're focused on something else at the same time like watching TV.
Having to get up to get a bit more food gives me time to re-evaluate if I'm still actually hungry or if I should just clean up my plate and store my leftovers.
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This is a really fantastic idea and I think I should start doing this immediately
Have the only goal be doing SOME running every day. You could either set a time (6 minutes), or a duration (1 mile). Don't care about how you look, don't care about how fast. Take one day off. Don't beat yourself up if you're not able to stick with it initially.
I was up to 210 or so a couple years ago, I was getting kind of pudgy. I hadn't ran for months. I started off slow, just a small distance each day. Within a few months I got down to like 160, I didn't even think about it. I'm pretty fast now, I ran 16:30 for 3 miles over the summer. That's bragging a little, but I say it to illustrate a huge difference with small but consistent effort.
Basically, it's not about calories. I eat whatever the hell I want and I hover at 155 now, and I'm only running like 3 miles a day, or every other day if I'm busy or injured. It's your body being in a state of readiness for exertion. It'll do the work for you if it knows it's gotta haul ass periodically.
Portion control is one of the big things, because it is really easy to over eat and not really notice it, because eating 'enough' and eating until you're full are two very different things. When I started really paying attention to it, it was a rather unpleasant surprise how many things I usually ate at one sitting that I could divide in half and be just as satisfied with.
Weight loss, as people have pointed out, is more about diet than exercise. Figuring out how to change your eating habits is harder than getting moving. It has a lot of interrelated parts - some of it is behavioral, because you learn eating habits from family or whatever, some of it is social - i.e. if you are friends with unrepentant fatties who go to buffets and TGIF all the time, you will a) have a harder time resisting temptation, and b) possibly face unsupportive behavior from those kinds of friends, and some of it is chemical, as we get addicted to carbs and processed foods. Changing your relationship to food takes a lot of self-examination of all these factors.
For me, I figured out a lot of what my issues are when i did a two week juice cleanse. Because i would feel full without engaging in my usual (bad) patterns yet still crave shitty food, i realized I would often want junk food not because i was hungry but because it was a stress response. I still grapple with stress eating, but it helped me identify my problems and avoid them.
Exercise is less important for weight loss but is very important for overall wellness. It will keep you healthy and fit and let you survive the occasional bad food choice. It can also get you in a virtuous cycle with weight loss because, unlike eating healthy, exercise can be a lot of fun out the gate if you figure out something you like. Exercise gives you the ability to accomplish affirmative goals, while eating healthy is the less-exciting exercise of not screwing up. Then, even if you do swimming or running or weight lifting, you can do it in a social setting. That lets you socialize with a group of people who also want to be fit and stay thin/lose weight. That helps you make the right choices and resist temptation with unhealthy eating.
While you need to come swinging out the gate on diet changes, don't overdo it on weight loss. If you are very heavy for your height you should definitely focus in low impact higher intensity workouts like lifting or swimming rather than running.
Apart from the obvious advantage of automatically not being able to fit as much food in a serving, it also does weird things to your perception of how much food is there (there are studies on this). Your appetite is not terribly smart, and can absolutely be tricked into not wanting as much food just as easily as it can be tricked into wanting more than you need.
The key to make it work for me was to make it sustainable. Diet can't be a short term thing, it becomes your new lifestyle. This meant no "reward" or "cheat" days. I didn't trust myself not too give in to temptation again.
One trick that worked for me was, when eating out, have them immediately wrap up half of the meal. Keeps you from eating too much, plus you have lunch for the next day (saving money!) Also, tracking my calories using an app like MyFitnessPal really helped just by making me more aware of what I was ingesting.
I also, and this isn't for everyone, cut out ALL processed sweets (candy, cake, pie, ice cream, etc...). Not everyone can go cold turkey like that, but, honestly, after a few months, even the idea of eating a cookie or piece of cake isn't appetizing. I've gone almost 6 years at this point without a single bite of the stuff, outside of the required bite of wedding cake at my own wedding.
Once I lost the weight, the hardest part about keeping it off was other people. I still get people offering me cake almost every day (I work in a big office), and when I decline, pressuring me for various reasons ("You don't need to diet! You're in great shape! It's bad luck not to have a piece of birthday cake! Eat it or I'll feel bad about eating a piece!") You learn to politely turn down the repeated offers, but that pressure does suck.
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DO lift weights, if you can- I like stronglifts 5x5 as a beginner program. It has some slightly technical lifts in it, but it's better to learn them, and once they are learned, its curve of workout duration and weight loading are just right for most beginners.
Moderate work with weights will a) preserve the muscle tone you have and b) increase your bmr on off days. You don't need to worry about "being sore and tired" from not enough food or "gaining too much muscle" (if you find out how, write it down and sell it to bodybuilders).
Track what you eat, throw out the major garbage (like liquid calories), do moderate weight lifting three days a week and moderate cardio 4-5, and you should see results. if you don't, look at the results of your diet tracking and start reducing a little, like 2%-5% a week, until you find a sweet spot where you are losing 1-2 pounds a week. (assuming from your goal of 190 that you're a guy between 5'10" and 6'2")
The best diet advice I can give is
Follow the veggie rule. Build your diet around whole veggies first, whole fruit second. You literally cannot eat too many vegetables, barring a few weird cases of someone literally trying to live on grapefruit or carrots. put "meat and treats" in the middle of meals. So have a veggie, eat your budgeted amount of meat for the meal (use the palm of your hand as portioning guide) and then if you're still hungry, all the whole veggies and whole fruits you want. You can usually be even freer with veggies than with fruit - some fruit is actually pretty sugary, although it's self correcting, most people don't eat five peaches or something.
What do I mean by "whole?" - canned fruit is candy. Fried vegetables are candy. mushrooms in pasta sauce on top of pasta are ... just garnish. The fruit veggie rule applies to *actually eating a raw/grilled/baked/steamed vegetable or a raw piece of fruit*
There are a LOT of fruits and vegetables in the world, and as first world birth lotto winners, we get to utilize ALL of them, not just the ones in our yards...that's a privilege and a treat. There is more variety of food in a safeway then there was in the king of england's kitchen until about 1870. If you associate veggies and fruits with boiled, shitty school lunch sides and plain lettuce salad, you're lucky, because you get to learn a ton of new shit. there are literally fruit and vegetables with almost every taste and texture, including ones that can damn near pass for meat or cheese.
The only think you have to watch with vegetables is sauces and dressings (which are usually basically oil). bolthouse farms makes some really good low-cal dressings. Like could pass a blind taste test, you might keep eating the low cal one even after you knew which one it was because it just tastes better good.
Once you're following the veggie rule, the rest of arguing about good carbs and bad carbs or more protein vs more starch or whatever all gets a little less important and a little easier. there's a lot of conflicting, fad fitness advice out there but almost none of it says "eat less vegetables"
my personal bad habits were bars and and "family" restaurants.
a shot of vodka is 100 calories. A good beer is 120+. A double rum and coke is 300. People have 4 drinks when they go out and are supposed to eat about 2000 calories. if you like drinking, drink less and make it better stuff. Drink two good scotches, two patron and clubs, or two glasses of good wine, drink'em slow, taste them, then stop. two is enough to hang out with other people that are drinking. two is enough to blend socially. Your liver will thank you.
as for family restaurants...they're gross, calories wise. Truly gross. The average plate at some of these places is 1500+ calories. IHOP, Old Chicago, that kind of shit? Have to become once a week treats. they are a worse habit than drive-through. Which is also a pretty bad habit. There are menu options in both, though, if you get drug too them or must hit them for time reasons or work. Most fast food places now have multiple options in place of fries, which are usually actually the worst single item in a combo meal. just watch out for things that are actually not improvements - crispy chicken salads with ranch dressing? That's basically just a bacon cheeseburger that's been remixed.
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