Question about weight loss (Advice please)

[Mekks]

Me and my GF of 6 years just decided to call it quits and after 6 years of being in a comfortable relationship I put on some weight. I'm 5'8" and weight 210lb. When we met I was 150lb and had been that weight from 18-24. I am now 30 and looking to shed this weight so I can get back in the game.

I quit drinking soda and switched to bottled water about 2 months ago. I had been drinking 10-12 Sodas a day prior. I have been walking 2 miles a night for about 2 weeks now. My diet has also changed. I have cut out most if not all junk food and do not eat over 1500 cals a day. I also am trying to limit my carb intake but I do not count that as much. I also have been doing around 50 pushups and crunches a day for 2 months.

I do not have a scale but it feels like i'm not losing any weight. Am I doing something wrong? or do I need to just keep at it and give it time?

[Epiphanes]

Cardio. Walking isn't going to do anything for you unless you're walking at 3.5-4mph with a 20-75lbs load (ruck/hiking) up an incline. If you have the time and money (and perseverance), check out Insanity by beachbody. I'm sure you've seen infomercials on it. I'm on day 2 and I weight 204.4 lbs at 5'9". It kicked my ass. Literally.

What's also pretty identical to your story is the fact that I suffered from residual shin splints (couldn't get rid of them), became ultra-sedentary, and went through a divorce. Weighted 165 lbs in 2006 - shot up to 226 by February 2009. 226 to 204.4 (lowest was 199.8, back up to 216, back down to my current after cutting fat and building muscle). Anywho. So I know exactly what's going on in terms of lifestyle and activity.

As for the pushups and crunches; 50 a day is NOTHING. 4 sets of 50 (200) a day would be great. As for crunches, you need to isolate more. ie, 20 raised-knee crunches, 20 crunches left oblique (cross your left ankle over your right knee, right foot on the floor, left hand stretched out to your side, and raise your CHEST in the direction of your left knee. do NOT pull on your head/neck!), and then 20 right oblique along with flutter kicks or situps to isolate your lower abdominal muscles.

Cardio is key and I'd really like to stress that point. Doing compound exercises (suicide jumps, power jacks, squats, lunges, etc) all get your cardio sky high and help to build lean muscle as well as blow torch fat. Increase in muscle = more calories burned = more fat burned. Like I said before, check out P90X (beginner to intermediate) and/or Insanity (advanced).

[Xaraxia]

If you don't have scales, pick up a measuring tape. If you're going low-carb (try cutting carbs out completely after 4pm, it's the dinner carbs that really bite you) you should be putting on muscle as you lose fat. It's quite possible that you haven't lost a lot of weight, but are healthier. As you put on more muscle you'll raise your metabolism and the fat *will* come off.

I lost 18.5 kgs (about 40 pounds) over 6 months solely by doing no more than 20 minutes per day of cardio exercise and a low-calorie (about 1200 per day, but I'm female, 1500 sounds right for you) diet. Epiphane's advice is fairly good. I don't agree about all the pushups and crunches unless your purpose is to build muscle - it does nothing for fat. Cardio really is key for fat-burning, because your objective is to use all your blood sugar so your body has to break down fat to get more. Make sure you have protein at each meal - it will keep you fuller for longer. A snack could be something like a diet yoghurt or about 15-20 raw almonds (not roasted - your body uses more energy to break down raw food). And drink *lots* of water - you'll need it, because you're working your liver harder, and if you don't have enough you'll retain fluid which will artificially increase your weight. And no 'days off', no alcohol. When your body gets used to a lower amount of calories, it converts all excess to fat. You can diet six days a week, take one off, and lose nothing. If you can't stand being on a strict diet all the time, then alternate between ultra-strict and moderately-strict days (e.g. 1300-1400 calories one day, 1600-1700 the next).

I would suggest getting a fat-measuring scale. They're pretty cheap these days, about the cost of one or two month's WoW subscription for an entry-level one, and even if the weight doesn't change, the fat measurement will, and you'll feel good about that. Weigh yourself at the same time each day, and track it (I suggest medhelp.org because it's free, but if you've got an iPhone or Android phone there are dozens of apps). You might find that sometimes you plateau, sometimes you nosedive. Weight loss is weird like that, but seeing the overall trend is awesome. (as a female, I stop losing weight around "that" time of the month, and 2 weeks later I'm a fat-burning machine ... go figure)

[Twoshorty]

Damn man, 10 - 12 sodas a day? That's horrible. O_o


However, on topic.


Cardio for starters, you can't walk man. You have to run or jog. What I did in the gym was, put the treadmill at about 5.5 MPH and do a 2 - 5 min spirit and take a 1 - 2 min break during it for 30 mins. I when to the gym 5 times a week too. My tip for you is, stop walking and start running/jogging more.

Eating, If you wanna lose weight. You have to start eating light meals. You must stay away from fast food, that stuff is horrible. Start eating salads with sheds of meal inside it for protein. Eat more fruits, mainly apples. Apples have an acid that helps with weight lost. However, I see you only take in 1500 cals a day, so it seem your on the right track. Just remember to eat fruits and healthy foods!

Weight Training, This one is big in your case it seems. You really should get into a gym and work on your muscles while you lose weight. Lifting weights help with losing weight as well. It burns a lot of the fat around your muscles!


So pretty much.

Eat better
Start lifting weights at a local gym
Run/Jog when doing Cardio. NO WALKING.

[caninepawprints]

Please do not take Epiphanes' advice. It's obvious he's parroting what he's heard from videos or read online rather than truly doing research on the topic. You could talk to a bunch of people and you'll hear a different answer every time. The key is recognizing who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't.

The fact of the matter is, you've changed your routine so drastically that you've shocked your system. It's going to take up to a month for you to see results from your hard work, but you WILL see results.

Walking is a good exercise, especially at two miles per day, and it's sufficient for weight loss. If you want to see more results, incorporate some strength training (you don't need barbells or equipment, you can use your body and do something like yoga or Pilates). This will raise your basal metabolic rate, which will cause you to burn more calories while at rest (i.e. more muscle needs more energy to sustain itself which means you're burning more calories). If anything, strength training will likely give you better results than cardio. To get the most benefit, you want to do both cardio AND strength training. Speed walking is sufficient cardio, and it doesn't have to be on an incline and you don't have to be carrying 75 pounds worth of junk on your back. Just speed walk for 30 minutes a day. What you're already doing by walking two miles is good, too.

Do not do Insanity, P90X, or any of those other hardcore routines. If you've been sedentary, you're going to hurt yourself by doing something like that as soon as you get up from the couch. They are not necessary to lose weight (and anyone who says they are doesn't know what they're talking about).

You want to start slow and work your way up.

Keep a food journal. Every time you put something in your mouth, write it down, even if it's a small piece of candy. The truth is, you can lose weight without exercising just by watching what you eat. 70% of your results are going to come from your diet.

Honestly, it already sounds like you're on the right track. Just keep it up and give your body a month or two to adjust. I promise you'll see results as long as you're not cheating too often.

My information and knowledge comes from talking to personal trainers and doctors when I was on my own weight loss journey. I wasn't able to jog due to hip problems. I had a walking routine and did Pilates for strength training. I watched what I ate as well. I lost quite a bit of weight with this routine. So don't let people tell you it's not good enough. It is!

[MangoSpirit]

same boat here. gained alot of weight since ive been steady with my current gf. thing ive seen is DONT WALK! RUN! try playing wow for 5 years then one day trying to run. it wont happen. trust me. i tried. gotta start somewhere. gradually work urself to running. ( i am) 5'11" 230lbs. atm. i plan on jogging everyday. but you cant insta- superman.

keep it up! fatties wanting to live healthy unite~!

[Pancaspe]

Water is the key.

The liver is an amazing fat burning machine, but that is the second directive. The first directive for the liver is to get rid of toxins in the body. To do that, it needs water. For your height and weight, a gallon a day. Once the liver gets enough water to perform it's Prime directive, it will start burning fat at the rate of 3500 calories a day. The liver turns the fat to water, and you simply pee away the fat.

In addition, the water intake tightens the skin, so as you drop weight you do not have loose skin.

[Mekks]

Thanks everyone for the reply. I def do feel better than I have in along time and I would love to get back in the gym but its about 45min away from my house and I just can not work that into my day. My iPod app is telling me I am walking about 3MPH, and that I am doing 2.5 miles in 45min (normaly route I take). I have always been a bigger guy so running anything more than a block was harder. Going to try run a block, walk a block, run a block ect... for now.

[Epiphanes]

Please do not take Epiphanes' advice. It's obvious he's parroting what he's heard from videos or read online rather than truly doing research on the topic. You could talk to a bunch of people and you'll hear a different answer every time. The key is recognizing who knows what they're talking about and who doesn't.

Do not do Insanity, P90X, or any of those other hardcore routines. If you've been sedentary, you're going to hurt yourself by doing something like that as soon as you get up from the couch. They are not necessary to lose weight (and anyone who says they are doesn't know what they're talking about).

You want to start slow and work your way up.

I'm not "parroting" anything that I haven't done or tried myself. As for knowing what I'm talking about, I've been a Sergeant in the US Army for 5 years. I'm in charge of training my team for clandestine infantry operations in any combat theater the world over; I definitely know what I'm talking about in terms of "walk vs. run" and load bearing while doing either, not to mention in a combat zone. Not trying to turn this into a "flame war" but you have my sympathy for being the average obese American that you are or were (hope you got that squared away) that couldn't keep up. Anyway.

Scientifically and logically, it DOES work. It was sound advice. However, I agree with the "do not do Insanity/P90X, been sedentary you're going to hurt yourself" bit to a point. Both of those programs emphasis heavily on PROPER FORM. If you can't keep a good form, stop. Take a break. That goes for ANY exercise in or outside of the gym. You can only hurt yourself if you DON'T have proper form and try to "over do it".

And once again, walking does absolutely nothing for you unless you're walking at a 3.5-4mph pace (with or WITHOUT load) on a gradient. This spikes your heart rate and gets you breathing. That is essential in ANY cardio activity. Old saying goes, "If you're comfortable, you're wrong." Good luck to you, bro.

[ptwonline]

If you're simply looking to burn off fat, then walking actually does help. It uses up energy. Unfortunately, it doesn't really help your fitness levels very much unless you do it fairly high intensity.

Anyway, if you've been sedentary then starting off with walking is fine. But start mixing in some periods of jogging as well. That will get your heart rate up and improve your fitness levels. It gets easier to turn your walking routine gradually into jogging.

You may find that you can only walk/run so much though. Mixing in different types of cardio--ellipticals, biking, rowing, hiking--will help keep it fresh, work different muscle groups, and help prevent injuries from overtraining.

I highly recommend mixing in some kind of weight training as well. You don't necessarily need a hardcore training program, but even a few simple excercises with weights can make a big difference. Try a machine at a gym, or use some freeweights/kettleballs.

[yahtzo]

I used to weigh 270 pounds (5'9") and got down to 150 in 8 months, then back up to 160 and have stayed there for 3 years now.

All I did was cut way back on my eating and did 30 min of exercise bike riding every day. I would play my nintendo DS while I rode the bike so the time went by pretty fast (if you don't play any handhelds then you can listen to your iPod or something). Stay away from fast food and soda and junk food crap as well.

What I did was a bit extreme though and I was eating maybe less than 1000 calories per day. Which is why after I started eating normally again I went up about 10 lbs but luckily that is the most weight I gained.

Just remember after you hit your desired weight and start eating normally again you must keep up your exercising or else you will just gain it back, and don't panic if you go up 10lbs like I did either.

[PhailPally]

.........................

[papajohn4]

hey I was Exactly as you..after a 4,5 years of relationship I found myself 30 kilos more than the start...after my girlfriend left me for another guy from me I was so sad and so angry at the same time and it was very easy to me..I lost 27 kilos in 3 months.I was walking 3 hours a day, drink lots of water and eat mostly meat with salads with no bread at all.

I know you are feeling very sad now but this really will help you a lot to lose weight...Sadness is working for me and sometimes I see sad movies and listen sad songs because it helps me to do things for myself, it helps me to decide to sacrifice some pleasures to achieve my goal. Just be patience, walk, drink a lot of water and don't eat 3-4 hours before sleep.

[sadface]

Me and my GF of 6 years just decided to call it quits and after 6 years of being in a comfortable relationship I put on some weight. I'm 5'8" and weight 210lb. When we met I was 150lb and had been that weight from 18-24. I am now 30 and looking to shed this weight so I can get back in the game.

I quit drinking soda and switched to bottled water about 2 months ago. I had been drinking 10-12 Sodas a day prior. I have been walking 2 miles a night for about 2 weeks now. My diet has also changed. I have cut out most if not all junk food and do not eat over 1500 cals a day. I also am trying to limit my carb intake but I do not count that as much. I also have been doing around 50 pushups and crunches a day for 2 months.

I do not have a scale but it feels like i'm not losing any weight. Am I doing something wrong? or do I need to just keep at it and give it time?

you said 6 years twice
to lose weight run untill you sweat profusely and once you realise you are sweating keep running.. then sleep .. then repeat untill you are @ your required weight

so work - run - sleep
or if your unemployed look for work - run - sleep

EDIT: do not do muscle building exercises it will just make you think you have not losed weight.. do the muscle building after you losed the weight

:)

[Deleted]

Pretty much add Cardio and Strength excercises into your routine. And eat healthy. Maybe have a few pizzas here and there...afterall, you're only human. =D

[Deleted]

EDIT: do not do muscle building exercises it will just make you think you have not losed weight.. do the muscle building after you losed the weight

:)

Thats a bunch of bs. It's been proven by many researches that mixing weight training with cardio is way better and faster way to lose weight than just doing cardio.

Many people have a wrong idea about muscle building. I mean why do you think that as soon as you start working with weights you will start gaining massive amounts of muscle? If it was that easy, everyone that worked out would look like Arnold.
Most of muscle amount depend on genetics of an individual. Some guys have a body type that won't allow to bulk up nomatter how hard they sweat in gym or how many reps they do. They will stay lean cause of their body type. Others will easily bulk up. Some have very good muscle definition, some have poor. Some will be in the middle of two extremes. Also a lot depends on weights and reps a person chooses.

And I agree with Epiphanes. You can do p90x without hurting yourself even if you are not in a good(ish) shape. Just like the man said make sure that the form is good on each rep, as soon as you feel you can't do another rep with good form, stop, wait until the guys on the video finish up, start with new exercise and do as many reps as you can with good form again. Over time you will get stronger, your cardio will improve, you can do more reps and eventually will be able to keep up with the video from start to finish.

[xourico]

hmm Im doing something similar... except I dont exercise at all... besides walking a bit to university... but thats like 1 or 2 miles.

and I lost 21 Kg's in 3 months (arround 46 pounds for u guys in the US I think), that was extremely fast (I was extremely overweight and obese so :P), but now Im having a harder time loosing more weight just from my diet alone, but still, many ppl here suggest gym and etc, when in most cases if you can do a near perfect healthy diet you will loose ton of weight. Dont expect to get any muscle tho :P

and the funny think is, I actually found plenty of tasty healthy food that I'm loving, so thats always good :P

[Shik Valentine]

Consume less than 1000-1200 calories per day

This.....dont do it.

[Markatron]

you said 6 years twice
to lose weight run untill you sweat profusely and once you realise you are sweating keep running.. then sleep .. then repeat untill you are @ your required weight

so work - run - sleep
or if your unemployed look for work - run - sleep

EDIT: do not do muscle building exercises it will just make you think you have not losed weight.. do the muscle building after you losed the weight

:)

You avi should be a troll face. Dont listen to this guy either.

[darthfusion]

Hey,

A lot of these suggestions are great, but at the end of the day you just need to find a system/schedule that works for you.

If you can't get to the gym, check out some of the training videos. 10-Minute Trainer is a mid-level system done by the same guy that does P90X. Although it's called '10-Minute Trainer' the setup is that you do 1-3 10-Minute sessions depending on how much time you have (ie. Do 3x 10-Minute workouts, warm-ups, cool-downs and you've done a full 45mins).

Another thing you can do for tracking progress is checkout the dailyburn website. It's an awesome tool for tracking workouts, diets, weight and even sleep patterns (and they have a really cool app for tracking nutrition). The nutrition area is also good for letting you know when you can fit in some kind of snack. If you're used to sugars, be careful not to just drop everything, or you may find yourself succumbing to the odd binge.

There's a diet-system called 'The Skinny Switch' that promotes eating what you like to eat, but moderately (like eating Pizza ONCE a week) to give some kind of balance, and to avoid cravings with set rewards.

I'd definitely recommend getting a scale or getting use of a friends Wii-fit for weight tracking also.

Set goals. Start small but have something in mind. If you're goal is to be close to 150lb again, leave that as your end goal. If you're 210lb, start with something simple like, less than 200lb.

Personally, I'm 5'11", floating around 195lbs - I put on 20lbs in the last year working 100hrs+/wk in sitting jobs - leaving VERY little time to work out. I pretty much had to sacrifice sleep-time (which I only get about 6.5 hrs as is) to workout. But, I recently made the decision that, even though my schedule hasn't changed, it might not for quite a while... So as opposed to continuing this way, I try and fit a bit in every night before bed.

In any event, my goals are simple. Less than 180lb (178lb-ish), then less than 169lb, then about 155lb-ish. Don't get bent out of shape if you feel like you're pushing really hard and not seeing results. Take weight and measurements AND picture of NOW. Then check everything again in about 30 days. If you don't see any results, try and add a few things into the routine.

And don't forget the little things like: taking the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away from the entrance when you drive somewhere etc.

Remember 'lifestyle' changes don't just happen overnight, the most important thing is to have goals and schedules. (Try and workout the same time everyday, so you can be your own motivator to get up.) And don't forget to schedule a day or 2 for light days, basic stretch days, or simply a day or 2 per week to relax and recuperate.

Most of all, do it in a way that's fun and comfortable for you.

Good Luck^^