Weight Loss Thread

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Antarius

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A fair number of larger government offices/buildings have work out equipment available. If you don't, consider talking to your boss about bring in some dumbbells, getting fit at work is easy. If you spend a lot of time at work you might as well make it productive.

Oh and cut the high calorie alcoholic drinks, two drinks a week is 10 lbs a year. Assuming no other changes, so if you get even a little motivated, you could lose double that.
 
Denaut

Denaut

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Elurin_sl said:
How many days a week are you working these 12 hour shifts?

You make a point about "socializing" time being on the weekend. Well, make a decision now whether your health is more important than socializing. Those are the excuses of people who say they want to make a change, but they really don't care enough to make any sacrifices. If you can't find 3-4 hours a week for exercise, you don't really want to change.

And find a real gym.
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That's why I recommended SS, 3 days a week Mon-Wed-Fri. He should be able to do it.
 
Ignatius

Ignatius

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Figure it's time I jump on this train.

I'll be 25 on Dec 19th, I played football all through high school and through part of college (blew out my knee early on, moved back to Texas afterwards).

My weight has generally been the same (6'4'' ~330), but the fat/muscle ratio has definately changed. I don't eat like I used to, but I'm also not working out the same either.

I just finished my bachelors, and the girlfriend is dragging me to yoga (they crank the heat up and it's an hour long...totally not what I thought yoga was all about), but I'm thinking I'm probably going to have to get back to lifting again. I've still got my summer workout logs from football, but I'm not sure that is what I want to be working with since that was about putting on (good) weight.

I'm also pretty sure my metabolism is all sorts of jacked up because I got into a pretty bad routine of rarely/never eating breakfast.

Any suggestions?
 
Aaron

Aaron

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I have one question before I post any more. Is this a general fitness thread or does it only deal with people seeking to lose weight?
 
McCheese

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This is a general fitness thread. Once you get injured and become a bitter, broken shell of your former self you can migrate over to the lifting thread in the sports forum.
 
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ubiquitrips

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Jysin_sl said:
I guess I am looking at workout advice. My biggest problem is my work schedule. I work 12 hour shifts but combined with the commute and security checks (gov work), I am typically out of the house for ~14 hours a day. Keeping up a workout regime with a decent amount of rest seems almost impossible. Going to the gym for lunch is not an option. If I do start the workouts, I will inevitably be tired and lethargic at work after a while. It seems its work, gym, and sleep and zero time for anything else on those days.
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You can make huge changes to your weight and fitness level with diet change and just adding slight bits of exercise. Given your work schedule, I would start small and form that habit first. It is better to start slow than to go all out and have a higher risk of failure. I will plug DDP Yoga again (ddpyoga) because it has worked for me. The intro programs take 1.5 - 2 hours per week. You just do a 30 minute session 3 - 4 times a week of various difficulty. If you want to do more and have the time, go for it, it can only help. These routines are something you can do at home, or even at work if you get the MP3s and they definitely fit into tight schedules.

Yoga is also beneficial for flexibility and low impact training (knee pain). My body could not handle the impact of running that well. This program kicks your but without stressing out joints overly much.

As far as willpower over the weekend, that is something you just have to man up and do. Just be adamant about sticking to your plan. You friends will probably give you grief at first but after weeks of continuous control they will get used to it. I chose to go the Keto route. This helped me considerably as I seem to have an affinity for eating those foods. It also puts a hard stop to some of the problem items like pastas and breads that used to sneak up on me at restaurants, etc.
 
Denaut

Denaut

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McCheese_sl said:
This is a general fitness thread. Once you get injured and become a bitter, broken shell of your former self you can migrate over to the lifting thread in the sports forum.
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I see it more as a general health thread than general fitness. They are related, with lots of overlap, but not quite the same.

I worked as a personal trainer for a little while and "I want to lose weight" is usually code for 3 things:

A) I want live to see my grandkids grow up
B) I want to look good naked
C) All of the above

So that is kind of how I treat this thread. I guess the sports/lifting thread would be more oriented for athletic performance goals. I want to be strong, or I want to run fast, etc.
 
Aaron

Aaron

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Right, I think I'm posting this in the right thread then.

I'm looking for advice when it comes to starting out exercising/going to the gym. The thing is I've been a skinny little runt for most of my life. I used to have a BMI of about 17 for most of my adult life though it's gone up to about 20 now. I haven't ever been much for sports, though I do walk a lot. I usually walk to and from work (about 40 mins both ways). However, I can't run for shit. After about 30 seconds of running I feel like I'm about to have a heart attack. But anyway, I would like to try and get into better shape. Turn the small amount of fat I have on my belly into some muscle and also (and maybe more importantly) build up some stamina and endurance.

There's a pretty good gym close to where I live with all the trimmings from dozens of different exercise gizmos to treadmills, stair machines (or wtf they're called) and shit like that. Now, I have a feeling that the best way to acomplish this is to just get on a treadmill and slowly but surely build yourself up, but is this true or will I just end up with strong legs but remain weak in my upper body?

Also, for a beginner, how often should I go to the gym per week without burning myself out (both physically and mentally)?

Any tips for a complete and utter noob would be appreciated.

Edit for Denaut: Yeah, that's me. And while it's true I am not fat in any way you measure, I do know that sitting on my arse all day for the rest of my life is not good. But on the other hand I'm not looking to become ripped or spending all my free time at the gym.
 
McCheese

McCheese

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Is there any reason you want to improve your running ability? It sounds like you'd be best off ignoring running (since you already get decent cardio from your daily walking) and focusing your efforts on a solid, simple, compound lifting program like starting strength or stronglifts. 3 days a week for less than an hour a day, doing things like squats, bench press, overhead press, deadlifts, and rows. That will do much more for your overall health and appearance than any amount of running will do.
 
Aaron

Aaron

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Hmmm... could be, but I somehow figured spending an hour on the treadmill mindlessly running while listening to a podcast would be less boring. But I would like to know what effect running has on upper body strength - if any. Or do those who enjoy running (marathoners, etc.) also train their upper bodies specifically to "keep up" with the training their legs get?
 
Sterling

Sterling

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aaron_sl said:
Hmmm... could be, but I somehow figured spending an hour on the treadmill mindlessly running while listening to a podcast would be less boring. But I would like to know what effect running has on upper body strength - if any. Or do those who enjoy running (marathoners, etc.) also train their upper bodies specifically to "keep up" with the training their legs get?
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It depends on what you mean by marathoners. If you mean at the competative level then there's not a huge amount of upper body conditioning specifically since you don't want to get heavy. Depends on what you want really, but just doing cardio isn't going to make you lose weight and be a beast. Cardiovascular fitness is a good thing especially if you're at risk for cardiovascular disease or whatever, but lifting will give you gains in strength and is for your appearance. The big thing is to not eat like a teenager if you want to be fit though, diet is 90 percent of the fight.
 
McCheese

McCheese

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aaron_sl said:
Hmmm... could be, but I somehow figured spending an hour on the treadmill mindlessly running while listening to a podcast would be less boring. But I would like to know what effect running has on upper body strength - if any. Or do those who enjoy running (marathoners, etc.) also train their upper bodies specifically to "keep up" with the training their legs get?
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Running will do absolutely nothing for upper body strength. If you want to tone your upper body (i.e chest, shoulders, biceps, etc.) you have to work those body parts by using increasingly heavy weights.
 
Denaut

Denaut

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aaron_sl said:
Hmmm... could be, but I somehow figured spending an hour on the treadmill mindlessly running while listening to a podcast would be less boring. But I would like to know what effect running has on upper body strength - if any. Or do those who enjoy running (marathoners, etc.) also train their upper bodies specifically to "keep up" with the training their legs get?
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Running, in general, is pretty crappy exercise. Some people really enjoy it and good for them, but overall it is really inefficient and does little to nothing for your strength anywhere not just your upper body.
 
C

CnCGOD_sl

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Back to the topic of motivation, I lost a bunch of weight ending about 3 years ago (140lbs). But I have slowly ticked up 15 or so since I met my (now wife) at the end of that weight loss. I don't feel the motivation to kick my ass and get out there nearly as much now as my main goal back then was to be in shape to meet women. What do you guys do to motivate, I get my routine going then something gets too sore or I get busy with work and it falls off and I stop doing anything for 3 weeks then start the trend again when I feel things ticking up.
 
Denaut

Denaut

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CnCGOD_sl said:
Back to the topic of motivation, I lost a bunch of weight ending about 3 years ago (140lbs). But I have slowly ticked up 15 or so since I met my (now wife) at the end of that weight loss. I don't feel the motivation to kick my ass and get out there nearly as much now as my main goal back then was to be in shape to meet women. What do you guys do to motivate, I get my routine going then something gets too sore or I get busy with work and it falls off and I stop doing anything for 3 weeks then start the trend again when I feel things ticking up.
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Pick up a sport. Your motivation then becomes being better and weight loss is just a side benefit.
 
Gravel

Gravel

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My motivation was not looking like a bitch. Seriously. I got into lifting because I was tired of being skinny fat. As time has gone on I've become more into it. It's kind of self-perpetuating motivation now. I want to lift more and look better naked. I enjoy going into the gym and lifting more than almost everyone else.

But that's also why I rail so hard against people who just want to do cardio. The look you achieve when you just do cardio is a frail skinny person. Personally, I'd much rather look like I have at least a little bit of mass as opposed to being small (weight being the same). One of these days I'll find a comparison for you all of people who run versus those who lift at the same weights. Since I'm lazy though, I always link that Stacy article (which doesn't work as well on dudes). But I also understand that that's my goal, and some of you may just want to not be fat anymore, regardless of how you look skinny.
 
Denaut

Denaut

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Elurin_sl said:
My motivation was not looking like a bitch. Seriously. I got into lifting because I was tired of being skinny fat. As time has gone on I've become more into it. It's kind of self-perpetuating motivation now. I want to lift more and look better naked. I enjoy going into the gym and lifting more than almost everyone else.

But that's also why I rail so hard against people who just want to do cardio. The look you achieve when you just do cardio is a frail skinny person. Personally, I'd much rather look like I have at least a little bit of mass as opposed to being small (weight being the same). One of these days I'll find a comparison for you all of people who run versus those who lift at the same weights. Since I'm lazy though, I always link that Stacy article (which doesn't work as well on dudes). But I also understand that that's my goal, and some of you may just want to not be fat anymore, regardless of how you look skinny.
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To see the difference between anaerobic training and aerobic training all someone has to do is Google "marathon runner" and compare it to pictures from Googling "sprinter athlete."
 
B

Burnesto

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I finally hit the end of my bulk this week. I ended up at 215 after starting at 185 near the beginning of the year. I plan on cutting to 190 by February 1st to see how well I did muscle wise. Then I may do another short bulk before I finish cutting for summer. I'm 5'10".
 
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