failure

[j0equ1nn]

I'm 27, male, 6'7", 245 pounds, generally not very athletic, very sick of being asked if I play basketball.

Back in October '06 I got the idea I wanted to get in shape and started researching the right way to do it, using this site. I got a lot of feedback that made sense and eventually I put together a program that people generally agreed was good, comprised of an exercise schedule and diet. I don't remember exactly what everything was, but I know it fit the usual recommendations for "cutting," since I was mainly interested in lowering my body fat percentage while preserving muscle, with the long term goal of building more muscle weight.

I was doing a beginner's HIIT program and a full body compound weight workout 2-3 times a week, at a gym with a trainer. And my diet was approved by a lot of site regulars (the details can be found here http://training.fitness.com/nutrition/critique-my-diet-please-19137.html ).

I was very strict about it when I was doing it, but I only stuck to it for about 2 weeks because after that I severely pulled a ligament in my leg. I stayed on a healthy diet for a while, but couldn't properly exercise because I coudn't even walk for a week, then had a limp for about a month. Then I just lost interest and gave up. Instead I got into studying poker strategy, and went back to my slovenly ways, including eating whatever I want, drinking significant amounts of beer more than once a week, and exercise mostly limited to walking the dog about 2 miles a day (though I did make about a grand with my poker skills).

Now the weird thing is, those 2 weeks or so of that strict cutting regiment, I didn't lose an ounce. I definitely felt more energetic and healthy, but no noticable change in my body. And since I went back to being a slob, I didn't gain an ounce. I'm 245 just like I have been for a couple of years. Dispite all the hard scientific facts about when you should be losing and gaining weight, it seems I am 245 no matter what I do. I got used to always thinking about nutrient ratios and calories and whatnot then just as quickly forgot all about it, and neither thing made a lick of difference.

So this brings me to my questions. I'd like to get back into a healthy lifestyle and I want to know if it's normal for it to take longer than 2 weeks to see any change in this situation. And I'd like to know what to do to avoid damaging muscles, tendons, ligaments, etc. on these legs that aren't used to much else besides walking.

 

[j0equ1nn]

It's curious that nobody has responded to that post. People were talking to me like crazy when I was working on finding a program. Well perhaps I can respond to some of it myself. For one thing, I was foolish to demand so much of myself so immediately. I think that could partially explain the strangeness of my not losing weight. My body went from being used to almost no excersise for several years, to a fairly rigorous schedule, instantly. I don't think we have much research on how a body responds to this. Not to mention, it's kind of dangerous and a stupid way to go about it.

Another thing I noticed... I moved to New York City to go back to college recently, and every day I'm doing a lot of walking on streets and up and down stairs, usually carrying a backpack that's probably about 40 pounds. This is just from doing every day things (it doesn't make sense to drive everywhere here). As for diet, I've just been trying to eat very cheaply because I stopped working to focus on being a full time student and I only have so much money saved. I'm conscious of the nutritional content of the stuff I spend money on because otherwise it feels wasteful, but I'm not being a nazi about it. So next thing I knew, I lost about 10 pounds in about 2 weeks. It's been 3 weeks now, and I'm still steadily losing weight. How much of it is muscle and how much is fat, I don't know, but my friends have commented that my pot belly looks smaller.

So my advice to people is, if you're just getting started like me, don't be so do-or-die about fitness if you are out of shape. It's a good approach for some things, but not for this. I think you want to always be in a situation where you're forcing yourself to do just a little more than you would do comfortably. How much that is will build on its own. Pushing yourself to the limit constantly is something you have to be very experienced to know how to do properly. In my case, it so happens that scampering (very fast walk) to and from the subway up and down stairs and whatnot, maybe a mile at a time several times a day, is the right amount for me at this time, because I'm not in good shape. Once that becomes routine and easy, I'll probably step things up. The important thing to note here is, I've made more of a difference to my body with what I'm doing now, than I did with the strict program I put myself to before, in about the same amount of time.

 

[theleip]

First off we do the best we can to reply to things as quickly as possible, especially really long posts.

Are you looking to point a finger of blame at us? I looked at all your posts. Not once did any of us tell you a strength training or cardio routine to do specifically. You read the HIIT thread yourself, and took it upon yourself to do it. You designed the program yourself and took it upon yourself to do it.

You didn't even post up your program for us to give an opinion on.

You were told even to look into a trainer to get proper advice. Injury is #1 problem when people start on a routine. They get all gung ho, neglect warm ups, proper stretching routines, have bad form and then are out of service.
It is also stated in the "HIIT explained" thread to start slow and not over do it, if you read through the whole thread you would have not gone at it so hard and hurt yourself.

You can't expect to hop on a forum for a few days and know all there is about diet and exercise. This is why personal trainers are out there, to help you. If you don't want to go that route it takes a lot of reading and patience.

Also you didn't even have enough time to see results on a proper training program and diet, so saying that our scientific evidence is a moot point is highly incorrect.

I can see you are traveling around the forums trying to scare people when really it was your own quick acting and uneducated methods that lead to the problem. I am not even being mean here, I am trying to point out how not being educated properly can lead to your very problem. Warning others against good programming WHEN DONE RIGHT isn't the way to go about things.

Regardless I wish you the best of luck on continuing your goals. Different things work for different people. Hope whatever you do works out for you.

 

[MarkMyWords]

theleip made a very good post, as usual...

When I started getting very serious back in November, I wouldn't consider myself out of shape, but I definitely was not in shape, if that makes any sense. I'll tell you what, getting into a real routine quickly made me realize how pathetic and incapible my body was. The first time I did deadlifts, I almost died, but I was taught to do them correctly, and have increased my deadlift 75 pounds since I started doing them. Same goes with lunges, squats, pullups, all lifts that damn near killed me the first time, then my nervous system adapted, my muscles grew and became more able, and now here I am, feeling better than ever in my life.

I guess the point I'm saying is that yes, you have to be reasonable when starting any routine, whether it is weight lifting or running or both. But, don't let that be an excuse to push yourself to the limit of your body. I put in some workouts early on that made me question if I was still sane. But in the end, I won, because I became more skilled, and powerful, and it has been worth every second...