Here goes everything!!!.........

[Catsmeow2121]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, but always wanted to talk to others as I tried to loose the weight I have been stuck with for years. I just started a diet plan yesterday with my 19 year old daughter, and really want this to work this time, instead of the usual loosing 20 or 30 lbs and stopping and gaining it all back AND MORE! My first goal is to loose 90 lbs, even though I really need to loose at least another 40 after that.

I am just doing my usual counting calories and trying to do around 1000 per day, and then I let myself have 1 cheat day on the weekend where I would probably have around 1500 calories that day.

The problem is that I know my metabolism is low and I need to get it going in the morning to make this work. Since I am so overweight (296 lbs today and 5'7"), I am afraid to do anything strenuous at first. I think maybe just a brisk walk for 30 minutes is good? DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS?!

Debbie

 

[Derrick]

Hi and welcome! Congrats on making the decision to begin your weight loss journey. I think it is good that you realize you need to slowly get into an excercise routine and not do anything strenuous. You will only defeat yourself that way. Have you had a physical exam from your doctor recently? You should probably find out what heart rate you can train in for now. Your doctor may want you to keep your heart rate below a certain number for a while.

When I first started my journey I was very out of shape so I decided to just walk on the treadmill at a speed and incline that would keep my heart rate around 135 to 140 for at least 20 to 30 minutes. I knew I would have to wait until I lost at least 10 to 15 lbs before I attempted to be a little more intense. It worked wonders. I did not get burnt out at all and found the workouts to be quite easy. A couple months later and 20 lbs lighter I finally did begin to challenge myself more. Today I am leaps and bounds ahead of where I was last summer in the fitness performance catagory...and 56 lbs lighter too! I went from at least 32% body fat to somewhere around 12 or 13% body fat right now.

The best investment you can make right now would be to go buy a $100 chest strap and wrist watch heart rate monitor. I would recommend a Polar brand, model F6, F7 or F11. My wife and I use the F6 model. If I made a top 10 list of things that helped me go from fat to fit, this one would be the first one on my list because it helped me get started. I still hardly ever train without it. It will tell you what your heart rate is and it also records how long you are in your heart rate range. You can easily adjust your range and there are many other very useful functions. It only takes about 30 minutes to an hour to learn most of the functions and as you use it you will learn more and more. If you ever have a question, you can ask me too. I'd be happy to help.

For now, get the ok from your doctor to excercise and find out at what heart rate. Also, perhaps you should consider consuming more calories at first. I think even 1500 is pretty low for your weight. Eating five times a day will help give you energy all day long. You just have to control the portion sizes of your meals and eat healthy snacks in between. Search this site or google for some BMR calculators and find out how many calories you should be consuming for a weight loss goal of 1.5 to 2.0 lbs per week. Don't worry about how long it will take. You are in this for life now.

Finally, I think you posted in the wrong section of the forum. No big deal though, you are new.



Good luck to you!

Derrick

 

[Survivalism]

Hello everyone! I'm new to this forum, but always wanted to talk to others as I tried to loose the weight I have been stuck with for years. I just started a diet plan yesterday with my 19 year old daughter, and really want this to work this time, instead of the usual loosing 20 or 30 lbs and stopping and gaining it all back AND MORE! My first goal is to loose 90 lbs, even though I really need to loose at least another 40 after that.

I am just doing my usual counting calories and trying to do around 1000 per day, and then I let myself have 1 cheat day on the weekend where I would probably have around 1500 calories that day.

The problem is that I know my metabolism is low and I need to get it going in the morning to make this work. Since I am so overweight (296 lbs today and 5'7"), I am afraid to do anything strenuous at first. I think maybe just a brisk walk for 30 minutes is good? DOES ANYONE HAVE ANY SUGGESTIONS?!

Debbie

I'm no expert, but I'm thinking you should be having closer to 1500 every day. A 30 minute walk is great but don't feel bad if you don't make it the full 30 at first. The first time I got on the treadmill, I was aiming for 30. Made it about 5.

But, speaking of heart rates and what not, as a personal favor to me, make sure your blood pressure is in order before you start working out. When I started all this, mine was already so high that, when it kicked up a bit from working out, the hearing in my left ear blew out. I was finally doing this for myself and then I had to stop and I was pretty bent out of shape about it.

Other than that, though, I'm basically doing exactly what you're planning on and it seems to be working just fine. You'll do great on it, too.

 

[Catsmeow2121]

I'm no expert, but I'm thinking you should be having closer to 1500 every day. A 30 minute walk is great but don't feel bad if you don't make it the full 30 at first. The first time I got on the treadmill, I was aiming for 30. Made it about 5.

But, speaking of heart rates and what not, as a personal favor to me, make sure your blood pressure is in order before you start working out. When I started all this, mine was already so high that, when it kicked up a bit from working out, the hearing in my left ear blew out. I was finally doing this for myself and then I had to stop and I was pretty bent out of shape about it.

Other than that, though, I'm basically doing exactly what you're planning on and it seems to be working just fine. You'll do great on it, too.

Thanks for letting me know about your experience...I will be careful for sure! I really want this to work and dont want to get discouraged!

 

[Catsmeow2121]

Hi and welcome! Congrats on making the decision to begin your weight loss journey. I think it is good that you realize you need to slowly get into an excercise routine and not do anything strenuous. You will only defeat yourself that way. Have you had a physical exam from your doctor recently? You should probably find out what heart rate you can train in for now. Your doctor may want you to keep your heart rate below a certain number for a while.

When I first started my journey I was very out of shape so I decided to just walk on the treadmill at a speed and incline that would keep my heart rate around 135 to 140 for at least 20 to 30 minutes. I knew I would have to wait until I lost at least 10 to 15 lbs before I attempted to be a little more intense. It worked wonders. I did not get burnt out at all and found the workouts to be quite easy. A couple months later and 20 lbs lighter I finally did begin to challenge myself more. Today I am leaps and bounds ahead of where I was last summer in the fitness performance catagory...and 56 lbs lighter too! I went from at least 32% body fat to somewhere around 12 or 13% body fat right now.

The best investment you can make right now would be to go buy a $100 chest strap and wrist watch heart rate monitor. I would recommend a Polar brand, model F6, F7 or F11. My wife and I use the F6 model. If I made a top 10 list of things that helped me go from fat to fit, this one would be the first one on my list because it helped me get started. I still hardly ever train without it. It will tell you what your heart rate is and it also records how long you are in your heart rate range. You can easily adjust your range and there are many other very useful functions. It only takes about 30 minutes to an hour to learn most of the functions and as you use it you will learn more and more. If you ever have a question, you can ask me too. I'd be happy to help.

For now, get the ok from your doctor to excercise and find out at what heart rate. Also, perhaps you should consider consuming more calories at first. I think even 1500 is pretty low for your weight. Eating five times a day will help give you energy all day long. You just have to control the portion sizes of your meals and eat healthy snacks in between. Search this site or google for some BMR calculators and find out how many calories you should be consuming for a weight loss goal of 1.5 to 2.0 lbs per week. Don't worry about how long it will take. You are in this for life now.

Finally, I think you posted in the wrong section of the forum. No big deal though, you are new.



Good luck to you!

Derrick

OK what did I do wrong? LOL I'm not good at this at all! I think I even tried to reply to your message incorrectly as a "add to reputation"- hope I didnt mess anything up on your side! ANyway, thanks for the help and advice!

 

[Derrick]

OK what did I do wrong? LOL I'm not good at this at all! I think I even tried to reply to your message incorrectly as a "add to reputation"- hope I didnt mess anything up on your side! ANyway, thanks for the help and advice!

Haha, yes please click on the "add to reputation" as many times as you can...Just kidding. I was just trying to finish my post with a little humor but to answer your question it would have made more sense to post this in the New Members section. It doesn't bother me any at all but some people may miss your post because they didn't expect it in this section of the forum. No big deal though. If you are using LOL then you are not completely new to the internet.

Survivalism is right and that is another reason I think you should get a complete physical if you have not had one recently. If you have high blood pressure, your doctor may not want you to get your heart rate too high for a while. There are other things that could be issues too but I don't want to freak you out so the best thing is to just go get a physical before you start getting too carried away.

 

[Catsmeow2121]

Haha, yes please click on the "add to reputation" as many times as you can...Just kidding. I was just trying to finish my post with a little humor but to answer your question it would have made more sense to post this in the New Members section. It doesn't bother me any at all but some people may miss your post because they didn't expect it in this section of the forum. No big deal though. If you are using LOL then you are not completely new to the internet.

Survivalism is right and that is another reason I think you should get a complete physical if you have not had one recently. If you have high blood pressure, your doctor may not want you to get your heart rate too high for a while. There are other things that could be issues too but I don't want to freak you out so the best thing is to just go get a physical before you start getting too carried away.

Thanks and yes I just made a physical appt with my doc. I use to be low in my iron about a year ago and take iron every so ofter (should be doing it regularly tho!) and just want to get things checked out. Especially because I was a little shaky and weak the last 2 days of this diet I started 4 days ago. Maybe more calories should be in order...I have been doing 1000 a day but the good news is that I lost 11.4 lbs! Today I was 289.6 and I started on 3/19 at 301 lbs.~ Thanks for the support!
Debbie

 

[Catsmeow2121]

Haha, yes please click on the "add to reputation" as many times as you can...Just kidding. I was just trying to finish my post with a little humor but to answer your question it would have made more sense to post this in the New Members section. It doesn't bother me any at all but some people may miss your post because they didn't expect it in this section of the forum. No big deal though. If you are using LOL then you are not completely new to the internet.

Survivalism is right and that is another reason I think you should get a complete physical if you have not had one recently. If you have high blood pressure, your doctor may not want you to get your heart rate too high for a while. There are other things that could be issues too but I don't want to freak you out so the best thing is to just go get a physical before you start getting too carried away.

Thanks and yes I just made a physical appt with my doc. I use to be low in my iron about a year ago and take iron every so ofter (should be doing it regularly tho!) and just want to get things checked out. Especially because I was a little shaky and weak the last 2 days of this diet I started 4 days ago. Maybe more calories should be in order...I have been doing 1000 a day but the good news is that I lost 11.4 lbs! Today I was 289.6 and I started on 3/19 at 301 lbs.~ Thanks for the support!
Debbie

 

[dwwise83]

You should definitely look around the site about the amount of calories appropriate for weight loss. As of right now you are way to low (given the height and weight you provided), even on your cheat day. I am 5'7" also, weigh 193 pounds and eat around 2000 cal/day for weight loss. It feels wrong to eat so much (make sure you are increasing cals with healthy options) but it will help you stick to your plan and keep the weight off in the long run. You don't want to lose weight and be skinny for a year or two, you want to be skinny for LIFE. Therefore, you should make LIFE changes. Could you really eat 1000 / day for the rest of your life?

Best of luck!