Hi!

[TheUncool]

Hi,

I'm a guy from The Netherlands, I'm 20, 6.1ft and I weight 308(!)lbs... I really really really want to lose allot of weight, but I have some problems..

I have been bullied till I was 17 and was finished with school. That made me more insecure than I already was about my weight... I don't worry about that anymore but, I have a bigger problem that I'm even more insecure about than my weight. It stops me from going to a gym.

I'm hairy. I have hair on my whole body. I don't want people to see my hairy body when I have to shower or change clothes after working out... I COULD do something about it, but I don't have the money.

So my question.. Can someone, that weights 308lbs lose weight without going to a gym?

English is a second language for me, so bear with me if I made some mistakes.

 

[KaraCooks]

You can absolutely lose weight w/out going to a gym.

The first thing is that you have to realize that probably 90% of losing weight is about eating. You can exercise until you fall over, but if you're eating too much, you won't lose weight.

So the first step in losing weight is to get a handle on what you're eating. Make sure you're eating enough food (not too little and not too much) and that you're eating HEALTHY food - veggies, fruit, lean protein, complex carbs, and healthy fats (in that order).

Now, don't get me wrong, exercise is important for a whole lot of reasons, including helping you lose weight. So I'm not saying that you shouldn't exercise. In fact, when you're eating less food in order to lose weight, exercising is important because it keeps you from losing lean muscle.

There are plenty of things you can do at home. You can start with some basic body resistance types of exercises: squats, lunges, pushups (against the wall or a table or bench if you can't do them on the floor at first), dips, jumping jacks, climbing stairs, stepups, chinups/pullups, even - if you can do them - burpees. Walking/running is an excellent cardio exercise that will help burn calories - you want to walk briskly and get your heart beating fast. If you can, alternate walking and running 30 secs at a time, then building up to 60 secs at a time, and so on. If you have a bike, then definitely riding your bike is a good exercise ... again really push yourself so that your heart is beating fast and you're breaking a sweat.

With a combination of eating right and exercising, you can lose weight and keep it off.

And btw, your English is far better than my Dutch (which is non-existent) so please don't worry about that!

 

[TheUncool]

Thanks for your reply! I really get motivated here on this forum. I have been lifting weights for a couple of days now and tomorrow I'm going to start walking/running just like you described

If you can, alternate walking and running 30 secs at a time, then building up to 60 secs at a time, and so on.

And of course, I'm going to eat healthier.

 

[Sophie Elise]

Start with the plain "WALKING" It does work for me.

 

[Omega]

You most certainly can lose weight without going to a gym. I have not been a member of a gym on my weight loss project.

I start out with walking - and at first I could not go far and I was very slow. I was a lot fatter than you are even though I weighed a few pounds less because I am only 5ft3ins tall - so I was very fat and very unfit....

I then pushed myself to go further and I went out walking every day. As soon as I could I went further. I wore a pedometer so that I could see if I could do more steps than the day before - so that it wasnt just my main walk that counted too.

I found that I naturally speeded up as I got stronger.

At the same time I cut out the worst aspects of my food. I gradually got my nutrition to be better and better. Now it is pretty good...

I found that I was losing weight like never before.

As the months went by I got some little wrist weights and started doing some exercises with those. I also discovered this forum and gained more information here.

As more time went by I signed up to go to keep fit classes at my local edult education centre. I therefore gained advice from qualified instructors and learnt exercises that I could do at home. I also was able to sample a number of exercise types: pilates, yoga, aerobics, resistance bands and tubes, basic exercises etc. Since this was not at a gym there was no opportunity to shower or change there - it was standard to do this at home...

I am now at my goal weight - but continue to eat healthily, walk 6.5 miles per day and attend classes at the adult education centre.

My best advice to you is to learn to accept that you are hairier than most people. Things could be worse. I happen to have a hormonal medical problem (PCOS) and despite being a lady - happen to have quite a lot of hair myself. I came to accept much of it - but had electrolysis and later laser treatment on facial hair. When younger I had electrolysis on body hair before holidays too - so that I did not look quite so hairy in a bathing costume.

I can honestly say that I wish that I had moved over to laser from electrolysis years before I did. Electrolysis is much more painful than laser...

If you do decide to go down the laser route as you get older - be aware that almost all laser equipment does not work on white or grey hair - so be sure not to put it off until you are too old.