Is This Enough? Please Give Me Advice!

KnOxViLLe1

KnOxViLLe1

New member
Hey everyone,

Ok here's my story. I've been chubby/overweight most of my childhood. I was a really thin and tiny child. According to my Dad, once I got my tonsils out when I was five, the weight kept piling on. I tried everything to lose weight. I even did lose alot many times, but usually gave up and gained it all back and even more.

Well I hit an all time high when I graduated and weighed approximatley 225. Being only 5'4", I felt horrible.

Well fast forward to now. I'm 22 and I weigh 175. I lost the 50 pounds by watching what I ate and playing DDR for an hour a day.

Well then I hit a plateau. I stopped playing DDR and bought an elliptical.

So right now I count calories and I use my elliptical for 20 minutes a day. I've only been using it for a week. I do intervals of medium-high intensity for as long as I can and then low intervals.

I'd like to work up to HIIT and also increase the 20 minutes with time.

So my question has to do with the fact that I've never done strength training. My dad ordered me an exercise ball and DVD off TV one night. It's Gunnar Peterson's Core Secrets. It's a 20 min video where you do exercises with hand weights and use the exercise ball.

So would that be enough? What else could I do?

Also, should I be doing strength training on the same day as the cardio? And if so, should I do it right after? Right before? A few hours later? Or should I alternate with days?

I really don't want to join a gym because I like being able to exercise whenever I want and I like sweating in my own home. So any advice and pointers you all could offer me would be VERY VERY much appreciated.


I hope to be posting here more often as I lose more weight.
 
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I know it sounds blunt, but if you're really dedicated to this the gym is the way to go! Weight training with cardio can work wonders :D Take an MP3 player if you want, I know it got me through my early stages of long overdrawn cardio :)
 
Hi KnOxViLLe.

Sounds like you've done pretty good so far - congrats! I know all about plateaus and how de-moralizing they can be (I'm stuck in one right now)

As far as strength training goes, I'm sure Steve and Tom can give you some really great advice - I've been reading their various posts and they've been spot on with their recommendations. I'm sure they'll be around soon...

As far as the gym thing goes? Everyone's different so it all depends on your motivation and drive. I do a wee (very wee) bit of pilates on the ball in addition to my weights and find it's awesome for the posture, but since you mention 'strength training', I'd say you'd probably want to invest in a set of dumbells and exercise bands if you're really dead set against going to a gym.

Good luck with whatever you decide to do. Keep us posted on your progress.
 
Is it really necessary for me to go to a gym? Lots of people lose weight without going to a gym.

Hmm...:confused:

Any other advice?
 
After doing the eliptical all winter at college, I eventually got really bored with it. (staying in the same spot. looking at the same wall or whatever is in front of you) When the weather finally got nice, I take a nice run outside about 30 mintues 2-3 miles. It just feels like a better and it keeps me interested with all the sites. Try it.
 
Gyms are 100% NOT necessary, but they can help....

To say you MUST go to a gym to lose weights is IMO completely wrong.

Some people never "get used" to the gym and end up just not going.... Either because of cost, intimidation or whatever excuse is most convenient. How many of us out there paid the big bucks for a membership to turn around and never use it? Guilty as charged.

We all have all the tools we need already, we just need to learn to use them. Gyms of course have many wonderful bonuses like easy to use equipment, access to machines and help we may not have at home and are great for motivation. But to say they are necessary is 100% wrong. What did people do before gyms even existed? Was the whole world fat and out of shape? Hell no! Not in the slightest!

How can I say this with such outright confidence? Simple, I do not go to a gym at all, and havent since I started this game. I found controlling my eating and changing my habits made the biggest improvement by far. Adding to that I started with aerobics videos and some dumbells. I have also recently discovered a whole new world of "body weight" training that can be done anywhere, anytime and with absolutely no equipment at all. I am following a video program I found but there are many out there. Its amazing how doing some specific exercises can target ans work very specific parts of the body, and very effectively to boot. I have also recently bought some resistance bands which add an all new dynamic to my home workouts. I also started with walking everyday and now am running everyday. I do this all outside, no elipticals, treadmills or starimasters required. Also, happily, no memebership fees.

But, I am a highly motivated individual. By working on my own, in my home and outdoors I have lost 50 pounds now since January. No trainers, equipment or expensive memberships needed. However, if you are not a self starter and find it difficult to get the ball rolling, the gym may be better suited to get you on your way.

But IMO there is one MAJOR tool that will help you win the game, better than any gym, trainer, diet or gimick, and that is your mind. Expand your mind by learning as much as you can, find the system that works to motivate you to push yourself further than ever before. No gym in the world is going to "force" you to exercise or eat right, that part is all up to you. I have lamented so many times in the past how I wished I had some 400 pound brute of a trainer literally whiping my fat ass into shape for me, but that simply is not reality. In fact I needed to be that same brute, but in my own mind. Thats why now I am on the end game and see the finish line for the first time in over 20 years of actively trying.

The information I learned and the support I got on WLF FAR FAR outweighs any benefit I ever received in any gym. And I will go on record saying that to the bitter end.

sirant
 
Thank you Sirant.

That is very helpful. I have several reasons for not going to the gym - I'm a broke student, I'm not a big fan of sweating in front of people and I like the fact that I can be like, "I wanna work out now" and so I do.

But thank you for the advice, it is greatly appreciated. I do hope to learn more through reseach and the help of this site! :D
 
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