hi all
I decided to join and share my views as I have been able to lose inches over the last four months and felt that I should share my experience ....
I used to be a gym person at one time when I was thirty. By the time I had crossed forty, my work and lifestyle took over and i steadily started putting on weight and worse still, inches at all the wrong places until I measured a 40" around my waist. I am 5' 9" and a waistline like that looked and felt horrible.
After forty, at a mid life crisis time, it definitely hits your self esteem to have a paunch, love handles and no jawline. I kept a beard to hide this, but it showed up on my face anyways. In any case, it made me unhealthy and I started suffering from pains all over, heartburn, ulcers and general fatigue and weakness. It came to a point when I was convinced that I had some incurable disease [read cancer] and I felt as if I needed to sit down every few minutes to rest.
A friend who is a doctor, examined me and told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with me and that it was all in the mind. "take charge of your life" is what she said.
That was three months back and I decided to take matters into my own hands.
Being familiar with exercise, I just designed a regimen for myself. I knew that I was too heavy and unfit to start heavy exercise and jogging. That would have ruined my knees! So I bought myself a bicycle and started off each morning in my neighborhood. I basically took rounds around a playground which measured to about a kilometer. By the end of the month I had increased my rounds, from 2 to 10 and I was cycling fast.
Frankly speaking, this was just preparation and all I experienced is an overall supple feeling. Thats when I joined the gym after so many years. I joined one, close to my house which had the basic equipment and nothing fancy. Thus I added 3 days a week at the gym in addition to the bicycling.
At the gym, I stuck to basic exercises, one for each body part, with very low weights to begin with. After about a month, I was already lifting comparatively heavy and had changed my routine to a front and back body-part split. My muscles were getting back their strength.
I now changed my bicycling to uphill. There is a hill close to my house and it takes me about 3 kilometers to get there. I could do about half way up and then collapse. I increased the distance 10 meters at a time and today I am able to go all the way up and then do free hand exercises for the upper body. I completely stopped the gym during this phase that went on for about a month or so.
I also started my diet plan then. I had generally been avoiding fried and oily foods and sugar. Now I completely stopped sugar in all forms and cut down on starches and fats. That is all.
The other thing that I started on was eating fruits every few hours so that I never got hungry.
I have always been resistant to weighing myself as I am intrinsically heavy and when you see the charts I will always show overweight even if I am at my fittest. What I have observed is my waistline and my general fitness. I have lost 5 inches on my waist and feel ready to go now.
Two weeks back I went back to the gym and now do two days a week in the gym with reasonably heavy weights and cycle 6 days. I have adjusted my diet accordingly and am eating slightly more. Want to get to a stage where I can eat normally...dont want to live all my life on a diet.
So this is the next phase and I am confident that i will lose another four inches. In the mean while, I am getting back my muscles and my hypertension, heartburn and acidity have disappeared.
Just thought I would share...hope someone benefits from reading this
I decided to join and share my views as I have been able to lose inches over the last four months and felt that I should share my experience ....
I used to be a gym person at one time when I was thirty. By the time I had crossed forty, my work and lifestyle took over and i steadily started putting on weight and worse still, inches at all the wrong places until I measured a 40" around my waist. I am 5' 9" and a waistline like that looked and felt horrible.
After forty, at a mid life crisis time, it definitely hits your self esteem to have a paunch, love handles and no jawline. I kept a beard to hide this, but it showed up on my face anyways. In any case, it made me unhealthy and I started suffering from pains all over, heartburn, ulcers and general fatigue and weakness. It came to a point when I was convinced that I had some incurable disease [read cancer] and I felt as if I needed to sit down every few minutes to rest.
A friend who is a doctor, examined me and told me that there was absolutely nothing wrong with me and that it was all in the mind. "take charge of your life" is what she said.
That was three months back and I decided to take matters into my own hands.
Being familiar with exercise, I just designed a regimen for myself. I knew that I was too heavy and unfit to start heavy exercise and jogging. That would have ruined my knees! So I bought myself a bicycle and started off each morning in my neighborhood. I basically took rounds around a playground which measured to about a kilometer. By the end of the month I had increased my rounds, from 2 to 10 and I was cycling fast.
Frankly speaking, this was just preparation and all I experienced is an overall supple feeling. Thats when I joined the gym after so many years. I joined one, close to my house which had the basic equipment and nothing fancy. Thus I added 3 days a week at the gym in addition to the bicycling.
At the gym, I stuck to basic exercises, one for each body part, with very low weights to begin with. After about a month, I was already lifting comparatively heavy and had changed my routine to a front and back body-part split. My muscles were getting back their strength.
I now changed my bicycling to uphill. There is a hill close to my house and it takes me about 3 kilometers to get there. I could do about half way up and then collapse. I increased the distance 10 meters at a time and today I am able to go all the way up and then do free hand exercises for the upper body. I completely stopped the gym during this phase that went on for about a month or so.
I also started my diet plan then. I had generally been avoiding fried and oily foods and sugar. Now I completely stopped sugar in all forms and cut down on starches and fats. That is all.
The other thing that I started on was eating fruits every few hours so that I never got hungry.
I have always been resistant to weighing myself as I am intrinsically heavy and when you see the charts I will always show overweight even if I am at my fittest. What I have observed is my waistline and my general fitness. I have lost 5 inches on my waist and feel ready to go now.
Two weeks back I went back to the gym and now do two days a week in the gym with reasonably heavy weights and cycle 6 days. I have adjusted my diet accordingly and am eating slightly more. Want to get to a stage where I can eat normally...dont want to live all my life on a diet.
So this is the next phase and I am confident that i will lose another four inches. In the mean while, I am getting back my muscles and my hypertension, heartburn and acidity have disappeared.
Just thought I would share...hope someone benefits from reading this
