Newbie needs advice

L

Londonboy

0
Hi – As you can see, I am a newbie on this forum – so please don’t’ flame me if I ask some stupid questions along the way.

To give you all a little background information about me, I am 35, married and I have a fantastic son. I have never been a fit person - quite the reverse in fact. I have always taken my health for granted and I have neglected my body by indiscriminately eating whatever I want - whenever I want. To make things worse, I have a stressful desk job and I got little or no exercise and I smoked 20 cigarettes a day.

Last year, I was playing with my son in the park and I realized that I could barely keep up with his pace (he was only 4 at the time!!). This shocked me and made me realize that I needed to do something about my health quickly. So, with considerable difficulty, I quit my 17 year old smoking habit. I put on around 10 pounds as a result of quitting smoking but I figured that quitting smoking was all important and that I could only fight 1 battle at a time. I am 5’9 and at my peak around the middle of last year, I weighed around 245 pounds.

To those still awake – apologies for the lengthy autobiography.

I feel much better having kicked my smoking habit and I have now decided that I want to improve my fitness levels significantly. I am realistic about what I will be able to achieve and the timeframe it will take to obtain results. After all – I have been abusing my body for 20 years – I have no doubt that I have a long road ahead of me. Also, although there is nothing medically ‘wrong’ with me – I also accept that I may not be able to get very fit because I used to have a smoking habit.

Anyway, I joined a gym last year and I have been trying to work out 3 times a week. This ‘regime’ has been broken by business trips, Christmas and a weak will. Despite my being lazy at times, I have managed to bring my weight down to 238 pounds and I feel better for it. I have managed to make this (limited) progress by being a little more careful about what I eat and by focusing on cardio work and some (light) weight lifting at the gym. I now feel that it is time to get serious about my fitness levels and hence I have joined this forum.

I would be interested in your respective thoughts on what to do about the following issues that I face:

1.Motivation – I am continually fighting myself to push myself to go to the gym.
2.Workout – I have just started using the treadmill and I am struggling to run for more than a couple of minutes at a time before then my legs start burning and I have to take a break
3.What else should I be doing to improve my fitness level and to loose weight? Perhaps a stricter diet? I am concerned about going a ‘loose weight quick’ method because I am worried about regaining the weight once I fall off the proverbial wagon.

Also I have read historic posts about setting goals. What would be a realsitic way of setting my?

Apologies for all the questions but your feedback and thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
 
First off let me congratulate you on quitting smoking and taking the steps to get healthy, that itself, is very admirable. In answer to your questions:

1.Motivation – I am continually fighting myself to push myself to go to the gym.
Picture you amazing son growing up not knowing when his fathers last day will be due to the status of his health. It's harsh yes, but it's also reality. I actually said this to my mother and after 40 years of smoking, she has now quit. This will help keep you motvated.

2.Workout – I have just started using the treadmill and I am struggling to run for more than a couple of minutes at a time before then my legs start burning and I have to take a break
Try using the Elliptical machine - it's far easier on your legs yet a very effective for cardio training/fat loss.

3.What else should I be doing to improve my fitness level and to loose weight? Perhaps a stricter diet? I am concerned about going a ‘loose weight quick’ method because I am worried about regaining the weight once I fall off the proverbial wagon.
Make sure you log onto this site everyday and research your butt off. Be sure to eat 5-6 meals a day that contain good protein, carbs and fats. If you need help figuring out the amount of each you should be taking in, send me an email at admin@itransformed.com and I can provide you with a spreadsheet based on the Elliot's Harris Benedict calculator.

Good luck to you and Welcome!
:)
 
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Yah, congrats on getting started and not waiting until major health problems hit to wake you up.

I think it's easier to go to the gym if it's a daily thing. Even if you're just doing light cardio, I think having to go every day really helps. When you have days off, you always rationalize about the other 4 days when you skip a day. Yah, I can do today's workout tomorrow or the next day, as long as I fit in 3 days out of 7, I'll be fine. Having time.. every day.. might not be possible in your case, but if it is.. I strongly recommend it. Once you're at the gym, and start warming up, you should find it's easy to get into.. but getting there is the hard part.

High intensity interval training (HIIT) is very good and helps you lose weight quickly. It also can be as little as 10 minutes or so and still be effective. I know when I started out a year ago, I was too fat to even jog on a treadmill, let alone run (my joints would hurt too much), and I used a stationary bike. Find something that's tollerable (even if not ideal) that's easier on your body. You'll be able to do it more often and you can move up to a better form (like jogging or running) when you're in better shape. I would also recommend glucosomine and chondroitin to help with any joint pain (for long term relief) and of course aspirin or whatever for immediate help to get you through a workout.

If you have a high level of body fat, you can lose weight quicker and not worry as much about losing muscle. HIIT can give you a big metabolic boost and can get you started losing weight quickly. Lifting weights for hypertrophy can give you some more help with your metabolism. Try t-nation.com for articles on setting up a good hypertrophy program.

Weight loss is temporary unless it's a life style change, but don't let that deter you. You do want a permanent diet change, but that doesn't mean starving yourself. You can't go back to eating trash all the time and not working out and expect to keep weight off, but you do have some things working for you. As you add more muscle and get into better shape, your body will continue to raise it's caloric need. On the way to your goal, you can do it in steps. Lose some weight, and then back off the diet a bit and focus on just maintaining for a while. It's much easier to diet if your goal is 10 lbs (and then a break) and not 50 or whatever at once. Once you've reached your goal, you'll be in better position to keep it off.. just don't STOP working out at that point. You'll have muscle to help you keep weight off, and a body that's more efficient with the cardio you've been doing.

Your diet should consist of multiple small meals. You'll want to have a high amount of protein in your diet and watch the glycemic index of the carbs you eat. Stay away from processed carbs, and increase your fiber intake. Don't eat until you're full, you're most likely used to a few large meals and you'll have to work at it to shrink your stomach. You might not feel like you ate much of anything in the beginning (and be hungrier after you eat than before), but that will subside in a half an hour or so. You can eat again in a couple hours, so just hold off til then. Within a week, you shouldn't feel hungry after eating like that. Eat slow, get protein with every meal, eat often, and don't eat within 3 hours of going to bed. You can still have cheat days, just don't go crazy.. and if you do take your dieting in steps (where you spend some time just maintaining weight), don't let yourself retrain your stomach by eating very large meals at once.

Some more tips:

Stay hydrated. Drink a lot of water and try to stay away from diaretics. Your body confuses thirst with hunger very easily and drinking a lot of water will keep a lot of your hunger pains from happening.

Don't set time-sensitive goals. You're going to be gaining muscle as you lose fat, and this might be confusing as you step on a scale. While you can plan on losing 10 lbs before you take a short break, don't say 10 lbs in a month. Focus rather on whether or not you're getting stronger at the gym and noticing physcique changes in the mirror. Muscle weighs a lot and will slow your progress on a scale, but in the long run it will help you lose weight faster. Don't let arbitrary times you set discourage you and make you think you're not making progress.

Don't weigh yourself daily. There's too many things that change on a day to day basis to bother or want to step on a scale. Do it at most once a week and again, don't put too much thought into it. You don't want to be gaining weight, and want to be sure you're making.. some progress.. but the scale doesn't measure the muscle you've added or how hydrated you happen to be on a particular day.

Take pictures. This will remind you that you're making progress and also remind you of how you were before.. and encourage you not to revert to your old unhealthy habits.

Give yourself cheat days, but plan them. Don't look at your weight loss goal as some year long goal that prevents you from eating your fav foods. Give yourself a day (planned day) that you'll allow yourself what you've been craving. This will make the day to day struggle tollerable and allow you to keep at it.

Get yourself into a routine and stick with it. It'll get progressively easier and you'll be more focused on what you planned, as opposed to how you feel. Don't wing it, or post-pone workouts or go with impromptu cheat days. Plan everything and you'll have much more success. It's like going to a grocery store without a list and shopping when you're hungry. Make the decisions beforehand and they'll be better decisions. Don't wait to make decisions based on how you feel.

Good Luck!
 
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Congrats on what you have already done for yourself. I woud suggest doing HIIT a couple days a week and also lifting with a full body routine a couple days a week.
As for motivation..... Here is mine...

It was July 13th, 1995 at 0115 hrs. I was back up on a traffic stop and we had 3 subjects out of the vehicle and being searched. Dispatch called an adjoining district and asked them to start towards my beat and pick up a domestic violence call. They advised they would find him some back up. Being that is was my beat I advised I could clear and head that way. As I walked to my car dispatch advises they have an open line and there is an assault in progress. I pick up the pace and get to my vehicle. Clicking on the blues I reverse out of the traffic stop and do a U turn. Putting me the wrong way on a one-way street in order to get to the call quickly. Dispatch advises for everyone to hold their traffic and tells me to step it up; they have lost contact with the caller and can only hear fighting and screaming. I punch on the siren and bury the pedal into the floorboard. Another officer advises he will back me up. Within 30 seconds I am tearing into the back lot of the housing project and see the suspect jump from a second story balcony. He hits the ground running and heads for the alley. With my back up on the way, I give chase. Within 50 yds I reach out to snag the guys collar and he swirls around with a bottle in his hand and catches me just above the left eye. At the same time I stroke him in the right knee with my nightstick. We both go down, with me using my nightstick to forcefully shatter his sternum as we fall. We hit the ground and he is on top of me. For the first time in my career I am terrified. His eyes, his strength and his actions all let me know he is so whacked out that can feel nothing I am doing. For the next 60 seconds we fight. He trying to get my gun, me trying my damnest to control him without killing him. He tries to get me in a headlock and says, What are you going to do now, pig. By now I have lost my nightstick and my cuffs. My shirt is ripped in half and my vest is soaked in blood. I had no idea if it was his or mine. The only thing I can specifically remember during the fight was to roll on my side and lock my service weapon under me until such time I could justify shooting him. I was scared, I was running out of options and I could faintly hear the sirens of my back up. Just hold out for a few more seconds, was my thought. But that few seconds was the longest of my life. For fear that I was running low, I grabbed his balls in my left hand and gripped his throat between my right middle finger and my thumb. I squeezed with everything I had. In the distance I could hear cops screaming for back up, they had arrived and a huge crowd had gathered to watch the skinny little cop take down the big drug dealer. As they ran forward, the suspect went limp. With my knuckles white from the pressure and my vest and undershirt red from the blood, the first unit to arrive rolled him off of me. We quickly handcuffed his limp body and were forced to draw our weapons on the now enormous crowd that was beginning to come forward. I reached for my radio and screamed for help. I am sure I sounded like a ten-year-old girl. But no one heard my call as my radio had been ripped from my shoulder during the fight. But everyone was already on his or her way. Within moments the housing project was a sea of blue and several arrests were being made. Fifteen minutes later the street was clear, the people were inside and I was on my way to the hospital where I would receive a total of 28 stitches in 3 cuts. The only noticeable sign on the street of the vicious struggle was the 3 x 3 patch of blood on the sidewalk. The suspect recovered and will not be up for parole for 23 more years. The caller died from her injuries on the same night that I thought I might as well. People ask me everyday why I go to the gym every morning and why I work so hard. I typically re-cant the story of one of the back-ups that was there that night and how five years later he was shot and killed and how that is my motivation. Perhaps it is my true motivation. But have no doubt. Given the chance, I would chase that guy back down that alley and fight for my life as well as those who depend on me. Even though I am no longer a cop, I am a husband and a father who believes that you have to be ready for what life delivers to you. Bring it on, I am ready!


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If you do not want to be the best, don't play the game!
 
Motivation is the driving force in every part of your question. Diet, routine, schedule; none of that matters without the motivation to make it stick. And that motivation has to come from within. You have to want to be better than the average, to be better than your peers, to be better than you were yesterday!
 
Thank you all for the guidance and for sharing your experience with me.

Muck,

Sounds like you have worked very hard to get into shape over the past year -thanks for some excellent advice based on your experience. I am particularly interested in learning more about HIIT. I am in the process of reading some previous posts on the subject - it seems that the key is to do it properly.. I will definately try to work some HIIT into my schedule.

Itransformed,

Thank you for your generous offer. I will be sending you an E-mail so that you can send me the spreadsheet. I think more awareness of what, how much and when I am eating will certainly help.

Tenpercent,

Sounds like you've been to hell and back!! Thanks for the motivation!!
 
Londonboy said:
Thank you all for the guidance and for sharing your experience with me.

Muck,

Sounds like you have worked very hard to get into shape over the past year -thanks for some excellent advice based on your experience. I am particularly interested in learning more about HIIT. I am in the process of reading some previous posts on the subject - it seems that the key is to do it properly.. I will definately try to work some HIIT into my schedule.

Itransformed,

Thank you for your generous offer. I will be sending you an E-mail so that you can send me the spreadsheet. I think more awareness of what, how much and when I am eating will certainly help.

Tenpercent,

Sounds like you've been to hell and back!! Thanks for the motivation!!
Click to expand...

You got mail.

:)
 
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