OK, now I am officially "out of shape" and I want to start getting back

G

glewis22

New member
Im going to the gym tomorrow. I havnt written down what I want to do or what im going to do, I am simply going to go to the gym and change into workout clothes. I know once I simply get there I will do something.

I used to go to the gym 5,6 times per week and for about an hour each visit. I was eating decent (one day out of the week I would let myself have "some treats"). I got my weight down to 192 from 253, but the last 2 years since I have been in college, that has completely flipped. I havnt exercised atleast regularly in a year, and have been eating sooooooo much junk food. I sit at the computer all day and go to classes and come home and sit. I am probably over 253 now and simply wont look at a scale yet.

Well, the last 3 weeks of school, I would walk to class in the morning and by the time I got about .25/mile, my back would hurt...........I am so out of shape.

School ended and Im back home, and I went to the mall today and I couldn't even shop, I would get a sore back from simply walking around and looking for a DVD. I walked back to my car and though, how did it come to this?

So my question is, what do I do from here: Do I start doing back exercises? Do I start walking, do I start doing ANY cardio so start me getting back toward getting in shape. Im scared that tomorrow I will get on a machine and be dead after 5 minutes. Im so far removed from my "glory days" of 4 years ago, Im 31 now. Any help, advice, support is very much appreciated.

As far as the food is concerned, I have no control, cant eat in moderation and am thinking of going to OA regarding my sugar addiction.
 
If your back is sore, the first place to start is a doctor. Best to find out if anything is wrong than to do more damage to it. OA doesn't sound like a bad idea if food is a problem for you.
 
glewis22 said:
Awesome support here, really, truly awesome.
Click to expand...

Ouch. I know how you feel.

Anyway, it is hard to know where to start. I'd say to start walking or lite elliptical work. Just a little bit three to four days a week and work from there. Don't do too much too fast. I did when I started trying to run and then I couldn't do anything.

As far as diet, start out recording what you eat. Absolutely everything. Track the calories too. I'm no good at that, I just estimate, its something I have to work on. There are websites out there to help though. When I started recording what I ate I saw where the problem areas were.

Sugar cravings are tough, but I've found honestly (REALLY) that if I can be super strict with myself for a week or two with restricting them, I won't crave them as much. You may or may not be the same.

Don't be too put off by the lack of help yet either. Be persistent and you'll start to get answers. (At least thats how it usually works at other forums; I'm new here).

:)
 
Take a minute and see if you can do a single pushup. Start there and every day see how many more you can do. I had some serious back problems about a year ago, and my doctor said one of the best ways to work your back muscles is to do pushups (strange huh?) It worked for me, and worked quickly!
 
Re-Back pain

A year ago I was 268 lbs, & I too had lower back pain after a short walk..
I dropped 33 lbs, and exercised.
I started doing sit ups & leg raises, along with circuit training.
Started 10 at a time , 3 days a week & gradually worked up to 40.
I recommend a bench sit-up, so your back is unsupported when you are down(horizontal position) this strengthen the abs, rotates the hips and relieves that lower back pain.

regards

Mike D
 
I had/have persistent back pain from an old injury to my lower back (7 or 8 years ago). And this time last year, at my biggest (311lbs), I could barely walk for ten minutes without getting a pain in it and every other day I was getting shooting pains down my left hand side and losing power in my left leg. I've since lost some weight and started walking more and doing exercise and it really has helped. I still get the occasional back pain, but it doesn't last as long and I don't need anti-inflammatories for when it gets really bad. In fact I would say that it is rare now, whereas before it was chronic.

So, anyway, my advice, for what it's worth, is to start with your nutrition. Read the stickies around the place and try to make some healthy changes to your diet. This should be the place to start. After that start walking more and becoming more active. You may be able to jump back into the gym, you may not, but I'll bet that you could be more active in your day to day life and that's as good a place as any to start. After a while you'll be able to do more without the back pain and as things become easier you'll find yourself wanting to be more active.

So just stick with it and good luck.
 
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