Help! I'm Fat - *** Official Exercise and Weight Thread ***

[k123]

Someone has probably mentioned this but Intermittent Fasting seems like the simplest way. (Or at least here are some links besides just mentioned) It doesn't require tons of 'counting' and is rolled up with all kinds of other "discipline" and motivation feedback loops. Combine it with semi-regular exercise and possibly Keto etc and you can't go wrong.

Intermittent Fasting
Lots of background at https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/, basic descriptions here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/wiki/index
http://www.burnfatnotsugar.com/WhenToEat.html (then open PDF)

The forums end up with lots of questions ('does X break my fast?') and versions, but quite straightforward, and the many ways "work", for the simple reason that it naturally restricts your calories a bit and reduces the extra snacking, esp at night. For example, 16:8 (pick 8 hours to eat, noon-8pm) seems simplest, then some get into 20:4 or 'one meal a day'. There are other versions like 5:2 which is two low calorie days per week but again, seems more tricky as things will come up ('I need to skip today', etc) Pick an 8-hr window, focus on protein and vegetables.

Re exercise, I've been persuaded that cardio is pretty optional or inefficient compared to other compound-lifting weightlifting (e.g. Stonglifts 5x5 or push-pull-leg, etc), since those (squat, bench, deadlift) work large muscle groups and have a cardio benefit. Again, those are good bc they are simple and manageable for disciplined routines. At least not cardio as the 'primary' method. https://stronglifts.com/5x5/#gref

Re Keto I watched the Magic Pill on Netflix and while a bit melodramatic it was persuasive if you want to use that as a restriction to keep you on straight and narrow.

Good luck man!!

 

[cyclone4L]

you want someone to join you? You want a few people to join you? @ChrisMWilliams you want to join this November - April challenge and we can all make a pledge and donate to a charity?

This could be it's own deal, spearheaded by @cyclone4L and those of us who want to get healthier can be a part of it.

I'm going to be 47 in a bit and need to get in shape. Weigh 238 pounds and should be 220-225 and be able to move a little better. I could use a little accountability and people need other people to be successful in these types of things.

IDK...just an idea. If not, I'm cheering for you. You only get one go around...don't waste it.

I like this idea a lot. The reason I am waiting for November is for 1. myself to get a plan together and visit the doctor and 2. to round up anyone who wants to do it with me and give them a chance to get ready as well.

 

[CtownCyclone]

I like this idea a lot. The reason I am waiting for November is for 1. myself to get a plan together and visit the doctor and 2. to round up anyone who wants to do it with me and give them a chance to get ready as well.

Make sure to let the doctor know what your plans/goals are so they can give you good advice. Plenty of stuff in this thread is "this stuff works for me" but having an expert give you specific advice is probably a good route to take. Different things work for different people!


And since I haven't made fun of you (or the other fatties) here yet, this is what I got:


But seriously, best of luck man!

 

[Tre4ISU]

Someone has probably mentioned this but Intermittent Fasting seems like the simplest way. (Or at least here are some links besides just mentioned) It doesn't require tons of 'counting' and is rolled up with all kinds of other "discipline" and motivation feedback loops. Combine it with semi-regular exercise and possibly Keto etc and you can't go wrong.

Intermittent Fasting
Lots of background at https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/, basic descriptions here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/wiki/index
http://www.burnfatnotsugar.com/WhenToEat.html (then open PDF)

The forums end up with lots of questions ('does X break my fast?') and versions, but quite straightforward, and the many ways "work", for the simple reason that it naturally restricts your calories a bit and reduces the extra snacking, esp at night. For example, 16:8 (pick 8 hours to eat, noon-8pm) seems simplest, then some get into 20:4 or 'one meal a day'. There are other versions like 5:2 which is two low calorie days per week but again, seems more tricky as things will come up ('I need to skip today', etc) Pick an 8-hr window, focus on protein and vegetables.

Re exercise, I've been persuaded that cardio is pretty optional or inefficient compared to other compound-lifting weightlifting (e.g. Stonglifts 5x5 or push-pull-leg, etc), since those (squat, bench, deadlift) work large muscle groups and have a cardio benefit. Again, those are good bc they are simple and manageable for disciplined routines. At least not cardio as the 'primary' method. https://stronglifts.com/5x5/#gref

Re Keto I watched the Magic Pill on Netflix and while a bit melodramatic it was persuasive if you want to use that as a restriction to keep you on straight and narrow.

Good luck man!!

On cardio: I think it's great for overall health but I think if you can be dynamic with it, you are a lot more efficient in weight loss. I'm sure some may think they're a joke but there are a lot of Beachbody workouts that will get you your cardio as well as increase stength and/or flexibility. Hammer and Chisel is my favorite as it's a lot of fast paced strength training so your HR is constantly up but you are also building muscle and doing a lot of core work. It is also one you can do as a beginner because of modifiers and the fact that a lot of it is weight based so you can start with low or no weight and do the excercises. Sure, you may not finish every set of split squats, but when you don't, you are resting for a few second rather than a whole set. It's also very easy to see improvement. After a couple weeks, I was changing weight every time I hit the same workout again. If you have a TV and just a little bit of room, I'd suggest looking at the On Demand subscription. It's not that expensive and there is a huge variety of workouts and they are always coming out with new ones. I've found that having my setup at home really makes me more accountable because it's right by my living room area and I start to feel guilty if I don't use it.

I also was discouraged by spending time putting together a program myself and then getting to a packed gym where I had to do things as different items were available. I'd spend an hour and half doing 45 minutes of work and I just got sick of it so I got my own stuff.

 

[madguy30]

No. I like his idea of a PLANNED approach.

So a person can't start making small changes right away on approach of the plan?

It's awfully difficult to go cold turkey on habits.

 

[cowgirl836]

It's critical to do what you can and not hold yourself to some ridiculous standard about working out. If you've got 15 minutes, work out for 15 minutes. Maybe there will be 30 minutes tomorrow or an hour later in the week. Grab the time you've got and do something. And then keep repeating it as much as you can.

Totally this. Only one child here but I'm often doing workouts in pieces or using toddler as weight or getting my cardio by trying to race through my moves to try to finish up before dealing with unhappy child. 15 minutes or 30 broken up minutes is better than nothing at all. Progress, not perfection.

 

[jbindm]

Best of luck!

I'm up to 209 right now. Heaviest I have ever been. I work too much and with the new baby, two girls, etc., I've quit making any time at all for myself. Point is, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. We all struggle with this at some point. I'm really wanting to get back into shape too. Your courage is very motivating to me. Thank you for sharing your story. We are all stronger because of it.

Oh man, the kids/new baby weight is a killer. I have two kids, and the first year after they were born are the times when I piled on pounds. It's the lack of sleep that acts as the root cause. When you're tired you work out less or not at all, and you tend to make poor dietary choices - fast food, empty calories, stress eating, eating in the middle of the night.

 

[Cybyassociation]

Someone has probably mentioned this but Intermittent Fasting seems like the simplest way. (Or at least here are some links besides just mentioned) It doesn't require tons of 'counting' and is rolled up with all kinds of other "discipline" and motivation feedback loops. Combine it with semi-regular exercise and possibly Keto etc and you can't go wrong.

Intermittent Fasting
Lots of background at https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/, basic descriptions here:
https://www.reddit.com/r/intermittentfasting/wiki/index
http://www.burnfatnotsugar.com/WhenToEat.html (then open PDF)

The forums end up with lots of questions ('does X break my fast?') and versions, but quite straightforward, and the many ways "work", for the simple reason that it naturally restricts your calories a bit and reduces the extra snacking, esp at night. For example, 16:8 (pick 8 hours to eat, noon-8pm) seems simplest, then some get into 20:4 or 'one meal a day'. There are other versions like 5:2 which is two low calorie days per week but again, seems more tricky as things will come up ('I need to skip today', etc) Pick an 8-hr window, focus on protein and vegetables.

Re exercise, I've been persuaded that cardio is pretty optional or inefficient compared to other compound-lifting weightlifting (e.g. Stonglifts 5x5 or push-pull-leg, etc), since those (squat, bench, deadlift) work large muscle groups and have a cardio benefit. Again, those are good bc they are simple and manageable for disciplined routines. At least not cardio as the 'primary' method. https://stronglifts.com/5x5/#gref

Re Keto I watched the Magic Pill on Netflix and while a bit melodramatic it was persuasive if you want to use that as a restriction to keep you on straight and narrow.

Good luck man!!

Intermittent fasting works. I dropped about 10+ lbs over the course of a month. Granted I'm not overweight by any means, but I certainly leaned out. Being conscious of your diet is huge as well. What are you putting in vs. what are you burning throughout the day. If you're eating more than you're burning, well guess what, you're going to gain weight. There are a ton of great websites with recipes that don't suck and are really healthy. It definitely took me a while to get used to eating some different things, but changing your diet helped me not only lose some fat, but also keep it off.

*EDIT: I should also add that fasting sucked. You're going to be hungry...all the time. It absolutely works, but it sucks.

 

[cowgirl836]

Oh man, the kids/new baby weight is a killer. I have two kids, and the first year after they were born are the times when I piled on pounds. It's the lack of sleep that acts as the root cause. When you're tired you work out less or not at all, and you tend to make poor dietary choices - fast food, empty calories, stress eating, eating in the middle of the night.

when would you say you started getting sleep again..........asking for a friend............


there's research showing a lack of sleep makes you crave sweets. Probably completely unconnected to the Halloween candy currently disappearing fast in my household.

 

[jbindm]

when would you say you started getting sleep again..........asking for a friend............


there's research showing a lack of sleep makes you crave sweets. Probably completely unconnected to the Halloween candy currently disappearing fast in my household.

Um, I'm probably the wrong person to ask because both of our kids are lousy sleepers. Part of it might be genetics and part of it is probably bad bedtime habits that we developed as parents. We just weren't very disciplined with either one about letting them cry it out or letting them learn to soothe themselves back to sleep. Anyway, the older one stopped waking up more than twice a night at around two and finally started sleeping in his own bed all night at around four. The younger one just turned three so I'm hopeful that within a year I'll be able to regularly go to bed at ten and get seven uninterrupted hours of sleep for the first time in about a decade.

 

[cdnlngld]

5' 6" and at 260 lbs here. I had a wake up call at the doctor this spring (pre-diabetic).

I started with a calorie counting app. I cut pop and only drink water, milk, or these Ice cooler things(sold at hy-vee health area). I was doing great until my phone crapped out and and I quit counting the calories for a while. I gained all 12 lbs back, but I did continue with cutting the pop. I had a Dr. visit last week, and my blood sugar was down a half a point. I don't have to go on meds and the Dr. said a half a point is significant.

My Dr's advise was to make your weight loss goals slow(about a lb a week) this will help keep it off, and you shouldn't have to make huge changes to meet this goal.

My advise is to cut the sugar, get a calorie counting app, eat more fiber, and start some light exercise. I have been taking my dogs for nightly walks(just a couple of miles). It's good for them and good for you!

 

[jbindm]

when would you say you started getting sleep again..........asking for a friend............


there's research showing a lack of sleep makes you crave sweets. Probably completely unconnected to the Halloween candy currently disappearing fast in my household.

Oh yeah, you can't buy the Halloween candy until the day of, on the way home from work. If it's in the house I'm going after it.

Self discipline is weird thing when it comes to food for me. I'm basically all or nothing. Like, there can be a bag of potato chips in the room and if I don't touch them at all I'm fine. I don't crave them. But there's absolutely no middle ground. I'm either eating zero chips or I'm consuming the entire bag.

 

[CtownCyclone]

when would you say you started getting sleep again..........asking for a friend............


there's research showing a lack of sleep makes you crave sweets. Probably completely unconnected to the Halloween candy currently disappearing fast in my household.

Both of our kids were different in regards to sleeping through the night. I was pretty militant with our son in regards to evening routine, so I think he slept pretty well fairly early on. However, with baby girl, Mama was putting her down whilest I dealt with the boy. She was not nearly as disciplined, so the girl will still wake on occasion at 16 months of age. Most of the time, she goes all the way through.

 

[cowgirl836]

Um, I'm probably the wrong person to ask because both of our kids are lousy sleepers. Part of it might be genetics and part of it is probably bad bedtime habits that we developed as parents. We just weren't very disciplined with either one about letting them cry it out or letting them learn to soothe themselves back to sleep. Anyway, the older one stopped waking up more than twice a night at around two and finally started sleeping in his own bed all night at around four. The younger one just turned three so I'm hopeful that within a year I'll be able to regularly go to bed at ten and get seven uninterrupted hours of sleep for the first time in about a decade.

I think it's luck of the draw. Mom said I slept through at TWO WEEKS and the baby book proves it. My youngest brother she said it was two YEARS. My child seems to have ignored his mother and father's genes that love sleep and decided to take after his uncle. This week has just been a killer though, don't know if it's a growth spurt, the tooth that came in, or catching up from his ear infection but he's been up about every two hours and wants food. It's like the newborn game all over again. And we'd just started getting used to one wakeup at ~4am. Anyway, glad to know I'm not alone.

 

[madguy30]

Intermittent fasting works. I dropped about 10+ lbs over the course of a month. Granted I'm not overweight by any means, but I certainly leaned out. Being conscious of your diet is huge as well. What are you putting in vs. what are you burning throughout the day. If you're eating more than you're burning, well guess what, you're going to gain weight. There are a ton of great websites with recipes that don't suck and are really healthy. It definitely took me a while to get used to eating some different things, but changing your diet helped me not only lose some fat, but also keep it off.

*EDIT: I should also add that fasting sucked. You're going to be hungry...all the time. It absolutely works, but it sucks.

I don't do fasting full on, but I feel like I've gotten better at taking in less in the days after eating excessively or unhealthy.

I.e. if I have pizza or something, the next day or two I'll take in much few calories and also make sure what I DO take in is veggies/fiber etc. I need to look into it more, but my belief is in the days after bad eating, my body can use that up while I eat lighter.

 

[Sparkplug]

when would you say you started getting sleep again..........asking for a friend.

We knew we were in trouble before ever leaving the hospital. He wouldn’t sleep in our nice quiet room. Take him to the nursery with the lights and lots of noise and he was as happy as could be. Guess the nursery prepared him for the frat house

 

[besserheimerphat]

I think people also need to point out certain sugars. Sugars from fruits are not created equal like sugars from candy bars etc. Getting plenty of good fruits with vitamins and minerals is important too, those sugars don't break down the same way that alcohol sugars do.

Glucose is glucose. The difference with fruit versus, say, a Snickers is that the apple has fiber in the skin that slows the glucose absorption. That helps you feel more full and the satiety lasts longer.

 

[capitalcityguy]

So a person can't start making small changes right away on approach of the plan?

It's awfully difficult to go cold turkey on habits.

Everyone is different.

I personally need to know the how’s and why’s and then have a strict proven plan of attacked I can follow to the “T”.

Others might want/need to be more gradual and may not do well with a lot of rules and/or immediate changes.

The OP has know what type of person they are and what will work best for them.

I would argue that the problem with dabbling in diet changes is that many people have certain food intolerances and/or foods that trigger them to eat poorly. Both can affect cravings to eat poorly and also negatively affect their mental state (which can adversely affect whether they make needed long term changes, or not).

 

[Dopey]

Skipping to the end to share my ever-important opinion.....

Regardless of your dietary tribe (vegan, paleo, carnivore, balanced, etc.) I think nutritional density is an very important theory to keep in mind. The number of empty, wasted, unfulfilling calories we eat is mind boggling. I could easily eat 5000 calories in a day and still feel hungry.

That theory helps me (sometimes....) make good decisions. Is that huge bowl of cereal really worth 500 calories to my body at 8pm? Or would i be more satisfied with a can of salmon & an avocado? If you're hungry.... eat. But make it count nutritionally so you're not hungry again for a while.

 

[VTXCyRyD]

They aren't that different and thus you do need to watch those too.

I took me forever to figure the tweet was sarcastic. I must be off my game this morning.

Or maybe it's not sarcastic, but it is the same molecule