Getting rid of my wobble

LegacyUser

I'm not sure if I should put this up in the fitness forum - I don't think so as they're all fit already so here is the place I guess.

Its my weight. I've decided to do something about it. I'm 3st overweight due to emotional eating and injury and general ill health over the last 2 years and now I'm ready to take it on. I find being a size 18 very very uncomfortable even though I carry it fairly well as I'm tall. I find bending down a huge problem now due to my tyre and doing the garden today was the final straw. I swear I bounced back up every time I bent down!

So, my question is...I'm 5ft 7" and 13st 7lb. What should I do exercise wise? I'm thinking walking and sit up - although I think I'd put my back out at this stage! Any advice or websites I can go to? I don't want to do myself an injury when trying to make myself healthy!


Amny thanks!

S23

Ok the fitness forum will be where a lot of people direct you. I do find that some of the people over there can be very preachy and totalitarian in their approach to weight loss and diet

Different things work for different people but I'll give you what advice I can.

First off forget about sit ups until you start to lose the flab. Doing crunches won't really have any great effect until you start to tighten it up anyway.

Walking, jogging, running are your best bet as far as exercise goes. Do what you can as often as you can but always extend yourself. You want to finish your exercise sessions sweating and breathless.

My advice is to set yourself a time or distance. Either (for example) do 30 minutes walking and see how far you can go and build from there. Or set yourself a goal like 4 km and see how quickly you can cover that distance.

I won't lie it will be very hard at the start. You won't be able to cover big distances, the weight won't fly off, you won't look or feel the way you want within a month, it will be fcuking hard work and you will really have to stay on your own case to keep doing it and keep motivated. If you can stick at it then it will be worth it in the end.

Also, take a long hard look at what you eat and when you eat. I would almost guarantee you there is something basic you can change/do better that will help a lot.

Frogdog

WWW - don't be afraid of posting in the Fitness Forum, the majority on there are not fit already. You will see countless threads started by people looking to lose bodyfat/get fit etc.

As for general advice, have a read of the stickies at the top of the Fitness forum and the Diet & Nutrition forum.

As for specific advice, there are three things you need to do to lose bodyfat. I will list them in order of importance:

1. Your diet needs to be improved. Cut out ALL sugar and simple carbohydrates. Eat more protein and fats. Eat less complex and simple carbohydrates. If you post up an example of your daily diet (warts and all - be honest) I can point out where you're going wrong and hopefully point you in the right direction.
2. Lift heavy weights. Lifting weights burns fat from your body, moreso than any aerobic exercise. It will also help your appearance, posture, etc. Have you access to a gym with a proper weights section? 2kg dumbbells and the like will do nothing for you, and neither will most of the machines.
3. Do some form of aerobic exercise to get the fitness up and to give a helping hand to the work you've put into your diet and your weightlifting. Do you currently play any sports, run, cycle or swim?

LegacyUser

Thanks for taking teh time to reply.

To answer -

Ho Lord, my diet is atrocious! I gave up smoking, was ill and other stuff and comfort eating was my way of coping. Bad choices foodwise have careered out of control.

Heres today list - I know its bad.

_________

Blueberry yogurt - Vitilinea
2 pieces of white pudding

small darne of salmon, shrimp cream sauce

roasted veg & mozzarella sandwich

KFC - fries and 3 pieces of chicken

3 x 330ml bottles of Blumers (Just back from The Woolshed from the ITaly match )

Americano x 4 throughout the day

C'est tout! I know its bad but I have tmzs food cooked so I wont stray - chix breast stirfry

__________



I went for a run this morning. I managed 5k which is what I expected from a full on push. Ill be doing the same tmz mornng. Its the absolute last ounce run for me in this shape, normally Id have knocked that out in 40 mins at a leisurely rate just to get out of the house.

I bough dumbbells as well. Im joining Westwood Clontarf again sometime next week when I have a day off. Im reslly taking this bit in hand. Although, I never went near the weights sections before when I was a member as too intimidated tbh.


So there you go! I know the diet is crap, but I am working on it. Really appreciate the advice as well. I got a friend to take some photos today and Ive set myself a 6 month goal to get back to health levels that I live best at. Thats my aim!

Frogdog

Well as you said yourself, you know your diet is bad. In my opinion, there was nothing healthy in the whole of yesterday's food bar the small darne of salmon. But then there was a cream sauce on it. As for tomorrow's food - you have a chicken stirfry - what else are you eating throughout the day? What are you having for breakfast (the most important meal if you're serious about losing bodyfat)?

The run will help you a small bit. But not too much as your diet is very poor and you're not lifting heavy weights.

The dumbbells won't make much of a difference either because I'm guessing that they're pretty light weights??? Why are you intimidated by the weights section? Get a gym instructor to show you some compound movements (deadlift, squat, benchpress etc) and you'll notice big improvements in your body.

Did you read the stickies in the Fitness forum and the Diet & Nutrition forum?

How Strange

WWW, the fitness the nutrition and diet forums would be great places for you to post. N&D also have a food diary forum where you can put up your daily diet. It can be a good way of seeing what you're doing wrong in terms of diet. Sometimes we can see it very easily in other people but not in ourselves.

For what it's worth I don't find the fitness forum preachy or totalitarian at all. They are usually pretty helpful especially for newbies.

Your diet is pretty terrible. Lots of processed foods and refined carbs and very low in protein and good fats. I'd advise you to go over to nutrition and diet and post what you put up here and see what replies you get. It's great that you're already up to 5k in running so the fitness forum would be a good place for advice on weight training etc.

Good luck!

How Strange

S23 wrote: »

Walking, jogging, running are your best bet as far as exercise goes. Do what you can as often as you can but always extend yourself. You want to finish your exercise sessions sweating and breathless.

No you don't, especially not when you're overweight. Sweating yes and if you're overweight and training in the summer you'll definitely be sweating. If you're finishing breathless the chances are you're pushing yourself too much and you'll injure yourself or worse. You should always be able to hold a conversation while running, walking, cycling.

It might be a good idea to go to your doc and get the all clear in terms of blood pressure, resting heart rate etc before you undertake a new exercise regime.

carolmon

Have you thought about joining a slimming group? I've joined Weight Watchers and lost 18lb in about 3/4 months, find it great and it really focusses you on what exactly you're eating when you have to write it down.
Make sure you stay for the meetings because you get great support from the members.

Also get moving, anything at all helps if you can't do strenuous exercise because of health issues get out for a walk daily.

I was exercising lots but until I really addressed how much I was eating it wasn't getting the results I wanted, just toning up the flab.:)


Good luck

brokensoul

I feel your pain OP. I am trying to get fit and lose weight and it is very hard.

Try and set yourself small goals and praise yourself when you reach them. Also, if you slip and have a bar of chocolate or whatever, just get over it. Dont use it as an excuse to eat all round you because your diet is broken.

For the last month i have been having two smoothies a day and i have really noticed a difference in my energy levels and in my skin. It wont make you lose weight but it will fill you up a bit and if you have more energy it is a bit easier to face the gym.

The smoothie has 4 cherry tomatoes, one apple, 1/8 of a lemon, a floret of broccoli ( if you can stomach it!) and a half pint of water. Blitz them up and drink before breakfast and dinner.

Also, i like the cross trainer in the gym because you can enter your weight and it will tell you how many calories you are burning. I usually set myself a target ( 500 cals at the moment) that i will burn in my gym session and it is a nice feeling to achieve it.

Finally, giving up smoking is a huge achievement, pat yourself on the back for that!