Morbid obesity to full fitness - PLEASE help!

Mtk2018 · 09-12-2018 7:08pm #1

Hi folks,
I am a 33 y old male 5 ft 11. I am currently what I'd call morbidly obese, weigh about 120kg. I have been this big twice before , gone on a fitness program (diet plus exercise) dropped down to about 90 but not sustained it.
Anyway, at this point in time, I am extremely unfit. I don't think it's solely weight related.my breathing is heavy, I find myself panting for breath far too often, and off and on have body aches.
But all that has to change, and it has to change now!! I played tennis 2 days ago and couldn't play more than 15 mins. It was a horrendous awakening. I need to know guys where do I begin?? Thats my big question given that I can't physically exert myself for too long without finding myself panting for breath and that I get so many body aches with little bit of exertion.
Would welcome any advice as I begin my journey to extreme fitness.

CassieManson · 09-12-2018 7:36pm

Please start with a visit to your doctor who will advise on a suitable level of exercise for you.

silverharp · 09-12-2018 8:54pm

the most sensible approach would be to use diet first and introduce whatever sports or activities down the road as your weight drops. The one general exception is walking as it wont cause you any injuries. Even if you started with 5 or 10 minutes every other day you could quickly get it up to an hour or 2 over a couple of months which would give you a boost in confidence. obviously go see a gp to rule out anything first.

Johnnycanyon · 09-12-2018 9:36pm

Very best of luck with it.

Powerhouse · 10-12-2018 7:08am

Mtk2018 wrote: »

Hi folks,
I am a 33 y old male 5 ft 11. I am currently what I'd call morbidly obese, weigh about 120kg. I have been this big twice before , gone on a fitness program (diet plus exercise) dropped down to about 90 but not sustained it.
Anyway, at this point in time, I am extremely unfit. I don't think it's solely weight related.my breathing is heavy, I find myself panting for breath far too often, and off and on have body aches.
But all that has to change, and it has to change now!! I played tennis 2 days ago and couldn't play more than 15 mins. It was a horrendous awakening. I need to know guys where do I begin?? Thats my big question given that I can't physically exert myself for too long without finding myself panting for breath and that I get so many body aches with little bit of exertion.
Would welcome any advice as I begin my journey to extreme fitness.

I wouldn't even think too much about exercise if I were you and instead concentrate on the problems in your diet. You really need to address that aspect first. That's where you begin. If you can't exert yourself physically for too long then don't for now and you will feel a lot better and livelier very quickly when you lose even five or six kilos. Then you can exercise.

In terms of weight-loss, exercise is actually quite inefficient as in you need to make a lot more effort (and time) to achieve a calorific deficit compared with what can be done relatively effortlessly on your food intake. And you can address the latter immediately and do not have to worry about ability to exercise.

You need avoid putting pressure on yourself by thinking about your "journey to extreme fitness" and use short-term weight-loss goals. You also need to consider how you will handle the Christmas with regard to diet.

There is no doubt that resistance training and cardio can play a part in your long-term strategy regarding weight control but you should find losing a considerable amount of weight through diet alone relatively easy if you concentrate on that for now. And remember that, unlike exercise, food is always with you.

You can choose to exercise or not - it might or might not suit to do it depending on your life circumstances. Some people have the time to spend every spare hour in the gym, but not everyone can do that. Conversely food is always there and is something you have to have so getting it right is most important.

freemenfitness · 10-12-2018 11:14am

Some great advice here. One thing I say to people is how long did it take for you to get to that size? Cause it will take at least as long and most likely longer to reverse it so dont be deterred set small achievable goals and keep hitting them as best you can.

Sort the diet first that is paramount. Something like my fitness pal is hugely useful for tracking your food and making sure you are not over eating. Precision nutrition have some excellent articles on what and how to eat I would highly recommend looking at them.

Exercise is great and find something you enjoy if as you mentioned this is tennis find a way to do it regularly and stick to it if you enjoy doing it your far more likely to keep at it.

Best of luck starting is the hardest part but your on the right track.

Stone Deaf 4evr · 10-12-2018 6:29pm

I've lost just under 50lbs this year, started in february and am still at it - nearly there, only 5 or 6 more to go!

I'll give you what worked for me - your mileage may vary.

I broke it down , 30 days at a time. For the first 30 days, I didn't worry about exercise at all, just concentrated on sorting out my diet. And by diet, i don't mean switching from kebabs and pizza to salads. First step was to eliminate as much sugar as possible, from tea, coffee, cut out all fizzy drinks and alcohol.
Next, spend some time educating yourself on food labels and calorie content, buy a small digital scale for your kitchen and use it to weigh out 'recommended portion sizes'. This will open your eyes to just how small these portions are. If you're feeling 'empty' bulk up your meals with veg that is low in calories - bell peppers, broccoli, cauliflower, etc. You can literally eat anything you want and still lose weight - as long as you adjust the portion sizes accordingly.
Prepare your food ahead of time - buy 7 tupperware containers, and make a meal that you can spread out through the week, myfitnesspal is great as you can bulk add all the ingredients, then divided it out and you know exactly what you're getting in every portion. - I treated this like a science project - accuracy pays off.
Don't get discouraged at this point - if you can make it through this 30 days, of preparing, weighing and eating better, you'll be set for the next bit.

second round of 30 days - i started to introduce exercise. It doesn't matter what it is, walking, running, swimming, tennis, crossfit, weights - as long as you enjoy it and will stick to it. The gym isn't for everyone, and plenty leave after a well meaning start. - Also on this, I don't eat back any calories I burn in the gym - they're a bonus on top of whatever deficit I'm working to on myfitnesspal.

3rd round of 30 days - I looked at where else I could improve - for me, the big thing was the quality of sleep i was getting, I'd tended in the past to stay up watching netflix to midnight or whatever, and even though I was getting about 6.5 hours sleep a night, I still felt crummy, It took a while, but eventually I managed to get into the habit of heading up earlier and getting lights off for 11 or 11:30 at the latest, It does make a difference.

Other advice
when you get home from the gym, repack your gear bag and put it back in the car again, always handy.
Take photos once a month, in the same position, in the same lighting - the mind plays tricks, you won't see progress but the pictures don't lie.
This is going to take time, and will have many frustrating times where it seems like its not working. Stick with it.

I'll probably think of more later, but best of luck with it - it can be done!

LimeFruitGum · 10-12-2018 6:45pm

Do you cook, OP? Are there many ‘ah feck it’ moments when you reach for the biscuits (or whatever it is). Sometimes people just snack because they’re bored.

As this is not the first time you have hit this weight, I think you should go to the doctor about it and work out a plan with them, figure out the root cause for the weight gain if applicable. There are other activities you can do, like swimming or a bit of cycling around the park, don’t let the tennis put you off. You can work up to being fit enough to play a set, match etc.

Mtk2018 · 10-12-2018 11:37pm

Thank you very much to everyone responding. Greatly appreciate the advice, seeing a lot more clearly to the road ahead. Thank you sincerely. Onwards and upwards!

Macy0161 · 11-12-2018 9:46am

I went from 135ish kg down to my current 70kg (maybe even a little low, but trying to be a cyclist...). My approach was calorie tracking.

I didn't start with this as my goal weight, it's been a gradual reduction after hitting a target, going into maintenance for a while, and then deciding to go again. Probably 5 years all in to where I am now. I'm not looking to go any lower, if anything I'm considering a gradual bulk depending on what my goals are (next year are climby cycling ones, so it's not going to be now!).

I still track my calories. There’s stats that only 10% of people who lose more than 10% of weight keep it off. If tracking forever is the cost of being one of the 10% that keeps it off, I can live with that.

I worked out my estimated tdee in a calculator (there's one in the sticky at the top, or google scooby)
Reduced that by 500 for my intake deficit
Overwrote the my fitnesspal target.
Tracked calories, including weighing food, properly portioning meals
I aimed to earn 500 calories from exercise. I ate anything earned above 500.
500 from food, 500 from exercise generally did give me the 2lb/ 1kg a week loss
Weekly weigh in, after which I recalculated tdee and adjusted targets.

I believe why this worked for me as it lead to a gradual and sustainable change of diet. At the start, it was really just portion control. My diet is completely different to what it was, but there was no big bang wholesale changes, and from what I see that's the biggest way people fall down (and I did myself many many times).

Big things for me are meal prep - not going to the shop for lunch, and control of the inputs, at least most of the time. I'd generally carry snacks, just in case. Now it's mainly fruit, but it would've been cereal bars or other homemade sweet treats to keep me away from the pure junk.

I didn’t, and still haven’t, excluded any foods. I still have sweets, cake, carbs, beer etc. I just track and move on. I haven’t been convinced a calorie isn’t just a calorie yet.

You could check out foodforfitness.co.uk for some recipes, and imo senisible science based advice. I've brought the cookbooks (and use them all the time) and agree with his "everything in moderation" approach. He does offer subscription services of meal plans and exercise, but I can't vouch for that.

My exercise when I started was just walking, but do not trust the app calorie burns! If I was starting again, I'd also do mobility and flexibility work - it would've been easier to do then, than try and fit it in now around my other training.

Penn · 13-12-2018 10:57am

Mtk2018 wrote: »

Hi folks,
I am a 33 y old male 5 ft 11. I am currently what I'd call morbidly obese, weigh about 120kg. I have been this big twice before , gone on a fitness program (diet plus exercise) dropped down to about 90 but not sustained it.
Anyway, at this point in time, I am extremely unfit. I don't think it's solely weight related.my breathing is heavy, I find myself panting for breath far too often, and off and on have body aches.
But all that has to change, and it has to change now!! I played tennis 2 days ago and couldn't play more than 15 mins. It was a horrendous awakening. I need to know guys where do I begin?? Thats my big question given that I can't physically exert myself for too long without finding myself panting for breath and that I get so many body aches with little bit of exertion.
Would welcome any advice as I begin my journey to extreme fitness.

Can only echo what others have said. Diet is absolutely the first step. I've gone from 133kg to 97kg since the start of May with very little exercise. Focus on your diet.

- Get myfitnesspal and log everything you eat
- Find low-calorie versions of meals you like or alternate ingredients, and keep an eye on your portion sizes
- Find foods you'll enjoy eating. Don't eat stuff just because it's healthy, eat stuff that's healthy but that you also enjoy. It'll be much easier to stick to
- Meal prep/plan as much as possible. You're less likely to stray if you already have healthy snacks at hand or ingredients for your dinner ready to go

I've done bits of walking here and there throughout and have definitely found it a lot easier as time has gone on, not just because dropping weight makes it easier to move, but your body also just gets more used to it the more you do it. Start slow and build up to it. Don't physically exert yourself too much right from the start. Go for a few short walks. Then some slightly longer walks. Then at a quicker pace. Maybe get a Fitbit or similar and when walking, make sure your heartrate is in the fat burning zone (I doubt it's overly exact, but it'll be a decent enough yardstick to see how much you should push yourself). Either way, your exercise at the start should only be a bonus to your diet. Diet needs to be the focus.

Even if you just dropped a lot of weight, you could still be out of breath with little exercise if you push yourself too far and you're not used to it. Build it up slowly so once your weight starts to get into a good place, your body will be more used to some exercise and then you can really start attacking it.

Good luck, OP!

arybvtcw0eolkf · 13-12-2018 11:20am

I'd more or less go with the advice from Stone Deaf.

Me, 18 months ago I was 130kgs and an un diagnosed diabetic.

Unlike you OP I was very fit, I was competing in Judo at a national level and kidding myself that the weight was good for my judo.

Then came a diagnoses of type II diabetes, which is a serious condition but manageable and you can even reverse it.

So this is where my experience reflects Stone Deaf.. I cut out sugars and learned to read labels, went low carb (and I loved my carbs). Almost immediately my weight started to drop.

I can't remember the time line, but maybe two or three weeks into a low carb diet I downloaded a Couch 2 5k app.. I can't stress how good these are.

The app I chose was developed by Fitness22, it costs €2:50 and it made the biggest change in my quality of life ever.

It basically brings you from the couch to running 5k (3 miles) in an eight week programme, and you'll barely break a sweat doing it. Its gentle and easy, and nothing to be intimidated by.

After the 8 weeks I was easily running 5km and loving it, so then I moved onto a 5 to 10k programme lol.

Early this year I discovered 'Parkrun'.. This was another turning point in my quality of life. Its basically a free timed 5 kilometer run (NOT a race) held in local parks all over the country ever Saturday morning.

Its got everything from elite runners to walkers, people running with babies in buggies and dogs and leads. And everyone is there to encourage you, because almost without exception the people you get talking to at Parkrun have begun running to lose weight, get fit and generally look after their health.

And EVERYONE is cheered on over the finish line, from the guys who can run it in under 20 minutes to the last walker coming in closer to 50 or 60 minutes everyone is having a ball.

I've made a lot of good friends now through Parkrun, and joined a running group. We get free couching and nothing is competitive. We're starting a Couch to 5k programme in the new year, it'll be free (unlike a lot of PT's who have latched onto the benefits and ease of C25k programmes and have started to charge for them).

If you're near the Dublin 13 area you're more than welcome to PM me for more details, or even chat about what motivated me and what continues to motivate me.

Summery, cut out sugars. Go low carb. Learn to read labels. Get active, stay active. And it doesn't matter if you're walking or running, moving forward is moving forward. And if you think that you barely manage to run or walk even one kilometer well just remind yourself that a 5 minute kilometer or a 30 minute kilometer is the same distance.

Following all that I've dropped from 130kg in my first Judo competition last year to 97kg in my last competition last year (I think that's slightly over 5 stone in old money), and reversed the diabetes. I'm in remission now and intend staying in remission.

Best of luck with the weight loss, but try to think of it in terms of taking back control of your health & fitness. Do this and you'll never look back.

17-12-2018 10:48am

Sound advice from Makikomi and others

Cut out the sugar, read labels (suger seems to be loaded into almost everything nowadays) and just get moving, find an exercise that suits you, doesn't have to be a gym.

Was almost identical situation to Makikomi myself, 128kg, reasonably fit, walked and cycled quite a bit, then told I was diabetic after a work medical 18 months ago.

Cut out the sugar/ complex carbs initially, lots of meat/fish/cheese and loaded up on veg, I work at sea so walking was the initial exercise, round the helideck, 15k to 20k steps a day walking. went down 15kg in first 5 weeks, blood sugar levels normal.

Rather than gym started using kettle bells when home, about 18mins High Intensity (50 second exercise/10 sec rest), 3 times a week or so, and went down another 13/14kg in the following months.

Recently 6 weeks at sea, no gym, no helideck so no walking, after first two weeks feeling yuck. Had to do something so, began just push-ups and squats, 100 of each a day for 30 days. Even if initially only doing a few at various times through the day. Absolutely amazed at the resulting change in just a couple of weeks.

Diabetes reversed and in better shape than had been in decades.

All the best with your weight loss and return to fitness OP

silverharp · 17-12-2018 10:57am

323 wrote: »

Sound advice from Makikomi and others

Cut out the sugar, read labels (suger seems to be loaded into almost everything nowadays) and just get moving, find an exercise that suits you, doesn't have to be a gym.

Was almost identical situation to Makikomi myself, 128kg, reasonably fit, walked and cycled quite a bit, then told I was diabetic after a work medical 18 months ago.

Cut out the sugar/ complex carbs initially, lots of meat/fish/cheese and loaded up on veg, I work at sea so walking was the initial exercise, round the helideck, 15k to 20k steps a day walking. went down 15kg in first 5 weeks, blood sugar levels normal.

Rather than gym started using kettle bells when home, about 18mins High Intensity (50 second exercise/10 sec rest), 3 times a week or so, and went down another 13/14kg in the following months.

Recently 6 weeks at sea, no gym, no helideck so no walking, after first two weeks feeling yuck. Had to do something so, began just push-ups and squats, 100 of each a day for 30 days. Even if initially only doing a few at various times through the day. Absolutely amazed at the resulting change in just a couple of weeks.

Diabetes reversed and in better shape than had been in decades.

All the best with your weight loss and return to fitness OP

Well done , is it a challenge when you don't have control over your food on a ship, or is there a good selection so you can stick to clean eating?

Morbid obesity to full fitness - PLEASE help!

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