Getting back into the swing of things.trying to get back into shape

[Sluggo]

Well, after about a decade of having other priorities, I am trying to get myself back into shape. I have always been a bit husky, so my goal is not to be a model...rather, I just want to feel better. So I have started going to the gym and I have realized just how weak I have become.

I am currently 30 years old, 5'10", and 257 LBS. My wife recently lost 40 lbs so she is my inspiration; interestingly she did this with diet only.

My goals are a bit different. I would like to be 225 LBS but much stronger than I currently am.

My nutrition is much better than it has ever been (again, the wife's doing) and I am taking a GNC multivitamin, drinking plenty of water, and going to the gym three times a week. My workouts are mostly cardio intensive, but I started lifting weights last week (and was sore as hell the next day).

Any advice or encouragement you all can provide would be great. I am going to post weekly to provide updates on my status.

 

[Shave_Rat]

It's not always an easy fight, but it is one that you can win. Diet alone can make a huge difference.

I've always been the husky type, growing up on a dairy farm I was built like I grew up on a dairy farm. Then age and laziness and a love of food eventually took the toll, so by last year January I was about 254 on a 5'8" frame. I actually developed type II diabetes, and it escalated really fast. I went from showing pre-diabetic to hospitalized in a matter of like 2 months.

I knew I did not care to be reliant on giving myself insulin shots 4 times a day, or even once a day, and did not want to have to take maintenance prescriptions for the rest of my life either, so big diet changes were in store.

I cut my carb intake per meal to 70 or less, my total calorie intake to about 1800 a day or less, cut out pre-made and processed foods, adding in large healthy amounts of fruits and veggies, with sensible portions of meat... mostly chicken, but I didn't avoid beef either, just kept steaks to a 6 oz portion. Managed to drop from 254 in January to about 210 in late July. I also was able to drop any and all diabetic treatment drugs by then, and be considered simply "diet controlled diabetic", which to me means "standard body chemistry".

I actually plan on adding in exercise now that it's getting warmer out and see if I can drop it under 200 for the first time sine I was like... 17... lol

My advice is don't fall into any sort of named diet, or one that tries to "forbid" certain foods. Use your head, make smart food choices, and keep your portion sizes where they should be. Watch the overall calories and where they are coming from. That is really all anyone needs to do, dietary wise. If you eat a cupcake, just realize that ok, it's a treat, can't live on them, but don't beat yourself up for it. Just do better avoiding it next time.

Oh, I also picked up a daily planner and started tracking everything I ate/drank that had calories, anytime I ate something. It helped me really understand where calories were coming from, and focus on things to change for the better.

Good luck, with your wife helping, I've no doubt you'll do great!

 

[noahpictures]

Well, after about a decade of having other priorities, I am trying to get myself back into shape. I have always been a bit husky, so my goal is not to be a model...rather, I just want to feel better. So I have started going to the gym and I have realized just how weak I have become.

I am currently 30 years old, 5'10", and 257 LBS. My wife recently lost 40 lbs so she is my inspiration; interestingly she did this with diet only.

My goals are a bit different. I would like to be 225 LBS but much stronger than I currently am.

My nutrition is much better than it has ever been (again, the wife's doing) and I am taking a GNC multivitamin, drinking plenty of water, and going to the gym three times a week. My workouts are mostly cardio intensive, but I started lifting weights last week (and was sore as hell the next day).

Any advice or encouragement you all can provide would be great. I am going to post weekly to provide updates on my status.

I suggest recording everything in a spreadsheet and taking measurements along with weighing yourself every morning. We have a thread (sticky) about losing five pounds per month here; on the first of each month goals are re-set and everyone gets a fresh start.

There is also a work out accountability thread below. Publicly recording goals, ups and downs does increase success rates, most of the time.

I recommend using MyFitnessPal app (free) to keep track of your intake and doing compound exercises (squats, presses, cleans...) to increase muscle mass and lose fat. Done in intervals also helps.

 

[Slash McCoy]

Lifting WILL make you sore. The "good" soreness is called DOMS, for Delayed Onset Muscle Soreness. You feel fine walking out of the gym but 24 to 36 hours later you feel like you have been worked over with a bunch of ball peen hammers. This is a pretty good sign that you trained intensely enough to do some good. You are recovering from the unaccustomed stress you put on the muscles. You don't grow while you are training. You grow during recovery. The trashed muscle repairs itself, adapts to the stress, and comes back bigger and stronger. Soreness in your joints, or a sharp pain that shows up while you are exercising, are NOT good pain. Those are injuries that can prevent you from training. Cartilage, ligaments, and tendons grow stronger jst like muscles grow stronger, but they do it more slowly. So it is possible for you to become strong enough to injure yourself. That is why I encourage beginners to use fairly high rep ranges at first. You get nearly the same benefit but can't lift as much. So there is less chance of injury. Your connective tissue gets a chance to catch up to muscle growth and strength gains. So instead of, say, 7 to 9 reps for upper body work, maybe go 10 to 15 reps. Instead of 10 to 12 reps for lower body work, try 15-18 reps. You can still go to failure but with less weight, for less chance of tearing something.

Muscle consumes calories, even at rest, because it is living tissue. While it is recovering, it is consuming even more calories, almost as much as when you are actually exercising. So the metabolic benefits of lifting can last for a couple of days after a session. The metabolic benefits of cardio basically stop when you stop exercising. So the best way to lose fat is to gain muscle.

Don't starve yourself. If you are losing more than two pounds a week, you are probably not eating enough to grow muscle, or even keep what you have. Softly softly catchee monkey. It's not a race. It is not even a program. It is a permanent lifestyle change. Any other approach and your improvements will likely not stay with you.

There are several good threads on the board about weight training. Lots fo good stuff to read. I won't try to write a book here in this post because it is already written elsewhere on the forum. Good Luck. Take no prisoners.

 

[DiG3430]

Softly softly catchee monkey. It's not a race. It is not even a program. It is a permanent lifestyle change.

This x100.

I've been in a similar boat over the last year or so, trying to get back into the shape I was in when I was single in time for my upcoming wedding. I've dropped about 20 lbs. and regained a lot of my lost muscle. Started in a similar way to you as well, heavy with cardio first then slowly incorporating the weight lifting. I think that's been key for me, taking it slow as I get back into lifting. Doing too much too soon would sideline me for a week while I recovered. But starting light with high reps allowed me to get the workouts in about 4 times a week and ultimately got me back to putting up full weight sooner.

One of the things that helped me most was MyFitnessPal. It's a website and a smartphone app that keeps track of your daily nutritional intake. I used it for a couple months like it was going to school to be my own personal nutritionist. Super helpful tool, especially since I didn't want a "diet", I wanted to rethink my daily eating habits and make a healthy change to last the foreseeable future.

 

[KCee]

This x100.

I've been in a similar boat over the last year or so, trying to get back into the shape I was in when I was single in time for my upcoming wedding. I've dropped about 20 lbs. and regained a lot of my lost muscle. Started in a similar way to you as well, heavy with cardio first then slowly incorporating the weight lifting. I think that's been key for me, taking it slow as I get back into lifting. Doing too much too soon would sideline me for a week while I recovered. But starting light with high reps allowed me to get the workouts in about 4 times a week and ultimately got me back to putting up full weight sooner.

One of the things that helped me most was MyFitnessPal. It's a website and a smartphone app that keeps track of your daily nutritional intake. I used it for a couple months like it was going to school to be my own personal nutritionist. Super helpful tool, especially since I didn't want a "diet", I wanted to rethink my daily eating habits and make a healthy change to last the foreseeable future.

+1

I used MyFitnessPal for nearly a year and it's eye opening to see how many calories you actually consume even if you are eating relatively healthy. I don't really use it anymore, but I do think it can be really helpful in reshaping your eating habits. I hate diets. If I want to have some ice cream with my kids now and then I'm going to do it.

I used to strictly be a cardio guy going jogging regularly, playing hoops, etc, but time constraints and bad ankles cut that back a lot and when I started gaining weight I looked for alternative forms of exercise. Weights, body weight exercises and interval training really do work. I find I can get in very good workouts in very little time. And it seems to work as I'm spending less time exercising, but between a healthier diet and smarter exercise I'm losing weight.

A couple of "tricks" that helped me lose weight:

1. I do intermittent fasting at least 3-4 days/week. I basically skip breakfast and have a healthy lunch and dinner. I eat about the same amount of calories, but it's within an 8 hour window of the day. I do feel hungry for a little bit in the morning, but I'm busy enough that I forget about it quickly. I was limiting my calories (tracking with MyFitnessPal) but then I seemed to plateau and the intermittent fasting seemed to help even though my calorie intake and exercising stayed the same.

2. I cut back on the wheat based products I eat. Less bread, pasta, beer, etc. I do think there may be some truth to the "Wheat Belly" thing since I didn't cut back calories or increase exercise, but I still kept losing weight.

 

[Go West Young Man]

Because I don't have a lot of time, I've started doing the workouts on http://www.dailyhiit.com/

High intensity intervals, not a lot of equipment or space needed, you can do one round in about 10 minutes or go back and do a couple more depending on how much time you have. And the video tutorials are quite interesting

 

[JerYnkFan]

I pretty much hate working out. I do martial arts 2-3x a week and started doing exercise bands 3x a week for 30-35 minutes and found out that works best for me. Anything longer I get bored and I probably wouldn't last. Key is finding something that is "fun" for you and make it work otherwise you'll wind up quitting more than likely in a short period of time. I'm 41 and my goal is just to work out so that when I am 60, I'm not old and brittle per say. Had some health issues the past few years that while thankfully are cured it made me reconsidering my eating habits. So now I try and eat healthy as possible and almost completely gave up diet soda (went from 4 cans a day to a 20oz bottle a month).

 

[Sluggo]

One full week in and things are going well. I weighed in at 251 Friday morning and went to the gym 4 times this past week. I did not realize how weak I had become versus my college days (about a decade ago), but towards the end of the week I was hitting some of my milestones.

As far as diet goes, this was not my best week. I did not take my vitamins as I should but I will get back on the wagon tomorrow.

 

[noahpictures]

One full week in and things are going well. I weighed in at 251 Friday morning and went to the gym 4 times this past week. I did not realize how weak I had become versus my college days (about a decade ago), but towards the end of the week I was hitting some of my milestones.

As far as diet goes, this was not my best week. I did not take my vitamins as I should but I will get back on the wagon tomorrow.

Keep at it and keep logging your progress. You will have ups and downs as everyone else. If you want to burn calories in a short amount of time do squats, lunges, pushups, bench press, pullups or pull downs, shoulder presses, cleans instead of body building type/isolation exercises that focus on one specific muscle.