Bad health, need to get better - exercise questions

[ericschand]

Yeah, so I spent 15+ years screwing up my body. It's now fighting back.
Blood sugar high, cholesterol high, blood pressure extremely high.
Headaches and lethargy like you wouldn't believe.
I'm on a bunch of drugs for the next few months to keep me going.

I need to eat right, exercise, and lose weight (about 25 lbs). I've been
tasked by the doctor to show her *any* improvement in 3 months. She
says if I can lose the spare tire gut, no more meds, no more headaches,
and so on.

So I have a few questions.

What exercises are suggested for someone starting from my position?
Is running on a treadmill just like a regular run?
What about Wii Fit or the cardio programs/games you can buy for it. Are
they worth it? [I own a Nintendo Wii]
Is it worth the money for a personal trainer? How much does that cost?

And finally, where would I even begin? I'm thinking that 3 months doesn't
give me much time to experiment.

ers


Edit: I would be handing out so many thanks, that I'll just put it here :-)
Lots of good info coming out. Right now, Feb 2, the 1st change I'm making is
in my eating habits. Out goes Slurpies :-( and potato chips :-( and in goes
fruits, yogurt, water, and a variety of juices, up to 6x per day.

[User Name]

well, i was in a similar position to you, had to lose 30 pounds. I've done it, and kept it of pretty easily actually. Bodybuilding.com has THOUSANDS of great articles to read, lost geared to beginners, thats where I started, and read for days. I feel like you need to have a really solid understanding of training/nutrition before you will be successfull. Here is a link: http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/bbin...orkoutPrograms

Some of the best (and less obvious tips) that I read, that got me into shape

1. Keep a log of your diet. You want to keep track of because you will be amazed at how much you are overeating (perhaps in just a certain category), when you think its fine.

2. Keep a log of your workout. THis was KEY for me. Every day I went to the gym I didn't focus on my weight ever really. Always tried to get one more rep, or 1 more km on the bike.

3. Drink LOTS of water. That wil help with headaches as well. I find if you chug a pint of water before you eat you naturally eat less.

4. Eat 6x per day.

5. Stay away from supps (except protien, multi-vits, fish oil) until you have been training for 6 months or so. The newbie gains you will get will be awesome.


Good luck. Ofcourse, just my opinions, i'm sure there are a few who may disagree.

[WilsonFourTwo]

I REALLY like what User Name has written - top quality advice, all of it.

I dumped over 40lbs one summer (about 4 months) by following a few simple rules.

1. Leftover Pizza is not a breakfast food.

Seriously, breakfast is really important so don't skip it and don't fill your face with bad food. Oatmeal and Fruit, a bowl of cereal with milk (ideally skim), granola and yogurt are all terrific early meals. Good news.....they're also uber cheap and chock full of the stuff that makes you go.

2. Drink LOTS of water (You'll see this on a lot of lists). Sure it makes you feel full, but I can almost guarantee you're dehydrated. The water will you stay cool, feel refreshed and give your body what is needs the most. As another poster mentioned, the headaches will all but disappear - promised. Lastly - read up about what your liver and kidneys do for you......and then realize that a lot of water helps them work better.

3. Eat regularly. Ideally the 6x per day, but if you're just starting out (making a lot of changes) perhaps go simpler. Eat during the three classic times during the day - and REALLY focus on nutrition and quantity. The question that made the most difference in my life "Does this make my body work better or worse?" Better=Gobble, Worse=Pass.

4. Exercise. I rollerbladed every sunny day that summer, starting with a (approx) 4k route and eventually going to about 12k. The goal everyday.....complete the route. The secondary goal was "No Stopping" and eventually became going after a record time. It was a blast.

5. SLEEP! Just as a guarantee you're dehydrated, I can almost guarantee you're unrested. Force yourself to bed at an earlier hour. Once you start getting healthy, your body clock will take over and tell you when to go to bed and when to get up. Once that's the case, your only job is to listen! (I still struggle with that sometimes!)

As for some of your specific questions......

1. Treadmills vs Running. Slightly different moves/postures when outdoors, but only the highend running nerds would notice a difference I think. I've treadmilled (off and on) for a few years, and really like it. Crank the tunes, pick a spot on the wall and zone out....great break for "Getting out of your own head" as well.

2. Wii Fit. It's got some challenging stuff to it, but its still a video game. It that's the level you're at, go for it. If you can walk the block a couple times at a steady pace, do that instead.

3. Personal Trainer.....yes and no. Much better if you need motivation to jump to the next level of fitness. We all know the fundamentals to being healthy (diet/exercise). Trainers are there to provide the 'next level' in knowledge and give motivation. If you're in need of those, go for it.

Best of luck - I'm rooting for you.

[Cowperson]

Originally Posted by ericschand

Yeah, so I spent 15+ years screwing up my body. It's now fighting back.
Blood sugar high, cholesterol high, blood pressure extremely high.
Headaches and lethargy like you wouldn't believe.
I'm on a bunch of drugs for the next few months to keep me going.

I need to eat right, exercise, and lose weight (about 25 lbs). I've been
tasked by the doctor to show her *any* improvement in 3 months. She
says if I can lose the spare tire gut, no more meds, no more headaches,
and so on.

So I have a few questions.

What exercises are suggested for someone starting from my position?
Is running on a treadmill just like a regular run?
What about Wii Fit or the cardio programs/games you can buy for it. Are
they worth it? [I own a Nintendo Wii]
Is it worth the money for a personal trainer? How much does that cost?

And finally, where would I even begin? I'm thinking that 3 months doesn't
give me much time to experiment.

ers

I haven't been in your position but I would suggest walking to start. Make it a daily routine. Buy a Kananaskis Country trail guide and think about some hikes . . . . and you can do some of those in the winter (right now) too but target the spring or summer if you wish. You might look at some snowshoes too or do some x-country skiing on some of the closed golf courses in the city, skating at the Oval . . . .

There's nothing wrong with a treadmill but yes, it is different running outside in weather and variable terrain versus a treadmill. For you though, that shouldn't matter. Run wherever.

See if you can run a light trot for five minutes. Just start there. Once you've conquered that, keep adding five or ten minutes until you can push things out to 50 minutes to 1:10 which should probably be 10 km or so. I know lots of people who've done that from your starting point. Better yet, find some 10 km race to enter in the Spring or summer (the Calgary marathon 10 km race on May 31 comes to mind) and make it your goal to finish (running, walking, crawling, it doesn't matter) so you have something to work towards. Take it easy but keep pushing the distances and times further out.

Don't overdo it and hurt yourself. Just keep pushing.

Cowperson

[User Name]

Similar to another point I made, but don't look at the scale for success in the first month. Until you are into the grove make goals like "I want to be in the gym 4 x week for 45 minutes"

then once you have that down, for for the numbers. That way its harder to get discouraged.

[Locke]

I find that to help the headaches, you have to lay off the sauce a bit, something alont the lines of:

- Beerios are not a part of a healthy and balanced breakfast...

The blood pressure right now is probably Daryl's fault, so I'd recommend easing up on the Flames for a while....

[REDVAN]

Get a friend to work out with, if you plan on attending a gym. It's a lot easier to be motivated when you have to meet with someone, and you have buddy pushing you along.

[Devils'Advocate]

In July I was 340 pounds, taking 3 different heart medications, was tired all the time and was exhausted just going up one flight of stairs. I'm now at 225, I'm off the heart medications and feeling much better. I still have a ways to go before I'm at where my doctor wants me to be (190, so I have more to lose than you), but I can definitely feel the effects.

#1 - FIND SOMETHING YOU ENJOY DOING FOR EXERCISE!!! I love swimming... so once I closed my pool in the fall, I joined the rec centre and use the pool there three times a week. I get there at 6:30am and swim with the seniors that are up early so I feel pumped up about going faster than everybody there.

#2 - If you can't find something that you enjoy doing, DISTRACT YOURSELF. I have a treadmill and an exercise bike planted in front of my 50in plasma downstairs. I'll throw in a DVD of Criminal Minds and not notice that 40 minutes of cycling has passed.

#3 - Keep a log of your food and exercise. I'm using an app on my iPhone, but pen and paper works just as well. Make sure that you are burning more calories than you are eating. I'm burning at least 1000 more each day than eating. 1000 x 7 = 7000 = 2lb per week.

[Phaneuf3]

Worry most about your diet at the beginning. That's, IMO, the easier thing to change and what you'll get least frustrated with. It'll also make any exercise program you decide to undertake much easier and more effective. Obviously, you'll want to eat pretty healthy and you'll probably need to start reading labels more and buying more fresh produce but the biggest difference you will see at the beginning is by eating many small meals (5-6) throughout the day and drinking a lot of water.

Don't by any means neglect the exercise aspect of getting healthy but your diet (assuming it's crap like most people's in your situation) is the easiest change to make and stick with and will give you the best bang for your buck for the first several pounds.

[PowerPlayoffs06]

Originally Posted by REDVAN

Get a friend to work out with, if you plan on attending a gym. It's a lot easier to be motivated when you have to meet with someone, and you have buddy pushing you along.

This is so true. I need to find a work-out buddy at the Shawnessy YMCA =/

[CaptainCrunch]

I've changed things up on my workout.

I've gone to 30 to 45 minutes of biking and follow that up with weights (different parts of the body each day) and some base core stuff. I went away from the treadmill to the bike because I have lots of trouble with my knees.

The eating thing is important. my problem is that if I eat breakfeast I'm nausiated for the rest of the morning. it doesn't matter what I eat, it makes me ill.

I'm trying to break that with a slice of toast in the morning though. A light lunch at 11 a light lunch at 1 and a dinner at 5:30. I'm drinking a lot more water which helps a lot.

On the supplement side. Multivitamins, fish oils, Glocuosamin (for joint issues) Green Tee extracts.

I also make sure that I'm taking protein within 10 minutes after my workout, I think its about 30 grams worth.

[Huntingwhale]

[DionPlett]

I agree with UserName there, read up and find out as much as you can about health,fitness and nutrition. There is so much info out there and you kinda have to find out what works for you. It's a lifestyle change though too and that's how you have to look at it. Anyone can go on a "diet" and lose weight but what do you do after that?

[GreenLantern]

What does "drink lots of water" mean?

Drink 8-10 8 ounce glasses of water each day. 1 liter = 34 ounces (rounded up). So you should drink 2-3 liters of water each day. This doesn't mean you chug 5 liters in the morning and 5 liters at night, it means that you should continuously be drinking water through out the day, and that the sum of this water should be between 2-3 liters. Anyone can drink water, buy a $14 nalgen bottle and keep it full.

I am hungry, but I don't want to eat because I am a fatty, what should I do?

You should eat, and stop calling yourself a fatty it isn't good for your confidence OR your motivation. Starving yourself is not dieting. You just need to watch WHAT you eat. Change up the cereal (very high in sodium) in the morning to a cup of organic oatmeal with a glass of skim milk. Switch that burger at lunch to a Chicken breast with whole grain brown rice. A proper diet means you are always full AND losing weight.

Should I just load up on supplements and take as many pills as I can?

I recommend taking a multi-vitaman, a 1000 UI pill of Vitamin D, 2 calcium chewables or pills, and 2-3 fish oil pills per day as directed by the bottle (some have to be taken with meals). I have never been a fan of the fish oils because they give me burps, you can also buy Omega3 enriched eggs if you can't stand the fish oil. You can also make sure they are coated as Azure said in another thread, sadly not even coated ones have helped me. Experiment though, the bottle costs 12 bucks.

Avoid any type of NO or super pump like product for now, focus on long term gains first. A protein supplement wouldn't hurt, because the number one way to burn fat is to build muscle.


What is the number one way to burn fat?

I heard somewhere that it is to build muscle. So start lifting weights. Three hours on the cardio machines is great, awesome job bro, but you can gain more through 45 minutes of weights than you can 2 hours on the treadmill. As long as you are continuously lifting weights and working hard. This doesn't mean 5 minute breaks in between sets, this means pushing yourself.

I generally do 45 minutes of weights 5 days a week, targeting a different area of your body each day. I do cardio 4 days a week (excessive right now but I am training for mexico) and core 3 days a week. And by core I don't mean lay down on a mat and do crunches, I mean actually work your core.

You build your strength from within, so working on your core will improve your over all lifting and your ability to burn fat in the long run.

Some people like to mix and match, I stick with what works:

Day 1 - Chest
Day 2 - Back
Day 3 - Arms
Day 4 - Shoulders
Day 5 - Legs

I have done the chest/triceps, the biceps/back stuff, I like this better, but find what works for YOU.

Should I get a personal trainer?

Yes. This is a very good investment for someone who is just starting out. However, do your research (Duh GL wtf do you call this post?). This post was a great start. If you are located in Calgary then there are going to be a lot of people on this board who can recommend a great trainer for you (I live in Saskatoon so I am not one of them, sorry). You don't have to stick with the trainer, but it is great to start with one because he will teach you the proper techniques in lifting (IE. when you do curls, don't swing your arms and lurch your back, when you do deadlifts your back should never bend, it should always be straight etc..) There are so many tips you can pick up from just a few weeks of training. Typically I would say that a trainer costs about 30-50 bucks per session, so you are looking at 200ish a week. That is expensive, and I might be way off with my cost, but like I said it is a great investment and a great way to get started if you know absolutely nothing. From time to time I will even grab a trainer for a week just to get some new tips and exercises.

This is a tip for when you get going and ask your trainer about this but; watch your plateaus. You will eventually hit a point where your gains slow down significantly, at this point you need to totally re structure your exercise routine. Mots people plateau around the 4-5 week mark of the same exercises. Keep an eye on your gains. You will experience very fast gains to start, and you can keep these going by switching it up before those gains completely stall.

What is the one thing you would tell to a first time weight lifter?

Pay attention to your form. Even if it means you have to curl 12's instead of 30's, make sure you are using the proper form. I just can't stress this enough, you have to pay attention to the proper form! If you don't you will not see the gains that you could potentially have, and eventually you WILL injure yourself. Believe me, I have been there, I know. I wish I would have had someone to tell me that when I started out.

So always, constantly be checking out your form in the mirror, make sure you are always doing it correctly. I find this is also a great way to stay focused on the lift at hand, and not thinking about what you are going to do that night and then losing focus on your lift at rep 6 and burning out at rep 7.


What is the most important thing about working out?

Having fun. If you aren't having fun, then you aren't doing it right. If you don't enjoy a routine, tell the trainer, switch it up. Remember there is a difference between not enjoying what you are doing, and not enjoying the pain You should always feel good when you walk out of the gym, if you aren't then you need to change something!

Don't feel intimidated when you are there. Nobody is looking at you, they could care less, just do your thing and have fun man. One thing I used to always tell myself when I first started out is if you see a bunch of people that you think are looking at you lift and laughing/silently mocking you, they aren't. They are way to busy worrying about people looking at them, just like you are, to have time to look at you

Hope that makes sense.

All I can think of off the top of my head I will try to post more as it comes.

[DuffMan]

- switch to lite beer.
- Get a exercise bike and put it in front of the tv. exercise while watching Flames games. Frustration seems to motivate.
- check this out. You might be interested. I've done it and it works well.

[Komskies]

I've been working out on a regular basis for about 2 months now. I started at 6' 203 lbs, and was aiming to hit 185 pounds. The first month was actually pretty discouraging as my number one goal was to lose weight. My weight hardly changed in the first month, but I attribute that to adding muscle and losing fat for a net-zero equation. January went quite a bit better. I'm down to 197, down a pant size, quite a bit slimmer, and more muscular now.

I've been doing a 5 day a week M-F workout. On MWF I lift weights. I'll start with a 10 minute warm-up on the treadmill or elliptical, then do 3 set of 8 different exercises: chest, shoulders, back, biceps, triceps, abs, quads, calves. After that repeat the 10 minutes of cardio as a cool-down. Tuesday and Thursday are devoted to cardio. My favorite is the elliptical machine. I'll crank the resistance up to 25/25, and go for 45 minutes with a 5 minute cool-down at the end. Apparently I'm burning over 1000 calories in the 50 minutes on the elliptical, which is pretty awesome. I'm usually soaked in sweat at the end.

For diet, I've made some small adjustments. For starters, I've really made a concerted effort to cut pop out of my diet, and cut down on the amount of beer I drink (which is really hard as I love beer so much, but I digress). I was drinking quite a bit, probably a can of pop a day during the week and up to 3 cans on weekends.

I know that the "optimal" thing to do is eat 5-6 small meals a day, but I found that tough to coordinate with my work schedule. Instead I focused on eating 3 healthy meals a day, with reduced portion sizes. For breakfast I'll whip up a smoothie in the Magic Bullet: blueberries, a banana, and chocolate milk is my favorite. For lunch, I've been staying away from things like McDonalds and Wendy's, and if I go to Subway I'll get a 6" turkey or ham sub on whole wheat, with one of the light sauces as opposed to the footlong melt with ranch and all that delicious stuff. For dinner, I've done things like replace white rice with brown rice, more whole wheat pasta, more chicken than beef.

Kinda got rambling here, just wanted to share some of my thoughts. Good luck with your lifestyle change.

[GreenLantern]

Here are some links to help out:

http://forum.calgarypuck.com/showthr...ighlight=shape

This is a thread we had a while ago, it was a continuation of sorts of a previous thread about working out. There is a lot of good and useful information/tips in there. Not saying this didn't deserve its own thread or you shouldn't ask questions, just trying to see if this helps.

Mens Fitness is actually a great magazine for work outs. They usually bring out a mini book every year with detailed instructions that I always pick up for tips. A lot of it is basic stuff, which is great and honestly the best place to start. They even had a 300 page book that my brother bought and I use from time to time, if nothing else it is great to double check your form with.

http://www.mensfitness.com/fitness/b...eight_training

Just watch out for any supplements they try to peddle you, remember it is a business.

[Tron_fdc]

I'll second the light beer switch. No idea if it has helped me, but since overhauling my diet and going to light beer I've dropped about 15 lbs (I'm 6' 190lbs now). I was never really overweight, but it leaned me out quite a bit.

Diet is just about THE most important aspect of what you're going to do though.

[macker]

Go pick this up : http://www.amazon.ca/Supereating-Rev...5132481&sr=1-1

If you don't want to pay for a membership any of the Ripped DVD's are low impact and will get you in great shape within 2-3 months guaranteed : http://www.jarilove.com/catalog/inde...9a26e654603643

Don't let a day go by where you don't do at least 20 minutes of : running, walking, swimming, weights, etc. etc. Start a streak and see how long you can go. If you break the streak start again and repeat.

Variety is the key. Yesterday I was xc skiing and today I will likely go for a swim or do fitlinxx. Last year I was running marathons and this year I am trying some triathlons. I am enjoying the training much more for the triathlons as there is more variety and running can get quite boring/time consuming for what I was training for.

I think diet is about 70% of it and once you get that part figured out it will fuel the other areas. It is shocking the crap we will put into our bodies. I have the training part figured out but I still need to get better with my eating as I always think that because I train I can eat whatever I want and although I have maintained my weight this is my mistake
A good time of year to get going. Good luck!

[Devils'Advocate]

Originally Posted by GreenLantern

What does "drink lots of water" mean?
Drink 8-10 8 ounce glasses of water each day. 1 liter = 34 ounces (rounded up). So you should drink 2-3 liters of water each day. This doesn't mean you chug 5 liters in the morning and 5 liters at night, it means that you should continuously be drinking water through out the day, and that the sum of this water should be between 2-3 liters. Anyone can drink water, buy a $14 nalgen bottle and keep it full.

I'd like to see some science behind that. I keep hearing this myth over and over and the American Journal of Physiology says this:

No scientific studies were found in support of 8 x 8. Rather, surveys of food and fluid intake on thousands of adults of both genders — analyses of which have been published in peer-reviewed journals — strongly suggest that such large amounts are not needed because the surveyed persons were presumably healthy and certainly not overtly ill. This conclusion is supported by published studies showing that caffeinated drinks (and, to a lesser extent, mild alcoholic beverages like beer) may indeed be counted toward the daily total, as well as by the large body of published experiments that attest to the precision and effectiveness of the osmoregulatory system for maintaining water balance.

Now, I'm certainly not against being hydrated, especially if you are building up a sweat and losing water during exercise. And the added benefit is that water tends to make you "feel full" even when you are not. But if you are not constantly thirsty, dry mouth, muscle cramps, urine is dark yellow or any of the other symptoms of then your body is doing its job of regulating your water levels. And if you eat foods that are high in water such as broccoli, strawberries, etc then you don't need to drink as much.

Not derail the thread... just this one bugs me. Especially since I have a tendancy to bloat and retain water, especially in my legs.