Help a seriously overweight guy come up with an effective excercise routine?

In My Humble Opinion
21

I’ve had great success with DDP Yoga. It takes no more than 30 minutes a day and is zero impact. Buy the DVDs, a yoga mat and a heart monitor. It comes with a program guide for all levels of fitness. My flexibility has increased, the weight is falling off and I feel better than I have in years. Unlike some other programs the exercises are flexible–if you can’t do a particular move it’s easy to modify it.

And don’t worry about not getting enough cardio. Standing still I can get my heart rate up to 140 (according to the program this is the max I should go). You’ll definitely get a good workout!

If you want to see what DDP Yoga can do just watch this video:

Sorry if this sounds like an ad, but I truly believe in this program!
22

Another vote for walking as fine and for mixing it up with some less weight bearing aerobic if possible to spare your feet a bit and some resistance exercise as well. At this point body weight resistance exercise is ample - body weight squats and lunges; step-ups onto a bench and back down, push-ups in whatever form you can manage (knee push-ups are fine), getting a pull-up bar and letting the floor support most of your weight as you pull-up and try to have it support a bit less of it on the way down, see how long you can hold a plank (no more than 15 seconds to start if you can do that long) …

23

Lots of great advice from people more experienced and knowledgeable than me.

Two things I’d chime in…

  1. I’m a huge fan of cycling as exercise. For me, I enjoy it a lot just as an activity, but on top of that it can get the heart pumping very well with no impact. Personally, I find that I can also sustain cycling at the same heart-rate for longer than running.

  2. Try to incorporate as much exercise as possible into your daily routine. Is there a cheaper carpark a little further from your office? Use it and walk. Better still, can you cycle to work?

For me, driving to work takes about 30 minutes, the same cycle takes about 45. It’s not as convenient - and does depend upon your work situation, but if you can do this then you don’t need to exercise!

Also, can you walk to the shop to get the groceries instead of driving?

I find that, if instead of exercising to exercise I can exercise because I need to do something / get somewhere it helps a lot - and I don’t need the same motivation.

And like others have said - Well Done! It sounds like you are doing great.

24

I also think walking is a good way to get started. Later you might like to try running if your body is suited for it. In the meantime it couldn’t hurt to eat like a runner- you can google things like The Best Food for Runners as something to look at and maybe test out, but you don’t have to make any rigid commitment to any particular diet advice.

If you don’t mind looking a little odd, maybe get one or two walking poles to take some pressure off your feet. And if you don’t think you’re hurting yourself, try to ratchet up your distance from time to time. I’ve heard long duration, slower exercise is best for burning fat, so you’re actually on the right track. Also, maybe try to find ways to stand instead of sit.

Asking questions and gathering advice is good.

25

New Balance makes great shoes, but there’s no substitute for going to a good speciality shoe store and having them help you choose a shoe. A good running/multisport store will have employees trained in getting the most perfect fit possible. It’s worth the price premium.

26

I have no advice, but I wish you the best of luck in your endeavors Lancia.

As for myself, I’m 6’4" and 420 lbs. My BMI is 51.1, a little higher it would be equal to my age (52). When ever I think about trying to diet & exercise again, I just nuke another burrito or four and then lie down for a while. I’ve learned from my past, failure is inevitable. I have given up on being thin again, much like I have given up on everything else. It’s a simpler way of life I find.

I had hoped that I would explode when I reached 400 lbs but alas I didn’t. Maybe someone could fetch me a wafer-thin mint.

27

Whilst I don’t have a lot of cites to give you, I would like to share my personal experience if you are interested?

I started Weight Watchers about two years ago, and they had a knowledge base of articles you could read as a member. Some of it was pretty technical stuff and in all honesty I didn’t understand it all, but the overall impression I received was that exercise is most closely correlated to weight maintenance and physical health. Dietary restriction was most closely correlated to weight loss.

With that in mind, I followed the Weight Watchers online points plan for about a year and a half, without changing the exercise I did. I am overweight because I bloody love food and I have pretty much no tolerance for hunger (I would even eat when I wan’t hungry for fear of being hungry later on!). Before I changed the way I ate, I constantly craved food. It was like a drug and I was always thinking about my next hit.

Doing the points plan, I noticed that high carb foods had a lot more points than high fat foods, so I started substituting sugary foods with fatty foods as my points allowance reduced. This had a very unintended but welcome side effect - I stopped feeling so damned hungry and obsessed about food all the time.

I’ve since cancelled my WW subscription, but I still track my foods using the food diary on the My Fitness Pal app/website. What I particularly like about this tool is that it doesn’t just track calories, but also protein, carbs, fat, fibre, etc. I try to only get my carbs from vegetables first and fruits second. (I almost stopped eating fruit for a while but found I wasn’t getting enough fibre in my diet which was… uncomfortable.)

In my everyday diet, I no longer eat potatoes, bread or flour products like pasta. I still allow myself the occasional treat, but I find my guts just don’t like digesting those sorts of foods anymore. I eat a lot more ‘fatty’ foods, for example I have bacon and eggs for breakfast instead of cereal and yoghurt. At the same time, I’ve gone from being pre-hypertensive to having absolutely normal blood pressure!

I feel really angry at all the ‘lite’ products that have been put out by companies since the eighties. I feel that has contributed to my weight gain because the fat (which satiates) was replaced with fake sugar (which causes hunger). Yes, I know ultimately I am responsible for my weight gain because I chose to put food in my mouth, but I genuinely believed I was doing the right thing by eating all these ‘lite’ products and that I deserved to feel hungry and miserable all the time.

I was 285 pounds when I started, I’m now 229 pounds. That might seem like slow progress, and it is, but I’ve really been maintaining for the past few months rather than focusing on further weight loss.

Now that I’m lighter, I have a lot more energy and I’m starting to exercise more. But I’m doing that because I want to feel both fitter and stronger. It really hasn’t had any impact on my weight loss.

28

foggy your post makes me want to point out something very important about Lancia’s stated goals:

Note. The goal is not to lose weight, let alone to become thin. One of the goals is to lose weight (not become thin), among a host of other (IMHO more important) ones.

Setting “becoming thin” as the goal is indeed a recipe for failure and frustration. The goals that Lancia has set? Those are very achievable even if the weight loss is modest. Improved nutrition and regular exercise WILL, 100% WILL, reduce risks for many diseases, improve endurance, so on.

29

You do need rest from cardio too… at least one or 2 days a week, especially after your longer walk days.

I’m worried you are going to burn yourself out if you try to add too much. You are already doing great things for yourself by walking. Walking is good. Don’t listen to anyone that says its not enough. The best thing you can do for yourself is find a routine that you can stick with longer term. The only thing I would even consider adding right now is strength training, but you don’t need to do that on top of walking miles and miles every single day. Maybe work it in on days off from the walking.

Also, find a measure of your success or progress besides the scale.

30

I am also going to say that resistance/weight training is necessary and here’s why (hopefully I can explain it as well as the trainers I know).

When you do cardio, it raises your metabolism while you are exercising and then there is a lingering burn after you stop, but eventually you return to your basal metabolic rate. When you build muscle, you raise your basal metabolic rate because now your body needs to burn more calories since your new muscles need the extra fuel.

Now muscle is heavy, which is why fit people often weigh more that you’d expect, so after a certain point, it’s better to just look at how your clothes fit, instead of the scale.

31

Exercise at fixed times during the week. Don’t just say you’ll exercise when you have time. For example, MWF 12-1 is spent exercising. It’s way too easy to start skipping workouts if you only do it when you feel like it or have free time.

If you have friends or coworkers who exercise, ask them for advice. Likely, they’ll be eager to help.

32

But…what if 12-1 comes and goes and you haven’t exercised? You’re back to having a good excuse!

Kind of a conundrum. What is the best?

I say do whatever works best for you. The hardest part IMHO is getting into a routine and sticking with it. It’s so easy to overwhelm yourself with all this new stuff at the beginning. I took a year to get into exercising as part of my routine before I even began to look at food. Now 3-4 years later, it’s still part of my routine.

I’m to the point where when I’m not exercising I feel like I’m doing something wrong, as opposed to before when I would add exercise to feel like I’m doing something extra. Does that make sense?

33

Kiora Sandra - just want you to wave hello to my sister in Nelson. I saw her in June last year, and almost fell over at how much she had lost due to Weight Watchers. She had been overweight since primary school - but when I saw her she was at her healthy and goal weight. So it does work!!

and great going on the weightloss!!

34

You find a time to make it up. Something else should not be taking up your exercise time. If it’s a rare event, no big deal. If a coworker’s retirement lunch is at that time, go to it and make up the exercise later. If your office mate wants to go to lunch, tell him you have to exercise.

Once exercise becomes a routine, you don’t have to stick to a schedule. You will want to get your exercise in and you’ll make time. But at the beginning, it’s easy to lose motivation and start skipping workouts. By coming up with a fixed schedule, it can help you stick with exercise until it becomes a routine.

35

I agree with this. In my case, when I started to get serious about exercise ~10 years ago, I had two little kids at home. There was really no time during the day (work) or after work (wife needed a break) for me to exercise. I found that I was getting up earlier than everyone, so I leveraged that and made the early morning my own. I started working out before anyone could miss me. Now if I run any other time of day, it feels odd.

For me, it was just finding time each day that no one else had claimed, and I used it as best I could. Then, no matter what happened later in the day, I always had my workout completed.

The mornings, for me, have the added advantage of cooler temps, cleaner air, and getting to see the sunrise.

36

I have a buddy who was probably over 500 lbs. He’s 6’6" but still…

He decided to start losing weight. A few weeks later he joined Weight Watchers and when he got onto the scale for the first time in years, he weighed 463 lbs. The Reader’s Digest version of the story is that he got under 250 lbs in just under 3 years. Weight Watcher’s diet and lots of exercise. No gastric bypass or other such surgeries. No fad diets. Lots of hard work and lifestyle changes.

As for exercise, he started out walking as that’s all he could do. He used a treadmill quite a lot. Next he moved on to jogging and running. He also used other exercise equipment such as stair steps, stationary bikes, and even weights.

When he got under 350 lbs, he bought a bicycle and we rode up to 30 miles together.

His running got so good that he was faster than me in the half marathon (but I am slow) and completed many of them. He attempted a full marathon (a big goal of his) but the day of the marathon was extremely hot and the course marshals made people take the 1/2 marathon course if they didn’t meet a time limit part way through the race. My buddy didn’t make the limit.

A few weeks later he needed knee surgery. His knee had been bothering him for years and is one of the reasons he started loosing weight in the first place. Since then he hasn’t been able to run as well and has gone up a little over 300 lbs. I think he’s lost some motivation but he’s still better off than before.

Myself I ride bicycles about 4,000+ miles a year. I also walk and job half marathons with my wife. I have some arthritis issues with a knee, hip and ankle so I can’t really run. However I can ride without pain in those joints.

I’d suggest walking at first the slowly ramp up to running. Using some machines when the weather gets bad like treadmills, stair steppers, or stationary bikes. Maybe get a bicycle if running hurts too much. Do about an hour a day on average of exercise.

Goals: maybe set a goal of a half marathon next year or a half century (50 miles) on a bicycle. Attainable goals can be a great motivator.

37

Wow. There’s so much good advice in this thread that I’m not going to multiquote everything, because multiple posters have made similar suggestions.

First, I went to my Dr. today for something unrelated, and my weight is dropping – I’m at 350 on their scale. That’s 11 lbs down since February of this year and almost 25 lbs down since my heaviest, which was spring of last year. Down 4 lbs on their scale since July, and all this has been without really trying.

I discussed with him my new exercise routine and he feels that the old standby of “30 minutes a day of cardio at 80% heart rate” is fine for now. Obviously, I’m going to try to do significantly more than that.

Re: the shoes. I have had almost no luck finding decent fitting shoes. Portland has a couple of wide shoe stores, and their website has New Balance available in 4E. depending on the brand, 4E can be too small, although my abnormally high instep presents a bigger issue. I’ll have to check them out next time I’m up there. Until then, the hiking boots will have to do. I certainly understand what people are saying about the footwear, but right now I’ll have to deal with what I’ve got. The boots aren’t that bad, the worst part is that they are heavy, which is a small issue in the grand scheme of things.

I have and use the MyFitnessPal app. It is handy for tracking calories, although I’m less trustful of the “calories burned” feature when exercise is entered. Otherwise I’m happy with it.

Someone upthread challenged me to begin doing body exercises, including a 15 second plank if I could. I did my first plank this morning, and made it to 37 seconds. :slight_smile: I’ll do some research on proper squats and lunges, and begin doing those as well.

As I said I’ll begin going to the gym in January when the school term starts. Until then, a lot of the info on exrx.net and NerdFitness has given me a good starting point.

Losing weight is certainly one of my goals. My first memory of feeling self conscious about my weight was in 5th grade, and looking at pictures of myself during that I realize that I was absolutely at normal size for a 10 year old. I’m not naieve enough to think that I’ll ens up with a six-pack, but losing weight is certainly one of the goals. I’m currently on BP meds and take niacin for cholesterol, I’d like to have no dependence on any of these meds.

As a teenager I was seriously into whitewater rafting and wilderness trekking. I never did anything insanely serious, but I routinely did 50 - 60 mile river trips, sometimes longer stretches. I wasn’t super fit, but I was pretty healthy. It wasn’t until I moved out of parent’s home at 19 and realized how easy and cheap Taco Bell and Burger King for dinner every night was that I began putting on the pounds. I don’t eat that shit anymore, but the results of that behavior are still there. I’m glad I don’t have an appetite for junk anymore, because

is absolutely right. In addition,

may be true for you, and until recently was for me as well, but not anymore. I was under a similar mindset until very recently. I’m not a gamer, I have no internet connection at home and watch TV perhaps twice a month – I do not have an antenna or satellite / cable and rarely find a movie I want to rent at Redbox. I don’t have any hobbies to speak of, other than surfing the Dope and Facebook on my phone. I’m a luddite through and through, but despite that sitting on my ass was exponentially easier then going for a walk or doing half a dozen situps. It was a simple, and happily boring, lifestyle. But I’m done with simple, because at the end of the day it isn’t simple. Hauling my substantial self across campus every day, feeling winded each time . . . feeling insecure because I know how big I am and how I stand out in a crowd of people . . . not being able to find clothes that fit . . . no, it’s not easy for me.

So health is a big issue for me, but losing weight is also important.

38

It sounds like you have the right attitude and are taking things slowly. It’s important to start by doing the things you can do, and not get hung up on the fact that you may not be able to do everything you’d like to right now.

Blood pressure and cholesterol levels are complex, and while weight can certainly be a factor, it may not be the only factor. I went from being quite overweight to being average size, but I still need to take blood pressure medication, as does my extremely thin aunt whose genetic makeup I share. If you can give up your medications that would be great, but even if you can’t, you’ll still be a whole lot healthier.

39

It’s really easy to hurt yourself by doing squats and lunges improperly. If you are going to a gym it would be good to hire a trainer for a session or two to make sure you are using proper form on these exercises to avoid hurting yourself.

40

First I liked to apologize for me previous post. In my (weak) defensed it was 2am, I 'm off my meds & I hadn’t eaten in nearly 2 days.

I never in anyway meant to imply that what I said was true for anyone but myself.

I understand this, I really do and I’m sincere about wishing you the best of luck.

Again, I apologize fro my earlier post.
Take Care.
:slight_smile: