Help me be more healthy. Advice needed.

In My Humble Opinion
1

I am 25 years old. I’m about 5"6’ and weigh around 145 or maybe even 150. I’m not sure about the weight, because I RARELY, if ever, weigh myself.

I was very thin in my 12-19 years, fairly thin between 20 and 21, but I’ve slowly started creeping up in pants sizes. I’m not FAT. But I am overweight, and I want to try and spiral my size back down.

I am going to try to lose this weight the right way. I don’t want to go on some crash diet. In fact, I dont’ think I could even do that Adkin’s diet. I don’t think I’d be able to just stop eating a lot of the things that you can’t eat…

I am trying to work out at least 3 times a week. THat usually consists of walking about a mile and a half and getting on weight machines for my arms…

I eat pretty normal meals, but I seem to snack a lot. And I crave munchy foods at night before I’m going to bed.

Can anyone give me any tips? Tell me what my work out should consist of?? I am thinking about buying a VCR for my bedroom tonight so that I can start doing Yoga 3 or 4 times a week. Probably on the nights that I don’t work out.

Any healthy tips about low cal foods to munch on? Or how to beat the munchies?

Anything would be appreciated. Thanks ahead of time!

2

Just wanted to also say that I hope that nothing I said was offensive.

Also, I’d be happy to answer questions if needed.

3

Although two times a week is better than none, you’re probably not going to see results working out less than three times a week. I doubt you’ll see the results you want working out three times a week, either. The key to seeing results is getting your heartrate up and keeping it up for at least thirty minutes. That number may be a little off but I find my entire session (which is just running) has to be at least forty minutes. It takes a few minutes to get your heartrate up to its target.

Also, try buying and preparing whole foods. Stay away from processed foods (i.e. canned ravioli, Marie Calender microwave meals, etc.). Not only will your meals be healthier, but I’m willing to bet lower in fat and calories.

4

JuanitaTech Do you know how to figure out what your heart rate should get up to?

Thank you so much for the advice!

5

I am not a personal trainer, but we went over this last weekend in my water aerobics class. For someone who is 25 and basically healthy, you want to work to 60-80% of the “maximum heartrate.” 60-80% corresponds to 110-165 beats/minute, with 70% being about 135 beats/minute or 22 pulses in a 10-second count.

They also give the “sing” test, which is a rule of thumb that says you should be able to speak but not sing while doing your workout. If you can easily sing you are not working hard enough. If you can’t speak you are working too hard.

6

Breezy - here’s a couple of healthy tips I can think of…

Avoid the following;
Starchy food as in potatoes, pasta, rice, beans, bread, cereal
High amounts of salt - americans eat way too much salt
High fructose corn syrup
Sugar except for natural sugars found in fruit
Processed foods in general - which all contain the above mentioned

Try to step up your exercise regime by adding one day

Eat 5 smaller meals instead of 3 bigger ones

Eat more fish - go for predatory fish(Roughy, catfish, salmon, etc), avoid the big ones (Halibut, Swordfish, etc)

And above all - throw away your copy of the FOODPYRAMID - it’s a big bunch of crap that the government is not willing to admit.

7

I agree with most of the above. If you go to the gym and get on a machine, it will often have a chart that shows 60% heartrate (about 118-125 beats per minute) as the “fat loss” zone. However, you’ll burn more calories doing 30 minutes at 70-75% of your max, and will thus actually burn more in the long run.

When I go to the gym, I generally do the following:

10 minute warm-up on the treadmill: 2 minutes at a brisk walk, 6 minutes jogging, 2 minutes at a brisk walk.

This gets your heart rate up into the aerobic, fat-burning zone.

After that, I go through my ab and weights workout. Since I warmed up on the treadmill, my heartrate stays above 120 the entire time (I do very short breaks between sets, or work opposing muscles back to back, e.g. biceps, then go immediately to triceps).

After weights, it’s back on the recumbent bike or elliptical trainer for 25-30 minutes. I then spend 10 minutes stretching and cooling off.

I can’t stress the benefits of strength training enough. You won’t get bulky unless you really train hard, so don’t worry about that. If you do find yourself getting bulkier than you want, use lighter weights for higher repetitions.

As far as foods, try to eat loads of fruits and veggies, and use them to replace the large portion of breads, pastas, and other starchy carbs you’d usually eat. They take longer to break down, so they’ll supply you with a steady supply of energy between meals, and curb cravings due to low blood sugar.

8

I meant to add: weight training will help you burn additional fat, and retain lean muscle. Also, each pound of muscle you gain will burn calories even while you’re at rest. IIRC, a pound of muscle requires 50 calories per day for maintenance, so if you put on 5 pounds of muscle, you’re burning 250 extra calories without doing anything. It’s also just great to be strong and have muscle definition!

9

This is all such good advice.

I haven’t started the weights yet this week. (this is the week that I stop being a weenie at the gym, and and start doing more than just the brisk walking).

I bought a ton of fruits and vegetables last night. Made a huge salad that I can munch on anytime I get hungry! I also bought some little low-fat yogurts. I hope I didn’t just get sucked into the packaging/marketing. I had one last night with some broccoli on the side for supper. It wasn’t too bad at all!! Hopefully I can stick to a much healthier diet/lifestyle. I think one of the main problems is that I just snack constantly.

Thanks for the advice, and keep it coming if anyone else has anything to add!!

10

Adopt your changes gradually. You’re most likely to stick with changes that aren’t too much to swallow at once. Try adopting one dietary change at a time-- say, reducing the amount of starches-- for two weeks before adopting the next change. Wait until you’re comfortable with your revised routine before you revise it again. Same with exercise. Since you’re already exercising, rather than shift to entirely new routines, you could try increasing the intensity or duration of your workouts. Every couple weeks (or after you feel the challenging edge of the workout wearing off), you could add 15 minutes or 10 extra reps.

11

Yoga, yo-yo-yo-yoga … it’s the cheapest exercise there is (after you buy the mat and the video), takes as little or as much time as you want, and always feels great. my advice in this regard is: stick with it, there are a lot of different styles and if the one you’ve tried doesn’t do it for you, try another one.

Learn to cook and make stuff yourself ! It’s always better than processed stuff you buy (once you figure out what you’re doing). I found I lost my taste for prepared meals and fast food once I got accustomed to preparing fresh fruits and veggies myself. And if you cut out most fatty and processed foods you don’t feel so bad about having that cupcake …

Also think of vegetarian options - a lot of food is just as nice in the vegetarian version (chili, pizza, soup etc) - you can reduce the fat by a lot and not really notice a difference.

Breakfast: smoothies (bananas, fruit (frozen or fresh), milk or yogurt, orange juice blended up) are filling and extremely healthy (you’d never sit down to eat two bananas, a peach and some strawberries, but poured into a glass it’s much easier!).

A nice dessert: fruit (apples, pears, bananas, strawberries … ) dipped in a mixture of honey/plain yogurt. Yum !

12

The worst thing to do when you’re trying to overhaul your diet and lifestyle is swear you’re never going to eat something again. Cutting something totally out of your diet that you love will just sabotage you later; eventually you’ll cave, eat far too much of it, and think, “Oh well, I’m a failure, might as well have some more…and since I did that, might as well have some of that, while I’m at it…”

I’m getting married in six months, and of course–like most future brides–I wanted to drop fifteen/twenty pounds. (Gradually gained over about four years, since I moved in with my fiance. It was much easier to be slim when I was single. :D)

I’ve lost twelve so far, and I haven’t denied myself anything. I haven’t sworn I won’t eat pizza, or I won’t eat pasta, or I won’t touch potato chips…I just eat them less often, and in smaller quantities. This way I don’t feel like I’m on a “diet.” Which is doomed to failure. I’m just trying to make healthier choices. I don’t mindlessly buy a candy bar when I go in for a soda; I don’t leave the potato chips in front of me so I can just mindlessly eat the whole bag. I drink a lot of water when I eat, so I eat less; I don’t order appetizers at restaurants anymore. I put everything on a plate, so I can see how much I’m eating; I don’t go back for seconds, and I make a point never to clean my plate.

If I want a snack, I make myself sit down and eat it; I don’t just “grab a handful” of whatever it is, and then go back “for another handful.” You’ll finish the whole thing that way, and never realize it, after you’ve eaten more than a meal’s worth of “munchy stuff.”

And I try not to eat before bedtime, and then eat immediately when I wake up. Breakfast is your friend. :smiley:

It’s not like I’m an expert; these are just little changes that have worked for me. Living on salad and fruit and baked fish will certainly melt away the pounds, but it isn’t realistic for most people to totally cut out foods that they really enjoy, and it may eventually sabotage you.

13

I agree with Audrey, don’t overdo it at first. If you start out saying you’re going to run 3x a week and eat perfectly, then you set yourself up for disappointment. I say screw all the heart rate mumbo jumbo and just get out there as much as possible. If it’s only 2 days a week, then so be it.

I work out between 2-3 times a week. I try to eat reasonably healthy (not much snacking, but I enjoy regular meals). I think moderation is key.

Hey, the weather’s getting nicer, so that should motivate you as well. You can make all kinds of stuff on the grill that’s low fat.

14

One simple tip*. If you work in a office that is not on the ground floor, take the elevator two floors down and walk the rest of the way up. Simple daily(or more) exercise - and it’s free.

*second small tip, like they say in the ads, see the doctor before turning into SuperBreezy

15

The vast majority of the muscle in your body is not in your chest, arms, or abs. And yet, most people’s weight routines hit only those.

You wanna add muscle and strength in a hurry, do squats and deadlifts. Make sure your form is good, though, cause otherwise you can get hurt really bad.

16

I’m 6’ 2", 170 lbs. I have made the following observations.

  1. Cut out processed foods. If you eat fruits, veggies, whole grains, meat you select and prepare, you may lose most of the weight you need without any other change. Most processed foods seem to load up on the fats and sugars to be palatable. (Most salad dressings are pure fat, so go easy on the stuff. I just toss walnuts onto my salads.)
  2. I know weightlifting is supposed to help you lose body fat. Even so, those that are serious about lifting struggle more to hit a goal percent body fat than those that are serious about running. For a guy, it seems to be the difference between hanging around 10% and hanging around 20%.
  3. Of the endurance sports runners are thinnest, cyclists are next, swimmers struggle the most. (I do all three). Well, walkers seem to have the most problems, but many are older.
  4. If it ain’t enjoyable, you will drop it. If it is social, you are much more likely to keep at it. So, ping pong is better than running, if you hate running. Having several options is best. (“Gee, that’s a lot of snow out there, I’ll bag running and ride inside and catch up on my reading…”
  5. You are best off if you do it as often as possible. Running is cheap, easy, and quick (if you just head right out the door), so it seems to be easier for people to do it up to seven times a week.
  6. Alternate hard and easy days. Your heart rate will be lower in a pool or on a bike than running.
  7. Atkins diets etc work for some. Eating unprocessed foods with moderate exercise works for all. And, go ahead an have the occassional ice cream, beer, favorite indulgence. Just don’t pig out.
  8. Permanent big changes take big time periods. I.e., lose weight slowly through some behaviour change that is its own reward.
17

Since much of this advice makes so much sense, let me suggest something that’s a little less orthodox, along the lines of making exercise more enjoyable for yourself. I am a gym hater (I find gyms intolerably boring), and though you didn’t say you hate the gym, here’s some ideas in case you prefer to exercise out in the fresh air.

Get a dog.

Seriously. The dog needs to be walked, so you can get in daily 30-45 minutes of cardio. Added bonus: it’s good for the dog too. Second added bonus: tired dogs are good dogs. Third added bonus: walking your dog can be very much a social activity. When I lived in an apt. complex near a golf course, I met all kinds of people who were also walking their dogs by the 16th hole. Of course, that also benefits the dog, who also needs socialization. Note: You could walk someone else’s dog. You could volunteer to walk the old neighbor lady’s dog or something if you’re allergic or can’t have pets for some reason. Heck you could come over and walk mine for me, but then I’d gain weight!

Also, (at least at my house) you can’t leave food laying around with a dog in the house. When I’m snacking, I take only what I can eat out of the cupboard/fridge/whatever and put the dishes away immediately. Can’t leave that bag of chips out on the coffee table or it will be gone next time I take a potty break.

That said, I second the ideas for healthy snacks, eating smaller more frequent meals, and getting some form of regular exercise that you enjoy.

18

SlowMindThinking has the right idea. If you start into running, once you get your weekly mileage up, you’ll be surprised at how you get the lbs. off. Although I’ll caveat that by saying that you also need to work on speed, just being able to run 7 miles, at a pace just slightly faster than a walk, won’t burn off the calories. Check out this forum for some great training tips, and advice on how to get started. I suggest you start slow, but be mindful of getting to ‘comfortable’

As for snacking, what I did was try and pick snacks that are much lower in calories and fat. So air popped popcorn, pretzels, fruit, cottage cheese, baked chips and salsa…things like that. If I have to have that bag of Doritos, I get the Wow! kind, that have less fat and calories. Good luck.

Just so you know, I’m 6’2 197lbs. now. When I started, I was up around 240lbs. I’m looking at 185 as my goal. But this has taken me a year, but the changes I made aren’t ‘diets’, they are changes in my eating habits, and life as a whole.

19

I’m going to disagree somewhat with Atrael’s advice. The popcorn, pretzels and chips he suggested are so high in carbs that you’ll likely find losing weight a struggle. Despite an intense workout, I did nothing but gain weight, even with eating lots of low fat stuff like the above. It’s only been this year that I’ve been able to lose weight (17 lbs since Jan 1) by cutting out all high carb foods (I’m doing Atkin’s).

The fruit and cottage cheese are good ideas (so is the salsa, but you have to look around for things to eat it on. I like eggs or salad). An egg or piece of meat or a slice of cheese can satisfy that urge for salties and fill you up faster than a handful of chips.

20

True, but they are very very low in fat. Again, I think different people have different bodies, and loose weight in different ways. I cut out a lot of dairy, just because it was so incredibly high in fat. A small piece of cheddar has something like 9 grams of fat. The nutritionist I went to suggested that when looking at the health info on packages of food, to try and keep the ration of no more than 3 grams of fat per 100 calories.

Again, just stating what worked for me. YMMV of course.

I personally thought that trying to cut out the amount of breads (carbs) that the Atkins diet calls for wasn’t realistic to a long term solution to loosing weight for me. I made choices to minimize the crap I was eating, and if I had to snack, picked those snacks that were still “snacky”, but not as bad for me. No way is a bowl of carrots the same as a nice bag of chips with french onion dip, so rather than try and tell myself it was, I looked for sensible alternatives.