Obese to FIT (22stone +)

eaglebhoy

Doing great vibes, keep strong !

My tuppence worth for you is would you do walking ?

Walking is great especially when obese ! Many people, US MEN ESPECIALLY, totally undervalue walking ! Yet if you could get into walking and build it upto to even just 40 mins at a time 3 to 4 times a week (but the more frequent the better !) while continuing the Weight training you'll plough through the weight loss.

Any cardio is better than none but cardio where you move non-stop for 40 mins or more is perfect ! Walking is probably one of the easiest cardio exercises to do for this purpose and all you need is to step outside your door and walk walk walk ! No Gym membership required for it

My worst weight was 19 Stone 6 lbs, I'm at 17 st 3 lbs now and keeping it going aiming for 14 stone, I'm 6ft and broad, been at it since January, I'm into the walking and if it is of any interest to you I have followed Weight Watchers and found it works for me !

MrStuffins

eaglebhoy wrote: »

Doing great vibes, keep strong !

My tuppence worth for you is would you do walking ?

Walking is great especially when obese ! Many people, US MEN ESPECIALLY, totally undervalue walking ! Yet if you could get into walking and build it upto to even just 40 mins at a time 3 to 4 times a week (but the more frequent the better !) while continuing the Weight training you'll plough through the weight loss.

Any cardio is better than none but cardio where you move non-stop for 40 mins or more is perfect ! Walking is probably one of the easiest cardio exercises to do for this purpose and all you need is to step outside your door and walk walk walk ! No Gym membership required for it

My worst weight was 19 Stone 6 lbs, I'm at 17 st 3 lbs now and keeping it going aiming for 14 stone, I'm 6ft and broad, been at it since January, I'm into the walking and if it is of any interest to you I have followed Weight Watchers and found it works for me !

This is great advice! Walking, in my opinion, is super for weightloss!

My cardio work is mostly walking. I try to walk every day and make excuses for it. Tonight for example, I needed something in the shop. I decided to go to a shop 15 minutes away and decided to take a really long route there and back. Ended up walking 6 miles.

Doing that every day, i'd be looking at losing an extra 1lb each week from walking alone.

I've gotten my mate into doing what i'm doing and we've started doing big walks every couple of days. We try do at least 10 miles and stop when he get a bit tired or sick of it. Thurs we walked 13 miles. We walked 18.5 miles yesterday and we'll do more tomorrow.

For me, one of the main reasons it's good for losing weight is because it's easy. At no point will you think "Dog, I have to go walking now" like you might if you were putting in loads of strenuous work in the gym or whatever.

eaglebhoy

MrStuffins wrote: »

This is great advice! Walking, in my opinion, is super for weightloss!

My cardio work is mostly walking. I try to walk every day and make excuses for it. Tonight for example, I needed something in the shop. I decided to go to a shop 15 minutes away and decided to take a really long route there and back. Ended up walking 6 miles.

Doing that every day, i'd be looking at losing an extra 1lb each week from walking alone.

I've gotten my mate into doing what i'm doing and we've started doing big walks every couple of days. We try do at least 10 miles and stop when he get a bit tired or sick of it. Thurs we walked 13 miles. We walked 18.5 miles yesterday and we'll do more tomorrow.

For me, one of the main reasons it's good for losing weight is because it's easy. At no point will you think "Dog, I have to go walking now" like you might if you were putting in loads of strenuous work in the gym or whatever.

Cheers ! Thanks very much !Wow you do some SERIOUS walks, Fair Play to ya

MrStuffins

eaglebhoy wrote: »

Cheers ! Thanks very much !Wow you do some SERIOUS walks, Fair Play to ya

Only in the last week man. Up until I started with my mate i'd been doing 3 miles here, 5 miles there, 2.5 miles here....... it all adds up and it's central in my being able to hit my targets.

At first I was adding the calories I was exercising to my food allowance. This week i've stopped that and only use them as a "bonus". Means I just eat a little less it's no big deal. I'll have to wait until my next weigh in til I see any results.

JustLen

Jeenie thats some serious walking! how long would it take you to do the 18.5?

MrStuffins

JustLen wrote: »

Jeenie thats some serious walking! how long would it take you to do the 18.5?

I think it took us about 6 hours. We had done 7 one day, decided to make it 10 the next day......

We had planned on doing 10 yesterday too, except we hit 7, then decided to extend the route, hit 10, extended again........ until it got to the stage we were 15.5 miles in and 3 miles from home.

I've lost 1 stone in approx 7 weeks and have given myself the challenge to hit 200lbs by Aug 31st (i'm 215 now). Acheivable if I walk regularly but then walk like a mad man a couple of times each week :P

Ciderswigger

This guy is my inspiration.

And now you are too!
Thread most definitely followed.


Wishing you the very best of luck.

I am pie

Best of luck. If you have the money and time spare go see a PT in your gym. I cannot stress how helpful mine has been. It's a commitment in terms of time, money and sacrifice but i tried and failed several times on my own because i didn't have some borderline maniac forcing me to eat in a way i usually wouldn't have considered and making me push myself in the gym. Some people are lucky and find their own way, me, i needed a size 10 up the 4rse.

Ignore on your weight, focus on body fat % (forget about BMI), you want to loose fat and build muscle. You sound like you have all the focus in the world so set some tough goals and understand how you can achieve them.

Abdul Abulbul Amir

I've gone from 18st to 13 in the past, not at 13 at the moment unfortunately but working on it again. I can tell you how I lost that weight, if it works for everyone or not I couldn't say.

Basically I had a small set of fairly simple rules:

1. Eat every four hours. Nothing in between. Always eat at the 4 hour mark even if you aren't hungry.
2. Each meal should be around 500kcals
3. Eat nothing with a high glycaemic index, good rule of thumb is nothing 'white', like pastas, breads, sugar (brown sugar isn't much better!)
4. Do resistance training on each major muscle group once a week.

That's what works for me. In the beginning I did cardio too, but I soon figured out as Hanley said, that the amount of calories I was burning was negligible compared to diet control. I think the resistance exercise is important, it helps psychologically and your body will burn more calories as you muscle mass increases. Though, at the weight you're at at the moment, if you restrict your calories properly you should see rapid losses. Calorie count.

I managed to fall off the wagon after I hit 13st though, went back into old habits. They really do die hard!

3hn2givr7mx1sc

Thread followed as I'm currently in an all too similar situation.

Good luck!

vibes23

So since i wrote this last week i reevaluated my whole regieme and since sunday have put myself into 5th gear (again) Its so easy to get complacent.

For instance i walk into a shop and automatically head for the bars and crisps WTF :eek: my brain is pre programmed i swear! mind u i did swift left to the fruit stand got me a banana !

So for past few days has been all about prep. Prepping food, prep for gym. you know the saying fail to prepare, prepare to fail well its so true. By making my lunches for week on sunday and having them ready every day i leave the house with exactly what im goin to eat for the day. So far i haven't felt hungry or even had cravings for junk food. Just clean eating. Feels good but like an alcoholic i do feel that im only 1 slip up and off the wagon again. So im working harder at that.

So this week the changes i have made are:

Food prep
Smaller portions and measured portions
Replaced coffee with green & pepper mint tea
Finish up eating no later then 8.30 - (im in bed by 10.30ish as im up early)
Eating good sources of carbs / protein

Things i feel i still need to work on:

My cardio session in gym have been slowly getting smaller so need to fix that
Will introduce some good Core work within my session (planks etc)
Recipes - I need to keep my menu fresh

All in all feel good this week, i know its only wed but if rest week finishes as good i defo feel like i have made real progress this week.

And for first time i looked in mirror this morning and thought "jaysis this might actually be startin to work"

Thanks again...remember " Train insane or stay the same" :P

Adagiodiva

Hi Guys-

I'm female (obviously ) and I've gone from 20 stone to 11.5 stone in the last two and a half years. Still have a belly, Alot of it is loose skin and I have investigated getting a tummy tuck in maybe October or November...if I win the lotto. The tummy gets in the way of my workout regime which now involves doing bootcamp in the Phoenix Park twice a week and running 8-12KM three times a week.

My advice? You've got to set yourself realistic goals. It took your entire lifetime to put the weight on, it's not going to fall off. If you did lose the weight in six months, you'll out it all back on and then some, just as fast...because you won't have learned anything or have had time to make the lifestyle choices and changes that are required to maintain a weight loss. I still struggle ALOT with my weight.

A pound of weight loss is a calorie deficit of 3,500 kcals... remember that. if you aim to lose 3 lbs a week thats a calorie deficit of 10,500 calories for the week, you've got to undereat (yet not starve yourself!) or exercise off 10,500 calories... Just so you know, that's a deficit of 1,500 calories PER DAY! So please don't beat yourself up over ONLY losing 1-2lbs in a week..it's bloody hard work! It's worth getting your RMR (resting metabolic rate) checked out to see how many calories you should be eating, I'm afraid I don't know anywhere in Ireland that provides that service (I had mine checked in the US)... that will give you a starting point for your calore intake per day..alterntaively you can get a rough idea of what you should be eating (to maintain your current weight) on the various RMR calculators that are available online.... if you work back from that figure... i.e subtracting calories (1,500kcal per day for a 3lbs weight loss in a week, 1,000 kcal for a 2lb weight loss etc..) or committing yourself to a serious exercise plan..

Anyway, that's my two cents..I'm still watching what I eat, trying to eat "good calories" as opposed to 1700 calories of crap a day (it makes a difference)... keep up the great work, and remember... every excuse you make is a choice to fail... so stop making excuses and keep going!

Best of luck!

Sara

Dermighty

I was 23 stone and dropped to 14 and back up to 15/16.

Zamboni

Adagiodiva wrote: »

I've gone from 20 stone to 11.5 stone in the last two and a half years. Still have a belly, Alot of it is loose skin and I have investigated getting a tummy tuck in maybe October or November...if I win the lotto. The tummy gets in the way of my workout regime which now involves doing bootcamp in the Phoenix Park twice a week and running 8-12KM three times a week.

Good point for vibes. Don't rush it.
Some folk lose weight too fast and end up with excess skin (it's not as elastic as you would like).
You can lose fat through diet and exercise but it takes money and a scalpel to lose skin!

Gummy Panda

Zamboni wrote: »

Adagiodiva wrote: »

I've gone from 20 stone to 11.5 stone in the last two and a half years. Still have a belly, Alot of it is loose skin and I have investigated getting a tummy tuck in maybe October or November...if I win the lotto. The tummy gets in the way of my workout regime which now involves doing bootcamp in the Phoenix Park twice a week and running 8-12KM three times a week.

Good point for vibes. Don't rush it.
Some folk lose weight too fast and end up with excess skin (it's not as elastic as you would like).
You can lose fat through diet and exercise but it takes money and a scalpel to lose skin!

I remember reading something saying a lot of loose skin still has fat on it so you need to push to lower bf. Not sure if true or the level of lbm they expected people to have.

eaglebhoy

Dermighty wrote: »

I was 23 stone and dropped to 14 and back up to 15/16.

Care to share the details of how for tips please ? Cheers

madma

from reading this forum ive taken advice given to other that diet is the main thing.. and after years of staying around the same weight ive noticed a good start to changes that ive made at the start of this month..plenty of protein based meals..ive introduced veggies to the diet and cut out the majority of junk food and increased going to gym/ excercising. i dont have much to lose but im just about the lightest i have been in years.. hopefully ill push on and be another sucess story so far i think the diet has really boosted me. its not perfect but over 80% is very good

swimming in a sea

Deleted User wrote: »

Andy Kenny has a similar story. He was 17 stone, about 5'7"
http://www.andykennyfitness.ie/about-andy/
Whenever I think of giving up, I read his page.
I don't have the money for personal training, but he sometimes runs some free sessions on stretches and that kind of stuff.

Hope this isn't classed as advertising, but the OP is looking for RL examples.

Oh, and Vibes, best of luck. You've made the hardest step, realizing you have to do something about it. Fair play.

That Andy Guy lost more than just weight:D

Dermighty

Dermighty wrote: »

I was 23 stone and dropped to 14 and back up to 15/16.

Oh yeah, and to clarify I'm not 16 stone of **** either.

I train twice a day 6 times a week.

tmc86

Some great advice here and makes for a very interesting thread.

Trying not to cover what's already been said but just on the point of its taken you all your life to put the weight on therefore don't expect it to fall off straightaway.

this is a good piece of advice and I would say don't be too hard on yourself, don't set goals that are very difficult to make instead take your time (next ball, next ball as someone said) and allow yourself the odd cheat day or small treat and also rest days from the gym.

If you have an occassional treat or rest day you are more likely to stick with the diet and excersise plan in the longer term.

Also I watch a lot of videos on youtube around health and fitness and a lot of the CrossFit videos are a good way of motivating yourself and especially for learning new excersises because I think its important to keep your excersise plan varied so that 1. your body doesn't get used to routine excersises 2. you don't get bored and instead once you master a new excersise/weight you'll feel much more positive.

I like to read up on diet, nutrition and excersise plans too which again keeps me positive and motivated.

And most importantly for me - make sure you have an awesome playlist for excersise! I make new playlists/download dance podcasts every couple of days to really get that extra push in my training! it's amazing how much difference listening to something can affect your focus and workout!

Start off with Metallica - The Black Album

and finally.. Best of Luck Vibes, you can do it! Keep active on here too since there's a great support base!

Big Nasty

Four years back I was 17st, with a decent size gut but I was working out 3/4 times a week to include cardio and weights so relatively fit. You could say I had an aging rugby players build. Then I changed jobs to normal 9-5 hours and the training went out the window fairly quick. I had to either get up at 6am to train or go to the gym after putting in 8-10 hours in work. Neither appealed to me - I honestly found it easier to train when I was working odd hours. For over three years now I haven't trained at all and barely exercise. I'm now 20+ st. and am short of breath very easily.

Just this week I decided it was time to change my life before I end up on a hospital bed or worse. I'm on electronic cigarettes and finding them great. I've cut out the beer midweek. I've been walking 5km on my lunch break and same after work. I've cut out the breaded breast of chicken roll with crisps and coke for lunch and am now on wraps.

I've joined this thread not because I have a success story to tell (yet) but to let the OP and others know that they're not alone and it's not too hard to get back in to the swing of things. It's only been three days but I already feel infinitely better and am back to looking forward to a bit of exercise every, or at least most days.

WHIP IT!

MCMLXXV wrote: »

Four years back I was 17st, with a decent size gut but I was working out 3/4 times a week to include cardio and weights so relatively fit. You could say I had an aging rugby players build. Then I changed jobs to normal 9-5 hours and the training went out the window fairly quick. I had to either get up at 6am to train or go to the gym after putting in 8-10 hours in work. Neither appealed to me - I honestly found it easier to train when I was working odd hours. For over three years now I haven't trained at all and barely exercise. I'm now 20+ st. and am short of breath very easily.

Just this week I decided it was time to change my life before I end up on a hospital bed or worse. I'm on electronic cigarettes and finding them great. I've cut out the beer midweek. I've been walking 5km on my lunch break and same after work. I've cut out the breaded breast of chicken roll with crisps and coke for lunch and am now on wraps.

I've joined this thread not because I have a success story to tell (yet) but to let the OP and others know that they're not alone and it's not too hard to get back in to the swing of things. It's only been three days but I already feel infinitely better and am back to looking forward to a bit of exercise every, or at least most days.

Fair play to you Man - "a thousand mile journey starts with the smallest step..."

Keep it up and good luck...

Not to hijack the thread on the OP, but maybe if the people who have joined in this thread who have a similiar situation and similiar goals to the OP would like to keep posting here as they get their journey going, it could end up being a handy support-group type thingy for logging progress, having the odd moan etc... ?

Big Nasty

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Fair play to you Man - "a thousand mile journey starts with the smallest step..."

Keep it up and good luck...

Not to hijack the thread on the OP, but maybe if the people who have joined in this thread who have a similiar situation and similiar goals to the OP would like to keep posting here as they get their journey going, it could end up being a handy support-group type thingy for logging progress, having the odd moan etc... ?

Agree totally - that's why I replied. Anyhow, off to do 5k now!

hardCopy

The guys in the Athletics/Running/Triathlon forum regularly run weight loss challenges, usually some impressive losses in there.

Here is the previous thread, complete with results: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056604928

And the current session: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2056662081

MrStuffins

WHIP IT! wrote: »

Not to hijack the thread on the OP, but maybe if the people who have joined in this thread who have a similiar situation and similiar goals to the OP would like to keep posting here as they get their journey going, it could end up being a handy support-group type thingy for logging progress, having the odd moan etc... ?

Well i'm on the same path as the OP (although I wasn't 20+ Stone when I started).

Started at 229lbs approx 8/9 weeks ago.

Trying to lose 1lb at a time. Hit a full stone lost last week

And in this week's weigh-in i'd lost 2lbs (thanks probably to the long walking distances I mentioned a couple of pages back).

I feel fantastic! I've already lost my first stone and i've just taken a massive chunk out of the next!

I've roped my mate into this with me and he lost a stone in TWO WEEKS, he's a freak! But myself, him and a load of ther mates are going on a lads weekend at the end of August and he challenged me that I couldn't hit 200lbs by Aug 30th!

I reluctantly took the challenge. I'm now 213lbs. It'll be tough work but i'm gonna give it a go!

Big Nasty

MrStuffins wrote: »

Well i'm on the same path as the OP (although I wasn't 20+ Stone when I started).

Started at 229lbs approx 8/9 weeks ago.

Trying to lose 1lb at a time. Hit a full stone lost last week

And in this week's weigh-in i'd lost 2lbs (thanks probably to the long walking distances I mentioned a couple of pages back).

I feel fantastic! I've already lost my first stone and i've just taken a massive chunk out of the next!

I've roped my mate into this with me and he lost a stone in TWO WEEKS, he's a freak! But myself, him and a load of ther mates are going on a lads weekend at the end of August and he challenged me that I couldn't hit 200lbs by Aug 30th!

I reluctantly took the challenge. I'm now 213lbs. It'll be tough work but i'm gonna give it a go!

If you keep up those 18mile walks it shouldn't be too much trouble!

Best of luck!

Dermighty

eaglebhoy wrote: »

Care to share the details of how for tips please ? Cheers

Pre weight loss I drank 2 litres of lucozade a day, dominos pizza every day, ate 2 or 3 flapjacks (the ****ty kind) at a time and smoked a lot, I also drank around 10 pints 5 nights a week.

That was my lifestyle. A doctor told me I was prediabetic. I would drink in excess of 15 1.5L of volvic a day (putting that down to being prediabetic).

I decided to change what I was doing, though I didn't really know anything about diet or fitness, so I started eating steak and spinach almost exclusively, cut out junk food. I didn't exercise that much, but the weight flew off. I lost about 6 stone in 5 or 6 months, got down to 17 stone (of fat) and then just stopped. About 18 months ago I revisited the whole fitness thing and have been at it ever since. Usually weight around 97kg when I wake up in the morning, visible 6 pack for most of the day depending on what I eat ( I eat pretty much whatever I want, though I'm much more into actual food than alcohol or cakes etc).

The key for me at the moment is exercising twice a day (something my work schedule suits) and eating at the right times. I used to be a proponent of a single 2-3 hour session a day, whereas now I'm much more inclined to do two 1.5 hour sessions, which I find has me feeling better and more awake for the day.

I don't eat potatoes, white pasta or white rice and I minimise the amount of bread I eat (when I do eat bread it's always wholegrain or spelt). I eat fish (almost exclusively hake), chicken fillets (corn fed) and steak (sirloin only) or steak mince (sirloin steak). I don't eat pork and I very rarely eat other meats.

The supplements I use are whey protein, L-glutamine powder, lots of coffee and a preworkout some days.

boogle

Dermighty wrote: »

Pre weight loss I drank 2 litres of lucozade a day, dominos pizza every day, ate 2 or 3 flapjacks (the ****ty kind) at a time and smoked a lot, I also drank around 10 pints 5 nights a week.

Holy crap what a turnaround! Fair play to come back from such an extreme lifestyle and stick with the positive changes. I popped my monocle when I read the above statement!

Syllabus

i was about 19st at my worst

i started the Couch to 5k plan along with changing the diet and i dropped about 21lbs until i plateaued. i couldnt get below 17st. i eventually went with a PT once a week for 30 mins(as well as doing my own thing) doing HIT circuit training and he really changed my diet and within 6 weeks i was nearly hitting 16st.
a new born and long working days has knocked me back a lot over the last 3 months but ill get there!!

oh, and swimming is great

hope this helps

Baralis1

I'm in a similar situation to the OP. I'm 6ft and weigh around 21st. I've always been overweight and have always struggled to do anything about it. I lack motivation to keep a weight loss effort up for any length of time. I think I'm a binge eater, I eat large amounts of junk food at a time and most days nearly every meal involves some sort of junk food.

I had one very successful stint at weight loss but lost the weight way too fast. A couple of years ago, I joined a well advertised weight management company and did their program which involved a very restricted diet and protein supplements. I manage to slim down dramatically losing 5 stone in six months going from 20st 7 lb to 15st 7lb. However I went dramatically off the rails and put it all back on again in over a year. I have tried lots of other diets and programs with only short term success.

This week I've joined weight watchers and have taken up walking. Now I've just had two bad days but after reading this thread, I am motivated to get back on track tomorrow with a clean slate, eat clean for the day and go for a good long walk. I actually like walking once I'm out there, it's just the motivation to get up and go out especially when it's raining that I lack.

I'm going to keep an eye on this thread too and update if I make progress. I will also start a fitness log with this as the opening post so hopefully if I do make progress, I can help someone else get motivated to do the same.

Best of luck to everyone else in the same boat as me with their efforts.