Obese to FIT (22stone +)

The_Morrigan

I'd like to jump in here, if I may.

I'm currently battling the bulge and well 'getting there'.
At the start of October I was 230lbs (shocking for a 5'6 female) as of this morning I'm 216.6lbs. Still have about 40lbs to go though.

Exercise is hard for me.I have work and I've college four nights a week, so by the time I get home it's straight to bed.

I did however hire a cross trainer and I'm currently doing 30 mins a day when I've college and 60 mins when I don't (30 mins before work, 30 mins after). I also don't drive, so instead of hopping on the luas to get into town I'll walk or I'll walk to the bus stop that is a bit further from my house not the one beside it. Walk to lidl at the weekends instead of doing my groceries online and getting them delivered. Small changes are helping me a bit here.

I'm reliant on myfitnesspal for food, even as a learning curve for how much crap I could put in my body without thinking. That is helping me to think before I eat and make conscious decisions that if I get that large mocha with an extra shot I will have eaten all my calories for the rest of the day, so maybe I'd be better with a big mug of tea. But I'm also not kicking myself when I do fall off the wagon either. Colleagues were in town from another office last week and we were out three nights on the trot - it's impossible to avoid situations like that and I'm not going to beat myself up over it, just get up the following day and try to have a good day.

Beefy78

seamus wrote: »

15 minutes. That's all it takes really to warm up. Get out there, earphones in, warm clothes on and push yourself for the first 15 minutes. It's kind of horrible actually, but once you push past it you're toasty warm and considering shedding layers.
Edit:
Actually just thinking about that, a 2 hour walk after work is a pretty big commitment, no wonder you're hesitating. Any chance you could walk in and out of work, or even part thereof? That is, if you walked 45 minutes each way to work, you'd have your 90 minutes walk per day covered, and you'll have a tonne more free time at home.

The evening walk is on top of the 60 minute round-trip walk to and from work so in total I walk between eight and ten miles per day. I have toyed with walking an hour at lunch every day instead but it's the hassle of freshening up at work afterwards which puts me off of that.

It's the idea of the long walk in the cold which is off-putting. You're completely right that when I'm out there it's not that bad.

I actually rather enjoy the evening walks. It's given me a chance to catch-up on a load of podcasts and it's nice to feel like I'm out there doing something rather than sitting at home watching Netflix. Only real drawback once the weather has been confronted is that I don't get to eat until 8.30ish.

Magill

Been at this for about 9months now.

Started in March, was about 23.5 stone. Im 6'4 and naturally well built. Started piling on the weight from when i was maybe 18/19 (I was 24 in march), pretty much entirely due to overeating really.

Anyway something clicked and i finally got off my hole and started to sort **** out. Bought some weights and a bench, and cleaned my diet up really well (Probably started off eating too little thinking about it, but i didn't yoyo so i guess its fine). Had a bit of a blip during the summer as i'd gone back home during the uni break.. so for nearly 4 months i was stuck at the 19.5-20st mark... mummies cooking eh... i was going much heavier at the gym tho, nearly doubling my core exercise maximums.. so i guess it was kind of like a bulk....

Right now im a little over 18st, which was my initial goal.. but i think i may have another 10-15lb of fat to lose yet before im ready to stop eating in a calorie deficit.

Plan is to meet that target by the one year mark, so i've about 3 months left and then push on from there really.


Also as for exercising.. i tried losing weight before going to the gym and doing mostly cardio.. i always struggled to keep at it tho, this time i pretty much did no cardio until only recently where i've been doing 10-20 minute sessions on the bike/rowing machine at the end of a workout. I'll probably start running and stuff during the summer when i finish uni tho. One thing i found that really kept me going was doing the research myself, i think if i'd have just gone to a personal trainer or a nutritionist i'd have had a harder time sticking to their plans. For the first 3 or 4 months i spent a lot of time reading about how to do weights, adjusting my workouts, learning about basic nutrition etc It kept me focused and interested. I bought my own food so it was easy to rid myself of junk food etc

Lullymore24

OP I'm currently 98kg/ 15.5 stone BMI 29 (Over weight)

I was 14 stone for a lot of my Adult life but started piling on the pounds
I started at the Gym in earnest around 6 months ago when I was feeling very unhealthy.

I have put on muscle weight but Fitness has improved.
I bench pressed 100Kg (5 Times) this week for the first time (I started on 45kg)

I do have more Belly Fat than is Ideal, and fat under the chin.
Diet is my curse, hard to walk away from table.

I am getting in better shape though, my Arms are getting very muscular and so too my chest and my legs.
I ran 6.5km last week in 42 minutes, not fantastic but a vast improvement on 6 months ago.

I have good and bad days in the Gym (I wanted to puke last time)
But the Day I lifted 100kg and I saw people give me the nod of approval I was chuffed.

Look at it this way, you have the advantage of carrying around 20 stone with you, when you lose weight you will find exercising easy.

I wanted to get more muscular, so I focused heavily on weights, especially upper body.
Cardio burns calories, but I sleep better after lifting weights, which tells me Weights for me burn more calories.

I change around my routine so it does not get boring, but in the period of a week i have the same overall routine.

It will get better I know I feel more confident in a tight shirt now as my belly is not out of proportion with my body.
Also my confidence is improving.

I recently changed jobs so I got away from shift work.
I hope this will help my diet and sleep pattern to stabilize.

So keep the faith brother!!

Magill

Gratz on the 100kg milestone man !

Lullymore24

Magill wrote: »

Gratz on the 100kg milestone man !

Thanks man!

Beefy78

Just checking - does the tomato sauce on a Dominos pizza count as one of my five a day?

That was a bad weekend but I feel motivated this morning. Aiming for 40 miles walking this week. Let's do this!

Lullymore24

Beefy78 wrote: »

Just checking - does the tomato sauce on a Dominos pizza count as one of my five a day?

That was a bad weekend but I feel motivated this morning. Aiming for 40 miles walking this week. Let's do this!

:D:D:D:D:D:D

Try doing less walking and more jogging.
2 km walk is only ~70 Cal, 2 km jogging is double that.

If you can't jog, walk fast or up hills/inclines.
When I walk, very few can keep up.
Push out on your feet/calves when walking like you have a spring in your step.

Remember to stretch for at least 5 minutes and warm up before you do any exercise

Beefy78

Thanks for the advice. I can't jog though. I just can't do it and am not really interested in putting myself through conditioning my body to start to do it. I'd far rather walk for two hours than jog for 20 minutes.

Lullymore24

Beefy78 wrote: »

Thanks for the advice. I can't jog though. I just can't do it and am not really interested in putting myself through conditioning my body to start to do it. I'd far rather walk for two hours than jog for 20 minutes.

I had a mate almost 30 stone, he would go out walking and wonder why he was losing no weight.
He walked so slow that it was not using major effort.
Start small. Jog 100 metres then walk 5km.
Then 200 metres, then 5.5km walk.
I could not run 500 metres 6 months ago, now I can run 6.5km and hopefully soon 10km.
If you want to succeed you need to put in more effort.
(That's what I tell myself every day)

tinner777

beefy, get on that couch to 5km, it really is the business, i hadn't ran for over 10 years, can now do 5km, all be it at a slow pace

Beefy78

I literally have no interest or desire to jog no matter how many of you tell me I should be. I don't like it at all and jogging is more likely to put me off of the whole thing. I also did a bad injury to my left ankle several years ago and that makes running painful (not that that in itself would stop me)

I've lost the best part of three stones in two months and most of that is down to walking. I enjoy it, it's working for me and I don't really see the need to change that. And when I do change that in a few months time it'll likely be to start swimming and general gym work. Jogging isn't anywhere on my plans.

Thanks though!

Beefy78

Hope that didn't come across the wrong way. I appreciate the input but I really can't emphasise enough how much I loathe jogging.

Lullymore24

Beefy78 wrote: »

Hope that didn't come across the wrong way. I appreciate the input but I really can't emphasise enough how much I loathe jogging.

Bicycle then so, will get you further and faster.
I have a dodgy knee too.
I do weight training on it.
It has really helped.
The gym instructor I have is also studying Physio and showed me some really simple exercises that are really working for me.
I have made "Gym friends" and one is a body builder.
The guys that are completely ripped know the most efficient exercises for calorie burning and muscle growth and definition.

Boycott Domino's (They are my Nemesis too)

MrStuffins

Hi Beefy,

Let me tell ya, you're not alone on having a terrible weekend! My whole weekend was a huge disaster!

Was out on Friday night and had SO MANY pints.

Then on Saturday, in bits all day, I ate nothing but rubbish for the entire day. Washed down, of course, by a chipper dinner!

Then on Sunday I somehow found myself in possession of a massive tin of Celebrations, a large tub of Ben & Jerry's Karamel Sutra and a tub of Pringles among other things.

I'm seriously gonna have to get back on the waggon this week after thinking I was finished at 13.5 stone. I'm nowhere near that now I reckon :eek:

Beefy78

haha you're making me feel better about myself there! Work Christmas Party on Friday so this was never going to be a good weekend for weight-loss.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

this weekend I had a large pack of monster munch
a large tub of cherry cola fizzy sweets from tesco
4 snickers
a pizza + chip
sweet and sour chicken + 3in1 from the chinese
2x chilli doritos

also some pears


more so than the calories what annoys me most about that is how much it all cost. eating badly is so damn expensive.

Beefy78

Before I judge you I need to know a very important piece of information.

What flavour of monster munch?

MrStuffins

Beefy78 wrote: »

Before I judge you I need to know a very important piece of information.

What flavour of monster munch?

They're all so good.

I've been known to get one of those large Multi-packs with Roast Beer, Pickled Onion & Hot & Spicy flavours and to eat them all! Yum!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Beefy78 wrote: »

Before I judge you I need to know a very important piece of information.

What flavour of monster munch?

hot and spicy. was actually mighty munch now that I think about it and they only do hot and spicy I think

MrStuffins

SO how is everybody doing? did yas have a fat Christmas?

After getting down to 13.5 stone I was able to maintain pretty well but knew that Christmas was coming up and I wanted to be able to take a break from the wagon and eat/drink to my heart's content (especially since I had time off work over Christmas).

However, I know it's hard to mentally switch from watching my weight to not caring! Until a colleague of mine suggested this: That I set a target of PUTTING ON weight! So I did, I set a target of putting on 0.5 stone!

I know it sounds mad, but it was great. It allowed me to be a pig over Christmas and not care! And it was all backed up by the fact that I know that I can just lose it all back again in the New Year.

So, back to work tomorrow and back to losing it all again

Beefy78

A target of putting on weight sounds like a lot of fun!

I was going to bump this thread today anyway. It's been a tough Christmas and since I got back here form home on the 27th I've had three takeways including a monster of a Chinese on New Years Eve :eek:

That said, I found a shirt in the bottom of my cupboard yesterday which has never come close to fitting and I decided it would be my new holy grail - the thing I work towards fitting into to keep me motivated. But I tried it on this morning and it fits fine (and I'm actually wearing it right now) so maybe I've not had such a terrible Christmas period after all!

I've found it a little bit difficult to get back into any sort of routine however I'm determined for that to change. I'm flying to Las Vegas on holiday in 112 days (and 39 minutes - not that I'm counting down) time and I'm determined to have lost two stones in that time. 16 stones is my target weight for then which would be my lowest weight since I left school.

To that end I've set myself a target of walking at least 400 miles in those 112 days on top of my normal walking to and from work. I actually think I could manage 500 miles but psychologically I think I'd be better off aiming for a target and exceeding it than aiming for a slightly higher target and falling short.

After Vegas I'm going to mix up my routine a bit. I'd like to get a gym membership then - do some weights and get swimming for the first time since I was a kid. But right now I'm all about keeping calories down, getting my iPod on and walking as far as possible as quickly as possible.

Vegas, baby!

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar

Beefy78 wrote: »

That said, I found a shirt in the bottom of my cupboard yesterday which has never come close to fitting and I decided it would be my new holy grail - the thing I work towards fitting into to keep me motivated. But I tried it on this morning and it fits fine (and I'm actually wearing it right now) so maybe I've not had such a terrible Christmas period after all!

'gratz!
always a great feeling

MrStuffins

Congrats on the shirt man! It's funny how you don't really notice your own progress and think you're going backwards but it's actually the opposite. I remember that pair of jeans I used as a measure. 34 waist, it was never gonna happen. Right before Xmas I felt kinda bad and thought I was going backwards but went clothes shoppig and I was buying 34 waist jeans and L tshirts (rather than XL).

112 days you say? That is VERY doable. I work that out at 16 weeks. You want to lose 28 lbs.

If you were to aim for losing 1.5lbs per week you'd land on 24lbs. This is a very doable goal if you're determined and those extra 4 lbs would fall off if you just added a little extra exercise each week (I work that out at 850 extra calories per week, which is only the odd "No" to a chocolate bar and a few extra miles walking.)

400 miles is a nice goal. I think I might join you on that one actually! I WAS doing at least 5 miles a day but the only walking I seem to do now is at lunch from work (which is about 3.5 miles) so I reckon the target of 400 will have me out there doing extra whenever I can

Keep up the work Beefy, ou won't know yourself in Vegas

Beefy78

I'll race you to 400 miles mate!

I think 28lbs in 16 weeks is achievable as well. Seems like a steady and realistic weight-loss target to me. Of course seven days of gluttony and debauchery in Las Vegas will probably see most of those lbs going back on but that's fine with me.

nice_guy80

Is it me or are t-shirts and polo shirts getting smaller in fitting?

I can barely fit into an XL in a lot of clothes brands, especially around the shoulders

MrStuffins

Beefy78 wrote: »

I'll race you to 400 miles mate!

Challenge accepted!!! I'm gonna start at lunchtime and get a head start :P

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Is it me or are t-shirts and polo shirts getting smaller in fitting?

I can barely fit into an XL in a lot of clothes brands, especially around the shoulders

It's not just you. There was a time when I could go into Jack & Jones and pick up the tshirts I liked, each in L, and not have to worry about them fitting.

However, now I am back into a proper L again, Jack & Jones clothes have gotten much smaller.

In fact, I tried on some nice tshirts just before Xmas and found that not only was their L tiny, but their XL is even too small!

I have no idea who they are selling these tshirts to. Guys with small-man complex? I dunno!

Denerick

Thanks to a well timed post christmas stomach bug I actually managed to lose weight over the holidays - two pounds compared to when I weighed myself before christmas.

I think people should sell the norovirus in capsule forms, it would be the great diet pill of our generation!

Gummy Panda

nice_guy80 wrote: »

Is it me or are t-shirts and polo shirts getting smaller in fitting?

I can barely fit into an XL in a lot of clothes brands, especially around the shoulders

MrStuffins wrote: »

Challenge accepted!!! I'm gonna start at lunchtime and get a head start :P



It's not just you. There was a time when I could go into Jack & Jones and pick up the tshirts I liked, each in L, and not have to worry about them fitting.

However, now I am back into a proper L again, Jack & Jones clothes have gotten much smaller.

In fact, I tried on some nice tshirts just before Xmas and found that not only was their L tiny, but their XL is even too small!

I have no idea who they are selling these tshirts to. Guys with small-man complex? I dunno!

Probably the effeminate boy trend going e.g. Skinny jeans (otherwise known as ball stranglers).

Also it depends on where the clothes are supplied from. I remember Debehams had a spanish brand which put a chart on their dressing rooms. It said that if the shirt was XXL it was XL in UK sizes.

MrStuffins

Beefy78 wrote: »

I'll race you to 400 miles mate!

By the way Beefy, i'm 8 miles in already. 4 yesterday, 4 today.

Just 392 to go! I hope you're keeping up