Where to start...

[The_Tick]

I am fat. I would venture to guess the fattest one on the board. (Not something to be proud of)

I need to drop about 100 lbs. Not an easy feat I know, but it is something that I would want to do in the end.

So let me ask you this...

If you were 300+ where would you start? I obviously am not going to start running a marathon or power lifting. In fact...I have a great fear of running.

I like to walk, I love bike riding. Not tour de france stuff, or crits or centuries...10 miles on the bike trail with the family stuff...

I don't lift weights. When I was in school I could leg press about 900 lbs. But my bench was never more than 200.

If I wanted to slowly start shedding some weight....where would you have me start? I already know that I need to work on my eating habits...

[Coach McGuirk]

I am fat. I would venture to guess the fattest one on the board. (Not something to be proud of)

I need to drop about 100 lbs. Not an easy feat I know, but it is something that I would want to do in the end.

So let me ask you this...

If you were 300+ where would you start? I obviously am not going to start running a marathon or power lifting. In fact...I have a great fear of running.

I like to walk, I love bike riding. Not tour de france stuff, or crits or centuries...10 miles on the bike trail with the family stuff...

I don't lift weights. When I was in school I could leg press about 900 lbs. But my bench was never more than 200.

If I wanted to slowly start shedding some weight....where would you have me start? I already know that I need to work on my eating habits...

Tick, I am not an expert. You are going to get personal experience advice from me.

You have to start with eating habits. You eat wrong and you will not want to exercise, trust me. When I am eating wrong, I can blow off a bike ride or a run way quicker than when I am eating correctly and have the energy. If you are over 300 pounds, I would not start with running either, but I would start walking and walking hard. None of this family out for a picnic walk but really kick the pace up. Same with biking. You don't have to do hills or anything but I would push myself to feel like I put some work in. Get into something you love. Swimming is awesome for me, I love it and it burns huge calories.

Strength training, I am not of much use. I do sit ups and push ups, anything you can do at home. Anything past that, I haven't got a clue.


Lastly, don't push too hard in the beginning as there is nothing like an injury to put the damper on weight loss.

[Teenage Dirtbag]

If I wanted to slowly start shedding some weight....where would you have me start? I already know that I need to work on my eating habits...

I would have you start in your Doctors office. A thorough physical to make sure that whatever exercise you decide to attempt won't kill you before it makes you stronger.

Good luck, and post your progress often.

[RC Vikings]

Good luck Tick. I hope this goes well for you. I'm far from an expert but the things that work for me are no matter what are to make sure I work out six times a week. Even if it's just for 10 or 15 minutes get out and do something. The more I work out the healthier are my eating habits. Some other things I try to do is no soda, don't eat after 7 pm and only eat when you are hungry.

[UtahDan]

I am not a fan of small gradual changes. I think that it is easier to make big changes. If you can push through the first little while you see results and they provide the motivation.

I have had really good success with the south beach diet. Go pick the book up and try it for two weeks while you are walking at least two miles every day. The first time I tried it I lost 20 lbs in the first two weeks. Granted a bit of that as water, but at the end of two weeks I was committed.

For me I can't just stick my toe in. I'm on the wagon or I am off. I just think it is so much easier to make whole sale changes. You can make yourself do anything for two weeks and by then the habit is formed. You will also be shocked at how much better you feel.

[bluegoose]

I agree with you and everyone else that it all starts at the dinner table. Last winter I was working out like crazy, running and cycling 4 or 5 days a week, in addition to lifting weights once a week. But the pounds never dropped, and I actually added about 3 or 4 pounds.

Then I started watching my calories very closely, thanks to FMCougs recommendation to try Fitday. The pounds came off predictably a pound a week for 12 weeks and have basically stayed off for 6 months now.

Regarding exercise, try picking up a heart rate monitor and using it for your exercise. You can pick up a basic monitor for $20-30 nowadays. I find that I am able to keep my intensity where it needs to be if I have instant and constant feedback. 60-80% of your max HR is where you should be for fat burning. Anything lower and you aren't working hard enough, and any higher and you are more likely to ascend out of the fat burner mode to primarily carbohydrates.

[SteelBlue]

I would read the book Body for Life and attempt a 12 week cycle of that program. It's got weights, cardio and an eating routine that is incredibly effective. The time commitment is about an hour a day but it takes real discipline to cut out the junk food 6/7 days per week. Once you've completed a cycle or two of that program you could start doing some of the other things you currently fear because you'd be lighter and fitter.

[landpoke]

I've been working on dropping some lbs. also. One thing that has been effective for me is seriously upping my fiber intake. I aim for 200% of the RDA.

[PaloAltoCougar]

I've been working on dropping some lbs. also. One thing that has been effective for me is seriously upping my fiber intake. I aim for 200% of the RDA.

I agree with this, and at a time when I was shedding some poundage, found that eating major portions of some type of Colon Blow for breakfast, coupled with lots of water throughout the day (minimum 10 glasses), kept things moving briskly. My theory, which appropriately enough may be little more than talking out of my butt, is that the less time food lounges around in the alimentary tract, the fewer calories can be absorbed.

Of course, this is probably as accurate as my theory about golf--that the faster I swing, the less time there is for something to go wrong.

[Surfah]

I agree with this, and at a time when I was shedding some poundage, found that eating major portions of some type of Colon Blow for breakfast, coupled with lots of water throughout the day (minimum 10 glasses), kept things moving briskly. My theory, which appropriately enough may be little more than talking out of my butt, is that the less time food lounges around in the alimentary tract, the fewer calories can be absorbed.

Of course, this is probably as accurate as my theory about golf--that the faster I swing, the less time there is for something to go wrong.

Bulimics also use this rationale.

[DrumNFeather]

I have found that if you establish a routine first, the other things will come in turn.

I am currently involved in a fitness challenge at work and have lost close to 20 lbs since September. I started out by creating an excercise routine and pushing through the difficulties of soreness, fatigue, and out-of-shapeness for probably 2 weeks before I started changing my eating habits and it has worked well for me.

Once you make some progress, you realize that the more junk you eat, the harder you have to work to compensate and eventually you make the choice to not eat the junk food at all or limit yourself to one day a week...and when you do eat, it is like Portion control.

I draw a paralell between losing weight and living on a budget...both things require a daily concious effort in order to be effective and successful.

Set goals and reward yourself for crossing various thresholds. Establish your routine and work on your diet. Don't get discouraged! Understand that 100lbs isn't going to happen overnight, it's going to take a lot of time and a lot of energy.

[Surfah]

I am a big boy. I have always been large in stature. In HS I was an outside hitter on the volleyball team and played both ways on the football team at left tackle and defensive end. My freshman year of college I began to lift and exercise religiously, sometimes 2 times a day. I had a very motivated workout partner who was about my strength which makes a world of difference in the gym. I was probably pumping $100+ a month worth of supplements also. I have always been an easy gainer. I can build mass by staring at weights. My mother cried when she saw me change into my ski clothes that Christmas break. She said my legs were too big.

But then I had to deal with a bunch of crap in my personal life and the workouts stopped altogether.

Shortly after I left on my mission and I got fat. Arroz y frijoles. I was never really motivated to lose the weight. I carry my weight well and most people usually guess that I am about 30-40 pounds lighter than I am.

When I met Gidget I was at my heaviest, 293. She was a small petite hot little thing and I was a big slob. But she liked me so I knew she was the one. From that point I began exercising daily. I changed my eating habits. Stopped eating out and preparing my meals. I also tried to get a routine going as far as eating and sleeping were concerned. When we married a year later I had dropped 40 pounds.

Since then I slacked big time. I got to be very careless with what I ate and have now ballooned back up to 281 as of Friday last week. My brother-in-law who is no small man either called me up and asked what I weighed and posed a challenge to see who could lose the most weight between now and Christmas when they come to town.

So I am back on the wagon. I have cut out all sweets. I also don't like drinking calories. Any caloric drink is a waste IMO. So I have been drinking strictly water and a lot of it. I have been getting in some cardio 45 minutes everyday (not enough if you ask Gidget who has been doing at least that morning and night). I aim to start lifting here soon. I want to ease into it. Strength training with cardio will go a long ways. I encourage you to start doing some light stuff and you will see greater results with a combination of both rather than just lots of cardio.

These are just some things that work for me. Ideally I'd like to be about 225-230. With my frame and size I know that is what I can carry comfortably. I know that I will never be under 200 again. It's just not in my makeup. Let us know how you're doing.

[BigPiney]

I've been working on dropping some lbs. also. One thing that has been effective for me is seriously upping my fiber intake. I aim for 200% of the RDA.

also, this keeps people from trying to linger in the same room as you for too long.