Need some diet/fitness advice from the PH collective

[oilslick]

So I've just turned 35 and decided it's time I did something about my weight and fitness.

I'm 5'9 and 17 stone. My mum died of a stroke at 44 and my grandfather died of a stroke in his mid 50's. Given this, I would seem to be on the fast-track to an early grave. I've never really done any form of regular exercise and my eating habits are pretty crap. I live in hotels Monday to Friday with work, this gives me access to a gym but also means I don't eat very well.

I've tried the gym before, but I find myself knackered after a few minutes of doing pretty much anything and invariably just quit after a few visits.

Any advice would be very much welcomed.

[drivin_me_nuts]

oilslick said:

So I've just turned 35 and decided it's time I did something about my weight and fitness.

I'm 5'9 and 17 stone. My mum died of a stroke at 44 and my grandfather died of a stroke in his mid 50's. Given this, I would seem to be on the fast-track to an early grave. I've never really done any form of regular exercise and my eating habits are pretty crap. I live in hotels Monday to Friday with work, this gives me access to a gym but also means I don't eat very well.

I've tried the gym before, but I find myself knackered after a few minutes of doing pretty much anything and invariably just quit after a few visits.

Any advice would be very much welcomed.

A few things come to mind. Forget the gym for now - anything that forces you to step into a regime with failure already written all over it isn't for you. Not yet, maybe later, maybe never. Perhaps start a different approach and one that adds to your overall exercise minutes. Walk more, move more, gently at first. Work out(roughly) how much time you actually walk and move your big muscles at the momen; 10 minutes a day? 20 minutes? Start with trying to increase that, so that it becomes half an hour. Have a gentle goal for now and aim for three times a week. Even standing on your feet for longer is a help - it's the sitting down for long periods that is so damanging to health. (I found that changing your lifestyle and habits is about little victories, not huge wins and massive almost insurmountable goals).

Start gently and be kind to yourelf - what I mean by that is don't give yourself too hard a time at the beginning. Often, both your body and your mind needs a period of time to adjust to changes. Very few people have that 'on switch' to the kind of changes you want to make. It often needs to be a gradual shift.

As for diet.. there are many here far more qualified than me to suggest. If you already though that your diet is 'crap', therin lies the place to start looking. How much do you eat, what is it you eat, when do you eat it and WHY do you eat it. Again, for now, just take a good look at what goes into your body and what subtle changes you can make. Trying to substitute some of the crap for good things will of course make a difference, but again the changes you make are as much about the mental changes... For example, someone who says 'I don't eat choocolate - it's 'bad' for me', has turned someting that once once pleasurable into something that is now a restriction. To make changes, you can go one of two ways, you can exclude or you can include. Including new things, different things is easier on the mind and you are far more likely to continue with them if you feel positive about it.

It will take a while and any increase in exercise will stress your body and leave you feeling tired. Your body, your muscles, ligaments, tendons, bones, lungs all need time to develop and adjust. You are looking at probably three months or so of commitment to exercise before you start to get over that initial ache and physical awareness. Stick with it though (says a man who hasn't run in 25 years and is doing the NHS couch to 5k running progamme).

One last thing and a really important thing. Try and let go of yur fear of an early death. The mental stress of fearing early death can play very heavily. You don't need that in your life as a motivator for change. Make the changes you want, not because you are afraid of dying early, but because you want to live a longer life with greater potential in it. Small steps, little victories, encourage your mind and your body, not beat them both up.

[Animal]

You're fortunate to have hotel gyms!

Have you got a Kindle? Sit on an exercise bike and read for 20 mins or more. Once you can get to 30 mins or so start concentrating on pushing harder and travelling further.

Good snacks: nuts (almonds, brazil nuts, cashews etc) or oat cakes in small amounts, fruit
Drink lots of water - I make sure I get through at least 3 litres of water a day.

The magic secret? Consistency. The days when you're tired or can't be arsed are the days you'll really feel like you've achieved something.

Stick at it...

[Ordinary_Chap]

Here's what I'd do;

1. Get a calorie counting application - if you have a smart phone there's tons of them out there. If you want post your phone in this thread for suggestions from folks.

2. Start exercising now! - try 30-60 mins of cardio at least 4 times a week, aim to be on the exercise bike, rowing machine, swimming pool or at the weekend maybe a fast walk somewhere.

Do this for 3 months and make a deliberate choice to avoid sugar, fast foods and making sure you don't overeat. Then once you've done this for 3 months check back and the folks of pistonheads can help you with the next level but first its important to get the body working and used to exercise before trying to do too much. Burn out is the number one reason why folk give up.

Here's where I started again in 2010 after letting myself go;
http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

Also I'd encourage you to worry about your long term health, we know that at 17 stone and 5'7 your health is in danger and this initially can help to motivate you by the very real truth.


Top tips;
- Diet will absolutely be 80% of the end result. Everyone that starts this tries to avoid this simple truth in my experience
- Sugar, high carbohydrate foods & drinks are an absolute killer to diets. Cans of coke, other fizzy and alcoholic drinks can add a phenomenal amount of calories to your diet. Drink was/is always my biggest challenge. Same goes for sweets, sauces and similar foods.
- Consistency is the absolute key to all results
- The less processed the food is generally the better it is for you, your shape and your body
- Check portion sizes, a lot of folk I've helped often eat good foods but then at least 2/3 X too much of it


The other thing thats important is goals and what you'd like to achieve. It maybe inconceivable to you right now that you can get the body of your dreams but well you can, so tell us if you had the choice who would you like to look like or what is your ideal shape? Because if you keep at this then you'll need to decide this so you can choose the appropriate training for it.

Good luck!
Lee

[Hoofy]

Wow. Forgot about that thread. You did let yourself go!

OPer, one little thing to mention... not everyone has the willpower to give up everything so I would perhaps initially think about cutting down rather than cutting out but increasing the amount you cut out little by little until you're completely off sugar and other crap food.

My weakness is crisps. I used to buy an 18 or 24 pack with my weekly shop and devour it within 3-4 days if I really didn't control myself. (I wasn't fat but that's beside the point.) Then I started buying 10/12 packs, then last year 6 packs. Now, I have had 1 packet of crisps in the last 4 days which is a complete difference to what I used to do 5-10 years ago. Same goes for biscuits. I bought a st load of biscuits and they sit right here in the box next to my PC. I used to go through a packet every 2 days but I've decided that if I want to keep my carb intake in check (see the carb reducing thread), I am going to have to just stop eating them so here I sit with about 15 packets of biscuits unopened.

As for exercise, increase the intensity/duration over several months of training. At first, you might think you'll run 20km but, as OC says, you'll burn out and quit.

So to summarise, since this is about lifestyle, slowly but surely changing is a lot easier to deal with.

[amare32]

Start by not buying the stacks of biscuits/cakes/crisps/sweets and having them within easy reach in your kitchen. It's easy to give into temptation and grab a handful when you're bored watching TV etc.

You've decided to address your weight issue and that is a good start. If it has taken you years to put on the weight and have gotten used to it then losing it will not happen overnight and you'll have to work at it through time.

That's not to say you need to give up treats but do give yourself rewards if you've been following a good eating regime through say the week - not saying you should go for an all out binge as it would send you back to square 1 but it keeps you from going crazy.

If the gym is daunting then perhaps go and take up a sport so losing weight is a by product and it gets you out and about not to mention you'll have fun and is good socially as you'll meet new people too.