Fat and unhappy, 34 yr old Yoga/workout advice??

[GrindingAway]

I just skimmed this thread but thought I'd add my 2 cents.

I'm in decent shape, but still by far the worst shape of my life and a few months ago decided to do something serious about it. I tried the go it on my own route, running route and a few other routes and finally decided I needed something a little more structured/defined.

I looked into the popular workouts right now (P90X, Insanity etc) and didn't really have 60 minutes to commit to be honest with kids, work, etc (read: surfing cyclone fanatic) and I stumbled on P90 or Power 90 which is like P90X light. It's about 30 minutes 6 days a week. I may not be following it exactly since I didn't purchase it, but you can get pretty close with the workout descriptions and youtube. It's a good combo of weights, yoga, cardio, pylometrics etc. I also have been tracking what I eat with the Calorie Counter app from Fat Secret.

In 45 days I lost 12 lbs. I've also got better muscle ton then I have ever had. Even back when I played basketball and worked out regular I always had the skinny bean pole build.

I'm not trying to be a infomercial guy and in the end you need to find something that works for you personally, but thought I'd add my experience.

Also in the interest of full disclosure after the first 45 days I have pretty much plateaued, but that's mostly related to changing jobs and my kid's starting baseball and missing every other workout lately.

[CycloneErik]

Weight Watchers is a great program. I am 5'11 and weighed 255 lbs in 2003. Weight Watchers got me down to 217 in a few months. Since then I have strayed from WW but still do some of the basics but I have increased my exercise a lot. I am about 204 now and my physique is different. (I am not ripped at all, the fat is just much harder to see )

There is a machine we bought for our house, the Schwinn Airdyne. This is an exercise bike that makes you use your arms too. The cost for delivery and everything was about $670 so it is not cheap but being able to use it throughout the year is great. The bike lasts for years...

Worked beautifully for me, too, and the weight is still off.

[MNCyGuy]

Quit drinking soda if you do. You will be amazed at the difference

This is probably my biggest vice. I was doing pretty well avoiding it last summer, but then I hit a rough stretch at work and started having at least one a day. I also had a friend finally introduce me to the wonders of energy drinks and that made it worse. Trying to ween myself off again now. If you desperately need the caffeine, even switching to regular coffee (not the sugary Starbucks stuff) is an improvement.

[aauummm]

So, I have been an anthletic person my whole life, but as most people run into weither that be career committments, family commitments, or Kid commitments or just being too damn lazy, my physical activity has taken a crap.

Doctor says I should be around 190 llbs, but Im 230. Im 5"ll and am still fairly mobile, but I tire quickly and feel as if Im moving in slow motion sometimes. I need some HELP. No I dont wanna go pay for a trainor or any of that cockamamy commercialized ****. Anybody on her have any advice, I dont even know where to start. I need to lose 40 good llbs and preferrably so they stay off. My self confidence is shot and I feel like a whale and Im 34 yrs old, not too late to actually do something about it.

I know there is no secret pill and Im not afraid to work hard, its just been so long since i worked out regularly that Im just not sure where to start. So bottom line, I want to burn fat and gain muscle, not too much as getting big is not the idea. I want to lean down, yet be strong. Any advice besides the "smart *** ones" would be very helpful. I know I didnt want to do anything commercialized, but if somebody would recomment the Insanity workouts, then I would try it.

I also know that flexabilty also helps in all aspects of life so Im king of interested in starting a yoga class too. Anybody with any experience, or words of wisdom? Thanks again for any advice. Im just a fella trying to better myself to not only feel better about myself but to also make myself more appealing and lead a much healthier lifestyle. Thank you AGAIN!!!!!

I don't know if this has been mentioned in this thread or not and I don't want to read every post to find out, but get a physical checkup before doing anything drastic. You may have some physical issues other than weight that might need to be addressed.

Once you know that your physical health is OK, then you can jump in and do some of the more strenuous stuff. There is a lot of good eating, drinking advice in the few posts that I read. I too would stress water, water, water.

Actually, you have taken the most important first step to getting back in shape. That first step is to realize that you are out of control and need to do something about it. Now for the second step.....

[GeronimusClone]

In the last year and a half I've managed to drop 150 pounds. I found that the hardest thing to do is change how your mind works. My mind had convinced me of many things that weren't true. Now, I work out every morning and every night on my elliptical. I've totally changed the way I eat - no red meat during weekdays, more fruits, more veggies, no potatoes, no pop (diet or otherwise). I drink near 250 - 300 ounces of water in a day. You just have to be dedicated in whatever route you decided to take, and be accountable to yourself.

[cyclone13]

My physician told me that the healthy weight loss is around 1-2 lbs/week. My WW group leader also mentioned similar thing. But I believe everyone is different, male usually losses weight faster than females. Plus it depends on your metabolism, you can lose quickly in the first weeks and then start to plateau.

[GeronimusClone]

I'm going to try and hijack this thread for some of my own ends.

Over the past 9 months of my wife being pregnant I've basically used it as an excuse to abandon what had been a decently successful diet and workout regimen. Now we're about a week away from being home our first child and I want to get back into the swing of things health-wise, but I could use some advice on how to balance things.

Food wise, I'm less worried. My wife and I are both pretty committed to getting back to watching our calories and indluging less after the baby comes. Trying to fit in workouts when I know I'm going to want to come straight home more than ever is my main concern. I'd love to just abandon my gym membership and do something at home like P90x, but we still live in an apartment and I worry about pounding on the floor and getting noise complaints. I'm also not a great early riser, but maybe I need to just get over that. Any helpful advice is appreciated.

I was never a morning person, but I made myself start getting to bed earlier and getting up at 5 a.m. to get my workout in. It doesn't take long for that to become routine and feel "normal." But, I don't have a newborn either so that's probably going to dictate your sleeping.

[MNCyGuy]

I was never a morning person, but I made myself start getting to bed earlier and getting up at 5 a.m. to get my workout in. It doesn't take long for that to become routine and feel "normal." But, I don't have a newborn either so that's probably going to dictate your sleeping.

Yea, it seems like slacking, but I'm kind of waiting to get in the baby groove before I make any big changes, just because I'm assuming everything would get thrown out the window anyway.

I will say, the one thing I notice makes me sleep WAY better and get up easier in the morning is not watching TV in bed before I go to sleep. I got a Kindle for Christmas and have been reading before bed consistently for the first time since my parents let me have a TV in my room as a kid. I had heard that TV before bed really f's up your sleep cycle and I'm starting to believe there's a lot of truth to that.

[MNCyGuy]

My physician told me that the healthy weight loss is around 1-2 lbs/week. My WW group leader also mentioned similar thing. But I believe everyone is different, male usually losses weight faster than females. Plus it depends on your metabolism, you can lose quickly in the first weeks and then start to plateau.

men do lose weight quicker. When I was doing better last summer, my wife decided we should do the Carb Lover's Diet. She got ****** after a couple weeks because I lost a ton of weight right off the bat and her loss was a lot slower.

[VeloClone]

Yea, it seems like slacking, but I'm kind of waiting to get in the baby groove before I make any big changes, just because I'm assuming everything would get thrown out the window anyway.

I will say, the one thing I notice makes me sleep WAY better and get up easier in the morning is not watching TV in bed before I go to sleep. I got a Kindle for Christmas and have been reading before bed consistently for the first time since my parents let me have a TV in my room as a kid. I had heard that TV before bed really f's up your sleep cycle and I'm starting to believe there's a lot of truth to that.

I'm glad you said a Kindle and not an I-Pad. Reading an I-Pad can be nearly as bad as the TV due to the light it is emitting. It will work to wake you up rather than slow you down for sleep.

iPad: Don’t Read it Before Bed

And parents, please, do not let your kids have a TV in their room. You can head off a lot of life long sleeping problems if kids learn that their bedroom is for sleeping, not for television or video games.

[MNCyGuy]

I'm glad you said a Kindle and not an I-Pad. Reading an I-Pad can be nearly as bad as the TV due to the light it is emitting. It will work to wake you up rather than slow you down for sleep.

iPad: Don’t Read it Before Bed

And parents, please, do not let your kids have a TV in their room. You can head off a lot of life long sleeping problems if kids learn that their bedroom is for sleeping, not for television or video games.

Unless I get one through work, I really have no intention of getting an iPad. I stare at screens enough during the day.

[Colorado]

I'll just reiterate some things that I saw here.

1. start tracking calories now. Buy a cheap digital scale and weigh your food to control portions and to have a better idea of the calories your taking in.
2. pick a cardio exercise that you enjoy and start there. Walking, jogging and bike riding are goodl places to start.
3. After you've dropped a few pounds and have your eating under control, add in some weight training.

I've never been heavy but I haven't always exercised. When I started bike riding I found my passion in life. The calorie counting and weight training just add more enjoyment to my cycling. Try to find an exercise that makes you feel good when you're done doing it. Get those endorphins flowing and feel good when you're done exercising.

[CyBer]

I would say diet is the main thing, if you are way overweight take things slow and change your diet. You will lose weight if you count calories.

[bellzisu]

I was in the same boat as you. Almost same size and everything. I started biking like crazy. I would lose 25lbs each summer and gain 20lbs back once the weather turned cold.

I'm taking a whole new approach this year. Proper diet.... And biking as much as possible. This winter I got up to 230lbs at 6 ft even. Since biking started a month ago and proper diet I dropped 10lbs. I don't drink pop but maybe once a week. I drink mostly water now. I have a protein drink for breakfast and noticed a big boost in energy. I also pack a light but filling lunch along with a granola bar as a snack. Big difference in how I feel. Suppers are much healthier now also. Helps having a wife that is dieting and lost 10lbs in two weeks.

All my friends bike and are extremely athletic and it only helps push me, even though I can out bike them (even with there damn fancy carbon fiber bikes).

Goods luck and find something that fits you.