Fat burning ideas

andyzee69
andyzee69 Posts: 193 Member
edited November 27 in Health and Weight Loss
After a year and a half on MFP, I've not made much progress. I work sitting down all day and have a young family to look after so don't have a lot of time. I'm 48, weigh nearly 300lbs and have 64% body fat. Does anyone have any proven ways I could burn more fat using diet and exercise? I can afford a gym membership so any exercise would need to be free or inexpensive. I do my best to keep under my calorie limits but still don't make much progress.

Replies

  • xxzenabxx
    xxzenabxx Posts: 935 Member
    Start walking. Go the park and take your kids too. How have you calculated your caloric requirement? At your weight it should be easier to lose the initial weight.
  • buffinlovin
    buffinlovin Posts: 100 Member
    One thing that helped me a lot is that my work gave me a sit/stand desk.

    I work in a call center and am tethered to my desk for just about 8 hours every day. It was really hard to get extra movement in aside from going to the bathroom or walking to someone for a question, and that is frowned upon.

    My job was trialing a Varidesk, and the person who was testing it didn't care for it, so she asked if I wanted it. Once I got it I refused to give it up :D Now I stand usually 6 out of 8 hours of the day and am frequently just walking in place. I got a few strange looks when I started but now it's just considered the norm to see me walking in place.

    Some employers will get you a sit/stand desk with a Doctors note, some may help subsidize the cost, etc. it would be beneficial to talk to your employer to see if they have any options :)
  • kshama2001
    kshama2001 Posts: 28,052 Member
    Lots of us have desk jobs. I make a point of getting some exercise at lunch. This makes me more productive in the afternoon, and increases my energy through the evening.

    Walking is free, but do spring for good shoes.

    If I had kids, I'd get a membership at a YMCA. I've belonged to a few over the years, and they all had great programs for kids of all ages. They also have a sliding scale based on income, which I used when I was underemployed.

    Gardening is another fun thing to do with kids. If you're in an apartment, there might be local community gardens you all can participate in. Before I moved in with my OH, there were no gardens. We've since put in two 4'x8' raised beds for veggies, three 2' x 8' for flowers, and a circle shade garden under a tree which I did 100% myself and was a lot of work!

    I got all the shade perennials for 50% off at garden centers at the end of the season last fall. Many perennials spread and gardeners need to weed them out or find a home for them, so you can find them for free on places like freecycle.org or craigslist.com. Strawberries and mint spread like weeds and I give them away on freeccyle every year.
  • AnnPT77
    AnnPT77 Posts: 34,257 Member
    In addition to the good suggestions above about eating and exercise, consider working to increase your non-exercise calorie burn. Those increased calories are hard to estimate/measure compared with exercise calories, but they do add to one's calorie needs. This thread has quite a discussion on the subject:

    http://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10610953/neat-improvement-strategies-to-improve-weight-loss
This discussion has been closed.