Long time couch potato.

BeHealthy_HaveEnergy

Hi, I have been living a very secondary life for a long time and I am in very bad shape. I have a lot of lower back pain which is probably just because it's weak. (I can't afford to go to the doctor to find out for sure) So I'm looking for some exercises I can do with low back pain. I'd love to learn yoga. Maybe someone can give advice on good yoga videos for beginners. (free on youtube would be great) I won a trip to Florida and I'm going April 1 and I would love to lose 20-30 lbs by then. I'm just not sure where to start. (ps. I don't eat veggies) Also my legs have really BAD cellulite that I'd like to try and reduce before then. Winning this trip has given me the motivation I've needed for a long time. I just need advice on how this 51 year old couch potato can get into shape fairly quick. Thank you.

pondee629

Go for a walk. A good start. Gradually increase the distance you're walking.

jemhh

^^^ That. Walking is a great exercise, especially when you're starting out. There's no need to learn a new skill or anything. You can do it nearly anywhere (even at home) and for just a few minutes at a time until you work up to more.

lorrpb

Congrats on your amazing win! I agree with abive. Start by walking short distances and walk a little further each day. Read the sticky posts, set up your stats in MFP to lose 1 lb per week. Get a digital food scale. Weigh and log all your food. Start by logging what you currently eat for a week to get a baseline. Then reduce 100-200 cals per day each week til you meet your MFP goal.

Tacklewasher

BeHealthy_HaveEnergy wrote: »

I just need advice on how this 51 year old couch potato can get into shape fairly quick. Thank you.

Short answer is you can't. And trying to is probably going to hurt you.

What you can do is improve from where you are now and start on a longer term goal of getting into shape.

And this is from a guy who started at 330 + lbs at 51. 2 1/2 years later and I'm 210 ish, running 30-40km a week and lifting 3 times a week. And there are people here who have more impressive stories.

First of understand that weight loss is from reducing how much you eat. Exercise is a small part of weight loss, so start by putting your info into MFP, pick a reasonable weight loss goal (which may be 1 lb a week) and start with the calorie counting. Don't assume you need to eat 1200 calories. Pick a goal that you can sustain without leading to binges. Find some veggies you like (I eat raw carrots and snap peas) but understand that you don't need to eat rabbit food to lose weight. Track what you eat now and see where you can cut back on calories without being miserable. Soda/Pop is a good first target for most.

Yoga with Adrienne (may not have spelled that right) has a lot of good youtube videos at all different levels.

Going for a walk is also a good start.

beatyfamily1

Unfortunately, exercise can only get you so far with fat loss. Start with walking. I would suggest very light weight training just to get you used to moving. Diet is number one when it comes to fat loss. You may not like vegetables but I strongly suggest you start including them in your diet especially green vegetables and start cutting out fast digesting carbs. They will help cut down inflammation which could be a partial reason for your back pain. That certainly was the reason for my pain. I have sciatica from a work-related injury many years ago. Sciatica never completely goes away but now it only flares up in the spot where I got hit during very cold weather compared to when I was eating a lot of inflammation-causing foods that caused me to be in pain all the time. It will take time but if you can work toward a whole food diet it will help you tremendously.

PaigeAnderson1793

Walking like others have stated is a great starting point. I'd recommend fitness blender on YouTube for yoga videos. If you go to their website fitnessblender.com, they also have a lot of quick and easy low impact beginner exercises.

spiriteagle99

Many years ago, my mother and I took a comprehensive trip to England that was a longtime dream of hers. We didn't have a lot of money, so it was a low budget trip, but we wanted to explore all the places we had read about. She was obese at the time and not used to getting much exercise. I knew that we would need to be able to walk comfortably in order to enjoy the trip, so several months beforehand we started doing walks every day and just basic calisthenics at home. It made a huge difference. There were a few things she couldn't do, but not many. We were both happy that we had done some real training as it made a huge difference. Having the motivation helped us both. It got me into a much more active lifestyle afterwards.

BeHealthy_HaveEnergy

Thank you all for the GREAT suggestions, I am definitely going to start walking even if it's down the drive way and back. (I have a long drive way) And I'm going to check out the videos, I've never done yoga before but I've always wanted to learn. I'll also check out prices for a food scale. Thanks for the help, I appreciate it.