21 days

jcattz

Hi all! My first post here since "coming back."

An accident in 2022 laid me up for over a year. I have done all the protocol with PT etc, and am FINALLY "on the other side."

I had gained weight due to laying around recuperating (broken ribs, internal bruising, punctured lungs) but have lost a solid 10 - 12 of it. The remaining 15-20 I want to lose I intend to lose slowly over the next year. Not going to deprive or kill myself, but want rather to change habits and build a better active daily routine to stretch and walk/rebound - my 2 favorite ways to exercise.

Starting Tuesday, I have 21 days to committ to doing all I can for a stint as an extra on a show filming in TX. I may be walking outside, and may be on my feet for a few hours at a time. This is fine, I am a busy-body at home and regularly sit anyways.

I'm bummed I'm carrying more weight than I like, but I have lost some and am on the right track, so I'm not beating myself up.

What suggestions would you have for a 21 day focused routine to do as much as I can for weight and general fitness?

I drink a ton of water as is, started taking sea salt daily, and have a complete supplement/vitamin routine.

I plan to walk daily in the heat for some acclimation, and am doing an exercise in my yard where I high-step-walk and alternate touching my knees with my hands.

I know not to expect any miracles, but am sure there is info out there I'm not aware of that would help.

Looking forward to your input! Thanks!

AnnPT77

Fast weight loss and improved fitness aren't natural bedfellows. Neither is fast weight loss and improved appearance. It scares me when someone talks about short term timelines, like 21 days - I'm fearing that you might be talking about fast weight loss. I hope not.

Moderate weight loss is better for health, appearance, and fitness progress. If you're still rebuilding strength/fitness after your injuries, that's extra true. A common rule of thumb around here is to lose no more than 0.5-1% of current weight per week, with a bias toward the lower end of that range unless severely obese and under close medical supervision for nutritional deficiencies or health complications.

Overdoing exercise can also be counter-productive for either of fitness improvement or weight loss. IMO, IME, the sweet spot is a total exercise load that is manageably challenging. The "manageable" part avoids counter-productive overdoing, the "challenge" part creates fitness progress. There may be a few minutes of "whew" right after a workout, but generally the total exercise load should be more energizing than exhausting for the rest of your day(s).

As you get fitter, any given routine gets easier. When that happens, something needs to increase if progress is to continue. A person can increase duration, frequency, intensity or even change/add different types of exercise to keep that manageable challenge always in the picture.

Exactly what that routine should be depends on current fitness and other health factors, so it's hard to be specific. You don't say much about your fitness history, current fitness, preferences or knowledge levels. Stretching and rebounding are both good.

If a relative beginner, relatively low intensity cardiovascular exercise (at gradually increasing duration) build the endurance that's the foundation for later adding some intensity once or twice a week in shorter durations. Walking is a good start for many people. On the strength side of things, a progressive plan will have gradual increases built into it as you get stronger. Increases in weight are probably most common, but there are other ways to increase strength training intensity.

A combination of strength and cardio work will have the biggest payoff in health, functional abilities, and appearance.

There's a thread here with strength programs, including some that are bodyweight exercise requiring minimal or no equipment:

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/10332083/which-lifting-program-is-the-best-for-you

Best wishes!

age_is_just_a_number

sounds like you already have a good plan in place. If you’re looking for some little things then I'd suggest:

1. look for the ‘any little tricks and tips’ thread in this discussion group
2. Log your food
3. Be accurate with food logging
4. Eat sufficient protein
5. Eat vegetables
6. Stay at a caloric deficit

slow and steady

dhathorn1954

My success is showing up the scale. I have tracking my food and mindful of the necessary macros. I am a 70 year old woman with several health conditions and am on tremor/ seizure and depression / anxiety medicine. I eat between 1079 -1300 calories a day. I have been using the program for several months without losing weight although the plan shows In should be at as range of 185-189. Any help or guidance will be appreciated.

AnnPT77

https://community.myfitnesspal.com/en/discussion/comment/48687293#Comment_48687293

You would get better feedback by starting your own thread, rather than replying to one that isn't really about the same topic.

As a generality, if a person's weight has been entirely stable for literally several months - not slow loss, just ups and downs in the same range - then either the person is eating at maintenance calories on average, or there's a medical problem.

Assuming it's not a medical problem, which I'd have no basis for doing, then the problem could be logging inaccuracies, substantially lower than average calorie needs, or uncounted cheat days or oopsies. In that case, the solution would be to log absolutely tightly (it's a surprisingly subtle skill, easy to miss things), reduce calories eaten even further, or increase activity (daily life stuff or exercise).

I'm sure some of the old hands here would like to help you sort out what's actually happening and what to do about it, if you start your own thread with a clear subject line. Here, it's against the Community Guidelines for us to go off topic from the OP's thread.