Hello New guy here and in a state of being overwhelmed

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  • Russquatch
    Russquatch Posts: 15 Member
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    thanks for the kind words.... just full of anxiety at this point, I've tried before but always had the "oh, tomorrow I'll do more" but would find myself slacking.... I do think at one point a couple years ago I was pushing 440 but no idea since the scales only go to 406... I do think I must be down some pounds already since the scales no longer say ERR when I stand on them ... they just jump around and go from 380 to 400 to 395 etc. etc. LOL ... but hey it's something
  • picklesroofus
    picklesroofus Posts: 68 Member
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    your walks are plenty

    (- fellow 30 minute a day 3 mph walker!)
  • gregpack
    gregpack Posts: 426 Member
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    Walks are great. Your body will tell you when it's not enough anymore. I would also suggest weightlifting once or twice a week and plenty of protein to hep retain lean body mass.

    Congrats on your start! I was your size once,knocking on 400. You've got a long road ahead of you, the trick is to stay on it. You can do it but you must be patient. Find a lower calorie lifestyle you can live with, and make short term reachable goals in 25 lb increments.
  • roanokejoe49
    roanokejoe49 Posts: 820 Member
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    How about using a heart monitor? Then you can know exactly what range you are in and not go to slow or too fast.

    Dude, seriously...this. Get a hr monitor TODAY. It will tell you if you are working hard enough, and, more importantly, if you are working too hard. Polar FT4 on Amazon for less than 75.00.

    Good luck!
  • ajff
    ajff Posts: 986 Member
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    Congratulations! You've landed in a good spot! People here are like gold!

    Man did I hate exercise. What is the point of walking if you are going nowhere (except a big, non-picturesque circle back to my house)?

    But I started doing it while listening to an audiobook. This helped because I wasn't so bored.

    Once I downloaded MapMyWalk, things changed. I loved how it gave me a number. A number I could beat next time. Suddenly, I had someone to compete with (be it total distance, calories burned, or pace... I could work harder and see numeric evidence of my progress).

    Now I just need to find another good book....
  • lemurcat12
    lemurcat12 Posts: 30,886 Member
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    I have been walking a couple times per week, but now plan on getting a good 30 to 60 minutes per day today I got 2 miles in this morning on the local track, and then 1 mile on mild hilly road.. been trying to do research on foods, brisk walking is pretty much all my dr. wants me to do until I start to get down a few pounds ... is this 3mph brisk walking good enough to be counted as working out for the calculations this site does? Or are they asking for something more intense?

    Great start! I was at 220 when I started getting healthier--I'm only 5'3, so for me that was quite a bit beyond what's healthy--and at first all I did was try to walk as many places as possible instead of driving, and it made a huge difference pretty quickly in my ability to be active. So I think walking briskly every day definitely counts.

    I think what you MAY be asking is if it's something you should log? First, when MFP asks your exercise at the beginning that is so you can set a goal. It's NOT taken into account in the calorie goal until you log it. Second, for walking that you plan to do every day there are 2 ways you can account for it. If you are sure you will do it each day, you could give your activity level as "lightly active" and not log it, or you could give your activity as sedentary and log it. It does count as exercise under the MFP system (as it should), and if you are on sedentary you should log it.

    I started at sedentary and logged planned walks like yours until I got a Fitbit (pedometer thing that can be synced with MFP), and lost doing that. Later I changed to a higher activity setting and stopped logging walks, since they were definitely part of my daily routine, but both work about the same. It's just what you prefer.

    I hope that helps simplify it, rather than the opposite.

    Welcome and good luck! It sounds like you are off to a great start and I'm sure you can do it.
  • pattyangel773
    pattyangel773 Posts: 1
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    Hello, I think you are doing great. You are moving and that is all that matters. Dont push yourself too hard or fast to start with, yiur body is getting use to the newness. After 2-3 weeks of what you are currently doing, I would then add some longer walk times or more intense work out. Keep up the good work.
  • daveloan
    daveloan Posts: 4 Member
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    If you have a smartphone, you can download a number of apps to monitor your exercise. I use RunKeeper, which can monitor your walks for you, and eventually your runs and cycling maybe! It talks directly to MFP, so all of your exercise calorie burns get logged. I find combining MFP with an exercise monitor really helpful and it encourages me to exercise more.
  • karenmarie1234
    karenmarie1234 Posts: 16
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    Hey Russquatch, I know exactly how you feel. I knew if I didn't start doing something/anything to get my weight and health under control, I was going to drop dead in the very near future.

    I have a suggestion for your exercise issues. I'm not affiliated with the company but get a FitBit Flex. (About $99 dollars.... and worth every penny paid for it.)

    You can track your food intake here, and link MyFitnessPal to the free Fitbit app. FitBit will tell you how much to walk, how many calories you are burning, if you are working at a slow, moderate, or high intensity pace. It will tell you how many more calories you can eat for the day, and project how much weight you should lose if you stay at the same pace. It will set easy to reach goals of increasing difficulty, and tell you when you are doing a great jobs. It has LOTS of easy to read graphs and charts. So if you are a visual and/or cold hard facts person, you will really like it.

    (I love those big green smiley faces that call me "Champ!") :)
  • Nige_Gsy
    Nige_Gsy Posts: 163 Member
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    Welcome Russquatch.

    Firstly, no need to feel overwhelmed, there's plenty of folks here all in the same space and all looking for guidance and support. I certainly felt that way when I started out too.

    If I can help at all I will do, and you can friend request me if you think that will help in any way.

    The advice you've received so far on this thread is just about spot on. I can't recommend getting a heart rate monitor more highly; they will certainly give you a better / more accurate calorie burn.

    Good luck, and don't hesitate to call on the good folks here; the vast majority are absolute mines of information, and genuinely helpful.
  • Russquatch
    Russquatch Posts: 15 Member
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    I'm still feeling so stressed mostly about my diet ... trying to relearn how to eat, ... as for walking I can keep a good pace going I can get a mile done in about 20 minutes and not be sore after. and can keep the pace for at least two miles. my heart rate while walking goes up to about 100 beats per min. my normal resting rate is around 60 to 65 beats per minute. but if I go faster I tire out and can't keep up the pace.
  • Spresto2
    Spresto2 Posts: 53 Member
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    Hi!! Add me as a friend if you'd like and I'll try to help motivate you often and be around if you have questions and need a shoulder to lean on. I'm on MFP everyday, usually a dozen times!! HAHA, I love it and use it like facebook because the friends I have on here are extremely motivated to get fit and inspiring to communicate back and forth with. You will like this site if you reach out to a few people and build a friends list. It adds to the whole weight loss experience and really has an amazing effect on overall results if you let it. To answer your question about walking...if you are walking at a comfortable pace for YOU, where you can still hold a conversation with someone, but you feel like you are slightly pushing yourself beyond a relaxed mosey, I think that is a good pace to start with for walking. I would suggest adding on 10 minutes a week to your daily walks, until you are walking an hour a day. Once you get to an hour a day, and if you have time, I would suggest to you to add on an EXTRA walk, and slowly build that walk up to an hour as well so that eventually, maybe within a three month period of time, you are actually taking TWO one hour walks, most days of the week, as your schedule or weather permits. One walk in the morning time or afternoon and one walk in the evening. Walking is an amazing exercise for a beginner, great for intermediate exercisers as additional calorie burning on top of more rigorous programs and frequently overlooked for restorative benefits for those who are advanced in fitness. Walking truly belongs in everyone's program of fitness. I wouldn't stress too much about your pace at first, since it's new to your body just to get out everyday and walk for a while. Just push yourself slightly, but make sure you are at a pace you can maintain for an hour eventually. I agree with everyone out there to invest in a heart rate monitor which can be purchased on Amazon.com easily (Polars are just fine) or fitness tracker like a fitbit or jawbone or at least get an app such as "mapmyrun" which will track your distance and your true pace. As for calories...I've been reading that the more weight a person has to lose, the less important it is to make sure you eat ALL your calories you are targetted to eat for weight loss. It becomes much more important as you lose weight and get to a leaner weight that you really do eat at your set amount of calories for weight loss. The really important thing is that you are eating enough to not feel light headed, that you eat lots of protein, you are not starving yourself and you feel full of energy. Start incorporating healthy foods into your foods and try try try like the plague to stay far far far away from fastfoods and soda pops as your first mission. Then slowly knock other junk out as you add healthy foods like fruits, vegetables and lean protein in. Protein is really important. So is water. Ok I'm done. :)
  • massivediet
    massivediet Posts: 54 Member
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    It is awesome that you're already able to walk so much! I am 170 pounds and if I walked that much and ate 2600 calories, I would just about maintain my current weight (of course, that is with being active rather than sedentary the rest of the day). I imagine that for you, the calorie deficit is great and will have you losing at a sustainable rate. It seems like most people think that it is safe to lose at a faster pace if you are well in the "obese" category, so it would not be out of the question to kick things up a notch to lose faster.
  • _runnerbean_
    _runnerbean_ Posts: 640 Member
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    I'm still feeling so stressed mostly about my diet ... trying to relearn how to eat,
    Hello and welcome to MFP. I am new too, I joined 3 weeks ago. I found the first week the hardest for a few reasons- logging all the food takes longer at the start- after a few days you will be eating foods you have eaten before and it is much quicker to log. Also, it took me a few days to balance my food out so I didn't feel light headed. I now have protein based snacks through the day which prevents me feeling lightheaded from low blood sugar. What I am trying to say is stick with it for a few days, after a week things will get easier and you will start to see results ( on the scales or the belt!).
  • dawnmcneil10
    dawnmcneil10 Posts: 638 Member
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    There's really no reason to stress yourself out over weight loss. Yes it's scary to see those big numbers, it's hard when walking leaves you in a full blown sweat but if you embrace the process you'll find it will come a little more naturally with some time. Keep doing your walks and I would suggest buying yourself a tracker of some kind, I have a garmin, others will tell you they have fitbits (which might be better for your current state) basically just something to see where you are at now, and then you can actually see your progress in ways outside of the scale.

    The calorie thing you kind of have to figure out on your own as each of us is different.

    I've been on my journey for 14 years now, didn't even realize I'd started a journey back then but I've made all kinds of subtle changes over the years and nothing is off limits for me I just found my own balance. I lightened up the old comfort foods, found I love to eat a salad a day and don't get me started on exercise, I'm like a freak I love to move now. When I started out all I did walk about 15 minutes a day, it's what I was able to enjoy, it didn't feel like exercise.

    You're welcome to add me as a friend if you'd like, I'm on here every day unless I happen to be outside of a wireless area having fun and I'm more than willing to give guidance and support. You're doing an amazing thing for yourself!
  • amberj32
    amberj32 Posts: 663 Member
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    Congratulations! You've landed in a good spot! People here are like gold!

    Man did I hate exercise. What is the point of walking if you are going nowhere (except a big, non-picturesque circle back to my house)?

    But I started doing it while listening to an audiobook. This helped because I wasn't so bored.

    Once I downloaded MapMyWalk, things changed. I loved how it gave me a number. A number I could beat next time. Suddenly, I had someone to compete with (be it total distance, calories burned, or pace... I could work harder and see numeric evidence of my progress).

    Now I just need to find another good book....

    Dammit! Audiobook! Best idea ever!

    OP - 3mph is plenty fast enough. You are doing great.
  • Flyers1010
    Flyers1010 Posts: 71 Member
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    Hi. First, take a big deep breath and exhale. That is for the feeling overwhelmed. Second, congratulations on making a wonderful life choice and welcome to the site. You have made a great start. Like others have said, just log your food and log your exercise (it ALL counts) and you are well and truly on your way. It is a lifestyle change and permanent, so it will take time to adjust. You have the support of your doctor and the support of this community. You will do great. One good choice leads to another. All the best to you!!

    Awesome advice and support. Love it!

    Good luck, russquatch! (I hope that's the right user name? Can't see original post.) Congratulations on getting started and making this life-enhancing decision! Remember to come to the Community boards whenever you are having that overwhelmed feeling.
  • slucki01
    slucki01 Posts: 284 Member
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    Hi Russquatch,

    Congratulations for joining the group, it can be a good support system. I also suggest the FitBit monitor -- I have a Fitbit one model. It's good for tracking your steps and mileage and, for me, it's a huge motivator. I set goals and I friended a few other people who have monitors. The goals and the friendly competition with friends really pushes me to get up and move more.

    I also found a group of folks to walk with (check on meetup.com to see if there's a walking group in your area). We walk in the morning 5x a week. Having others to walk with makes it more fun and you'll be more likely to get up and go if you have people expecting you at a particular time. Working out with weights can also help speed up your progress but, for now, walking is a great place to start.

    Don't get discouraged. Losing a lot of weight takes a long time and it's hard to stick with it consistently. You've taken the first steps, just keep trudging along and you'll get there. When you feel your motivation starting to lag just let us know and we'll pump you up.

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