friends and weight loss need some advise

shelbyentendu

Hello all,

My most recent journey has started in part to my boss/friend/trainer. She was my boss/friend first and also a personal trainer. We worked out a deal where she would meal prep for me, breakfast lunch snacks and also we work out with a small group at the local park after work 3 days a week. My first mistake i think was getting involved with a friend / boss to do this and now i'm at a bit of a cross roads.

We have been working together for 3 full weeks as of tomorrow, I have not went over calories since we started and have stuck to the exercises and lost 9lbs my first month, YAY!

However.. When i was doing it on my own I lost 11lbs in the same time frame and was spending a lot less money and time...I was also eating a lot of junk still and drinking quite a bit of soda which ive cut out to one can a day (from 7-10).

I work an hour away from home so leave at 7AM and after drive time, work out time and work itself have not been getting home till close to 8PM the nights I work out due to having to wait for the whole group to start etc. The exercises we have been doing are also all quite hard for me minus some squats and a few arm ones.

I am debating trying to keep her food making with my quick gym sessions (45 min - 1 hr on the elliptical and strength machines maybe incorporating some of her exercises) so I can get home earlier and possibly lose more. However, am nervous to suggest it.

she keeps telling me to be patient that I am doing good etc, I just dont feel that way. I'm not feeling the same type of progress I was. I dont feel the workouts are as beneficial as they could be because a lot of them I cant complete property etc even modifying them most are too hard. (I am approx 340lbs with bad knees and little exercise experience.)

I guess my question is, if I'm trying to lose more weight the fastest (I get unmotivated easily without seeing progress) should i be doing strength and minimal cardio or mostly cardio with a bit of strength? Sorry this was a jumbled rant and Thank you!

markjacobs1987

I'd say a good mix of the two is best for overall fitness. They will both help you shred the pounds and both are important with achieving total fitness. If you want to focus on one more than the other though just go with what you are more comfortable with. Everybody is different and exercises aren't one size fits all. Some people enjoy cardio more and some enjoy strength and resistance more. Do what you are comfortable with and works for you. Also remember most of your weight loss is going to come from the kitchen. Exercises helps burn the calories, but it's the exercise in combination with the healthy nutrition that will get you where you want. I hope this helps!

momma_hav

I agree with Mark. But you also have to realize that you will not continue to lose at the same rate as the first month. I went from being a total couch potato type, (found out that I was averaging about 1800-2000 steps a day) to averaging about 5500 steps a day the first month. Lost 14 lbs without really making a lot of food choice differences until halfway through and even then it was just recording my food not really changing what I ate.

I have settled in to a fairly steady 1.5-2 lbs a week now and I go the to the gym 3-4 times a week and stay under or at my MFP calorie levels. I lost 24.8 lbs the last 12 weeks during my 12 week Ton of Fun challenge. Just finished my in between week and weighed in today for my next 12 weeks. I had 2 slow under 1/2 a pound weeks but then had a big 8 pound week right after.(My husband had a heart attack the week I didn't lose much and I am sure the stress had a lot to do with it. You are welcome to look at my diary and progress chart. I started at 321 and now I am at 283 since April 1st. I have lost a lot much more quickly before but it always seems to creep back. I am truly changing my lifestyle this time around and I feel really great about it.

tomaspetro

You can lose weight eating cheetos and drinking coke as long as you're under in daily calories. Of course this wouldn't be a healthy solution. As far as cardio goes, I started at about your weight and I lost 60 of my 85 pound loss doing strictly treadmill workouts with my heart rate elevated and maintaining an exceedingly boring but effective diet keeping my intake under 1400 calories. Treadmill is about all I felt I could do but , in reality I could have also been doing upper body strength training. Of course time can be difficult to find but I've recently decided that 90 minutes a day of whatever exercise is going to be my number for a while. My leg injury stopped this but I will get back to it.
I also decided to hire a personal trainer and, yes, the cost sucks, but I don't plan on being as fat as I was ever again and look at this as a one time investment. The advantage is that this is going at my pace and I am learning some, but it's probably most important as a health commitment.
As long as you trust yourself enough to know that you're not just making excuses to quit, I would say make changes until you feel comfortable. Record your food as accurately as you can until you more or less know where you need to be for your desired weight loss. There were some weeks where I was super-consistent and the scale didn't move when I wanted it too. My wanting that number to drop had no effect on it but time eventually did and if I look at my weight lost on a graph, there has been a steady decline that doesn't exactly fit MFP predictions but is close enough.
You are unique but your situation isn't so you should find a lot of specific workout help on the forums.
Stay strong

MelodyandBarbells

I think it's fair to suggest a modification but I don't think you should quit your boss cold turkey at all. If you have concerns with the exercise, I do suggest you talk to your doctor just to make sure you're experiencing inappropriate pain and not exercise discomfort which all of us still experience, but can be much worse when starting out. I still do modifications during exercise, when needing to catch my breath, etc. Personally I would rather see you work with her to make sure she's giving you appropriate mods where you're actually working and getting something out of it , and not just standing there watching all these superman exercisers flying through the air because hello, normal people can't do this ****.

If you need to go home on time to get some normal sleep or take care of a family, etc, I'd say yeah get it done. Otherwise fitness and nutrition can take some time to get it done. I understand you "could" do a lot of this by yourself, but I'd suggest transitioning slowly and making sure you're appropriately replacing anything you stop doing with her. I think you have a better chance of doing this right if you make any changes bit by bit

FindingAmy77

I'd say a good mix of the two is best for overall fitness. They will both help you shred the pounds and both are important with achieving total fitness. If you want to focus on one more than the other though just go with what you are more comfortable with. Everybody is different and exercises aren't one size fits all. Some people enjoy cardio more and some enjoy strength and resistance more. Do what you are comfortable with and works for you. Also remember most of your weight loss is going to come from the kitchen. Exercises helps burn the calories, but it's the exercise in combination with the healthy nutrition that will get you where you want. I hope this helps!

yes. this. if it gets you sweating then you are doing great. no matter what modification you need right now. its great you have a friend helping you out. there is so much to learn as you progress through your journey. I do think that making your gym time count is going to help you so can get home earlier. I really like circuit training. It combines cardio with strength training. You may want to look into it in the future. I found many helpful videos on youtube about it. Its what I do when I actually go the gym. Mostly I walk or swim. In your feetime, try to learn as much as you can about beginners fitness and nutrition. You can find so much on it. I make it a habit to watch or read something new almost everyday. I like the youtube vidoes that have the lectures from colleges about nutrtion and/or fitness. I get most of my fitness trainer advise from youtube since a lot of fitness trainers and nutritionists have their own channels. Just filter out the unhelpful or unhealthy advice you may come across. (Use common sense when it comes to anything you read or hear on the internet of course ). Its all a learning experience. I know so much now than I ever did before just by gathering up any info I can. THe friend/trainer can help you for now but when you feel you are ready to do more on your own then go ahead. As long as you keep doing it and never stop trying then you will achieve success.

RodaRose

Talk to her about how she can help you protect your knees. Speak up more about other modifications as well.