overweight by 100lbs+, best exercises?

messiahs

Should I be focusing on cardio, or weight training, or both? What sort of weight-lifting or weight-training should I be doing, as a beginner? I know you guys have helpful links and advice a lot of the time so I was wondering what would be best for me to do at home, after my classes. I can't afford/can't reach a gym as I am right now, but I have an elliptical, a workout bench, and dumbbells at home. I enjoy things like squats, but haven't started those yet.

I've just been doing elliptical or going out on my bike, both for about 30 minutes, 5 days a week. I do some simple curls and half sit-ups as well, 3 times a week. (I've only been going on the weights for 1 week so I wanted some info!)

Also I'd love to have more friends for support on this site - add me!

augustremulous

Hey there,


I think the hard part about intense activity when you're heavier is that it can lead to injury pretty easily. You really have to take an exercise program and tweak it to be more gentle. I made the mistake many times, and have pulled backs, achy knees, and a fractured metatarsal.

I'm trying to lose about 50 pounds. I've lost 30 so far so I was 80 pounds overweight when I started. At that point, I just made sure I took a 40 minute walk every single day, and cut calories. I often went to bed hungry, but only a little hungry.

Now I'm 205. I just started the Jamie Eason LiveFit program, but I'm going super gentle and substituting a lot of the exercises for modified versions so I can keep up the form and work the same muscles. I'm also skipping her diet tips - there's no way I can commit to six meals a day, and I'm very firm on doing actions now that are sustainable and easy to maintain for life.

It's one month of just pure strength training. Then one month of strength and a little moderate cardio. Then one month of more intense cardio and carb cutting and plyometrics. I'm not sure if I'll be in good enough shape to do the plyo when it's time, but I guess we'll see.

There were times in the past when I was working out like a maniac and doing the six meal a day thing, and I'd just beat myself up when I couldn't maintain it or had an injury or went out for a big dinner. Now, I'm focusing on diet first, and exercise second. I'm exercising regularly because it keeps me motivated, but so far I'm not doing enough exercise to increase my appetite. And it's working for me. I'm really soft and lack definition now, so Jamie Eason's program appealed to me because it's focusing on strengthening. I plan to start it all over again when I'm finished. After that I hope I'll be in good enough shape to start doing things that I actually enjoy ie hiking, climbing, etc.

http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/jamie-eason-livefit-trainer.html

cw106

swimming.resistance with least pressure on the joints.all sorts of exrcises/ routines possible.

countryboi999

No joke walking will do wonders..start slow and and work your way up to fast and farther. Gets some good all terrain running shows..use light weights with high reps

augustremulous

I'm actually a former competitive swimmer, so I tried hard to lose weight with regular swimming with my local masters team. It was hard to do it as often as just a regular walk, and it also increased my appetite. I definitely looked and felt better when I was swimming a lot, and my clothes fit well, but it didn't help me lose much weight.

I do plan to use swimming as my moderate cardio next month, though, in combination with my lifting. But the focus for me will still be building muscle.

countryboi999

Your body was probably graving protein after you would swim for the muscle recovery

ChronicOptimist

This is just my personal experience - I'm no expert - but I have just under 100 pounds to lose, and I started exercising when I still had quite a bit more than 100 pounds to lose.

I really, really love lifting, and it's really important to me to lift because I want to maintain the lean muscle that I have while I'm eating at a deficit. It's also the part of going to the gym that I actually like, unlike the cardio stuff! I am lucky enough to have a few friends who are really serious lifters who have taken me under their wing and have showed me the ropes as I get started.

The thing I have to be really careful about is body weight exercises. I swear I nearly caused myself permanent damage doing Bulgarian split squats. Just keep in mind that activities where you're using your own body as resistance that you're potentially using a lot more weight than is intended.

You're young, and assuming you're otherwise healthy, I don't think there's anything else you'd have trouble with.

messiahs

Thanks for the replies you guys! Unfortunately for me swimming is out of the question until I'm below 200 lbs, as I can't stand to swim in public places.

I'll take that all into note and do more walking! I've started doing squats again and I'll keep up with the weights, since I enjoy them anyways.

cw106

check out a thread by. OP. hanford rose. titled graphic photos of a 69 year old woman in swimming costume.
might help .

KayleighIsGoingFatToFit

I have 120lbs - 130lbs to lose and have lost 2lbs in the last 3 days by spending 45 minutes+ on the Wi Fiti and Wii Sports and obviously lowering my calorie intake

They have very easy exercise and on some tasks they have a beginner, intermediate and advanced option to choose from

The Wii Fit Plus also counts the calories you burn off

PatrickB_87

As someone who has 158lbs to loose all I can share is my experience. I'm about ~72lbs into my loss over 160 days and the main suggestion I would make is find something you enjoy doing and thats kind on your joints.

Your never going to exercise away the weight, the vast majority of that will be diet, but the exercise helps and is part of building that healthier better life and body we all want. Finding an exercise your happy with and that you can stick to long term is more important then how perfect it is for maximizing your weight loss. I started out just with walking and lost plenty of weight with that, now I do biking and i love it. I've only been back on the bike for 90 days and I just past my 500th mile. When I get on to go for a ride my motivation usually isn't exercise. I'm not thinking about how long or how hard I have to go to burn a certain amount of calories. I go out because I enjoy it. Also make sure it's something you enjoy pushing yourself at. You want to enjoy the process of slow improvement and overcoming challenges. The fact that you burn more calories that way should be a bonus but not the overriding goal.

If you can find that in an exercise routine or activity then I think your well off. If you don't enjoy it and your motivation is only about what you need to do to achieve x or y then it will probably give up on it quickly.

Up next for me is swimming and then running when my weight is in a better range to be nice to my joints.

cookeylady

I have a mini trampoline that i walk on or jump on it keeps me active when the weather outside is frightful or I just don't want to walk outdoors!

carlosjenno

Billy Connolly said "Eat less. Move more". It's simple. Drop your calorific intake, increase your calorific burn. Lifting weights won't help you lose weight, it's more likely to gain you weight, as despite maybe losing fat, you'll replace it with muscle gain, which is a lot denser/heavier than fat. No brainer. But there's nothing stopping you from supplementing cardio with some low weight/high rep workouts to maintain muscle tone.

I'd suggest investing in some decent running shoes and walking to start with. Lots of walking. You'll be surprised how much an hours brisk walking will burn. Throw in a 30 second jog here and there. Make yourself breathe a bit harder, work up a bit of a sweat. Before long you'll be running more than you're walking. If you stick with the diet, weight will fall off you. Then you've got other options once you're feeling better about yourself.

Look at zone training too and invest in a HRM. Get Strava on your phone. Get a Vivofit and a Garmin Connect account. These all sync with MFP. Anything to keep you focused and motivated. You'll surprise yourself at how much you want to beat that step count, how much you want to get up that Strava segment leaderboard, how much you're thinking about what else you can do tomorrow to increase that calorie burn so you CAN have that cake!

Only issue is the cost of a new wardrobe...

fishgutzy

Swimming worked best for me. And weight lifting. Heavy weight.