NEED SERIOUS HELP BUT OVERWHELMED

gonegonzo

I need serious help to loose the weight I've packed on in the last 3 years . I was working long hours and it just happened . Now I'm having a real problem loosing . Beinng retired now , I can dedicate time to work on this .

I'm a male - 62 years old - 6'3'' - 417 lbs . I want to get down to 250 lbs. and get back in physical shape . .

My daily calorie intake as per "my fitness pal " is 2475 . I'm easily holding that and even less on some days . I haven't been exercizing due to a foot issue . I did try riding my bicycle yesterday and found it having low impact on my foot . I want to incorporate bicycling into my exercize program but feel I need more than that for exercize . I need advice here ?

Will using free weights help ? Many years ago I used weights to get in shape . However , being older now , will it help ? Whats a realistic starting point ?

*** OK here is another thing that I'm not familiar with . It's eating back the calories that I've exercized off ! I've never heard of it . Can anyone explain that to me so I can understand it ?

Someone told be that if I over dieted that my body would go into a starvation mode . Is this true ? Will it be easy to sabotage my weight loss with this issue .

The bottom line is , I have to loose this weight . It's causing me to have other health issues and I desperately need to reverse this ASAP .

Thanks to all for your help .

Gonzo

tricksee

My daily calorie intake as per "my fitness pal " is 2475 . I'm easily holding that and even less on some days . I haven't been exercizing due to a foot issue . I did try riding my bicycle yesterday and found it having low impact on my foot . I want to incorporate bicycling into my exercize program but feel I need more than that for exercize . I need advice here ?

Swimming and walking. Walking especially, It's a very underrated cardio exercise, often forgotten about.

Will using free weights help ? Many years ago I used weights to get in shape . However , being older now , will it help ? Whats a realistic starting point ?

Get yourself a cheap set of dumbells online. They go real cheap on ebay or gumtree. Sometimes even free if you agree to collect.

Start with basic tried and tested exersies like chest presses, overhead/arnold press, flyes and rows. Calf raises and squats for legs. Do two warm up sets (lift light), followed by two heavier sets and then an immediate backoff set (to failure) at the end for each exercise.

*** OK here is another thing that I'm not familiar with . It's eating back the calories that I've exercized off ! I've never heard of it . Can anyone explain that to me so I can understand it ?

Eating back exercise calories is basically ensuring that at the end of the day, you aren't at too much of a caloric deficit. Personally, i'd never think about or mention it again.

Someone told be that if I over dieted that my body would go into a starvation mode . Is this true ? Will it be easy to sabotage my weight loss with this issue .

Starvation mode. lol - lets move on....

The bottom line is , I have to loose this weight . It's causing me to have other health issues and I desperately need to reverse this ASAP .

either eat -300 to -500 calories below your caloric maintenace or burn -300 - 500 calories through exersice. You'll likely win.

Thanks to all for your help .

Anytime.

Lieann22

The advice above is brilliant.

Take small steps - don't look at it as a large goal weight - change you first goal to 20lbs - much more acheivable. Then when its done change it to 20lb lighter than that. You can't eat an elephant in one mouthful - but you can eat it a spoonful at a time.

WALKING - the best form of exercise in the world. I have a really bad back problem at the moment and from calorie control and walking I have lost 25lbs in 3 months. It may be difficult to start with ..... but it will get easier. Try walking 5 minutes away from home and back again. You can do that a few times a day. Then start walking a little further. Invest in an mp3 player and download some audio books - you'll get lost in the story and before you know it you have walked longer than you were going to.

Invest in a swiss ball - just sit on it at first for half hour a day and watch a bit of tv - it will strengthen your abs and lower back by sitting on it alone.

Keep your goals small and realistic - good luck.

drop_it_like_a_squat

*** OK here is another thing that I'm not familiar with . It's eating back the calories that I've exercized off ! I've never heard of it . Can anyone explain that to me so I can understand it ?

Eating back your exercise calories is pretty much a MFP thing. When you enter your information when registrating MFP asks you how much weight you want to lose per week. By entering your goal, MFP creates a deficit specific to you & your goal, which means that the kcal you're supposed to eat are already the amount of kcal you should have in total (net calories). So if you work out and burn x kcal, you substract those x kcal from your target amount and create a even bigger deficit. So eating back your kcal makes sure you reach the amount you're supposed to have instead of creating a too deficit that might be too big.

Sarauk2sf

Copying a link to one of the lovely ladies on my FL's blog. I think it is really helpful to new members feeling overwhelmed by all this. It helps get people started:

http://www.myfitnesspal.com/blog/Robin_Bin

BlackEyedPanda

The idea of starvation mode relies on the fact that when you start consuming less your body will start decreasing the amount of energy that it burns - i.e. your metabolism slows down. This is going to happen to some extent whenever you reduce your caloric intake for a longer period of time regardless of how much you reduce it. Generally, the effect is quite small and unnoticeable if you eat -500 calories from what your body consumes each day. People talk about starvation mode to refer to a very dramatic caloric intake cut that then reduces the metabolic rate a lot. That is not something you have to worry about as long as your daily calorie intake is above 1400 or so calories per day.

You will still lose weight and you will be fine. However, for people who have very high BMIs, obese or more (I am obese), it is okay to start dieting off by eating very little calories for a few weeks. I would recommend medical supervision if you were to do this. For an obese person, the body has excess energy to keep itself going even at quite dramatic caloric intake losses.

I would imagine "starvation mode" is not going to be your problem at the amount of calories you are consuming. Also I wouldn't worry about eating exercise calories back - you can do it from time to time as a treat but better not eat them back every day. If you are exercising to lose weight, eating the calories back makes very little sense.

panda101paws

Please feel free to add me if you would find it helpful to have peer support, and another food diary to look at. I find the motivation I get from others on here is what has kept me going longer than any other diet I have ever done. I would also be really interested to see your progress

tricksee

Too many Pandas in this thread.

gonegonzo

Thank you all for your replies , even the panda's . lol

You have cleared up some issues here for me . I'm sure in time I will have more ?'s .

Gonzo

tj1376

I would recommend that if you want the right course for you - see a nutritionist. They will be able to tell you what you should be eating and how much. The right kinds of food can help you more than anything else because even if you miss a week of exercise due to injury or you just don't want to do it, you still have to eat and what you eat can make all the difference. Of all the advice I have been given and things I have tried, getting my nutritionist has been the best thing. She told me straight up I would hate her to begin with and then I would love her. Yup, totally true.

PaulJRaymond

Take small steps - don't look at it as a large goal weight - change you first goal to 20lbs - much more acheivable. Then when its done change it to 20lb lighter than that. You can't eat an elephant in one mouthful - but you can eat it a spoonful at a time.

That's terrible advice. He shouldn't be eating Elephant at all!

PaulJRaymond

*** OK here is another thing that I'm not familiar with . It's eating back the calories that I've exercized off ! I've never heard of it . Can anyone explain that to me so I can understand it ?

There is a school of thought that if you eat too few calories your body will not burn fat, but hold on to it. You may just lose muscle. So if your target is 2500 for your normal day, then without extra exercise just eat 2500 calories. If you burn 1000 extra calories in the day then your body effectively only has 1500 to maintain the usual bodily functions. 2500 - 1000. It is something to consider if it gets very low especially. Someone on here recently said that they eat 1500 and burn 1200 calories, giving their body only 300 to use. This is very low.

I use exercise as a way of getting a treat. Therefore if I burn 800 calories, I am quite happy to have say a pint of beer (insert treat of choice).

If you subscribe to the view that eating too few calories is bad, then eating the equivalent of calories burned is a good idea. Others see it as a chance to speed the process up and don't eat the value of extra calories burned. I am not expert enough (or at all) to say which is correct, but I am trying the former currently. If it works, I will let you know!

BlackEyedPanda

Too many Pandas in this thread.

there is no such thing as too many pandas