Suggest good beginner weight loss workout (no cardio)?!

Suggest good beginner weight loss workout (no cardio)?!

Needs to be something that I will want to keep doing - I get un-motivated quickly if things are too difficult.

I find that getting TO the gym is the hardest part. Go, and try a few things. And, do it consistently for three weeks even if you hate every minute of it. Three weeks is what it takes to build a habit.

There are lots of days where I drag myself to the gym. i don't want to get out of bed and come up with every excuse I can think of before I realize that I need to do it. And, then, when I'm done I feel great.

The cardio equipment is boring . . . but I read while I'm on the elliptical. Or, the other day, I watched a movie. I see a guy on a bike, watching a video of some sort. There are people who bring magazines.

I can give you a million reasons why I don't want to go to the gym and 1 really good reason why I do . . . I go for me. I don't want to be the woman who can't walk anymore. I don't want to have to buy two seats on an airplane. I don't want to have a heart attack. I want to live to see my kids get married and have kids of their own. And, the path I was on was not leading me there.

Find your motivation . . . and then put in the hard work. It will be worth it.

You have 6 months until the wedding (why you are in a rush to lose some weight). Adding cardio or weight "work-outs" will help increase the amount you could lose by the wedding but only as a small percent of what you could lose from diet alone. FOr example, say you had 1000 calorie deficit a day just from food. In 6 months you will lose 50lbs. If you also worked out for a hour for an additional deficit of 500 cal, you could lose an extra 25lbs for a total of 75lbs. Great. But really, it is the 50 that you really want to lose and it is the 50 that is the easiest to lose. Burning 500 calories takes an hour of hard cardio or just eating 1 less hamburger a day.

If you are going to beat yourself up for not "sticking to" a lifting or cardio plan then it might be better to skip "work-outs" altogether. Better to lose the 50 lbs then not to lose anything because you quit.

Instead focus on things you can do and that you can feel good about.

Most of your weight seems to be in the gut. Cutting flour and sugar are going to have to best impact for you so keep that in mind but in general if you can cut calories by just portion control and keep your sugar and beer and bread if you want.

So let's get specific about options ranked from least effort to most.

Option 1: You say your girlfriend is 110lbs. That probably means that means that she either works out and eats mostly not crap, or that she doesn't work out but watches what she eats more strictly. You can use this. Do you and your girlfriend live together? Do you eat meals together? If so, just eat whatever she is eating but nothing else. Doing this will require zero effort on your part, no need to worry about what to cook/eat/calories-plan etc. Unless she is a triathlete she isn't going to be eating enough calories to keep you at your weight. The only willpower involved will be forcing yourself not to cheat (something you will have to deal with on any diet plan). If she is physically active, join in with anything you feel comfortable with. You don't have to do it for real but just walking to the track with her and then watching her run will still be more than doing nothing. Plus is it hot to watch a girl move right?

Option 2: If you are willing to put in a little bit more work, do the above but add in that you track that food daily here on MFP. Adds a tiny bit of effort but will help to keep you motivated. She may even be willing to help by keeping the log for you both if she also uses MFP.

Option 3: Let's say you don't live with the girlfriend. Eat what she eats in the same amounts whenever you do share meals. STOP eating out for dates. Either you cook for her or she cooks for you at one of your houses, you eat the same portions. Go on dates that aren't about food/sitting around. Go mini golfing, bowling, to a museum. Anything that isn't sitting for a movie or eating 5 days worth of calories in a single sitting at Applebees. Make your dates an alcohol free event. When you eat without your girlfriend DO NOT EAT OUT. Use MFP to calculate your daily calorie goal for losing 2 or more lbs per week. Make eating a brain-dead habit. Make a giant vat of chili with lentil, beans, ground turkey, kale, bell pepper. Save it as a recipe in MFP then put it into tupperware containers filled with something like 200grams each. Every day for lunch, heat up 1 tupperware. Have something similar for breakfast (piece of toast with cream cheese and lox? 2 eggs scrambled with loads of mushrooms and sugar snap peas?), keep it the same every day to take the thinking effort out of the equation. For dinner? Buy a huge container of chicken breasts. Butterfly them, baked them all in the oven and put the into containers in the fridge. Every night for dinner, reheat a piece of chicken with a head of broccoli. Done. If you really want to make it easy (though boring) take a tip from Futurama and cook up giant vats of Bachelor Chow. Eat a bowl of 1/4 of your calorie goal every 4 hours. Boring but EASY.

Option 4: NO EATING OUT, ALCOHOL, SODA, JUICE, ENERGY DRINKS, BOXED FOOD, PROCESSED FOOD (That means no pasta or bread either), FLOUR, SUGAR. Limit yourself to 1 plate, 1/2 to 3/4s of which should have veggies. That means fill up on head of steamed broccoli with a small side of baked chicken or 1/4 filet of Salmon. Have giant heaping salads filled with beets and mushrooms, and snap peas, and carrot and apple and walnuts with a bit of tuna and balsamic vinegar for dressing. Limit dairy, potatoes, corn.

Option 5:Allow yourself more freedom with what you can eat and when you can cheat but you HAVE to write EVERYTHING in MFP. Stick to your daily goals as best you can. Sometimes eat less to make up for times you indulge.

Option 6: Same as Option 5 but add that you HAVE to do cardio (something you hate like running) to burn off any calories you are over by. If you had ice cream for 400 cal, too bad, now you have to go on the elliptical for 20 minutes to burn off those 400 calories. Easier to just never eat them to begin with.

Option 7: Add a 15 minute walk into your day (mornings are better than evenings). Put on a podcast or music (Dan Savage's hilarious sex advice podcast "Savage Love" is sure to keep you entertained. Maybe you are a "Car Talk" fan. If podcasts aren't your thing, make a playlist of your top 5 high energy songs: Enter Sandman, Welcome to the Jungle, Thunderstruck, Paradise City, Head Like a Hole; the walk will be done before you know it.

Option 8: Find a buddy to gym with, follow a basic lifting routine (just something in boost your metabolism), once or twice a week. Make it like a man's time poker night routine. If you can, get some of the guys together for a weekly basketball game.

Option 9: Get a trainer to craft you a routine to follow or better yet pay for twice weekly standing sessions. That way you feel obligated to show up since they are waiting for you and you have to pay even if you don't show. (For me, this was the best way to work out at a gym, I hated paying the trainer and not at least getting my monies worth).

Wow - so much negativity here! Come on, fellow MFP users, where's the encouragement?? You're not going to be able to use the exact program someone else does and expect it to work for you. I tried all sorts of things before I discovered MFP is the only thing I can stick to. I lost 40lbs initially on MFP. Gained back 17 when I stopped using it for a year, but I'm back on it now and I'm down 5lbs so 28lbs total.

You'll have to find what works for YOU. "I know you hate running but you have to do it anyway" won't work if you're not there yet in your mindset. Yes, there are those that are able to commit to it for a month and then they decide they love it. If you're not there yet, that won't work for you. Try finding something else you already know you love if you know you won't stick to cardio. Try doing wii fit. Try dancing. Try kayaking. Try joining a men's league for soccer, basketball, hockey - whatever! If you find something you love, you'll keep going back. Period.

No, you don't need exercise to lose weight, but you stated you WANT to add exercise to your routine, so who's to discourage you? When you build muscles and keep that exercise routine going (whatever it is!), you keep the weight off.

Wow - so much negativity here! Come on, fellow MFP users, where's the encouragement??

The comments here weren't negative--they were honest and surprisingly polite for MFPer's. Difference.

Have you been to any of the other threads? :huh:

My thoughts EXACTLY girl!!