Exercise tips for folks in the "obese" categoy

I will do my best to offer thoughts. The frequency of exercise should really not be affected by being obese. The kind of exercise is a different story. If you are very heavy you may want to pursue activities that are low impact to avoid joint injury and pain.

The particular diet you choose is a subject of some controversy on MFP. Those that are insulin resistant should consider carb controlled programs. It is my assessment that everyone should watch their carb consumption.there is no biological need to consume carbohydrate and the data from controlled trails show that higher protein lower carb approaches are more successful. However, each individual is different and many people will not continue with limited carbohydrate plans

i think that you pose a lot of great questions, although i think a lot of them (particularly the specific questions about reducing carbs, etc) should be answered by a doctor or nutritionist/dietician. i will, however, share my experience.

i fall into the morbidly obese category (5'9", 298 lbs, 25 years old) although i have no health problems due to my weight. my BP is fine, sugars are fine, no insulin resistance, etc. that being said, the only limitations i have on exercise are what i feel that i can't do, which at this point is run. i can walk, jump, swim, etc. and be out of breath but can still hold a conversation. prior to working out, i eat something with both sugars and protein - maybe a banana with a tablespoon of PB, or a protein bar. this gives me not only the carb boost i need to work out but the protein i need to sustain a hour or so of cardio plus strength training. i also usually eat right after - either more of what i ate or a protein shake. it's something small though as i usually work out after i get off work and then go home, shower, and eat dinner. i strength train 3-4 times per week alternating arms, legs, and core and make sure i get some cardio in daily, even if it's just walking.

that being said, everyone is different! be sure to check in with your doctor about an exercise program and nutrition program. my doctor gave me no limits on any type of exercise although cautioned me to watch out not to hurt myself or push myself to the point of exhaustion. she told me to eat something with carbs and protein before and after working out, but i also have no food/sugar/carb restrictions.

HIIT works for anyone, but there may be issues in terms of a severely obese person doing HIIT. Similarly, strength training is a must, and will do more for fat burning than many other exercise forms. I would particularly suggest some sort of Metabolic Resistance Training, which is a combination of HIIT and weight training. It burns much more fat that long duration steady state cardio exercises. It also has the advantage of being a fairly short workout, 20-30 minutes, which reduces the likelyhood of repetitive strain injuries that are very common with long duration cardio which should be no surprise because if you workout 6x a week for 60 minutes, it will stress ligaments, tendons, and cartilage more than 6x per week 25 minutes. Again, the issue is if a person is fit enough to get through a HIIT routine. If they can, I would recommend it above pretty much all other cardio.

I ran out of time yesterday so now I will tell you more about Metabolic Resistance Training. As I said it is sort of a hybrid of HIIT and strength training. I found out about it about 4-5 weeks ago. Tried it for the first time about 3-4 weeks ago, and have made it the major part of my workout regime for the past 2-3 weeks.

Basically there are a few ways to do it. The first is complexes, then density training, and finally Tabata Intervals.

Complexes are "two of more exercises performed in back-to-back fashion." The example Robert dos Remedios uses to illustrate this is front sqauts, push presses, and bent over rows. The number of reps each exercise would be 5-10, but the point is to complete all the repetitions so you pick a weight or exercise (you can use body weight training for this) difficulty that will allow you to do all the repetition. So you do 10 of squats, 10 of push presses, 10 of bent over rows, that is one set. Rest for 30 seconds, then do another set, then repeat another couple of times. I usually use about 8 exercises, all body weight, for this. It causes quite a metabolic disturbance which I can feel for hours after.

Density training is similar where you choose about five exercises. Select a weight where you can complete all of them for 10-12 repetitions. Perform 8 repetitions of each in a circuit fashion (going from one exercise to the next) for a specific period of time. When you reach that time (say 10, 15 or 20 minutes) You keep doing the circuit through all this, resting if you need it, but trying to keep a steady pace. Another version of this is pick a time for each exercise (say 30 seconds) work through each of them for 30 seconds pausing after you finish each exercise long enough to write down the number of repetitions then do the next until you are through them all. Rest for 30 seconds to a minute and a half, then repeat it all trying to get more repetitions the second time around. I usually use 3 exercises for this that work different muscle groups. Go through it twice, then do three other exercises using this pattern doing it twice with them. Then I rest again and either do two minutes of high intensity more cardio type exercises (burpees, jumping jacks or the like) Then rest and finish with three more exercises (often repeating some of the earlier ones) doing the same pattern followed by a cool down. I just did this today and burned over 300 calores in 24 minutes. I was completely exhausted after that. It is a great workout.

Tabata Intervals are probably the most demanding of the bunch, but the shortest duration. Warm up for a couple of minutes--I run in place. Then pick an exercise you can work at using 100% intensity. I use a squat press (often called a tabata thruster) where you hold two dumbells at your shoulders squat down, stand up, them press the dumbells over head. Lower them and repeat the whole thing. Do this as many times as you can in the interval time. Then you rest completely in the off time only to do it all again 7 more times. The interval time is 20 seconds, the rest time is 10 seconds. That makes the whole workout excluding the warm-up and cool-down, only 4 minutes. It sound easy, but if you go full out during th 20 second intervals you will find this leaves you wanting to fall to the floor gasping for breath. I usually burn 100 calories or so for 8 minutes, but remember it keeps burning calories long after you stop working out because of the metabolic disturbance this causes. The first time I did a tabata interval I didn't make it through the whole thing and was coughing and wheezing. Now I can do a whole set and although I am still exhausted by it, I am improving in my number of repetition completed. Just a note you want to chose and exercise and weight you can complete about the same number of repetitions each interval. You don't want the number to drop off majorly as you go through the 8 intervals.

NOTE, with all this you need to warm up you muscles before for a couple of minutes, cool down afterward, and remember to stretch afterward as well. Most of these, except the Tabatas will take 15-30 minutes. Some people can push longer, but I can't.

These will work for anyone, will burn lots of fat, but you need to listen to your body on how intense you can go. They will improve both your health markers for aerobic and anaerobic areas, and will do so much better than long duration steady state cardio. My resting heart rate has stayed the same even though the doctor is reducing the beta-blocker I am on which keeps my heart rate down. That tells me my resting heart rate is actually dropping since the reduction of the medication has not raised my heart rate like my doctor said it would. This is with only 2-3 weeks of this. I am looking forward to a month or two to see what happens.