Originally Posted by
Wogsterca
There were enough folks here at the 300lb level, we gave them their own title, Uberclyde. The thing to remember is, it's not where you start, it's where you end up. Walking is a good start, equipment is minimal, just regular clothes and a pair of comfortable shoes. Low carb diets are perfect for people who think flipping the channel on the remote is exercise. It's not ideal for a person who want an activity program, because activity burns calories, and you need to eat enough calories to keep control of the deficit. A commonly quoted rate for healthy weight loss is 2lbs per week, that means you need to keep your calories consumed about 1000 per day below what your burning. Realize that just living burns some...
You mentioned in another response that you don't want to contribute much right now, that's okay, your at the time to ask questions and bask in the knowledge of others, there is lots of time to contribute later
Here's how I got started:
I've never been over 200 but a few years ago I ballooned up to 190 from 168 after being the same weight for over 25 years. My wife had been nagging me to get moving for about 3-4 years before that because I started putting on weight after I turned 50. By age 55 I was getting up to 190.
I got sent out for a full cardio workup by my doctor. If you are badly out of shape or if there is a history of heart disease in the family or if as in my case you are over 50, get it done.
I started off getting a gym membership and never used it. My wife bugged me some more and I put on more weight. By that point I thought I'd better start finding something to do.
Cycling and cross country skiing have always been my favorite sports.I did a lot of in my teens and early twenties. So finding something that I loved was easy for me. I'd already done a century when I was 16. (My wife likes to remind me that that was over 40 years ago).
I've had my weight blow up on me before back in my 20's and I eventually lost most of it at the 2 pound a week rate. Now that I'm over 50 my metabolism is slower and I knew that it's going to take me longer.
Walking is a great start. I started doing that and started working my way up.
Start a half an hour and keep a diary as you work your way up. I got a cheap pedometer and tracked for how long and how far each time. Once I started doing longer and longer walks, one thing I did was to go to a place that sold running gear and got a really good pair of shoes for walking.
Now I try to do 10K at a fast pace.
I also started mixing walking in with cycling. Cycling gets the heart rate up and your respiratory system working hard. The first time I started climbing hills on the bike I would completely bonk. I knew that was about to happen and every time I saw another hill I just figured.. well.. ok one at a time.
Winter comes.. One of my boys is a freestyle downhill skier, the kind that skis on twiptip skis (tips at both ends) and does the jumps, the spins, the helicopter turns etc. My wife knew that I used to cross country ski so she bought me a season trail pass at the same place. The skis that hadn't seen snow in 30 years got back on the snow again. (I've since bought 2 new pairs of skis). I started doing 2k, then 4, then 6, then 10 while trying to get my technique back. This is the second season now and I'm getting in about 15-20K over a couple of days on the weekend.By the end of year 1 I've taken off 10 pounds.
By the spring of year 2 I started cycling again this time more seriously. The first 5-10 miles were a breeze. I started ramping it up with rides from 45-60 minutes 4 times a week trying to put in at least 10-15K during the week and 40-50km rides on the weekend time permitting. I would have liked to have done more but the time wasn't there and what I really needed a road bike. I've always been a roadie and the hybrid wasn't something that I wanted to train on. Don't get me wrong, it's a great bike for touring and for getting started. For anybody getting started, I'd recommend a hybrid.
As I started ramping up, I went to clipless pedals. Much better.. More mileage still but I wasn't satisfied that I was tracking myself properly. I bought a bike computer that also measure cadence and found that I wasn't doing too badly but I could do better. I started logging in my rides and started using a spreadsheet. By the fall I'm doing at 75+ miles a week.
I'm down to 180 now and I'd like to take off another 10 but I've found that I've put on more muscle. Don't get discouraged if you find that your weight loss starts to taper off and that you may actually start gaining a bit,
When riding they say the best way to eat up the calories is to go on long easy rides. I find that I tend to eat a lot less when I've been spending more time in the saddle. Long easy rides can be really enjoyable and won't put a strain on your system initially. To do those I decided that it was time to go back to my first love and get back on a road bike.
One thing that I do is to eat some carbs (like a bagel) a couple of hours before I go out. Then I'll go out for a workout BEFORE I eat. I find that I'll tend to eat a lot less over the day when I do that. If I don't, then there's nothing in the tank and I'll bonk. I also make sure that I eat something appropriate for recovery.
By the end of the fall I decided that it was time for a real road bike. Around the start of last fall my wife bought a GPS heart rate monitor for herself. She suggested that I get one because I was turning 57 and I was going through some intensive workouts.
It's really useful gizmo because it helps me with pacing myself. I never thought that I'd ever get one but once I started using it while skiing I'll never go riding or skiing without it.
By December the 2011's came in and went out I got a 2011 Specialized SL2 Roubaix Comp last month. The Robaix cost me 6 times more than the hybrid but I knew that once I get on it and hit the road I'll never look back. I simply love riding road bikes.
When I told my wife what I wanted to buy she said "Oh. a real bike.. OK, I thought they cost about $7000-9000.." It makes me think I could have bought an S-Works SL3.
The full carbon bike is the biggest expense I've made but I consider it a really worthwhile investement.
The ski equipment cost me about $750 for skis, boots and poles for my classic style ski gear. The other pair are freestyle skate cross country skis and cost me a bit more.
I've got maybe another few more weeks of skiing left and I can't wait to get back on the bike. I'm really looking forward to getting those last 10 pounds off.
Swim, walk, row.
If any of you live where there's enough snow, learn to cross country ski go to a place that will rent you equipment, take a lesson or two and get the best full body workout you'll ever get. It'll cost about $25 at a lot of places to rent skis, boots and poles for an afternoon and about $15-20 for a trail pass for the day. I buy a season pass for $200 and I go 1-2 times every weekend for about 10-12 weeks so the equipment pays for itself after about 2 years or less.
The best thing about all of this is that there's no reason why you can't have fun while you lose weight and get yourself into shape.
Good luck