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Originally Posted by ScottYoshonis
Here's something that I hope will help some of you who need some motivation to get started. It's my story, and I share it with you in the hope that I can put back into this thread what I have taken out of it.
A year ago last August, I weighed 315 pounds, and felt like crap all the time. My back was constantly going out, and I had a hard time standing up for any length of time without pain. My doctor found me some prescription appetite suppressants, and after losing about 40 pounds on them alone, I took to working out.
When I started, I did 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per session, and that was about all I could manage. 45 minutes on the elliptical would kill me, even on the easiest setting. Soon, however, I was able to do that 45 minutes and not be completely exhausted for the rest of the day.
I started weight training, with the routine that Joe King first posted in this thread a few pages back, and found that I was ridiculously weak. I lifted the weight that I thought that I should lift, not what I should have been lifting (which was, frankly, embarrassing), and hurt in places that I didn't even know I had. So, I stepped back, took it a bit easier, just to get through the sets. It didn't take long before it got a lot more comfortable, and the weight I was lifting increased. My routine for the next few months was, lifting three days a week, and an hour on the elliptical the other two.
By the end of last summer, I made it all the way down to 240, but then hit about a three-month plateau, and the hour of cardio twice a week and the lifting the other three days all of a sudden stopped working. Beginning in August, when high-school football teams started practicing, I decided to take a page from their book, and start two-a-days, lifting in the morning, and doing cardio in the afternoon, five days a week. That got things going again, and I was losing weight again, and it kept going after I went back to the previous routine, although a lot more slowly than previously.
Lately, I've been doing more weight training, propelled mostly by vanity. There is a noticeable difference in my arms and chest, mostly the realization that there is muscle there, and the tangible results of working out have served to make me want to do more. I've even subscribed to Men's Health magazine, which I would recommend to anyone, and have had fun trying some of their workouts.
I haven't gone with any special diet, just tried to eat more healthy foods in smaller portions. I've tried to keep right around 2000 calories per day, and have been successful doing that, mostly just through portion control and watching my intake of fat. I have healthy snacks (low-fat granola bars, beef jerky, cereal bars, whole-grain crackers, that kind of thing) in my desk here at work, and just nosh on them when I'm hungry, usually eating just one genuine meal per day. As I have since I started, I take Sundays "off," and eat what I want. That way, I never look a slice of cheesecake or pizza or lasagna and say, "I haven't had that in months! Screw this diet nonsense!"
The result of all this is that at 46 I feel better than I ever have, even when I was in high school. About a week before Thanksgiving, I weighed in at 219, 96 pounds lighter than when I started about 15 months ago.
My grandmother passed away at that time, however, and between that and Thanksgiving, I've not been to the gym nearly as often, have eaten a lot more high-fat foods and have gained a few pounds back. What's more, I noticed that I was getting depressed more often and more easily. Part of that was the grieving process, sure, but I'm also convinced that my body missed the endorphins released when I exercise.
Furthermore, a large part of the reason why I haven't been around here lately is that I have much less of a desire for confrontation. I'm a lot calmer and better able to emotionally cope with adversity without resorting to anger, and I think that the change in my diet and lifestyle is the main reason for it.
I really wish I could tell those of you who are on the fence about getting fit how different I feel, and really am, since I started. I was never a fitness fanatic, and I don't consider myself one now. I was just an average, sedentary guy who simply got up and did it, and I guarantee that nobody who's reading this right now is in any worse shape than I was when I started. In fact, I thought that it was too late for me to ever be fit again, and that I'd just have to get used to being a fat guy for the rest of my life.
I was wrong. I'm having a blast doing it, too.
You will feel a lot better a lot sooner than you think, if you do it regularly. And, once you get going, it isn't hard to keep taking the next step, or even to know when to take it. Just get a good plan and follow it. Know what you're going to do before you do it, and you'll be more likely to accomplish what you want.
And, you will feel great.
A year ago last August, I weighed 315 pounds, and felt like crap all the time. My back was constantly going out, and I had a hard time standing up for any length of time without pain. My doctor found me some prescription appetite suppressants, and after losing about 40 pounds on them alone, I took to working out.
When I started, I did 30 minutes of aerobic exercise per session, and that was about all I could manage. 45 minutes on the elliptical would kill me, even on the easiest setting. Soon, however, I was able to do that 45 minutes and not be completely exhausted for the rest of the day.
I started weight training, with the routine that Joe King first posted in this thread a few pages back, and found that I was ridiculously weak. I lifted the weight that I thought that I should lift, not what I should have been lifting (which was, frankly, embarrassing), and hurt in places that I didn't even know I had. So, I stepped back, took it a bit easier, just to get through the sets. It didn't take long before it got a lot more comfortable, and the weight I was lifting increased. My routine for the next few months was, lifting three days a week, and an hour on the elliptical the other two.
By the end of last summer, I made it all the way down to 240, but then hit about a three-month plateau, and the hour of cardio twice a week and the lifting the other three days all of a sudden stopped working. Beginning in August, when high-school football teams started practicing, I decided to take a page from their book, and start two-a-days, lifting in the morning, and doing cardio in the afternoon, five days a week. That got things going again, and I was losing weight again, and it kept going after I went back to the previous routine, although a lot more slowly than previously.
Lately, I've been doing more weight training, propelled mostly by vanity. There is a noticeable difference in my arms and chest, mostly the realization that there is muscle there, and the tangible results of working out have served to make me want to do more. I've even subscribed to Men's Health magazine, which I would recommend to anyone, and have had fun trying some of their workouts.
I haven't gone with any special diet, just tried to eat more healthy foods in smaller portions. I've tried to keep right around 2000 calories per day, and have been successful doing that, mostly just through portion control and watching my intake of fat. I have healthy snacks (low-fat granola bars, beef jerky, cereal bars, whole-grain crackers, that kind of thing) in my desk here at work, and just nosh on them when I'm hungry, usually eating just one genuine meal per day. As I have since I started, I take Sundays "off," and eat what I want. That way, I never look a slice of cheesecake or pizza or lasagna and say, "I haven't had that in months! Screw this diet nonsense!"
The result of all this is that at 46 I feel better than I ever have, even when I was in high school. About a week before Thanksgiving, I weighed in at 219, 96 pounds lighter than when I started about 15 months ago.
My grandmother passed away at that time, however, and between that and Thanksgiving, I've not been to the gym nearly as often, have eaten a lot more high-fat foods and have gained a few pounds back. What's more, I noticed that I was getting depressed more often and more easily. Part of that was the grieving process, sure, but I'm also convinced that my body missed the endorphins released when I exercise.
Furthermore, a large part of the reason why I haven't been around here lately is that I have much less of a desire for confrontation. I'm a lot calmer and better able to emotionally cope with adversity without resorting to anger, and I think that the change in my diet and lifestyle is the main reason for it.
I really wish I could tell those of you who are on the fence about getting fit how different I feel, and really am, since I started. I was never a fitness fanatic, and I don't consider myself one now. I was just an average, sedentary guy who simply got up and did it, and I guarantee that nobody who's reading this right now is in any worse shape than I was when I started. In fact, I thought that it was too late for me to ever be fit again, and that I'd just have to get used to being a fat guy for the rest of my life.
I was wrong. I'm having a blast doing it, too.
You will feel a lot better a lot sooner than you think, if you do it regularly. And, once you get going, it isn't hard to keep taking the next step, or even to know when to take it. Just get a good plan and follow it. Know what you're going to do before you do it, and you'll be more likely to accomplish what you want.
And, you will feel great.
5 comments:
Amen to this. I'm not quite to 96 yet, but it's getting close and I know exactly what this guy is saying.
good post. Do I see two-a-days in your future Rob?
Funny you should say that, Billy. I was contemplating it. Weights in the morning, cardio after work.
great story. I really identified because his starting weight was the same as mine, and his lowest weight is right around my goal.
Nice blog. Ive been giving the two-a-day training a thought for my stepping it up training. I realize the folks who take off massive amounts of weight in a short period of time and get these awesome bods employ this type of training. I think I should consider this more and then just get it done if thats what Im going to do.
Thanks for the post.
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