New to weight loss....any advice? Here's what I'm doing.....

Hello to all.

I'm 5ft 5.5 inches, 13 stone 6lbs approx, and have a pretty sedentiary lifestyle.

I want to get down to about 10 stone.

My weight has crept up slowly over the last three years due to not working and being at home with my two young children who are 3 years and almost 2 years old.

My diet before was pretty poor, definately not enough fresh fruit/veg and too much fat/salt.

What has kick started my change is that I had a BUPA helath check through my husbands work and everything was fine except my weight, BMI was 32 and I have been told to reduce my weight. Actually hearing it from a doctor has been the kick in the bum I need I think, even though I knew this myself.

So, for the last 3 weeks, I have bought a treadmill and have been using it without fail every day. On every weeknight I walk for 2 miles at about 2.8 miles per hour (I can't go any faster as the kids are in bed and it makes too much noise!), and at weekends during the day I do 5 miles at a brisk pace of 3.8-4 mph.

This is a huge change for me as I'm normally not active, and I have never found an exercise I actually enjoyed doing before, so I never stuck with it - but I'm actually really enjoying the treadmill because I don't feel self-conscious - I can do it in my own home and not worry what a numpty I look like!

I am also lifting 3lb weights for 5-10 mins each morning to tone up my arms.

Anyway, combined with this I have been drastically reducing my eating  - I'm now trying to stick to about 1200-1400 cals a day and upped my intake of salads, veg and fruit.

I think I have lost about 4-6 pounds so far but the first 2 weeks didn't register anything on the scale, perhaps I was putting on muscle weight? Not sure?

So, does anyone have any tips?

Many thanks for any hints! I know I have a long way to go and I want this to be sustainable weight loss and something I can do for life.

Louise

x

Hi Louise,

welcome to CC and congratulations on changing your lifestyle.

If sounds like you are making positive changes and you have come to the right place to get advice.  This is a wonderful resource, its full of really useful tools and great support

If you input your stats (height, weight, age etc.) into your settings on this website, it will give you a suggested daily calorie intake to lose a sensible amount of weight over time.  I think that for your weight, and for your activity level you can probably eat a bit more -probably 1600 - 1800 kcals per day depending on your activity level.

If you think that you are sedentary, set this as your activity level and then log your exercise daily.  Aim for about 500 - 800 kcal daily, never eat below 1200kcals per day, and never have a deficit of over 1000kcals.

If you have lots of weight to lose, it's sometimes good to set small goals for yourself - and celebrate accordingly as you reach them.

Good luck with everything,

A

Good for you

Buy a tape measure and measure the suspect spots

Go for a walk outside...carry the kids...go window shopping has the same/better effect as walking on a tredmill and you can do both in a day and take the hubby along as well.

Get a fancy dancy electronic scale with all the bells and whistles. Check your BMI and Water Content, Muscle mass etc and record those numbers weekly

Don't restrict your cals too much - aim for a 500 deficit before exercise....any thing else is a bonus and you are allowed to have a treat on cheat days

You won't gain any muscle using 3 lb weights that's for sure.  Don't take this the wrong way but you really are wasting your time with those weights.   Same as with the treadmill the way you are going.   I do have some suggestions though. 

Exercise works best when you challenge your body, mix things up, so it doesn't know what to expect.  Doing the same walking or cardio over and over and your body will eventually adjust and you'll get little benefit from it in a couple or few weeks.  Look into HIIT or High Intensity Interval Training.  Do a google search and you'll find it.  It involves burst of energy of 30-90 seconds followed by rest periods the same length.  You will get much more benefit from this compared to steady state cardio.  You may not feel ready for it and may not be depending on your conditioning but it should be your target.  You will get a much more intense and beneficial workout in much less time than steady state cardio work and it can be done quite effectively on the treadmill .

I would combine that with some heavier weights for toning and building muscle.   When it comes to weights you want to do exercises that focus on major muscle groups and large combinations of muscles for maximum effect in minimum time.  Doing bicep work with dumbells will eventually give you nice biceps, but little else.  It doesn't burn a lot of calories and doesn't give you overall upper body conditioning.   You want to be doing things like squats, which work all the largest muscles in your body and are great for weight loss, barbell or dumbell rows, overhead presses, planks and or reverse crunches for your core (abs etc).  Time is limited and precious so you want to get as much bang for your time as possible and this is the way to do it.  You will need some real weights however, but many exercises can be done with body weights like the planks and reverse crunches, push ups etc.

You are off to a great start.  Keep up the good work and get on a plan like this as soon as possible and I guarantee that in combination with a healthy diet you will lose all the weight you want to.

I'm not actually trying to get a muscular look in my arms, just to tighten them up a bit. I do high reps with a 3lb weight in each hand, and my arms are knackered by the time I'm finished so surely it is working the muscle? Not that I'm an expert by any means.

Re. the treadmill - every site I've seen so far says it's just as good walking to lose weight as running or jogging, if you prefer that. I have been trying to incorporate a couple of bursts of jogging into my longer sessions, but I can't keep it up for too long just now, maybe a minute, but generally my heart rate stays up around 135-145 for the whole session which I read is in the fat burning region for my weight. 

I would be gutted to think I have been wasting my time because I am drenched in sweat when I am finished the 4mph walking for an hour or more!

Any more tips anyone?

Louise

x

louise:  Exercising on the  treadmill is a wonderful way to lose weight.  I don't have a treadmill, but I walk a lot; I  have found that I do myself the most good walking up incline type streets/roads in order to get the full advantage of my workout and to keep my heart rate in the target range.  The same thing can be said for a treadmill, depending on the incline one wants to set it at, if the apparatus allows that.  My older sister bought a treadmill a few months ago and lost quite a few pounds using it.

I have done enough research to know that people do lose weight using exercise equipment such as stationary bikes, elliptical trainers, treadmills, etc. 

As far as 3-lb weights go, I think you can be getting some benefit to using them. 

Eventually, if you find that 3-pounds weights are not heavy enough, you can work your way up.

I think you are doing things correctly.

Weezie, of course you are getting a benefit from the treadmill and the weights at this point, but mostly because you have led a sedentary lifestyle and at this point, steady state cardio and really light weights are taxing for your body.  The trouble with light weights and steady state cardio like walking or light jogging is that your body quickly gets used to it and finds ways to do it with as little expenditure of energy, calories, as possible.  So your benefits, muscular, aerobic and calories burned will gradually decline over the next month or two.   I see people do this all the time and they get discouraged and end up quitting because it just doesn't work any more.  So after the first month or two, when your muscles have had a chance to adjust to your current workout, you might want to look into the HIIT and start doing some short bursts of running alternating with walking to continue to burn lots of calories and lose even more weight.

I suggest heavier weights because it's going to be real easy for your body to adjust to those light weights and beyond the first couple of weeks using them, the benefit you get will be virtually zero because your muscles will have adjusted to the increased weight and will cease to grow and respond to them.  A general rule is that if you can lift something 12 to 16 times or more, it does almost nothing to help tone and tighten the muscles you are using.   It seems like it is now and probably is, but that's because your muscles have not been taxed for years.  Once you get past the initial burst, you will need heavier weights or you will burn less and less energy and for sure, you will get no added tone to your muscles.

I'm not saying this stuff to be critical, please understand, I just would rather you carried this initial burst of energy and enthusiasm to the next level and avoid the almost certain disappointment that so many people face when they start working out and plateau very quickly.  Read the exercise forums and you'll see it all over the place...