Exercise & losing weight

[s1mp13m4n]

Hello all you wonderful folks. I have a question. What are some realistic, simple, everyday things that I can do to feel better, lose some of my belly, and generally feel better? I can not get to a gym so that is out. I have an exercise bike, some stretchy tubes and that is it. I want to eat based on the food pyramid if I can. I know that there is no magic pill, however is there something I can add in the form of a pill, vitamin, etc that will help or aid in weight loss....something to help with cravings, eating when you do not need to eat? Thanks for the help and advice. My goal is to feel better, look a bit better, be healthier.

[moonshine44]

I did it by cutting fat, cutting some of the sugar, and spending a lot of time on the exercise bike. Cutting back on fat calories doesn't always have to mean cutting back on taste; you just have to be a bit more selective in what groceries you buy. And don't try to cut all of the sugar; you'll find yourself binging, which isn't good either. After all, you're not training for a marathon, right? You're just wanting to feel better...

[s1mp13m4n]

My goal is be look better, feel better, and be healthier. I enjoy exercise, it is simply making the choice to do it. Thanks for the help. :)

[jsrdrnr]

I need to get back on my excercise plan!!! ARGH! And not snack on bad stuff.

[RichGem]

All the diets and "tips" come down to one thing, IMHO: calorie intake vs. calorie output.

To lose weight you need to cut back on the calories you eat and/or increase the calories you burn off. If you can do both, then all the better. Things like cutting back on fat and sugar and starches are a (relatively) easy way to cut back on caloric intake. Cardio exercise increases caloric output. Also, eating 5 small meals a day instead of 3 large ones is beneficial as your body is not allowed to feel hungry which may lead to over eating. Alternatively, 3 smaller meals at the normal times then a mid-morning and mid-afternoon healthy snack.

A very simple and yet effective tip is to eat no portion larger than your closed fist and to go for a brisk walk at least once a day for at least 20 minutes.

Also, for general health purposes, be sure to take a daily multi-vitamin.

[Miles]

Portion control is a good, easy way to lower your intake. When you go out to eat, divide your meal into two and eat only half. You could ask for a box right at the beginning of the meal, so you don't have half of a tasty meal looking at you forlornly.
At home, reduce the quantity of food you eat by a certain percentage, say like 40% less.

If you are taking in more calories than you are using/burning then your body will store the excess as fuel for later use (fat).

A good method for getting a bit more exercise is to wake up earlier and go for a mile or two brisk walk in the morning before hitting the shower/morning prep. It's a great way to start the day, my Special Lady Friend and I both enjoy it very much.

[nealf]

+1 to portion control for sure

If applicable, stop drinking sugary drinks and drink more water.

[Emmett]

Portion control, watch the sugar and fat, and eat six times a day instead of three. I managed to lose 25 lbs with those modifications alone and have mostly kept it off.

[cbird]

Walking three miles a day (about one hour) will cause a gradual weight loss. I read somewhere that 17 miles per week is the typical distance that will result in weight loss. Walking is fun, relaxing, and requires no special clothes and no shower afterward. Walking around a town at night is more interesting than during the daytime - everythink looks mysterious.

[airplanedoc]

Sit ups and pushups, and use the excercise bike.

Unfortunately excercise will not make you loose weight, You have to control portions, and reduce caloric intake. A 180 lb man will burn enough calories to eliminate 1lb of fat when running a marathon (roughly 3500 calories). Steer clear of sports drinks as well. That Bottle of Gatoraide contains more calories that you can burn on the treadmill, or excercise bike in a normal persons workout.

I am not saying not to excercise, it will help tone muscle and there is some increase in metabolism, from adding muscle mass, and reducing fat. Sit ups alone will help make your pants fit better as you tone your abs up, and help you keep to your goal.

There was a good article in Time in the last 6 weeks or so about this.

[A-Man]

Switch to about 5 small meals per day rather than 3 large ones.

Forget the gym, and if possible, go outside, walk/jog, ride a bike, jump rope, and during warmer weather do some swimming.

Don't cut things cold turkey, because like the other poster said, you'll just end up binging later on.

Try to keep your foods as natural as possible as well. I also like that you plan on sticking with the food pyramid rather than following some fad diet.

As far as pills, avoid any diet or weight loss pills. Maybe a multivitamin if you feel your diet might be lacking in some areas. But avoid even those if possible, try to get your nutrition from your food.

[WhosYerBob]

Eat smaller amounts and count calories.
Walk.
Repeat.

This worked for me; I lost 30 pounds this way.

[RichGem]

Also, cut alcohol out all together or at the very least, limit yourself to one a week as a reward. Otherwise, lotsa empty calories there that you don't realize add up quickly. If you must have something, stick with red wine (lower calories than white wine usually) or straight drinks (you won't believe the calories in popular mixed drinks).

[A-Man]

Just a quick note and a link.

Don't become obsessed with calories. Sometimes people overdo it and end up shorting their body of fuels needed to exercise and boost their metabolism so it can have a reverse effect. Just make sure you stay away from empty calories (like soda.)

Here is a link to some workouts you can do at home if you don't wanna join a gym just yet:
http://coachlevi.com/bodyweight-exercise-collection/

[Brad31]

A good multivitamin from a whole food source can be good. The vitamins from Walmart and Target are worthless.

Eat dessert only after you've had 6 servings of fruits and vegetables. If you really eat 6 servings you will be too full for dessert most likely lol.

Exercise. Ride your bike, but also try to incorporate strength training. Maybe purchase 10lb and 25lb dumbells. Do some curls, squats, lunges, etc with them. Work in exercise wherever you can. A few pushups while the water warms up for your shower. Walk to the convenient store instead of drive. Pack a lunch for work.

Drink WATER
Eat REAL food ---> fruits, vegetables, whole grains, lean meats.
Try tea in the morning instead of coffee.


Try Yoga. Increased flexibility and helps get the blood moving.

[MilfordNJGuy]

Walking three miles a day (about one hour) will cause a gradual weight loss. I read somewhere that 17 miles per week is the typical distance that will result in weight loss. Walking is fun, relaxing, and requires no special clothes and no shower afterward. Walking around a town at night is more interesting than during the daytime - everythink looks mysterious.

About 3 1/2 weeks ago I started walking! As many days a week as I have the time, I either go out for a 30 to 45 minute brisk walk. I started at about 15 minutes and gradually increased it to 20, then 30 and now 30-45. When it is raining, I drive to the local mall and walk for 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. It takes me about 35 minutes to walk 2 miles... not bad for 53!

My waist and belly have shrunk considerably and I have lost inches around the middle! Up to 3 years ago I cycled 100 miles a week but sciatica and a few other medical problems forced me to quit. I'm glad I started up again, am enjoying it and my body is responding nicely! Also, I eat at least one apple a day sometimes three and watch my intake but do have dessert in small amounts. I eat salads every evening and mostly chicken and no red meat...

Add some walking to your routine, hopefully it will work for you! :wink2:

[rfm2]

As we get older, the metabolism slows down and it gets harder and harder to keep weight off. I've found some form of early morning aerobic exercise very beneficial in revving my metabolism up throughout the day. I usually walk briskly up a mile long hill behind my house. I agree with the advice to limit portions, eat less processed food / drink, and snack on healthy foods when hungry between meals. Fresh fruit, nuts or a small amount of cheese take the edge off well. Also, if you can add even a little bit of muscle to your frame, you'll find it much easier to both lose the fat weight and to keep it off. Try using cheap dumbbells or just do push ups and pull ups to tone up. It'll make a lot of difference over just aerobics (biking, walking etc) and reducing calories.

Good luck!!

[TinFish]

All the above posts offer good tips. I would like to add:

A good breakfast like a bowl of oatmeal with some fruit. Add some protien, too - it will keep you feeling satisfied longer, like a little yogurt or cottage cheese. Eggs have gotten a bad rap, but they're good protien and keep you feeling full - just limit those to no more than 5 or 6 a week. Snack on fruit - low calories, but they take up a lot of room in your stomach and keep you feeling full.
And don't make the mistake I always make - thinking a good work out justifies pigging out on Big Macs and Ben & Jerry's Chunky Monkey. It doesn't take too much indulgence to negate the benefits of a good work out.

[mk-ultra]

Walking three miles a day (about one hour) will cause a gradual weight loss. I read somewhere that 17 miles per week is the typical distance that will result in weight loss. Walking is fun, relaxing, and requires no special clothes and no shower afterward. Walking around a town at night is more interesting than during the daytime - everythink looks mysterious.


+1 on the walking. If you can, please take my dog with you on the days I can't take her.

Also, I don't know if this applies, but just dropping sugared soda can make a difference.


Best of Luck,

[s1mp13m4n]

Thank you all for the great advise. I will let you all know how this works for me. This forum is great.

[RBE17]

Thank you all for the great advise. I will let you all know how this works for me. This forum is great.

Don't be afraid to mix things up either. If you don't think something is working or you don't like it, try something else. The basics for losing weight are simple, but you more than likely will find the execution can be a little difficult.

Speaking from my weight loss experience this year, I lost 22 pounds up to May from January. It took me a full two months to get my appetite under control and it was hard not eating that extra piece of candy, having a soda at lunch or not eating from the grill in the cafe. Anyway, I was very disciplined, but I got bored w/ the routine and the diet and eventually fell off the wagon. I've put weight back on and have fallen back to my old routines. So, just be careful how far you let the pendulum swing either way.

[cricky101]

I've lost lbs. using my exercise bike by interval training (and cutting out seconds at meal time and most sugar)

I ride a five-mile warmup at a decent pace, then switch between sprints at a relatively high resistance and leisurely riding at a low resistance.

I change up the routine once in a while, but usually I ride a 45-second to 1-minute sprint as hard as I can and a 30-45 second cool down and repeat for 8-10 miles.

It's pretty intense, but it's worked for me.

[big1096]

I've found that the "Eat This, Not That" series of books have been phenomenal in educating me on nutritional values of many foods. It was very eye opening to say the least. It's criminal how many of the "healthy" foods are just the opposite. Using the books, portion control, and regular exercise, (daily walks, sit ups, push ups) I was able to lose 50 lbs.

Best of luck!

[RichGem]

+1 on the walking. If you can, please take my dog with you on the days I can't take her.

Also, I don't know if this applies, but just dropping sugared soda can make a difference.


Best of Luck,

Soda, even diet, and especially any brown soda can be phenomenally bad for you due to the sugar/corn syrup/etc. (in regular) and the carmel color in brown sodas. Unfortunately, studies are also showing that diet isn't much better for you... carmel color is one issue, but also the fact that artificial sweetners, at least for some, does not satisfy the craving for sweetness and in fact, may magnify the issue. Also, the chemical nature of some artificial sweetners make them, at best, questionably healthy for you.

[jadam318]

I'm glad you started this thread. I feel like I could be in the same situation as you. I just committed to changing my diet and exercising regularly, myself. I just started today, as a matter of fact, and this thread is good encouragement.

I found an interval type workout in a Men's Fitness magazine that I am going to try out. I started with it back in the spring, and it went well until I got busy with work and gave up. It uses all home equipment stuff, so there is no gym involved. Basically, you do 1 minute of strength exercises followed by two minutes of cardio exercise. The whole routine only lasts about half an hour, so it is pretty easy to squeeze into a day. Also, you can adjust the intensity very easily. When I get home this evening I'll see if I can find the article online and post a link or something.

I will certainly fall in line with everyone else who advises giving up (for the most part, anyway) sugary drinks such as sodas. My uncle has lost almost 80 pounds in roughly a year just by giving up soda and walking about three miles a day. I think he does more like five miles now, but he started at three.

I'll also throw in a pitch for that exercise bike. Use it. Then get yourself a real bike (road bike or mountain bike, though I prefer the off-road variety). For me, my incentive to work out is being able to keep up with my friends on the trails when we go biking.

[alejandro]

Walking/jogging/running are all excellent ways to improve your cardiovascular system and lose fat. You don't have to do a marathon either. Start by keeping your heart rate at 80% of what is called the "target heart rate," where:


target beats per minute = (220 - Age)


So if you are 40 years old, then you are aiming for (220 - 40) * .8 = 144 beats per minute. You'll likely hit this with a brisk walk. Keep this rate for at least 45 minutes straight, three times a week, and you'll notice weight loss within a month.

As for eating...I subscribe to Michael Pollan's ideas on eating right. First, eat a little of everything, but mostly plants. Also, avoid packaged and processed foods.

Good luck, and enjoy!

[JoshSD]

Go on a 20+ minute walk at least three times a week.

Eat high protien, low fat meals every 3 hours every day. These meals should be about the size of your clenched fist. Protien takes longer to digest than anything else and will supress food cravings.

Lastly, drink only water and unsweetened tea.

If you actually stick with it for a few months you'll notice a huge difference in your wasteline and energy levels.

[Venom8431]

Two of the best things you can do to fend off eating when you don't need to is eating smaller meals throughout the day and drinking plenty of water. Plus, by eating less food more often, your body's metabolism keeps going as it learns that it doesn't always need to store your food as fat. Being about 75%, or whatever percentage it is, water is something you should be drinking constantly. Also, many people mistake thirst for hunger and end up eating when a glass of water would get the job done.

[rm71]

Reduce or eliminate alcohol
Smaller portions
Cut carbs ( especially sugar)
Exercise - at leat a 30min walk everyday. Swimming is also excellent.

[praetorian2000]

i exercise 4 days a week. i was doing it 5 but i work out so hard i can only do 4 now. i also eat a lot of fruits, vegetables, and fiber.
something i found out by accident...in an effort to improve my overall health, i cut out all the sugar (donuts, cakes, cookies, candy). everything else stayed the same. and instead of the sugar, i ate fruit. i ended up losing 5 pounds in 4 days. i didn't cut the sugar to lose weight, i cut it to improve health. the weight loss was a by-product. and a lot of what i have read recently said the overall thing is health. eat for health reasons and weight loss will occur naturally.

[Echo]

Eat natural food rather than something processed. A handful of almonds and an orange beat out a granola bar any day!

[mark the shoeshine boy]

sparkpeople.com seems to be a great site to visit. it i free. it is like the facebook of weight loss.

the recipes are endless, the information about health and nutrition seems to be very good.

i struggle with the BMI index. acordingto it, i need to drop 45 pounds to b in the healthy range. wow....that is a bit....25 to 30 maybe...we will see...even my doctor says that is a bit much.

the sugar is the main thing that people can cut back on and drop weight very quickly. the other rule is: if it is white , it ain;t right....white bread, rice and potatoes r not on the good side of the equation.

honey, syrup, cake, pie and stuff like that isnt on the good list either....

remember some carbs you need to prodcue energy....and help burn fat, too.

[perlslacker]

http://trainforstrength.com/

This is all bodyweight stuff; if you go to a sporting goods store you can get a pullup bar that fits in your doorway for ~$30. He has some sandbag workouts too, and you can make one for about $15 if you want weight to lift.

http://crossfit.com/ has some good bodyweight workouts too; if you haven't keeled over from exhaustion in a while they should fix that.

E: Also, find something strenuous to do that you enjoy. I did Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu off and on for a while and I was in great shape because I never had to motivate myself to go work out.

[Obsessed]

http://crossfit.com/ has some good bodyweight workouts too; if you haven't keeled over from exhaustion in a while they should fix that.

That's a great site; I wish I had the time to follow the program. Their workouts are sick, but they also provide scaled-down versions for mortals.

[michiganlover]

I've lost 80 lbs, and without any sort of strict dieting.

Lasting weight loss, isn't about a strict diet plan. It's about making lifestyle changes, that you can live with for the rest of your life.

The majority of the diets out there are very strict, and fail to address what you are going to do IF you make it to goal.

Of the plans out there, I think Weight Watchers is the best, as it makes a point of taking things slow (healthy weight loss, vs. quick weight loss), and tries to create a framework of support, so you can sustain your weight loss for a greater length of time.

Americans on the whole, eat a ton of garbage. We are bulking up on foods that are chemical filled, and very bad for us.

By the way, I wouldn't attempt to eat according to the Food Guide Pyramid: it is produced by an organization that is not unbiased, it's slanted too heavily towards meat, and dairy products.

Take a look here, for some better, and far less biased Food Guide Pyramids:

http://www.oldwayspt.org/

The Mediterranean Diet is especially useful, as it has an emphasis on whole grains, and lessens the consumption of meat.

Here is my quick advice:

1) Greatly reduce, or eliminate the consumption of soda. It's empty calories, and you will lose weight simply by not drinking soda. Diet soda isn't any better, as you are trading sugar for chemicals.

2) Make the majority of your food purchases whole grains/ whole foods. The heavily processed, heavily chemical laden foods are extremely detrimental to our health.

3) Limit your purchase of fast food.

4) Exercise when you can; find an exercise you, and your wife can do together, and it will be more enjoyable.

5) Remember, you are looking for long term sustainability: it's better to lose a pound a week, rather lose weight quickly, but also quickly gain it back.

[KarthVader]

Lower your carb intake. I don't eat bread, rice or starchy items anymore.

Drink lots of water.

Walking and burpees.

Limit fast food intake to once every other week, if you need to. Fast food will destroy your body.

[perlslacker]

Lower your carb intake. I don't eat bread, rice or starchy items anymore.

I disagree with this. Carbohydrates serve a necessary function in your body and a significant amount of your calories should come from them; you need a certain balance of carbs, protein, and fats. www.fitday.com is a service I've used in the past to keep track of my diet.

[opliko]

I'm actually studying to become a personal trainer and I have a few tips that have been proven to work, albeit not the easiest in the world, but simple in concept.

First off the calories in vs calories out is 100% correct. 3500 calories = 1 pound so in order to lose a pound you have to "lose" 3500 calories. Whether that means cutting back on diet to a certain point, or increasing physical activity is up to you, but that's really the way to lose weight. Don't cut back too many calories, you'll know how little is too little if your energy levels drastically change, have mood swings, etc easy signs to see.

It is much easier to increase physical activity than to continually decrease calories to lose weight. Finding a good and healthy balance between the two should be the goal.

This has already been mentioned but a goal of 1 pound per week is good. If there's not a pound per week being lost, increase how many calories you burn per week (doesn't have to be crazy changes), or decrease calories eaten per day. (again dont go crazy, make small changes, 100-300 calories per day of change is optimal)

This may sound like you should track every single calorie down to the half but just keep an eye on what youre eating and how many calories are in it, a ball park figure is good too if you don't want to go crazy. When in doubt exercise more :).

One quick note before I'm done. The source of calories actually doesn't matter, but for obvious reasons healthy food is multitudes better than junk food. Junk food usually has many many more calories in smaller portions than healthier food. Example: 1/2 cup of ice cream vs. 1 cup of carrots. That's like 100 calories vs 10 or 20.

Just remember its your body, and your own health and personal satisfaction. :)
Shoot me a PM if you want any other info.

[perlslacker]

One quick note before I'm done. The source of calories actually doesn't matter, but for obvious reasons healthy food is multitudes better than junk food.

Do you have a source for this? Those three major groups of calories are used in different ways by your body and throwing them out of balance can have negative health effects, e.g. many bodybuilders have kidney problems because their protein intake is so high. Well, and the 'roids...

[rickw]

I've just dropped 30 - 35 pounds using Lindora. Diet is limited to 50 carbs / day and about 800 calories. Exercise was three times a week; split between a bike and walking. They want 5000 steps a day. You can find them on line.