Thread: My weight
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Old 01-03-2009, 02:51 PM
JaeByrd's Avatar
JaeByrd JaeByrd is offline
 
Join Date: Feb 2008
Location: Oklahoma, USA
Posts: 156
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Prayers for you and your wife.

Weight has always been a struggle for us. We lost a lot of weight over 2 years of doing Atkins. We maintained for 2 years. We gained some back after moving and various things. We went reduced calorie last year and Diligent lost what he gained and then some. He weighs less than he did in when we married and he was 19 back then. His overall weight loss is 97 lbs from high weight to current. I have 15 lbs to go to get back to my low weight once more. For an overall 40 lbs weight loss.

Having dealt with injuries, working out, and re-injuring myself I have found that while weights give the biggest muscle gains and fastest weight loss, they also tend to bring the quickest re-injury as well. I have bad shoulders, knees, ankles, a few other trick spots. Make sure you stay well hydrated. Dry muscles seem to get injured easier.

What works best for me are things that use my own body weight and balance. Walking (running/jogging kills my ankles and knees), push ups, sit ups, squats, planks, side planks, etc. Good for overall cardio, toning, not a lot of bulking up - but you still build lean muscle from working them in a range of motion.

I also find the quickest way for me to burn out on diet or an exercise program is to start both at once. It is too much of a hypo-caloric jump all at once for my system. I get horrible food cravings and feel like I am starving after a work out. Or I get too weak and get injured again. I start one or the other and once my body has adjusted to the caloric needs (about a week later), THEN I add in the other.

Be sure to eat enough to meet your caloric needs. (This was always a way I sabotage myself in the past.) Too much and you won't lose weight, but TOO LITTLE and your body will go into starvation mode and your metabolism will slow and you will plateau. You need to create a deficit of 3,500 calories per week to lose 1 pound of weight.

Rather than eating the same amount of calories per day it works better to mix it up a little. 1,500 one day 1,700 the next with an overall -3,500 calories per week from your caloric needs. (Men should never go lower than 1,500 and women no lower than 1,200 on any given day.) This helps to keep the metabolism from stalling out and adjusting to X amount per day.

Advanced BMI is a good starting point to find out what weight you should aim for.

Calorie Counter will tell you how many calories you need to maintain your weight and that will tell you how much you can safely reduce to lose weight.

Air Force Reserve: pre-boot camp workout is a very simple program that requires nothing, but space to walk around. I did it with just walking in place of the jogging/running (because of my ankles) and lost 8 pounds in 3 months.