Ok, so back in June I bought a new pair of running shoes and was going to begin running to lose weight. The first run/walk went well. I blogged about it and felt really good.
Fast forward to present.
For a while I didn't stick to it. Then I decided that my health was the most important thing I could do for myself and my family. So, what the hell was my problem? Why was I delaying and continually putting off what I knew I had to do?
You see, weight loss is different for people that have been overweight their whole life. It's not as simple as following the latest workout program they are selling on TV. It's much more psychological. In fact watch the TV programs. Most of the participants that lose the most weight have only gotten heavy after they were an adult. Not that their success shouldn't be praised, weight loss and increased health at any age should be respected.
What I am saying is that if you have been overweight most of your life, you will need to focus on the psychology as well as lifestyle.
I will blog more about this in the coming weeks and months as I go through it, but here is some initial info that I have found to be true.
First, start slow. VERY SLOW. If you workout in any manner that causes you to be sore the next day you will give up. Unless you are on the Biggest Loser ranch and Bob and Jillian are kicking your ass everyday. (By the way, I used to watch that show with a bowl of ice cream....sigh).
So, for the first few weeks go slow. Walk, don't run. Lift light weights, not heavy.
Your body is going to be slow to adjust, it's just not used to this! Incidentally, this is how people that have been in shape before bounce back so fast, their body remembers it. Your's does not!
I ran a mile the first day I got my shoes. I was sore the next day. It was over a month until I worked out again. It's not that I was sore for a month, it's that I trained my subconscious to associate work outs with soreness.
I eventually decided that I wanted to join a gym and signed up at a really cheap place that costs me $10 per month. It has weights and cardio machines and that's all I need. Years ago my wife and I decided to join a big national chain gym. It was really more of a country club type place and we mainly used it for the hot tub and pool. $126 per month for the family, what a waste!
So, since I joined the new gym, I've been going every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. I have not missed a day. I have not been sore. Now, I have "felt" the workout. As I said earlier, my body is not used to this, so I can feel the walking/running in my legs. I can feel my muscles in my chest and back . They are by no means sore, more of a tight feeling.
So here is my routine. I go in early, around 6am. Then walk a mile. Usually around 3.5 mph with the occasional bump up to 4.5 or 5 for a little bit. My goal here is to just get through the mile without hurting myself. All I'm trying to do is get my body moving and get the blood pumping.
Then I move over to the weights. I do a lat pull down 3 sets of 10 with a low weight that doesn't challenge me. I want to get through all three sets. I do the same with seated rows, back extensions, chest press and bicep curls. That's it. Oh, I also take 30 seconds between sets.
The main thing that I am doing now, that I have never done before, is to track everything. I take my phone in and have a free app that allows me to say the reps, sets and weight for each machine. It also allows me to track my cardio for time, distance, calories burned and max heart rate.
After a few weeks I've started bumping up the weight a bit, but only so I feel the workout is more productive, I still do not feel any pain or soreness the next day.
Because I'm tracking everything now, I can see some correlations. My workouts are harder if I have alcohol the night before, even 1 drink. Also, water is vitally important. If I don't drink water before my workout and go straight from bed to gym, my workouts aren't as good.
I'm also beginning to see how my food intake changes how my workouts feel (I have not changed my diet yet, but it is sort of changing on it's own, I'm finding that junk cravings are diminishing and healthy food becoming more desirable). This is all something that you begin to see as you track and just keep doing the work. Actually at this point, I kind of look forward to it and it takes less motivation to get me there in the first place!
If you have been overweight your whole life or are overweight now and are struggling to lose weight, I hope this article helps you to make the slow steps toward health. Just remember you don't have to do everything to the max at once. Go slow, take your time and just do something!
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