Posted: 4/29/2010 8:46:22 AM EDT
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I'm 42 years old, 6' 3" tall, and weigh 285 pounds as of this morning. About 80% of that is in all the wrong places.
I spent 10 years in uniform. Since I was a kid I've been concerned about my weight/appearance. I've done diets, and some half-assed workout routines that died after 10 days or so. In short, I have always hated exercise, and have never been able to get over that damned hump that would give me the motivation to work out on a regular basis. No, not even the fear of death has made me change my ways. I give up. I don't know what to do. How in the name of Sam Hill did you guys get motivated enough, and STAY motivated enough, to start a plan and actually STICK to the damned thing. I'm hoping to find a way without involving a pit stop in an ER. 
Signed, Seemingly Impossible to Motivate.... |
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One very simple solution is to make working out a HABIT...that's all it really is.
The fact of the matter is that once you get over the initial shock of whatever your routine is, you will find that you can blast your self to pieces in the gym, track, dojo, what ever and will have MORE energy once you recover. Conversely, miss a work out and you will be dog tired...at least that's how I am. I always start people who I am assisting (I would say training but I am not a paid trainer...I just help others) very easy, very simple, very basic routines...you don't need to do anything killer nor fancy, at least not in the beginning. I use really easy workouts to build initial/base/core capability and ESTABLISH THE HABIT PATTERN OF WORKING OUT in a relatively painless way. That, coupled with a few dietary tweaks (I call it energy mis(management)) and you're ready to start training hard, if you so desire. A few dietary mistakes (i.e. eating the wrong thing at the wrong time) can really drain you. Basically, start easy, start simple, start slow (but START) and make it part of your lifestyle. HTH. ETA: NEVER SURRENDER...fight "it" to the grave. |
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I'm not gonna lie...getting from where you are now to where you need to be is very difficult. The upside, is once you have lost the weight, keeping it off isn't as hard (not nearly as hard as getting there). Nutrition is over 70% of the game. I'd avoid "diets" and just make incremental changes to how you eat. As far as working out, start slow and sustainable. Many of the popular workout programs take waaayyy too much time. Sometimes 90 min/ session! I don't have that kind of motivation and I was a personal trainer for a while. Short, but intense, workouts are actually more efficient and can get better results than long ones.
Make one dietary change for the better this week and do one physical activity more than normal. Maintain that for a few weeks, then add another change, another activity. When you start a workout program you could take it month by month. Do the program for 30 days, take a couple weeks off (light activity, walks, sports etc.) then do the next 30 days. That would give you a fixed time goal to shoot for then a break. Time the break with a well-deserved vacation! I started this program TACFIT COMMANDO and did it for a month along with my overweight soldiers with great results. They lost weight, improved cardio fitness and strength-endurance and reported that they liked it. The workouts are 18 min on low/no intensity days and 45 min on the workout days. Joint mobility and yoga pre-hab and recovery is built in. Ignore the cheesy "commando" ad copy, but hey it works. The program is awesome as far as everything it incorporates relating to function fitness, I was very impressed. It is also portable, just need some floor space, so it is my go-to traveling workout. I just used it on my painful 2 weeks in transit home from Iraq to stay in shape/active during all that travel. I'm not affiliated with them at all, just really like the program. |
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One very simple solution is to make working out a HABIT...that's all it really is. The fact of the matter is that once you get over the initial shock of whatever your routine is, you will find that you can blast your self to pieces in the gym, track, dojo, what ever and will have MORE energy once you recover. Conversely, miss a work out and you will be dog tired...at least that's how I am. I always start people who I am assisting (I would say training but I am not a paid trainer...I just help others) very easy, very simple, very basic routines...you don't need to do anything killer nor fancy, at least not in the beginning. I use really easy workouts to build initial/base/core capability and ESTABLISH THE HABIT PATTERN OF WORKING OUT in a relatively painless way. That, coupled with a few dietary tweaks (I call it energy mis(management)) and you're ready to start training hard, if you so desire. A few dietary mistakes (i.e. eating the wrong thing at the wrong time) can really drain you. Basically, start easy, start simple, start slow (but START) and make it part of your lifestyle. HTH. This. your changes must be permanent.. In your shoes, perhaps i'd make simple changes to your diet/exercise situation to get up to a state where you're doing it all the time. If you want to jump right into the water? That's fine, more power to you - but you MAY find it harder, I know some do. Oh, and there's no need to eat "Competition lean" every day if you're just a regular joe  . I've seen the eggwhites/oatmeal etc etc bland diet break tons of people before... The diet is going to be a veery important component - here is where I recommend you ease yourself into the water.
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Diets suck. It is much easier to cut out certain foods than it is to try and moderate or regulate everything. I got rid of bulky stuff. Rice, potatoes, etc. shit that was used as filler. Just by doing that I have lost 50 pounds, and this is after quitting smoking at the same time.
I am hitting a wall where I need to cut back intake and increase activity, but I don't think that would have happened if I had not managed to get my diet straightened out. I am not low carb, just anti-bulk. I know it sounds funny that you would just eat more of the "good stuff" instead of the noodles, but do you really think that you could eat the same volume of spaghetti sauce as you could spaghetti noodles? Or stir-fry veggies? The fixings for a hoagie are just as satisfying...well filling anyhow, as a sandwich made with bread. Admittedly I was forced to make some changed because of Diabetes and Celiac. Those were just the tip of the iceberg though. |
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You can watch TV, right?
You can move while you watch TV. There is no excuse. Here is my prescription for you: Contact the Concept 2 company for an information packet. http://concept2.com/us/indoorrowers/default.asp?gclid=CN7ZmvC8rKECFUKU7Qod7mSBLw I have a Concept 2 rowing machine. Best exercise machine on the planet. I too am NOT motivated to exercise. That is why I am forced to use Jedi Mind Tricks on myself. It is pretty simple- I set my alarm and get up early in the morning. I row approximately 30 minutes a day and I am too groggy in the morning to know much about what is happening to me anyway. I watch DVDs of TV series that I buy on Amazon or I borrow from the local library. I promise you you will get results and you will feel better. It is the only exercise routine I have been able to stick with. Good luck! |
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All great advice so far. I was once tall and large as well. I went from 6'4" 305 to ~240lb.
My motivation was simple. Diabetes scares me, I dont want to die young, and I have wanted to fly for the military my whole entire fucking life. Lost the weight, the Army hired me to fly, and I ship in 32 days. Go for it. |
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All great advice so far. I was once tall and large as well. I went from 6'4" 305 to ~240lb. My motivation was simple. Diabetes scares me, I dont want to die young, and I have wanted to fly for the military my whole entire fucking life. Lost the weight, the Army hired me to fly, and I ship in 32 days. Go for it. Congrats!!! 
I am too old and have too many kids now to go .mil, and frankly, when I was young enough I never thought I'd add up to anything so I didn't care. I can't change things in the past, but i can try and fix them now. |
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I worked out regularly throughout most of my 20s. Then when I was 30 I injured my neck doing jiujitsu. This took a good 6 months to get over but led to 5 years of no excercise. I am 6'1" tall and at 30 I fluctuated between 185-190. By the end of that 5 years I weighed 230. My stomach looked big, my face looked fat, my BP/cholesterol was insanely high, and I couldn't do the easiest of physical activities without getting winded. Over the next year or so, I tried some diets that lasted about a week before I gave up I put on weight during this year. I had never really had to diet before and it was much tougher to do than I had expected. I gained a huge amount of respect for people that had done it successfully. Finally I got to a point where I believe you are right now. What I needed was some encouragement to get over that hump, so I asked my wife to help. She was invaluable. She helped me get through those hurdles that came with getting healthy. The first hurdle was my diet, it had to be changed. I cut out the fast food and pizza buffets and went to high protein and low carbs. The first two weeks of this were bloody hell, I felt drained of energy constantly. My wife was there to help me along though and I will say that keeping a food journal also helped out quite a bit. Much like keeping a financial budget for your home, this helped me keep things on track. The good news was that after this two weeks, things got much easier. It was as if my body said, "Alright you son of a bitch, I will accept these changes." I am not saying it became a breeze after that, but it was much easier to deal with. The second hurdle was exercise. For me a big part of this was embarrassment. Not only by my body image but by my fitness level. The first run I went on I lasted about 1/8th of a mile before having to walk and being completely out of breath. I am not sure if this is as big an issue for you, but I didn't want to exercise in public. My solution was doing HIIT with the jump rope and heavy bag in my garage. I don't know if jumping directly into HIIT is the best choice, but the way I looked at it, my running was basically doing HIIT anyway. I only lasted 30 seconds of running before having to walk for a minute. I also still ran, but I did it at odd hours when not many people would be about and I also did pushups and situps. As with my diet, after two weeks it got much easier. Also as with my diet, I kept a journal. Any day I didn't do an accomplish my exercise I wrote FAILED on. For some reason this really helped keep me motivated. Seeing a written sheet of paper of myself not keeping up with my goals really did help. After a month, my pants were getting pretty loose fitting. After two months, I was at 205 pounds. Seeing the pounds shed off was really good motivation, but it also had its traps. On some occasions I found myself bargaining with myself. I thought, I lost this much weight, I can afford to gorge myself at the pizza buffet. This is actually a pretty huge problem that I still go through. The only thing that has remotely worked is keeping a food intake budget, though I have stopped doing that currently. I am starting to lean towards the idea this is not actually that bad of a thing as long as you don't let it lead you into your old ways of eating completely. Somewhat of a reward. The last hurdle was going back to the gym. I knew I would be weak and I did not dissapoint. After being fairly strong throughout my 20s, it was humbling going back to the gym. I did rippetoes starting strength and the muscle started coming back fairly quickly. Again, after a few weeks it was like putting on an old hat. I don't know much about muscle memory, but every work out showed huge gains. I started to get self conscious that some of the people who worked out at the same time would think I was juicing. I just wanted to relate some of the challenges I went through being in a similar situation. Here is the point though, forget all that bullshit above and stick to whatever program you choose for 1 month. If you need encouragement or motivation, post your weekly workout and goals here, a lot of people here will help motivate. Make that decision and watch the results. You will feel like a badass at the end of that month. Hell, you will be a badass because you will have gone through an extremely tough month. From there the challenges of today won't be so tough. P.S. sorry about the long winded response, it is a slow day at work. |
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1) Get a training partner who is motivated, someone who will be ticked if you let them down. when you are feeling low, knowing someone is expecting you will get you there.
2) Set small goals and build on them. Lose 5 lbs and run a mile... then lose 15 lbs, run a mile in 10 mins and bench 100 lbs... 3) Think long and hard about what you love and use that as a goal. Since you are on Ar15.com, I am assuming you have at least an interest in firearms. Every workout completed is 2 dollars in the "gun fund". Put a picture up of that gun you will buy. 4) Recognize what your gifts are and aren't. Frankly the guys who really accel at lifting/nutrition are borderline mental. It takes huge amounts of discipline over many years to really build yourself. don't beat yourself up becuase you aren't like them. 5) Change the way you think. Accept that you are going to work out. You have a job right? You manage to get to work and complete your tasks at work. Working out is not optional. You will do it. |
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I'm 42 years old, 6' 3" tall, and weigh 285 pounds as of this morning. About 80% of that is in all the wrong places. I spent 10 years in uniform. Since I was a kid I've been concerned about my weight/appearance. I've done diets, and some half-assed workout routines that died after 10 days or so. In short, I have always hated exercise, and have never been able to get over that damned hump that would give me the motivation to work out on a regular basis. No, not even the fear of death has made me change my ways. I give up. I don't know what to do. How in the name of Sam Hill did you guys get motivated enough, and STAY motivated enough, to start a plan and actually STICK to the damned thing. I'm hoping to find a way without involving a pit stop in an ER.
Signed, Seemingly Impossible to Motivate.... Luis you need to find something enjoyable. That could be walking around the neighborhood, riding a bike, something physical that you enjoy. Start there for activity. If that doesn't cut it, pick something to train for, a 5K, fun bike ride, kayak paddle - find a training buddy to commit to it with you, enter, and tell everyone that you did so. Having something to train towards always worked better for me than a "negative" goal of losing weight. That, and I LOVE putting a whuppin on the young guys, whether that's at the PRT, the 3/week PT we did at my last command, or making their eyes bleed in bike races. I'm at the high end of my own weight cycle these days at 200 pounds. I know what to do to get the pounds off (I was back at USNA weight a year and a half ago), but it ain't easy to DO. Weight has much more to do with what you put in your mouth than anything else. Don't make huge changes here; make one small change and stick with it for 4-6 weeks, then make another small change. Bottom line - you have to want it. |
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Find a reason to stick with it. I didn't really get motivated until I started taking Jiu Jitsu classes.
You need a goal to train for, not just to lose weight. Find a friend or something to commit to running a 5k or something with. Find some form of activity you enjoy that requires you to improve your fitness level. |
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It really comes down to self-motivation and reprogramming your brain to have the discipline to get in shape. It really is no different than making good financial choices. If you have been able to keep your financial life in order, apply the same though process to fitness. Instead of "well I won't spend $x on this because it is a waste of money" go "instead of eating X, I'll eat Y because x is a waste of calories", or "If I save $X00, in 5 years I will have $Y000" think "if I do X really hard, I'll look like Y in 8 months". Also challenge yourself, call yourself names like pussy, wimp and slack ass, if you run on the treadmill do it on a timer and try to always beat your time or increase the distance. Make it into a game. Once you get in the grove, it becomes a habit, and once it becomes a habit, it will become an addiction. My wife and I both NEED to workout. I removes so much stress and allows you to sleep better. Good luck!  |
Zaphod, let me make a suggestion: find someone else to work out with. It's much easier for most people to stay motivated if they have someone to compete against/impress/encourage or whatever. Now, if you don't have any friends who want to work out, you might consider joining a martial arts school that has intensive cardio training, like Krav Maga, and make sure you find an expensive one: that way you'll feel really guilty if you skip class. 
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Try Crossfit. Look atCrossfit Brand X scaled workouts to start off. I made signaficant strength gains and fat losses from this program, and the Brand X page scales it for you. If you have not worked out in a while, start at the buttercups or puppies level.
Also check your diet and make modifications slowly. Remember, you are building new habits. |
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Do you like to fight? If so boxing and martial arts are just the ticket. He isnt kidding ! I have been a chubster my whole life and since I have been doing Muay Thai my body now has cuts that I have never had EVEN when I was in the Army. If you follow this route trust me when I say you will want to run. It pays huge dividends especially when you are sparring a semi-pro fighter and your dragging ass halfway through the 3rd round. There is nothing like receiving a hard thrown punch to make you re-evaluate your priorities lol |
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Zaphod, let me make a suggestion: find someone else to work out with. It's much easier for most people to stay motivated if they have someone to compete against/impress/encourage or whatever. That'll be the wife.
I'll be taking the P90X Fitness Test this evening. Will advise. 
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Zaphod, let me make a suggestion: find someone else to work out with. It's much easier for most people to stay motivated if they have someone to compete against/impress/encourage or whatever. That'll be the wife.
I'll be taking the P90X Fitness Test this evening. Will advise. Good. Rick is right on when he says to get a partner. As long as you and the wife can hold each other accountable without things getting ugly, she's as good a choice as any. Don't get discouraged by the test results if you don't like what they tell you. Your fitness is what it is. The test just provides a place from which you measure improvement. I haven't done P90X, but I deal with a similar issue with athletes beginning to train with a power meter on their bikes. They get depressed because they can't put up numbers that they think they should. It's just a benchmark. What you do with that mark is up to you. |
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P90X is no walk in the park, unless you are already in very good shape. The key is to stay with it. Like the guys on the TV ads say, just keep moving. You will VERY likely poop-out long before the vid ends, but jusy keep trying to do kinda what they are doing...keep moving. |
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Well, I have come to the conclusion that there is no way in hell I can exercise right after waking up. It's hard enough getting my fat ass out of the rack to go to work. Geez, this is pathetic. NYET, COMRADE. You need to go get some compelling series on DVDs. Don't watch them unless you are exercising. Have you seen the two seasons of ROME? Pop them in and then get on the rowing machine, treadmill, stationary bike, etc. When you stop exercising turn the TV/player off. Get moving- no matter what it is. The morning may not be the optimal time but if you have kids then it is one of the few times you can carve out for yourself. |
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Well, I have come to the conclusion that there is no way in hell I can exercise right after waking up. It's hard enough getting my fat ass out of the rack to go to work. Geez, this is pathetic. Suck it up buttercup and get out of the rack! Get up and get it done. You'll feel better about yourself all day and that sense of accomplishment will help you control your food intake. Make an effort to get to bed earlier. If you're having trouble sleeping, then a couple of days of early wakeups should put that right. Also, try to get up at the same time on weekends as you do during the week to help your body get used to getting up. If you need to, take a short (<30 minute nap on weekend days). |
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Make an effort to get to bed earlier. I definitely need to do that.
Well, I did it. And I did get up. Half an hour later than I'd planned, but I did. Did a couple of sets on the Bowflex. Nothing to write home about. But hey, at least I got up. Twenty more times and it'll be a habit, right?
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...its tough when I get home at 3am (work) and get up at 7am to put the kids on the bus, send wifey off to work and care for the 7 month old....a nap or two (if Im VERY lucky) through the day and then back to work at 5pm..... sleep is a long forgotten dream.... I own pg 2 PS. and I'm 42, so no spring chicken... |
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Make an effort to get to bed earlier. I definitely need to do that.
Well, I did it. And I did get up. Half an hour later than I'd planned, but I did. Did a couple of sets on the Bowflex. Nothing to write home about. But hey, at least I got up. Twenty more times and it'll be a habit, right? Dude, embrace the positive. You got something in. That beats staying in the rack. I prefer AM workouts, but I've always been a guy who's running before my feet hit the floor in the morning. |