bluemistake2 said:
It seems whenever I begin exercising and eating healthy I put on weight?
How much weight? Your readout can fluctuate up to 5-8lbs. a day depending on how much water and food you've had. Weigh yourself at a consistent time. In the morning before showering, right after the gym, etc. In the mornings I'm about 204lbs, but after a workout I often hover around 210lbs because of how much I drink before, during, and after (part of the reason your muscles look bigger while/after working out is because they require more water).
If you're steadily gaining weight, it's probably because 'healthy' to you isn't low-Calorie.
There can be a huge gulf between what looks and tastes healthy, and what will cause you to lose weight.
Also due to my size, when I go for a lot of runs in a short amount of time, my knee plays up, anyway to counter this?
Thanks in advance
Yes. Don't run until you've strength trained the muscles more, or simply find an alternative to running.
Concerning "healthy" eating: Significant Caloric deficits will result in weight-loss. If your body runs at roughly a 3500kcal/Calorie a week deficit, you'll lose about a pound per week. However, there are important things to note! Anything much lower than 1200-1400 Calories can be dangerous, both in terms of lack of nutrition, and for your overall weightloss. Part of the Hunger-feeling is caused by grehlin and neuropeptide-Y, along with a slew of other hormones. When you starve yourself, your body enters a "starvation mode" and will sequester fat at a higher rate than if you were only at a slight caloric deficit. What does that mean for you? It means don't starve yourself, particularly early on. If you're exercising, your body will require protein to build musculature and sugars (carbohydrates) to burn.
What you'll want to do is, instead of counting every Calorie neurotically (though that can certainly help), switch to very filling foods and time nutrient-dense foods (those high in protein or carbs) to coincide with your workouts. If your body doesn't have protein or sugars to burn while working out, it has no problem switching to myoglobin derived from muscle mass - which will result in weaker muscles in the long run. Have a protein shake, energy bar, trail-mix, whatever your choice that's high in protein or complex carbs about 30-45 minutes before working out so that your body has enough energy to complete the workout and you're not tempted to associate those foods with meals.
Colors are also a good way to help get you into healthy eating habits. The "beige syndrome" is very common in the United States - a piece of meat with something white or beige is your dinner. Maybe a spoon of steamed broccoli. While it's not necessarily a bad meal if you're burning all of those calories, most people don't need all the energy packed into a baked potato (especially for dinner, when you're least likely to be active afterwards). Try to fit at least three colors of foods into every meal. This ultimately means you'll have to buy lots of fruit and veggies, since meat only comes in two colors, and there's only good things to come from eating lots of fruit and veggies. Food also becomes more appetizing, and tastes better with more colors in it.
If you think an issue might be portion sizes, try buying smaller plates and bowls. A lot of dinnerware is huge compared to our needs. Most of the time, meals only need to be about as large as your two balled fists. If you have a lot of room leftover on your plate, you're going to eat more.
It's perfectly acceptable (and encouraged) to give yourself treats in moderation. If you stick to your new eating habits and workout routine, fast food once a week or a candybar now and then (not every day) isn't going to make a dent in your weight loss goals. What it will do is prevent you from binging on your comfort foods the moment you can't choke down another arugala salad. Your body has a margin for error that it works within, and can compensate for a few extra Calories or a few missing Calories. This always leads to someone saying that "Calories aren't everything because I burned 3,500 Calories this week and only lost 0.5lbs when I should have lost a full pound." Their body compensated. How much everybody compensates is individually tied to their environment and genes, but the body can only compensate so much - and it's that barrier you're trying to overcome through diet and exercise. If you eat your required Calories for a week, but burn an extra 500 or 1000, your body won't be able to compensate for such a large deficit.
In the same vein, fat IS a necessary dietary component. Don't think that "healthy" means getting rid of all the fat. Your body needs both saturated and unsaturated to function well. The trick is to meter out your fat intake. Choose one meal to have the most fat intake of the day - like eggs and buttered toast in the morning, or pan-fried chicken for lunch. Then just keep it low the rest of the day (you don't have to eliminate fat intake the rest of the time, but 'low' is fine).
Stay away from supplements and pills. They're all shit. Not only have exactly 0 of them been proven to work over the long term by any CLINICAL studies (and a clinical - not "significant" - difference is what you should be looking for), but most don't contain the amounts of the active ingredient they claim. A few tested had sawdust. One even had Ephedrin - because they hated regular heartbeats, I guess. They're pure bullshit. No doubt you'll be tempted by "Green Tea", Acai berries, Hoodia, massive Vitamin E doses, whatever. There's no easy way out. Even caffeine - which can help getting to and maintaining the workout - doesn't really raise your metabolism that much, and almost never for long enough to burn more Calories than your body can compensate for. Nothing you eat does. When in-doubt, stick to the "5-Whys". That is, ask "Why?" after every answer to get to the actual mechanism of action. If nobody can give you many concrete details beyond 3-4 "Whys" - which is common in pseudoscience bullshit "Alternative Medicine" malarkey - then thank them kindly for saving you an assload of money and walk away.
Also realize this: With weight loss, it's always easier at the beginning. When you're 300lbs your body requires significantly more Calories just to operate and move around than a guy at 200lbs or a woman at 105lbs. Depending on how overweight you are, and assuming you stick to a new diet and exercise regime, the weight will fly off... then it gets a little bit harder as your BMI/Bodyfat% starts to zero-in on the "healthy" range. So don't be discouraged just because it gets harder to lose weight - that's expected. You just have to push a little harder until you're happy with how you feel.
As for exercise: If you're significantly overweight or morbidly obese (BMI > 30), then stay away from high-impact exercises at first. Don't run, don't play contact sports, don't do a lot of heavy weight-lifting. Every pound above your waist puts 7lbs of pressure on your knees and various amounts on your spine. An injury in either one will take you out of the running for months, and if you weight-lift with bad form an injury with heavy weights can be an instant life-changer.
Try low-impact exercises at first. Cycling - either reclined or regular, stationary or otherwise - is a great cardio workout if you keep up the resistance levels. Elliptical machines are another good one, and fast-walking is another option. What you're looking for is an elevated heart-rate (between about 125bpm and 150bpm) for more than 15minutes if you want to start feeling a physical difference from the exercise. A heart-rate monitor is highly recommended, as prolonged bouts of exercise at higher than 150bpm can be dangerous, and much lower than 125bpm and your body isn't really switching into anaerobic modes. If you can't make 15min at first, that's fine. Work up to it. Take breaks if you need to; while it's preferable that the 15min+ be continuous, if you ease up to it and down again, that's fine.
Start the workout with light aerobics or cardio - even if it's just walking. Try for a 10-minute warmup before you start intensifying the workout. You DON'T have to stretch prior to the workout (and if you're weightlifting, it can be a bad idea beforehand). DO stretch afterwards. Stretching puts stress on the tendons, and the body's reaction to that is to increase muscle tension - putting your muscles under increased stress which they don't need. The warmup gets blood flowing into your limbs, preps the heart for a higher intensity workout, and allows you to slowly correct form problems in your cardio before they become a problem. Stretching afterwards allows muscle tension during periods where they're not under increased stress from a workout.
Speaking of, PROPER FORM IS NECESSARY. Always. No exceptions. If you don't know the proper form for the exercise, Google it or ask somebody who does. Bad form will have two devastating outcomes: Bad form in cardio exercises creates injuries that sneak up on you after years of continuing the bad form, and bad form in weightlifting creates acute injuries which can seriously damage a joint or paralyze you. If you cannot keep proper form, STOP. Even if you're not tired, STOP - wait and return to the exercise. If you can't perform proper form during the exercise at any time, lower the weights or continue an exercise you can perform properly until your muscles have trained enough to try again. The best athletes and weightlifters know this; I've seen many stop because they don't have the focus to continue good form.
Rest days are also very, very, VERY important. Your muscles need time to recover, repair, and rebuild. Your cells need time to adjust what proteins get made, how efficiently they use resources, and how much oxygen they need. 3x a week is all you really need to start to feel and see the benefits, with preferably at least a 10-minute warmup and 15-minute length of exercise, followed by a cooldown stretch. Try to not group all 3 together; aim for (at most) 2 back to back. M,W,F has been my preference for a long time, or Tues, Thurs, Sat. Play around with your schedule, see what you can do easily. Without recovery time, your muscles won't repair themselves fully. You'll feel it, and it's not a fun time.
And always... always... ALWAYS remember that shaping your body into something it's not is a gradual process. You'll feel the benefits within a month, but the first fat to go is internal fat that surrounds the organs so you probably won't see much of a difference for several months. More important than how long you can run, or how much you can lift, is how consistent you can be. The only excuse you should allow yourself is "my body feels like crap and I don't believe I'd be able to exercise properly today". That's it. It takes 10 weeks of doing something on a consistent basis to create a new habit. Even if you can't make it to the gym and have to speed-walk around your home, turn up the radio to dance, or even if you have to run in place for 20 minutes - keep it up. We do what's most important to us, and make excuses for the rest. Eventually you'll reach a point where exercising is addicting - the habit is formed, and you'll feel bad if you miss a day. Then you know you're on the right path to a much healthier life.
As one last tip (and feel free to message me if you have any questions), choose some music to listen to that has a nice beat to it. It doesn't have to be fast or loud (I listen to quite a few Irish drinking songs while working out), but as you slip into "the Zone" you will imitate the beat. A slow beat means a slow-paced workout.
Good luck!
Edit: Wow, just noticed this thread is from July and someone necro'd it.
It is good to see that I'm mostly giving the same advice I did in my previous reply, though.
