Finally doing something about being unfit... so is my wife.

GTanny · 27 Apr 2017 at 11:03

So after many years of wanting to do something but, put simply, being too lazy and shy to do anything about it i went to my first weekly MMA training session a couple of weeks ago and i absolutely loved it, i have never been in a fight and have a very laid back personality so don't plan too but its so much fun if you ignore the next day or 2 of aches.

Now this has triggered something and after years of being overweight and very unfit i want to make the most of this and not let it slip, my daughters both go to children's classes with the same sensei so i have a connection that will make avoiding the training hall very difficult.

to go with this i have also picked up a set of dumbbells and a foldable bench (i would love a full weight setup but don't have the room) and my wife has picked up a treadmill (that i plan to use at times) as she wants to start running (I'm sure she will update with her own plans - user ETanny) we also have DDP yoga and i intend on getting more use out of it on the quieter days.

i know the next part i really need to work on is diet which is where i know i will and have always struggles as food is my easy out, tired, stressed or bored i just resort to food (which working shifts and having 3 consecutive years of redundancy threats hasn't helped as ive spent a lot of time tired and/or stressed)

unless people really object i intend to use this as an update tool of sorts to keep me motivated, i wont be doing daily updates by any means but ill try posting regular posts about how im getting on.

currently i stand and 5'8" and fluctuate between 18st7lb - 19st but have been as big as 22st 5 years ago. i plan to track my food using my fitness pal and have a fitbit to track my movement.

I'm very open to advice if anyone has any.

neilw · 27 Apr 2017 at 16:04

Well done. I'm a runner so I'm going to suggest running! Have a look at a couch to 5k, then once you can do 5km set a target of doing a Parkrun or something. Seeing your time drop is really good motivation and lets you know you're improving.

mattyg · 27 Apr 2017 at 16:14

Get your gait analysed. It cost me nothing at my local runners shop IF I bought running shoes from them or £15 if i didn't.

It was well worth it. I've not started to run yet but have gone from the couch to walking 40 miles in 3 days round NYC. Which is a massive increase from my 4000 steps a day max. My feet hurt walking a mile with the dog at night until I bought the correct support shoes. Now I look forward to the walks..

GTanny · 27 Apr 2017 at 18:49

I have no problem with the walking as I am my feet all day at work and easily get 10000 steps each workday, normally 3000 max on my days off unless I'm out with the family. I intend on trying to get some use out of the treadmill and 5K seems a reasonable distance, I have seen C25K before but the idea of running didn't appeal, I lost a lot of weight when I was 18/19 just doing weights and eating one meal a day but once I stopped I piled the weight back on, I need to get the idea that lifting weights is good and cardio is bad, cardio just seems like harder work.

ill have a look for a local running shop and see how much it would be to treat the wife and myself to a will fitting pair of running shoes instead of the dusty cheap pair from sports direct we both got a couple of years back.

mattyg · 27 Apr 2017 at 18:51

Eating one meal a day is BAD. Very Bad. Thats how I put on all my weight.

mrthingyx · 27 Apr 2017 at 19:40

GTanny said:
So after many years of wanting to do something but, put simply, being too lazy and shy to do anything about it i went to my first weekly MMA training session a couple of weeks ago and i absolutely loved it, i have never been in a fight and have a very laid back personality so don't plan too but its so much fun if you ignore the next day or 2 of aches.

Now this has triggered something and after years of being overweight and very unfit i want to make the most of this and not let it slip, my daughters both go to children's classes with the same sensei so i have a connection that will make avoiding the training hall very difficult.

to go with this i have also picked up a set of dumbbells and a foldable bench (i would love a full weight setup but don't have the room) and my wife has picked up a treadmill (that i plan to use at times) as she wants to start running (I'm sure she will update with her own plans - user ETanny) we also have DDP yoga and i intend on getting more use out of it on the quieter days.

i know the next part i really need to work on is diet which is where i know i will and have always struggles as food is my easy out, tired, stressed or bored i just resort to food (which working shifts and having 3 consecutive years of redundancy threats hasn't helped as ive spent a lot of time tired and/or stressed)

unless people really object i intend to use this as an update tool of sorts to keep me motivated, i wont be doing daily updates by any means but ill try posting regular posts about how im getting on.

currently i stand and 5'8" and fluctuate between 18st7lb - 19st but have been as big as 22st 5 years ago. i plan to track my food using my fitness pal and have a fitbit to track my movement.

I'm very open to advice if anyone has any.

Awesome stuff and well done!

Start a log in the "Training Logs" section because that has been statistically proven to make you 15% more attractive to users of this subforum.

Yes.

GTanny · 27 Apr 2017 at 19:53

mattyg said:
Eating one meal a day is BAD. Very Bad. Thats how I put on all my weight.

It worked until I started eating normally again then the weight returned very quickly.

mrthingyx said:
Awesome stuff and well done!

Start a log in the "Training Logs" section because that has been statistically proven to make you 15% more attractive to users of this subforum.

Yes.

cheers

I didn't notice the log section but anything to be more attractive to the OCUK members.

ETanny · 27 Apr 2017 at 20:53

Wife here.

I lost 132lbs by walking and diet over the course of 3yrs after having our youngest. However due to a horrible accident last year that knocked me off my feet I have slowly gained around 40lbs which I am wanting to get back off however I seem to have lost the focus I had originally.
I have been loosing and gaining the same 20lbs since Christmas which isn't good so decided I needed to find something to work towards as I know I work better that way.

I turn 30 next year and would love to run a marathon. Its something I say every year but nothing comes to fruition.
I have now made the decision to work towards doing the local race for life on the 25th June. Its just around 8 weeks away. This morning I went on the treadmill and it took me 1hr15 minutes to do 5k, That time was obviously with me mainly walking so I am hoping by training 3 days a week I will improve that time drastically come race day.

mrthingyx · 27 Apr 2017 at 21:17

ETanny said:
Wife here.

I lost 132lbs by walking and diet over the course of 3yrs after having our youngest. However due to a horrible accident last year that knocked me off my feet I have slowly gained around 40lbs which I am wanting to get back off however I seem to have lost the focus I had originally.
I have been loosing and gaining the same 20lbs since Christmas which isn't good so decided I needed to find something to work towards as I know I work better that way.

I turn 30 next year and would love to run a marathon. Its something I say every year but nothing comes to fruition.
I have now made the decision to work towards doing the local race for life on the 25th June. Its just around 8 weeks away. This morning I went on the treadmill and it took me 1hr15 minutes to do 5k, That time was obviously with me mainly walking so I am hoping by training 3 days a week I will improve that time drastically come race day.

Congratulations - that is quite something!

And please don't run a marathon: it will damage you. :eek:

semi-pro waster · 28 Apr 2017 at 18:56

ETanny said:
Wife here.

I lost 132lbs by walking and diet over the course of 3yrs after having our youngest. However due to a horrible accident last year that knocked me off my feet I have slowly gained around 40lbs which I am wanting to get back off however I seem to have lost the focus I had originally.
I have been loosing and gaining the same 20lbs since Christmas which isn't good so decided I needed to find something to work towards as I know I work better that way.

I turn 30 next year and would love to run a marathon. Its something I say every year but nothing comes to fruition.
I have now made the decision to work towards doing the local race for life on the 25th June. Its just around 8 weeks away. This morning I went on the treadmill and it took me 1hr15 minutes to do 5k, That time was obviously with me mainly walking so I am hoping by training 3 days a week I will improve that time drastically come race day.

Well done to both of you, it can be tricky to get started but once you do there's sometimes a temptation to try and do too much too soon which is when you are more likely to get injured or even just overtired and unable to continue. It's better to make changes gradually so you can live with them and incorporate them into your daily habits. Your times will no doubt come down but that's probably not the most important thing here or at least not initially, getting fitter and being healthier are the big goals I would suggest and then improvements to your time/distance/ease of running follow from that.

As mentioned it is worth getting gait analysis done, having comfortable trainers (and that doesn't necessarily mean hugely expensive, hugely padded or soft) can make a massive difference to how good you feel when walking or running and how likely you are to continue, it should also help minimise the risk of injury from a poorly fitted shoe. I'd also suggest getting sports t-shirts (likely to be mainly polyester) and shorts if you can, again they don't need to be expensive but having something other than cotton next to your skin is beneficial once you start sweating or the conditions are wet - it isn't vital, plenty of people run in cotton t-shirts but it's less comfortable.

mrthingyx said:
Congratulations - that is quite something!

And please don't run a marathon: it will damage you.

It can also be immensely satisfying to run a marathon, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it as a first challenge though if someone hasn't really been running before. It's quite sensible to build up to something which is quite so taxing physically.

Kris_90 · 28 Apr 2017 at 18:58

mattyg said:
Eating one meal a day is BAD. Very Bad. Thats how I put on all my weight.

No it's not. You put on weight if you eat more calories than your body burns. If your body burns 3,000 cals per day, you can have a glorious feast if you save your calories up for one meal albeit your unlikely to get your micro nutrients in but still you won't put on any weight.

@OP good luck mate, there's plenty of advice on here.

mattyg · 28 Apr 2017 at 20:34

Kris_90 said:
No it's not. You put on weight if you eat more calories than your body burns. If your body burns 3,000 cals per day, you can have a glorious feast if you save your calories up for one meal albeit your unlikely to get your micro nutrients in but still you won't put on any weight.

@OP good luck mate, there's plenty of advice on here.

You may have to explain this to me. I'm struggling to get my head round at what time my body burns these 3000 calories. If I dont eat all day then stuff my face with a pizza an hour before bed then thats ok, Because its the same daily calories?

Kris_90 · 28 Apr 2017 at 21:00

mattyg said:
You may have to explain this to me. I'm struggling to get my head round at what time my body burns these 3000 calories. If I dont eat all day then stuff my face with a pizza an hour before bed then thats ok, Because its the same daily calories?

Yes. What do you think your body is doing for the other 23 hours in the day? You would be in negative calories by the time you ate your pizza. I'm not saying long term that's a good idea as your not getting essential micro nutrients but in terms of weight, you'd stay the same.

mattyg · 28 Apr 2017 at 23:09

Kris_90 said:
Yes. What do you think your body is doing for the other 23 hours in the day? You would be in negative calories by the time you ate your pizza. I'm not saying long term that's a good idea as your not getting essential micro nutrients but in terms of weight, you'd stay the same.

I understand the calories in vs calories out. But surely NOT eating all day will slow your metabolism right down and your more likely to store any "badness" in the food as your not able to use it for energy as your asleep.

Somnambulist · 29 Apr 2017 at 01:56

From an energy balance standpoint it doesn't really make much difference if you eat one meal a day or three or four or whatever - in terms of fat storage and fat burning it all evens out over 24 hours - a bigger meal just takes longer to digest. By the same token there's no advantages or very good arguments for eating one meal a day either, especially if you're aiming to preserve the maximum amount of lean mass you can and are dieting in conjunction with training/exercise that involves a modicum of intensity and care about your performance. With eating one meal a day it's very likely if this meal is ad-lib'ed you can end up gorging yourself and going well over the calories you need to maintain your weight because when your only meal measures in the thousands of calories, what's an extra slice of this or scoop of that and thinking you've 'earned' it because you've eaten nothing for 24 hours.

remy87 · 6 May 2017 at 14:30

mattyg said:
Get your gait analysed. It cost me nothing at my local runners shop IF I bought running shoes from them or £15 if i didn't.

It was well worth it. I've not started to run yet but have gone from the couch to walking 40 miles in 3 days round NYC. Which is a massive increase from my 4000 steps a day max. My feet hurt walking a mile with the dog at night until I bought the correct support shoes. Now I look forward to the walks..

Really interested in this does gait analyse work for both running and walking? or are there 2 different types of shoes you need for running and walking. I'm a postie so been looking for something comfy to walk in, I've been using sketchers so far really comfy but they wear out too quick.

mattyg · 6 May 2017 at 16:32

remy87 said:
Really interested in this does gait analyse work for both running and walking? or are there 2 different types of shoes you need for running and walking. I'm a postie so been looking for something comfy to walk in, I've been using sketchers so far really comfy but they wear out too quick.

When I was tested he said either a fast walk or jog. I wasn't about to jog. SO went for a fast walk.......Fast! It felt like I was sprinting.....But they make so much difference. I though my sketchers were comfy...Now my feet fell like they are being cuddled...lol

Begbie · 6 May 2017 at 16:51

mattyg said:
Eating one meal a day is BAD. Very Bad. Thats how I put on all my weight.

It's not, I do it now and then.

ETanny · 6 May 2017 at 19:02

I have been to our local running shop and purchased a pair of running trainers from there and they feel like clouds of my feet even after a work out.
I am currently on week 2 day 2 of the C25k and really enjoying it. I thought I would struggle with it more than I currently have but I anticipate that will happen very soon when the work outs increase.

I had my first weigh in since 'getting back into it' on Wednesday and I am down 3lbs in a week so I am very pleased with that.

D.P. · 6 May 2017 at 19:14

ETanny said:
Wife here.

I lost 132lbs by walking and diet over the course of 3yrs after having our youngest. However due to a horrible accident last year that knocked me off my feet I have slowly gained around 40lbs which I am wanting to get back off however I seem to have lost the focus I had originally.
I have been loosing and gaining the same 20lbs since Christmas which isn't good so decided I needed to find something to work towards as I know I work better that way.

I turn 30 next year and would love to run a marathon. Its something I say every year but nothing comes to fruition.
I have now made the decision to work towards doing the local race for life on the 25th June. Its just around 8 weeks away. This morning I went on the treadmill and it took me 1hr15 minutes to do 5k, That time was obviously with me mainly walking so I am hoping by training 3 days a week I will improve that time drastically come race day.

Definitely run a marathon! This is what I needed to really get my weight under control and enjoy life again. I lost 40lbs in a year just by running and now get to enjoy all the foods I loved before. Just set realistic goals for progression