Im overweight and unfit - what can I do at home?
?Question:
Im overweight and unfit - what can I do at home?
Hi
Ok, Im about 4 stone overweight, I have high blood pressure, I am going through a very stressful period in my life and Im so unfit its scarey :eek:
So, what can I do at home? Im going swimming once week and building up my lengths - up to 26 now which doesnt seem much but for me it is.
the two biggest (huh excuse the pun) areas I need to work on our my fat gut and horrible wobbly upper arms - Im trying to eat sensibly as from today I just need some ideas for some pretty straightforward exercises I can do at home.
I did join the gym last year but it was a problem making the time to go you know how it is, plus I got fed up with Mr30Something going on about what good value it was, only working out to £12 per swim :rolleyes:
Advice geatly appreciated
Ta
Answer:
I started nmy fitness journey with swimming and then added walking to it. Walking is a great form of exercise. 30 mins 3 times a week and you'll see good results.
1. Walk for 16 minutes, and turn aruond and try to get home in 14 minutes.
2. Walk fast enough to challenge your breathing and get you sweaty.
Good luck.
Answer:
Hi,
First of all - good luck! You'll get there. Keep on posting to this thread and keep us updated and use us to help keep you motivated.
Second of all - exercising for weight loss from home is definitely achievable. Personally, I'd recommend buying a cheap sets of weights from Argos or something like that. Exercising with weights is going to be more effective than trying to do lots of cardio / aerobics type exercise. Muscle burns more calories than fat, so if you start exercising to build muscle, you'll automatically start losing weight as the fat gets used up. Obviously if you had no weight to lose and started building muscle, you'd gain weight and muscle weighs more per square inch than fat.
Doings squats and lunges with a barbell in your living room will help LOADS, as will using the weights for things like lateral raises.
I'd recommend:
Squats (legs shoulder width apart, knees and feet pointing forwards, arms by your sides. Push bum out and down, pushing arms out straight in front of you - with weights in each hand. Make sure that your knees and feet are at 90 degrees - don't push your knees out in front of your feet)
Lunges (from standing and with a barbell across your shoulders - elbows directly below shoulders taking the weight, take a large step forward and put your weight on the front leg, feeling it pull. Hold and push back up to standing. Do this for each leg)
Lateral Raises (sit on straight backed chair, holding stomach in. weights in each hand, arms loosely down by your sides. Pull arms out to shoulder height, keeping the arms straight and the shoulders down, then lower back to your sides)
Sit ups (lie on floor, knees bent and feet flat on floor. Put your arms loosely out in front, with your thumbs resting on your temples - NOT putting hands behind head, puts too much pressure on neck - and pull up until your elbows touch your knees)
Tricep Dips (using straight backed chair, sit on very edge, with hands on front of chair. Shuffle feet forwards, keeping feet and knees at 90degrees. Lift bum off chair and lower to ground, using arms. Hold at bottom and raise back up again. Smooth movement - don't put bum back on chair, just keep dipping up and down)
And add any other weights based exercises that you find relatively comfortable. Start off just doing 12 reps of each exercise and once that's comfortable, increase the weights you're using (not the reps). You want to be exercising for at least 20 minutes, preferably longer, so you will need to look up some other exercises you can do with the weights (there'll probably be some suggested exercises in with the weights when you buy them).
Do this THREE times per week and make sure you have a rest day in between each session.
The swimming will help, it's great for overall fitness. Don't beat yourself up too much if you don't get to do this too often. Once you've lost a lot of the fat then you can start worrying about building up more cardio exercise like swimming and running.
If you can, try to get along to a pilates class once a week as well as doing the three weights sessions. Great for strengthening the core muscles that you're probably not using properly. Nice and relaxing too.
I know you said that you're particularly concerned with your stomach and arms, but sorry, you can not spot reduce fat. The fat you lose will come off from wherever it so chooses - which is why we often find stubborn bits where it's hard to shift. I suspect that if you're 4 stone overweight, you'll find the first 3 stone will come off from all over.
In terms of your diet - DON'T reduce your calorie intake too much straight away. It will throw your body into starvation mode and take weeks to recover. I'd recommend reducing your calories intake by about 15% week on week (depending on how much your intake is) until you reach your ideal intake. If you have the time and inclination, try to make sure you're diet is split 60% carbs, 20% fat, 20% protein.
Give all this a go and give it three to four weeks before you try changing anything else. Weigh and measure yourself first thing in the morning, once a week and keep a written record, along with a written record of what you eat and what exercise you do.
I do practice what I preach, so please give it a go. Personally I have about a stone or so to lose now, but my fitness isn't terrible, so I do running as well as weights/resistance work. It means my weight loss is slower than it would be if I did weights alone, but I enjoy running and the inches are coming off faster than the pounds, so I don't mind so much.
Answer:
1. Walk for 16 minutes, and turn aruond and try to get home in 14 minutes.
2. Walk fast enough to challenge your breathing and get you sweaty.
This is such a good idea! I am definitely going to try it.
Meggeth, what an expert reply ... I am in awe of your fitness knowledge :D
Answer:
up to 26 now which doesnt seem much but for me it is
Firstly, dont think like that - I would consider myself fit but doubt I could do 26 lengths of a pool!!! So well done on that one!
Secondly, you probably know this already but its a good idea to keep count - that way you can chart your progress!
Last thing, my friend was badly overweight and the biggest and most effective change he made was to drink water instead of fizzy juice - he lost almost a stone doing that alone!!
Your body needs water and so if you dont drink enough your body stores it in fat - so if you drink enough water your body doesnt need to store it anymore and so you lose a lot of weight because of it! (or so ive been led to believe!!)
GOOD LUCK!!!