ChrisFL
Disney/Universal Fan and MALE
- Joined
- Aug 8, 2000
Hi everybody. I don't really post in this part of the boards much, however like a lot of people I have struggled with fitness and weight loss in the past, but wanted to share my recent thoughts. Apologies as this is a long post but hopefully (?) worth reading.
First, statistics:
I'm a 45 year old male who weighed ~285 pounds at my max which was about 6 months ago. Right now I'm down to ~265 and continue losing weight and gaining muscle.
I also suffer from sleep apnea which doesn't help as it is a vicious cycle. I do have a CPAP machine, but it's not perfect and there's still days where I feel like crap BUT doing exercise helps get me out of that. The key was finding a good exercise that actually gave me proper energy and overcome the issues I was having, just walking wasn't always helping.
I am not here to preach anything as everyone's body is different, only what makes sense to me.
The first thing I started doing a few years ago was switching away from regular soda to water, but I did it gradually. I went from regular soda to diet...., then swiched to sparkling water, then realized I was drinking a bit too much sparkling water, so switched MOSTLY to regular water and unsweetened tea. I still occasionally have a Coke Zero, but try to limit that as well. One thing that can help is to get one and a water and just drink a little bit of the Coke Zero and drink water the rest of the time if it's not too "weird" for you
Next, exercise. Ok, stating this again, everyone has different ideas and there's differences between men and women, etc. BUT here's what is working for me and I think others will also see benefits....kettlebell swings.
Kettlebell swings are being studied to have really good effects on overall fitness and weight loss, giving a "what the heck" factor in results with it exceeding what people expect, so I thought I'd give it a shot and it's been doing wonders for me.
It's extremely simple, straightforward, can be done within just 5-10 minutes, costs like $30 for a good kettlebell and you get an amazing workout with both cardio and muscle training at the same time. Yes, if you do it properly even with a light kettlebell you WILL FEEL it especially the first couple of times, BUT do those 3-4 times per week and slowly increase the reps and weight and you will possibly notice having a lot more energy the next day (like I did).
I also do "farmer's walks" where I just hold one or two dumbbells or kettlebells and walk around. Of course walking by itself is also good, but gaining muscle is so beneficial as it will start working on its own to burn calories/glucose etc.
Food/diet/etc.- Honestly...I don't really diet much yet but I do try to swap out high carb things with lower carb things and eat protein/veggies first before carbs. I don't cut back on food yet because kettlebell swings can burn a lot of the calories/carbs/etc. but that's just me, others might need to do it different.
Whenever I feel like I haven't slept well or feel sluggish, the kettlebell stuff kicks me into gear. I won't tell you it's a FUN activity, what I will tell you is you get momentum built up and when it's a very short exercise, you'll be done quickly. I still recommend doing other things as mentioned, but this really helping me.
I would say to look up youtube videos on kettlebell swings. I'm not here to promote anyone or any channel, so that's why I'm not posting links, just giving advice out of what helped me
As always, consult your doctor before starting any exercise regimen.
First, statistics:
I'm a 45 year old male who weighed ~285 pounds at my max which was about 6 months ago. Right now I'm down to ~265 and continue losing weight and gaining muscle.
I also suffer from sleep apnea which doesn't help as it is a vicious cycle. I do have a CPAP machine, but it's not perfect and there's still days where I feel like crap BUT doing exercise helps get me out of that. The key was finding a good exercise that actually gave me proper energy and overcome the issues I was having, just walking wasn't always helping.
I am not here to preach anything as everyone's body is different, only what makes sense to me.
The first thing I started doing a few years ago was switching away from regular soda to water, but I did it gradually. I went from regular soda to diet...., then swiched to sparkling water, then realized I was drinking a bit too much sparkling water, so switched MOSTLY to regular water and unsweetened tea. I still occasionally have a Coke Zero, but try to limit that as well. One thing that can help is to get one and a water and just drink a little bit of the Coke Zero and drink water the rest of the time if it's not too "weird" for you
Next, exercise. Ok, stating this again, everyone has different ideas and there's differences between men and women, etc. BUT here's what is working for me and I think others will also see benefits....kettlebell swings.
Kettlebell swings are being studied to have really good effects on overall fitness and weight loss, giving a "what the heck" factor in results with it exceeding what people expect, so I thought I'd give it a shot and it's been doing wonders for me.
It's extremely simple, straightforward, can be done within just 5-10 minutes, costs like $30 for a good kettlebell and you get an amazing workout with both cardio and muscle training at the same time. Yes, if you do it properly even with a light kettlebell you WILL FEEL it especially the first couple of times, BUT do those 3-4 times per week and slowly increase the reps and weight and you will possibly notice having a lot more energy the next day (like I did).
I also do "farmer's walks" where I just hold one or two dumbbells or kettlebells and walk around. Of course walking by itself is also good, but gaining muscle is so beneficial as it will start working on its own to burn calories/glucose etc.
Food/diet/etc.- Honestly...I don't really diet much yet but I do try to swap out high carb things with lower carb things and eat protein/veggies first before carbs. I don't cut back on food yet because kettlebell swings can burn a lot of the calories/carbs/etc. but that's just me, others might need to do it different.
Whenever I feel like I haven't slept well or feel sluggish, the kettlebell stuff kicks me into gear. I won't tell you it's a FUN activity, what I will tell you is you get momentum built up and when it's a very short exercise, you'll be done quickly. I still recommend doing other things as mentioned, but this really helping me.
I would say to look up youtube videos on kettlebell swings. I'm not here to promote anyone or any channel, so that's why I'm not posting links, just giving advice out of what helped me
As always, consult your doctor before starting any exercise regimen.
