Creative Outlet - a blog full of stories and personal musings

Weight Loss – Starting to Exercise and Eating Right

DISCLAIMER: I AM NOWHERE NEAR A PROFESSIONAL. THIS IS ALL THINGS THAT WORKED OUT FOR ME BUT THAT MIGHT NOT MEAN THAT IT WILL WORK FOR YOU. I HAVE RESEARCHED THIS EXTENSIVELY BUT THAT DOES NOT MEAN IT IS 100% CORRECT. THESE ARE MY OBSERVATIONS.

Introduction
I am a chubby guy but have been out of shape, chubbier - even borderline obese. I made the realization that I do not want that to be me. I had low self-esteem, short of breath after a couple of flights of stairs and I needed something to do with all of the downtime I have due to no job or any relationship.

First, while still in a relationship, we tried to just go all out eating healthy. It made me lose around 5 kg over 7-10 weeks but due to the split, it didn't settle and salad isn't all that interesting to eat, no matter how delicious my ex made it (and she is a master in the kitchen). But I changed some things on the side, which is still going and which is contributing to a lot of my weight loss. And it really isn't as hard as people think.

The Theory Behind Weight Loss
You probably know about calories. You probably also know that a normal person should aim at eating around 2000-2500 calories a day. Why is this, you might ask. Well, it is for your body to function. It needs something to burn in order to transform that into energy - roughly speaking.

Now, depending on the type of work you do, you might need to exercise on the side in order to gain a balance and burn more calories than you eat, thus reducing your weight. The general rule is that if you wish to lose weight, you will have to eat for 500 calories less or exercise enough to have burnt 500 calories. This is per day. It takes about 3500 burnt calories to lose around 500 grams worth of weight.

Depending on your weight, that would take around 1 hour with the following activities:

Rowing (vigorous effort): 502
Running (8.4 km/h): 531
Ice skating (14.5 km/h): 531 Kickboxing: 590
Rock climbing (ascending): 649
Cross-country skiing (vigorous effort): 531
Swimming laps freestyle (vigorous effort): 590
Bicycling (20-25 km/h) (vigorous effort): 590
Walking up stairs: 472
Running up stairs: 885

Changing What You Eat
Changing what you eat actually isn't as hard as you might think - that is, if you do it in small steps. I used to drink A LOT of soda, eat a lot of potato chips and wouldn't shy away from calling for junk food every now and then. Now, I rarely drink soda (if I do, it's the light versions), rarely eat potato chips (mostly at parties and social events) and junk food is only if I am in town and unable to find better sources of food. If you had asked me to quit soda a year ago, I would have said it was impossible. I drank so much sugar that, if my blood sugar was too low, would send me into a shaking sugar shock. I no longer get this - but just imagine if I had continued down that road. What I am trying to say is that anything is possible, as long as you believe in yourself (not to be taken literal, a lot of things can certainly be accomplished from it, though).

What I would recommend you to start out with, is to record everything you eat and drink, every day for a week. Be honest as the only one you will be cheating is yourself. Now, take a look at this list and, if you were like me, you'd probably be a bit shocked at just how much junk you eat. Things with empty calories, as people love to call them, that really doesn't do much other than make your weight increase and satisfy the hunger for a little bit.

BUT, that is not what we are going to look at, at first. Look where you can make some tiny changes, i.e: If you drink a lot of soda - change to a light version. Sure, it will taste less sugary and have a different flavor, but it truly grows on you. Now, I think that the regular Coca Cola is way too sweet. Eventually you should go all the way down to only drinking water, essentially removing an entire category of calorie in-take.

A huge motivational factor in this is that you will not lose the food you eat entirely, as there is a reason you enjoy eating them. You will just step up to a healthier product - one that will make you feel better eating it. So in short, replace unhealthy food with a healthier one.

Do this with just about every item on your list. Really put yourself into it and don't settle for the thought that you cannot live without that snack - because you can.

Now, as I said before, we have to do this in small steps. If you have a lot of unhealthy things on your list, then don't go and buy the light/improved version of all of them right away. Start out small - like with the soda first. Then after you feel good about doing that, continue. Replace more and more and eventually you might find that you don't actually need some of those things on your list anymore.

While replacing food items, try and size down your portions and/or only take one portion.. The fact is that if you eat fast, you will pretty much overeat because the food doesn't have time to expand in your stomach, which means you will still feel hungry even after having eaten a good portion. Try, if it is possible, to eat a portion and then wait 20-30 minutes, then if you are still hungry, eat another. Odds are you will not feel hungry afterwards and you have just saved your body from having to burn a lot of extra calories.

Exercising
If you are really serious about losing weight, like me, you probably also want to try exercising. Eating right is part of a good weight loss, but exercise completes the circle and - if you can keep going - you will see your weight go down quickly, especially in the start.

PLEASE, before you do anything, go to a doctor and have a health check. Tell him what you are planning to do and he will tell you what to be on the look out for. If you have a tendency to get inflamed joints and it's also in your knees and feet, then running is probably not the first thing you should do. If you have flat feet, you might need to obtain special insoles etc.

First and foremost, figure out what kind of exercise you like to do. Competitive sports? Join a sports club. Biking? Get out on the road. Find something you find enjoyment in doing but if there really isn't any and you just feel that every exercise you do makes you weep for the couch, I will say one thing: Hang in there. Like with anything, the better you get at it, the more enjoyment you will get out of it. Like me, I hated running but started anyway. Now I know I can run a decent amount before feeling short of breath and I can keep pushing myself and still be at awe at the results I keep pulling in. If you still feel that you just can't exercise, then go to the gym. If the motivation is lacking then keep reading. I will explain a few things in another topic that might get you out there.

For outside sports: Now that you have decided on an exercise you want to do, jump on it and just get out there. As with everything, do it, at first, in moderation. Small steps, remember? Do not push yourself all too much at first. Just enjoy what you are doing. Take breaks, enjoy the weather, take a scenic route - it's your time. Do this for a week.

After you have done that, you will probably feel that exercising is a bit easier than it was at first. Now you can start pushing yourself.  Start out with 5 minutes of relaxing speed, for warm-up. Afterwards, try to push yourself. Get a sweat working and then keep going until you just can't anymore, then at a relaxing speed again. Rinse and repeat. Try to make yourself do 30 minutes to an hour every weekday. Set your mind up to it, maybe fine-tune your route and take time and then try to beat your time. If you can't do 5 times a week, then at least try 3.  Just. Keep. Pushing. Yourself. Remember to do some light stretching afterwards.

Gym: The gym is a wonderful place. They have several cardio machines, so you can differ in your workouts. Like with outside sports, just try to familiarize yourself with the machines for the first week. Figure out what you enjoy doing for longer and shorter times, figure out what effort level you should put the machines at and what program you think would be just for you. After that week, start out with 15 minutes worth of warm-up. I would recommend the stationary bike. After that, go to another machine and truly push yourself for 15 minutes. Then to another and another 15 minutes etc. Try to do this 3-5 days a week. Remember to do some light stretching afterwards.

After having done this for a few weeks, you will start to know how your body works - what gives you a sweat and what doesn't. Try to make a plan in your head in what you want to do every day. Every exercise, except the work out, should make you sweat and if it doesn't, it means you need to push yourself even more.

If you feel faint or in any kind of pain, stop what you are doing and, if necessary, consult your doctor. Aching, however, normally happens when muscles get used and develop but if it aches for too long, go to your doctor.

I would elaborate more on this, but it really depends on the person on what they'd do.

Keeping Motivated

How to keep motivated is really up to every person, but I will tell you what worked with me.

• A crush - as sad as it sounds, I eventually kept going because of a girl.
• The boost in self-confidence is absolutely intoxicating. It's amazing. It can keep you going.
• Having to go to the gym. This means that it isn't that easy to just get home again and will make you keep going.
• Audio books and music. Music is a huge motivational factor during the exercise. Time just goes faster. I have recently put audio books on my mp3 player as well, so I can get a few chapters down at each workout. In theory, you could put on a learning audio book and getting taught while getting fit.
• Use your friends. Ask your friends if they want to start going or go with them, if they already are. They can be the difference from having a break and actually going that day.
• Eventually you will be in such great shape that you will do it for the sheer enjoyment.

Gear and Gadgets

Clothing: This really depends on where you work out. If it's outside, get some appropriate clothing so you don't get cold. If inside, just get some decent shorts and make use of some old t-shirts. If you are of the female gender, go get a very supportive sports bra - especially if you run.

Shoes: Get. Some. Running. Shoes. I cannot really express just how important running shoes are, even if you don't plan on running. The suspension in these shoes are good against your joints and it is just a world of difference once you have tried it. I bought running shoes, mainly because of my flatfeet but I will never ever buy normal shoes again. Shoes are pretty much the one place where you shouldn't feel bad about spending a lot of money. I personally lean towards Nike running shoes, but I am sure that is just a subjective preference.

Mp3 Players: This one is a bit controversial. Some people think that Mp3 players = iPods but I would urge everyone to think of what exactly they want out of their music apparatus. I knew what I wanted and I will absolutely recommend it: An inexpensive light Mp3 player with a display and a clip. It cost me $47. Enter: SanDisk Sansa Clip+ 2GB version. Amazing value for the money, especially because it takes MicroSD - which means I can just put in my 32GB card. I will never run out of space on this wonder machine.

Headphones: Normal headphones usually fall out of my ears as soon as I start jogging, so I quickly realized that I need some special ones. I have had the look out on several ones, but finally fell in love with and bought the Sennheiser PMX 80 Sport II. Unlike the OMX 80, this one is connected in the neck, which I find is the best, simply due to the fact that there is only one wire. It's cheap, as well, and the sound is amazing. This means that you will only have one wire.

Pulse watches: I use a heart rate monitor as a core part in my cardio training, simply because I go for a specific heart rate, where I know I will be burning a lot of calories. Since all of the cardio equipment at my gym can pretty much handle every heart rate monitor there is on the market (at least, if it's using radio frequencies), I just use a cheap one. I never use the watch anymore.

Android Application CardioTrainer: If you are as lucky as having an Android phone, you should definitely get CardioTrainer, which is free from the Market. It can be best described as a virtual training partner. It tracks your outdoor activities through GPS but is also able to count your steps. After the training, you can see your route through Google Maps, see your calorie burn, average speed, distance etc. etc. It really have to be experienced because it is tough to explain.

Conclusion
As it started, everything is possible if you believe in yourself. You will see some pretty hefty results at first, but that is just because your body is burning a lot more since it isn't used to that kind of exercise. Don't give up when your weight loss slows down, but keep going. This just means you are getting into shape and you can stand more punishment. Up your exercises, make sure your heart rate is still getting up there and that you are sweating. Also, do not weight yourself more than once a week because your weight will go up and down throughout it.

Remember, exercising become a lot more fun when you get into shape.