incognitii

Greetings, all... I'm a 54 yo male, mostly sedentary for most of my life, who woke up one day to find that he weighed 262. Mortified is a mild way of putting it. So, I decided to do something about it.

I started walking... 3-3.5mph.. brisk... with the goal of keeping my heartrate over 130 for at least 300 minutes per week. I cut way back on diet soda (I was a hopeless addict... drinking sometimes a gallon+ per day), and drink almost all water now. I also changed my diet to cut out sugar and to conform to the South Beach Phase 2 or at least Phase 3 standards.

Now... after walking 30 straight days... 4.5 miles per day... I weighed myself again (same scales), and found that I had lost a whopping 1 lb.

I told my wife to hide the knives and sharp instruments. I battled through that month... hurt almost constantly, exhausted pretty much continuously, but I did it. Now, I've bumped up my routine to 6 miles per day, and I'm getting more serious about the diet aspect, maintaining a quasi Phase I/Phase II regimen.

Any advice? Comments? Am I doing this all wrong?

incognitii

BTW, for what it's worth... my resting heartrate has gone from 89 to 64... so that's a very good thing... have no idea what my blood sugar's doing (I was pre-diabetic), but I'm guessing that it's much better as well.

Shirts are feeling a bit looser... but criminey, throw me a freakin' bone on the weight, already! LOLOL!!!!!!!

catebert

If you have increased your exercise level it is likely that you are gaining muscle mass at the same time as losing fat. Since muscle weighs more than fat that could be why the scales are not moving for you. OTOH, you mention that your clothes are fitting better so that is an indication that it is working for you. You should take your measurements once a week and you can log them here in fitday, and even if the scale is moving slowly it will help to keep you motivated to know that you are getting smaller.

Good Luck!

kottoncandie

Hey, I'm new to this site, but just wanted to say that you seem to be doing everything right. I'm told though that we should eat several small low calory meals thru the day in order to boost our matabalism. Eat dinner before 7pm and never go to sleep on a full stomach. You might consider adding moderate weight lifting to your weekly work out. It won't happen over night, but the weight will come off! Keep up the good work!

Icewithin

I feel your pain, I have been through the same myself. 49 but female and sedentary all my life then I threw myself onto a trainer and at the end of the month ... NO loss!! I perservered and the next month 1.5lb loss. I have kept it up and the trainer keeps upping my reps and intensity etc etc and now I'm up to 31lb lost but it has taken me almost a year.

My trainer advises me to do resistance training as well as my cardio and when I complain and whine that the weight isn't going she tells me to:

REMEMBER weight is just a number the thing to focus on is health and the way you feel and the way your clothes fit.

Evan121

Hi everyone, I'm a newbie and hope everyone will be fine.
My name is Evan and I'm a teacher. Music, bodybuilding and pets are my love.
Rather they are my passion.This forum is so informative , i joined it for sharing some useful ideas.
Hope for a nice time.

Tacoma fitness training

frenchhen3

I agree with Catebert- take all your measurements! They will reflect what you are doing just as much as the scale. When I have a slow loss month I can look back at those old numbers and have something to motivate me through that "ARGH" phase. I lose weight slowly and I have yet to lose weight in the time frame that mathematically works. So I just know I WILL do it. I can't set it into a deadline, because frankly, for me, life doesn't work that way. "You should lose 1-2 pounds per week." I laugh every time I see that.

I don't know how frequently you weigh yourself. I weigh and log every day at the same time of day. I fluctuate about 2 pounds up and down every week. Some people have told me this would drive them bonkers. To me, seeing those fluctuations are good, they keep it in perspective. Eventually the high number disappears and a new low number starts showing up... Then I count that high number as a pound lost.

Kathy13118

Whatever standards you adhere to, count your calories! Use the fitday tools to find out what calories number you should aim for, daily, to lose x number of pounds. There are lots of tools on this site to show you this information. Then, track what you eat (accurate quantities) and see the total at the end of the day. Do that for a week, say, and then see how it has affected your weight loss.

If you have stepped up your activity level, then a lot of good effects come from that, anyway. So keep up the good work!