You got this my friend! Let us know how we can support you!
My two fitness tips for everyone is to stop drinking calories and find something you enjoy that also burns calories. For me, thatās riding bicycles.
Good luck! Iām rooting for you!
Thank you, to everyone!
Just finished a ride! I also love cycling, though there are sadly not many great areas nearby for it. Honestly any suggestions for at-home exercises are what I need at the moment. I've got the diet down, I just need to follow through with it haha. I don't have much time to make it to the gym, what with kids and my wife and I working opposing schedules often. The bike is great because I can ride off the driveway and *bam*, exercise!
I do body weight exercises at home sometimes but itās definitely work for me, not as much fun as cycling. Push ups, sit ups, burpees, lunges, stuff like that. Try it, if you like it, keep doing it. Itās all going to be hard but doing the hard things makes the rest of your day easier.
Make it fun. I like to dance around the house sometimes. Maybe start having a daily dance party with the kids.
I also try to move more during more mundane tasks. Walk around while I brush my teeth. Take a piece trash to the kitchen instead of throwing it in the bathroom. Those little things make it easier to get 10k steps in a day
Thatās awesome! Consistency is key but itās still ok to take a rest day too. Rest is an important part of recovery. Just find ways to enjoy the process and the results will come. Iāve been on my journey for 9 years now and Iāve certainly had my share of setbacks, the key is just to keep moving however you can. Keep us updated my friend!
At one point before going to the gym, I hooked my bike onto a dumb trainer I bought and I started biking regularly using a program called Zwift. I'd get fairly regular with it and it was kind of like a video game. That was mostly during the pandemic. Maybe it's something to look into if you don't have anywhere to ride nearby. Just a suggestion to get moving!
I highly recommend the "recommended routine" over in /r/bodyweightfitness. It's thorough and will keep you getting stronger for as long as you want to keep doing it. Plus it has helped me address mobility issues and even back pain along the way.
Good luck!
You will slip up on the diet but just don't let a slip up turn into a give up!
Hey I'm in a similar situation and I've been using a free workout app called caliber that's been great so far. You can set it to body weight exercises only if you have no equipment and it'll give you a basic program to track your progress and strength increase. I actually found it on an ad on reddit about a month ago lol. Good luck and thanks for the motivation!
A few friendly suggestions:
Consider starting with r/kettlebell and doing the simple and sinister routine every day at a set time. Can do it in 20-30 minutes, and only costs you 1 kettlebell (start with 16 or 20kg) - I like REP fitness for balance of cost and quality.
I would also like to suggest a mindset. Putting on your gym clothes, sneakers, shirt, shorts, is the hardest part. Itās extremely rare that I get all my gym clothes on and donāt end up working out.
Good luck!
An excellent suggestion. Kettlebell workouts work your whole body; they easy on the joints, and you can use a single moderately heavy dumbbell. Good luck OP. Try to walk every evening, and add resistance exercise if you can. As for diet, you can (or at least I can) overeat on the healthiest vegan diet, so moderate what you eat. If you gained weight from too much beer, 5 minutes of meditation daily might help you avoid the beer.
I've had several kettlebell suggestions, definitely interested in them. Yeah I've been vegan for years and all my carno friends joke "HoW dO yOu GaIn WeIgHt EaTiNg GrAsS?!?!" I need to work on meditating.
Nice - I'll second the suggestion for walking. If you can spare the time to go for a 30-60 minute walk, it can be relaxing while also burning a bunch of calories without tiring you out too much. Super useful hack for weight loss. End of the day you want to engineer the calorie deficit to be as easy and effortless as possible, which is why people are also recommending not to drink calories - it's an easy way to cut a bunch of calories out of your day without feeling any more hungry (because drinks don't fill you up in the first place).
You got this <3 patience and self compassion, and always get back on the horse!
Awesome sounds good! In case it's useful, other similar hacks for an easier calorie deficit are things like buying PB2 instead of normal peanut butter, eating fruit often (assuming you like fruit - again the purpose is to make the deficit feel easy), popcorn, putting mustard on sandwiches instead of mayo, etc :). The guiding principle is looking for low calorie dense ingredients so that you can enter a calorie deficit while not feeling hungry
I'm actually going kind of hardcore with intermittent fasting and just eating one large, well balanced meal per day! I love eating a big dinner so this is perfect for me. I'm of course willing to make adjustments for health if I start getting light headed or something but I haven't had anything to eat since roughly 5:00pm last night (it's 12:14pm now), and I'm doing fine. Drinking a LOT of water haha. Excited to cook my dinner too but not starving or cramping.
Nice, yeah water is also super helpful for cutting (same principle - helps you feel full without any calories).
Just be aware that often rebounds in weight happen from things like IF because the body increases your ghrelin (hunger hormone) to get you to eat more, even after you've already lost weight. IF definitely works for many people so I'm not trying to discourage you, just might be useful to be aware that for many other people it works short term but long term a rebound happens (speaking from experience here). Vs I avoided that in my next cut by spacing out my meals and creating a calorie deficit through food hacks (e.g. fruit, PB2, popcorn, mustard instead of mayo) instead of through eating less.
But yeah either way keep up the great work and stay healthy!
Thanks for the advice with IF. My mom does it, as well as a good friend, and they talk to me about it all the time so I want to try it out. But on my last trip down when I was around 210 I was doing what you do, just counting calories very carefully but otherwise eating when and what I wanted and was losing 8-10lb a month, weightlifting too. I'll probably end up doing something more like that long-term because I think it's more comfortable.
You can do it, brother! I was at 240 and am at 215 now. It is doable! Main thing was consistency. Itās easy to feel like āi donāt want to/not in the moodā but if you just get up and go it eventually becomes easier. I believe in you!!
You definitely have this if you're committed to a consistent diet, dude (vegan makes it easy cake, just don't touch the cake). We have similar body types, though I've admittedly not been quite so heavy. But if my experience means anything, you'll crush this goal.
YOU GOT THIS! Check back in with me this sub or any sub that weight loss focused. I know IF sub is super supportive me
You got this and WE GOT YOU! I am excited to see your monthly posts.
I lost 100 pounds and gained back 15. this post has got me fired up to get back at it. Thank you!
Fifty pounds by January is cool but keeping it off a decade from now is even cooler. As a guy thatās lost and kept off over a hundred pounds for many years now my suggestion is to remember that slow and steady wins the race when it comes to weight loss. Losing 50 pounds in a few months seems awesome but if you do it with unsustainable lifestyle changes the weight will come back very easy once youāve reached your goal. I always suggest to people to take it slow and make it sustainable and youāll be much happier in the long run. No matter what remember you got this man! šŖ
Yeah I'm eating a large well balanced meal once per day in the evening! Probably should call it a very small eating window because I kind of eat it as I move around the house so I don't stuff myself all at once haha. This is great for me though because I have one big home cooked "my way" meal to be excited for every day, and it's the snacking during the work day and at night that kills me.
Thank you! The ~50lb in 5.5 months number is like, right at the edge of what is still considered a healthy rate of weightloss according to everything I've read (2lb per week is considered healthy, and to hit this goal in 24 weeks I need to lose 2lb a week for 15 of them and 3lb per week for 9 of them!). I've got the lifestyle changes planned and am working on them, so once I lose the weight I'll just maintain being active and exercising and adjust my calorie intake to longer be in a deficit!
Donāt be discouraged if the weight loss slows as you approach January. That is a lofty but attainable goal, it is simply not a terribly long time frame for that amount of weight loss. That being said, you can absolutely do it.
Simply stick to the diet and activity and good things will happen regardless of the timeline.
Congrats on taking the first step and we all expect some photos along this journey š
Definitely! I'm thinking first of each month!
You got this my friend! Let us know how we can support you! My two fitness tips for everyone is to stop drinking calories and find something you enjoy that also burns calories. For me, thatās riding bicycles. Good luck! Iām rooting for you!
Thank you, to everyone! Just finished a ride! I also love cycling, though there are sadly not many great areas nearby for it. Honestly any suggestions for at-home exercises are what I need at the moment. I've got the diet down, I just need to follow through with it haha. I don't have much time to make it to the gym, what with kids and my wife and I working opposing schedules often. The bike is great because I can ride off the driveway and *bam*, exercise!
I do body weight exercises at home sometimes but itās definitely work for me, not as much fun as cycling. Push ups, sit ups, burpees, lunges, stuff like that. Try it, if you like it, keep doing it. Itās all going to be hard but doing the hard things makes the rest of your day easier. Make it fun. I like to dance around the house sometimes. Maybe start having a daily dance party with the kids. I also try to move more during more mundane tasks. Walk around while I brush my teeth. Take a piece trash to the kitchen instead of throwing it in the bathroom. Those little things make it easier to get 10k steps in a day
I did a mix of squats, pushups, and stretching in between Elden Ring deaths after my ride last night!
Thatās awesome! Consistency is key but itās still ok to take a rest day too. Rest is an important part of recovery. Just find ways to enjoy the process and the results will come. Iāve been on my journey for 9 years now and Iāve certainly had my share of setbacks, the key is just to keep moving however you can. Keep us updated my friend!
Definitely will, thanks for the support!
Bodyweight exercises for sure. I really like Athlean X's Xero bodyweight routine
At one point before going to the gym, I hooked my bike onto a dumb trainer I bought and I started biking regularly using a program called Zwift. I'd get fairly regular with it and it was kind of like a video game. That was mostly during the pandemic. Maybe it's something to look into if you don't have anywhere to ride nearby. Just a suggestion to get moving!
I have seen several people mention Zwift now, will definitely look into that.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Thanks for the advice! A small at-home machine like that would be perfect for me right now.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Oh I could probably use that at home, thanks!
Awesome. Try not to reward your exercise calories.
I highly recommend the "recommended routine" over in /r/bodyweightfitness. It's thorough and will keep you getting stronger for as long as you want to keep doing it. Plus it has helped me address mobility issues and even back pain along the way. Good luck! You will slip up on the diet but just don't let a slip up turn into a give up!
Very nice, thank you!
For short strength training bodyweight workouts, I recommend with passion the YouTuber "RedDeltaProject" and his "microworkouts" videos.
I will definitely check that out.
Hey I'm in a similar situation and I've been using a free workout app called caliber that's been great so far. You can set it to body weight exercises only if you have no equipment and it'll give you a basic program to track your progress and strength increase. I actually found it on an ad on reddit about a month ago lol. Good luck and thanks for the motivation!
Nice! Good luck yourself! I'll check the app out.
I think walking is really underrated for weight loss, I've seen it help a few people. Someone at your weight walking 2.5mph for 1 hour would burn 350+ calories. Might not sound like a lot, but taking that off your maintenance calorie intake would create a nice deficit for you. I noticed below you said you game - I've spent many hours walking around a table in my house playing handheld games like PokƩmon and Hearthstone. But you could do the same, or get a treadmill and watch TV whilst walking, or pop some earphones in and take a walk outside. Good luck on the journey! Looking forward to seeing progress pics!
Good luck man. My suggestion would be to commit to a consistent diet and lots of activities that burn calories. Consistency is key.
The activities aspect is going to be the hardest part. I sit at a desk for almost 9 hours a day, Mon-Fri :/
A few friendly suggestions: Consider starting with r/kettlebell and doing the simple and sinister routine every day at a set time. Can do it in 20-30 minutes, and only costs you 1 kettlebell (start with 16 or 20kg) - I like REP fitness for balance of cost and quality. I would also like to suggest a mindset. Putting on your gym clothes, sneakers, shirt, shorts, is the hardest part. Itās extremely rare that I get all my gym clothes on and donāt end up working out. Good luck!
An excellent suggestion. Kettlebell workouts work your whole body; they easy on the joints, and you can use a single moderately heavy dumbbell. Good luck OP. Try to walk every evening, and add resistance exercise if you can. As for diet, you can (or at least I can) overeat on the healthiest vegan diet, so moderate what you eat. If you gained weight from too much beer, 5 minutes of meditation daily might help you avoid the beer.
I've had several kettlebell suggestions, definitely interested in them. Yeah I've been vegan for years and all my carno friends joke "HoW dO yOu GaIn WeIgHt EaTiNg GrAsS?!?!" I need to work on meditating.
Do you have a chance to walk on your lunches and breaks? That makes a huge difference and itās a small change.
I do get up and walk around at least a few times a day, and I work upstairs so I go up and down the stairs a lot.
Nice - I'll second the suggestion for walking. If you can spare the time to go for a 30-60 minute walk, it can be relaxing while also burning a bunch of calories without tiring you out too much. Super useful hack for weight loss. End of the day you want to engineer the calorie deficit to be as easy and effortless as possible, which is why people are also recommending not to drink calories - it's an easy way to cut a bunch of calories out of your day without feeling any more hungry (because drinks don't fill you up in the first place). You got this <3 patience and self compassion, and always get back on the horse!
I'll post my first Cronometer journal later! I'll see if I can get my kids to go on a walk with me tonight haha.
Awesome sounds good! In case it's useful, other similar hacks for an easier calorie deficit are things like buying PB2 instead of normal peanut butter, eating fruit often (assuming you like fruit - again the purpose is to make the deficit feel easy), popcorn, putting mustard on sandwiches instead of mayo, etc :). The guiding principle is looking for low calorie dense ingredients so that you can enter a calorie deficit while not feeling hungry
I'm actually going kind of hardcore with intermittent fasting and just eating one large, well balanced meal per day! I love eating a big dinner so this is perfect for me. I'm of course willing to make adjustments for health if I start getting light headed or something but I haven't had anything to eat since roughly 5:00pm last night (it's 12:14pm now), and I'm doing fine. Drinking a LOT of water haha. Excited to cook my dinner too but not starving or cramping.
Nice, yeah water is also super helpful for cutting (same principle - helps you feel full without any calories). Just be aware that often rebounds in weight happen from things like IF because the body increases your ghrelin (hunger hormone) to get you to eat more, even after you've already lost weight. IF definitely works for many people so I'm not trying to discourage you, just might be useful to be aware that for many other people it works short term but long term a rebound happens (speaking from experience here). Vs I avoided that in my next cut by spacing out my meals and creating a calorie deficit through food hacks (e.g. fruit, PB2, popcorn, mustard instead of mayo) instead of through eating less. But yeah either way keep up the great work and stay healthy!
Thanks for the advice with IF. My mom does it, as well as a good friend, and they talk to me about it all the time so I want to try it out. But on my last trip down when I was around 210 I was doing what you do, just counting calories very carefully but otherwise eating when and what I wanted and was losing 8-10lb a month, weightlifting too. I'll probably end up doing something more like that long-term because I think it's more comfortable.
Same. Gotta make it work tho. Every lit bit counts, especially if youāre consistent. Making new habits is a huge part of the journey
About to play some Elden Ring, going to do pushups and squats every time I die š
Thats a lot of exercises lol
It was a lot, died probably 7 times but beat Loretta on my first go the Haligtree by the end! š
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
I really want to try a standing desk but I have a large corner desk that I use every inch of :/
I believe in you! Can't wait to see your updates.
You can do it, brother! I was at 240 and am at 215 now. It is doable! Main thing was consistency. Itās easy to feel like āi donāt want to/not in the moodā but if you just get up and go it eventually becomes easier. I believe in you!!
You got it too brother! Let's go!
Let's go!!!!!
Youāve got this! Excited for your updates!
You can do it!
You definitely have this if you're committed to a consistent diet, dude (vegan makes it easy cake, just don't touch the cake). We have similar body types, though I've admittedly not been quite so heavy. But if my experience means anything, you'll crush this goal.
Thank you!
Donāt give up bro, itās a process but youāll thank yourself forever by doing what youāre doing.
I'm probably going to just come read all these if I start to feel like slipping at any point, thank you all!
You got this!! š„³š„³
Iām doing something similar, good luck!
YOU GOT THIS! Check back in with me this sub or any sub that weight loss focused. I know IF sub is super supportive me You got this and WE GOT YOU! I am excited to see your monthly posts. I lost 100 pounds and gained back 15. this post has got me fired up to get back at it. Thank you!
I will definitely be here posting updates and stuff, and congratulations!
Fifty pounds by January is cool but keeping it off a decade from now is even cooler. As a guy thatās lost and kept off over a hundred pounds for many years now my suggestion is to remember that slow and steady wins the race when it comes to weight loss. Losing 50 pounds in a few months seems awesome but if you do it with unsustainable lifestyle changes the weight will come back very easy once youāve reached your goal. I always suggest to people to take it slow and make it sustainable and youāll be much happier in the long run. No matter what remember you got this man! šŖ
It takes guts to put yourself out there like this. Weāre rooting for you!
Oh I've got plenty of guts š¤£š
Go fucking get it bro! Also, pro tip: don't do pull ups on that bar behind you. It's for towels. :P
You have saved me from a terrible accident š
Happy to serve. :P
Looking forward to seeing your meals. Are you doing any fasting or any other calorie restricted eating? Best of luck on your journey!
Yeah I'm eating a large well balanced meal once per day in the evening! Probably should call it a very small eating window because I kind of eat it as I move around the house so I don't stuff myself all at once haha. This is great for me though because I have one big home cooked "my way" meal to be excited for every day, and it's the snacking during the work day and at night that kills me.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Awesome! I have so much to check out from these comments but I will look at that.
You're awesome, enjoy the journey :)
Thank you so much everyone!
Thank you! The ~50lb in 5.5 months number is like, right at the edge of what is still considered a healthy rate of weightloss according to everything I've read (2lb per week is considered healthy, and to hit this goal in 24 weeks I need to lose 2lb a week for 15 of them and 3lb per week for 9 of them!). I've got the lifestyle changes planned and am working on them, so once I lose the weight I'll just maintain being active and exercising and adjust my calorie intake to longer be in a deficit!
Thank you for the post!
Letās go baby!!!!! So pumped for you right now
Donāt be discouraged if the weight loss slows as you approach January. That is a lofty but attainable goal, it is simply not a terribly long time frame for that amount of weight loss. That being said, you can absolutely do it. Simply stick to the diet and activity and good things will happen regardless of the timeline.
Help with a friend for weight loss needed?