Totally unfit & massively overweight. Is a treadmill going to do anything?

[maltesecorsair]

@kc316 To keep it simple:

Muscles are found in the kitchen. If you want to show them off, your diet is how to do it.

Muscles are hungry. They will consume more calories to repair themselves and to just exist than body fat does.

Muscles eat fat. On top of muscles trying to boost your metabolism for their own maintenance, their first food source tends to be body fat. Therefore if you build muscle you theoretically can expect more fat loss.

As an aside - if you want to see what insane calorie deficit and cardio does to someone, go watch reviews for Biggest Loser. Do they lose weight? Sure. Do they destroy their lives and metabolism in the process? You bet.

However! Doing something > doing nothing. And if you aren't used to walking, then you can bet your body is going to build up more muscle to support you if you start doing it.

SUMMARY: Some activity > none. Muscle wants to eat fat. Food creates your body, exercise tunes it.

 

[dawn16]

@kc316 Anything helps, but something I only recently considered is how a treadmill isn't as hard as normal walking. The treadmill does some of the work for you by moving.

 

[reformedbill]

@kc316 Yes sure, don't hold on with your arms though, makes it too easy and you don't get the upper body benefits. You should check out r/keto too.

 

[feedfaithdoubtsstarve]

@kc316 Digging deep, actually wanting it, WILL make a difference. Go for it! Picture in your mind, what you want to achieve while you are working out and give it your all working out as your health allows. Good luck, stay strong!

 

[raexe]

@kc316 Its never a bad thing to want to improve yourself. Do what you can for now, eventually you'll know when you can up your game a bit without hurting yourself.

Congrats on the exercise!

 

[derpytia]

@kc316 At the stage you are at, the weight you lose will need to come from your diet. You need to be in a calorie deficit each day. Exercise can help accelerate weight loss a bit, but you can only lose weight in the kitchen. You will not lose weight by just exercising.

 

[andrewzinc]

@kc316 Yes, it is totally worth it because you're moving and burning calories, but you need to be sure your diet (calorie intake) is on point even more importantly. Use a TDEE calculator, sub 500 from your maintenance and go from there. A daily vitamin(I use chewables because I hate pills) , Whole, healthy foods if you can afford them and water/electrolyte water too. I use the 80/20 rule with food. I have a cookie, or a candy every once in a while so I don't go crazy. Or even a piece of pizza - AS LONG AS- I am still in my calorie goal! You can do it. Keep pushing! Proud of you for working so hard!

 

[godislovely85]

@kc316 I see a lot of calorie deficit and cardio advice so I won’t touch on it further but I will recommend you get down body weight exercises as well.

As you continue to train and lose weight you will also lose muscle. Start taking time to practice your stretches, whole body stretches, work the legs, hip, back, and shoulders, as most unfit and overweight people will suffer in those regions.

Next start bodyweight exercises, squats, pull-ups, push ups. You don’t have to start out with the most intense exercises. Look on YT how to work your way up onto a full body squat, proper push-up/pull-up, etc. Once you’ve gotten the basics down it’s time to start a little bit of Yoga, yoga isn’t for everybody but I always recommend giving it a try.

When you’re at a good place after practicing the above mentioned, move onto weighted exercises, slowly but surely pushing your limits. Depending on what results you’re looking for, you don’t have to go heavy. In fact volume and a high bpm is what you’re looking for. The point here is to develop healthy muscles that will continue to support your daily functions.

You have to keep in mind Diet is paramount to your success, without it you can be doing miles on the treadmill all night and still not offset the calories you’ve taken in.

For aggressive weight loss you’re aiming for 1-1.5lbs of fat a week, notice I say fat, not weight. Staying hydrated will keep water weight on you, so it’ll be hard to gauge just how much you’ve lost. Don’t go strictly by weight when you lose it, it’s a mix of water, muscle, and fat.

Calories taken in should never decrease by more than 500 of your “normal” or “old” amount.

 

[husserl]

@kc316 Cardio is so great for weight loss! I do an hour on the elliptical and do the weight loss/resistance programs and it’s helped me a ton. Any improvement is still an improvement! Way to go even getting to the gym that is such a huge battle itself

 

[kell4jc]

@kc316 It’s absolutely going to make a difference. But diet will make even more of a differences

 

[a1technogirl]

@kc316 Others have already said it, but the most important part of weight loss is what you eat.

I’ve gained and lost weight several times - I had to learn how to eat right after coming home from deployments, during and after pregnancies, and through transitioning from an active (military) to sedentary (mom, college) lifestyles. Learning to eat “right” for your situation is really tough! You can’t just starve yourself. You shouldn’t just avoid whole food groups (most diets). You need to modify your current lifestyle to fit the type of lifestyle that supports the body you want. That often means fitness, yes, but also includes diet.

I encourage starting with just, at the very least, logging what you eat to build an awareness of how much and what you are eating. You can do that old school, with pen and paper, or use something like My Fitness Pal. Even if you don’t try tracking calories, you might start to notice you snack too much or your portion sizes are out of control (those are both my problems!). I currently don’t track my calories, because I think it causes long-term unhealthy relationships with food, but taking the time to LEARN calorie tracking helped me understand appropriate meal sizes and portions. I was eating too much for my sedentary lifestyle, but I needed to eat enough to fuel my workouts.

Another recommendation I like: Weigh yourself everyday. This comes from research from people who have lost 50+ pounds and kept it off. Weighing yourself everyday is a simple habit that keeps you aware of your progress. The annoying part is water weight - your weight can fluctuate as much as 3-8 pounds in a day due to water retention (which is normal, but also tends to happen when you start exercising). I use an free app called Happy Scale to log my weight. It helps me make a realistic goal for weight loss (1-2 pounds per week is ideal, but even that “little” number is hard!). It helps smooth out daily fluctuations so you don’t get so down on yourself for not losing 10 pounds a day.

And finally, to your question, exercise. If we’re thinking of weight loss as calories in, calories out - you can increase the amount of calories you “can” eat by having a more active lifestyle in general. I actually find this really hard - I definitely get nowhere close to 10,000 steps a day (the basic recommendation) if I’m not trying. Trying to just build in 10,000 steps a day is a really great first step. That could be going on a walk or two everyday—outside, on a treadmill, up and down a hallway in your house, or using a “walk with me” style video on YouTube, where you just walk in place to music. Exercise can actually make weight loss hard, because you’re hungrier but trying to eat less. That being said, I personally tend to make healthier choices much more easily if I’m working out. I’m more likely to choose salads, water, or chicken/fish dishes instead of bingeing on pizza and beer (my weakness!!). I like to eat, so I like to run a LOT. It has taken me years to improve my ability and endurance for running. If that’s what you want to do, do it! But you shouldn’t choose an exercise you don’t like. So, really and truly, you could pick absolutely any exercise you enjoy. Walking, rollerblading, dancing (there’s lots of YouTube videos!), yoga, Pilates, tennis, etc, etc. Find something you enjoy as you get your food intake under control and as you build your base level of fitness. Over time, you can choose whether you want to do something more.

Hope that helps! Good luck on your journey!! Being here really means you’re on the right path - you care enough to try to get better, and everything you do and try will help you get there. Don’t give up!

 

[troller_dog]

@kc316 This was me. Try 40 mins on the elliptical..better on the knees

 

[ropal9]

@kc316 Use this as a supplement. What I mean is, since you’re a female, your maintenance calories around 1900 or 2000. So the aim to ingest 1500-1700 calories while also hitting the treadmill. Because, optimally if you need 2000 calories to maintain weight, and you only take in 1500 for the day, while also burning 300 on the treadmill, you’ve got a deficit of 800, which is really good! After a couple of weeks, you’d see the pounds drop like crazy. Now remember this is optimal, there will be days where you can’t do that, which is fine. Just make sure you’re stick to a deficit (with the occasional cheat day with a surplus), and you’ll be in good shape to drop the pounds in no time.

 

[waltonice]

@kc316 Short answer yes. Any physical activity of any kind will help, though actually walking in grass at a park will be less impactful than a treadmill.

Edit: what I mean by this is impactful on your knees, since the grass and dirt will absorb shock and weight better than a hard plastic treadmill.

Adjusting your calorie intake down while keeping nutrition and movement is really all you have to do. Start slow and gentle and ramp up as you lose weight. Remember whatever you adjust to is not your "diet" it's your lifestyle. So don't cut out all of your favorite foods just lower portions and introduce alternatives you are happy with unless it's something you can 100% commit to like no soda.

 

[jope]

@kc316 4.5-5.5 is decently fast. If that is on extended amounts of time im impressed. 44 body fat percent isnt bad either(avg is 20-30) but anyone that bullies you for it is horrible. I would like to ask what gym you went to? If you have the time sign up for the class. Weight lifting isnt your goal, try your hardest if it isnt much it doesnt matter. Start with 5-10 pounds and try more. You may not even need a class. Google a gym plan and try that.

 

[sam0097]

@kc316 Cardio helps get the body smaller but weightlifting makes you look better a lot faster. Weightlifting is also a lot of fun watching the numbers go up!

 

[missamy018]

@kc316 one important thing to do would be to google how many calories you're burning from the exercise. and perhaps also get an idea of how many more calories you're going ton consume as a result of the exercise, since others have a tendency to reward themselves.

 

[ronjonb]

@kc316 I suggest watching third video titled “Master the art of fat loss” on YouTube, covers all the essential information you’ll need. All the best!

 

[truly1]

@kc316 Can you give us a general idea of what you mean by “massive”?

 

[gods4life4ever]

@kc316 If you work WITH your body, you will make better progress. This means that you want to encourage your hormones to react to temporary stresses. And this means busting your ass for 1 minute is more worthwhile than 20 minutes of walking. "Calories In, Calories Out" does not include the human being between the "calories in" and the "calories out". When your body gets that message that it has to adapt to these temporary stresses, then it will naturally and happily change you with hormonal changes. So, sprints, HIIT ((high intensity interval training"), SCT (super circuit training), and weights will cause weight loss much faster and much more permanently than burning calories. With hormonal changes, you will be burning more calories ALL DAY LONG.

If you are just burning calories by walking on the treadmill, then as soon as you step off of the treadmill your burning of the excess calories stops. But if you stress yourself by busting your ass for 1 minute, all day long your body will be burning more calories. I suggest that you sprint for 1 minute and walk for 5 minutes, repeat many times. Always keep pushing yourself to improve.

I am 77 years old. This morning I did 180 jumping squats. Then I put my weight vest on with 24 extra pounds and did 70 more jumping squats. Then I added 8 more pounds to the weight vest and did 30 more. And I am feeling so jazzed now. A good work-out should make you feel good.