Question:
I'm 38 and have let myself go over
the last few years. after a routine
visit to the docs, he gave me a
physical and figured out my BP was
high, my bad cholesterol was up,
my good cholesterol was down and
I had very mild early stage diabetes.
my weight was 327 lbs and although
I am a big boned guy and 6'1, I
was really obsese. That was April
1 this year and I left the doc's
office and joined a gym.
I started
a strict diet (for example: Fibre
One/fruit for breakfast, veggie
sandwich for lunch and baked potato
& no-fat cottage cheese
for dinner) and cut out all in between
snacks, drinks, candy etc. i've
been to the gym pretty much every
day since. I started with walking
on the treadmill for about 30 mins
and I'm now up to 35 mins at 6.5mph
monday to friday mornings, step
cl monday evening, circuit training
tuesday evening, circuit training
cl saturday and step cl sunday.
The good news
is that I've lost a ton of weight
- now at around 260 lbs and the
last visit to the docs a week ago
confirmed that my BP is great, my
cholesterol is normal for both types
and my diatetes has apparently gone
away - I've done a couple of fasting
sugar blood tests as well as a couple
of the tests where they take blood,
give you a glucose drink and take
more blood 2 hours later all fine.
The bad news is I seem to be stuck
at this weight and whilst my clothes
hang off of me, I still feel and
look fat. I've been stuck here for
several weeks and I feel like I
need to lose another 40 lbs at least.
I like to
push it at the gym - when I'm running
I breathe normally, but I wonder
if Ii'm pushing things too hard
and going out of the fat buring
zone. I've thought about a HRM but
i'm worried that my target rate
is pretty low and i'll end up having
to just walk on the treadmill -
feeling like i've really done some
exercise is an important motivator
for me. is there really a fat loss
zone ? if I eat little and exercise
a lot, eventually my body has to
start using fat doesn't it? I know
there are plateaus with weight loss
- I experienced this myself, but
never for this long.
I could do
more exercise and eat less but i'm
kind of at the limit both in terms
of what I take in and how much time
I spend at the gym. I realize that
I need to do this forever so going
to the gym 14 times a week isn't
going to work.
Answer:
You have just described a complete
success story!
You never
mentioned weight training (I would
suggest you talk to your trainer
about including this in your routines)
What you are doing though is fine
you have just adapted your lifestyle
to a MUCH more healthier one in
just over 6 months you need
to keep it up, congratulations In
twelve months take another look...
Plateaus--even
of this length--are quite normal
in a long-term weight loss effort.
Do not give up. I would suggest
mixing up your workouts a bit--try
some interval training, or try a
new activity to activate some different
muscles or the same muscles in a
different way.
