<p>Thanks notrichenough. If it weren’t so sad, I’d be laughing out loud, but I really hate to see people fail at fat loss, even in articles. It’s so demoralizing.</p>
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<p>I feel so sorry for people like the woman in the article. The nonsense that they are told about losing weight. It’s not this woman’s fault. I mean, everyone from Oprah to the USDA to the FitBit ads to the Coca Cola Company has told her that it’s all just calories in/calories out. So, of course, if she’s walking 15 miles on her standup desk, she has to eat more calories right?</p>
<p>This is what is so sad about all the diet and fitness advice people get. It’s not as simple as calories in/calories out. Walking 15 miles at a stand up desk is totally crappy exercise, not at all conducive to fat loss. Hours and hours of such low intensity exercise is probably the worst approach for fat loss. The whole thing is just a flawed paradigm, but that’s what people are told.</p>
<p>Best decision I ever made for fat loss was deciding to never count exercise calories. I figured what I could do diet-wise and figured that anything I burned from exercise would just be a bonus. Otherwise, exercise just becomes a permission-slip to pig out.</p>
<p>A question for the exercise experts: what one exercise (that can be done at home, with easily-obtainable and not horribly expensive equipment) would you recommend to someone who wants to start exercising? I have been following this thread for a while and my guess is planks - but if so, how difficult is it to do correctly?</p>
<p>Here is the very first workout I did (at 250 pounds, after not exercising for years). Four simple exercises, with good tips for how to do them in the video. I had to start with the side planks from my knees. I still do all four of these exercises (and variations) and can’t imagine a time when I won’t be doing variations of these four exercises:</p>
<p>After four years, I still haven’t mastered the fourth exercise, the hip lift. That is one of the hardest exercises in the world to do really well. You are supposed to use the muscles in your butt, but it’s almost guaranteed to feel like a massive cramp in the back of your thighs at first!</p>
<p>One tip. I started by doing plank for 30 seconds (although it just about killed me – shaking all over, dripping sweat). Stuart McGill, the back guru I linked a few posts above, recommends starting with a 10 second hold, rest for a few seconds, then do another 10 seconds, and so on and so forth as you build strength/endurance. I think he’s right. The 10 second holds let you really focus on quality, rather than just gritting your teeth and holding on for dear life, using whatever muscles you can to cheat. Plus, in real life, this ab stiffening is used in short bursts – as you brace to pick up a box, at the moment you hit the golf ball, etc. The instantaneous stiffening of the core is the key to almost all athletic (and every day) performance. You don’t brace the core for 60 seconds. So, if I were starting today, I would do 10 second holds on planks and side planks. I eventually built up to 60 second holds, but now I only do 30 seconds with 10 second rests in between.</p>
<p>The other place I would start, would be to find someplace pretty (or fun or interesting) where you can go for a walk a couple times a week, even better if you can find a few hills to trudge up. That will jack your heart rate up and get you breathing hard, which is good! One of the three goals I wrote down the first day was to “walk one mile without getting winded”.</p>
<p>Kudos, snowflake.
Bunsen, what a beautiful story!
Hopeful – bank on McGill without re telling the whole long story, I have facet joint syndrome in my back and can now do a zillion things that previously would have aggravated it thanks to IDad’s tips and McGill’s work. You might want to try magnesium supplements and Epsom salt baths when its sore too.</p>
<p>Well, I did the hill and my woods trail and the easement and I can get used to the openness where the beauty used to be on the easement trail…I’ve decided I will just enjoy watching the re growth. And that I will not let conditions or the electric bozos interfere with my morning walks and commitment to haul *ss.</p>
<p>(Who am I kidding…I’ll use my walks to plot revenge ;))</p>
<p>Deb922, hard to believe its July around here this week, eh? My pool-heating bill is going to hit an all-time high this year!</p>
<p>It was a cool 54 when I walked the dog this morning. Not complaining. Love the hot beach days, but I’ll NEVER turn down a high of low 70’s!!! </p>
<p>Mathilda, what kind of exercise do you “like”??? Are you more likely to follow through with floor exercises or something cardio like walking or a simple low key aerobic video tape you can do at home??? I think that the best exercise for you is one that you are willing to do and maybe even enjoy! </p>
<p>I just despise planks. (I do them, but not that regularly.) If I’d started there I would never have stayed with exercising! I think if I were going to recommend just one exercise I’d start with squats. If you don’t want to invest in dumbbells or a kettle ball you could probably just use some heavy cans. I also like kettle ball swings because they are fun.</p>
<p>I also think a good hilly walk is an easy thing to add to your routine.</p>
<p>abasket is right that the most important thing is to do exercise you like. If you hate sweating, you might try swimming. If you like being out in the sunshine walks are good. If you like music try some sort of dance aerobics. If you are a cheapskate and won’t skip classes you’ve paid for, pay for a class. (That worked for me for years!)</p>
<p>And I hate squats! It IS important to do something you like. OR- do something you don’t like as a placeholder until you can do something you like! </p>
<p>We had a beautiful 57 degree morning. I think it was a record low. Felt like Colorado. I really can’t get my heart rate very high walking- unless I’m going up hill. I only had time to do 2 miles. I’m just not a good fitness walker. I need company.</p>
<p>Another vote for finding exercises you really enjoy. I need variety so I like to take classes–spinning, pilates, yoga. I also agree that if you pay for a class, you’re less likely to skip it. One of the reasons I use a trainer is that it forces me to go to the gym. When I started, I’d find lots of excuses not to exercise. If you sign up for a class or make an appointment with a trainer, you’re generally going to go. After a while, I found I really enjoyed what I was doing and I wanted to go.</p>
<p>Yin yoga this morning. Plan on a walk later this afternoon, unless there’s rain. If that happens, I’ll get on the Cybex machine.</p>
<p>I think it was a NY Times wellness writer who recommended squats. She said one of the worst things that can happen to people when they age is the inability to get up from a sitting position, and the more squats you do, the longer you’ll be able to do get up.</p>
<p>I swam today – the pool was set up in long course (50 meters), I haven’t swam that way since college, 30+ years ago. It’s definitely more tiring when there are fewer stops and turns.</p>
<p>I’ve done those, on average, three times a week, for four years just like the planks, starting with the first week of workouts Well, not quite, because I couldn’t do a squat when I started, but at least I was working towards them with partial squats. I wish I had known about the TRX trick in the video below. I could have done that with a rope over a hook in the garage or some other improvisation to reduce my (at the time) rather significant body weight!. </p>
<p>I alternate. One day, some kind of squat. The next workout, some kind of split squat. Both are terrific exercises.</p>
<p>Come to think of it, for the last couple of years, I’ve even been doing bodyweight squats and split squats in my 10 minute warmup. Both are awesome for limbering up creaky ol’ joints.</p>
<p>Thanks for all your input and suggestions. I watched the McGill video. I did the stretches, will try to do that a couple of times a day. Question: what about using the heat pad for the back, will it help? If it is ok to do, should I do it before or after the stretches?</p>
<p>Just read interesteddad’s post about squat, I will NEVER be able to do that, my knees got busted a few years back when I tried to climb the steps, went to PT for quite a few sessions, after that time, I could not squat again. I am so envious of people who can do that. Because of my weakened knees, now I am so restricted in many activities I used to like, e.g. gardening, pulling weeds etc. (ha, loved pulling weeds!), cannot bend, cannot squat.</p>
<p>Some days I feel so depressed because I feel useless, and I am not even 60. Now I have the time, I want to “help” myself to get into better shape, nothing fancy, just being a bit stronger physically. Like I said in my first post, problem with me is that the moment I try to do some exercise, I end up hurting myself, I feel stupid!!</p>
<p>I can’t get my thighs anywhere near parallel to the floor in squats. We do something like that in hot yoga, and I’m working on it, but I just don’t seem to be aligned the right way!</p>
<p>Hopeful- if the heating pad feels good, go for it, but it probably isn’t helping the healing. Sometimes ice and/or heat helps, and sometimes not. Lots of people our age have bad knees, backs etc., so it’s important to figure out what you CAN do that doesn’t hurt. Maybe pool walking (with a aquajogger belt) would feel good.</p>
<p>Part of today’s gym workout: 200m rowing, 40 squats, 1 minute rest, 200m rowing, 30 squats, 1 minute rest, 200m rowing, 20 squats. Wore me out. We also did some dead lifts. My form still needs some work!</p>
<p>I probably wouldn’t start on the core strengthening exercises until after your back has simmered down a little bit in a few days.</p>
<p>As for knees and squats, there may be light at the end of the tunnel. When I started four years ago, I hadn’t been able to squat down and bend my right knee for years. To look for something on the bottom shelf of the fridge, I had to actually kneel down on one knee.</p>
<p>Now, my knee pain is completely gone. I have no probably squatting down and, in fact, I have a tendency to squat a little too far (below parallel). It’s really a shocking change, to be honest. Not shocking as in overnight change, but shocking when I look back at the cumulative effect of consistent exercise targeted at improving stability and mobility. In my case, obviously shedding 90 pounds of blubber was a big part of the improvement, but it’s more than that.</p>
<p>Dang, it’s sold out! How about we all just opt in to the post gathering at BB’s??? BB can you throw in a free tech shirt for the party??! </p>
<p>Signed up for a 5k next weekend. Not 100% sure we will be in town but it’s for a non profit I support so I figured go for spending the cash anyway. Thinking we’ll be here and it will be good to do a race again. Been a bit!</p>
<p>Hopeful, would you consider making a doc appt and telling your doc that you really would like to start a very beginner exercise program and see if he/she can recommend a local fitness facility that you would feel comfortable with?? Working one one one - even if just for a session or two might help you gain confidence and truly learn how to do a few exercises in a “right for your body” way. Docs should want to promote wellness and your doc SHOULD be happy to hear you say you want to take a step! Fitness centers come in all sizes and shapes. </p>
<p>No disrespect to doctors, but I’m thinking the chances of getting a recommendation to a good fitness program from the average doctor is somewhere in the neighborhood of slim and none. Even a blind pig finds an acorn every once in a while, so it is possible, but it would be a fluke. Not that the doc wouldn’t want to give a good recommendation, it’s just that the medical community is not set up or structured to help people in that way. They’ll send you to a physical therapist or a registered dietician, but those may not be the best available resources.</p>
<p>Those docs are surely out there but many - especially younger docs recognize the value of promoting wellness . Maybe it’s because many of the docs I know are affiliated with a medical school and education but you can also look beyond the old geezer for progressive , preventive medicine. </p>
without re telling the whole long story, I have facet joint syndrome in my back and can now do a zillion things that previously would have aggravated it thanks to IDad’s tips and McGill’s work. You might want to try magnesium supplements and Epsom salt baths when its sore too.</p>
Folks, we can have a post-run gathering in my house!</p>