Well I had my annual checkup today and it's not great news. I normally weigh 215-220 but now I'm pushing 238.. damn I thought my pants were getting tight! Blood pressure is slightly high, cholesterol is over 200. Doc says I gotta drop 20+ pounds to get those numbers down or he's putting me on blood pressure and cholesterol meds in 6 months.

I'm sure I'm not the only meat & potatoes loving, beer drinking 40+ guy on here. What have you done to drop weight and keep in shape? I really hate going to the gym.

Ideas?

 

Walking is the easiest way or if you really want some excersise and you can do it HD style....shut the bike off and push it...on the level first ..then find a slight grade...you will be dropping pounds like a wild man!

 

If you want to stay in the two wheel world, get a bike! A bicycle, that is. Find some roads or trails you can put in a half hour or more of steady effort each time and it'll melt off in no time! Who knows, you might even come to like it and want to ride your bicycle nearly as much as your bike!

I have 4 bikes... only one has a motor.

 

Eat less, move more!

You know what you have to do!

 

Well, I ain't 40, and my weight range is different, but I'm close...

I stopped the red meat every night--more fish and chicken. I eat more veg and fiber. Fiber makes a big difference. And...drink lots of water. A pint an hour. You'll **** like mad for a week until your body adjusts, but then you level out. And do some honest aerobic activity. Jog, ride a bike (bicycle), walk briskly, play ball...

My wife and doc figured all this out together.

I'm a homebrewer.

I ain't giving up my beer.

 

Drink light beer and eat oatmeal.

 

I did the Atkins diet. I am a meat and potatoes guy. You can eat pretty much all the protiens you want steak chicken fish pork eggs cheese. You are never hungry. I lost 62 lbs two years ago and have kept 55 of it off. Good luck!

 

roflmmao!!!!

In which order?

 

Just curious, what about going to the gym do you not like? What kind of gym, and what have you tried doing while there?

FWIW, I'm overweight right now, but I carry it well Unfortunately, I just got in an accident, lady hit me on my RKC a week ago, so it's delayed my plans a bit, but I will get back on track, once I am able to do it physically.

Anyway, prior to the wreck, I had just joined a Y, and was going 3-4 times a week for a short time, I was so happy to be back into it. I used to be in great shape, for me anyway, and everything was better, imo. I was in the gym a lot to get started a long time ago, and lost a lot of weight, and gained some muscle mass, then just went a few times a week for an hour or so, to maintain it.

I'm not saying it was always fun, but once I got into it, I felt weird if I didn't go regularly. It helped release agression, tension, and the results kept mind and body happy.

FWIW, I usually found some cardio to do, and mixed it up to not get bored. I'd do 5 min warm up, stretch, and then I'd hit the weights. I did a rotating work out of free weights and machines, working different parts of the body on different days, and then did some more cardio for 20 minutes or so.

I'm not a morning person, but it seemed like things would come up to get in the way of going to gym after work, so at first I forced myself to go in the mornings before work. It wasn't always easy, especially if I wasn't disciplined the night before, but like I said, it wasn't too hard to work in 2-3 times a week. I found that since I wasn't much good mentally in the mornings anyway, the time passed pretty quickly.

This time around, I am using an iPod that I won somewhere. Man, the time flies even faster now in the gym.

The thing about the weights, especially as you build a little extra muscle is that the larger the muscles, the more calories you burn when working them, so a little weightlifting (don't have to be a meat head either) can go a long way, and you can burn a lot of calories that way, compared to only doing cardio, and you can do differnt exercises to improve different body parts. Also, a lot of people overlook leg exercises, but if you do some good all around leg exercises, those are pretty big muscle groups and you can really burn some calories that way in no time.

Not trying to change your mind or anything, just sharing my experience. At first I didn't like it or look forward to it, but was motivated enough to lose weight at that time. Then, once I got into it, I experienced all these peripheral benefits that kept me interested in it until a life changing event that forced a temporary change in lifestyle, including an injury that prevented me from working out for awhile.

Can't speak for how it will work out yet, but something I started to do this time to lower my cholesterol was to sneak a few bowls of cheerios in, they say that's good, I am trying an inexpensive multivitam from centrum that's supposed to help w/ cholesterol, its called 'cardio' you can find it at wally world or wherever, and I'm using a GNC protein powder that's low cholesterol as a morning starter, and snack in between lunch and dinner.

One reason people overeat is because they don't eat often enough, I've been guilty of that, distracted w/ work or whatever, hard to take time to eat. So you eat a couple big meals a day, and worse yet, sometimes too late in the day, and especially if you don't eat breakfast, then you tend to overeat, and even if you eat normal amount, the body can't cycle food effectively if you only eat once or twice a day. All the fitness people will typically agree that 5-6 meals a day or more provide a consistent supply of nutrients, and allows the body to use the food more efficiently, thus leaving less calories left over to turn to fat. So, to overcome the meal gaps for me, I shake up the little protein drink that tastes pretty good, I'm not hungry any more, and it tides me over til next meal, while giving my body some fuel in the mean time.

Anyway, I'm looking forward to getting back into it. I hope you find some sort of exercise that you don't hate too much, and maybe you'll start liking it once you get into it, especially if you do it enough and see some results, I think you will. Then think about other ways to give your body nutrition, talk to a nutrition person, or a few people at some health stores like GNC, to get an idea of what makes sense for you. Just try to learn some about any of the 'health' products before you start a bunch of things, coz like anything else, marketing people entice customers, customers want those products, so even good stores have some junk in their stores coz some people want it. So talk to people that care about health, and steer you away from shortuct energy products w/ too much caffeine or other questionable things, especially w/ high blood pressure, make sure you tell anyone helping you about the cholesterol and hbp, and just use common sense.

Good luck w/ whatever you do.

 

Thanks man, good advice and appreciate the insight. My problem with the gym is I find it boring. If I can find a way to keep it interesting then maybe I can make it stick. Also prefer the outdoors to being cooped up inside.