TopherKersting t1_j5zcyor wrote on January 26, 2023 at 4:55 PM

(I am 53m, 5'11" [1.8m])

Three years ago I was 295 lbs. (134 kg) It was the start of the pandemic, so I couldn't go to a gym or buy any equipment--and I didn't have anything.

I started slowly, setting a goal of 6000 steps per day and doing 30 minutes of a mostly body weight workout four days per week (Squats, knee pushups, elbow planks, and water bottle curls). The only change I made to my diet was to cut sugary drinks.

After a couple of months, I started working with a personal trainer and nutritionist over Zoom and chat, gradually increasing my step count, improving my diet (and not ever starving myself) with small, but regular changes that I could live with, and adding weights and exercises to my routine.

I ended up dropping to 192 lbs. (87 kg) in about eighteen months before gaining back about 22 lbs. (10 kg) of muscle (I'm currently up an additional 15 lbs./7 kg because of my seasonal affective disorder, but historically I drop that every spring).

tl;dr Incremental changes over a longer period got me to where I am happy with how I look and feel.

bluenova85 t1_j60rt8q wrote on January 26, 2023 at 10:10 PM

I second the approach of slow. We tend to do too much too soon and our brains love to talk us out of “hard” things we are not used to. We do hard things all the time, so you can do this. Even if you love it, starting small at first(even if it’s once a week) is worthwhile. I loved pole fitness, but it was hard to be consistent until I picked a day to go no matter what. If I felt shitty, well then I had to accept it would be a shitty class. I noticed it took about 3 months before my brain stopped trying to talk me out of it and instead it had become a habit, which meant I was on auto pilot to go and it wasn’t any effort anymore. Then is it got easier to do more. This slow start resulted in years of consistency and increased physical activity that even when I gained weight and lost a lot of strength when I wasn’t active at all during covid lockdown, my body maintained a strength that was significantly greater in my late 30s than it was in my 20s.

scarecro_design t1_j63s2pn wrote on January 27, 2023 at 2:45 PM

Precisely! If you push yourself too hard, then you'll end up avoiding it. Try to keep things to a level where you can enjoy it, and maybe explore options until you find one that's lots of fun for you. For some that can be walking, cycling, etc or even chopping colorful boxes moving at high speed in virtual reality.