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I am going to the gym for the first time tomorrow morning. They are going to show me how to use the equipment and may even provide some suggestions but thought I would check here as well. I am 58, closer to 59 actually, over weight and out of shape. I don't want to run a marathon or wear a bikini but I do want to be fit again. I'm also kind of hoping it will help with sleep problems and flexibility. I want to start by going 2 days a week on my days off. I would also like to go at least once during the work week but think at first I should hold myself accountable to my days off. I will be walking on most of the other days just not at the gym. Should I stick to the treadmill for awhile, rotate equipment, do some light weights or?? I have no medical issues, just old and out of shape.
Both have free online tools to help you track your meals, and they count your calories for you.
You can also count your calories each day in a notebook using a calculator, but it is a lot easier to do online.
If you're not sure how many calories you should eat each day, then check your BMR, and it will tell you how many calories your body would use if you stayed in bed all day.
Do you eat healthy ... or do you eat a lot of fast food?
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Thanks for the quick reply! I just started a myfitness account earlier today. I am trying to watch what I eat a bit more. I eat very little food that I don't prepare at home from scratch. It may not always be healthy food (made strawberry freezer jam yesterday) but I know exactly what is in it. I used to, many moons ago, be able to eat what I wanted anytime and not gain an ounce. Then the 40's called and it was all over. Now I'm trying to get on a good track so I can stay active and mobile as I get older.
I would suggest that at the very least, you do some sort of light cardio exercise, whether it be walking, biking, or an elliptical, every day. Just my opinion, but the most effective way to get into a good fitness regimen, is to make it a daily ritual, and it will become habit for you. And diet is even more important. Track exactly what you consume...every mouthful. The more frequent reason that people fail at losing weight is that they have no idea how much they are consuming. If you don't have a kitchen scale, get one. You won't believe how it will change the way you eat.
Thanks for the quick reply! I just started a myfitness account earlier today. I am trying to watch what I eat a bit more. I eat very little food that I don't prepare at home from scratch. It may not always be healthy food (made strawberry freezer jam yesterday) but I know exactly what is in it. I used to, many moons ago, be able to eat what I wanted anytime and not gain an ounce. Then the 40's called and it was all over. Now I'm trying to get on a good track so I can stay active and mobile as I get older.
It's great that you prepare your meals at home. That's a huge plus.
One thing you want to keep an eye on is how much sugar you eat.
Over the course of the 15-year study, participants who took in 25% or more of their daily calories as sugar were more than twice as likely to die from heart disease as those whose diets included less than 10% added sugar. Overall, the odds of dying from heart disease rose in tandem with the percentage of sugar in the diet—and that was true regardless of a person’s age, sex, physical activity level, and body-mass index (a measure of weight).
If you feel the need for sweet foods, just eat fruit instead.
With fruit, you are getting vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants as well. Plus you are getting fiber.
You'll find high amounts of sugar in cakes, cookies, ice cream, pie, soda, candy, milk shakes, frappacinos and other sweet coffee drinks. So try to limit these foods/drinks as well.
It's also great that you already joined myfitnesspal. That will save you a lot of time tracking your calories.
MyFitnessPal has a mobile app that you can install on your smart phone, so you can use it anywhere.
Do a variety of cardio and light weights as first, making sure you've got proper instruction on using weights properly and stretching afterward.
You may also want to check in with your regular physician, maybe start the program with a physical so you have a baseline of your body condition before you start and may discover things you want to keep an eye on while working out.
Thanks for the responses! I was not able to start the gym today but did get out for a 30 minute walk. I will be walking or riding my bike for at least 30 minutes on the days I am not at they gym. I will start with the treadmill I think and once I am comfortable on that I will try elliptical and then the other stuff. I plan on doing light weights as well, at least to start.
You already have lots of good advice, and it seems a very sensible approach to improving your health.
I hope you won't mind if I tell you a little about my experience in the hope it will encourage you to persevere.
I realised at 56 that it was time to do something about my weight and lack of fitness. I am male, 5'11", and weighed over 190lbs on a small frame. On my son's advice started running and doing a few pushups and sit ups.
After 3-4 weeks it was clear my running was improving as I could keep going for more than a mile, and I also started to pay more attention to what I ate, just because it seemed foolish not to. In a few months I could run 10kms at a slow pace, my weight was down to 180lbs and I developed shin splints because my fitness had improved faster than the muscles and tendons of my lower legs had adapted. This was uncomfortable but not outright painful, and gradually went away.
After about a year I ran my first half marathon in 1:56, and weighed 165lbs. I mixed in cycling and sometimes swimming or tennis when I had the opportunity and gradually became a reasonably competitive 155lb age group runner.
The point is not to expect immediate results or risk injury by increasing your workload too quickly, slow and steady is the key.
The point is not to expect immediate results or risk injury by increasing your workload too quickly, slow and steady is the key.
I'd like to rep Geezerrunner for that entire post, but have to spread the reps. The quoted sentence can't be emphasized too much. The most effective way to approach exercise is to think of it as a way of life. If you aim just to work out until you whip yourself into shape, you're most likely going to tail off from the exercise once you reach your goals, and eventually end up where you were before. If you think in terms of having the rest of your life to keep progressing with fitness, there's no hurry to get it all done right now.
Being the same age as you, I can tell you that Geezerrunner also has it right about going more for slow and steady progress at this age, in order to reduce the risk of injury. I find that this works best for me, and I'm not new to exercise. It's even more important to aim for steady, gradual progress if you're not used to exercise.
Regarding your idea of doing some work with light weights, I'd suggest going sort of heavy. Light weights might be a good idea at first, long enough for you to get used to the way it feels to do the exercises, but heavier weight is what you need for the best of the health benefits you gain from hefting iron, like maintenance of bone density and muscle mass.
Heavy is a relative term. It's based on what is heavy for the individual, as measured by the maximum number of reps you can do with a given weight. After you lift light weights just long enough to get the feel of pumping iron, you may want to try working with whatever weight you can lift only 10 times max. on each exercise. For each exercise, work at that 10-rep weight until you can consistently do 15 reps, and then find your new 10-rep weight for the exercise. Then you might eventually try going a little heavier, like starting with a weight you can lift eight times and working up to 12 reps before finding the new eight-rep weight, or even moving a little heavier to the 6-10 range.
Serious strength athletes may even work out with weight they can lift two to four times max., but that is advanced stuff. The point is that if you lift enough weight to definitely feel a real heft, that's where you get the most benefit from the health-enhancing effects of lifting weights.
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