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Well, I'm 65, retired and can't afford a club membership. I thought the treadmill and just walking after a lifetime of not exercising would be not only a good start, but hopefully, with diet, all I would need to lose the weight and keep it off. I can and will add time and speed and can increase the incline, but I'm so out of shape, it will take a while to build up.
I started at 15 minutes at 2.5 miles and no incline and have steadily built on that. I just don't think I have it in me to to do 2 two hour workouts a day. Is there any hope for me?
Do what you can as you are comfortable and add time and distance when you can not when someone else tells you you can. Someone else does not know your comfort level and given the amount of time you have not done anything in regards to physical activity you really need to start slow.
Only weight yourself one time per week, I do it on Sunday morning after I have gotten up out of bed, got the morning peepe done and right before I step into the shower (which means weigh yourself naked).
Write down everything you consume daily in calories,carbs, starch etc and be sure you are consuming the right amount of the right food combinations and make sure of the amount of calories you are eating.
What you have started is a good place and if you can do that for one week and still be comfortable that is great. Then next week add 5 minutes of time and do that for a week.
There is no need at all to work out for 2 hours each day unless that is how long it takes you to walk 2 miles each day but you still have to work up to that amount of time and distance. The entire point is to start moving more and keep moving but only to your level of comfort. If you go right into the time and distance that you are not comfortable with you will not continue with the treadmill.
Well, I'm 65, retired and can't afford a club membership. I thought the treadmill and just walking after a lifetime of not exercising would be not only a good start, but hopefully, with diet, all I would need to lose the weight and keep it off. I can and will add time and speed and can increase the incline, but I'm so out of shape, it will take a while to build up.
I started at 15 minutes at 2.5 miles and no incline and have steadily built on that. I just don't think I have it in me to to do 2 two hour workouts a day. Is there any hope for me?
Don't get discouraged. Attitude is important. You really are just starting out, and it may be difficult to dispense advice here without knowing your medical history & physical condition. Nobody wants injury. During your workout, try throwing in a little zing to raise your heart rate. Increase the speed and/ or incline a little, and try to maintain it for 30 seconds...then a minute. Then do that a few times during every session. That's how you will make strides forward. It sounds crazy, but, you have to learn to shock your body a little...trick it. Try maybe pausing the treadmill, hopping off, and doing a few push-ups on the floor. Then back on the treadmill at a faster speed. Then back to a slower pace to rest. As you start gaining strength, and losing weight, your body will start adjusting to the work-outs, and you will plateau. At those points, it becomes time to switch-it-up & kick-it-up. Good luck, and hang in there. It's a process. We've all been there.
I would get an app or join a website that can calculate how many calories you will burn, based on your height, weight and age. Including a heart rate monitor is even better for accuracy. However, keeping track of calories is more important for weight loss. I recommend myfitnesspal and runkeeper.
At my height and age, your workout would only burn 225 calories per day, meaning I would lose 1 pound every 15 days, provided nothing else changed in my diet. I don't know what your height and weight are, but you burn fewer calories as you get older.
I would get an app or join a website that can calculate how many calories you will burn, based on your height, weight and age. Including a heart rate monitor is even better for accuracy. However, keeping track of calories is more important for weight loss. I recommend myfitnesspal and runkeeper.
At my height and age, your workout would only burn 225 calories per day, meaning I would lose 1 pound every 15 days, provided nothing else changed in my diet.
This. It's really enlightening. I resisted tracking calories for years because it sounded like such a drag. But it makes a huge difference and it's not hard anymore thanks to online tools. "myfitnesspal.com" is a free one I recently started using; it makes keeping track of foods eaten/calories consumed quite easy.
It also allows you to see exactly how many calories you "gain" in your intake by doing certain types of exercise.
Are you getting activity otherwise? I know 2 miles might seem like a lot if you are otherwise sedentary, but I now that my phone has a pedometer I realize that I walk 2 miles on an average workday in an office just coming in from the parking lot, to and from the bathroom, and to other offices on my hall.
This. It's really enlightening. I resisted tracking calories for years because it sounded like such a drag. But it makes a huge difference and it's not hard anymore thanks to online tools. "myfitnesspal.com" is a free one I recently started using; it makes keeping track of foods eaten/calories consumed quite easy.
It also allows you to see exactly how many calories you "gain" in your intake by doing certain types of exercise.
I agree. Love this app. I thought I was more or less tracking calories in my head, but we lie to ourselves. myfitnesspal is actually sort of fun to use, believe it or not. It made me see where I could cut back and where I was making mistakes, for example, with portion control.
OP, it is definitely harder when you are older. I am 56 and the weight is coming off, but slowly. However, don't push yourself so hard exercise-wise that you get discouraged. I did that in the fall, and I ended up with such stiff muscles in my legs that I could hardly walk from the train to the office, let alone try and do two miles on a treadmill after work. I didn't want to do anything but get on the couch when I got home.
It took a while for the scale to start showing a difference. Then all of a sudden, a pound or two will come off and stay off.
I went from absolutely no exercise to working out twice daily on a treadmill. Have worked up to 1 mile in 21 minutes twice a day. Pace is 3 miles an hour and 1.5 to 2 incline. Shouldn't I see some - even 1 or 2 pounds of weight loss by now? I'm getting a little discouraged. People told me it would start to melt off relatively soon.
I don't expect miracles, but something. Am I being too impatient? Any encouragement and success stories would be most welcome.
You have to stop eating the donuts while you are on the treadmill. Also, just an FYI, when you stop the treadmill to take a smoke break, the other users get very irritated. Just a little heads up for ya there.
No, I'm retired. So no other exercise of significance.
It says you are from Portland, beautiful city. When the weather is nice get outdoors and walk around your city. Look for hills and take them at a pace you can handle.
Also you really do not have to add too much more time to your walking, just up the intensity. Push yourself for a minute then go back to a slower pace. Repeat. Add in some body weight exercises.
Clean up your diet and when you exercise make it count. Again, at 65 no weight will come off fast. But it will come off. Be patient and persistent.
You have to stop eating the donuts while you are on the treadmill. Also, just an FYI, when you stop the treadmill to take a smoke break, the other users get very irritated. Just a little heads up for ya there.
SS
Wow, that was snarky and so unhelpful. Why do you (and others) assume I snack and eat junk food? I do not. I also do not smoke and the treadmill I use is in my house.
How charming of you to come into this thread just to be an a-hole.
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