Weight Loss Advice?

[Guest AlexDeOrange]

I'm a pre-T trans guy and I stand at roughly 5'8, 210lbs. I'm down from around 230lbs a bit over a year ago, but I'd still like to lose a fair bit of weight.

There's not much I can do as far as a diet goes, as I eat meals with family, but I've been eating smaller portions and cutting out junk food (happy to say I'm down to one soda every few days instead of last year, where I was averaging 2-6 cans of soda a day). I've been trying to drink ice water and tea over other drinks.

I've been doing sit-ups on no real schedule, just stopping to do some until I get tired whenever I think about it, and I've thought about trying to work with weights some (I can't afford a gym or anything, so it'd just be the kind you can by individual at like Target and such).

Is there anything else I can be doing?

[Michelle 2010]

HI Alex

I sympathize with the struggle as I had it much of my life. If I understand your profile your genetic male and therefore may have good results with the method I lost 85 pounds with. And they never came back. I hit a weight that sufficiently disgusted me that I revisited something that worked for me once before. Basically, Low Carb works quite well and is healthy. The problem is that almost all processed food is full of carbs. If you live with your parents and have no control over the menu it makes it harder but not impossible. Almost all food that comes in a box is full of carbs and salt or sugar. Fresh vegitables, meat, fish, cheese and salad are all good. Unless your hypoglycemic diabetic or have other health issues the weight melts off. There is tons of info on line on menu ideas etc. hje reality is that sugar and processed flour are not your friend. Pushups and situps don't make people lose weight though they do build muscle.

You can lose 30-40 pounds and never be hungery... The bad news is pizza, soda, spagetti and pie become rare treats. If you don't want to sacrifice those types of food I suppose weight can be lost but it takes willpower and portion control. BTW I've had the weight off for close to ten years.

Good Luck!

Michelle

[Guest Miss_Construe]

You can practice for, or even join, a sport of active club at school,

... or ...

I hear a lot that you should increase muscle as it is denser and burns more calories per pound than fat. The most effective way to burn fat (according to all of the fitness hype I have seen) is to do resistance training and interval training. Also, your abs are not the largest muscle group on your body, so work your whole body (hopefully in a 'superset' or circuit fashion) and keep some Advil on standby. If you can, eat lean meats and lots of colorful veggies. If you get the right foods in you (nutrient dense) then you wont be hungry while you slim down.

Next, now you are going to make a schedule for exercise and stick to it, no matter how much you don't want to do it (don't over train or anything, but don't psyche yourself out either). basically you NEED to try the warm-up. Most of the time you will find that following through with the workout is much easier. Also, find some friends to keep you accountable. It takes 6 weeks to make these things seem easy and 6 months for them to become habit.

NOTE: make sure you start from a place that is just slightly outside of your comfort zone and work your way in. If you feel like you are getting a cold, take some time off and back off a little (over training) and if your muscles are sore to the touch you need to back off (if your muscles are sore, but not to the touch then you are doing well and the post-workout soreness should decrease with workouts under your belt). Also, form is important so reading this is in no way going to prepare you for a fitness routine in and of itself. Learn in person how to do the movements correctly as subtle nuances can mean the difference between amazing results and really hurting yourself.

www.menshealth.com and www.myfoodpyramid.gov for some more in depth information, but when I just looked seems to lack the information I wanted.

Bodyweight exercises:

Legs: squats, lunges

abs: crunches, planks (highly recommended), sit-ups, etc.

chest: push-ups (play with hand position; start on your knees then go to full plank)

back: bent rows, pull-ups (begin with chair support, your doing a lot more work than you think you are)

PRO TIP: do whole body exercises to burn even more (but work up to it).

Packaged routines are found on www.menshealth.com all over the place and some are even geared towards at-home fitness.

Your profile says your 15-ish so you could also use your school's gym, or at least take a gym class to learn the correct form on lifting.

Hope that helps,

Amy