Morbidly Obese- where to start?

[Anonymous]

Water should be your best friend, OP. Drink 4- 5L of water a day.

that will reduce you a lot of water weight. then slowly start 16/8 IF.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:To start exercising, you need to start by working on toning your muscles. Right now, your muscles have become used to a lower level of activity and exertion. If you try to exercise, even walking, it might be hard to start because your muscles will tired quickly and not be able to sustain activity. So ramp up slowly. I go through periods of exercise and each time, I have to start with something low impact that will help me develop some tone and stamina.

One suggestion of something to do in the privacy of your own home, are low impact chair exercises. You are basically getting your muscles used to sustained movement again. When you start, do not be ashamed or discouraged if you need to stop and rest periodically during the exercise. When you are able to get through the workout without pausing and can do so regularly, then you can look for a more advanced exercises or start walking. As you build up your stamina and strength, you will be able to do longer exercises. Initially your focus should be on developing the stamina and strength to make it through exercises without pauses. Then you can work on longer or more significant workouts that will have a greater impact.

Here is one set of exercises (only 10 minutes) that can help you get started.

DP. I don't disagree with this, except I do think one could start walking before doing all that toning. They don't have to walk 5 miles out of the gate; but just walking down the block and back as a start and gradually increasing distance or time each day or week would start getting them back into sustained movement. The benefits of walking and just increasing that physical activity don't need to be delayed. Start today!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To start exercising, you need to start by working on toning your muscles. Right now, your muscles have become used to a lower level of activity and exertion. If you try to exercise, even walking, it might be hard to start because your muscles will tired quickly and not be able to sustain activity. So ramp up slowly. I go through periods of exercise and each time, I have to start with something low impact that will help me develop some tone and stamina.

One suggestion of something to do in the privacy of your own home, are low impact chair exercises. You are basically getting your muscles used to sustained movement again. When you start, do not be ashamed or discouraged if you need to stop and rest periodically during the exercise. When you are able to get through the workout without pausing and can do so regularly, then you can look for a more advanced exercises or start walking. As you build up your stamina and strength, you will be able to do longer exercises. Initially your focus should be on developing the stamina and strength to make it through exercises without pauses. Then you can work on longer or more significant workouts that will have a greater impact.

Here is one set of exercises (only 10 minutes) that can help you get started.

DP. I don't disagree with this, except I do think one could start walking before doing all that toning. They don't have to walk 5 miles out of the gate; but just walking down the block and back as a start and gradually increasing distance or time each day or week would start getting them back into sustained movement. The benefits of walking and just increasing that physical activity don't need to be delayed. Start today!

I'm the PP you responded to. Normally I agree with you. But part of why I posted this (which I neglected to include) is that people who are not used to exercising should not start exercising outdoors in this heat. If your body is not conditioned, then your body may react poorly to the exertion in this heat and it can cause problems. We are currently under heat advisories and for someone obese without conditioning to start exercising outdoors, could be dangerous. If OP has access to somewhere indoors that has A/C, then they could start with short walks in parallel with the conditioning.

I just know that from my personal experience and from others I know, that even starting to walk distances when you aren't used to it can be discouraging and hard to develop the pattern of exercising. I have found that folks who work on some conditioning and getting even a tiny bit of stamina makes even walks easier. I've known a couple of obese people who had never exercised since childhood who got discouraged when they became out of breath and tired from just walking to the end of the block and back, but after a little bit of low impact conditioning helped them start and sustain exercise patterns.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Start intermittent fasting. It will help you lose weight, but more importantly, it teaches you how to handle hunger. Once your body gets used to longer fasts, it's like your brain rewires how it handles hunger. Years ago, before I started intermittent fasting, I used to get uncontrollable hunger which often led to overeating and constantly thinking about food. Now I can easily skip a meal, if I need to. I will probably be hungry, but it's like I don't care as much as I used. Fasting taught me that it will be okay if I don't eat for a while.

You also need to go to the doctor to make sure nothing else is going on that is making you hold onto the weight. If you go in and let them know that you are ready to make a change they won't give you a hard time. As other have said, increasing fiber, protein, and healthy fats with also help a lot.

One thing for anyone who is going to try IF, is that you should be aware that it is not unusual for someone to lose weight, sometimes even a significant amount of weight, from IF, but then to plateau and not be able to lose additional weight. I've known several people who did IF, lose weight, felt great, then got frustrated when they hit that plateau and the weight loss stopped. They didn't gain back, but they stopped losing before they had gotten to their target weight.

[Anonymous]

I love how vast the different suggestions are here. And everyone seems completely confident their way is the ONE way that you can lose weight.

OP, I'd love to hear back from you what you wind up trying, and what works and doesn't work for you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, is it possible for you to go overseas for a few months?
The reason I am saying is that no everyone can break down food in the US. Almost everything, including most fruits and vegetables are GMO.
When I’m overseas, I eat almost anything I want and lose a considerable amount of weight. Upon my return from a 6 week summer vacation, people tell me I look totally “ deflated”. Back in the US, I eat almost no carbs, go on a 16/8 fast, mostly raw vegetables, some fruits, small portions of protein and unsweetened yogurt (about 1300 per day) and end up putting on all the weight back within 4-5 months (30 lbs loss in 6 weeks).
I am not taking semiglutides as I am allergic to many medications.
It may be that your body cannot break down GMO food.

So your advice is to leave the country, lose weight, and then come back and gain it all back? Are you fr?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, is it possible for you to go overseas for a few months?
The reason I am saying is that no everyone can break down food in the US. Almost everything, including most fruits and vegetables are GMO.
When I’m overseas, I eat almost anything I want and lose a considerable amount of weight. Upon my return from a 6 week summer vacation, people tell me I look totally “ deflated”. Back in the US, I eat almost no carbs, go on a 16/8 fast, mostly raw vegetables, some fruits, small portions of protein and unsweetened yogurt (about 1300 per day) and end up putting on all the weight back within 4-5 months (30 lbs loss in 6 weeks).
I am not taking semiglutides as I am allergic to many medications.
It may be that your body cannot break down GMO food.

So your advice is to leave the country, lose weight, and then come back and gain it all back? Are you fr?

I think the first pp needs more protein lol.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:To start exercising, you need to start by working on toning your muscles. Right now, your muscles have become used to a lower level of activity and exertion. If you try to exercise, even walking, it might be hard to start because your muscles will tired quickly and not be able to sustain activity. So ramp up slowly. I go through periods of exercise and each time, I have to start with something low impact that will help me develop some tone and stamina.

One suggestion of something to do in the privacy of your own home, are low impact chair exercises. You are basically getting your muscles used to sustained movement again. When you start, do not be ashamed or discouraged if you need to stop and rest periodically during the exercise. When you are able to get through the workout without pausing and can do so regularly, then you can look for a more advanced exercises or start walking. As you build up your stamina and strength, you will be able to do longer exercises. Initially your focus should be on developing the stamina and strength to make it through exercises without pauses. Then you can work on longer or more significant workouts that will have a greater impact.

Here is one set of exercises (only 10 minutes) that can help you get started.

DP. I don't disagree with this, except I do think one could start walking before doing all that toning. They don't have to walk 5 miles out of the gate; but just walking down the block and back as a start and gradually increasing distance or time each day or week would start getting them back into sustained movement. The benefits of walking and just increasing that physical activity don't need to be delayed. Start today!

I'm the PP you responded to. Normally I agree with you. But part of why I posted this (which I neglected to include) is that people who are not used to exercising should not start exercising outdoors in this heat. If your body is not conditioned, then your body may react poorly to the exertion in this heat and it can cause problems. We are currently under heat advisories and for someone obese without conditioning to start exercising outdoors, could be dangerous. If OP has access to somewhere indoors that has A/C, then they could start with short walks in parallel with the conditioning.

I just know that from my personal experience and from others I know, that even starting to walk distances when you aren't used to it can be discouraging and hard to develop the pattern of exercising. I have found that folks who work on some conditioning and getting even a tiny bit of stamina makes even walks easier. I've known a couple of obese people who had never exercised since childhood who got discouraged when they became out of breath and tired from just walking to the end of the block and back, but after a little bit of low impact conditioning helped them start and sustain exercise patterns.

I can go along with that, especially the heat issue.
But walking just a block and back (when the heat advisory is over) each day is not likely to be a problem and they can do the conditioning exercises in conjunction.