Hi, I'm new and couldn't figure out where else to post.

[Rye]

Hi, names Rye. Wasn't sure where I should post in here so chose the Newbie area.

I have been overweight since my mid 30's, I am 50 now. Beginning of the year I weighed 320lbs. I decided to do something about it but am not into exercise or gyms. So mid-April I decided to do something about my weight. I stopped drinking carbonated drinks. I cut out sugar completely. I started walking daily. And finally I lowered my calories to about 1200 a day. Now I am down to 240lbs, and have plateaued and not able to lose more. I figure it will just take time to start losing again.

My goals are to get down to about 200, although 180 would be nice. I continue to walk for an hour a day on my treadmill, continue my no soda, no sugar, 1200 calories. I wonder though if I should add some muscle work to my exercise though. As I said I do the one hour walk daily. It's a brisk walk on an incline and according to the monitor on the treadmill it is about 3.4 miles I walk and supposedly burn about 430 calories. I of course still have a fair bit of paunch.

I have heard that there is little point to working on abs or legs or anything until the weight is lost but am not sure if that is correct or not. I was thinking the extra exercise might start up the weight loss again. I have plateaued as I mentioned for about a month now. I am not worried really, I figure the weight loss will start up again at some point if I just keep on as I am. I am looking for suggestions for exercise as it pertains to building up muscle, abs, legs, butt, chest. Also suggestions for weighs to break the plateau and start the weight loss up again.

Thanks ahead of time for all suggestions and support.

 

[dudeitstime]

The working on abs thing is kind of true. You'd actually be building the muscles but it will make your belly look bigger as a result. Until you lost the fat in that area. I'd suggest looking into crossfit, DDP yoga or planking if you're looking to build muscles without weights. Your body is probably really used to your current routine. Try shaking it up and doing something different. You'll still lose weight doing what you're used to doing, it might just take a little longer or stall like you're experiencing now. We're at pretty much the same weight and our stories parallel so I can completely relate. Maybe cut down your carb intake if you don't want to change your routine too much. Carbs will be the first thing stored and the longest to burn before switching to burning fat. Anyway, welcome to the forum, good luck in your journey!

 

[Rye]

I don't eat a lot of carbs, I don't think. I have greek yogurt and muesli for breakfast, omelette with cheese for lunch, chicken sandwich for supper. Oh I forgot to mention I have just started to drink tea sweetened with stevia. I was drinking drink mixes with aspartame but I know aspartame is really really bad and can make weight loss difficult. So going with brewed tea, lightly sweetened with stevia and then chilled.

I think I will maybe start doing some exercises for butt and arms to start with, that will help vary my routine like you suggested. But I won't work on my abs and chest until I have lost a bit more weight. That will also let me get used to the different style of exercise. Will do treadmill one day then the next day do the other exercises and see how that works for me.

Will also see if stopping the aspartame helps to start up the weight loss again.

Thanks for the response and the suggestions.