I would usually walk/jog or ride the stationary bike for 10-15 minutes. Then I'd go work out on all the Nautilus equipment starting with upper body (bicep curl, chest press, lat pull down, pull ups, tricep extensions, and the crunch machine, plus others) then i'd do the lower body (leg extension, leg press, hip abduction/adduction, etc). I would make a full circuit of the machines doing about 2-3 sets of 10-20 of each exercise.

RedJake and Lasereth can both attest to this as they would go with me.

If you get back into this (which I recommend), might I suggest doing only the following:

• The warmup
• Bicep curl
• Chest press
• Lat pulldown (or pullups)
• Tricep dips
• Crunch something
• Leg press

And add the following as a supplement (i.e. only required maybe once a week):

• Stiff-legged deadlifts (or leg curls)
• Calf raises

You can virtually replace all of your leg workout with the following:

• Squat
• Deadlift

If you aren't already doing squats, deadlifts, or stiff-legged deadlifts, do back extension or "supermans."

If you're doing it at the right intensity, you only need to do this 2 to 3 times per week. Three times per week would be going all out and shouldn't be sustainable for very long. If you are, you might need to increase weight.

If you get more than 12 reps in, consider increasing weight. You should aim for between 8 and 12 reps. Your goal is to steadily increase weight, even if it's very incremental.

Everything else is a spot exercise and are very ineffective unless you want a bodybuilder's definition. Heck, even bicep curls are isolation exercises. The bottom line is by doing isolation exercises, you are quite likely wasting time in the gym (most people do). You can build biceps by doing pullups and pulldowns alone. Try to stick to the big (i.e. compound) exercises, and you will build muscle so long as you get enough sleep and eat properly. Resistance training (like cardio) works the heart and will do well to make your system more efficient and will reduce your blood pressure. It certainly burns a heck of a lot of calories.

Do not overtrain. Always err on the side of not enough.

Awesome - thanks a lot for the tips. I'll try to start incorporating those exercises once i start up again. We have a very crappy workout area at our apartment complex. I'll have to check out some of the locations and prices of the nearby gyms.

the single factor that will contribute most to losing weight is caloric intake, I will stand by that 'til the day I die. going to the gym is great and helps a ton but you can go to the gym every day for an hour and 30 minutes and lose 0 weight for 6 months, just as I did, if you continue eating whatever you want.

the day I stopped eating so much is the day I lost weight. I haven't lose weight in about a year and a half, but prior to that, I lost 50 lbs in 8 months by eating 1500 calories per day. working out helped, but I would still lose weight even when I didn't work out. if you want firm muscles and cardiovascular health, hit the gym - if you want to drop weight fast, eat less. a combination of both is your best bet.

for losing weight: it's important to eat *right* as well, but not as important to eat *the right amount.* there are a bunch of skinny girls here at work that eat fast food every single day and are skinny because they don't eat much of it and go to the gym. it's possible to ram fast food down your throat and be skinny and toned.

so concentrate on how much you are eating vs. what you are eating - that will result in immediate results. then once you have the portions down right, start modifying what you eat to get healthier overall. losing weight will help your blood pressure tremendously.

That's how Dad did it, that's how America does it... and it's worked out pretty well so far.

I agree with the latter part especially. Just dropping calories doesn't work for everyone. I know someone who eats rather little (probably about 1,200 calories a day, and certainly no more than 1,500), and only started losing weight by going to the gym regularly.

Personally, I kept my calories about the same but started burning fat and building muscle by going to the gym. Let me tell you, there is little better feeling (physically) than burning two pounds of fat and building two pounds of muscle in as many months. I dropped 2% body fat in that time, and I was already under 18%.

If I can maintain that pace (would that be great?), this would mean burning 12 lbs. of fat and building 12 lbs. of muscle in a year. There isn't anyone anywhere who wouldn't look and feel a lot better after a year of that. And I just increased my workout intensity this past month, so I may even surpass that.

Well - the biggest thing I am concerned about is my blood pressure which in my case is attributed to what I eat and how active I am.

I was always a lot happier and more healthy when I was working out. I remember being a lot more energetic and not feeling like I need to sleep all day long. So I really do want to get that back into my weekly routine. I don't care if I'm skinny (ripped would be nice), I just need to get myself healthy again.

Sucks when you don't have mom cooking for ya anymore...she always made sure you had the things you needed.


I about spit all over my screen at work...people looked at me :P

I keep thinking about this. You don't think there is anything inherently bad about appetite suppressants?

It's not that I promote appetite suppressants over other stuff, it's just that nothing else works for me so it's basically my only solution.

You could always meet this need by finding a partner who enjoys preparing balanced meals.

Well, if you're only eating 1,500 calories a day, I suppose you'd have to have some kind of trick.

I could never do with that low. I'd blow through at least half of that alone with a single workout, and that's not even accounting for all the daily walking I do. I was told by a personal trainer recently that my maintenance caloric level is 2,400 a day, but this accounts for my level of activity and so would explain the big difference.

I don't know that it is time to worry. Maybe in a couple of years...

But it is time to be concerned. You are young enough that you can change your lifestyle and help a great deal. I'd get started now.

High blood pressure dangers: Hypertension's effects on the body - MayoClinic.com
High Blood Pressure: Things You Can Do to Help Lower Yours -- familydoctor.org

There are tons of links out there.

I'm the kind of person that hates medication, but if you do need it, don't let a lack of insurance stop you. Generic medications can be had for as little as four dollars a month.

It doesn't matter how many calories I eat. 1,500, 1,800, 2k, 2.5k, 3k. I stay hungry all day long, everyday, every waking hour, regardless of what I eat. Eat breakfast at 6:00 AM, could eat a whole pizza at 8 AM. By 10 AM I could eat a whole pizza and want more. When I eat lunch at 12, I am full until 1:30, and then the "whole pizza" status starts again. The only way this doesn't happen to me is if I eat 4,000 calories per day.

Unfortunately, even going to 1,800 per day results in immediate weight gain. A diet pro told me I wasn't eating enough and my body was in starvation mode. So I did what she said, ate the foods she wanted me to eat, and went up to 2,500 a day, and boom, gained 15 pounds in 3 weeks.

I work out every single day, and I used to do the elliptical/jogging 3+ times per week also but it never helped.

I will be sitting at work and turn around at 9:30 AM and ask my unit, is anyone hungry but me? Everyone says no. At 11:00 AM, still no one is hungry. I can't imagine living a life where I'm not hungry all day everyday. Plus they all eat 2,000-3,000 calories per day, sometimes more, and stay in shape, some without exercising.

/rant off

Wait a minute...you work out every day? What sort of workouts are we talking about here?

As far as the starvation mode is concerned, she's probably right. That weight gain was probably moving you towards an equilibrium and might have even been mainly water weight anyway. Gaining 15 lbs. of fat would be a difficult matter in 3 weeks. Water, on the other hand, is easily gained when your body is depleted of carbohydrates (glycogen and blood glucose).

Most men shouldn't drop their calories much below 2,000 over the long term, unless they're tiny or a senior.

I don't mean to preach to you but it sounds like you're exercising too much (i.e. overtraining) and your appetite could be stress related as a result. I mean, I'm an 11:00 first-lunch eater myself, but what you described must have more than one cause.

*quickest* way? Alcohol and NSAIDs (like ibuprofen.)

I've been keeping my calorie intake at I'd say between 1300 and 2000 calories a day. So I'm pretty proud of myself there. On the hunger, I get hungry but surprisingly not as much as I thought I would be. I have been getting fuller on less food (eating only 1 serving instead of going back for 2nd's). It could be because I don't workout as much as Lasereth so he probably blows through what he had just eaten. It also could be attributed that I've been hot as crap at my new job and it's hard for me to eat when I'm sweating my ass off.

I don't really workout hard. I go at work during my break, usually 15 minutes per day of free weights and resistance machines. I don't break a sweat.

Regardless of what I eat or how I workout I stay hungry all the time though. When I was 285 pounds I was starving 24/7 and now at 215 I am starving all the time. It's no different, I stay hungry every hour of every day unless I gorge during meals. I've tried splitting the calories to 6 meals a day and that doesn't help either because the 6 small meals never get me remotely full to begin with.

---------- Post added at 11:28 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:23 AM ----------

Keep it up!!!!!!!!!!!!! Don't give up when after 2 weeks you haven't lost weight.

Yeah I've got support from a lot of my friends, my fiance and my parents...plus all of y'all! ;) . I find that it's very important to have people urging you on to continue, more so than I first though. I feel like if I let myself down then I'm letting everyone else down as well...and I really hate letting people down. Anyone that knows me could tell you that.

On a side note...got me a new kitty (all white with 1 blue eye and 1 green eye) yesterday, playing with her and my dog should help keep me calm and lower my blood pressure...if what they say is true about pets!

Congratulations on setting a goal and going for it. I'll stress again the benefits of intense exercise, especially considering that your goal isn't merely to lose weight, but to lower your blood pressure. Also remember that certain foods aren't helpful when trying to lower it. And despite how hot you are, try not to skip meals. You need to keep your metabolism high or you won't burn as much fat as you can. Skipping meals can cause it to crash.

Ah, I could see this happening on a split routine (like, a body part per day or something). But aren't you doing some kind of bench-boosting thing [i.e. your other thread]? I don't understand how you plan on boosting your bench press while on a calorie restricted diet. This is counterproductive, no?

FTW! My dog and cats do just that. Especially my "baby" Russian blue.

One (more) piece of advice on dropping weight: You want to lose no more than 2 lbs. a week. Anything more and you're on a crash diet. It took about 6 months for me to lose 45 lbs. And once you get close to your target weight, shift your focus from dropping weight to body composition. As Baraka has suggested, you will want to build muscle to keep it off.

And reward yourself. Set several smaller goals and a few larger ones. I rewarded myself with gear for working out and getting out--i.e. a yoga mat, workout clothing, a good pair of hiking sandals, etc.

Like I said before, if I up my caloric intake AT ALL, I immediately gain weight, and fat weight, not muscle weight.

I've went from maxing 45 pounds on benchpress to maxing 225 on 1500-1800 per day.

A lady at work with a nutrition degree and background had me eat a lot of protein, 6 meals a day, around 2500 cals per day, back when I was going to the gym at work AND after work, and my pants stopped fitting around my waist, my face got fat, my love handles and gut expanded, I plain and simple started to get fat. I tried 2000 and the same shit was happening. My body won't take more than 1500-1800 per day or I start gaining fat.

And yes I realize that this is probably holding me back on the weights, but I'd rather stay low on fat and weight than get stronger and fatter.

There must be a Dr's office with the health dept that you could go to for now. If you're not living a healthy, active lifestyle (or don't change to one), then you really should consider it. Most offices will work out a payment plan with you, and they also (usually) have free med samples to start you off with.