Fat girl ... in a little booth

[murphmehard]

Hello fellow Nerds!

My name is Erin and I'm 27. I'll try to make this long story short. I was a fat kid most of my life. After high school, I joined a weight-loss center that helped me with nutrition and exercise and lost 50 lbs in about 18 months! I was at 180 lbs at that time. I looked better than ever, I felt better than ever, and life was grand. Then, I got a boyfriend, who turned into a husband. A military man who had a love of Chinese food...fast forward to 2 years later and I gained 100 lbs! A few years later, I gained more. I was at my highest weight EVAR - 298 lbs. I was more focused on work and school and marriage than myself.

As soon as I got on my husband's TriCare insurance in Jan 2011, I started the process to get weight-loss surgery, gastric banding. Five months after I started the process I got my Realize Band. That was a year ago. Fast-forward to today...I am doing great with my band. I have lost 75 lbs and I am currently 38 lbs away from being at my ultimate low weight! (My current goal weight is 160 lbs.)

So, why am I here if I am doing great with weight loss? Well, while I was losing weight, I got the awesome side effect of weight loss surgery in the form of sagging skin. It's not terrible, but wow, it's there. Upon discovering this website, I realized my best bet to tone up the way I want to is to STRENGTH TRAIN.

Yeah, you heard me, I'm one of those girls that wants to lift heavy things! It took me about a month (and a "HELP ME" email to Steve and Staci) to get off my ass and just do it after I discovered this website. I have been getting up an hour earlier 3 days a week for the last 4 weeks (minus last week because I was so sick all I could do was sleep) and working out at my gym. I love going to work out early, but I will be moving soon and am not sure if getting up at 4 am to work out, shower, and then drive through morning rush hour in a big city will be possible for me, so I'm going to have to work out in the evenings most likely. This scares me to an extent, because that was my original plan when I got my gym membership a year ago and it almost NEVER happened. And I'm getting off task...

Anyway, right now I am doing as follows (suggestions, tips, etc are welcome!):

I warm up with 15 min interval walking (slow and fast walking, I'm still too nervous to run, esp on a treadmill)

I then do 3 sets of the following:

Planks 15-25 seconds

Bench press 10 reps (15 lb dumbbells)

Squats 10 reps (probably not low enough! Sorry Steve!)

Overhead press 10 reps (12 lb weight bar...did I mention I'm starting really small and I'm weak?)

Deadlift 10 reps (12 lbs weight bar...I still feel like this is practice mode. I don't want to go too heavy since I have no one around to tell me if I'm doing these properly or not)

This is a quick routine and I love it, but I don't think my lifting weight is where it should be! I want to do push ups, but I am not there yet. I attempted some this morning on my knees but I got shaky arms and fell

I don't have any clear goals set for myself yet, except maybe to increase my weight and start using REAL, heavy weight bars instead of the little soft 'girl' ones. Oh, and do a perfect deadlift and a push up!

So that's me in nutshell (Help! I'm in a nutshell!)

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Krystle]

YAY!

By the way, you made me laugh like a dozen times..(Help, I'm in a nutshell!) =0)

If you have access, I'd start doing some things in a pool. This is seriously how I perfected my squat...and it gives you some resistance so it does give you a workout.. You can also do pushups and dips to increase your arm strength so you can do them on the land. For pushups go to the shallow end where they have stairs to enter the pool and do pushups using the top one when you can do a certain amount, move to the next stair, when you can do your target amount +5, go to the next one. It'll help. Increase arm strength some more? Go to the side of the pool, about waist high. put your hands outside of the pool on the edge like you're going to push yourself up and out and just jump and hold for a couple of seconds. Go deeper after you can do it without jumping so much and holding for a while. Soon you'll be able to just push yourself up without much of a jump and hold it forever..

It could be that I'm a swimmer..but I start off doing everything in the pool. Even running in the pool is awesome.

Again..Yay for you! Keep it up!

[bigm141414]

Welcome to the rebellion! sounds like you are on the right track to heavy lifting. Good job starting off with light weights, definitely work on form first before progressing. As for squats and DLs if you can video tape yourself and then compare your form with online videos like

or

Also, check out the starting strength wiki for good information on form If you like the wiki it is based on Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe ()one of the best books out there for the heavy lifts). It also includes a great beginner program when you reach that point.

And how is your flexibility/mobility? Have you seen www.mobilitywod.com yet? IT is a great site that can help with some flexibility issues (for example google search mobilitywod + whatever is tight or sore and you'll get some nice videos on how to work that area out)

Anyways, there is a ton of information on here and out there in the interwebs. Ask questions, and don't get discouraged. We're here to help you be whatever you want!

[VorJoshigan]

Welcome Murph!

Krystal, thanks for the pool ideas! I'm a big boy, so bodyweight exercises for the lower body are fine, but there's not much I can do on the upper body side. I can do maybe 2 regular pushups & plank for 15 seconds, so I definitely need some kind of assist to get started.

[unicornassassin]

Welcome!

[shutupndance]

Welcome! I'm new too, and I haven't started a heavy lifting regimen, so I'll let the experts do the talking!

Is the title of this thread in reference to Tommyboy? I cannot stop picturing that scene "Fat guyyy in a little coat, fat guy in a litttleee cooooooat". Hahahahaha. I really hope you were referencing this movie..

[Pat G]

Another person wanting to strength train!

*high five*

Welcome welcome.

[murphmehard]

Welcome! I'm new too, and I haven't started a heavy lifting regimen, so I'll let the experts do the talking!

Is the title of this thread in reference to Tommyboy? I cannot stop picturing that scene "Fat guyyy in a little coat, fat guy in a litttleee cooooooat". Hahahahaha. I really hope you were referencing this movie..

Yes, it was!

Thanks for the advice everyone! I will be trying wall pushups tomorrow morning! Sadly, I don't have access to a pool though

[tigersheart]

Welcome aboard!

Good luck and I wish you well

And girls lifting heavy things is just awesome....strong women rock!

[Krystle]

Welcome Murph!

Krystal, thanks for the pool ideas! I'm a big boy, so bodyweight exercises for the lower body are fine, but there's not much I can do on the upper body side. I can do maybe 2 regular pushups & plank for 15 seconds, so I definitely need some kind of assist to get started.

No problem! Glad I could help someone. The water definitely helps because it gives support and resistance... I instruct a water aerobics class now and I have a bizzillion different exercises you can do..if you need help just send me a message and I'll see what I can come up with for ya.

Yes, it was!

Thanks for the advice everyone! I will be trying wall pushups tomorrow morning! Sadly, I don't have access to a pool though

SAD DAY! Wall pushups are great too! Then you can move down to a chair against a wall, and go lower until you make pushups look easy peasy! Rooting for you!

[murphmehard]

So my workout this morning was pretty boss! The wall pushups were much more of a workout for me than bench pressing 15lbs! And I used a yoga ball to help my form when doing squats! I felt like I accomplished A LOT more in this workout than I have in about 2 weeks!!!

Thanks everyone!

[GreenEyesBright]

Woot woot! Keep at it girl! Our goal weights are the same =) Just keep toning and keep hydrated, the skin will tighten up. I've got the same issue there but for now I try to see it as a small trophy of all my weight lost. That being said, I'd go for plastic surgery if I won the lottery in a heartbeat =)

Sent from my MB860 using Tapatalk 2

[Pickled]

Awesome goals. I think it is best to start out with a short routine to make exercise a habit, this is what I did and developed it gradually from there.

As for the push ups it took me many week of doing them on my knees to develop the strength to do them on my feet but it was worth it! You'll be doing them in no time as long as you keep trying.

Good luck on your quest!

[murphmehard]

So, I was talking to a friend today about my workouts, and I realized that I'm not getting the muscle failure at the end of my workout, nor the muscle fatigue each day. In fact, I haven't had muscle fatigue for about 3 weeks! WTF AM I THINKING?!

So now I have to overhaul/re-do my workout routine! My planks have not improved since I started, so I think I may be doing those incorrectly! My overhead press is not heavy enough but I don't have any heavier weight bars to use and I'm not really fond of the idea of using dumbbells for this. Squats are going well, but they could be better. I plan on using a smaller ball next time as well to see what that does for me. Wall push-ups I am keeping! I think I just need to get my feet farther from the wall for more resistance. My deadlfits? I MIGHT try using 15lb dumbbells for this...is this wise?

Also, where should I start posting my updates like this so I don't have to keep doing it in here?

Anyone?

[drayz]

Welcome. It sounds like you are off to an amazing start!