Need some weight loss tips.

[Steve9347]

Alright scope this. I bought a house not too long ago and with that came the unfortunate loss of the exercise room at my apartment building. Basically, I can't excuse the expense of exercise equipment in my house, and want to find other alternatives for weight loss. I went on a weight loss craze and got down to about 185 on the treadmill, but now I'm up to about 200 lb on my 6'1" frame, and I'd like to, when all is said and done, be at about 175.

 

WIth weather conditions this time of year non-condusive to outdoor running, I play ice hockey three nights a week, though with a recent ear injury have to take some time off the ice so that doesn't help.

 

Anyway, what are some good workouts one can do at home without equipment to flat-out lose weight. I believe I am going to start doing stair sprints from the basement to the main level, but any other suggestions would be great for weight loss (not concerned with building muscle just yet). I'm sure the stairs will help with the expanding ass, but what about the gut from college?

 

I do have some barbell free weights that can go from 15 - 35 lb, though again im not concerned about building muscle just yet.

 

Again, I'm not an idiot, I know situps/crunches can help, just looking for creative alternatives that will keep me somewhat entertained. Also, best practices and amount of repetitions for the normal exercises (see situps/crunches) would all be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

Edited January 7, 2008 by Steve9347

[joemg311]

Get yourself a jump rope if you have the room indoors to use one. They are inexpensive and give you quite the workout. You can also mix up your jumps and try to learn tricks, there are really many different ways you can exercise with one so you don't get too bored with it.

Edited January 7, 2008 by joemg311

[Controlled Chaos]

Put on some music and shake your tailfeather!!!

 

Cost = Free

Edited January 7, 2008 by Controlled Chaos

[Steve9347]

Get yourself a jump rope if you have the room indoors to use one. They are inexpensive and give you quite the workout. You can also mix up your jumps and try to learn tricks, there are really many different ways you can exercise with one so you don't get too bored with it.

Now THAT'S a suggestion. Thanks!

[Heads22]

Now THAT'S a suggestion. Thanks!

 

Plus you can watch hockey while you do it.

[GoSox05]

If you have a basement you can use that to jog around. Turn some music on or leave the Tv on in the background.

 

You might be able to find some cheap workout stuff on ebay or craigslist.

[WilliamTell]

Go on the show Survivor. You'd be sure to lose some pounds on that one, plus you could become famous.

[BigSqwert]

Don't forget about your diet. It's as important as exercise.

[joemg311]

Also, if you think you would be into it, work out videos that require no equipment like Tae Bo, can usually be rented at your local library free. A lot of people seem to have a better or at least less boring workout if you have the structure of a video, and Billy Blanks yelling at you to keep going doesn't hurt either. If your Library has a decent selection you can try something new often to stay motivated and interested.

Edited January 7, 2008 by joemg311

[max power]

You're too thin already. Um PM jose canseco for details.

[max power]

Here is something useful too. Read some of the articles that interest you. If you really want, I'll upload the book and you can read it. PM me if you want that. He is my favorite nutritionist and notorious with fight sport athletes.

 

http://www.johnberardi.com/

Edited January 9, 2008 by max power

[A's fan]

run with a bag on and heavy clothes. Eat light and drink lots of water while doing this.

[southsideirish71]

Lots of good stuff in this thread.

 

Diet is your first line of defense. Cut out the crap in your diet and work on your portions.

Add greens to your dinner, like a salad. This will help your body process the food better as well as help fill you up. Make sure you eat slowly. When you shove the food in quickly, your brain doesnt have enough time to trip the "I am full" switch so you wind up piling on too much food. Cut out pop if you can and add water to it. Try and eliminate candy and sweets as much. Add fruit and vegetables to your diet. Pretty obvious stuff.

 

Taking the time to stretch. It gets the blood pumping a bit, and prepares your body for exercise.

 

Running is the best exercise for weight loss. Any cardio that is high impact, raises your heart rate is good. The best thing is to extend the cardio for longer than 20-25 minutes if possible. This way your body mines the long term reserves of fat instead of burning just the glucose in your body. The best thing is that when you finish, your body is still mining for a period of time afterwards.

 

Stairs at your place, running up and down is a good idea as well. Make sure your neighbors know what you are doing before they think you went mad.

 

You can do crunches until you are blue in the face. The key is different ab exercises and to alternate them. Crunches, bicycles, side crunches, frog flys, etc. A small ball like a bosu ball or a small exercise ball is a key as well. You can then extend your ab excercises into the negative and stretch out as well. You should do a google search on different ab exercises, and then alternate them so you are not working the same muscle group everyday.

 

Pushups and dips. Dips using a chair can help you.

 

 

[SoxFanForever]

Lots of good stuff in this thread.

 

Diet is your first line of defense. Cut out the crap in your diet and work on your portions.

Add greens to your dinner, like a salad. This will help your body process the food better as well as help fill you up. Make sure you eat slowly. When you shove the food in quickly, your brain doesnt have enough time to trip the "I am full" switch so you wind up piling on too much food. Cut out pop if you can and add water to it. Try and eliminate candy and sweets as much. Add fruit and vegetables to your diet. Pretty obvious stuff.

 

Taking the time to stretch. It gets the blood pumping a bit, and prepares your body for exercise.

 

Running is the best exercise for weight loss. Any cardio that is high impact, raises your heart rate is good. The best thing is to extend the cardio for longer than 20-25 minutes if possible. This way your body mines the long term reserves of fat instead of burning just the glucose in your body. The best thing is that when you finish, your body is still mining for a period of time afterwards.

 

Stairs at your place, running up and down is a good idea as well. Make sure your neighbors know what you are doing before they think you went mad.

 

You can do crunches until you are blue in the face. The key is different ab exercises and to alternate them. Crunches, bicycles, side crunches, frog flys, etc. A small ball like a bosu ball or a small exercise ball is a key as well. You can then extend your ab excercises into the negative and stretch out as well. You should do a google search on different ab exercises, and then alternate them so you are not working the same muscle group everyday.

 

Pushups and dips. Dips using a chair can help you.

 

Just to add to SSI's last part about pushups and dips. I also enjoy doing different types of pushups. A lot of the time I will elevate my feet by putting them up on the bed with my hands on the floor and do pushups like that. A bit different motion that works pretty well. For an example watch Roy Scheider in Marathon Man.

 

[RockRaines]

Damn SSI always beats me to it.

 

 

Steve-o, ive been in your shoes before, I did basically a small boxers workout, I got a heavy bag at a second hand store for 50 bucks and a jump rope.

[Rex Kickass]

What helped me shock myself into a better diet was a limited period of vegetarianism. It forced me to try, eat and like other kinds of food that I would have never before considered.

[Flash Tizzle]

Steve, I don't know why you are avoiding strength training. Lifting weights (70% of maximum) with low reps/high sets would assist your weight loss. If nothing else, it compliments any cardiovascular workout.

 

Personally, I'm on the opposite end of the spectrum -- 6'2, 175 and looking to gain weight. You lose weight without strength training and you'll liable to look like me -- little muscle definition. I'm more interesting in toning and eliminating excess body fat (esp. around my face) than creating some muscular physique that'll be difficult to maintain when I'm older.

[max power]

If I could recommend one thing I think you should consider, it would be to lift really heavy, low reps, squats and dead lifts, at least two days a weak. You won't gain weight from that with a proper amount of cardio, and you'll be stronger after it.

[Steve9347]

The info in this thread is all very good. Obviously I welcome more but will be adopting many of these in the coming days.

[shipps]

Alota times most of us sound like real jagoffs on this site,but you seem like one of the few sincerely good guys here Steve.Salute.Steve Number One.

[ChWRoCk2]

If your plan is to do any kind of working out/cardio and you want to lose weight drink lots of water, anywhere from a 1/2 gallon up a day. Helps you lose a lot of retained water weight and helps you lose depending on your weight 2-3 lbs a week.

 

Running is still the best cardio and situps/crunches which you already know.

[sox4lifeinPA]

Alright scope this. I bought a house not too long ago and with that came the unfortunate loss of the exercise room at my apartment building. Basically, I can't excuse the expense of exercise equipment in my house, and want to find other alternatives for weight loss. I went on a weight loss craze and got down to about 185 on the treadmill, but now I'm up to about 200 lb on my 6'1" frame, and I'd like to, when all is said and done, be at about 175.

 

WIth weather conditions this time of year non-condusive to outdoor running, I play ice hockey three nights a week, though with a recent ear injury have to take some time off the ice so that doesn't help.

 

Anyway, what are some good workouts one can do at home without equipment to flat-out lose weight. I believe I am going to start doing stair sprints from the basement to the main level, but any other suggestions would be great for weight loss (not concerned with building muscle just yet). I'm sure the stairs will help with the expanding ass, but what about the gut from college?

 

I do have some barbell free weights that can go from 15 - 35 lb, though again im not concerned about building muscle just yet.

 

Again, I'm not an idiot, I know situps/crunches can help, just looking for creative alternatives that will keep me somewhat entertained. Also, best practices and amount of repetitions for the normal exercises (see situps/crunches) would all be appreciated.

 

Thanks in advance.

 

I bought a mini stepper from walmart for $40...that helps with a little indoor cardio whilst the weather is frightful. Muscle, as some others have suggested, will actually aid you in the weight loss department.

 

As a fellow over-weighter, I came across the "abs diet" from men's health a while ago. It's really "easy" and has helped me lose 17 lbs (along with healthy eating) over 6 months. I highly recommend it. If you want an excell spreadsheet I made (nerd alert) I can email you the attachment with the exercises explained...(basically it's a bunch of exercises with free weights, so your dumbbells are perfect).

 

and as for your weight goal...I would be a refugee if I only had 175 on my 6'3" frame.

 

My goal weight is 225.

 

 

 

 

[SoxFanForever]

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/arti...p?articleid=486

 

Give this a whirl. I tried it last night for the first time. Really works well.

[Steve9347]

http://www.beginnertriathlete.com/cms/arti...p?articleid=486

 

Give this a whirl. I tried it last night for the first time. Really works well.

Made me want to vomit.

 

I'm going to look like Titan from American Gladiators if I do this one too much. Great find.

[The Beast]

I exercise 5 days a week for about an hour. I use the treadmill or run outside for 3 miles (usually around 20 minutes for the 3 miles), do 20 pushups, and 20 of the 4 types of sit-ups I do. Now, the common misconception is that you cross your arms or put your hands behind your head and go up to your knee. No, that is wrong.

 

What I do is this: I put my hands near my ears and I kind of just squeeze my abs and go up a little bit, it shouldn't stress your back but it should be burning once you get going and you will be tired when you are done. I also then fold my legs over and do 20 to the right and left before I do a different kind of sit-up. This sit-up is where you start at the normal sit-up position and then you put your hands behind your ears, and go all the way up, turn to the left, then to the right and back down.

 

As a college student, this helps keep the pounds down from all of the food I eat. I'm even a non-drinker and have gained weight while I've been away, but some of that is muscle, too. I try to eat a salad or some type of vegetable with my dinner, and I stay away from the pop and fried crap. I also limit the snacks I eat, and I always have breakfast; it truly is the best meal for you of the day.