On Preparing For A New Exercise Regime

[danieldwilliam]

I am about to embark on a programme of weight loss, cardio-vascular fitness and general toning up.

By far the most important element for at the moment is losing some weight. It’s the most pressing issue and one that proves pernicious in my family.

I intend to measure myself and report back here on a weekly basis.

I’ve purchased a cross trainer which I intend to use for half an hour most nights a week. I’ll be adopting a low GI diet (mostly).  I hope as the increased exercise and diet have an effect and I being to lose weight and gain cardio-vascular fitness I’ll be able to add different types of exercise.

I’m looking at a range of metrics – BMI, weight, waist, hip.

Does anyone have any good advice on what metrics to include in the measuring and which ones are not helpful?

I’m pretty happy with the diet I’ve chose, I’ve used it before.

I’m open to any advise on types of exercise that might work.  There are some limitations. My knees, ankles and feet are not in great shape. Specifically at the moment but more generally. So I tend to be wary of high impact sports. Jogging is right out. I prefer taking exercise as part of a social activity than on its own.  I don’t have lots of time to spend outside the house unless I take the Captain with me.

If anyone can work out how I can measure my body volume there is a prize.

Comments

[fjm.livejournal.com]

Forget BMI. Mine is 29.5 and I am fit, and take a UK 14 a US 12. It is very distorting.

The most useful is simply waist measurement (weight can go up during diet and exercise regimes ) as it directly links to diabetes.


If your ankles etc are not great go for the cross trainer and also buy a pedometer. Aim for 10k a day. When that's easy push it up by 2k. At 15k weight loss tends to follow and it's really good for just generalised fitness.

[andrewducker]

Agreed on BMI - it's designed for measuring populations, not individuals.

Getting a set of scales that measure body fat is probably a good idea.

Oh, and I recommend Beeminder, which allows you to set a goal and then track your journey towards it. I used it to get me doing pressups:
https://www.beeminder.com/andrewducker/pressups

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

A body fat measure is a good shout. Even if they aren’t massively accurate what I’m looking for is a) a relative improvement over a twelve month period b) being able to see the improvement as a tool for motivation.

I might well turn to Beeminder once I’m up and running and the excitement of a new project has worn off a little.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

Thanks. Most helpful.

Doing a bit of reading around BMI and it looks like it's a poor indicator of longer term health for individuals. I expect I'll record it because I'll have the data anyway and, my experience as a management accountant suggests that having a range of measures all pointing in the right direction is more likely to be more helpful.

So I'll be recording waist, hip, weight, various ratios of those. I'm almost as excited about measuring things as I am about being fit and living an extra ten years.

A few years ago I had a rigorous diet and I noticed my waist to hip ratio improved and then stopped improving for a bit as I lost weight off both areas but one more quickly than the other.

I'm certainly expecting my weight to do peculiar things as I tone up and add muscle. I guess I'm expecting a fairly rapid drop followed by a long tapering trudge as fat starts being replaced by muscle.

Diabetes is a concern of mine. My grandma had it and I've been flagged as being at elevated risk of it.

I'll pick up the pedometer this weekend. Measure the imputs as well as the outputs. By 10k do you mean 10,000 steps or 10 kilometers?

[fjm.livejournal.com]

10k steps

I'm also high risk for diabetes and started calorie control this yr for first time ever. Have been fascinated by how much better I feel w 300 cal breakfast than 400 cal one.

[danieldwilliam.livejournal.com]

I noticed a change in my general mood when I started on a low GI diet. Much more energy, much less likely to have episodes of low mood. That and feeling a bit fitter and looking a little trimmer were a real boost to my well-being.

[f4f3.livejournal.com]

Re pedometer - there's an app for that (I use Free Pedometer on the iPhone)