From desk job to paramedic, 1 year to pass endurance test

[slackerinabox]

I've been a fatty sitting behind a desk for over a decade and now an in nursing school. In addition to my BSN, I'm going to be getting my paramedics liceqnse and a part of the process is being able to pass an endurance test (sustained cardio, lifting test, etc.). I have a year and change to lose 80 pounds and get my endurance up (which is awful, I probably can do 5 min on a treadmill before passing out) any low budget suggestions since a gym will be hard to budget in right now.

My tricky situation is that, when I have free time, I'm usually watching my two kids. Manual treadmills are in my budget, or should I get a used ex. Bike? Just jog in place.

Diet suggestions are also great. For some reason weight watchers worked fantastically for me while regular logging/calorie didn't budge the scale for months. With school and kids my energy had been zapped (I'm 34 and a bit too old for this shit), but need to be able to work 12+ hour shifts

 

[GasX]

You want simple and cheap? Look up body weight exercises...

Air Squats
Burpees
push ups
planks
sit ups
lunges

Add in some cardio and you'll be fine if you put in the work

 

[Ventanni]

I lost 80lbs in 9 months. Change your diet and start exercising regularly (in your case, 4-5x a week) and that weight will fall off very quickly.

 

[highland145]

Fat loss stickey.

Diet>>>>>exercise.

The 2 posts above mine...+12

I'm 34 and a bit too old for this shit

Bull shit. You came to the wrong place for mamby pamby land. Move your ass. Get a jump rope, press your kids, chase their bikes, push their tri wheel carriers. Yeah, I'm an asshole but when you're 45, non-diabetic and can play a sport with them...Golden.

That thought alone should do the trick.

OP, I've been 40lbs up and 10lbs lower than I am now. DIET. No fast food, no pizza, no simple carbs, no fried....Hook your kids on fresh fruit/veggies and stay away from the processed stuff if you can. I know it's hard. I'm a sugar addict, so I know.

Wishing you the best. Along with the rest of America.

Edit: Find a support buddy/group that will hold your feet to the fire. It makes a difference when you have to answer to someone.

 

[slackerinabox]

Bull shit. You came to the wrong place for mamby pamby land. Move your ass. Get a jump rope, press your kids, chase their bikes, push their tri wheel carriers. Yeah, I'm an asshole but when you're 45, non-diabetic and can play a sport with them...Golden.

That thought alone should do the trick.

You're right, I have to man up. But my man boobs are the result of it being difficult. Parents my age are hiking and rock climbing with their kids, and I owe it to mine. Oye, where to begin? It's all overwhelming, I've read the stickies and tried the log calories and take things down slowly approach - I always lost like a pound a week or less and, frustrated by lack of progress, fuck up by downing too much Halloween candy. I know, "mamby pamby" is the word but I didn't get to job change in my mid-30s and 100 pounds over weight due to will and discipline, know what I mean? TRYING! Think one of those total gyms would help? I'm wondering if focusing on just cardio will give me the strength I need, would picking up a weight machine be a good idea? or just bands? I'm kinda ok being bulky since this is NYC, and.. Crackheads..There's also an armlift test I would certainly fail in my current state. The good news is that, with a 1 year training course and 4 months of pre-reqs, I have some time.

 

[GasX]

Just get rid of sugar and exercise

 

[blackdogdeek]

To lose weight, it really is as simple as tracking your calories and making sure you're eating at a deficit. What foods you eat to reach those numbers aren't as important as the protein, carbs and fat amounts that add up to your total caloric intake. There are numerous calculators online to determine your TDEE. Once you have that number, subtract 300 from it, weigh all your food, track it in MyFitnessPal, weigh yourself daily and take note of the weekly trend to determine if you need to increase your deficit to more than 300.

Here's some very helpful info from /r/fitness:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_diet_details
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_fixing_your_diet

To improve your fitness level you'll need to start moving. Though you say you have no free time for yourself I suspect you have at least one hour in the mornings before the kids get up that you can dedicate to exercise.

 

[iluvdeal]

If you're 80-100lbs overweight, the source of your problem is your eating habits. Forget about buying exercise equipment (the 2nd post named all the stuff you could be doing right now for exercise), you need to fix your diet first and foremost. Your weight loss will generally be determined by 80% diet 20% exercise so focus accordingly.

 

[Tweak155]

I started this process about 5-6mo ago probably where every other week I change one negative about my diet to something positive. This way the small changes I didn't really notice, but slowly I was turning my diet from something completely negative (for the most part) to something almost completely positive.

I've never tracked calories down to the meal, however I did become more calorie "conscious" as you might say. I.E, I was able to easily identify which options were the better choice, and which would give me more setbacks than others.

Over 3-4mos of changing 1 thing every other week, I arrived at a diet that is now MOSTLY healthy. To give you an example, 6mos ago my lunch consisted of 2 sandwiches, some crackers and maybe some beef jerky. Over time I swapped the mayo on my sandwich for mustard, then I dropped the cheese. Then I dropped the crackers for a banana. The jerky for an apple. Then eventually my 2 sandwiches became 1, but I ate half at the beginning of lunch period, then the other half after.

Now I've swapped the sandwich (to drop the bread) for cooked chicken and veggies.

Doing this all at once would have likely lead me to binge on junk food more often, however making one small change at a time, getting used to it, then making another - was a lot easier for me. I focused on my lunch & breakfast because it was the one that more consistent throughout the week. Dinners came next - I made sure to eat salad once a week for my dinner, then I dropped getting pizza from once a week to every other week. Switch to drinking only water and black coffee - allowing myself one sugar item per week which could be a soda.

More recently I picked up a Garmin activity tracker which had walking goals on it. I started off walking about 3mi/day to now averaging 6mi/day over any given week (prior to that I probably walked less than 2mi/day).

I still eat relatively poorly on the weekends but manage to drop 2-4lbs/wk right now. Prior to starting the exercise it was closer to 2lbs/wk.

Best thing I can suggest is making one small change at a time - you'll get to a point where you start making positive changes faster and it becomes routine. I still have another 50lbs to drop but now there is no doubt it will happen.

 

[GasX]

here you go: http://thehybridathlete.com/bodyweight-training-plan/

A full 6 week workout plan requiring no special equipment

 

[Mursilis]

Diet suggestions are also great. For some reason weight watchers worked fantastically for me while regular logging/calorie didn't budge the scale for months. With school and kids my energy had been zapped (I'm 34 and a bit too old for this shit), but need to be able to work 12+ hour shifts

Your energy is probably low because your health is poor. You're never too old to make positive changes for your health. I'm older than you by a good bit, and I just placed 6th overall in a local half marathon yesterday. Even better, two other 40+ guys beat me (2nd and 3rd)! Good luck!

 

[slackerinabox]

Your energy is probably low because your health is poor. You're never too old to make positive changes for your health. I'm older than you by a good bit, and I just placed 6th overall in a local half marathon yesterday. Even better, two other 40+ guys beat me (2nd and 3rd)! Good luck!

Thank you! I joined an el cheapo gym today and am back to logging my meals. I figured if I push through this lack of energy things will eventually even out.

 

[Mursilis]

Thank you! I joined an el cheapo gym today and am back to logging my meals. I figured if I push through this lack of energy things will eventually even out.

Good for you! If you stick with it, you can do amazing things. I peaked at 208 when I decided I need to make a change for my health, and I've maintained ~165 for several years now. It's not easy, but the change to my health, my energy levels, and everything else have been worth it. Running has been my activity of choice, and when I started this, I had no idea I'd be where I am now. I've completed 7 marathons, 1 50K, and countless shorter races. My case isn't even that unique - I know several local runners who were 250+ who dropped 80-100 pounds. If you're willing to put in the effort over the long-term, you may be shocked by the results.

 

[vi edit]

Thank you! I joined an el cheapo gym today and am back to logging my meals. I figured if I push through this lack of energy things will eventually even out.

How much sleep (and quality sleep at that) are you getting? I've got a job and kids and even finding the time for exercise is a challenge. You've got schooling and other things going on that I don't. You are under a lot of mental stress as well. That takes a serious toll on your energy levels too.

Be sure to take time for yourself that lets you recharge in the ways you need it!

 

[Chocu1a]

Thank you! I joined an el cheapo gym today and am back to logging my meals. I figured if I push through this lack of energy things will eventually even out.

Good for you. Just start out simple, walking on tread mill/elliptical for 30-40 minutes a day. When you feel like you are making progress, add in some light weight training using dumbbells & machines.

 

[CraKaJaX]

Thank you! I joined an el cheapo gym today and am back to logging my meals. I figured if I push through this lack of energy things will eventually even out.

Nice to see you are gun-ho about it. That's the first step honestly. One recommendation I would put out there is that you log your exercise routine as well. Going to the gym 4-5x a week you lose track on what you did and how many reps you did, etc. It's nice to keep a log to go back to see what you did and maybe add an extra 5-10 reps onto something that is becoming easy for you. Good luck!

 

[vi edit]

Nice to see you are gun-ho about it. That's the first step honestly. One recommendation I would put out there is that you log your exercise routine as well. Going to the gym 4-5x a week you lose track on what you did and how many reps you did, etc. It's nice to keep a log to go back to see what you did and maybe add an extra 5-10 reps onto something that is becoming easy for you. Good luck!

That's one thing I love about my MS Band. Logging workouts. You can workout, track your calories, and give it a name. You can then break that out from running and separate gym time from running time.

The sleep tracking is also great and helps you understand the impact of different things and how well you are sleeping. I can tell nights that I had a couple beers before going to bed. My resting HR isn't as low and I'm not as restful. Same for tracking sickness and stress levels. It's very interesting data.

 

[CraKaJaX]

That's one thing I love about my MS Band. Logging workouts. You can workout, track your calories, and give it a name. You can then break that out from running and separate gym time from running time.

The sleep tracking is also great and helps you understand the impact of different things and how well you are sleeping. I can tell nights that I had a couple beers before going to bed. My resting HR isn't as low and I'm not as restful. Same for tracking sickness and stress levels. It's very interesting data.

Can you actually log them in such detail like:

1 hour 30 minute gym time
Squats, 200 lbs, 3x10
Shoulder press, 80 lbs, 3x15
Weighted crunches, 20 lbs, 3x20
etc, etc, etc

Or is it just broken out into:

Running (Cardio) vs. 'Other gym time'

I keep a log such as the first example I gave. Helps me keep track of what exactly I did. Total hours/mins at gym, what I did, how much weight, how many reps, etc. On Friday, I have no idea what I did on Monday unless I look back at my log. I don't follow an specific routine - I usually tend to get ideas before I get to the gym and go that way. Being a tennis player I'm not really aiming to bulk up or anything like that, so there's much more calisthenics than anything else. If that band is capable of this, I may be sold. Paper is so 1970's

 

[vi edit]

You can create custom workouts to break up into intervals, but generally the activity tracking is just a time, average HR and calorie burn. You can then give it a name after ending the activity. That way you can tell you did "back and shoulders" on the 20th of October, "Arms" on the 22nd, "Legs" on the 24, ect. Then in between if you run it will tell the distance and duration as a separate line.

 

[slackerinabox]

To lose weight, it really is as simple as tracking your calories and making sure you're eating at a deficit. What foods you eat to reach those numbers aren't as important as the protein, carbs and fat amounts that add up to your total caloric intake. There are numerous calculators online to determine your TDEE. Once you have that number, subtract 300 from it, weigh all your food, track it in MyFitnessPal, weigh yourself daily and take note of the weekly trend to determine if you need to increase your deficit to more than 300.

Here's some very helpful info from /r/fitness:

https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/faq#wiki_diet_details
https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness/wiki/getting_started#wiki_fixing_your_diet

To improve your fitness level you'll need to start moving. Though you say you have no free time for yourself I suspect you have at least one hour in the mornings before the kids get up that you can dedicate to exercise.

Thank you for the links but, I know, calorie in/out should work but my body's been very stubborn these days. My last depressing attempt was removing the high sodium and saturated fat containing meats that was causing my blood pressure to peak - I ended up GAINING weight and nearly collapsed when I caught the flu, I'm guessing because I didn't have enough iron. It was super depressing, 2+ months of 1700ish calories and walking 2 miles a day (which is a lot of me) led to no energy and more weight...So then I went back to meat eating and my weight shot up even more, but I did over do it because I was depressed about being on one diet or the other for probably a year now, and only being 20 pounds from where I started.

So to talk numbers, my max was 290 and I'm down to 270 (actually, I was down to 250 before going vegetarian and . I previously had great success with the 'slow carb diet' that's basically paleo, but realized that gimmick diets work for the short term and gained 20 pounds very quickly when I got off the diet. So then I tried Weight Watchers, which worked, but was expensive considering I'm in school and on a limited budget. I'm trying myfitness plan again which recommends 2,000 base calories and am committed to working out a minimum of 2 days a week.

Fingers crossed this sticks...I've been really thinking about my pattern and it's the lack of results that's causing me to cheat on my diet. Meaning, I *do* have will power - I just find that when I do stall for weeks then months I get really discouraged and hit the take out pizza and convenience foods in general.

 

[slackerinabox]

How much sleep (and quality sleep at that) are you getting? I've got a job and kids and even finding the time for exercise is a challenge. You've got schooling and other things going on that I don't. You are under a lot of mental stress as well. That takes a serious toll on your energy levels too.

Be sure to take time for yourself that lets you recharge in the ways you need it!

Horrible until fairly recently. The oldest breaks in while we're sleeping and crawls into bed, and kicks me directly in the ribs all night long.. I started locking our bedroom door, and am happy to be getting a solid 6 hours now.

Yes, stress is a big factor - I'm taking a chemistry class right now that's basically all greek to me, I might be flunking this semester (it's ok, as my first semester back to school I'm realizing I overloaded my schedule and should go slow and steady instead of the heavy schedule I made for myself), and money problems = my mind is either racing or crashing, with little in between. I've stopped drinking coffee because I'm crashing harder than the caffeine burst. I quit smoking because it's stupid and I know better, but man do I miss the hour of energy a cig break gives me. I caught myself relying on candybars as a crutch, now that I've stopped that I'm usually just flat out tired since my list of coping mechanisms have dwindled. It's like my body hates me whenever I find a crutch - I'm not a hippy about artificial sweeteners, as an example, but now a can of diet pepsi gives me an instant headache. I'd snort cocaine if I didn't have high blood pressure and kids, my energy is really that low on a Wednesday afternoon and I feel like such an ass when I come home from school and collapse, my wife has a much fuller day (special ed teacher) and I don't feel like I contribute my share because I'm so damn tired..

Working out yesterday (only half an hour) did seem to at least regulate my energy levels a bit, meaning I didn't have big burst of energy but wasn't exhausted afterwards. Loud music and the elliptical is what i"m trying to trick my brain into thinking is a vice.

 

[slackerinabox]

Nice to see you are gun-ho about it. That's the first step honestly. One recommendation I would put out there is that you log your exercise routine as well. Going to the gym 4-5x a week you lose track on what you did and how many reps you did, etc. It's nice to keep a log to go back to see what you did and maybe add an extra 5-10 reps onto something that is becoming easy for you. Good luck!

Thank you! I have been doing basic logging with myfitnesstracker. I have a pebble I can use as a fitness tracker but I found myself using the results as a bit of a crutch "I walked 2 miles already? pfft, I can skip the gym!"

 

[Kaido]

IIFYM + Calisthenics is my current recommendation. Plus going to bed early (9:30pm at the latest) so you actually feel motivated to cook & do your workout.

 

[blackdogdeek]

Fingers crossed this sticks...I've been really thinking about my pattern and it's the lack of results that's causing me to cheat on my diet. Meaning, I *do* have will power - I just find that when I do stall for weeks then months I get really discouraged and hit the take out pizza and convenience foods in general.

Do you weigh all your food to ensure you're eating the exact number of calories?

There's nothing wrong with pizza and fast food. This past Saturday I had a large chili from Wendy's. Last Wednesday I had 2 slices of pizza for dinner and some ice cream.

 

[Mursilis]

One thing I do is to try to find a "mini-workout" where I can throughout the day. For example, I ALWAYS take the stairs at work to my office on the 4th floor. When I go in an office building for an appointment, I'll look for the stairway unless I'm going more than 10 floors. When I'm walking anywhere, I'm also walking as fast as I can, just to get the heart rate up a little and burn more calories. I'll park further out from a store so I have to walk farther to get to it. I've even read an article by a scientist who thought one of the factors in our obesity crisis was the fact fewer and fewer people were working outdoors, especially in the cold, and our bodies no longer burned as many calories just maintaining core body temperature. He recommended setting your thermostat temperature lower in the winter. He also began taking brisk walks in his neighborhood shirtless down to ~40 degrees, and computed that he burned up to 200 additional calories that way. I'm not sure I'd go that far, but his theory was interesting, and though I have a treadmill, I try to continue running outside during the winter as much as possible to increase my calorie burn. All these little things add up.