LIVIN' LARGE: Minimizing yourself and maximizing your life!When you have over 100 pounds to lose it can seem impossible to get started in the right direction.
My 60-year-old dad has recently been told by his doctor to lose weight, or else. He's around 250 lbs, smoked heavily for about 25 years (he gave up around 20 years ago, but still has some respiratory problems) and has arthiritis. I'm hoping to get some recommendations for a good, simple book or other programme that I can suggest to help him lose the weight.
He already does a bit of exercise - he plays golf 2 or 3 times a week, has an elliptical machine which he uses for about half an hour at a time, and goes out on his bike with the dog for about 20 minutes a day (I imagine at a fairly leisurely pace since the dog isn't in great shape either!). But he's never set foot inside a gym and there's absolutely no chance he ever will - he works long hours and travels a lot and basically has no interest. So I'm looking for something he can do at home that isn't too time consuming, doesn't require him to learn anything complicated and isn't going to induce a heart attack... We currently have the elliptical, some kettlebells, a chin up bar, a trampoline, swiss balls, bikes, and some adjustable dumbbells. We can certainly get a few more bits of equipment but splashing out on a full set of Olympic weights or a treadmill etc probably isn't an option. I'm thinking about getting Wii Fit as I've heard good things about it from other people with no previous experience of exercise and a fair bit of weight to lose, is this likely to be a good idea? I want to recommend the kettlebells as I personally love them, but I'm worried it might be too strenuous...
Food wise his diet isn't completely awful - a typical day is Crunchy Nut Cornflakes for breakfast, cheese on toast for lunch, but then a decent dinner of meat or fish with veg/salad/brown rice/sweet potatoes etc. Needless to say his portions are all huge but he's not constantly eating junk food at least. He usually has a glass of wine or two with dinner and eats out a couple of times a week. Like with the exercise, I know he's not going to stick to anything that requires a radical lifestyle overhaul so is it really just a question of cutting down on portions/carbs? Can anyone suggest a good diet that doesn't require too much in the way of complicated ingredients or preparation?
Sorry for the epic post, but I would really appreciate some help as everything I know about fitness only seems to apply to people who are already fairly healthy and I'm terrified of suggesting something that will do more harm than good... He really just wants to lose enough weight so that his health isn't endangered by it, but while he's got a decent amount of willpower I just can't see him committing to a massive change in lifestyle. Can anybody offer any advice?
I'd say that assuming tracking calories isn't gonna be his bag, at least for now, one of the better things to do is changing high calorically dense food for lower caloric density. This way he can potentially eat less without consuming less food necessarily, and DIET is going to be the first and foremost key to actually losing weight.
So, salad for lunch with light dressing on the side, eggs for breakfast kind of thing might start the ball rolling. Really if he's not ready for a complete overhaul, it's the simple tweaks that can give you big bang. Look for hidden calories and eliminate them (cooking in fat, dressings, marinades, caloric drinks, alcohol, etc) as that is a huge area of extra cals for some people.
When it comes to snacks and more calorically dense foods, prepackaging into reasonable servings could work. Like, he's not willing to weigh and count, but you are, and just get some snack bags and pack up whatever he tends to snack on into single servings, then start limiting them to fewer a day. (This assumes this applies, of course.)
I'd honestly say that while lifting can do good, certainly don't discount walks, leisurely paced cycling, etc. Up and moving, producing some kind of expenditure is better than sitting and doing nothing. Adding a simple evening walk after dinner, the wii fit, a weekend hike are all good. So are the fun tricks of taking the stairs, parking far in the lot, doing more stuff around the house on the weekends, etc.
if it were my loved one I'd start simple - like pick 1 thing to change.
Probably diet will have the most impact for him - so I'd go for that first. You didn't mention mom so does that mean that he has 100% control over what and when he eats?
If he does things for himself, I'd help him figure out his maintenance calories and understand what that means. Then move him into writing down what he eats normally in the course of a day for a two or three days. I say that because it will help him to own the process.
Once you have an idea of what he is eating, you can figure a reasonable daily deficit and work out where to get it in his diet - whether that is changing out cereal for an omelet with fruit or adding veggies to lunch with tuna instead of cheese on the toast or halving the size of the starches at dinner or whatever. Even measuring salad dressing instead of just pouring could make a difference for him.
Try it for a couple of weeks and see what happens. I say this because it works with what he is doing now. Once he is down 20-30 lbs or so he might be willing to make other changes or start more exercise.
Help him to take and record a few measurements too - weight, belly button, chest.
Is he ellipticalling and walking the dog daily? If so, that's pretty darn good, especially for a 60 year old. Almost all of his problems would be caloric.
If not, maybe try to get up to the point of doing a cardio workout just every other day, along with the dog walk each day?
The original post was in 2008. The spammer bumped it up and made everybody think it's a new post.
__________________
"Time and patience are the 2 elements that most people don't include in their plans."
-Alan Aragon
"The scale simply tells you how much the earth loves you on a particular day."
-Ogedei (Keith)
Jeeze. I should not post when I'm sick. I looked at the "join" date.
OK, back to wandering around in a daze...
__________________
"Time and patience are the 2 elements that most people don't include in their plans."
-Alan Aragon
"The scale simply tells you how much the earth loves you on a particular day."
-Ogedei (Keith)
Is he ellipticalling and walking the dog daily? If so, that's pretty darn good, especially for a 60 year old. Almost all of his problems would be caloric.
Agree. Your dad is more active than many obese adults.
Another easy method for portion control would be the plate method. Prescription solutions has a nice one. It is for diabetes but a lot of doctors, dieticians, and nurses are using it for portion control and weight loss too. Here's a link to the page that has a downloadable PDF that's very nice. I think it's called my plate planner it's one of the first links there.
(Moderators if posting the link is a no no please delete.)
Also why the "or else?" If it's medical then insurance may very well pay for a consult with a dietician and even if they don't it might be worth the cost of a consult. They can help set up an individualized meal plan for him.
I also think nutrition is probably the key here, but I can't offer any insights into helping someone change their diet. That's the kind of change that has to be self-motivated. I guess it's a matter of finding some programs that he will find interesting enough to explore and try out.
One thing comes to mind, based on the amount of exercise equipment you guys have: I find it's hard to develop a program myself, map it out, plan it, then do it. It's a lot easier for me to follow an existing program where someone tells me what to do; it's easier to say "It's upper body day today" instead of "what should I do today?" So I think exercise DVDs might be a good option - you can rent them from Netflix or Blockbuster, so your dad can try out different ones without a big investment. I recommend the Gilad workouts as well-rounded and requiring little or no equipment. He has an "Intervals for Men" workout that is very good--it's challenging but not totally killer, and you can modify it to suit your level of fitness. Or his boot camp. There's lots of boxing-type workouts that he might like: great exercise and he wouldn't find it too "girly" which I know puts some men off the workout DVD concept.
So maybe a specific nutrition program would work for him too, instead of trying to figure it out himself. (I mean something like Precision Nutrition, not Jenny Craig). Whether or not he lost weight on it, it's a good, balanced program that would help him be healthier. It's not complicated, just a few "rules" about when to eat what, and it comes with cookbooks and forums.
Some advice for my parents...
I should not post when I'm sick. I looked at the "join" date.
Linear Mode
