Year 35

[max_ratcliffe]

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I'd also recommend some weight training to develop muscle mass, and it will also help with cardio if you limit rests between sets. No elevators, park as far away as you can in parking lots, and run instead of walking to the store. How tall are you?

Yeah, I concur with the weight training advice. My last effort with a higher volume lifting programme made me absurdly hungry, so on a sample of one(!) lower volume may be better once you've got the form down, despite the obviously lower calorie burn you get from less work.

I don't think running is really the way to go, though, as any injury can put you back weeks and destroy morale (cue comfort eating). Walking is an excellent idea, though. Hiking is a great family activity too, although expect to have your lad on your shoulders a lot until he's a bit older

I'm trying to get down to <75kg, so I can be a lightweight. I think I'll be a bit skeletal at that weight, but we'll see. From a food standpoint, I've gone cold turkey on all things sugary. Didn't help my training for the first week, but all good now, and I've lost a couple of kgs without having to try that hard.

An external motivator is usually helpful for me, so in the past I've challenged friends to a competition over who can lose the biggest % weight over a 12 week period. My challenge is not usually losing the weight: it's keeping it off, so this time, I've more or less decided that no more chocolate bars ever.

Good luck.

[left coaster]

I remember year 35! and year 45 lol -- somehow year 50 seems like an important 1/2 way marker (yup, I'm an optimist).

Others have said this I think, but beware of the really hard sprint efforts -- they can make a person super hungry!! Longer and steady is better if you won't have an iron will (like all of us).

I'm currently back in basic training with the aim of beating the sprint times I established a couple years ago. I also sprained my ankle pretty bad over the summer, which was super frustrating, and recovery hasn't been completely linear. I decided to do a lateral hop test with it about 6 weeks ago -- it was obviously too early and i slightly re-injured and set my recovery back over a month.

Good thing though, there is basically no lateral movement on the erg or my road bike in a trainer. I've been back at it a few weeks now and the pattern of steady progress I remember has returned. Probably another month before I start to work on powering up on the erg, but this time I'm doing some bike work as well to see if I can perhaps also score a reasonable 2k time. I've tried a few times, always went out too strong and couldn't hold it. 500m requires very little self control and is a fully hypoxic thing for me.

[Ombrax]

Quit making excuses for NOT being able to row and/or lose weight.

To the OP - ^^^^^This may sound a bit harsh, but it really is up to you, and how much you want it.

Some rowing goals may not be under your control - for example, plenty of us out there (myself included) will never be able to row a 6 min 2k, no matter how hard we want it, or how hard we try, but for goals like loosing weight, unless someone's putting a gun to your head and forcing you to eat or preventing you from exercising, loosing weight is within your grasp.

It may not be easy, and lots of people struggle with it, but assuming you don't have a medical issue that causes you to gain weight (few people do) you can loose weight if you really try hard enough. The vast majority of the issue is self control with calorie input, with some degree of willpower to also exercise. Put the two together and you will succeed.

Side comment: I've found that putting lots of effort in the gym for cardio and weights tends to give you more willpower when it comes to diet - you don't want all the time exercising to be wasted, which gives you even more incentive to pass up the cookies, or whatever, that a co-worker brought into the office.

Again, good luck.

[Eric308]

Quit making excuses for NOT being able to row and/or lose weight.

Side comment: I've found that putting lots of effort in the gym for cardio and weights tends to give you more willpower when it comes to diet - you don't want all the time exercising to be wasted, which gives you even more incentive to pass up the cookies, or whatever, that a co-worker brought into the office.

Good advice above! You will also find that after intense workouts you will have less appetite. Hydrate thoroughly during and post work-out to even lessen your hunger. As you start to see results such as weight loss and increased muscle tone, it adds even more incentive.

[canglem]

Thank you for the advice everyone! Now that we're through with holiday travels (and meals) I plan to see some good progress on meters, and hoping the weight comes off with it. I was fairly well behaved food-wise (which irritated my mother-in-law because she was stuck with more leftovers than she wanted), it's just hard to row when I'm not home with no access to my erg. Had a good session back home yesterday, and am getting back into my routine of rowing straight after work tonight. Even just starting to see the weight numbers go down is a pretty good motivator to stop eating as much and start doing something.

Quit making excuses for NOT being able to row and/or lose weight. Become a "morning person" in order to achieve you weight loss goals. I'm almost 74 and can still wear the same tux I wore at my wedding 35 years ago (44L). You have to establish self-discipline and walk away from the table. I'd also recommend some weight training to develop muscle mass, and it will also help with cardio if you limit rests between sets. No elevators, park as far away as you can in parking lots, and run instead of walking to the store. How tall are you?

I am right at 6' tall.

[Row50]

Keep it up Canglem! I’m just looking at my work travel schedule for January in horror... There’ll be lots of hotel meals and not much rowing. Fact is jobs, kids and other family commitments don’t leave much ‘me time’. But free time spent rowing is better than free time not spent rowing, and if the time isn’t free, it isn’t free. Good luck for the December mileage!

[Eric308]

Keep it up Canglem! I’m just looking at my work travel schedule for January in horror... There’ll be lots of hotel meals and not much rowing. Fact is jobs, kids and other family commitments don’t leave much ‘me time’. But free time spent rowing is better than free time not spent rowing, and if the time isn’t free, it isn’t free. Good luck for the December mileage!

No excuses. You'd be amazed at all the hotels and nearby gyms all over the world have Concept2 rowers available. I often plan my hotel stays around ones that have the Concept2s in their gym, or nearby at a health club.
https://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/finder

[Row50]

No, there are excuses. Travel is often booked for me. I often don’t have a choice. I work long hours with discussions in hotels going on through dinner until late evening. I’m often jet lagged. I may travel 8 hours east one week, home for a couple of days then 8 hours west. It’s not like that every month but sometimes it is. I understand the difficulties many people face fitting health and fitness into their schedule, but good on them all for trying!

[Eric308]

"I understand the difficulties many people face fitting health and fitness into their schedule, but good on them all for actually doing it!"

[Dangerscouse]

No, there are excuses. Travel is often booked for me. I often don’t have a choice. I work long hours with discussions in hotels going on through dinner until late evening. I’m often jet lagged. I may travel 8 hours east one week, home for a couple of days then 8 hours west. It’s not like that every month but sometimes it is. I understand the difficulties many people face fitting health and fitness into their schedule, but good on them all for trying!

Fair comment.

[canglem]

A better week this week despite another out of town bowling tournament and a HD last night. Also thankful for the nurse who decided to take 14 lbs. off for clothes at my annual checkup weigh-in so the doc thought I had lost 25 pounds

Weight: Down 6.5 lbs (291.3 lbs)
Weekly Meters Rowed: 22045
Total Meters Rowed: 46056
Deficit: 28,179

Hoping for a good week despite the holiday travel the next couple days.

First time beating my "weekly goal" and knocking down the deficit some. Not as good of a week on the scale. Ready for a full week at home for the first time in over a month!

Weight: Up 3.9 lbs. (295.2 lbs)
Weekly Meters Rowed: 28,000
Total Meters Rowed: 74,056
Deficit: 24,924

[dknickerbocker]

Good on you bud. I'm sure this isn't easy. And it's probably something that people who haven't struggled with weight really don't understand. After all, the body tries to maintain homeostasis. This is helpful when you're skinny, not so helpful if you're not.

First off, I second the advice to do a walking regimen. It's a good, easy way to raise your activity level and bump up your metabolism. Fact is, if you're sedentary all day, 20 minutes of working out (even daily) isn't going to do much. take a walk whenever you take breaks from working, walk to work (or walk part of the way; e.g., get off a few subway stops further away from your usual stop), and it'll add up.

Second, there's gotta be a way to avoid backsliding so hard when you're required to eat out. Maybe identify one or two healthy options, and eat those every single time? I knolw that's boring, but it'll keep you on track, and adherence to a diet is by far the most important factor in losing weight (as opposed to which specific diet you choose). Or maybe request a "to go" box at the outset of a meal, and put half of it away right from the outset so that you're not tempted?

I'm a believer in the concept of a Cheat Day in order to keep things emotionally manageable but if you're forced to eat out a lot, can't make every single one of those a cheat day, right?

[left coaster]

It's my impression that advertisements for exercise equipment and services have created a lot of misinformation in the public about the role of exercise in weight loss. Others have mentioned this, but it is simply not possible to rely on an exercise routine as the main driver of weight loss. A person would burn out their joints doing the thousands of hours needed to lose a significant amount of weight, it's also really hard work with lots of recovery time, sore muscles, cost of equipment and memberships etc.

It is much simpler, and more effective, to control diet. If the goal is to lose weight this needs to start with calorie restriction. A person's diet should be controlled to the point where they are consistently losing weight regardless of the exercise program they are involved with. This is always the first step, regardless of what all the ads for gym memberships and exercise gear might say.

Then, if the goal is weight loss, the exercise goal needs to be volume. Lots and lots of volume, but not at such an intensity that the recovery time takes away from a person's ability to exercise at least 5-6 days a week. Exercise definitely doesn't need to be 'training' and as another poster mentioned, simply walking at a brisk pace qualifies.

It's not about there being no excuses, I think it's more about knowledge and insight into what is actually going to work. Diet control is something that can be done anywhere: on the road, at home, over the holidays, whatever. Nobody really cares how much you eat but you, and nobody else can control it.

[dknickerbocker]

I think this is correct but with the caveat for walking. One reason exercise can't be the main driver of weight loss (or really, much of a driver at all) is because for many, many people the entire rest of their lives are sedentary. Especially office workers who live in a suburb. They sit at a desk at work, they drive to work, they drive to the store, etc. There was just some study published recently by the american heart association that essentially found, even daily exercise of 30 mins (which is more than most people do) is not enough to reverse the "damage" (in terms of heart disease risk factors) caused by a life that is otherwise sedentary.

But, if you integrate walking into your life--walk to places when possible, walk around your office for your mental breaks rather than sitting at your desk surfing hte web, take the stairs whenever possible, etc.--you can raise your activity level in a substantial and very sustainable way without really that much effort at all.

[Eric308]

"It is much simpler, and more effective, to control diet. If the goal is to lose weight this needs to start with calorie restriction. A person's diet should be controlled to the point where they are consistently losing weight regardless of the exercise program they are involved with. This is always the first step, regardless of what all the ads for gym memberships and exercise gear might say."

I totally disagree with the above comment on diet control. I've been actively rowing for over 25 years, eat whatever I want, and can still wear my wedding tux from 1987 (44L). My weight has not fluctuated more than 10 pounds in that time span. I also row about 20K a week and routinely use an exercise sled in the gym as well as upper body weight training. I just had a turtle sundae for my luncheon dessert...pecans, hot fudge, and caramel over vanilla frozen custard. Tomorrow I'll be at the gym bright and early pushing a 200lb sled for 3 sets of 90 meters, and rowing a 5K. I'm sick of people saying what they "can't do or have time for"....I'll be 74 next month. My gym membership has literally saved my life. Otherwise, I'd be a 300lb. sloth.