Middle-aged Fat Man Just Got Rower

[Stephen Hyduke]

If I can do it, you can do it... GO GO GO!

Currently I am doing 5k's at less than 23:00, I think. I keep an online log...

Steve

[easy1putt]

Hi.....

Another middle aged fat guy.....single....57.....6'4".....330.....
Played football in college years ago............
Had both hips replaced 5 years ago.........

Started dieting and back to the rower (used to love it).

Would welcome tips and encouragement on how to start and keep motivated.

[Stephen Hyduke]

I just lost 10lbs in less than a month. If that's not motivating, I don't know what would be.

You need to find some sadistic friends to call you every morning. Perhaps you could hire mine, for a price they would call you up and holler at you until you began to excercise!

Failing that, you could go the Dominatrix route...

[kja270]

Another new guy on board. 52 years old, 250lbs, 6'1". My Dad who is 86 has moved into assited living and gave me his old rower. Its a Model C. I know I need to lose some pounds and am looking forward to using the rower. Wish me luck!

Jeff

[iain]

Hi.....

Another middle aged fat guy.....single....57.....6'4".....330.....
Played football in college years ago............
Had both hips replaced 5 years ago.........

Started dieting and back to the rower (used to love it).

Would welcome tips and encouragement on how to start and keep motivated.

Indoor rowing is an ideal exercise for those with greater food reserves. Not only is it low impact, but it is non-weight bearing. As a result, the most important point is what muscle you have and not power to weight ratio and so you are not too heavily penalised by the reserves.

Add that it is addictive and we all find it fun, has a track record of dozens of reported cases of people losing 100+ pounds e.g. http://www.concept2.co.uk/weightloss/case_studies.php and keeping the majority of it off and the question is, what has taken you so long. At 6'4" you have the strength and the physique to be competitive in a sport with many active competitors in their 70's and beyond.

Motivation is key, you need to know whether you will get the initial motivation:
from losing a few pounds every couple of weeks,
knowing that you are getting healthier or
setting ever better times.

Unfortunately, despite the ability to burn significant calories on the rower (I need around 4000 calories doing 80km/wk+ or I lose weight), you need to couple the rowing with controlled food intake or you will merely increase your intake. In particular, it is the increased lean muscle mass that will ultimately burn the most calories and this takes at least a few months to make itself felt for most people when starting out. Hence, being motivated by improvements in the training allows a less drastic approach of getting fitter during a period of relatively low weight loss to get yourself into the shape to lose and retain your weight long term. In addition, training for weight loss is a lifetime commitment, your motivations can, of course, change over time, but if the hard work turning yourself into an Adonis is to be worthwhile, you need to develop a strategy for a lifetime's exercise. If reaching your goal weight is the end of your motivation, that could be a problem.

I suggest that you post times &/or weight regularly. Join one of the many on-line teams or enter the regular challenges, ensure your technique is right (so you are not wasting effort and get demotivated at uncompetitive times) e.g. http://www.concept2.co.uk/forum/viewtop ... =4&t=17329
Find a plan that suits.

Options are the 20 (probably a little short long term, but may be a good start or for "busy" days) or 40 min plan, or basic conditionaing plans at http://www.concept2.co.uk/docs/guide/tr ... pter_5.pdf , the IP Weightloss plan at (may require working up to for some who have been less active) http://www.concept2.co.uk/weightloss/interactive.php or, for the more competitive plans such as: http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/beginner-training/ or
that at the end of http://thepeteplan.wordpress.com/5k-training/.

Re friends to shout at you, if you sign up to log your training http://www.concept2.com/sranking03/log.asp , then send the fellow weight loss enthusiasts your profile numbers, then you can all keep track of each other's progress and give each other a hard time if you slack off.

Hope it goes well and look forward to seeing all of your progress.

Iain

[edited for typos]

[kenelson]

I'm what I'd like to think of as slightly less than middle-aged (36yo) guy, but certainly solidly in the well-padded category.

What worked for me as far as motivation to row was setting up the rower in front of the TV and renting TV shows to watch (Netflix rocks...). Currently working my way through The Wire and since HBO actually runs the shows at close to a full hour, I can get in a 10K, a brief rest, and then another 3-4K of cooldown during the show. I've never been good at exercising without mental distraction for much past 15-20 minutes, so this is the best way to get me out of bed in the morning and on the rower. Going to the gym is out, as I'm too lazy to go outside, so bought a C2 last year and never looked back. Currently averaging around 40-60K/week and hit my first million meter mark back in June, I think. Now on track to hit my next million before next April and maybe make 2 million for the year...

I'm not doing it as much to lose weight as to increase cardiovascular fitness, the pants fitting a bit looser is just a nice side-effect to go along with the resting pulse dropping from 75 to 66 and blood pressure going from 130/85 to 115/70...

Keith

[tom pinckney]

Not sure if stuck with it, but I have. I've taken another five pounds off (not much more) and can really tell the difference physically. I helped a fellow unload a very large moving van last week. It was invigorating. If I'd done this last year I probably would have dropped dead!

I've been working out consistantly for a year. My goal (again) this year is to NOT GAIN WEIGHT from Thanksgiving to Christmas. Then, it will be on to the Winter Challenge. Both are GREAT incentives to not only lose weight, but make you feel better!!

I will be 64 in January and retired three years ago. People who see me now tell me I look better now than I did when I worked. Pretty good incentive to keep at it. It's never too late.

One thing I did since last year to help (I"ve mentioned this in other posts) was to get a new walking partner - a dog. Not only have I lost weight - so has the dog!

As one said in another thread to me: if your dog is fat - so are you!!!

[mccartjt]

I am 53 old with 245lbs & a Concept2 C model with PM2+ monitor. I do have a handicap. I have a damaged left knee & I am getting stem cell therapy to repair the cartilage therein. I've figured how to not do a full rowing stroke so to take the pressure off my bum knee. I am already able to row for 42 minutes and burn 400 calories. That for me is a good work out. I'll monitor my weight, hoping to get down to about 185-190lbs or so. I hope I'll look real good on the back of this. I have a neighbor that's gone from 225 to 175 and he's now training for triathlons. His body looks insane! He needs a bit of competition.

I'll get more knowledgeable on this board and personal logs etc., I've got to get a few items to complete the workout tools like more music for the headset & the cable to connect my notebook to the PM2+..

See you all on line sometime soon.

John M