Rowing to lose weight

[Irhleeds]

Here I am, a 51 and a half year old, 166cm tall man, weighing 101.4 kg as of this morning. That makes my BMI 36.8! For literally years now, I've been telling myself that I need to lose weight, that I "must do something about it". Hearing about several people around my age developing serious health problems because of carrying far too much weight for a long time, has finally, hopefully, spurred me into action. I've always enjoyed the indoor rower at the gym but I've been a binge rower, not rowing for ages, then doing long workouts then not rowing again for ages. I work 12 hour shifts, which haven't helped training, but I realised I had to stop making excuses.

I've developed myself a rowing plan from various things on the Concept2 website, and I've got support from friends and family so here goes on a serious effort to lose that excess weight.

My first session of this new regime is this afternoon. My gym has a Boditrax scanner which along with 2,000 metre tests to measure my fitness, should help me keep track of progress.

[Pie Man]

Good luck, my understanding is that rowing will help with your fitness but to loose weight you will need to monitor what you eat, especially as hard exercise will make you very hungry.

I cut out all added sugar foods about 20 months ago (biscuits, ice cream, yogurts, etc), I also tend not to eat much fruit and water down fruit juice if I drink it. Within 9 months I had lost 20Kg's I didn't do any exercise so my lost weight was muscle as well as fat, which I found out when I went downhill skiing and couldn't ski as well as when I was heavier. So I joined a gym and found the erg which has certainly helped my build up my overall fitness and my muscles (albeit not my arms).

[Anth_F]

I wish you the very best of luck first and foremost! Like what pieman said about monitoring what you eat is vitally important, aside from the hard work you need to put in exercise wise... yes it is hard work loosing weight, especially when you're older.

I totally changed my diet seemingly overnight somehow! I cut out a vast majority of the junk food such as take away pizza, burgers, indians, chocolate, crisps, i would binge on and started eating "real foods" Chicken, steak, potatoes, pasta, veggies, fruits and nuts (in moderation) Cut out the sodas, and sugary drinks. Now my fluid intake consists mainly of fresh calorie free water, and 100% pure coconut water, and milk. Every few days i do have a cup of coffee on a morning. A massive sacrifice and dramatic change was needed (kick up the backside) with my diet and eating habits and times of the day and frequency that i ate as well which is another important aspect !! But i knew that all this is what has to be done when you want to change yourself for the better, and maintain it (which is another very hard factor).

I also found after changing my diet & loosing the weight, that i no longer craved the junk stuff really, and i don't find myself wanting to raid the cupboards or fridge for snacks all the time.

You can do it mate... just believe in yourself, and stay determined. Having your family and friends to support you is a great thing too... they will pull you through the dark times.

[Carl Watts]

Firstly ignore BMI its complete rubbish. If you want to track your weight loss and to help motivation, get a decent set of body fat scales and enter in all your information into it like your height and age etc and get a baseline figure. Its not going to be pretty, your probably 40% body fat or higher.The good news is with exercise the number will drop very quickly to start with.

Unfortunately shift work is bad news. Did it for 6 months and basically the rowing was all over. Unless you can change jobs I think your going to struggle.

[Irhleeds]

Thanks for the replies and advice guys. My body fat came in at 36.1% on Monday morning.

I realised a long time ago that it's all very well counting how many calories you burn off in the gym, but it's pointless if you don't measure the other side of the equation, i.e. what you eat, or at least cut out the crappy food. I just haven't been very good at putting it into action to date.

[hjs]

Firstly ignore BMI its complete rubbish. If you want to track your weight loss and to help motivation, get a decent set of body fat scales and enter in all your information into it like your height and age etc and get a baseline figure. Its not going to be pretty, your probably 40% body fat or higher.The good news is with exercise the number will drop very quickly to start with.

Unfortunately shift work is bad news. Did it for 6 months and basically the rowing was all over. Unless you can change jobs I think your going to struggle.

Not rubbisch it needs context. If you use bmi and waist girth, those 2 tell a lot. A skinny guy with a big waist has an ok bmi, not healthy. A muscular guy with a tight waist has an higer bmi no problem. A guy with a high bmi and still a low waist is not natural, think bodybuilders, again not great from a health perspective.

Bmi is mostly used to judge a population, not so much individuals.

[Pie Man]

One other thing that may help you is to take 'before' measurements, waist, chest, arms, legs etc. Even blood pressure, resting heart rate etc. Then as you train and loose weight you can recheck them every few weeks and see the gains you are making not just on the scale. I wish I had done this myself as it would be nice to know my improvements. All I do know is that my blood pressure has dropped 15 points top and bottom, taking me out of the 'dodgy' area and into pretty good but still a little room for improvement range.

[Anth_F]

but it's pointless if you don't measure the other side of the equation, i.e. what you eat, or at least cut out the crappy food. I just haven't been very good at putting it into action to date.

It's tough for sure!!! Very easy to say "yeah i'm just gonna completely cut out the junk just like that" LOL!! It takes a lot of discipline.

Don't deprive yourself totally of nice things though... you can still enjoy your favorite takeaway, or chocolate bar, in moderation as part of a healthy balanced lifestyle.

If you keep at the rowing every day, or at least 4 times per week and put in significant efforts, the fat will fly off dude. I couldn't believe how fast i shed fat in such a short space of time, but rowing nearly everyday as well.. because i really enjoy being on the erg!! I like the rowing movement in general and monitoring everything on screen as i row... i find that especially interesting and trying to keep solid consistency.

Rowing has totally transformed my life! And will do for you i'm sure if you stick at it... and implement a good diet change

[Irhleeds]

One other thing that may help you is to take 'before' measurements, waist, chest, arms, legs etc. Even blood pressure, resting heart rate etc. Then as you train and loose weight you can recheck them every few weeks and see the gains you are making not just on the scale. I wish I had done this myself as it would be nice to know my improvements. All I do know is that my blood pressure has dropped 15 points top and bottom, taking me out of the 'dodgy' area and into pretty good but still a little room for improvement range.

I've done that but I suppose you could always judge your progress by clothes sizes too. Getting my blood pressure down is one of my aims. It is currently controlled (or kept just within the acceptable parameters) by medication, and I'd like to get to the situation, if possible, where I no longer need that medication. Well done Pie Man on getting yours down. It shows to people like me that it can be done.

[Irhleeds]

but it's pointless if you don't measure the other side of the equation, i.e. what you eat, or at least cut out the crappy food. I just haven't been very good at putting it into action to date.

It's tough for sure!!! Very easy to say "yeah i'm just gonna completely cut out the junk just like that" LOL!! It takes a lot of discipline.

Don't deprive yourself totally of nice things though... you can still enjoy your favorite takeaway, or chocolate bar, in moderation as part of a healthy balanced lifestyle.

If you keep at the rowing every day, or at least 4 times per week and put in significant efforts, the fat will fly off dude. I couldn't believe how fast i shed fat in such a short space of time, but rowing nearly everyday as well.. because i really enjoy being on the erg!! I like the rowing movement in general and monitoring everything on screen as i row... i find that especially interesting and trying to keep solid consistency.

Rowing has totally transformed my life! And will do for you i'm sure if you stick at it... and implement a good diet change

I'm making diet changes gradually and logging what I eat, so that I can see how many "treats" I'm actually having and take appropriate action if necessary. Like you Anth, I really enjoy being on the erg. I discovered that as well as the physical exercise of it, watching the monitor and concentrating on my technique proved to be a good form of mindfulness when I was suffering from depression. As a child/teenager, I wasn't particularly good at anything sporting, but last year I did the Dog Days of Summer challenge and got my first ever sports related certificate.

[Pie Man]

Belt holes are of course an classic, I have had to buy new belts as my old ones don't work any more along with new trousers which is good.

Interestingly my blood pressure didn't come down with the weight loss it is only since I have started regular exercise that it has dropped.

[GateDad]

I would like to add that rowing to lose weight is going to be very hard. Simply for the fact that rowing(or almost any aerobic exercise for that matter)actually burns few calories. As an example, I have been rowing approximately 30 minutes at a time for several months now. My Apple watch keeps track of distance/time/calories burned, etc. One month I rowed 27 times and the total calorie burn was a little over 3500 calories(a pound). No complaints from me, as I knew this going in. Now, a typical 30 minute session burns roughly 140 calories for me. Same results for walking and cycling--they are enjoyable, relaxing, fun activities but not truly good ways to burn fat. The diet, as stated many times on this thread, is the main way to burn fat. That, plus a good, intense strength training program (which will add muscle if done properly) can be combined with the rowing workouts. A warning though is that this might be a fairly tough stress on the body, meaning you will need a lot of rest in between. I have been struggling myself with excess fat, but have not had any increase in my weight since I decided to incorporate a rowing regime into my daily activities. Dealing with cancer(see thread under "Health" if anyone is interested)has limited my strength training as it was simply too stressful for me. I am about to get back into a good program. But regardless of rowing, aerobics, strength training, diet is king here. The rowing has done a lot for my pulse rate and blood pressure and endurance(waking HR is typically in the 50's wearing my Polar HR monitor)--so I can see benefits. But don't think of rowing as equal to diet. The diet is where most of us fail, but also the greatest opportunity for improvement lies there too. Good luck.

[ElinViking]

...rowing(or almost any aerobic exercise for that matter)actually burns few calories. ... But regardless of rowing, aerobics, strength training, diet is king here. The rowing has done a lot for my pulse rate and blood pressure and endurance...

Oh I know, it's so hard to look at the monitor under rivers of sweat dripping from my head and seeing I've only burned 100 calories! But it IS doing something, and the other fitness factors make it all well worth it. I'm mostly vegetarian, I don't eat any sugary stuff or a lot of fatty foods (except cheese), but my curse is carbs - bread, potatoes, and a fondness for beer have all combined to pile on weight that I don't want. Both sides of my family have multiple generations of cardiac problems, so keeping my fitness level up (which no one in my immediate family ever really did) is important since I may already have a genetic predisposition to cardiac problems.

Best not to look at the calorie burn as it may discourage you. Just know that keeping fit is doing wonders for your overall health - plus a good diet will keep the weight off and still give you the fuel you need to keep that fan spinning. Good luck.

[Anth_F]

Yeah, pay no attention to calories burned. I switched from calories burned display completely!! I focus on the important things like split times etc, and keeping consistency in my rate and maintaining good form/rhythm.

You know you have had a good workout anyway when you're drained and dripping sweat at the end of sessions.

Don't overdo it though, you can lose interest fast that way. You want it to be so that there is a nice enjoyment factor that makes you want to keep coming back for more each day.

[at1839]

I would like to add that rowing to lose weight is going to be very hard. Simply for the fact that rowing(or almost any aerobic exercise for that matter)actually burns few calories.

When I started rowing, in 2014, september, my weight was 77 kg.
I bought a magnetic rower (not a C2) and rowed randomly with it till december, when I actually broke it in half.
2015, january, I had home my C2 and re-started seriously.

In 2015, december, I was 65 kg. I'm at today 61.5 kg

With any kind of alimentary restriction. I eat god food but I also drink god wine and beer
Maybe I'm genetically happy, but I'd not say that to lose weight with indoor rowing is very hard.

Btw I row 6 in a week for an average sum of 70-80 km. Go figure.

Cu. Paolo