Weight Loss guidance for someone with a sedentary lifestyle

vrk3ds

 Hello,

Hoping some WSM can weigh in on this issue?

My 42 yr old wife who has had a rough go of it over the last few years, breast cancer, depression, forced menapause to prevent cancer re-occurence, has gained quite a bit of weight i.e +30 lbs. and has decided to do something about it. Per my suggestion she has started to track her calories using the iphone app from myfitnesspal.com, and is starting off with walking 1 mile a few times a week, and swimming a couple times a week, and is hoping to build up to fitmess that will allow her to complete a 5k sometime in the not to distant future.

She has always been told by various trainers, la weighloss, etc that she should only eat around 1200 calories per day, and then try to get into a routine of exercise but to not replace any of the calories lost while exercising? Is this correct? This is contradictory to what we do which is try to use a 500 calorie/day deficit to lose 1 lb per week. Should it be that much different for her than for us tri-geeks?

Thanks for the help in solving this "family discussion" 

ironmtngrl

If she might be interested she could look into a weight lifting routine. Joyce Vedral is great. This will build muscle and speed up her metabolism and make very shapely muscles. It's a nice alternative to cardio, and all you need are a few free weights for Joyce's routines.

For eating I would focus on trying to gradually increase the quality of the diet and just eat when hungry. More veggies, quality meats/protiens/grains substitute less noxious choices for whatever your favorite go-to treats are. "Don't drive yourself nuts" would also be my advice. focus on changing behavior instead of obsessing over the numbers.

Make workouts social. Find some friends to walk or swim with.

Best of luck to your wife. The big C is a tough road. Make sure to celebrate every small milestone and best of luck to her.

Coach Rich

Good on you for helping her with this!

I found a pedometer iphone app to estimate calories when walking (I got geeked out one evening while walking the dogs). I also listen to podcasts while walking: Stuff You Should Know has an iphone app that streams podcasts without having to download them, as does NPR. And of course there are tons of podcasts you can download to a phone or ipod. My point being that the pedometer and listen to stuff while walk can really make the time fly.

And get a dog. I have two, would be happy to loan you one, or both of them

Brenda Ross

Scott - I am a personal trainer and have been for over 10 years, and unfortunately there is no simple answer to your question. I have had clients who have lost weight by simply watching their diets and others who find that lifting weights is what did it for them, while others it is frequency and intensity of exercise. If your wife is on medication that may also affect her weight loss goals, so it is a slippery question. Not knowing your wife and all of her medical issues, I think it would be mute to suggest any plan. I can discuss this more if you wish by contacting me privately at sross8546@rogers.com.

vrk3ds

As always great info being suggested for this!

I may be a bit misunderstood though? What I was really looking for is general info when it comes to if her caloric intake should be any different from mine or anyone others? i.e. Can she replace her calories lost from any exercise, just like I do, and not do any damage to her goals?

Thanks,

penlynwilson

Sccott: Considering all of her medical issues, I would STRONGLY recommend she get with a Registered Dietitian to help with this. Given everything that is going on and has gone on with her, it may not be as simple as calories in, calories out. I have worked with people trying to lose weight and that doesn't work. Changing the composition of the diet (protein, carbs, fat) and timing foods is sometimes required. If you need help finding an RD in your area, PM me.

jburbatt

+1 on what Penny says. I'm little, and 1200 is the number I use when losing weight. 1200 is pretty close to my base metabolic rate (BMR calculators are online). She should calculate hers as it will definitely be different from yours. At the end of the day, if my calories in vs. calories out is around 1200 it is successful day. I have found that dropping below that makes my body go into starvation mode. Like Penny mentioned, at that calorie range it can really turn on composition even if you're hitting the right calorie number. An RD would be extremely helpful in sorting everything out and helping with warning signs like fatigue, more depression, etc.

samritter

Hi Scott, I definitely want to resonate what the others have said! I am teetering at the 100# weight loss at the moment(There will be photos later in my profile). Definitely get the qualified dietitian involved given the medical history. Once I decided that I had to make a change in my body composition, I used a bodybugg(www.bodybugg.com). It's not the be all end all tool, but it was a tool that let me see that it only took a little bit of exercise to make big time changes in my body. In the early stages of my weight loss, I was able to lose 4#/week. I also used the aid of trainer as I wanted to surpass previous weight loss attempts and not get injured like in previous attempts. Another piece of advice is to keep up on what the dietitian and trainer tells you as sometimes they may lack certain knowledge. One person told me to use the GI Index to decide what tive goo eat and couldn't explain why foods she was telling me to avoid were lower on the scale than foods she was telling me to eat. So the moral of the story is keep on top of what the "professionals" tell you and if they can't give you and your wife answers that you are comfortable with, go see someone else.

penlynwilson

+1 on what Sam said about getting with someone knowledgable be it a dietitian or trainer. Not all dietians are perfect. . . ..If she chooses that route she should interview a few and see if there is one she "clicks" with.