400lbs -- Want to be much less than that... a few questions.

[Inso0]

Now, I do not quite look like this guy yet:




I'm about 400 pounds, and I'm just shy of 6'8" so I spread my weight out quite a bit, but make no mistake... I am a massive individual.

I'm 25 and haven't truly exercised a day of my life since I was 18. At that time, I was about 265-270lbs. For me, I think 250lbs or so would be my ideal weight. But what do I know? That's a long ways off at this point.

I'm fat enough to have man boobs, but not so fat as I can't see my own dick because my gut is too big. I live in Wisconsin but pretty much wear shorts from March through December because you can NOT find a 52/36 pair of pants. You just can't. They assume the 52" waist guys are short, and they assume the guys who need a 36" inseam are skinny. People say I'm nuts, but I have enough insulation that the cold doesnt bother me. I wear 4XLT shirts. So that gives you an idea of my size.

Now, I have a wife and 3 kids(youngest is 18 months). I have a relatively easy work schedule(a job where I sit all day), but my wife works 65+ hours a week so I've got the kids a great deal. My kids are too young to be left alone while I go to the gym or something. So hitting a gym every day is just not realistic and the closest one is like 25 minutes away anyway.

I'm going to try to start walking every day for like an hour or so. Not sure yet how that's going to work out with 3 small children and an absentee wife, but I figure it'll be my first step toward non-ogreness.

Do you guys have any tips for some inexpensive methods of strength training at home? My house is NOT massive, and I wouldn't have anywhere to put a bulky machine or weight bench. I am also not in a position to drop a grand on aforementioned machine anyway. So price is a factor.

I remember reading a thread a LONG time ago on OOT about kettlebells. They're a bit pricey($100+ each), but small and they seemed to illicit a very positive response out of OOT.

Also... will simply walking for an hour give me the necessary cardio for now? What steps might I take to ramp that up as I go along? I think I would seriously die if I tried to truly RUN around my block today. I get winded VERY quickly. Even running up stairs kicks my ass. So aside from power walking, any other ways to start back into some cardio work?


My final question would be diet.

I would not weigh what I do today if I ate like a normal person. I eat convenience food. I do not cook. Odds are, if it can't be microwaved or popped in the oven pretty much right out of the package, I don't eat it. I can devour entire frozen pizzas like Ritz crackers. I've never eaten more than one at a "meal" but I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to eat the entire thing. And you're probably not supposed to eat JUST that frozen pizza either.

I don't eat salad. I'm a "feel" person when it comes to food... and the act of biting into a piece of lettuce literally induces my gag reflex. I don't know why. But I have ALWAYS been this way. I think I could start by trying to eat more fruits/vegatbles. But you need to understand that I haven't really eaten fruits/vegetables on a regular basis since I was 10 years old.

I have no qualms with eating the same damn thing all the time. For the past year, my lunch EVERY day has been essentially just 2 ham or turkey sandwiches. And by sandwich I mean a bun, kaiser roll, or just wheat/white bread + turkey or ham or salami or bologna + american cheese. No tomatoes, no lettuce, no mayo, nothing. Bread, meat, cheese. I supplement this with pretzels or some variety of potato/tortilla chips. I have a free and never ending supply of Diet Coke at work, so I drink a lot of that. NOT healthy, I know. At home, I drink 2% milk or massive amounts of water. I do drink a lot of water.

I am a very meat/potatoes with no frills guy.


So, what would be a good breakfast/lunch food I can just stock up on and eat all the time?

I saw frosted miniwheats mentioned somewhere else... I like these I would have NO problems eating frosted miniwheats every day for breakfast. Is this a viable breakfast option? I would be setting myself up for failure by saying I'd get up every day and make myself eggs/bacon. I typically feed the children cereal and eat cereal myself. If I dont have time, I wind up stopping at McDonalds for whatever breakfast sandwhich is 2/$3 that month.

So yeah, that's pretty much it.




Cliff notes:

I'm fat and want to not be fat anymore. Havent exercised in almost a decade.

Cardio ideas for someone who's heart would explode if they had to run a quarter mile?

Inexpensive strength training ideas for someone who has 3 kids and can't just join a gym and go every day?

Breakfast/Lunch ideas for someone who hasn't eaten truly healthy in 15 years?

[cbloom]

By far the most important thing is that you just do *something*. Whatever it is that you enjoy and find easiest to do - do that at first. Once you lose some of the weight and start to get some basic fitness everything will become much easier and you can look into some other basic exercises.

In particular since you have the kids a lot, I would recommend just trying to do some more physical play with them instead of TV or whatever you normally do with them. Play catch, play tag, run around with them when you have time with them. It will be good for you and the kids too. I'm sure you can easily get a hard workout that way.

You know this already but you need to man up and start eating better and stop making excuses like "I don't like to spend time cooking" or "I don't like lettuce". These are rationalizations to make yourself feel better about eating horribly. You need to cut way down on the carb snacks and switch to fruit and vegetables. Obviously eating an apple is not too much prep work. No, miniwheats is not good breakfast. Sandwich with lunchmeat is an okay lunch.

There are plenty of simple bodyweight exercises that will be plenty hard for you. Just go up and down a flight of stairs a few times. Lie down on your back, get up to standing, repeat 20 times.

[Wolfram]

No 1. Diet, diet, diet (not in the "starve yourself" way, but in the "stop eating junk, start eating clean" way.

No 2. Any exercise is good enough at first, but you need to find something that you'll stick with.

[cbloom]

[ QUOTE ]
No 1. Diet, diet, diet (not in the "starve yourself" way, but in the "stop eating junk, start eating clean" way.

No 2. Any exercise is good enough at first, but you need to find something that you'll stick with.

[/ QUOTE ]

That's what I meant to say!

[qdmcg]

[ QUOTE ]
You know this already but you need to man up and start eating better and stop making excuses like "I don't like to spend time cooking" or "I don't like lettuce". These are rationalizations to make yourself feel better about eating horribly. You need to cut way down on the carb snacks and switch to fruit and vegetables. Obviously eating an apple is not too much prep work. No, miniwheats is not good breakfast. Sandwich with lunchmeat is an okay lunch.

There are plenty of simple bodyweight exercises that will be plenty hard for you. Just go up and down a flight of stairs a few times. Lie down on your back, get up to standing, repeat 20 times.

[/ QUOTE ]

also, the walking around the block thing will be a good start.

do some light reading on nutrition (www.bodybuilding.com) its really not that complicated and will make your eating habits that much better.

[calmB4storm]

[ QUOTE ]
So, what would be a good breakfast/lunch food I can just stock up on and eat all the time?

[/ QUOTE ]
Breakfast: whey protein and oatmeal

Everything Else:
<ul type="square">[*]Protein: chicken and tuna [*]Fats: Olive oil and all-natural peanut butter[*]Carbs: Veggies! Carrots, green beans, broccoli, spinach, peas, etc. There has to be some sort of vegetables that you like.[/list]

[thirddan]

canned chicken and tuna are great, and i buy huge bags of frozen fruits and veggies...tubes of oats are greats, bags of mixed nuts...check out the berardi articles in the faq for some other nutritional recommendations and info...

[shemp]

Maybe the commonalities of your diet with the diet of your children should raise concerns?

[sarahbellum]

The regulars here can give you much better advice than I can, but I wanted to point this thread out to you in case you haven't seen it.

[ktulu22]

The first step is truly committing to make the changes necessary to better yourself. Best of luck