Any suggestions for getting back into shape?

Basicly it comes down to the fact I've been a pretty consistent smoker for 20 years now. I've decided I've had enough. I'm tired of being out of breath, and lately it has gotten worse. Went from a fairly active job to piloting a desk 9 months ago, add to it a pack to pack and a half a day habit, and you can imagine where I'm at. I'm huffing and puffing after a brisk walk up a set of stairs.

Realization hit me in October that I needed to do something, I finally got pissed off enough last week. Didn't start yesterday, as I'm not labeling this a new years resolution, its a flat out change. I've had a grand total of 4 cigs in the last 24 hours, my goal was none, but with a wife that has no desire to quit, they're too easy to come by. I'm aiming for 0 again tomorrow.

I need to.get back into shape, I'm just unsure how to approach it. I know fartleking will build speed, but endurance, and trying to help.rebuild lung capacity is the big goal. After 7 knee surgeries and a lower back surgery, high impact exercise is kinda out of the question for the moment. So, bicycling, swimming, running in the grass? I think a jump rope.would kill me right now.

Any suggestions?

get a job that requires you to do a lot of physical work and not a lot of time to sit around and much on candy and drink pop..

i did that a few years ago and lost 20 pounds in 3 weeks..

if switching jobs isn't an option, maybe get a pile of wood to chop for a couple of hours after your regular job?

Nah the job thing is kinda necessary. I delayed it for almost 10 years, but I finally listened to the doctors and got off my feet all day. I was coming home and popping a handfulls of ibuprophen or alieve every night after work. I figured I probably needed to give my liver a bit of a break.

Wood cutting might be an idea, could prob sell it when I got done as well.

Eat less and move more

bicycling, swimming, running in the grass

Any/all of the above

Oh, and swimming

Elliptical should be about the gentlest on the knees and back.. kinda boring but ya can watch TV, listen to music or sumthin'. Start slow w/ low resistance, work your way up gradually, builds endurance. It'll help restore your wind too. I'd also count/ cut calories for weight loss.

Seen alotta ads for exercise equipment on sale after New Years. YMMV

Spinout007 wrote: Any suggestions?

First off--since you want to quit smoking, make that your biggest priority.

Cardio conditioning is the most demoralizing thing on earth at first. You'll have to accept that it's going to suck for awhile as you build it up.

Start with walking. Then walk more briskly. Do that for a month or so and then move on.

Jumping rope is awesome, however (again) at first, doing it for more than 2 minutes seems impossible. Then 2 turns into 3, then 4, etc... I jumped a lot of rope as cross-training for cycling. Now I can jump for 1/2 hour and not really get that much out of breath. That took a couple of years to get to that point (I'm 40 now).

Get on a bicycle. Put a cycle computer on it and get an app like mapmyride for your smartphone. Start with a 1/2 hour ride. Eventually, start paying attention to time vs. distance. Then ramp up mileage.

I started running again after an 18 year break (got sick of hurting myself running). Started throwing down some decent miles and gosh--I hurt my knee. Waiting for that to heal. Running is definitely harder than cycling--moreso on the body, though. The cardio strain is pretty similar.

Work in some strength training. Pushups and pull-ups on different days with a 2-day break between doing them again. Again--demoralizing at first, because you won't be able to do many at all. Start with multiple sets of low reps. Eventually you'll start piling up the reps.

This was my 2012: I was very well-conditioned, but still eating like a pig. At 40, I could no longer out-train a bad diet.

1/5/12: (205lbs)

12/12/12: (187lbs)

That was after 2300+ miles of cycling, a bunch of yoga, thousands of pullups/pushups/kettlebell swings and a couple of months of running.

Find something active that pushes you, and that you'll be willing to do regularly and stick with. Do not expect instant results.

My favorite is social dancing: swing, blues, tango. Something like that, 2-4 nights a week and just keep going in the evening until you just can't take it anymore. Whenever I get really back into dancing, I lose weight. Tends to be low impact too.

Strength training.

Nothing will work better, faster than weights. Exercises like pushups, chin ups, and squats don't cost anything and they work.

Find a running club around you that does a couch to 5k training program. Sometimes good running stores also do this. It will break you in slowly and allow you to exercise for weeks with others, think motivation, under the supervision of a one or more trained coaches. They'll help keep you injury free. Then at the end of the training program, you will join your group in running a 5knroad race together.

Take walks at lunch time, that's a start. Jumping right in with big weights or big cardio will put you in a coma. (or at least cause you to give it up) start slow.

I quit smoking 25 years ago and applaud your determination. Now days having to smoke outside, how the heck can you get anything done?

Once you finally quit and get to the shape you want to be in, don't think badly of your wife for not quitting; it's easy to do. One day you'll wake up and the smell of a cigarette will cause your stomach to flip.

Good luck.

I'll echo gamby's post, start small and increase as you feel comfortable, and add that getting rid of toxic people, you know the ones that push all the buttons you don't want pushed or provoke behaviors you are letting go of, are the best first steps.

First thing is the smoking has to go. If you don't stop that, you'll severly limit any benefit from exercise (aside from all the other issues associated with smoking).

Once that is accomplished, if you have easy access to a pool, swimming will be far and away the best exercise you can get without being high impact. Take it slow, really slow. You didn't get out of shape overnight, you can't get back in shape overnight.

I'm not fat, never been fat, drink, smoke cigars occasionally, and stopped working out for a hwile.

Jumped on the Whey Isolate protein formula (for when I work out, obviously). I don't know how old you are, but if you've been smoking for 20 years, your at or around 36-40. You'll need protein as a helping hand. It also has been seen in lab rats to prevent cancer. You've been smoking 20 years. Lets be honest, if there is a chance it can prevent cancer, its in your best interest to maybe use some.

Just don't overuse or use the regular amount on a lazy day. It's protein. It'll make you fat just as quickly.

I'm a foodie. I freely admit that I am addicted to food. The thing that has helped me drop to a healthy weight and gain some endurance is exercising when I feel the urge to eat. Maybe you could do the same thing with smoking? If you're overcome with the urge to smoke just drop and push until your chest, arms and shoulders are on fire then lock out your arms, draw your shoulder blades together and plank for a minute. I do this at work, several times per night. Sometimes I use my knuckles instead of my palms or put my feet up on a chair for a bit of variety.

You didn't mention needing/wanting to lose weight so you may already be at a healthy weight, but lacking strength and endurance. Like lots of other people I highly recommend pushups, pull ups, cycling and squats. If you combine those with wood chopping, like you mentioned, that would be a decent workout.

Here's a question- calories in, calories out. But a hundred calories of almonds can't be the same as 100 calories of hot dog... Right? If I'm trying to maintain 2200 calories a day, do I count all calories the same?

Joey

In reply to joey48442:

Mark Bittman said: There’s an increasing body of evidence, however, that calories from highly processed carbohydrates like white flour (and of course sugar) provide calories that the body treats differently, spiking both blood sugar and insulin and causing us to retain fat instead of burning it off.

A calorie is just a unit of energy but food isn't just calories.

In order to keep exercising, if you aren't an exercise enthusiast, you'll need as much omtivation as possible, or a distraction.

In my case, I use a recumbent exercise bike, and propped up my tablet on the control panel. Grab a TV show on Netflix, and voila 45 minutes of exercise on the bike. I do it in the morning before work, as it seems like the only time I can consistently have to work out in. Good cardio, with minimal impact on joints, and as I get stronger, I've been upping the resistance level.

joey48442 wrote: Here's a question- calories in, calories out. But a hundred calories of almonds can't be the same as 100 calories of hot dog... Right? If I'm trying to maintain 2200 calories a day, do I count all calories the same? Joey

You are correct. A calorie is just a measure like ft/lbs for torque or fluid ounces for US volumes.

But where they are different is HOW you get to those hundred calories. This is where you food examples differ. Unprocessed calories are better then processed/man made calories, even in perceived "bad" natural foods, like the almonds.

Also, count your daily calories more like a revolving week of calories. This allows you to fudge up a day, but still stay on track. You have more days to recover from your misstep.

Here's a question- calories in, calories out. But a hundred calories of almonds can't be the same as 100 calories of hot dog... Right? If I'm trying to maintain 2200 calories a day, do I count all calories the same?

Joey

Let me know when you find it.

joey48442 wrote: Here's a question- calories in, calories out. But a hundred calories of almonds can't be the same as 100 calories of hot dog... Right? If I'm trying to maintain 2200 calories a day, do I count all calories the same? Joey

At a basic level, yes. A calorie is a calorie. It's a measurement of energy. Natural foods certainly have advantages over processed foods, but the measurement is the same. If you're trying to lose weight, technically you could do it by eating 2000 calories of whatever you want, so long as you burn more than 2000. But 2000 calories of cheeseburger (besides being full of saturated fats, salt, etc...) isn't very much food. So you'll wind up starving the rest of the day. If you're eating 2200/day, you'll want to make sure it allows you to eat so that you're not contemplating eating the wallpaper due to hunger pains.

Yoga. Don't laugh, it works.

I cycle as the weather permits, do pull-ups, push-ups, sit-ups, and some kettlebell exercises. You don't need a fancy gym or a bunch of equipment to get a super workout. Just do something every day.

First – congratulations on deciding to quit. I won’t patronize you and tell you it is easy, it’s not. I remember when I went through it several (holy crap, 11??) years ago, and I didn’t have 20 years of habit to break, only 7 or so. Go talk to your doctor. Nicorette works for some, I hated it, but dealt with it for a few weeks just to get by. The patch was newer when I quit, and more expensive. I was young and poor so I didn’t do that. I hear the new pill (Chantix?) makes a lot of people completely nuts, so I’d skip that one, personally. Zyban is another option. As a mild antidepressant with few side effects it might actually help offset some of the little issues that can come with quitting smoking, but your doctor will have to determine whether you’re a candidate- depends on your overall cardiac condition. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bupropion

I started using myfitnesspal.com about 3 months back to count/log my calories. It works. If you eat anything from a restaurant or package, chances are better than average that somebody has put it on there already, so you don’t have to figure it out on your own, usually. If you cook, it’s not all that hard to figure up your recipe and figure out what you ate. Overall, being conscious of what you eat is necessary. Don’t think of it as a diet, it’s just something everyone needs to do. You can go as deep as you want on how you formulate your calorie intake (what percentages of proteins, fats, carbs, etc), but if you calculate your daily needs and then hit somewhere close to or under it, your body will start to adjust.

I go to lift weights during my lunch break. 6 months ago I couldn’t move more than about 95# on the bench press, in spite of being a strapping (fat) 6’+, 268# man. I am up to 205# now, and have lost a little over 15# besides. With the muscle I have put on, that probably means 20# or more of fat is no longer being dragged around – it’s also worth noting that I have lost 11 of those 15# in the last 3 months- if I wasn’t counting my calories I would likely not have done as well. Note that those three months also include Thanksgiving and Christmas. Being aware of what you’re eating makes it easier to control what you’re eating, and after a while it’s not such a chore. I also have a treadmill at home that sits in our den. It’s ugly and in the way a little, but I can get on it at night and watch an hour-long program while walking at whatever speed, and burn a few hundred calories more. Treadmills are expensive, yeah, but cigarettes are too, and you’ve been spending $5-6 a day on that for years.

In summary, here’s what you can do: talk to your doctor about help quitting the cigs. That’s the most impactful thing you can do. Start logging your food somehow so you know what you’re taking in. If you have weight to lose, this will be key. Mild exercise of some kind – treadmill or stationary bike in front of the TV at home, if nothing else, but weightlifting or body weight training will cause your body to change faster.

Best of luck to you. It can be a long process, but the rewards are worth the work.