Unusual challenge. Significant weight loss with diving as goal.

[LM]

Hi all. I'm a n00b.
Here's my situation (I realize there's a fitness forum, but since I'm completely new to this, I'd rather stick to the place for the newbies ).

New Years rolls around and this is the year I lose the weight.
I have *a lot* of weight to lose. A lot. We're talking "Biggest Loser" a lot.

Anyway, in addition to burning off the fat, I want to raise my general fitness with a focus on training for being dive ready. Obviously, I have to start slow, but as the weight starts to come off and my general fitness increases, I want to transition into a training regimen that is diving related. My goal- and reward to myself- is that by this time next year, I dive.

I realize this is an unusual situation, but has anyone ever been down this road before? Or, can any experienced persons give any suggestions as far as how I might want to proceed here?

Thanks for any help. You'll be seeing me around here quite a bit.

LM

 

[Abaco24]

I would just hit the lap pool with your MSF's until you get to a weight you feel is comfortable for diving. It will increase your cardio and is one of the best for all around exercise. As my Dr. tells me the best weight loss program is "eat less and exercise more" its that simple.

 

[SeaCobra]

Good luck on your quest, having goals is very important. You may want to take a look at Better fitness means better diving. They have some free downloadable stuff, as well as a book in pdf that you can purchase online. I did buy the book and found it very good with some specific info for divers and a lot of good info on stretching.

Jeff

 

[Sas]

If you have that much weight to lose, why not see a doctor/nutritionist (or whoever the people are who can help with this kind of thing) to set you plans and give advice?

I'm not sure about huge weight loss but I decided to lose weight this year myself (lost 12kg, will aim for another 5 more). It was very easy (surprisingly so given what I had heard). What I did was use this app on my iPhone (Calorie Counter by Shape Up) and enter every thing I ate/drunk into it. It gives you an amount of calories to eat based on how much weight you want to lose a week (I went with 0.25-0.5kg so I didn't have to do much radical change to my diet) and you just eat that amount. Most of the foods are in there. I see a lot of people fail doing this though because they over estimate their exercise and underestimate the servings they are having... don't do that

I didn't pay much attention to diet other than that and I did not increase exercise at all (I walk about an hour a day and do three or four dives a week, but am pretty sedentary other than that, another thing I am going to work on this year ). It pretty much forces you to eat healthily because say if I wanted a Maccas meal that is most of my calorie allowance for the day and I have to stop eating after I hit that so I'd end up starving. Eventually this teaches you to eat filling, healthy food

One major thing that doesn't require a lot of effort to change is to only drink water, NO other types of drinks (especially alcohol) other than as treats rarely, as that is an easy way to cut a chunk of calories out for most people. I used to drink a beer and a can of coke each day for example, and that cut about 300 calories a day out just with that, which ends up being a pound of weight loss every eleven days...

Read 'The Hacker's Diet' too, it's free and I found that very helpful. The Hacker's Diet Good luck.

 

[LM]

If you have that much weight to lose, why not see a doctor/nutritionist (or whoever the people are who can help with this kind of thing) to set you plans and give advice?

Thanks for the advice.
I am dealing with a doctor, but he isn't a diver. Like I said- this is an unusual situation. I'm losing weight with diving specifically in mind, so I'm curious if there are any better paths to travel.

Eat less, work out more, etc, etc is stuff I'm already knee-deep into and understand quite well. Just wondering if anyone has ever been down this road before and if so, what sort of advice they can give as far as transitioning into a training regime that is most beneficial to diving, coming from a significant weight-loss objective.

 

[knowone]

G'day. Go and see your doctor.

Start with laps in a pool walking.

 

[Sas]

Thanks for the advice.
I am dealing with a doctor, but he isn't a diver. Like I said- this is an unusual situation. I'm losing weight with diving specifically in mind, so I'm curious if there are any better paths to travel.

Eat less, work out more, etc, etc is stuff I'm already knee-deep into and understand quite well. Just wondering if anyone has ever been down this road before and if so, what sort of advice they can give as far as transitioning into a training regime that is most beneficial to diving, coming from a significant weight-loss objective.

Oh sorry, I thought you were talking about weight loss in general! Someone posted that Fitness for Divers link, that's a good start for diving specific stuff.

 

[Insta-Gator]

Not advice, but :cool3: good for you! (My $0.02 worth of encouragement and respect)

 

[nm7sp]

G'day LM,

I'm a short way down this road already and it is an easy enjoyable one.

The answer is simple - walking!

The doctor told me that walking one hour a day will drop 10 KG per year and is not hard on the body or joints. Walk at a brisk pace ( but none of that stupid power walking rubbish) on a hard flat surface like a flat paved road.

He also told me that it is addictive which I can vouch for ( I'm already doing 2 hours a day, when possible, since it is such a great time to myself with nothing else to worry about than to burn some calories and enjoy the environment. (Took a wrong turn on Christmas day and ended up walking for 3 hours which was a little bit more that I really wanted to do.)

I've lost about 15 KG so far, dropped one size in trousers and will shortly be looking for a smaller belt. I've still got about 20KG to go but after that I will have to start eating lots since I will not be stopping the walking.

Last year I failed to finish my open water course because I was having bad stability problems and rolling around was not my idea of fun. I decided I needed to be a bit trimmer and also a better swimmer. I start my adult learn to swim classes next Monday in order to improve my swimming style. This will also be some more good exercise and more calories burnt, so I am looking forward to it a lot.

PS.

On a completly different topic - I've been thinking about why I had a difficult time doing such a simple thing as clearing my mask. I've worked out that it was because I was trying to do just that, blast clearing the mask, which just blows air all over the place but doesn't result in much water exiting the mask.

I reckon that if I think about it as "filling up the mask with air" rather than "clearing the mask of water" then it will automatically become a trivial exercise.

Good luck with the weight loss,

Cheers
Nick

 

[LakeCountyDiver]

Dude coming from a big diver my self there is nothing but bennifits to loseing weight. I would like to lose a total of 60lbs this year. I know I can do it. The biggest things for me to start were to drink A LOT of water and and start running/walking/joging to boost the cardio. After that its all about healthy choices in what you eat.