How Do I Start Exercising, and How Do I do It Safely

This is one of the most important questions especially since many obese persons may have medical problems. The simple answer is that you should have a full physical and talk to your physician before beginning any strenuous exercise program. I have to stick with this advice, however, many people will try to exercise without seeing their physician. Additionally the truth is that unless he does a stress test on you it is still important to do these recommendations.

So these recommendations are after you get a clean bill of health from your doctor you still need to follow these recommendations to stay safe.

Now the main reason why people get into trouble while exercising is that their heart requires more blood then they can pump or then can get through clogged arteries. The faster the heart beats the more oxygen and therefore the more blood it needs. If either the heart doesn't pump enough blood or not enough blood gets through the arteries to the muscle of the heart you can have either a heart attack or angina (chest pain without a heart attack from an oxygen hunger of the heart). Let me state clearly that if you get chest pain, pain radiating into your arm or neck or severe shortness of breath you should stop exercising and either call 911 or see your physician.

So, how can you know your limit so you are less likely to get into trouble. Well there is a rule of thumb that your maximum safe heart rate is that rate calculated by subtracting your age from 220. For example my age is 56 so my maximum safe heart rate is 164 beats per minute. To be safe you then take 85% of this number which is 139. So my maximum safe heart rate is 139. You can also use this calculator to calculate your max. safe heart rate: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/target-heart-rate/SM00083 .

You also need to know your target heart rate. This is the heart rate you should strife to hit to get maximal aerobic advantage. You should attempt to be above this number for most of your exercise program to get both maximal calorie burn and maximal conditioning. This target heart rate is 80% of your maximal safe heart rate or for me 115 beats per minute. When you use the calculator linked above you get two numbers. The first is your target heart rate and the second is your maximal heart rate.

If you do not have significant heart disease your body will find this range. If during exercise you go above your maximal safe heart rate there may be a significant underlying medical problem and you should stop exercising until you see your physician.

If you are not hitting your target heart rate you are not obtaining the maximal benefit you can obtain from your exercise regiment.

So how should you check your heart rate. The simple way is to take a momentary break and count your pulse for 10 seconds and multiply by 6 to get your heart rate per minute. An even simple way is for approximately $30 you can get a ring or wrist device that measures your heart rate and some also do your blood pressure (more about that in a moment) . I strongly recommend the later. I recommend that you use this every day you exercise for the first two weeks and then when ever you increase the intensity of your exercise.

In regard to blood pressure. When I started to exercise I wore a wrist band that measured heart rate and blood pressure and got scared the first reading I did. I had a reading of 170/110. What was the problem? Was I in that bad shape? Did I need to see my doctor right away (I called him on my cell right then)? We realized I had my wrist at my waist adding 21 inches between my heart and my wrist level. This is over 500 mm distance. That would be 40 mm of mercury (13 times heavier then water) so my blood pressure was actually 130 over 70 and when I retook my blood pressure with my wrist at my heart level that is the value I got. Science and physics is wonderful! It always works out, you just need to know all the variables.

As you exercise you will find two things. First, when you begin it may take a long time (15-20 minutes for me) till your heart rate returns to normal and as you get into condition a very short time (2-3 minutes now) for your heart rate to come down to normal. Second, you need to exercise harder to get your heart rate to target (I am now jogging up 25 flights of stairs {two flights at a time}). Faster recovery and need for harder exercise prove you are getting into good condition. Congratulations.

My Weight Loss Odyssey

My weight loss odyssey began about 18 months ago. It was then that I realized I was massively over weight. I hit 260 ponds and at 6'3" I had a BMI (body mass index , here is the URL to calculate yours: http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/bminojs.htm) of 32.5, obese by definition. I started to diet and I did several things I had heard were important. At my wifes urging I stated eating a full breakfast every day (I typically have no breakfast except my supplements {more about that in later post} and my daily dose of fiber with small amount of orange juice {again more about this in later post} , and not eating for last three hours before bed (Oprah's favorite method). Well 6 months and another 15 pounds added so I was 275 with a BMI of 34.4. I realized this wasn't working. So I tried exercise. I began mall walking. The problem was I walked erratically and did not make the commitment to doing it regularly or even everyday. I also did not control my diet. Well nine months after that and 13 more pounds I hit my maximum weight 288 pounds with a BMI of 36, I hit the criteria for Morbidly obese. It was not this landmark weight though that got me motivated (I actually did not weight myself until I decided to get serious). It was a friend of mine who was several months into his successful weight loss that got me motivated. He actually was diabetic and began an exercise and calorie restriction program that essentially cured him of diabetes {more on that in a later post}. So on May 17th of this year I got on the scale, found out I was morbidly obese and began my committed plan to loss 90 pounds with a goal of getting to a BMI of 24. I realized I would need to do three things: 1) reduce calories to 1200-1500 calories per day; 2) exercise one hour per day; and 3) tell everyone I meet that I am working on losing weight. I also realize that you never refer to it as a diet but as a weight loss program. Well today is the 18th week anniversary of starting and I am down to 234 pounds down 54 from my start and only 36 more to go. In this blog I plan to cover many topics some of them are:

• Why are americans so overweight (at least 4 blogs)
• My six rules to reducing calorie intake (one blog for each)
• How to start exercising and how do you do it safely.
• What exercise should I do
• It takes a community to loss weight
• Don't forget to ramp up your exercise as you loss weight
• Going out, what to do.
• Supplements: What are they, should I use them?
• Fiber: Why is it important?
• Myths about dieting (many blogs)
• Gastric reduction surgery, is it for me?
• Diet drugs. 1) Over the Counter 2) prescription
• I lost the weight now what?
• Plus many more

So you can see this will be a very complete coverage of weight loss. I hope you stay with me a subscribe to it at this URL: http://weightloss-sketicdoctor.blogspot.com/ That way you will get an e-mail notice when ever I do a new post.