Lifestyle tips

Oh no the forbidden word.
Well, I do walks every so often but recently due to the weather, not so much. I have been made aware that my normal breathing is too heavy, which makes me a bit worried I'm not even half the size I wish I could be so having this issue so soon is linda scary.

I'm not here for the long run but still, I can't help but be a bit concerned. I don't smoke, nor drink alcohol. But the fact that I'm already breathing so heavily when I want to gain double of what I am right now, doesn't seem feasible.

Sure, I expect to have to get CPAP or something down the line, but not this soon!

But the thing is, movement and exercise for me is just unfun, and I can't keep a workout routine if I don't enjoy it.

So I am wondering if there's some light stuff I can do every so often to improve my health, breathing, and whatnot, so that I am not struggling already at 200lbs when I would like to have a goal of 350 or 400. Any suggestions?

Looking at your pictures, it looks like you have a lot of visceral fat. It's likely it's pushing against against your lungs.

The good news is that your body burns visceral fat before anything else. So a high calorie diet paired with less junk food and exercise should help in that regard.

Why don't you try dancing? You don't even need to be good. Put some some music and bee bop when no one is watching.

You could also try weightlifting, there's a lot of options for seated leg exercises to help you build up more strength so you can stay mobile at higher weights. Also for cardio, I'm in a similar boat but to a lesser extent. Running just straight up isn't fun for me but I can find bike riding or using an elliptical bearable.

It was definitely hot at the start, I can get into the unhealthy side but as I said, it feels too soon. Anyway, thank you so much for checking my pictures for reference! That is so sweet. I appreciate it.

Junk food to avoid is mostly carbs and the lot right?



Honestly, I tried and it's easy to get distracted and forget about lifting. I once got one of those squeezing bands but it was the same case.

My apartment is way too small for those bikes but maybe I can find smaller ones or those that it's just the pedals if I look hard enough. Thank you for the suggestion!

Well as mundane as this sounds, from personal experience going on a walk (mostly) everyday helps out a lot to me. Especially when it comes to mental clarity and keeping “your juices flowing” and all that stuff.

You could practically do it at a park, shopping mall, or the comfort of your own neighborhood (if it’s safe to walk about). It’s pretty much theoretically the kind of exercise that anyone of any body type can do. And if you want to make it fun you could go on a walk to a store to get yourself a drink or something and walk back.

Now sure there’s plenty of other stuff like swimming and dancing that’s a lot less boring and more vigorous. But sometimes a little exercise is all about the small steps to work on doing more and more. To me, it’s all about being able to move your body around!

This is purely anecdotal but I've found that on days I work out or are just more active in general I have a larger appetite and I can easily eat way more than what I burned by being more active. It also just makes movement in general easier so as you get bigger you don't have to take as many rest breaks while you're going about your day. Or worse it might prevent/delay a health scare which might force you to slow down or lose weight. So I strongly believe everyone regardless of if they're going for a muscle chub look or just straight up fat, should try implementing some amount of exercise into their routine.

i think this is good advice. i went cold turkey off of exercising when i started to gain, and now - several years later and a few hundred pounds heavier - i am really struggling to get back into it. but one of the other side effects of starting to exercise again has been that i sleep much more soundly!

It feels counter intuitive since society has really ingrained the idea that "exercise= weight loss always". But it's really helpful, it helps strengthen your ligaments around your joints and increases your bone density which are both very important especially as you gain weight. Also exercise really doesn't burn as many calories as you'd think, really dieting and eating less food than you burn is what leads to weight loss. So it should be fairly easy to gain back whatever calories you did burn. The only downside is a lot of gyms don't have the equipment for larger individuals. I weigh between 220-230 depending on how my weight fluctuates and I've noticed certain machines have gotten uncomfortably tight. Not to the point where I can't use them, but to the point where I have to put a bit more effort into getting in and out of them. It's mostly the chest press machine and lateral raise machine that give me the most grief. Both of which are machines that could be replaced with inclined bench press and dumbbell lateral raises instead of my weight ever became too much of an issue. But hopefully if more plus sized individuals went to the gym they would be forced to get machines that accommodated more body types. Anyway thank you for listening to my TED talk

I'm rootin for ya!

A lot of people stop exercising when they commit to gaining. And I get the logic. It's a great way to put on pounds. But that is one of the most foolhardy things you can do - especially if you are an extreme gainer.

Gotta stay active - even if it's only light exercise.

For many (me included) its not about not burning calories only, but also for becoming weaker! O.o