Depends... wat do u want to achieve? Power? Mass? for sport? Different goals have slightly diff workouts...

try to get a nutritian diaet from a qualified person in adition to your workout. I lost around 30-40 pounds in 2 months just be following the diaet prescribed for me in addition to the workout. if you set youur mind on it then it will work the food that you are allowed to have is enough (if you consider that in between each one -breakfast, lunch, dinner - you are allowed some small snacks that really help you fight that starving feeling).

crunches serve no purpose in losing weight, so i would leave them out as they are to tone and increase muscle mass of the abs and quads, not reduce body fat. once the fat is gone, its time to pack on the muscle

keep with the cardio workout. with a knee injury, its best to avoid impact cardio such as running, cycling etc so i would stick with the walks, maybe up the distance whilst keeping the same pace.

another very good workout without damaging the knee is swimming. low impact and a quality all body workout.

food-wise, avoid fast food and fatty/salty (you get the idea). have plenty of fresh fruit and veg (the 5 a day thing is a myth). bannanas are great snacks, eat one on the go with the walk. introduce whole grain breads and cereals too in the morning, or porridge oats. a lot of pasta sauces etc and salad dressings contain tooooones of fat so i would avoid them.

start off slow to avoid injury and shock to the system, but you cant have one without the other. exercise and eating well in combination a few times a week will be beneficial

Cycling is ok, on flat surface (aka the famous home trainer). Cycling is one of the first things sportsmen take up after an injury.

Working out is good, but it is only half the effort. As said, diet. Avoid the big carbo meals such as pasta, potato chips/fries etc. You know them. Eat moderately, but more often. Instead of having 3 (big) meals a day, take smaller portions but 5 or 6 times a day. Your body doesn't use all the food from a big meal, so the surplus is slowly turned into "storage" energy, aka fat.

Coping with the hunger feeling is the biggest hurdle. But with a balanced diet (from a professional) and some cardio work outs, everything is possible.

Cardio work outs take time. You got it right with having a moderately higher heart rate. That's the way to get your body into a higher but steady "burning the calories" state. Too high heart rate is for endurance performance (aka running a marathon). So, later on, you can start lengthening your work outs, for better results.

The last few pounds are the hardest! Good luck.

For your diet up your protein intake and drop your fat intake. If your willing to get protein supplements and make protein shakes do it, as it can help you lose weight. If not then don't worry as long as you up the protein intake it'll be fine.

Spreading your food intake from 3 large meals to 5 small meals won't necessarily help with weight loss as bodybuilders take the 5 small meals a day diet over the 3 large to sustain their intake throughout the day and bulk up on muscle. Since your working with cardio exercises it might be more efficient to reduce the size of those three large meals and snack on fruit throughout the day.

Stick with cardio exercises like walking, swimming and elliptical training maybe cross trainer exercises as they shouldn't bother your knee but gradually increase the distance you walk or swim and gradually increase the time you spend on the elliptical trainer. Their are some weightlifting exercises that can help too like squats and deadlifts but with your knee I don't think they'd be a good idea.. Maybe bench press or dumbbell/barbell rows because they can help burn off calories.

Running for your life gives motivation I heard :) Shall I unleash the rabid dogs =D?


Seriously, I'm no expert on that, but I'm glad to see you seem quite determined on that. Eating correctly and excercise are the key, maybe slightly up the intensity eventually? (why not a 2 mile jogging rather than walk? Or half and half)


Working on the abs might also help burn the fat there I suppose, you might want to try holding a weight while you do your crunch to keep the difficulty as your own weight decrease.

If you drank a lot of beer or wine (red wine) some people told me the carbs or something in them could potentially hurt your effort. I have no doubt for beer, but red wine I'm a bit more skeptical about. It does have good proven effect taken at small regular dose.

I suppose like anything, not giving into excess is always the key.

Otherwise, I'd strongly advise as well to see a nutritionist or a coach. Quite simply, they KNOW exactly what you need, and make sure you do not over-exert yourself in the process either. Just cutting the fat out normally doesnt work.


On myshanora's point, as far as muscle goes, I slightly disagree.

See the body as an engine, muscle are its cylinder. The more cylinder you got, the more power you developp, but also the more ENERGY it takes (think fuel burn -> Fat burn) to function, even on "idle". So in your overall day, your body will consummate normally a bit more energy than it used too, reducing the extra calories you might have ingested.





I've just realized, didnt think physical education class had taught me anything other than "Fooling around 101" but apparently they did...

OK I am not an expert, i work in the construction buisness, but i work at a lot at a weight management place in durham, nc. (structure house) There are many very obese people there (500+). These people can not walk very far if at all without a walker when they first get there. Here are many of the programs they do to get people to lose weight at a healthy rate. (I have been working there for over 2 years roughly 2 days a week.)

1. Eating properly. (You can eat a decent amount of food and still lose weight) This is all about calorie intake, and types of food eaten. (you said you had your diet under control so i do not need to go into this i believe any further.

2. Exercise (they have 2 swimming pools there in which people do about 1hr of exercise in the morning and 1 hr in the afternoon of simple jumps, arm movements, and torso twists.) as stated earlier swimming exercises are not impact intense and are good for losing that inital 50-100 lbs.

3.) Walking/Running (This is too burn of your excess energy reserve. (fat)) They ask that people use treadmills daily, since you are walking regularly, seems you have this under control, but as stated earlier since you have a bum knee, try to up the distance at the same pace at a manageable increase weekly.

4.) Weight Training (There is a very nice gym there that they use to help people turn some of there fat into muscle) this is not really a hard pushed requirement at the start, it is meant for them after they have gotten to a point where thier body can handle it.) It is meant to get stronger, not so much as to lose weight.

5.) Perseverance. (This is the most crtical) You will start to lose weight at a rapid pace at first, but you will start to see the weight not shed as fast, and you might be tempted to work out a little harder only to see that it is not paying off the way you want. Remeber that is it is way harder to lose the weight than to put it on. Set some goals, if you dont reach them when you want, its ok, just keep pushing on until you reach them, than continue on.

6.) Maintian. (When you get to where you want to be, do the little things to keep yourself there) this is the hardest thing to do, but it is worth it, there have been many people that lose 250+ pounds at this place, but put it back on. It makes me kinda sad to see this, because i have seen the work they put in to lose it.

I hope that all these posts and mine can get you to where you want to be, Just remeber that it will be a hard road, but will be totally worth it in the end.

For loosing weight you want to do lots of cardio fitness with low weight - high rep weights via free-weights or machines. This works well for toning muscles, increasing muscle memory (reflexes), building endurance and loosing weight at a fast rate. Low weight - high reps uses your muscles to burn off carbohydrates through your muscles as well as doing cardio fitness. Swimming, rowing, crunches, ellipticals, running/jogging, bicycling are all good fat burners.


Once you get to your target weight and body fat %, start doing high weight - low reps to build muscle mass and strength.

Thanks for all your input.

As far as my weight goes. 430lbs is alot, however a lot of people have multiple reactions to when I tell them my weight. The main one is "Bull****, you're lying." Common "look" of how much I weigh is probably around 300-350. This is due to.. and I laugh while typing this.. a very large skeletal structure. So yes, I'm big boned, but that's not an excuse for my obesity. Honestly, at this point anything a healthy individual could do, I can do. Walking? No problem; I'm not even close to being so large that it impairs my ability to do the basics.

With that in mind, I'm not really looking for muscle build, as my current build leaves me being quite strong. Calves and most of my lower body (excluding inside thighs) is for the most part muscle skin and bone. No, I can't lift 310 like I used to 6 years ago, but my upper body strength is fairly decent as well. So main points I'm concerned about is cardio and calisthenics.

One thing I've considered since the elliptical has helped my stamina immensely in the past weeks is to begin jogging along with the walks I take. I walk with my aunt at night, it motivates her to get some exercise, however her arthritis denies her the ability to jog due to pain.

Swimming- I'd love to do swimming. I'm very good at it and I'm well aware of how effective it is. One issue though; no swimming pools around here. We do have about 3 ponds however, but if I do that you might see me posting about hypothermia lol.

@aingeal- Alchohol in general: Your weight gain from this has little to do with the amount of carbs in it. In fact, the body will retain around 5% of it for fat storage. The rest the body will convert into an evil thing called acetate. Think of acetate as an outside source of energy. So, if the body is burning acetate for energy, what is it neglecting to use? You betcha, the fat.

Keep the advice coming guys, as said it's very appreciated.