Fat girl wants to lose weight and train for first triathlon

Have lost 70 pounds in 18 months, so my advice is start slow and build gradually.  Walking/hiking to begin, some swimming maybe mixed in, and focus on nutrition and logging all you eat.  Add distance very gradually to avoid injury, and exercise using heart rate, so get a monitor.  Spend the first six months gradually bringing up your exercise minutes and bringing down your food intake while shifting to healty foods.  I used CalorieKing and it has been very helpful in getting me focused on net calories.  I think it's good to have a goal of August, and it's possible, but for the next six months I'd focus on building up your endurance gradually and not take on running yet.  Good luck, and you've stumbled into a great site with many helpful people.

Welcome to BT!
WW is a great program. I'm currently doing the at work meetings too. I totally agree with what has been said about building gradually. For me, I found consistency is a huge thing. Doing too much too fast leads to burn out and/or injury. I looked at my schedule and current fitness level and made weekly goals I could commit too. In the beginning, it was only walking 2 times a week for 30 minutes. Do what you can do and if you do it consistently you will be able to do more, and more as time goes on.

I know it's not easy. I've lost 75 lbs and I still struggle with eating right and exercising consistently. Good luck.

Edited by jpbis26 2010-10-21 12:08 AM

Welcome to BT and good luck on your journey. I am looking forward to the race report.

Welcome to BT

I would say BMMAC is pretty much right on. I am down 45 pounds now. I was 263 lbs. It is tough journey but it really is simple. Eat right, Record everything and put in some slow and easy exercise to start. Look at some websites and use some calculators to figure out your Maint Calorie Intake and NEVER EVER eat less then 500 calories below that. Eating too little will put you in starvation mode and will stop weight loss. I find I eat more now.

I eat 300-400 calories meals several times a day. I try to not eat more then 400 calories at time as the body really can't process much more then that. Much more then that and it takes the rest and stores it to fat as the insulin/sugar cycle can't seem to break it down or deal with more then 400 calories at a time ( I am non insulin diabetic) I eat every 2-3 hours all day long and I fill the void with Veggies. I am a busy person so I don't write down or count veggies in my food plan. They don't amount to much and it frees up time for writing down the things that count.

My best advice. Everyone is different, these are all good starting points but you will have to keep making life changes and changes to diet and working out to find what works for you. Goal should be LONG TERM weight loss.

I used sites like DailyBurn to record my eating.  And I also used FreeDieting for my calculators and zig zag diet.

Feel Free to PM me if you want at any time. I know I have had a tough Journey and I am now finding all this that works. But you have to be really willing to commit to life change. If so you will be very successful, and you will sit back and look at it all and be pleased.

Welcome to tri!
Your August goal sounds great--I know I need to be signed up for a race to keep my motivation up, otherwise it's too easy to let things slide.

Your swim background is awesome--better than most of the people on here, swimming is the big stumbling block for most people entering triathlon, so you're way ahead there. And bike and run fitness can be gotten by anyone, just work at them steadily and patiently and you will see the results. 

This is a great site for info and feedback and friendly support. Lots of people here have been in your position where they decided to lose weight and get fit, and they have kept the weight off and the fitness up once they got hooked on tris. Check out the Athena/Clydesdale thread in this forum for many of their inspiring stories. (Athena/Clyde is tri-talk for larger female/male athletes.) 

Good luck and happy training! 

Forgot to say... I'm a Hoya too. GO HOYAS! 

Thanks for all the replies and support. This is a really great site and I look forward to getting to know you all a little better and updating you on my progress.

I signed up for my 1st sprint tri last summer.  I've always been relatively fit but overweight.  I had never been a swimmer or runner but can hold my own on the bike.  The 1st session in the pool was killer but got better. Running hurt.  Too much weight on those knees, so I did walk/jog intervals and built up my cardio on the other activities, just enough running to get to the finish line.   I did the sprint tri (400 swim, 22 mile bike, 5k) in July, felt great and loved it.  Then...took a "break".  Now it's October and I'm signing up for a winter tri just to get motivated again.  Thankfully I didn't lose too much fitness, but a few pounds did creep up.  I'd say to sign up for the tri as soon as registration is open.  Being registered will keep you motivated (scared?!) and force you to keep making progress.  I trained for 5 months for the tri and only lost about 15 lbs total, but many inches in the waist and hips which made it look/feel like more.  Take it slow and hopefully we'll both be in a better place this winter/spring!

Welcome!  Remember to take the time to be proud of yourself for taking the first step which many people never do.  I started my triathlon training last November and did a super sprint the beginning of June.  I don't run--would love to, but can't yet--and I had no trouble finishing the tri.  I also did a sprint in August so I'm proof that it's possible.  And don't let anybody tell you differently.  You don't have to run, you can walk.  Swimming is my best and favorite part so when race time came I just focused on enjoying the swim instead of being nervous about running.  I agree that you should register as soon as it opens --can't back out then.  Good luck and go for it!