How would you help a fat person get into shape?

Serious Fat Question wrote:

Lets assume the person has 40+% body fat percentage and very weak.

Would you do more of a strength muscle building gym routine or daily long slow walking routine?

assuming they were motivated enough to get into shape I'd start them with 10-20 mins on the bike and weight lifting - 8 exercises a day, 6 days a week, alternating between days, so there are 16 exercises total

I'd increase cardio til they got to 30 mins a day and increase sets on the weights til 3

then I'd add in pushups and situps until they could 200 situps and 70 pushups - in 1 set of each, 6 days a week

then I'd get them started running while still maintaining the lifting, just 30 mins easy at first, working up to where they could run for 90 mins one day a week, and 60 on the other 6

I'd then cut weights and have them do the above mentioned runs but with a 3 mile run every morning and gradually increase that to 7, while increasing the long run to 2 and a half hours gradually and the other 6 runs to 80 mins.

source: my training from 6th grade through freshman year of college, went to 210 to 130 by 10th grade. Ran some decent times my freshman year of college.

Lifting M-W-F, simple, compound exercises, 5x5, just 3-4 good ones. Swimming or biking for 30 minutes at a hard effort T-Tr-One weekend day. 200-500 calories deficit from basal metabolism per day; NO MORE. Focus on eating nutrient dense foods, and getting good sleep and hydration. Once they got down to ~20-25% bodyfat I might start them on a running plan, but I would see how they were feeling mentally at that point about switching things up.

"How would you help a fat person get into shape?"

relentlessly tease them until they developed an eating disorder

I was JUST debating this in my head today as I was watching this show on MTV called "Made." I know I will already get ripped on for watching MTV, I know... I KNOW! But for some reason I find the "Made" and "True Life" episodes to be entertaining and terrifying at the same time. I was also stuck to an ice machine (just had surgery and have to ice 2-3 hours a day), so I have a lot of free time.

Anyways, a fat person will usually begin the show by introducing him/herself as "Betty Sue who is 17 years in her Senior year of HS and is 250lbs at 5'7''" She wants to be "skinny" like her classmates and find a date for Homecoming. Today her goal was to lose 90 lbs in 13 weeks!! That was her summer vacation. Now, all the more power to you Betty Sue but that is f*cking 7lbs/week as her Trainer (an x-marine) pointed out to her. And so the insanity begins.

You would think he would have her ease gradually into a cardio program to begin with. Instead, he puts her on a treadmill and sets it to about 10.0mph so the poor girl is crying before the first 90 seconds of her workout. Not only does she look like she's going to fall off but she's sobbing and holding on for dear life. She runs into the bathroom saying she is going to puke (partly because he's out of shape), but mostly because she probably is on the verge of vomitting. She's laying/sobbing on the bathroom floor. The remaining 30 mins of the episode is of him literally screaming at her as she does ranndom drills like drag a tire across a lawn, random weight lifting, and about 900million burpees. Now, I may not be a genious but if you have to lose 90 in 13 weeks, I'm not sure if this is the Easiest way to do it. This girl literally cried so much I think she lost 80 lbs of waterweight. She could have swallowed this Marine whole if she wanted to ...

Serious Fat Question wrote:

Lets assume the person has 40+% body fat percentage and very weak.

Would you do more of a strength muscle building gym routine or daily long slow walking routine?

Strength training plus very low carbohydrate diet.

Buy them

The same way I would get anyone in shape... running. Though I am a runner who knows little about any other method of getting into shape.

shrinker wrote:

assuming they were motivated enough to get into shape ...

They are not.

There is little likelihood they are strong enough for a long slow walk, if they are very weak.

I would:

1) Line them up with a registered dietitian to get them off almost all of the carbs and onto lots more veggies.

2) Sell most of their furniture, except for a table and a bed. They don't need a couch, chairs, etc.

the only way to lose weight: hit max heart rate-rest-hit max heart weight-rest (repeat, not exceeding 15 minutes of total intesity) you can apply this to anything, push-ups, elliptical, running, walking...

The Lydiard way. Easy running at whatever pace is possible for the entire duration of time.

first week: 10 minutes running/walking every other day.

second week: 10 minutes running every other day

third week: 10 minutes running every day

fourth week: 15 minutes running every day

fifth week: 20 minutes running every day

Keep at 20 minutes until you can slowly pick the pace up (have control over pace).

3 push ups for every mile run and 10 V-sits for every mile run.

if this fat person was in hs, I'd remind him of the opportunity he'd have to run for the University of Delaware if he got into shape

Read this thread about someone who's done most of the work already...inspiring stuff. I reckon his initial 220lb was around 40% fat.

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=3780094

Of course "Impossible Dream" used to run, and has proven he can stay the course. If your "patient" lacks that willpower or background it may be harder. In this case I'd look at it psychologically - how do we build the motivation? Ideas...

(a) find out about all the stuff they used to like doing when they were younger, and try hard to find a sport or activity that is actually fun and has a social aspect, so they want to spend time doing it. Depending on their background it might be tennis, rugby, soccer, hiking or even being a volunteer dog-walker...

(b) get them to seek sponsorship from friends/family for some good cause - e.g. raise X for each percentage point body fat dropped in 2011.