Exercises to Kick Start Metabolism Without a Gym

QUESTION:

I must say I am impressed. I was in a similar position when I was your age and I never acted on it. I'm 27 now. I'm 5'5" and 185 (recently gained a few lbs) ... and as per rough calculations I have some 25-28% body fat... but i'm not exactly sure.

How did you start your diet to losing weight?

I have lots of stretch marks now (unfortunately) and skin problems (dryness/eczema) which i'm sure is related to my weight.

What i'm wondering is how did you start off your eating habits and what did you eat at what time? I'm trying to reset my body so that i can kickstart my metabolism.

I don't have access to any exercise equipment at the moment but i need to start from somewhere.

Thanks for your time and response.

ANSWER: 


When I started losing weight I mainly focused on eliminating junk food and instituting whole foods into my diet.  I completely stopped eating food with added/refined sugar, chips, caloric beverages, sweets, fast food, fried food, butter,overly processed foods,and anything that everyone knows is not healthy or good for weight loss.  


The foods I decided to eat regularly were oatmeal, chicken, lean beef, pork chops (with fat cut off), egg whites, fish, whole wheat pasta, whole wheat bread, brown rice, beans, peanut butter/nuts ( in moderation), salsa, salads, and as much fruit and vegetables as I wanted. From the time I started to when I lost the 85 lbs I didn't even drink diet drinks or eat fat free/sugar free products.  I believe eating these unprocessed foods cleanses the body and makes you feel far healthier. I never counted calories for losing the first 60 pounds and ate when I wanted and what I wanted from that list of foods.  


In my opinion you should not worry too much about eating certain things at certain times because as long as you are in a caloric deficit you will lose weight.  In fact almost every night I ate a huge bowl of pasta with chicken or steak for dinner and this was usually around 6-9pm. However eating the majority of your carb based meals around your workout can have performance benefits as they give you energy.


If you want to increase your metabolism the best way is to simply exercise and exercise hard.  Since you do not have access to a gym I suggest you focus on doing bodyweight squats, pushups, and pull ups.  I suggest buying one of those bars that hook onto your door so you can do pull ups.  Try doing a 3 set curcuit where you do squats until failure, 40 push ups, and 15-20 pull ups (go as high as you can go).  That would be your first set and you should try to do this 3 times with 3-5 minutes between sets. You can do this every other day.  You can also do running/sprinting 4-5 times a week for 15-45 minutes in order to burn calories and increase your metabolic rate.

Tony isn't a licensed nutritionist yet, so he can't give anyone advice on what  to do.  Please consult your doctor for his professional opinion on a diet/nutrition program that will work for you.

Tony's blog is a journal of his experiences and what has worked for him.   He lists general guidelines and suggestions only.  He is NOT a professional.