Hi y'all,

As the school quarter closes and summer starts, my overweight roomate (who I've expressed much concern about NUMEROUS times) has essentially pledged to himself (and everyone else) that he will turn around his really shitty lifestyle, start hitting the gym, quit smoking, lay off the junk food, etc.

I have a lot of faith in him to change, but @ the same time have none @ all, as he's made these kinds of promises numerous times in the past. This time however, he's asked me to monitor him really closely and keep him on the ball.

I'll be doing my own research on what kind of diet changes and workouts would be most beneficial to him (via the stickys on this site as well as other sources);

but just a quick question, he's about 5'5/6" and weighs in around 220 pounds (REALLY pudgy guy ).

Is it feasible/healthy for him to get down to a 185-190 by the end of summer? I figure three months, roughly 10 pounds of healthy weight shed off a month.

-Thanks in advance, any other advice and information would be REALLY helpful. He's been worrying me for awhile now.

cliff notes:
-Fat lazy roomate has pledged to turn himself around
-Has asked me to watch him closely
-Is 30 pounds shed off by the end of summer too little, too much, unhealthy?
-Any advice would be extremely appreciated.

It's going to be a long summer

 

Sounds feasible. The first 30 pounds are the easiest
Some things to note:
A) If he's going to quit smoking he's going to start snacking more. Almost a given. Try to help him by keeping healthier snacks around (carrot sticks, celery sticks, etc)

B) Make sure you're around to go to the gym with him. If he has a workout partner he'll be less likely to skip out on workouts. Make sure you push him just enough. Too hard and he'll quit, too easy and he won't improve.

 

find a fun activity for him and the group to do. that might make working out less tedious.

like soccer, racquetball, something.

i wouldn't keep that goal for weight loss. let the weight come off in due time. having a healthy lifestyle is the more important goal.

 

diet diet diet might be the hardest for him.

Speaking of diet, you cant help but feel fat eating at that buffet in the cafeteria over there @ UCLA... My friend let 5 of us eat on her meal card last week and you cant help but stuff yourself everytime!

 

tell me about it. I eat in the dining halls after every work out.

I'm not worried about gaining weight though

We live off campus though, he hardly goes to the dorms to eat anything.

 

Don't forget to have him see his doctor to discuss these plans and help monitor progress and any potential conditions/problems!

 

Quick question:

I have his routine and diet all drawn up. Here's the thing though. I think that I'm more concerned about him losing weight than he is.. well I know.

Situation: I and the other roomate offered him $40 (20 each) to buy off the rest of the month so that he would quit World of Warcraft. His account ends in July anyway and he won't be renewing it; but I want him to basically jump into a new lifestyle immediately instead of just putting it off until next month.

He says that he really wants to lose weight and does care about how his lifestyle is going (I'm convinced WOW is a cause to sleep deprivation, laziness, no energy, shitty diet, etc.).

Is it unfair of me to assume to accuse him of not wanting to change himself enough by not taking the offer?

Cliff Notes
-Other roomate and I offer overweight roomate $40 to stop playing wow for the rest of the month (account ends in July)
-He declines and wants to play til' the end of the month
-Fair to say that all his promises and desires to change are bullshit?

I just want his head 100% into changing his lifestyle around; and since world of warcraft is basically his life, I don't believe he can do what it takes to change if he doesn't stop procrastinating and cutting this game out of his life right now.

 

You know what I tell people?

- Walk everywhere you can.

- When you feel hungry, drink a tall glass of water. Then have some food. People tend to think they're hungry when in fact, thirsty.

 

Also, snack on carrots, they seem to fill you up faster than anything else.

 

you can't change anybody...its gotta be their decesion; he could be downing a few extra cokes a day plus a few candy bars a day for several hundred empty calories w/o you knowing.

 

And WoW claims another person. I don't know why people get so addicted. This guy has basically let it destroy his life.

I play occasionally but not like that. He really needs to get away from the computer and go have fun playing sports or something. The best way to quit gaming is to have friends who constantly harass you to come do something with them.

Getting active and going to bed at reasonable times are the first step. Ironic because of what time I'm posting this, but yeah.

 

that is VERY doable... however motivation is going to be the toughest part. you're going to have to be his mother and nag nag nag. it's so easy to just not go to the gym and eat pizza instead of cooking real food. hang in there, he'll thank you later for pushing him. you have to be consistent too though.

plus.. once he loses a bit of weight, the girls will be more likely to notice him

remember, having him do an hour of cardio every day is going to be really hard at first. start with eating really healthy, NOT skipping breakfast, and work on some strength training. remember, muscles use energy all the time. and get him to quit smoking NOW!!!

 

Update:

Day 1, utter failure - he stated he would come back to the apartment to workout.

One day wasted already; hahah. whack

 

Since he's as fat as he is it'll come off quick. Or it should. He failed on day 1. Day 1 is the day that EVERYBODY behaves, it's the weeks and months after that that are the true test of dedication.

Call him a pussy for me.

 

how long has he lived like this? i think the first thing you can do is to change the food he eats and wean him off cigarettes. it is doable, but rome wasn't built in a day.

did he play any sports before?

 

Why help him, when he can't help himself?

 

He clearly doesn't care. He failed on day 1 like ABreece says. He's done. Let him wallow in his own pity.

 

Well I guess day 1 failure is excused.. he ended up having a doctor's appointment the morning after and couldn't make the 60 mile drive back to campus from home.

Was able to get him through first day's work out with an hour of cardio with no complaining.

He couldn't run 1.5 city blocks w/o getting winded though.

It's going to be a looooong summer.

 

Is this something he wants to do or something you want him to do? Because it's definitely coming across as you pressuring him, at least on here, and that's not too cool.

 

It's something that he definitely wants to do. Well... apparently he does. He talks about how much he wants to lose weight and what he wants to do to get it done, but just doesn't have the follow through. I can assure there is no pressure on my part besides concern for a friend who is living a very harmful lifestyle.

 

Cool - but (I assume) you guys are in college, and half the fun of college is the "very harmful lifestyle". Eating shitty, drinking and smoking nonstop, etc. Graduation and the real world slap many, many people into shape, literally and figuratively, so don't make too big a deal out of it. If the kid is beating himself up over it, help him out, but the fact that you're the one "expressing concern over him NUMEROUS times" makes it sound like you might have more of a problem with his lifestyle than he does.

 

Tell your buddy we can go to Big Boy and hit on the waitresses ...

 

I do see what you're saying; and I do agree that I do have more of a problem than he does with his lifestyle.

He's been doing well this week so far though and has been keeping up with eating well and working out.

Extremely early in the summer I know, but something is better than nothing when he hasn't gone to the gym once in his life :-X

 

if you guys have a friend that's a girl, ask her if she'll go on a date with him if he loses 30 lbs. and then use it as bait.