Any good advice for losing weight?

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I would like to lose a bit of weight to be healthier and more because people like to pick on me when my aspergers makes me an easy target. But I am not sure what sort of exercises to do. I am afraid of the gym and I don't like to leave my house very much. Are there any at-home exercises that are effective?

Do you think you could do an exercise DVD? I find them difficult due to co-ordination issues but I figure that if I just jump around for the time the DVD is on, it will be better than nothing. You could also just put on some music and dance for half an hour a day. If you look online there are 'home workouts' that you can do with minimum equipment. Exercise is important but so is diet - so if you can cut down a little on things like Coca Cola (if you drink that) and processed food that will help too.

Thanks for your advice:) Yea I could try that, my coordination is bad too, I fall over when I am standing still! I have been trying to have a healthier diet. I don't drink any fizzy drinks.

I fall over just standing still too. It does make certain types of exercise more difficult. I used to have a friend that I went swimming with but then she wanted to try boxercise (it's a combination of aerobics and boxing, I think) and I knew I would never manage that. People keep telling me I should try Zumba, but I know I won't be able to do it. I go swimming and like walking, which I find works for me, but might not be for you if you don't like going out.

The main thing is that you burn more energy than you consume and it almost doesn't matter what you do as long as it raises your heartbeat so jumping up and down or running up and down the stairs at home is fine.

Step 1: Read this. It's perfect for beginners.

Step 2: Lift weights. It doesn't have to be a lot, if all you wanna do is lose weight. When you lose weight, you almost always also lose muscle, EXCEPT if you lift. Do regular lifting, and you'll maintain muscle mass. As the guy in the guide puts it, if you don't lift while trying to lose weight, "You'll look a new kind of s**t after looking like your current kind of s**t".

Step 3: Run that ass off! If you can cultivate a love of running, it's literally the best way to lose weight, because it works your entire body, AND improves your health pretty much across the board. I LOVE the high that comes after a nice cardio session. And before I ever started running, I had no idea I'd love it! It'll be less pleasant when you first start out, but after about 5 cardio sessions your body will be used to it and it goes from being a workout to being something that's actually FUN! Oh, and bring your headphones, your favorite music player, and your favorite music.

Stop eating so much. If you eat a lot of calories - eat less. It's that simple. And lift weights

It's not quite so simple. Failing to "eat less calories" the right kind of way can actually HINDER your efforts at losing weight, by causing your body's metabolism to slow down. You cannot, for example, simply decide to suffer through skipping breakfast, then continue to eat McDonalds and other unhealthy foods for lunch and dinner on a regular basis and expect to lose a lot of weight. By skipping breakfast, you cause a lull in your body's processing of taken-in food, which slows the body's metabolism down and ultimately the rate at which it is burning calories.

The best and most efficient way to lose weight from a purely-diet standpoint is to simply start taking in less caloric-intensive foods, rather than reducing the amount of food you eat, unless we're talking about portion sizes that are above what is normal for your height and gender, or reducing the portion size of "treats" such as the odd piece of cake. That means instead of eating McDonalds, eat a nice tunafish sandwhich with a lighter mayo and some carrot sticks/apricot/strawberries/whatever lower-calorie thing you wanna add to it, lots of good lunch options out there.

I've been wheat free for 4 months and lost 10 pounds without even trying. Read "wheat belly". It's fascinating and may apply to even more on the spectrum than the average person.

Depending on body chemistry, wheat and sugar are the devil....

If you happen to be insulin resistant, you will not lose weight short of outright starving yourself while eating sugar and wheat.

Anybody interested in losing weight should take an hour to watch the YouTube video of the Stanford A TO Z Diet study. It's easy to find...

That's why you don't eat McDonalds or other crap. It is simple - I did it. I lost 40 pounds in two months only drinking chocolate milk for breakfast and dinner and a small lunch...

And I continue to do it. I eat two eggs, a piece of toast for breakfast and a tuna sandwhich and tomato soup for dinner

I lost 35lbs in about 3 months by eating fewer calories, what helped a lot for me was carb restriction. One thing I did was, when I'd see something I'd wanna eat, I'd just ask myself "Do I need to eat this?" And the answer most of the time was no. Let's see, I also used a lot of energy drinks/coffee to get more energy, as without food, less energy. Not the best move, but it does work. I also exercised for about an hour a day.

I say if you don't want people picking on you, start powerlifting or Olympic lifting exercises. They build confidence a lot, imo, it's cool to be able to pick 300lbs off the ground, and if you're already "big" you might do well in them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUl7UqbL3uc Olympic lifting
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMIGc-PqsBc Powerlifting

But overall, just start cooking your food from scratch, avoid processed food as much as possible. Then you'll probably lose some weight doing that. After that, if you wanna lose more, just ask yourself "Do I need to eat this?" and you'll be able to cut calories by doing that. Also, exercise, for me what got my exercise going was ice skating, but I'm assuming most rinks aren't as cool as mine and only charge $27 a month for their ice time. But, hiking, if you can get a good hike in everyday, you'll be pretty fit, and hiking is more or less free.

I've had a lot of success with stationary cycling.

Why are you afraid of gyms may I ask?

I don't want to speak for the original poster, but I've no interest in going to a gym for fitness. There are numerous reasons for this, some of which have evolved with me over time. Here are some of the one's that come immediately to mind:
- Loud noises and music, of which I have little control.
- Lots of people doing lots of different things.
- Heightened self-consciousness due to large number of potentially attractive people who know what they're doing and will probably have less trouble figuring complex equipment (under stress).

As far as my current regimen goes, I go for walks (30-45 minutes 3-4 times week) and have started doing push-ups, too. I'm a naturally 'big' guy and can put on muscle pretty quick. (Quick note: sunglasses have helped me with my walks, for all sorts of reasons; I'm not always squinting all the time--which is really unpleasant--and it helps me with my 'eye contact' issues, too!)

In addition to push-ups, some other activities that you can do indoors are:
- sit-ups (anchor your feet under your bed, etc.)
- pull-ups (w/ installation of a pull up bar)
- a whole host of upper-arm/upper-body exercises you can do with a basic free-weight setup (i.e. 75-100 lbs in free-weights, an adjustable curling bar and an adjustable dumbbell or two)

What I really love to do, though, is hike. I like being in nature and like the solitude, although I've been fortunate enough to have a close friend (my one close friend, really) who is very active and into outdoorsy sh_t. And, though I do like the solitude, people who you come across in these settings are typically gentle, nice, also fond of nature and somewhat infrequent.

When I was most happy in life was a period of 3-4 years where I...
- hiked (mountains 'n such) 5-10 miles a week. (rain or shine, 50% solo, 50% w/ friend(s))
- ran 45 min. - 1 hr 3-5 times a week. (rain or shine; 90% solo)
- lifted weights 4-5 times a week, rotating muscle groups, etc. (100% solo)
- drank an immense amount of water (and coffee, even when lifting weights).
- drank no alcohol and took no other drugs, prescribed or illicit (except for eye drops for high pressure, glaucoma prevention).
- would hacky sack 1-2 hrs a week, sometimes more, sometimes less; this is the one physically-coordinated thing I've ever been good at, especially as far as 'group' activities go.

I felt pretty great, physically, mentally and emotionally. I also liked, in all honesty, the additional attention my physique encouraged from the fairer sex.

I'm currently hovering b/w 190-200 lbs; Down from 220+ lbs. I'd like to get down to 170-180 lbs. This will require slowly increasing my activity and seriously adjusting my diet (I might have to look into the diets others are espousing on this site). And cutting down on alcohol 'n such, which, for me, will probably be harder than anything else. That's a whole 'nuther story.

Sigh...

Regards to all. A very good post. Exercise is really important for everyone, but for me (and I think, a lot of people 'like me') it can be deadly flippin' serious. My mood really needs the surplus of endorphins that regular, aerobic exercise brings. The hardest thing with this, like many other things with me, is getting started. Sometimes I need to stop thinking and planning and just DO! (Easier said than done)

Good Luck!

For gyms, most of the talking/music issues can be solved by just wearing headphones. As far as attractive people, well, I just hope to impress them all by deadlifting lots of plates and having them be like "Wow, I wanna have his children." You know? But in all seriousness, though, I find for attractive people, you just need to learn to focus on what YOU'RE doing, and just shut out anything in your mind besides what you're doing right that second.

http://valorathleticsinc.com/store/imag ... Silver.jpg I want a squat rack like that, and bumper plates for my house, because I can never really max out squats like I like in the gym, because ditching a squat is pretty awkward especially without bumper plates. That, and my gym's squat rack isn't "open" like that one, it's got a cage, so I can never go the ground with it without putting silly little aerobic plates under me, and with heavy weights I don't like walking out of the rack, and then usually there's people doing stuff directly behind me anyway. Ugh. Plus at home I could yell, psyche myself up, etc, like an idiot and nobody would care. And it'd save me money in the longterm, as the gym costs about $1 to drive there and back to. Also, it's just more convenient. On a whim I could just decide to do a set of squats at like 1AM.

Well I've mostly cut out Starches and I feel better for it. Also in general avoiding sugar. Otherwise I try to favor vegetables over fruits, though IMO an occasional apple is good for digestion.

Also avoid white bread and that includes things like the crust in pizza. I also just have a modest amount of rice if I get Chinese Food.

In fact, I think people even need to be careful with Cereal. This is the frustrating thing some products sound nutritional or "fortified" but do have sugar so they don't taste like cardboard.

As for exercise at home for a beginner, it might be worth looking into resistance bands. I'm assuming the OP doesn't care about bulking up but would be satisfied with lean strength.

Agree- I've achieved goals I never thought I could by joining a local gym, but it's so damned miserable to be there. The lights are obnoxious, and the crowds and crowds of people. I don't find it especially-loud, just the throngs of morons milling about in clumps like cows wandering around, standing behind me against the wall when I'm trying to use the treadmill, etc. The lights went dim for about half an hour once when they were doing some duct work (new gym) and I was shocked by how much of the pain and dread and just general misery I associate with the gym had nothing to do with the exercise, but the sensory environment.