Is this a good health plan for a complete fitness novice?

[mood]

I am currently 6 ft, weighing in at 294 lbs (133 kg) and am determined to lose a lot of weight over the next few years, to get down to my target weight of around 185 lbs. It's a tough order, but I have produced a plan that I will stick at and I am wondering if there is any improvements/alterations needed.

Weekdays:
6-8AM, 4 mile walk, followed by breakfast of Weetabix or similar and a rest.
9-11AM, Upper body strength Workout.
11-12AM, Gentle Aerobics/warm down
12-1PM, Lunch of Soup
1-3PM, Dog walk, around 3 slow and steady miles.
3-4PM, Rest.
4-6PM, General press-ups, sit ups Etc.
6-7PM, Dinner and rest for the night.

I am unsure if this is sufficient to cut my weight and if I need to extend this to the weekend, but I will be swapping my normal dinners for more vegetables and fish. Any advice is welcomed and taken on board.

 

[Asha1]

try eating fruit and veg and snak on them reguraley....the workout sounds too much for a novice try something a bit lighter then progress...

good luk

 

[puppy326]

This routine sounds a bit too tough to start out for a complete novice. Ideally, this would be a good plan to get up to but I would start with smaller amounts or you will get far too overwhelmed or discouraged by soreness/injury and stop altogether. If you haven't done any exercise in a while, if ever, you are going to be more prone to injury at first, so push yourself but really listen to your body at first to make sure you aren't doing serious damage you won't feel until tomorrow.

I would recommend starting with maybe 1 mile walk before breakfast, 30 minutes of strength, 30 minutes of aerobics, 1 mile walk and 30 minutes of press ups/sit ups, keeping to the time frame and resting in between. Do that for a week, then double the values, to 2 mile walks and 1 hour workout sessions, week 3 is 3 mile walks and 75 minute workout sessions, all the way up to max at 4 weeks. Again, listen to your body each time and if it's too rough just after an increase cut back for a couple days and then try to go up to the next level, taking up to 8 weeks to get to max if you really need it. Gradually it will get easier even as you increase activity as long as you stick with it and in the mean time you're still doing more exercise than you have been so it's still good for you.

As for the nutrition, I would change things slightly. Before going out on a long walk first thing in the morning, have a sports drink or a glass of juice, just because your body has been fasting since dinner the night before. The body doesn't start metabolizing fat nearly as quickly as most people think so it won't hinder your efforts to give your body a small burst of fuel to wake up for the walk, either that or you won't be able to make 4 miles. Not sure about the nutrition of Weetabix, as it's not available in my area, but just make sure you get a bit of protein in for breakfast. Also, after any sort of strenuous activity, you should have a small snack. It doesn't have to be more than 100 calories, but just to make sure you get in some quick metabolizing carbohydrates (like fruit) and a bit of protein. This will allow your muscles to recover far quicker, and helps build muscle faster and just having muscle (not even using it) burns far more fat than not having it.

Overall, make sure you are getting in 1500 healthy calories, dipping lower than that will put your body in starvation mode, making you less likely to lose weight, more likely to binge. If you scale your workout routine, you should scale your diet up a bit as well, maybe giving yourself an extra 100 calories by the 3rd step. Having up to 2000 calories isn't horrible either as long as you just remember you will lose weight as long as you burn more calories than you consume.