The Health, Wellness, weight loss, and fitness thread

[IEatCats]

I just have to look at this man in order to remember my fitness goal. Within 90 days I want to have made serious progress in looking like this.

Insanity workout+keto diet as soon as I can afford to buy groceries again+running regularly starting tomorrow, possibly.

[MaxMaps]

Have to bump the thread.

After many many years of carrying around excess weight I woke up one day feeling like absolute crap. From then on I am trying to make the change permeant.

Started out slow by slowly cutting away the soda/energy drinks/ juice. Went straight to water and then started doing a program called couch to 5k.

First couple of weeks were rough but I stuck mostly too it. The next couple of weeks afterwards I have changed my eating habits over time to include the following.

Whey Protein -( In bar or liquid forum no more than 2 a day)
Eggs / Egg Whites
Cracked wheat bread (try to limit this to 2 slices)
Loads of vegetables and fruits (again trying to limit on the fruits)
Brown Rice
Black Beans
Lots of Fish / Shrimp/ Chicken trying to avoid red meat
Coffee with out the sugar creamer ( I love it too much )
Skim Milk
Cottage Cheese - Low Fat
Plain roasted almonds

This combined with running then doing 4 sets of 20 jumping jacks with alternating days of box push ups and sit-ups made me go from a size 40 to a size 36 and a net loss of 25 lbs. Feeling lighter is great but I don't want to go under 220. Looking thinner has brought back a lot of confidence in my game and made my wife crazy hot for me.

I will be going to a gym next month but I need your guy's help.

-While my diet is moderately healthy I feel I am missing something or doing something counter productive. My target goal is to be 230 buy doing just cardio then burn the rest of my fat by building muscle. How should I portion out my meals?

-My work out program while awesome needs some work too. I get the recommended 30 minuets of cardio then do my small sets and stretch afterwards for 10 minuets. On days I don't run I am working a physical job and I use a Nike fuel band to keep me active throughout the day. What can I do to improve my work out program?

[IEatCats]

skipped a week of insanity last week. I just had a lot going on, and couldn't work up the will to workout during it.

Started again today. I'm going to work on figuring out a diet when I get all this shit turned in for foodstamps.

[01010111]

Have to bump the thread.

After many many years of carrying around excess weight I woke up one day feeling like absolute crap. From then on I am trying to make the change permeant.

Started out slow by slowly cutting away the soda/energy drinks/ juice. Went straight to water and then started doing a program called couch to 5k.

First couple of weeks were rough but I stuck mostly too it. The next couple of weeks afterwards I have changed my eating habits over time to include the following.

Whey Protein -( In bar or liquid forum no more than 2 a day)
Eggs / Egg Whites
Cracked wheat bread (try to limit this to 2 slices)
Loads of vegetables and fruits (again trying to limit on the fruits)
Brown Rice
Black Beans
Lots of Fish / Shrimp/ Chicken trying to avoid red meat
Coffee with out the sugar creamer ( I love it too much )
Skim Milk
Cottage Cheese - Low Fat
Plain roasted almonds

This combined with running then doing 4 sets of 20 jumping jacks with alternating days of box push ups and sit-ups made me go from a size 40 to a size 36 and a net loss of 25 lbs. Feeling lighter is great but I don't want to go under 220. Looking thinner has brought back a lot of confidence in my game and made my wife crazy hot for me.

I will be going to a gym next month but I need your guy's help.

-While my diet is moderately healthy I feel I am missing something or doing something counter productive. My target goal is to be 230 buy doing just cardio then burn the rest of my fat by building muscle. How should I portion out my meals?

-My work out program while awesome needs some work too. I get the recommended 30 minuets of cardio then do my small sets and stretch afterwards for 10 minuets. On days I don't run I am working a physical job and I use a Nike fuel band to keep me active throughout the day. What can I do to improve my work out program?

I think cardio and diet have more to do with weight-loss than anything. Try cutting down your portions, it sounds like you're eating a lot to meat, and where you're exercising a lot that could be adding more muscle. This could make it difficult to get to your target weight initially. I would worry more about getting to your target weight before you start trying to build muscle. Intuitively it seems the two would fight each other.

Checking in: my current weight is 152. Goal is 150. I'm exercising 3-4 times a week and using a standing desk, I've cut out sodas and candy in favor of fruits and veggies. Exercise routine: 16 pull-ups, 50 push-ups/sit-ups, 50 curls with 15lb weights, and a 2-3 mile run. I'm feeling great, but my exercise routine has kinda taken the place of my normal musical pursuits and I'm not sure what to do about it...

[MaxMaps]

That is what I am thinking at this point. I am have been eating really light and I am still shedding my excess weight. I checked in at 242.8 this morning. I know I can drop the 12 extra pounds so I will definably check back in when I have had more time to grind at it.

[01010111]

That's awesome! You can totally shed that weight!

[MaxMaps]

That's awesome! You can totally shed that weight!

Thank you so much for the support

Checked in again at 244 this morning, I think my scale is broken because I get readings all over the place. Think after acupuncture I am thinking I am going to run today and plan out my meal for tomorrow morning (because I have to work on my day off *grmble)

Had an amazing dinner via the wife's boss, was not picky about what I ate because it was free and we were celebrating the end of a really nasty tax season for my wife's firm. Mahi Mahi is to die for!

[D.o.S.]

Weight goes all over the place from day to day, depending on water, etc.

This is my tenth week of not smoking, and after shooting hoops for like an hour yesterday I can absolutely feel the difference.

[Jwar]

I've been cutting for 6 weeks now. It's a gradual cut, so it's slow going. Seeing definition in places I never have before, so that's awesome. My workouts have been so intense that I haven't been able to do as many days a week as I want to. I'm supposed to be weight training 6 days a week, with active resting (running in place, jumping jacks...etc) in between my lifts. So it's like getting cardio and strength in one. The problem is that my carbs are now down to about 50 g's a day or less. It's hard to have enough endurance to do 6 days with that low of carbs. So frustrating. I'm hitting it at least 4 days a week though. Sigh...I want a cheeseburger.

[MaxMaps]

I've been cutting for 6 weeks now. It's a gradual cut, so it's slow going. Seeing definition in places I never have before, so that's awesome. My workouts have been so intense that I haven't been able to do as many days a week as I want to. I'm supposed to be weight training 6 days a week, with active resting (running in place, jumping jacks...etc) in between my lifts. So it's like getting cardio and strength in one. The problem is that my carbs are now down to about 50 g's a day or less. It's hard to have enough endurance to do 6 days with that low of carbs. So frustrating. I'm hitting it at least 4 days a week though. Sigh...I want a cheeseburger.

just curious what your diet is? I am just winging mine and information on the internet really seems misleading.

[Twangasaurus]

Ugh, my depression and subsequent taking of depression meds have left me kind of a fat bastard. I go through periods of extreme weight loss when I feel good to putting it all back on again plus some when I'm feeling shit. Getting back into the routine of things now and generally speaking my life is in a better and more stable place this time around so hopefully it will stick. Really makes a world of difference when it all starts clicking together.

[MaxMaps]

Worked for 10hrs and I still ran tonight. Weight is at 239.4. If I stay on plan and don't blow out my diet next week I will have lost 30 lbs of pure fat in 2 months.

Dreaming about what I can do in the next phase to just burn straight fat.

[Jwar]

I've been cutting for 6 weeks now. It's a gradual cut, so it's slow going. Seeing definition in places I never have before, so that's awesome. My workouts have been so intense that I haven't been able to do as many days a week as I want to. I'm supposed to be weight training 6 days a week, with active resting (running in place, jumping jacks...etc) in between my lifts. So it's like getting cardio and strength in one. The problem is that my carbs are now down to about 50 g's a day or less. It's hard to have enough endurance to do 6 days with that low of carbs. So frustrating. I'm hitting it at least 4 days a week though. Sigh...I want a cheeseburger.

just curious what your diet is? I am just winging mine and information on the internet really seems misleading.

So I basically use a formula that works for me. I first lost around 80lbs by eating between 1400-1800 calories everyday for 9-10 months. Averaging between 2-3 lbs loss every week (of course there was some bigger losses in the beginning). I made sure to keep my proteins higher than my fats, and keep all of my other numbers (sodium, cholesterol, fat...etc) under the daily recommended values. I used a online program to keep track of all of my eating, so I knew exactly what was going into my body. That was 3 years ago. I went from 250 to 170.

The second phase was bulking up in muscle, where I started lifting heavier and heavier and taking longer rest periods. I began to research bodybuilding and muscle growth and found a lot of fascinating information. I use different approaches for different goals, or combine certain aspects of each approach. Some things work, some don't. You just have to do the leg work when bulking. I did kind of a mixture of a dirty bulk and a clean bulk. I would eat what I want basically, but had to keep my calories extremely high to keep up with the exercise programs I prescribed myself. Lifting 6 days a week is tiring without the proper caloric intake. HIGH carb, HIGH protein. I went from 170-to 199 in a year and a half. Gaining probably 20 lbs of muscle and of course some fat. That's the unfortunate part of bulking.

How do I know how much fat versus muscle did I gain? Simple. I had my body fat measured. I stayed almost exactly the same with a 30 lbs gain. Amazing. My strength almost tripled in some areas.

Last phase (for now) is cutting. This is NOT a necessary phase and neither is bulking. It's more about vanity and insecurity than anything. I am following a very strict diet. The exact plan I'm on can only be found on Jim Stoppani's website, but it follows the exact same principles of many other cutting programs. High fat, High protein, and low carb. My protein intake is around 1.5-2 grams per pound of body weight. My fat is around 75-90 grams and my carbs around 50 grams or less.

The reason for this is that your body uses your energy stores in a certain order. It first goes to carbohydrates, then to fats, then to proteins. So by eliminating the carbs (almost completely), you body will go directly to fats.

The difference between this and an Atkins type diet is: First this is a gradual decrease in carbs. Starting at around 200 grams a day, to 150, to 100 to less than 100. Second it's not a long term thing. You should not eat this way forever IMO. There's lots of arguments in the nutrition area, but you'll find what works best for your body.


Depending on your goals and where you're at, I'd try what I did first. 1400-1800 calories or 500 calories less than you consume on a normal basis. This will get fat loss going and accelerate your metabolism.

[MaxMaps]

Depending on your goals and where you're at, I'd try what I did first. 1400-1800 calories or 500 calories less than you consume on a normal basis. This will get fat loss going and accelerate your metabolism.

I have been using my Fuel Band that my wife got me for a random present and it shows how many calories I burn in a work day or at home. I have been keeping metal track the last week or so about how much I am eating. Again this has been slow but I am educating myself as I go along. I don't want to go under 220 or I am going to look really scrawny, however if I have to dip under that you get rid of the rest of excess body fat I will do it. I also plan on ramping up my work out routine and when I finally go to the gym I am going to start lifting weights at least 4 days a week.

This is so helpful! The more information I get the better.

[goosekevin]

I'm starting to feel like I should lose some weight
I have a lot of food intolerances due to reasons as yet unknown:
Corn and its products
Yeast
Fruit that isn't apples

I am very unfit and have never really like exercise but always been sort of slim until the food intolerances and my depression got bad
I have a weird appetite and comfort eat a lot, it's a hard habit to break
I'm trying to cut out the crap and walk every night
I'm starting a yoga class soon

Any other advice? I used to do karate and loved the exercise but hated the social aspect