The Health, Wellness, weight loss, and fitness thread

[ChetMagongalo]

Gotta say—I'm on day four and feeling a bit insane. Scatterbrained to the max.

your body could just be adjusting, I felt pretty weird a lot of times when I was changing diets but I was also getting off antidepressants, smoking prob too much weed and was taking a somewhat stressful summer class so its hard to isolate my diet with my life at the time.

also look into supplementing vitamin B12, it's cheap and you can take a high dosage pill just once a week. I haven't bought a new bottle in months. you will be hard pressed to get a good amount of it in a vegan diet from my knowledge.

you might also consider paying attention to how much fat you're intaking, but this is mostly just an intuition on my end and the role of fat in the diet is controversial and debated (is it empty calories or a significantly important nutrient or some framework like that). the reason I say this is that dairy food and animal products in general have a good amount of fat in them and your body might be missing this either as a nutrient or just a loss of calories in general since fat has 9 cal per gram instead of 4 from carb and protein. consider sourcing your fats away from omega 6s as many people tend to eat them in excess. i recommend nuts like walnuts (high in omega 3s) or almonds, flax seeds (also high in omega 3), avocados or avocado oil and cooking oils like coconut oil, olive oil or canola oil. here's a quick video on the topic by Dr. Greger.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tP_LIY8cjf4[/youtube]

on exercise: I used to do resistance training, I did the starting strength program for about 3 or 4 months. I was getting good results but had to stop due to other stresses in my life (depression, school, work). these days I'm into bouldering (which is kinda expensive but really fun), riding my bike and yoga. you can get fit without needing to lift weights but if you wanna get ripped you should prob do some resistance training imo. I think cardio and aerobic exercise might have slightly more health benefits to resistance training but that also has its own benefits. ideally you could do both, but that's slightly harder to organize.

[Strange Tales]

I wanna go vegan but I cook the laziest, shittiest meals of all time. I might still look into it though. If there is anything I have massive trouble with though, it's portion limiting. How do you dudes keep that shit in check? I generally use 1 cup of rice between two meals, no idea if thats too much.

[ChetMagongalo]

whole plant based foods tend to be low in calories and high in fiber, so portions can physically larger but not as dense in calories while still filling. I don't ever track calories or anything but my weight is healthy and i'm active so I might have different needs than others. I'll eat prob a cup or two of cooked rice in a meal. I fucking love rice. do you mean cooked or uncooked? I bet 1 cup of uncooked rice makes about 2-3 cups of cooked but I'm not sure. I cook pretty lazy too for the most part, I'll just saute veggies and change up the carb and the protein as well as the seasonings and spices for every meal. If you learn to cook like 3-5 different things you'll prob be happy unless you are sensitive to eating a variety of stuff, in which case you'll just wanna be more creative or learn to cook more things

[Strange Tales]

I've been cooking the same meal for close to 2 years straight now. Rice, kale, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, ground meat (usually turkey or chicken) all cooked in olive oil. 1 cup of rice in my previous post is uncooked. I'm trying to split that up now between lunch and dinner instead of blasting 2 cups down my gullet. I'll look into various vegan protein options instead of ground meat and see how that goes.

I can eat fancy when I want, but mostly I just want to spend as little as time possible cooking/cleaning while not being hungry.

[JTurbide]

I've been cooking the same meal for close to 2 years straight now. Rice, kale, mushrooms, broccoli, carrots, ground meat (usually turkey or chicken) all cooked in olive oil. 1 cup of rice in my previous post is uncooked. I'm trying to split that up now between lunch and dinner instead of blasting 2 cups down my gullet. I'll look into various vegan protein options instead of ground meat and see how that goes.

I can eat fancy when I want, but mostly I just want to spend as little as time possible cooking/cleaning while not being hungry.

beans, tofu, tempeh, fake ground meat (gardein meatless ground is actually pretty goor once seasoned)

[Strange Tales]

I'll have to see what my supermarket offers outside of beans. There isn't a dedicated Vegan restaurant in all of South Jersey so not much draw to sell the stuff here.

[JTurbide]

I'll have to see what my supermarket offers outside of beans. There isn't a dedicated Vegan restaurant in all of South Jersey so not much draw to sell the stuff here.

Move to NY

[Chankgeez]

There's plenty of vegan food in Philly. Some of it is fancy too.

[comesect2.0]

whats a good way to recover from man boobs? been stretching with breathing exercises... push up/sit up/chin up/shadow boxing routine...I dont have weights but I find loading boxes with books and moving them around works...use to be really into yoga martial art practices and still incorporate that into daily exercise...but whats a good chest routine to build muscle and can it only be done with diet change...like no bread/nothing before bed? got a big ass chest and need to rip some fat off there cuz them boobys are terrifying

[actual]

whats a good way to recover from man boobs? been stretching with breathing exercises... push up/sit up/chin up/shadow boxing routine...I dont have weights but I find loading boxes with books and moving them around works...use to be really into yoga martial art practices and still incorporate that into daily exercise...but whats a good chest routine to build muscle and can it only be done with diet change...like no bread/nothing before bed? got a big ass chest and need to rip some fat off there cuz them boobys are terrifying

Weight loss + pecs/delts/lats. Pecs obviously cause those are the muscles directly underneath your moobs (I got a nice pair myself) and then delts and lats cause building mass in the areas will both help stretching out the skin, as well as getting proportions in check. A good routine of exercises including pushups, regular+incline bench, dumbbell pullovers, military press and maybe some pulldowns and/or pullups (not chin-ups), should get you seeing results farily quick. The first 4 execises all hit 2 or more of the pecs/delts/lats. I dunno how much you do in terms of working out already, but doing some ab exercises such as decline bench sit ups and russian twists along with hitting your traps would aid in getting a uniform look on top.

As for me, I'll be hitting the gym tomorrow, for the first time in like 9-10 months, due to injuries. Am very much looking forward to it, though there's still a lot of the fun stuff I can't do. I can do traps..they're the most important muscle anyway, right? I'll also be doing some light cardio and instructing my girl on machines, so that should be fun. Excite.

[actual]

lmao I just realized that I had only read the first sentence of your post, before I decided to reply don't smoke and ILF

[comesect2.0]

thanks

[Jwar]

Vid I'd respond to your bs comment if it wasn't coming off as pure jack assery. Do what works for your body bro.

[Jwar]

Vid I'd respond to your bs comment if it wasn't coming off as pure jack assery. Do what works for your body bro.

cool story bro, this would be a response to your comment if your response was a response bro.

I'm taking about on a personal and professional level. I may not be an expert but you writing off my comment as bro science is dickish at best. You could have questioned me in a less demeaning way but that does not appear to be your mo, at least not in regards to myself.

Here's my personal experience and what I've learned. Take what you will from it.

When you consume enough protein during the day via real food sources (I.E. chicken, fish, turkey...etc), your body will require far less in terms of supplementing with a powder (which by the way has tons of impurities in them). Fillers and other shit your body can't even absorb.

To put it into a real life perspective. I was consuming a protein shake just twice a day. My kidney function was off quite a bit and it's been a bit of a old wives tale that protein can dry out or kidneys. Or is it? I cut back majorly and my kidney function retuned to normal. How do I know this? Last year alone I had around 12 different lab panel run. Why? Simply because of my bodybuilding and how it affects your system.

I'm not debating the research behind protein but some of it is suspect especially considering I went off whey for three months and gained strength and improved my overall physique.

I can gain size and strength without a lot of protein from powders. I know this because I have done it before. I've gained 10 lbs in muscle in the last two years and take far less than anyone I know.

My next show, I can do a bit of tweaking if need be and prove what I'm saying.

No two people are the same and no two bodies react the same either.


I apologize for calling you a jackass but some times I feel like you attack me for now reason as if we have some beef I'm unaware of.

I'd also be more than willing to write someone here a nutrition and exercise plan to help out pro bono.

[Jwar]

but don't you have a lot of other factors figuring into that story? Like don't you take stuff on the sides, meds for this and that and whatnot, I find it hard to believe someone without interfering stuff would feel a difference between 30g of whey or 30g protein from actual milk. Except maybe the body not making the most of it.

I'm with you on fillers, you're talking like sweeteners and shit? Can't be worse than a can of diet coke tho.

I was curious to hear you even say you'd actually feel strength gains by taking whey, is partially what I was getting at. In my experience it has like.. zero connection, unless you're getting no other sources of protein. It's just a different way of getting it.

And you can call me a jackass, I am sometimes.

You mean factor into my kidney deal? Perhaps, but I had blood work done before and after reducing the protein and it made a huge difference. My doctor suggested lowering it, and I did and have been pretty religious about it since. In fact, I just had a shake right now for my evening meal and it was vegan. Since it's plant based and all the bs, it's easier for me to digest. That's another thing to factor in. When I was sponsored by a sup company (thanks again James), my gut was getting all tore up because I was taking so damn much protein. I was taking around 180-200 grams a day just from powder. I was easily taking in 400 grams a day. Which is you listen to most bodybuilder or dudes who specialize in bro science, they say that's normal and maybe not even enough. LOL.

As far as strength gains, the thing that helped me the most was being depleted and then restoring after being that way. So after doing a show, I'd fill up and go to the gym 7 days a week. Most people take the week off after their shows, I don't. I go in like Jay Cutler used to and slam the shit out of weight until I can barely fucking move. I'm stronger after my shows because my body finally has energy after not having it for months and months at a time. I've done three full on preps for shows and had the longest show prep other my first time around (6 months).

For instance, the week after my first show I benched 315 and I have never benched over 300 my entire life. I could never even get close!

It wasn't just from pure depletion though. I had been doing what's called controlled negatives for the past 2 years straight. In case you don't know, a controlled negative is the same principal as a regular negative rep except you do them without a spotter. So you pick a weight that you can control and do normal sets and reps. So for instance I'd do 5 sets of 20 deadlifts (I shit you not and it sucked ass) with a 1 second positive (the concentric movement or upward motion) and a 3 second negative (the eccentric movement or lowering portion). This made me strong as shit. I also dead lifted 405 (which isn't heavy but I have a bad low back) for the first time ever this year. So it works. I can lift every dumbbell in the gym and am like half the size of most dudes doing it. LOL. People look at me like I'm some sort of fucking freak when I do incline bench flyes with 75 lbs dumbbells. It's great though to be strong in my 30's! I love it.

In regards to medications that aren't prescription, I will admit I've taken them. I shouldn't have, but it's something I did and I'm not proud of. I've done 4 full cycles and now I'm paying for it in a major way. My hormones are so fucked up that I've been spending the last 6-8 months trying to get my numbers in line. My test levels were in the 2000's for instance. That's the main reason I decide not to compete anymore, although I may do a show next year (may being the key word here). I still take test (because I need to), but everything else is out the window. I'm not proud of this shit, and I trust you guys so I don't mind talking about it. I had taken 5-6 compounds at once during my last show for 16 weeks. I lost zero size and only bodyfat.

So just to keep it real, stay away from that shit guys. It's no joke and I'm a dumbbass for falling for it. Not only did I technically fuck up my sobriety, but also who knows if it will have any long term side effects. I don't know yet.

Was it worth it? No, not at all.

I think I've said enough? I dunno. I'm changing the subject and going into shit I probably shouldn't talk about.

I enjoy talking about this stuff, I just get worked up sometimes as you all know well.