I need to get in shape. Should I get an exercise bike/elliptical or something or should I get a gym membership?
Disclaimer: I'd just use the gym membership to derp around on the exercise bikes and ellipticals anyway.
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I need to get in shape. Should I get an exercise bike/elliptical or something or should I get a gym membership?
Disclaimer: I'd just use the gym membership to derp around on the exercise bikes and ellipticals anyway.
i used to do 20 push ups every time i died in prince of persia
it lasted like two days
and i used to play ff13 with one hand with dumbells in teh other
that lasted 1 day
maybe you'll com eup with something cooooler!
Get a personal trainer to do a fitness program for you using mostly just bodyweight exercises. The trainer can make sure you aren't doing anything that might be bad for you, you won't need to purchase any equipment and with a program you will have something to stick to and won't have to work as hard to motivate yourself. Plus once you have the program you don't need to pay anyone :monster:
The important thing is to do something for about 6 weeks and then get bored of it. It doesn't matter what you do other than that.
If you do only that you're going to just lose a bunch of weight indiscriminately. You should at least do some form of strength training as well to lose fat instead of just weight.
What are your fitness goals? This is probably the most important question to answer before I can give useful advice. Are you looking to lose body fat (not strictly the same as losing weight and lots of people do it wrong)? Get stronger? Faster? Run a marathon? All of the above?
Insanity Workout. DO IT.
Actually don't. You might die. Listen to Vivi.
Well basically I gained like ten pounds over the last two months (even though I don't look like it, but you can't argue with like three different scales) so I want to fix that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vivi22
Ok, so fat loss then. First up, weight loss is mostly based on diet. I could say 99% based on diet and I'm probably not far off, so that's where you want to look first.
I seem to recall you like drinking pop don't you? If yes then try cutting back, but don't replace drinking pop with drinking something else that's loaded with sugar, including fruit juices. You want a glass of juice with breakfast, fine, but water is the preferred drink of choice throughout the day. A cup of coffee or two or some tea isn't going to do any harm if that's your thing either so long as you aren't loading it with sugar (notice a theme here).
As far as the actual food you eat, I'm going to say some things I've said before on the forum which goes against the conventional wisdom. Try to base every meal on meat, vegetables, some fruit, nuts and seeds, and oils like olive, avocado, coconut, etc. Try to skip over vegetable oils and canola oil for cooking when possible. Avoid bread, pasta and other grain based foods (oatmeal, rice, etc.). Wheat is the big one there so definitely avoid bread and pasta as much as possible. Some people can do rice and oats and stuff without issue but try eliminating as much as you can of all of it for now. You can reintroduce things like rice gradually after you lose some fat to see if you have any issues with them, but wheat based foods are no better than sugar for weight loss/gain so ditch them. Same thing goes for really starchy vegetables like potatoes for now. Some people are perfectly fine with them, but if you're trying to lose fat they will probably slow down the fat loss at best and undue it at worst.
I'll warn you in advance though that if breads and pastas have been a big part of your diet before you may be in for a rough few days after you phase them out. Many people literally go through a form of withdrawal where they crave the stuff, their mood swings between all kinds of extremes, and other fun things. You'll be fine once it passes and it doesn't usually last more than a week for most people but it can be a bitch if you don't know about it before hand.
Also, don't count calories or weigh and measure your food or even worry about how often you're eating. If you're basing your diet on meat, vegetables and good sources of fat you're not going to have any issues with overeating. If anything, you may find yourself feeling satiated with less food. That's totally normal. Just eat until your full then stop. Eat again when you get hungry.
Don't worry too much about what kind of meat you're eating too. Want some lean chicken breast? Eat it and include some almonds with the meal or something to get some fat in there. Want to load your plate up with some medium ground beef? Perfectly fine, and you may be able to skip some almonds. Just learn to listen to your body when it's telling you if you're hungry or full.
And because I know it's not always possible to carve out the time to cook all of your meals in advance (though I will say that slow cookers can be brilliant for easily preparing a weeks worth of lunches in a day), if you have to eat out then try and make better choices. Going to McDonald's? Grab a Caesar salad and toss the bag of crouton's they give you in the garbage. Not in the mood for salad and just really feel like having a burger? Get the burger, toss the bun, and pass on the fries and Coke.
I'm going to stop myself there because I just through a lot at you at once and I'm already worried I may have overwhelmed you. Just know that if all you take from this right now is to base your diet on meat, vegetables, some fruit (not too much) and nuts and seeds and oils then it will help guide you towards making the changes you need and moving in the right direction. If you want to know anything else or need me to clarify anything I just mentioned, don't hesitate to ask.
EDIT: One last thing I need to mention, if you weren't eating a lot of protein before then take any scale results with a grain of salt. Might be better to pay more attention to how your clothes are fitting if you're not seeing any changes on the scale. When you start eating more protein the body likes to use it to build muscle mass, even if you aren't necessarily working out more (or at all), so depending on your activity levels when you gained the weight and after you start trying to lose it, it's not unheard of to lose no weight or even gain, despite losing body fat. Now, that probably won't happen unless you start strength training or do some intense physical activity on a regular basis, but it's important to be aware of so you aren't discouraged if you see no change.
And if you try this for a month or so and don't notice any changes then we can always talk more specifically about what you're eating and changes you might want to make.
But I like your tummy ;;
Get a set of hand weights and a copy of Jillian Michaels 30 Day Shred. It's way cheaper than a gym membership, takes up so much less space than a big machine, and it works. I lost a good inch off my stomach after doing the shred everyday for a month.
Also, go to the pound/shelter and rescue a dog. Then go running with the dog 3 times a day. It works for me!
Way to call your girlfriend fat, man. :pQuote:
Originally Posted by I'm my own MILF
I knew I could count on you guys for advice <3 I'm trying to improve my eating but it's so difficult, I'm such a nut for pizza and pop.
But I always think of Pike when I think of Mtn Dew, you can't cut back on that! :eek:
Well if you really want to eat your pizza and drink your pop, you will have to excercise enough to still use more calories than you consume on your pizzapop diet :p. That could mean a lot of extra work.
A lot of extra work that probably won't work since her blood sugar will still be a mess. I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's next to impossible to out train a titty diet because everyone who told people it was a simple matter of calories in minus calories out was either misinformed or an idiot.Quote:
Originally Posted by Mirage
And Pike, if you find it difficult to cut back on pizza and pop, then you can try cutting back gradually. Plan your days where you're going to have the stuff, like maybe eat really well for 3 days, then the other 4 have a cheat meal and gradually try to dial it back. I tend to lack the willpower for that so it's never worked for me but it's worth a shot. And is there diet mountain dew? I can't recall ever seeing such a thing but I'm rarely in the pop aisle. If there is, try switching to that and then gradually cutting it out. Diet pop isn't exactly ideal, but at least it can help you start getting away from crazy blood sugar spikes and crashes which is what's going to help burn fat and lose weight in the end.
Diet Mountain Dew is disgusting, I'd rather go cold turkey than switch to that sludge. Diet Dr. Pepper is okay though.
Mostly I like the caffeine and I hate coffee, so therein lies the rub!
Man, I used to have such great metabolism. Not so in the past couple of years, it finally caught up to me :(
Well what you could do is just eat smaller portions of pizza, and replace mtdew with something non-sugary 3 out of 4 times. A few years ago, I found out that what i liked most about sodas was the fizziness, so i just replaced all my soda with carbonated water, sometimes with a slight flavor of lemon or other things.
Pizza doesn't *have* to be unhealthy. It all depends on what you put on it, how much you put on it, and how much you eat. If you break it down, it's just meat, vegetables, cheese and bread.
As an alternative to eating regular pizza, you can try ditching the crust. Buy a block of Parmesan and a block of Provolone, chop them up into decent sized chunks (maybe sugar cube sized or there abouts, you want them small but not to small for the most part). Lay the Parmesan chunks in a frying pan to form the base and add the Provolone chunks on top. This will form the crust essentially. No need to grease up the pan either. Turn it on to low-medium heat. The cheese will gradually melt and you'll also see oil from the cheese pooling around it. I try to push the edges of the cheese back into the center with a spatula as it cooks so things don't flatten out too much. When the cheese has pretty much all melted you can add the toppings of your choice: pepperoni, peppers, whatever. If you're using tomato sauce try to find some that's pretty low in sugar and save it for the very end. When a lot of the oil has burned off after several minutes and the cheese completely melted, turn the heat off and give the cheese about a minute or so to solidify a bit. Once it's ready, feel free to lift it out with a fork or spatula onto your plate/cutting board. Add your tomato sauce at that point, cut it up and enjoy. All of the delicious bits without that crust we want to avoid.
*Cardio.
*Eat Vegetables.
*Cut down on soft drinks.
*Cardio.
*Don't go cold turkey on ANYTHING. Start gradually.
*Even if you slack off for a week, don't give up.
*Also cardio.
You get used to diet sodas. it's easier if you don't drink them to taste the taste of the actual drink.
is it impossible because of body chemistry or because it's a hell of a lot easier to eat calories than exercise them?Quote:
I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but it's next to impossible to out train a titty diet because everyone who told people it was a simple matter of calories in minus calories out was either misinformed or an idiot.
On the subject of calories:
For the record, I actually lost 80lbs years ago by simply cutting down on calories. I didn't exercise. I didn't really change my eating habits other than not pigging out all the damn time. I even ate a big burger or an ENTIRE medium Domino's Pizza nearly every Friday and still pulled it off. Kept the weight off for about 5-6 years too.
These days I am attempting to lose weight again, but since I am older, I actually have put a better effort towards it. So far so good (roughly 15lbs off in month and a half now).
Body chemistry pretty much. Insulin is the hormone most directly involved in triggering fat storage, and insulin production is driven by blood glucose. If you're someone who is overweight and trying to lose body fat, odds are unless you are one of the lucky few who's fat cells are readily tapped for energy (unlikely if you ended up overweight in the first place), you need to eat to control blood sugar in order to lose body fat. Many people do this accidentally when trying to lose weight, or at least cut back on foods which spike blood sugar like pop, bread, pasta, etc because they're trying to cut calories and inadvertently stumble into fewer and smaller blood sugar spikes by eating more salads and vegetables instead of Pizza and bagels washed down with pop. I've seen people doing CrossFit, myself included, put on or lose weight simply by changing diet composition with no real change in how much they were working out, or the total number of calories. Hell, one guy I know was training to run 100km's or so through the desert and gained 5-10 lbs because his diet had to be higher in carbs to sustain his endurance training. And this is a guy running as much as 60km's in training leading up to the race. You're average person isn't going to come near that level of energy output in their workouts, and while I know he was probably eating more than usual, we're talking about a guy who was carefully measuring his food and not only expected to lose weight but was actively trying to, and being surprised by some unexpected weight gain. If that can happen to someone training for some extreme levels of physical activity, imagine the average person who`s sensitive to blood sugar spikes trying to lose weight by going through the same old workouts in the gym without eating the right foods.Quote:
Originally Posted by rubah
And to add to the difficulty some people have spent so many years mangling the bodies hormonal and metabolic functions with troutty food that even eating small amounts of that stuff on a semi-regular basis can completely negate any weight loss, and no amount of exercise on it's own is going to reset that body chemistry to something more normal. Assuming there are no underlying issues like thyroid problems, the only way to be guaranteed to lose the weight is by eating better almost all of the time, at least until the weight is off and the hormonal systems are back to something approaching normal again. Then it can be a bit safer to indulge occasionally without too much issue.
Even better is that some foods like wheat, or pretty much anything that spikes blood sugar and results in the inevitable crash afterwards stimulates the appetite. If most people eat the same junk and just cut calories they will almost inevitably fail to maintain their diet because they will be eating less and what they're eating makes them feel hungry again a couple of hours later and eventually they'll crack and start eating more again. Where the calories come from is more important than how many you're eating. Which is why I recommend avoiding wheat products, sugar and starches as much as possible. Do that and your appetite will pretty much regulate itself. You'll be eating better foods, fewer calories, have more energy and more consistent energy throughout the day, and maximize fat loss since you'll avoid blood sugar and insulin spikes throughout the day, meaning you not only won't be triggering storage of excess glucose as fat, but as your body readjusts to burning fat for fuel instead of carbohydrates it will more readily tap into stored body fat for energy when needed instead of telling you to eat more carbs because your blood sugar got too low a few hours after a huge spike. And all of that without having to do anything other than stick the right foods in the fridge and make the effort to prepare them. No weighing, measuring or calorie counting required.
Damn I need to stop being so long winded about this stuff.
Peegee would know what to do.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Peegee
Big head?
I am learning so much about why bread is bad for me. Now I am really sad.
I eat the smurf out of bread, and I'll never stop.
Tea? If you make fresh tea with fresh tea leaves, it's delicious. I'm talking iced tea. You don't need any flavor, really, because it has so much if its own.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike
"Bread makes you fat?!"--Scott PilgrimQuote:
Originally Posted by fire_of_avalon
I personally find my diet works wonders for most people when coupled with excercise. My diet usually consists of a small bowl (30g or less) of fruit and fiber cereal with milk (now I know vivi will rightfully berate me on the nutritional values of cereal, but it does provide me when eaten with an additional apple/banana enough sustenance to keep me going til lunchtime) lunchtime consists of a small portion of rice and veg served with a chicken breast sliced up, my tupperware pot is one of the smallest in the fridge at work and no one understands how it keeps me going but I'm eating roughly a meal the same size as my fists placed together, this is the correct size portion for people. Alongside this I will usually have some fruit, either a banana or an apple/pear since I'm allergic to oranges I have to be real careful bout what I buy from shops like Boots where they'll often put fruit salads together with oranges or mandarins. Blueberries, Cranberries, Pineapple, Melon and Pommegranate tend to make appearances if I have to go out and buy my fruit in the day (usually I will since the tube leaves fruit bruised to trout) Dinner for me is usually a small affair since it'll be when I'm cooking my lunch for the next day and after I've worked out down the gym so I'm too tired to bother with something big but I'll do something like throw some potatoes on and an extra chicken breast or some fish in the oven leaving me with a small portion of chicken/fish with some form of veg. That or occassionally I'll have my cheat meal in the evening where I'll have something like a pizza.
I've lost over a stone in fat but my weight hasn't changed too much because I've mostly gained that weight back as muscle which means whilst I look leaner than I have in years I'm stronger, faster and more healthy as a result. It shows too generally people see me and realize how much I've changed in the last 6 months for the better. I've still not got a six pack going on though which disappoints but for that I'd need to give up all my drinking sessions and well honestly I'm not ready to do that.
Ha! I won't really berate you for the cereal. If it's working for you then great, don't change it unless you start to plateau before reaching your goals. My mind is just somewhat boggled by the thought of eating some fiber cereal and not needing to eat again until lunch. If I ate your breakfast I'd be starving inside of 3 hours. Give me some ground beef and milk though and I'm going strong for 6-7 hours.Quote:
Originally Posted by John "THE LEONHART" Terry
Mind you, I don't process carbs very well at all and I know it. In fact, I've gone zero carb before for a couple of weeks just to see how it was and felt pretty darn good, so I tend to lean far more heavily on getting protein and fat and minimizing the carbs I'm eating when I really focus on my diet.
As soon as I realised Vivi22 was out to tell me how bad things I like are for me, I stopped reading his posts. IGNORANCE IS BLISS.
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Walking at least a mile every day and power walk twice a week. I also find swimming helps to keep the body firm, plus it can be fun!
Less Mountain Dew and junk food wouldn't hurt. More water. I would even go as far to say completely oust your diet of soda unless you want Diabetes, acne, and cavities.
Drinking low sugar/no sugar varieties of soda (diet coke/coke zero for example) in moderation is no less of a health hazzard as fresh pure fruit juice, something universally considered healthy. It all depends on how much you have, what you're drinking and what you call moderation. If by moderation you mean 2L a day instead of 4L a day then you need to re-evaluate what you call moderation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny
I lost 60 lbs in 4 months with this diet:
The Hacker's Diet
It wasn't super healthy, but I didn't care about anything except for losing a lot of weight fast, and I did. Data junkies will find it particularly easy to follow.
Fruits are healthy. Fruit juices, not so much. The contain all the sugar of fruits, but few of the good things (fiber, mostly). It's slightly better if you get juice with pulp in it, but ideally, just eat the fruits themselves. Not to mention, both juice and low/no sugar sodas are approximately just as bad for your teeth as regular sodas are.Quote:
Originally Posted by John "THE LEONHART" TerryDrinking low sugar/no sugar varieties of soda (diet coke/coke zero for example) in moderation is no less of a health hazzard as fresh pure fruit juice, something universally considered healthy. It all depends on how much you have, what you're drinking and what you call moderation. If by moderation you mean 2L a day instead of 4L a day then you need to re-evaluate what you call moderation.Quote:
Originally Posted by Shiny
My teeth love me; I've had two cavities over the course of my entire life and both of those happened like twenty years ago. I'm super fastidious about brushing because I wear a retainer every night.
Anyways I'm going nuts with juice lately because I figure it's better than pop and it's packed with vitamins and minerals.
But it has every bit as much sugar as [strike]pop[/strike] soda. If you want to have less fat on your body, you might have to decrease your calorie intake.
There are vitamins and such in fruit juices, sure, but far less than there is in the fruits themselves.
When I lost a bunch of weight, I stuck with mainly water. That seemed to work.
Less juice and soda. Moar water. Though smoothies are good. I usually do smoothies (just fresh squeezed fruit) over having juice since juice has so many preservatives and other added ingredients your body really doesn't need. Not all juices are that bad for you though and definitely not as bad as most sodas. So smurf it, have a juice if you want.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike
I lost 50 pounds over the course of about a year while having a very high carb diet. I'd eat lots of carbs all day long, every day, and I lost weight by simply walking a couple miles a couple days a week and by counting calories.
Even though I was eating cheese + bread + meat + sweets in Paris, I still lost about 3 pounds after a week there. We were walking about 5 miles a day (10 miles, the day we visited Versailles). And the portions of the food we were eating was generally smaller than what we eat in the US. So yeah, you could potentially keep eating the same food, but lose weight if you just exercise a ton and eat smaller portions.
Agree with everyone else who said to drink more water. Water is delicious. Water is your friend. Guzzle that stuff. I carry water with me EVERYWHERE. I will always have water in my purse, so that I can be drinking it all day long. It's not that hard to quit soda. I have it every once in awhile. If you really need to flavor the water, just pop in a lemon slice.
I don't know what you guys have in america, but juice over here almost never have any sort of preservatives or other added ingredients. Not even the cheap stuff.Quote:
Originally Posted by ShinyLess juice and soda. Moar water. Though smoothies are good. I usually do smoothies (just fresh squeezed fruit) over having juice since juice has so many preservatives and other added ingredients your body really doesn't need. Not all juices are that bad for you though and definitely not as bad as most sodas. So smurf it, have a juice if you want.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike
Not that I think preservatives are bad, though. I love them. Makes my food survive forever!
Okay so lemme get this straight:
No soda
No juice
No carbs
Fox only
Final destination
Got it!
Anyways I've already lost a little weight since Hux went home, apparently. I think it's because when he was here we did nothing but go out to eat for every meal, and now I'm back down to granola bars, sandwiches, and leftovers. And Mt. Dew. I figure this will be easy squeezy if I cut out the pop or something.
No items, either!!
I would try to give you some advice, but you probably wouldn't understand what I'm saying because of all this cake in my mouth.
Fixed that for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike
Yeah, it's hard to find vegetables with no carbs in them. Though I won't be surprised if companies try to engineer some one day.Quote:
Originally Posted by MirageFixed that for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike
I'm talking from the grave because I did insanity. It is insane, or at least the people who do it are! Felt great until the next week I could barely walk xD But I keep up at it, kinda. I do it every other day instead of every day, until I get better then I will go to everyday like it should be. By July I should be doing it every day. It's all about steps, you don't want to just start off sprinting. Also the hardest part for me is eating healthier, I cook like early Paula Deen xD 4 sticks of butter an everything~
Almost as hard as it is to find fruits with no carbs in them :p.Quote:
Originally Posted by Vivi22Yeah, it's hard to find vegetables with no carbs in them. Though I won't be surprised if companies try to engineer some one day.Quote:
Originally Posted by MirageFixed that for you.Quote:
Originally Posted by Pike
Speaking of coincidence, just as I was typing this reply, a friend called to remind me that today was iron pumping day. See you!
You know, when it came out that she was diabetic I was quite bothered to see people mention how much butter and fat is in her recipes and act like that was what made her diabetic. The butter wasn't the problem, it was gobs of sugar and the like that did in her pancreas.Quote:
Originally Posted by Melissaur
Losing weight is mostly about your diet not how often you work out. Example you could have dinner with 800 calories in it, if you ran for an hour you'd only burn off about 400. Exercise is more for keepin the oul ticker healthy while burning a few calories is an addeds bonus.
Ummm I never said that her butter usage cause her diabetes... I love Paula Deen.
I wasn't really saying you did say it was the butter that caused her diabetes. I was mentioning that many other people, particularly journalists because I guess fact checking and research aren't in their job description anymore, would mention it as part of the cause of her diabetes. It's not entirely on topic mind you, your mentioning her generous use of butter (which I have no issue with) simply reminded me of it.
Oh xD Yeah I derped there! SORRY :love:
It's all good. Just keep eating butter and all will be forgotten. :D
Drop the sodas. that is step one.
I know how to diet, I just don't WANT to :p
Does anyone really want to?
Okay so the food part is more important than the exercise part when it comes to weight loss. Got it. I'm cutting back on sodas/going the Diet Dr Pepper route and I'm getting those little "100 calorie" cookie packs to snack on instead of like... regular candy bars.
Baby steps right?
It's not all about the calories, it's about the acid. Drop the soda for a month and switch to tea and watch the magic work
BTW: green tea fights cancer just so eveyone knows.
Yeah, I completely dropped soft drinks when I lost a bunch of weight years ago, as I said in this thread before. After a week or two, I didn't even want to drink the stuff. You get used to the lack of [whatever your drink is here] quicker than you think.
It's the calories in the soft drinks that you're losing that helps you shift weight, not acid you silly mare. There's about 200 in a can of coke alone.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hypoallergenic Cactuar
The calories are what you are losing, however what happens when you drink soda is all your acid reacts with all the sodas acid and your liver is all like, damn, look at all that sugar, I better release some insulin, and then the insulin comes in and is taking the sugar out of their homes and sending them to phosphate reassignment camp and then the next day all the sugar the insulin could get its hands on comes back as fat.
Ninja, you crazy.
Quote:
Originally Posted by NorthernChaosGod
Is all that acid talk actually true? That's the first time I've heard that.Quote:
Originally Posted by Hypoallergenic Cactuar
That's a different way of saying "source, please."
And yes I did just necro a 4 month old thread. Deal with it!
:colbert: Well now it was pointless to tell Sam to make her own thread THANKS
You're welcome!