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Tolgak
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Topic: Fitness ReportPosted: 01 May 2011 at 10:08pm |
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I tried to start a fitness challenge a while back and I sort of forgot about it. I know most of you don't care, but I am ecstatic to report:
4 months ago: 235 lbs 38 inch waist 3 consecutive pull-ups (palms in) 10 push-ups (bad form) Today: 210 lbs 33 inch waist 8 consecutive pull-ups (palms out) 25 consecutive push-ups (chest to the deck) This is mostly due to a smarter diet, a push up/pull up plan (started recently), and some sort of cardio every few days. I haven't lost weight in the past 6 weeks, but I've also been relatively sedentary due to some leg pain. I think I'll update again after a few months.
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benttwig33
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Posted: 01 May 2011 at 10:31pm |
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I've been meaning to whip myself into shape as well. with school still going, im simply too busy to have begun just yet. Congrats, I would love to drop 25 pounds.
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mbro
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Posted: 01 May 2011 at 10:33pm |
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I've been running 4 or 5 miles a few times I week lately. I've dropped a few pounds. No idea how many since I don't actually own a scale or care all that much.
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Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos. |
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agentwhale007
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Forum's Noam Chomsky Joined: 20 June 2002 Location: Statesboro, GA Status: Offline Points: 12014 |
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Posted: 10 May 2011 at 12:36pm |
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Pardon the bump from multiple pages ago.
I decided that I would use this thread to describe what I've been doing. This is not to take away from Tolga's accomplishments. What he has done is quite impressive. About two months ago I decided that the lifestyle of food, sloth and stress that pretty much drove my undergraduate career really ought to be looked at now that I've got some time to relax and think about everything in my life. In high school I managed to keep my weight and health in check because I worked out three nights per-week, I ate pretty well at home, and life was, for the most part, stress-free. Then, undergrad. A compounding of working 16+ hour days at the newspaper, working four jobs at one point, being stressed about literally everything in my life, it all compounded into a pretty terrible lifestyle. I didn't eat very well, I didn't get much sleep, and exercise was non-existent. The food was one of the worst parts. My roommate at the time, bless her, was dating a culinary student who always left the kitchen in some state of disaster, meaning that I ate out pretty much every night. This lead to me hardly ever having groceries in the apartment. That, plus the fact that I wasn't getting out of work until anywhere between 11 p.m. and 1 a.m., left the options for dining out somewhere between Steak N' Shake and Taco Bell. On the weekends I was too exhausted to cook anything, so I'd eat something microwaved and down it with beer and cigarettes to relax. Well, those days are now gone. Where I'm at now is comfortable, and I've got the next four years of my life locked down, so I figured I'd begin a change. That, and I'm working normal hours, so I can actually manage this. First and foremost I've been going to sleep at a regular hour and trying as hard as I can to get at least seven hours. Second, the diet. I've completely restructured the weekly routine, making it a routine. I work well with routines. The main goal in this diet is, mainly, better heart health, so low cholesterol, low salt, low fat. My family has a history of heart conditions, so that was the number one thing here. Firstly, I've converted to a quasi-vegetarian diet. I eat meat about two nights per week, and when I do eat meat, it's chicken, turkey, or fish. Always cooked in some homemade dish with low-fat and low-salt. I've put a really heavy emphasis on leafy greens, too. Salads are a mix of raw spinach and field greens, and I try to include some kind of cooked green into every meal, including kale, mustard greens, turnip greens, collards, etc. My week of dinners consists of:
Lunch (Always packed by me) has been reformed as well:
Breakfast has remained cereal and coffee. This has been harder to reform. I've also cut out pretty much every beverage that isn't water or coffee. Except for the occasional beer. So, no more regular sweet tea or soda. I've also started a bit of an exercise routine. This area has a fantastic bike path, so my roommate and I have begun biking about two or three times per week (Although she's having some knee problems). We can usually bike about 10 miles round-trip at a nice fast pace. We also live about a mile and a half from a grocery store, so we've started making a habit of fast-walking up to the store, buying the things we need for dinner, and fast-walking back. The plan is to eventually turn that into jogging, but I'm a bit self conscious about that, and have some knee problems myself. The exercise thing is what I know the least about, but so far, the focus on heart rate and cardio seems to be having some effect. I've noticed that when I walk up the stairs at work now, I don't get that winded, which has been a pleasant surprise. I know quite a few of you here are good at the workout thing, so suggestions are always open. One of the main things I've focused on throughout this whole experiment is not to weigh myself and get caught up on the number on the scale. Now that I think about it, I've not weighed myself a single time since I started. This is, for me, about living an overall more healthy life, not about a raw number of weight. I know that if I get caught up in the weight aspect of it, and I find that I don't lose anything or it seems to be slowing down, I'm going to get depressed about it and end up at the Chinese buffet crying into a plate of egg rolls. So yeah, that's been my life change during the past two months. I've loved every second of it, so far. Sorry to drop a mega word bomb on this thread. Edited by agentwhale007 - 10 May 2011 at 12:45pm |
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carl_the_sniper
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Posted: 10 May 2011 at 4:22pm |
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Congrats whale, that's pretty legit dude. Keep in mind that dietary fats, cholesterol, and even moderate sodium intake do not cause health problems in most, and that meats are not evil. Also, you could probably shave your beard and get a respectable haircut and lose 30 lbs in the process. http://www.liamrosen.com/fitness.html Good link. Read it, live by it, and you won't have to worry about not losing weight. The only people who don't lose weight on a weight loss program are those who do it wrong. Any questions you have, I'd be glad to help. I know a ton about this and have a lot of experience, fitness is my hobby and my life. |
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agentwhale007
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Forum's Noam Chomsky Joined: 20 June 2002 Location: Statesboro, GA Status: Offline Points: 12014 |
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Posted: 10 May 2011 at 4:44pm |
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Why thank you!
Oh, for sure. The limiting of meat has nothing to do with any kind of extremist stance, it just helps me trick myself into eating healthier on the regular, essentially. I tend to want to have something like mashed potatoes with my grilled chicken, for example. The cholesterol and sodium are mostly just being avoided through not eating a lot of processed foods and no fast food. I know that if you drink a normal amount of water that sodium is essentially not a worry anyway, but high-sodium food just happens to also usually be high fat food. That and my family has a history of blood pressure issues along with heart problems.
Thanks for this. I read through it just now, and it has a lot of good stuff on the exercising thing. I really have no real knowledge about how to do any of that stuff. The extent of my exercise knowledge is that: 1) It only really works when you get your heart pumping enough to do any good, and . . . that's about it. Which is why my exercise so far consists of biking until winded, then keep going, and power-walking until winded, then keep going. So the info on that kind of thing is appreciated. I'm mostly sticking to cardio stuff for now until I have the means and ability to actually learn what the hell I am doing with weights. Except for the 2lb weights that you can put a Wiimote in. Wussy, I know, but that plus the NFL Training Camp game is something. |
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carl_the_sniper
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Posted: 10 May 2011 at 8:48pm |
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For Weights: Any friends who work out and look like they know what they are doing? If not, look into etting a personal trainer who looks like they know what they are doing to give you a single lesson on how to do the big lifts properly (deadlifts, squats, bench press, overhead press, rows, etc...) Be careful because 90% of personal trainers are complete crap but if you get a good one, they can show you the basics in a single session which would not be expensive and would pay off in the long run. Don't get suckered into buying their supplements or more training. If all else fails, watch youtube videos on good form and ask someone who looks like they know what they are doing to critique your form. Most people will have no problem spending 5 minutes of their life to help a new guy out. Learn to work out properly from the beginning and you are already ahead of half of the gym who has been working out for years. That being said: If your goals are more towards general health than pure weight loss, It is my opinion that you should exercise in whatever way is most fun for you as long as it is done with good intensity. Biking is a great way to get or stay in shape if that is what you enjoy. It is obvious that you are seeing the results of a better lifestyle already. As you continue to better yourself and make yourself healthier, you will start to wonder how you ever lived the way that you did before. I do. Keep it up. Edited by carl_the_sniper - 10 May 2011 at 8:48pm |
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Dazed
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 10:10am |
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I think you might like "The Four Hour Body" by Tim Ferriss, Whale. His diet is unconventional, but works. His writing is good, and the book is more about "body hacking" than just dieting. Lots of good info and fun to read.
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carl_the_sniper
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 10:44am |
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Looked it up. Some of the promises made by the book are horrendous and impossible. Gain 34 lbs of muscle in 28 days? Lose 20lbs in 30 days with no exercise? Low carb diets and using ice to lose weight? SPOT REDUCTION? No offense. It's just that the thing about nutrition and fitness is that all the best advice is available free online. And generally, the more you pay, the less effective advice/product you get. Edited by carl_the_sniper - 11 May 2011 at 10:45am |
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Dazed
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 11:00am |
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It's completely non traditional, and mostly based on bobybuilding techniques. You should give it a read before decrying it too much. A guy I work with is having pretty good luck with the diet. He hit 16 lbs. in a month, he also tried to start his workout during the third week of the diet and his weight loss plateaued that week.
The guy freely admits that he's doing things outside the norm and completely not recommended by doctors today. Edited by Dazed - 11 May 2011 at 11:03am |
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carl_the_sniper
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 11:19am |
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Pretty much everything I read there is super traditional. In a bad way. I looked at their site at the topics covered. Did not look good. Note that the vast majority of that 16 lbs was probably initial waterweight. When I started my current cut last month, I lost the first 10 lbs in under two days. It was waterweight. If his weight loss plateaued by starting to exercise, he is doing something wrong. I don't want to sound like a jerk. But the majority of fitness advice/products out there is/are a bunch of crap designed to convince people who don't know much about fitness that there are "mystical secrets" to losing weight that only fit people know. This is not true. |
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Hairball!!!
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 11:19am |
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Check bicycle fit, namely saddle height. I see quite a few more casual cyclists with way too little seatpost showing, and that'll jack up your knees in a hurry.
Throw a basket or a rack on that bicycle, or get a nice big bag that works well on the bike, and make that ride every so often. A short spin like that would do wonders to loosen up stiff or sore legs and is just as fast as driving. Bicycle commuting is quite an eye opener. You'll appreciate your area more by discovering new details and views of routes you normally drive. Sharing the road with cars and trucks will make you a better, more attentive, and more reasonable driver. Fitness-wise, relatively low joint impact, and setting your own pace means you can cruise just to get somewhere or make it an intense A to B blast. Upkeep from wear and tear on a bicycle is much less than a car, and you don't have to buy or burn gas. |
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FreeEnterprise
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 11:19am |
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Good job Whale, nothing better than setting goals and going for it.
For your roommate with her knee problems, her bike may be set improperly causing knee pain. The seat to pedal position and handle bar height is critical to not stressing your knees when biking.
Getting it adjusted correctly can immediately eliminate knee pain. You want to be over the seat with your leg going almost all the way to down at the bottom stroke of the pedal cycle. (not locked, but only slightly bent)
Most girls ride with their seat WAY too low, which means that when fully "extended" they still have a huge bend in their leg. Which causes way more stress on the knee, and pain.
Also, many people use way to high a gear before they are ready, it should be easy to pedal when starting out. If you are cranking really hard, you are doing it wrong, and it will cause added stress to your joints.
Best tip I can give is take a picture of her from the side riding her bike with her leg "down". Then I can tell you exactly what needs to be adjusted to lessen stress on her knees.
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agentwhale007
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 11:20am |
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Oh, another point: I've started taking a multivitamin. Just the basic Centrum one. Pretty much every doctor I've asked has said that unless I have a noticeable deficiency in one area, just a standard cover-all multivitamin will do what I want it to do instead of trying to mix-match things.
Except it makes the ol' peepee green. Which is always a pleasant surprise when I forget that vitamins can do that. And I've not quite cut beer out. That's one thing I'll probably latch on to. I just usually keep the beer to one or two nights a week. Or, at least having more than one beer at a time is limited. Edited by agentwhale007 - 11 May 2011 at 11:39am |
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agentwhale007
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 11:31am |
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Actually, yeah. My dad used to do competitve power-lifting and Olympic weight lifting for about thirty years. Maybe when I get back to Florida I'll ask him to show me how that stuff works.
She's got a basket on her bike. We occasionally load up a salad and bike to the park and picnic. I like the walk to the store instead of biking because it gives me a reason to speedy walk. It's easier for me to get my heart rate up speedy walking than biking. I also would love to bike to work but I sweat a lot, and I don't think it would be appreciated.
Yeah, she rides low on her bike. It's a beach cruiser brought up from Florida, so it's sort of spent its life as a comfort thing and not an exercise thing. She went to a doctor yesterday and was diagnosed with "Patellofemoral pain syndrome." They gave her a brace and told her to work on strengthening her quadriceps. Edited by agentwhale007 - 11 May 2011 at 11:36am |
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Dazed
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 11:45am |
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I understand that there isn't a magic pill. So does this guy, he's been working out for 20something years. Half marathons, weights three days a week while running 3 other days a week, minor roids before the "roids are bad" days. He's also a nerd and a hacker, and says lots of this works and is basically body hacking. Maybe not as good as advertised (but who doesn't advertise their best instead of their average?) but its working. Is it for everyone? Probably not. You seem to be as fundamentalist as they come and angry at anyone trying anything else. It probably isn't for you. I think that Whale, however, would like the writing style and find some of the addtional info in the book to be interesting. The diet is also fairly close to what he's doing (a lot more protein though) and agrees with the "splurge days" he's doing. |
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carl_the_sniper
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 12:06pm |
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Mine makes it neon yellow. Not that you necessarily need a multivitamin. But it's not a bad thing to take either. I currently take a more expensive athlete's multivitamin but will be switching to a mainstream cheaper one for the exact reason that you stated. Fish oil and vitamin D are a good call too.
No offense and though your friend may know his stuff, there are a lot of people who do the exact same thing as him and have no clue what they are talking about. I will leave it at that as I don't know your friend. Not fundamentalist or angry at all at this. However, when the contents of the book and methodology presented on the website uses principles that were proven wrong in scientific study years ago, I don't need to read the book to know that it is wrong. I'm not saying it's all crap. But why pay for something when you could get better advice for free online? And every decent nutritional plan calls for high protein, most call for splurge days also but that is mostly to satisfy your random cravings and keep you from going insane. |
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mbro
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 1:21pm |
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Don't blame me, I voted for Kodos. |
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GroupB
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 1:42pm |
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Mbro, that course is impossible to finish.
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ArthurBignose
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Posted: 11 May 2011 at 3:02pm |
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Everything you could possibly need to know about weight lifting, dieting, and exercise:
http://scoobysworkshop.com/ Edited by ArthurBignose - 11 May 2011 at 3:02pm |
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