Take care of yourself

[RoadDogg]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Or just eat less crap.

I wish it were that easy 21, but most people have no clue exactly what they're putting in their bodies.

If people knew more about their diets, eating less crap would be appropriate. We eat too many simple carbs and too many saturated fats, and we don't think about it.

Hence the reason a 10-day to 2-week diet diary is a great thing.

 

[21]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Or just eat less crap.

I wish it were that easy 21, but most people have no clue exactly what they're putting in their bodies.

If people knew more about their diets, eating less crap would be appropriate. We eat too many simple carbs and too many saturated fats, and we don't think about it.

Hence the reason a 10-day to 2-week diet diary is a great thing.

Thought about this a lot, and I know too much about it to let it go.

Anyone who is serious about weight loss and lifetime fitness will never get there by following a prescribed diet.

You get there by taking the time to understand the impact of what you put into your body, what makes you feel good, what makes you tired, what makes you fat, what helps you burn.

Dieters will follow the plan for a couple of weeks, maybe a couple of months....and then quit. Too hard to stick to the regimen. Unless you understand how to apply it to your entire life.

The 'eat less crap' theory is a basic start for anyone. A guy eating 4000 calories a day can lose some weight by dropping to 3000 calories a day....that's a couple trips to McDonalds and a latenight pizza. Crap. You don't need a nutritionist to tell you that.

(And Road Dogg, I'm not arguing with you here, but this is a crowd that thinks Diet Mountain Dew is a health drink, just trying to keep it real.........)

 

[PaseanaARG]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

I think 21 is definitely in the right here. Dieting does not work in the long run. You've got to understand what is good and what is bad for your body. It's actually a very hard thing to discern. The food companies make it very hard by throwing out lots of different ideas, names, descriptions and the like.

For me, it's a sugar thing. I get my sugar from fruit only. I also stay away from things with anything "paritally hydrogenated" in the ingredient list.

I wish, 21, that you give us a basic rundown of how you make your dietary choices. I think you could help people by breaking that down...

 

[Cosmo]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Getting into a regular routine helps, too. On work days (especially desk shift days), I can stick to breakfast, lift, lunch, snack, dinner cooked at home, light snack. It's those days when you're crunched for time that you feel like making that Del Taco run isn't a bad idea.

Cooking at home is a pretty decent way to regulate portions and add some vegetables and other good things to your diet.

And 21 is mucho right ... that late-night pizza? Bad, bad idea.

 

[21]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

I wish, 21, that you give us a basic rundown of how you make your dietary choices. I think you could help people by breaking that down...

I would be happy to, but my diet works for a 114 lb female body with a lot of muscle and daily workouts. It would not work for the average male.

My basic rules, as i have written here before:

1. Cut the white food--white breads, pasta, sugar. Your body does not distinguish between a bowl of linguine and a bag of Oreos....all digested as sugar, and stored as fat. Messes up your blood sugar to cause endless cravings (3 pm slump, grab snickers bar, followed 4pm slump, grab Coke, feel sluggish and tired....round and round).

2. Eat protein, whenever possible---it takes longer to digest (keeping you feeling full longer), it actually requires twice as many calories to digest it, and it does not screw with your blood sugar.

3. Get some muscles. They burn calories just being there.

 

[cranberry]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

It's those days when you're crunched for time that you feel like making that Del Taco run isn't a bad idea.

Very true. If you take the time to eat regularly, your blood sugar level doesn't fluctuate and you don't start craving donuts or whatever. I recently added a mid-morning snack (typically low fat peanut butter on wheat bread) and I've found I can eliminate junk food almost entirely.

 

[jzenor]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

If I could add my two cents in to the great advice from 21 and others...

I see a lot of guys who spend hours in the weight room but only do cardio sparingly. Personally, I get better results using shorter, intense weight workout. (i.e., don't just sit there in between sets, unless you're doing them very quickly. This may mean less socializing, but it is a gym not a singles bar.)
I rarely lift for more than 30 minutes, not counting abs workouts, which makes it easier to find time for a good cardio workout, too.
You may hate cardio, but that probably just means you need it more than you think. And cardio includes tennis, basketball, stuff like that.

So if you're trying to get bulky, lift weights and don't worry about much cardio. If you're trying to get lean and look good, do both.

 

[RoadDogg]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

21, no offense taken.

I said the stuff I did and gave the formulas I gave because, after 15 years of training both athletes and weekend warriors, they have worked.

I understand there isn't a universal solution to physical fitness. But I do know that the more people know about what they are putting into their bodies, the easier it is to understand what exercise can do for it.

As far as the resistance vs. cardio, if I could do only one, it would be resistance. Depending on how one trains, resistance training can be more aerobic than cardio training (do a set of squats, then compound them with speed squats, and you'll get my meaning).

I'd choose resistance training because it builds muscle, and your body uses more calories to sustain muscle. Therefore, the more muscle you have the more fat you can burn.

 

[jzenor]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Road:
I agree. I guess my point was most guys I see who only do weights don't do it in such intense fashion.
On the flip side, I know guys who do weights and get all their cardio from softball and tennis and stuff and it works great for them..

 

[Cosmo]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

born ... I know of those folks whom are you referring to.

At my gym, I kept an eye on this guy once because it seemed to be that all he did was walk around, flex, look at himself in the mirror, and flirt with women. During the entirety of my 40 minute weight workout, I saw the dude do TWO sets of light bench presses. That's it.

Anyway, I've kind of switched to a four-day format instead of five at the gym (in terms of weights), and it tends to keep me fresher than when I was going five.

If anyone cares ....

Monday/Thursday
5 sets of chest (can mix it up, like two sets of bench, a set of flys, set of pushups, set of declines; or can just do five set of bench)
5 back
5 bis
5 calves
20 minutes of cardio (usually stairmaster)

Tuesday/Friday
5 quads
5 hams
5 tris
5 shoulders
20 minutes cardio

Wednesday
Double cardio (20 min bike/20 min stairmaster)
3 sets of abs

It's not too overbearing, at most an hour in the gym, which is all I can squeeze into my schedule. Gotta move quickly between sets, though, so it gives you an extra cardio push.

 

[21]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Hokie--not picking, just asking....that does not seem like a lot of cardio. Do you do something else out of the gym?

 

[Smallpotatoes]

Re: Take care of yourself (LiveSTRONG)

Last night when I was at the gym, I decided that I was going to end every workout with a new exercise.
I would take two dumbbells that added up to the amount of weight I lost and walk a lap around the gym carrying them.
I'm not sure how productive the exercise will be, but I thought it would be a good motivational ritual. It would remind me of how much I've progressed and what my life was like lugging around that extra weight.
Last night I did it with two 27.5-pound dumbbells.