Getting in shape

[Mike]

Have you considered bypass surgery?

Doctor suggested it, but that's the easy way out and I'd rather do it the old-fashioned way. Either way, it's a major life change, and I think that hard work and dieting will yield the same result in lost weight, BUT this way will get me in better shape as well. Bypass will only help you drop the weight, not put the muscle back on or help your cardio.

 

[Grindstone]

^ fucking props, do it like it's meant to be done.

All the snow melted out last week so I resumed running the 300' sand hill behind my house. Averages about 30 degrees. Used to be able to do 8-10 sprints up it before I'd get all lightheaded and pukey feeling, I was there 1/2 way up the first rep. Suck.

 

[Sharksfan]

I needed this thread.

Lent starts in two days. I'm not remotely religious BUT I do like the idea of lent - setting aside a time each year to make a dedicated change in your life. That is something I think everyone should aspire to.

My wife and I went through three miscarriages in the past couple of years. It sucked royally - and we've both come to the conclusion that our health is not the best it could be. Although in all liklihood ours were just bad luck we have both arrived at the conclusion that before we try again it can only have good effects if we make some major changes and improvements to ourselves.

Her goals are her own business - but mine are pretty specific. I've hit around 250 and I just basically am fat and out of shape. There was a time when I weight about 185, could run 5 miles without feeling like I wanted to die, and had a 32" waist. My height is 6' even so that is about 10 pounds over "ideal" weight but it was easily the best I ever looked and felt. I was skinnier at one point but I looked like a famine victim - not a good look on anyone...

So, my plan is simple to start with -

=Cardio - lots and lots of cardio - 4X week with medium (fat burn range) heart rate for 45 min or more
-No booze until my bday in July AND none after it until I hit my goal
-No pizza
-No fast food
-3 pieces of fruit/day (I eat lots of raw veggies anyway so no issue there...)
-1 yogurt/day

Beyond that I'll adjust as necessary. I'll probably work protein shakes in as I can for their convenience, etc.

 

[JarredLv]

Doctor suggested it, but that's the easy way out and I'd rather do it the old-fashioned way. Either way, it's a major life change, and I think that hard work and dieting will yield the same result in lost weight, BUT this way will get me in better shape as well. Bypass will only help you drop the weight, not put the muscle back on or help your cardio.

Yeah, you dont want to do that shit unless your life is in immediate danger, my opinion at least. I had a friend who's dad did a bypass and he lost the weight quick, but now it looks like his arms have wings. The skin just hangs. And the older you are the less likely it is to shrink back all the way and tighten up enough to look normal. You'll have to get surgery to remove the excess skin. Just not worth it. Busting your ass in the gym gives you so much more in many ways. Just stuck to it man and a year from now you're gonna look back on your old self and be fucking amazed.

 

[unrealalex]

op I will sell you an ebook on how to lose weight for a quick and easy payment of one trillion zimbabwe dollars. Cash only please.

GJ on going natural man. I used to be like 200 lbs and i lost 50 lbs by simply:
-going to the gym
-avoiding: white breads, sodas, ice cream and sweets, any kind of junk food, cheese, milk.

its rather simple, no complex diet or supplements or crazy workout regiments. I didn't even waste money on a trainer, there's plenty of material on bodybuilding.com that will give you a simple routine.

I'm the noob here but I'd say you also have a grand opportunity to make a site, document your progress, and when youre done put up an ebook or something like that. People eat up stories like those.

and lol @ the guy posting the misc. STAY AWAY FROM THE MISC IF YOU WANA STAY IN SHAPE lol

 

[freakin]

Been looking into the low carb diet, but it seems that most articles say that it's really not anymore effective than any other diet. Your first two weeks you basically shed all that water weight, and when you start eating carbs again you're just going to put it back on.

So the ends don't seem to justify the means, all your doing is just faking it for the time being. Seems the most common advice is stick to protein + your good carbs: veggies, berries, wheat, beans.

It depends on how much carbs you reintroduce in the beginning. If you take it slow and watch your body than you don't gain all the weight back. You will gain some.

I did the velocity diet and that was a royal bitch. I lost about 20 pounds of fat though and didn't put it back on. Well, I later did add some back because I wanted to put on some more muscle. It was a conscious decision.

Now I am starting to cut again. I am still learning my body and how it reacts to these types of things. It just takes time and persistence.

So far, I like my progress. I have been working on this stuff for the past 5 months consistently. Once you get your ass to the gym every week, for the first month, you will get into a routine and start feeling bad if you miss any normal days.

 

[guerilla]

If you're doing any sort of short term diet, it will be hard to sustain success.

Real change comes from changing your routine. Crash diets almost always come with a rebound.

 

[NetMillion]

working out is the easy part, its changing your eating HABITS that is the hard part. you must change your eating otherwise your just fighting a battle you wont be able to win. start slow and keep optimizing your diet, keep cutting shit out, picture yourself as the healthy eater you will become, not as the poor bastard who can't have pizza. eat 3 medium-sized clean meals that you like (eggs,chicken,fish/seafood,turkey,vegetables,fruits) with 2 snacks in between (some fruit) and maybe another small meal at night before bed if your hungry. I eat the same 3-4 meals pretty much every day. It seems boring but its actually easier to do it this way then to try to figure out what to eat every day (good or bad). don't keep junk-food in the house, don't drink anything with calories (not until you reach your weight goals). don't expect immediate results. you will be thin eventually trust me (soon). get used to cooking (using the stove). stick to short easy convienent meals. you should never be hungry. add short daily intense cardio sessions to this with only 1 day off per week along with weight training. develop a thick skin to food temptations and people who tempt you to eat or live unhealthy. when you get a craving, realize it is just that, a craving... it goes away, just put your mind on something else. eventually they don't come as much. good luck.

 

[Mike Panic]

I am going to go against the grain and say don't do low carb diets, if you are burning fat, which is the goal here, you need carbs to have the energy.

Dieting is pretty simple. Burn more then you consume in a day. I was eating 5-6 times a day and still consuming less then 10 grams of fat for the entire day and somehwere on the guess-o-meter between 1200-1500 calories a day. I also ate rolled oats (oatmeal, not the instant stuff, the stuff that takes 15 minutes to cook on the stove) for lunch every single day mixed with dried fruit (some people say sugar is bad, i say it's good) and almonds, a touch of cinnamon too. If not this, then batsmati rice (not the instant stuff, the stuff that takes 30 min on the stove) with steamed veggies (buy a rice steamer, works great) - every single day around 2pm. It was the middle of the day and put all the carbs in my system early, giving me the energy to make it through the end of the day + the 6pm trip to the gym. Dinner usually consisted of an omlette with shallots, peppers, etc. and as more and more weight came off, I started putting black beans in to eat post workout, as the protein aides in muscle recovery.

Food is not to taste good, it's fuel, once you learn that, everything becomes easier and better, sleeping is better, taking a dump is better, everything.

 

[Mike]

You guys are dead on that changing my habits is the hardest. TBH I have not actively started dieting per se. I've been making small changes a little at a time. The biggest one is not eating large portions. Already, I've noticed a big difference in how much food it takes to feel full. My stomach has already shrunk. I used to be able to pound down half of a large pizza. The other night I had 2 pieces (about 3 shy of half) and was full.

Another thing I've changed is pop. I don't drink it anymore. I drink water all day long and about 2 cups of coffee. Actually I make 4 cups but lately I only drink half before dumping it out. Not sure why that is. After workouts, I have yogurt and fresh fruit at the club and a salad with meat or a protein smoothie. The club's cafe is all healthy food and amazingly tasty as well.

I'm glad I started this thread now, you guys have taught me even more about the dieting side of things and I'm going to try to incorporate those ideas into my daily life. Thanks!

 

[Killbeck]

I put on 20lbs of muscle one month in early 20s, and I from that experience and the experimenting I can say with out a doubt it all comes down to food.

What you eat and when you eat...You %100 percent need carbs with out it forget getting in shape. Plus you ruin your diet if start having carb cravings.

My best advice
big break fast
Carb drink with dextrose right after you work out this will give a larger time window for protein meals after you work out. You will have time for two meals that are absorbed well if you do this..Guaranteed you will gain lean muscle this way.

Food Food Food..6 meals a day only large meal is breakfast.. Get ready to spend a lot of time cooking

 

[guerilla]

I've been making small changes a little at a time.

That's the trick.

Another thing I've changed is pop. I don't drink it anymore. I drink water all day long and about 2 cups of coffee. Actually I make 4 cups but lately I only drink half before dumping it out. Not sure why that is. After workouts, I have yogurt and fresh fruit at the club and a salad with meat or a protein smoothie. The club's cafe is all healthy food and amazingly tasty as well.

Once you cut down sugars, your intestinal bacteria will start to balance out, and your digestion will improve. You will start to draw more nutrients from what you eat.

There are a lot of great teas out there too. I completely cut out coffee about 6 months ago and only have green tea now.

I'm glad I started this thread now, you guys have taught me even more about the dieting side of things and I'm going to try to incorporate those ideas into my daily life. Thanks!

These threads about fitness and health have been some of the best material on WF in a long time. It's good to see all of the people here get serious about health. Because it sucks waiting until it is too late.

 

[guerilla]

My best advice
big break fast

If you're not working out (I don't have a lot of experience with that), then you want to start off the day with a very light, very raw breakfast.

Breakfast, is BREAK FAST. It's the first meal after up to 12 hours of not eating, and your body should not be crammed with 12 slices of bacon, 6 eggs, 4 slices of toast, pancakes and hash browns.

One more thing Mike, if you're not already doing it. Really enforce a no-eating 3 hours before you sleep deal. You will sleep way better (which is important too) if your stomach is empty. It takes 2~3 hours for the stomach to empty (may be more for refined foods and meats).

 

[patrick24601]

I didn't see it mentioned earlier in the thread so I'll add that you need to measure everything. Measure your starting weight. Measure your fat% using any way you can find possible. I have a scale that does it somehow via magic. I have the iPhone app called LoseIt which I can use to log all food and exercise. I have an account over at bodybuilding.com that let's me log all of the about plus any/all cardio/weight lifting in detail . The stuff at bb.com produces some cool graphs too. All for free. Can't improve what you can't measure right ?

 

[harrymouni]

I put on 20lbs of muscle one month in early 20s,

well done, you're either talking shit or have the greatest genetics on the planet.

better than this guy

 

[Nonsenseeffect]

^^ you can put 8-10 pounds of muscle if you JUST started to work out. Thats called newbie gains.

Calories:

Your body has certain amount of calories it needs to sustain its weight. So if you eat 500 calories less per day that your body lives, you will loose about a pound of fat a week. 1lb of fat = 3500 calories give or take


- Eat 5-6 Meals a day
- Drink gallon of water a day
- Eat tons of fruits and vegetables. Fibrous veggies will help take the water out of your body and you will feel more lean.
- Make sure to consume lean protein, healthy fats every meal. I would slowly lower carbs, but carbs are not evil.
- CARDIO, I hate it too. Find something you like. I can play soccer for hours and it's killer cardio. But I can't "walk" or "run", its fucking boring.
- Have one meal a week where you eat anything you want. You want general gao's chicken, eat general gaos chicken! More weight you loose, your body will resist more. If you constantly diet, your body thinks it's starving and will lower your metabolism. So cheat meal once in awhile will throw your body off and boost your metabolism.

There's no secret to being in shape, just make it your lifestyle brah.. Don't expect changes over night, just keep making progress slowly

 

[bgd2010]

get a script for phentermetrazole.

 

[BlueYonder]

I made good on my commitment to buy a treadmill, and surprising at myself at how consistently I'm using it. It's very easy to get a quick cardio workout in when it's raining out, etc. This is a really nice one from Craig's List that was only $150.

I'm exercising in segments: doing 10 minutes or so, then getting back to work or whatever, repeating once or twice throughout the day. Is this okay, or is it better to do a single session on the treadmill for a longer time?

I don't see weight results yet, but feeling a bit stronger in the legs and more inner calm.

BTW, Turbo's treadmill exercising can be done using a product called TrekDesk. It's kinda spendy though.

 

[1EightT]

Exercise all you want, but diet is the deciding factor in how you will look at the end. This last year I set a goal for myself to get into the kind of shape the guys were in the movie 300 by Halloween. I spent the first part of the year eating like usual (although I never drink soda or anything). I went from 155lbs to around 185, but I wasn't real lean. For the last 8 weeks I stopped drinking alcohol, watched my diet, upped the protein intake, and ditched my old workout routine. Stopped doing cardio of any type and instead did crossfit style high intensity compound movements with high weight. In fact, I did this routine at least 3 days a week with the same weights as this guy (minus the 135lb cleans, I never got up to that weight): [ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vhAWCF_giNY]YouTube - 300 Workout, version 3[/ame]

At the end I was down to around 167-168, but 6ish percent body fat:

 

[FortressDewey]

Ladies and gents, I have had enough of being the fat kid. Enough! So, about a month ago, I enrolled in a gym, got a trainer and have been getting my ass kicked into shape twice a week (until last week, now it's 3 times a week). I started out at 368 pounds. I plan on being half that in twelve months or less.

....)

Mike make sure you take pictures to track your progress, it gives you a reference point and helps when you aren't feeling motivated etc.