need to get in shape..how?

[chrisisoutrunning]

Now, see..I would throw the rice thing under bad advice. There happens to be a few people in Asia that eat a crapload of rice everyday. Seems to be working out ok for them.

I think what he's going for there is white rice, which doesn't contain the same nutrients that less processed brown rice does. Not to sound rude, but I'm guessing that most Asians aren't eating the highly processed white rice that most of us get.

That being said I don't completely agree with everything dannyjnoonan said, to me I think it would be next to impossible to get what you need in carbs from just vegetables. But whole grains are the ticket when it comes to bread/pasta etc. The less processed the better.

 

But take everything I say with a grain of salt, I have to eat around 3500 calories a day right now, and that's probably a conservative estimate since we (everyone in general) tend to underestimate how much we're eating each day.

[Brewtacular]

Oh, no doubt brown rice is better for you than white rice. My point is simply that white rice is not bad for you. The quick rise to judgment in the west seems to totally disregard that in some parts of the world people eat a lot of it.

 

For the most part the rice is the same as what we get here. I buy the same brands as I bought over there. The same stuff I watched people shovel load after load into their mouth three times a day. Rice...is not eaten in moderation. For the most part I would argue that people actually eat more food over there (Japan in my experience) but, BUT, they dont eat all the fry-olated awfullness fortified with a 72oz mega gulp we subject ourselves to.

[GAME05]

"diet Coke" is the most awful of oxymorons.

[thebruce44]

thebruce...I'd like to hear about your diet. Would you mind sharing?

 

I don't mind sharing, but again...it isn't for everyone. Similar to what dannyjnoonan said, I get all my carbs from veggies...and by all my carbs, I mean less than 30 a day. This is basically known as a Ketogenic diet, and it works great for me. Its like atkins for athlets because you "carb up" once a week so your muscles still have glycogen in them for athletics. (Also this lets me still drink with my friends on the weekends and eat mac and cheese and nachoes once a week since those are my favorite meals.)

 

I decided to give Keto a try and after a rough first week my body adapted wonderfully to burring fat as a fuel source. When you eat a traditional low fat diet, your body burns dietary carbs and then muscle and fat both when it runs out of dietary carbs. If you are eating at a caloric defecit, you will loose some muscle because of this, no matter how careful you are. When your body is burning dietary or body fat as its only fuel source, you don't have to worry nearly as much about muscle loss. With keto, I managed to loose 15 lbs and remain as strong as I was before at every major lift. The real benefit for me was that I now have more energy, no acne, no bloating or "gas," and just feel a lot better in general.

 

I fell to my goal weight and greatly exceeded how much of my strength I wanted to retain. After hitting my goal, last week I decided to start bulking again and switched back to eating lots of protien and carbs, only to have all the old familiar problems arise. I was practically falling asleep an hour after lunch every day at my desk, felt bloated, and had some acne come back. This week, and for the forseeable future, I will be sticking to under 30 grams of carbs a day while I bulk. Yea...this means eating a lot of fat and protien, but there is a lot of healthy fat out there (eggs, olive oil, flax, peanut butter). A lot of people have also had great success with this type of diet (which isn't technically Keto anymore).

 

I couldn't possibly describe the entire Keto diet and am in no way trying to convince people to give it a try. It goes against a lot of long held beliefes about health and diet, but there is also a lot of sound reasearch behind it and I know for a fact that my body functions better this way. Many people's probably wont. Still, many races throughout time have relied on high protien and fat diets (actually much more so than todays high carb, moderate protien, low fat diet) and I can now see why.

 

 

**As a side note, I pretty much agree with everything that dannyjnoonan said, except that my mom has had great success with the WiiFit that I bought her. She has very bad arthritis and is too embarased to do aerobics and a gym for fear that she will get shooting pain in front of other people. She has also had a lot of trouble with her tred mill. She will do it because she can't stand not being in shape, but then she is miserable with pain several hours later. WiiFit has worked great for her so far. Sure its not the best exercise, but everyone has different goals and its a great first (or only) step for a lot of people.

 

Dannyjnoonan, you clearly know what you are talking about, but not everyone can use food strictly as fuel. Not everyone can make the same sacrifices or even enjoy making them. For me to change my diet and eat as fuel is not a big deal because I have never really enjoyed eating. I don't criticise people for not eating the way I do, and you shouldn't critisise the way someone else works out just because its something that you are good at. Small steps are better than no steps at all.

[bullox]

For those advocating cutting out 'white foods' I have a question. What about lowfat plain yogurt? I put a little of that in my daily smoothie as I've heard it is good for your digestive system. I realize the white foods rule can't be a hard-and-fast rule unless you are serious food racists :P, so I had to ask the question.

[thebruce44]

I think the concern is more with white grains, not with dairy. For example, swiss cheese is not worse than colby. Yogurt has digestive enzymes in it which are very good for you.

[dadofandrew]

On Bruce's point, all cheese is white before color is added. I had success on 20 carbs or less, but it's mighty tough to keep up for more than a few weeks.

[InsomniacInkRoss]

when I was 24 (and 6'2"), to win a $10 bet I went from 210 to 180 in about 3 months, this is what I did:

 

No soda, had a total of 4 sodas the entire 3 month span

McDonalds, really, got the salad with grilled chicken and low fat Italian dressing often

Lots of water

Always something for breakfast, usually a 100 calorie granola bar

Lots of sandwiches, light miracle whip, no cheese, mustard and pickles

Mustard on lots of things as a flavoring agent instead of cheese, mayo, bbq sauce, etc.

Beef Jerky for snacks

Lean Pockets, although they suck

Green Giant makes some a bunch of mixes of veggies in a bag you just heat up, some with noodles and such

No Beer, just vodka/tonic or whiskey/rocks

 

Parked an exercycle in front of my Game Cube and played/rode everyday. Started slow and light resistance but by then end was easily going for 75-90 min at a crack

 

In retrospect, I took in a lot of sodium I am thinking, but I lost weight, which was the goal and it worked for me

[dannyjnoonan]

"Dannyjnoonan, you clearly know what you are talking about, but not everyone can use food strictly as fuel. Not everyone can make the same sacrifices or even enjoy making them. For me to change my diet and eat as fuel is not a big deal because I have never really enjoyed eating. I don't criticise people for not eating the way I do, and you shouldn't critisise the way someone else works out just because its something that you are good at. Small steps are better than no steps at all."

 

I don't think I was talking down to anyone or anything. I just layed out what I do. Jason, the guy asking for advice is 29 and not fat, more stockey. Wii fit may be great for very overweight people or older people, but I don't think it would be the best use of Jason's time, unless he's doing it for fun. As for looking at food as fuel, I know it's hard and I said as much. I still eat pizza and drink beer on weekends, so I'd never knock someone that can't fully embrace that mentality. I can't either, it's just a goal to shoot for.

[PlayerHader]

Wii fit would be great for anyone who needs to add activity in to their day without being totally bored. I was fairly active, working construction and playing fastpitch and slowpitch softball in the summer nearly every night and still was able to use the Wii in the morning or right after work to get a nice sweat going in 15 minutes of spare time. Don't knock it when you don't know anything about it. He isn't trying to become and Ironman remember.

 

That said, you clearly know what you are talking about. I just dont' want to discredit any options out there that might very well be fitting for what he is trying to do.

[homer]

I think people tend to make weight loss too difficult - it's a simple equation: calories in minus calories out. If you cut back on crap, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, and exercise a few times a week you'll lose weight.

[dannyjnoonan]

Wii fit would be great for anyone who needs to add activity in to their day without being totally bored. I was fairly active, working construction and playing fastpitch and slowpitch softball in the summer nearly every night and still was able to use the Wii in the morning or right after work to get a nice sweat going in 15 minutes of spare time. Don't knock it when you don't know anything about it. He isn't trying to become and Ironman remember.

 

That said, you clearly know what you are talking about. I just dont' want to discredit any options out there that might very well be fitting for what he is trying to do.

I do know about it and I will continue to knock it as a fitness tool marketed towards the general population. It may be fun, but it isn't any better for fitness, generally speaking, than anything else that perpetuates the myth that light exercise for 20 minutes a couple times a week (or whatever) is enough. It usually isn't. And it's silly to think the only options are Ironman training or playing with a video game. There's certainly middle ground (and actually, Ironman training is far from ideal too imho (limited and time consuming), but that's a different topic). Nothing I advocated is too difficult for the average person, and like I said, it's just what I do, and it's just my opinion.

[PlayerHader]

And I'm sure what you do works. I'm just saying that I lost about 30 lbs. over the summer and Wii Fit was an important part of that, both for keeping track of my progress and exercise and in providing me with a workout option for both cardio and strength training. It is at the very least a terriffic starter tool that shouldn't be ignored as an option.

[OldHoss]

My son is 5 and is the absolute picture of health and it has nothing to do with anything my wife or I have taught him. For whatever reason, he only eats what his body is craving, when he is actually hungry. When he's not in school, he'll graze all day and never eat a huge meal and you can tell what his body is craving. When his body is craving protein, you can't feed him enough meat. But as soon as he has what he needs, we won't eat another bite. More often than not, it's just fruit and veggies for him, in small amounts throughout the day.

 

The only time I've ever felt like I was in tune with my body and what it needs is when I was running. thus, I'm going to give another endorsement for running. Back when I was running (I'm now in year two of rehabbing from a unrelated-to-running knee injury and side-effects), I had a hard time keeping weight on, no matter what I ate. Granted I was running 35-50 miles per week outside (you'll burn significantly more calories outside as compared to a treadmill). But even when I was running much less, I could eat almost anything and still not gain or even lose weight. Part of this, I think, is because I stopped craving the foods that were not so good for me. I was craving apples and oranges, ie., fresh natural ingrediants. I was hungry for what my body was needing, kind of like my son.

[chrisisoutrunning]

(you'll burn significantly more calories outside as compared to a treadmill)

OldHoss, what makes you say this? I've never heard anyone say this before. If you mean because of hills, then yes you'd probably burn more calories, but you can usually set an incline on a treadmill and get the same sort of workout. The only other thing that could cause a difference would be wind resistance, which won't cause that much of a difference for someone just starting out, as their pace probably won't be that fast. For someone starting out it actually might be more beneficial to run on a treadmill (if they can stand the monotony) due to the cushioning that treadmills have. This will allow the person to get their body use to running without as much stress being placed on the body. In the end I would think that someone starting out is only going to burn 10-20 more calories outside than inside on a treadmill, but that's just my opinion.

[owbc]

From a quick internet search, running outside results in burning 5-10% more calories. Setting the treadmill at a 1% incline will simulate outdoor running. Personally, I find running on a treadmill to be quite boring, as I find myself counting my number of strides and staring at the screen..... .50 ... .51 ... .52 ... .53 ... etc. Of course, that's unavoidable in the winter unless you have membership to a gym with an indoor track or have the guts to run outside. I also agree with OldHoss about the appetite thing...after a 5 mile run it's really easy to chow down fruits and veggies in addition to drinking tons of water. I'm sure the same goes for a cardio workout in the gym, but I can never last more than a week or two in the gym without getting bored. Running outside is more fun, it makes you feel more accomplished since you see how far you went, and it is excellent for your body.

[BoKnowsBall]

I think people tend to make weight loss too difficult - it's a simple equation: calories in minus calories out. If you cut back on crap, eat plenty of fruits and veggies, and exercise a few times a week you'll lose weight.

Worked for me- I completely messed up my ankle last fall (couldn't walk for 3 weeks and couldn't run for 6 months). I never changed what I ate during those six months and was still eating like I was running 15-20 miles a week and playing basketball. By the time I could run again I went from 195 to 230. Just slightly adjusted my diet for better portion control so I wasn't just maintaining a weight anymore and dropped back down to 205 in two and a half months.

[homer]

Given the earlier discussion on Wii I thought this would be interesting to some.

 

http://www.brookfieldnow....tory/index.aspx?id=790153

 

Using Wii for rehab patients.

[PlayerHader]

I've heard about this before homer. Also, I've heard of bowling leagues and such in retirement homes on the Wii.

 

Just to be clear, though, Wii Sports and Wii Fit are two different things. Either way, it is a cool system for a range of things.

[OldHoss]

Just an assumption/presumption I made based on how I feel when running on a treadmill as opposed to outside. I generally run faster on a treadmill and don't tire as easily, even when I have the incline set high. I think it is about the outside environment -- but just not the hills. It's the starting and stopping, the corners and the amount of times you have to vary your speed/stride during an outside run.

 

On a treadmill, once I work up to my mile pace, it doesn't take a lot of effort to stay at that pace -- just enough effort to maintain the stride.

 

Outside seems to take a lot more effort to maintain the same mile pace throughout the same distance with all of the times I have to start, stop, turn, etc.

 

I thought for sure I burned a lot more calories running outside than on a treadmill (even more than the 5-10% obsessed mentioned). But I agree that this could be completely anecdotal on my part.

[jason21nl]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I have been watching what I eat lately and Haven't had fast food since I started this thread. It might not sound like a big deal but believe me its huge for me. Other than that, I haven't got my fat butt out running yet or anything else. I'm lazy and to tired to do it before or after work. I have been pretty down in the dumps and really need to take out my emotions out on the road. Stop being lazy Jason!!!

[blatzlight]

Thanks to everyone for their advice. I have been watching what I eat lately and Haven't had fast food since I started this thread. It might not sound like a big deal but believe me its huge for me. Other than that, I haven't got my fat butt out running yet or anything else. I'm lazy and to tired to do it before or after work. I have been pretty down in the dumps and really need to take out my emotions out on the road. Stop being lazy Jason!!!

No offense, but the too tired argument is bogus. You get more energy when you start becoming active. It's all will power. Just force yourself to get off your butt and do it. Before too long you wonder why you waited to get back in shape.

[PlayerHader]

I'll second that blatz (mmm, beer). I used to wake up and it'd take me a while to get going and actually feel alive. For the last few weeks I've been in the gym by 6 a.m. doing cardio and moderate to heavy lifting. It seems like I have twice as much energy on these days as I do when I don't work out. Today I actually went for a short afternoon jog as well just because I wanted to burn some energy (and the foot long sub I had). Funny enough, working out also seems to suppress my appetite some what. I probably eat as much or more as usual, but I don't crave food.

 

It's a pain to just go and do it those first few days, but once you get in a routine and start feeling the benefits it will become much easier to go.

[GAME05]

Your comment on feeling down keeping you from exercising made me think of a quote from Dan Millman, that in my experience, is certainly true. I read it that without releasing energy through exercise or some other positive way, it just starts to fuel negative emotions. so it's some of that "life energy" that needs to come out through exercise to help maintain a positive mindset.

 

Life energy must flow somewhere. Where internal obstructions lie, the energy burns, and when it builds up beyond what an individual body/mind can tolerate, it explodes. Anger grows into rage, sorrow turns into despair, concern becomes obsession, and physical aches become agony. So energy also can be a curse. Like a river, it can bring life, but untamed, it can unleash a raging flood of destruction.