Fitness/Exercise/Diet/Health

[southpaw121505]

I'll be playing at Uhlein on Wed or Thurs nights I believe. My friend is really good and is throwing the team together, I am not good but should be fun and quality cardio. I hate cardio so making it fun will be cool. Should be fun, I have no skill dribbling but I will shoot some rockets. http://forum.brewerfan.net/images/smilies/smile.gif

[Houlie24x]

Yeah I hate just going out and running a couple miles. It's not fun. Soccer is a lot more fun. I like that I'm forced to run harder as well since I don't want to let the rest of the team down. If you ever need an extra player let me know. I'm always looking to play some more.

[southpaw121505]

Especially for your goal. Short sprints are wayyyy better for body composition than distance cardio. Danny touched on it a page back about intensity when lifting and he's absolutely right. The more intense your workout, lifting or cardio, the greater the effects on your metabolism AFTER the workout.

[dannyjnoonan]

Especially for your goal. Short sprints are wayyyy better for body composition than distance cardio. Danny touched on it a page back about intensity when lifting and he's absolutely right. The more intense your workout, lifting or cardio, the greater the effects on your metabolism AFTER the workout.

Houlie24x wrote:

Yeah I hate just going out and running a couple miles. It's not fun. Soccer is a lot more fun. I like that I'm forced to run harder as well since I don't want to let the rest of the team down. If you ever need an extra player let me know. I'm always looking to play some more.

 

 

Yup, these two things are exactly why I advocate the fitness methodology that I advocate. It adds the team/competition element to fitness training. It makes it fun. And the intensity element makes it much more effective. I would agree with southpaw on his lifting advice. Do the compound lifts. Lift heavy, 5 reps or fewer per set. Generally speaking, stick to barbells and dumbells and stay away from the goofy machines that "isolate" or that use pulleys and stuff.

[Hammer]

34 years old. Recently went from 6', 301 to 275 lbs in 8 weeks. Stopped working out do to work travel and gained 2 lbs back but will begin workouts again tomorrow morning. Here is what I was doing:

 

Running 2-4 miles 5 mornings a week.

Doing P90x upper body workouts 3 days a week.

Cut down fast food by at least 50% (work in outside sales...occupational hazard).

Started supplementing nutrition with soy protein shakes post workout, creatine drinks before.

 

Was that at least on the right track to burn weight quickly/safely? I didn't really make too many meal concessions other than the McDonalds aversion but losing 2-3 lbs a week was common. Was that too much too quick?

[GAME05]

cutting out half of the fast food (and replacing what fast stuff you do eat with relatively healthy options) alone could be what's helping you the most. depending on what you ate, i wouldn't be surprised if you were cutting out a pound of calories (3500) and a heck of a lot of saturated fat per week. well done.

[Crew2323]

I started the Insanity workout last Monday and have followed the nutrition plan pretty closely. I did deviate from it as a result of attending the Brewer game last Friday. But in one week I lost 5 pounds doing this workout. Just last night I started going on my elliptical for 20 minutes during the evening in addition. I feel much more energetic already.

[southpaw121505]

I will train one Brewerfan.netter for half price my current(already reasonable) rates. Private message me.

[Hammer]

My secret to weight loss this week: Get really sick. Hang around the mall, go to the walk-in clinic and read a book, volunteer to chaperone for your kids school trip...I don't care which. Just make sure you catch the stomach flu that is going around! I had it for 3 days, lost 7 lbs and 3 days have gone by and I haven't gained an ounce back! Ha to those that insist on staying healthy!

[WV Brew]

http://www.wtop.com/?nid=41&sid=2785358

 

When you're in DC, try the StrasBurger. Not if you're on a serious diet though.

[bork]

My wife has been on weight watchers for a year and has lost 35 pounds. She got the Biggest Loser Challenge for the Wii in December. I started doing the workouts at a low intensity level. I could tell I was getting in better shape, but I wasn't losing weight. I hadn't really done any exercise since I ran track in high school. I had the gradual weigh creep since then. I was up to 216 pounds at 6'0".

 

Then in January, I started tracking calories on the Biggest Loser game and that made all the difference. I cut out soda and just started becoming more aware of portion size. I measure out servings and always try to plan ahead before eating out. That has been the biggest thing. I usually make bad choices, if I don't know the calories ahead of time.

 

So in three months of tracking calories and moving to the the 2nd hardest intensity level in the game (1/2 hour, 4 times a week), I've lost 24 pounds. I've got another 10-15 to get back to my high school weight. The game does a good job of mixing up the workouts between cardio, yoga, box fit, and resistence.

[fondybrewfan]

We used to have a Wii but I never got very good at it and I am sure I would have been very awkward trying to do Wii Fit / Biggest Loser. We sold it not to long ago; although when my kids are old enough I would much rather buy a new Wii that requires some exercise rather than a playstation or Xbox.

 

 

I am training for a 10K in about 6 weeks. So far I have gone from about 255 to 240 in 6 weeks or so and can now run 6 miles non stop on a treadmill and 4 miles outside. I haven't been able to do that in probably 6-7 years. Haven't tried going more than 4 outside yet. I am 6'7" so I am not fat by any means but I still need to get down to around 225 to get back to my playing weight during my athletic days. Lifting weights definitely helped me lose the weight too.

 

It really is amazing how awesome you feel after a good workout or after finishing a 5K for the first time. I completed by first 5K 2 weeks ago and can't wait to try a 10K. I am trying to convince myself to try a 1/2 marathon but man that is a long ways.

[Raw Biz]

I was 5'7, 175 in high school.  Almost ten years later, I started the year close to 290.  I'm now down to 230.  I "played" football all 4 years in high school and baseball for 2 years but after starting college, I hardly ever worked out and was drinking like a typical college student.  I started this year just riding the exercise bike a few days a week and lifting.  I also substituted some things in my diet and cut my drinking down to about one night a week.  I haven't really done anything high intensity, I've just watched my caloric intake and rode the bike or did the treadmill.  

As for food, I found that little things like switching out normal bread for 100 calorie thins or Sara Lee 45 calorie slices and replacing normal cheese with reduced fat really help.  I've also gone to 70 calorie low-carb tortillas instead of the usual almost 200 calorie ones and use egg beaters instead of normal eggs.  Little substitutions like this really help.  I also almost never eat out anymore (maybe twice a month) so I can control everything that I eat.  

I actually haven't had much of a problem losing weight and wish I would've attempted to a lot earlier (although it probably helps that I'm both out of school and unemployed so I have the time to work out and make all my meals at home).  My ultimate goal is lose at least another 50 pounds, if not 60 but that might take another year.  By the end of this year, I hope to lose another 20 to make it an even 80 lost on the year.

 

Just an update, I'm down to 195 now. Another 6 or so pounds and I'll be at an even 100 lost. I hope to hit that mark sometime in mid-May. I've mostly been doing the treadmill and some lifting but I'm looking to switch things up a little. I've been doing some research on DDP Yoga and I'm thinking about starting that. I've heard good things about it and it would be nice to do something different.

[fondybrewfan]

Damn 100 pounds is pretty impressive; I am happy with 10-15 so far. I can't imagine having to come down from almost 300 on a less than 6 foot frame. It must have been extremely hard at first.

[Raw Biz]

Damn 100 pounds is pretty impressive; I am happy with 10-15 so far. I can't imagine having to come down from almost 300 on a less than 6 foot frame. It must have been extremely hard at first.

 

It actually wasn't too bad. I only rode the exercise bike for like 30 mins a few times a week and lifted for the first 6 months, then I started the treadmill. Even with the treadmill, I don't really run. I just put the incline really high (13) and walk briskly (3.7-4.0) for about an hour a few times a week. That combined with no more fast/junk food and food substitutions and I've lost 1-2 pounds a week for the past 14 months.

[TooLiveBrew]

Whether it was "too bad" or not to do, that's damn impressive, RawBiz. Congrats & nicely done!

[RobDeer 45]

Wow, that's awesome! Congrats Raw Biz!

 

I haven't gone through this whole thread but just saw it for the first time. My wife and I have watched a handful of documentaries lately on netflix. You want motivation, check it out (Forks over Knives, Fat Sick and Nearly Dead, Ingredients, Food Inc..... to name a few). Anyway, it has pushed us in to trying to live a healthier life style. We both would like to loose about 5-10 lbs but it's more for our overall health. We both were big meat eaters but have really tried to cut out meat as much as possible. I'm not sure if I'd ever be able to cut it all out, but even going from meat being the main part of a meal, to just having a little meat in a dish, is a huge difference. I also encourage people to just try doing meatless mondays. Not sure if you've heard of it, but if you can cut out meat on just one day a week, it makes a huge difference for the enviornment. It's kind of amazing how your body feels when you don't eat so much meat or processed foods.

 

Sorry for preaching! And just so you know, I myself would have laughed if someone told me I would be eating this way a few years ago.

[TooLiveBrew]

That's excellent to hear, RD45 -- my gf is a vegetarian, and I'm big on healthy/ier eating (paternal Grandfather has had multiple heart attacks). I'm by no means in good shape, which is something I need to change, but I feel good about a largely vegetarian diet.

 

Fish is the main animal protein I eat, and there are even environmental/natural world concerns there. But I don't cut other animal protein or red meat entirely out of my diet, I just eat it rarely. There really are so many delicious vegetarian & non-red meat/processed food options, but I feel like too many people still are stuck in the mentality that dinner is 'meat & potatoes', or that vegetarian cuisine is bland.

[Baldkin]

The reason for that is when you go to (most) restaurants and order a vegetarian option (something a lot of people do to try things out) they are almost always incredibly bland.

[GoudaBrew]

Do you healthy eaters have any website recommendations for recipes?

[TooLiveBrew]

The reason for that is when you go to (most) restaurants and order a vegetarian option (something a lot of people do to try things out) they are almost always incredibly bland.

A lot of chefs really see vegetarians as almost insulting (or at least annoying), since a huge part of being a good chef is the art form of correctly cooking meat/animal protein. When I see a menu with a really phoned-in vegetarian 'option', this is always what I assume... rightly or wrongly.

 

Do you healthy eaters have any website recommendations for recipes?

I would start by heading to your local library & looking for anything from the Moosewood restaurant. I know not everyone loves Moosewood, but honestly that's where I'd start. These two are indispensable resources imo -- Sundays at Moosewood, and Simple Suppers. Sundays at Moosewood isn't strictly vegetarian (Simple Suppers is, aside from fish), but has tons of recipes, including lots of vegetarian choices. Sundays... would be a purchase I'd recommend to anyone who's not closed-minded about food. It's an amazing cookbook imo.

 

Another really good starting point is almost any Asian cuisine cookbook (not like ordering "Chinese" food).

 

For online recipes, start at Food Network's recipes, because the FN website always includes a user score for the recipe. So searching for things by Alton Brown, Rachel Ray, etc. Here's one from Rachel Ray* that gets amazing reviews -- Link

 

* I find RR annoying & could never watch her programs, but that doesn't mean she doesn't know how to cook. Alton Brown is a favorite of my gf; she introduced me to him & he's great on-air & on-recipe

[Raw Biz]

Do you healthy eaters have any website recommendations for recipes?

 

I just use Taste of Home. There's a way to sort through "healthy" recipes and most even give the nutrition facts. Then I just tweak things if need be. I've found a lot of really good stuff on there.

[RobDeer 45]

I guess I don't use a certain site, just do searches for recipes. I usually will type in something like "vegan, eggplant" and just see what comes up. I really enjoy cooking so I tend to like to experiment when possible. My wife really enjoys the book Skinny B**ch (not sure if I can put that on here). I bought her the cookbook as well and we use that. Their writing is right to the point and with no filtering. It's pretty funny, but it also really makes you think about the impact on your body and the world when eating meat.

 

I think my best advice when eating fruit and vegetables is buy what's fresh and in season. When they are fresh and good, you don't really need to do much to them to make them taste good. Also if you can grow them, buy from a farmer's market, or even right from a farmer, you are going to get the best tasting produce.

 

Again, this is something that I'm in the middle of trying to change and will take time to adjust to. I do have to say though, that even cutting meat out a few days a week, or heck, even one day, makes such a difference. Both for how you feel and for the world. I'm kind of laughing at myself as I type this because I never thought I would!

[LouisEly]

What's the verdict on Hydroxycut or similar products?

[Houlie24x]

With the recalls Hydroxycut had a few years ago and, and the possibility that it causes liver damage, I don't know why anyone would want to try it. I don't think there is any proof that Hydroxycut or any similar products help you lose weight. It's basically just a ton of caffeine. Take a caffeine pill and/or drink green tea before a workout and you will probably see the same benefit Hydroxycut gives you.