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[Sleepydays]

So I turned 40 in the last week or so, and I'm a relatively new Dad. Both are probably occasions where people start to think about their health and doing something to positively increase their odds for living a longer, healthier life.

I've really not paid a lot of attention to my health over the years, but in the last ten or so it's become an issue. In my twenties I could eat any old shit (and did) without putting weight on. Never went near a gym, and wouldn't have dreamed of it. I was vegetarian, more interested in going to shows and playing in bands. I was raised on fried foods and a serious sweet tooth that has never not been indulged. Scottish food: huge portions, stodgy as shit, our deep fat fryer never cooled down. I eat a good bit healthier than that now, but I'm prone to over-indulging when I do hit the pizza and other junk. I reach for the sugar whenever I feel wiped out, which is often (aforementioned new child).

A little more info: in my thirties til now, my weight has generally hovered in the 220lb region, 250 at my absolute worst. I've signed up at the Y in the past, but never really kept it up, or known what I was doing on anything other than the elliptical or running machines. I bought an elliptical for home, which is pretty neglected. My job is EXTREMELY sedentary: I'm siting on my ass for 8 hours a day, a lot of it on here . When I get home it's not much better: between baby bedtime routines and part-time college stuff, it's hard to fit in some exercise. Energy levels are just total shit, all the time. I'm busy, and a complete stress-head.

So I'm looking for advice, for someone starting from zero. What is a healthy, sustainable plan for me going forward? What diet apps/plans are worth following, if any? Where to start with exercise, and building my strength/energy? How do I shake the bad habits (sugar, cravings when tired).

 

[Tesseract]

high protein, limited sugars, carbs

walk every day, and plenty of calisthenics

push ups, sit ups, squats, pull ups, dips

just get going, you need to build positive momentum

 

[zeorhymer]

I'm in the same boat you are in. Starting out, you should reduce snack intake. Not drastically mind you. Say you drink 3 sodas a day, dial it back to 2 and drink water as well. Do that for a week and see if you can dial it back even further. Replace soda with snacks and you get the gist of it. At the same time, try to get more active. Like taking a walk around the block or around the park to get used to it. Even starting calisthenics will help you get more mobility. After you get the routine down, then start to do gym, etc. Good luck and don't get discouraged.

 

[diffusionx]

Most important thing is you have to look at it like a permanent life change. Not a diet, or a "I'm gonna get ripped" type of thing. Because you'll burn out super quick and go back to your old habits. I think, getting started, you should take small steps. It is consistent with this idea and makes it easier to sustain it long term. Like when I realized I was getting too heavy, the first thing I did was cut out one can of soda a day from my diet. Not soda entirely, just one can. And when I saw positive steps, it made me want to remove the next one. And so forth. I haven't gotten close to that old weight with this approach (maybe a decade at this point) since eventually these behaviors just become permanent.

Same thing with exercise. Start small, like get an odometer and walk for 15 minutes after work every day, or do 10 push ups before bed.

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

Your health will be built up from a thousand good decisions, just like your bad health. Fight discouragement and trust the method you have decided to follow.

"Self discipline" is the pithy answer. Wim Hof breathing + cold training + fasting was the way I got the necessary self-discipline, and it helps that no special equipment (other than running water, which doesn't even need to be heated) is required.

 

[ViolentP]

It all begins with discipline. Challenge yourself to drink no liquids but water for the next 30 days to get a taste of what results look and feel like. From there you need to ask yourself if this is something you would like to continue. If so, it's time to introduce some exercise and control of your diet. But see if you can get past those first 30. If you can't, you will know you aren't ready to maintain a healthy lifestyle. Report back.

 

[SpiceRacz]

Fasting is a good place to start. Helps you get in a more disciplined mindset. Also, second what Tesseract said about limiting carbs and sugar. That part is crucial.

 

[bati]

Cut out sugar first. Go cold turkey. Then set up an excel spreadsheet with meal plans and follow it. I don't trust the values in various apps too much, read the labels on the packaging and put them into the spreadsheet. Aim for a healthy mix of macros, and expect that to change for you over time based on your activity and fitness level. Don't stress about lapses in dieting, it happens to everyone. I've had weekends where I boozed up and ate a fuckton of carbs, convinced that I ruined a week's of progress in a day or two. I didn't, it takes a lot of gorging on food to gain 1kg of fat (9000 calories surplus). And don't go crazy with various diets like keto, you don't need them. Healthy macro ratio with 500 calorie daily deficit is all you need.

As for exercise - I'd seriously recommend booking a training coach for a month so that they can show you beginner level exercises, and you'll be surprised at how many of them you can do at home and how effective they are, even if they look like they take no effort at all. You're old enough that proper form and injury prevention should be a primary concern, and just staring at the apps and watching yourself in the mirror will not help you with that. If you can join a gym it's even better because it helps you stick to a routine and acts as an external motivator.

But most of all, don't be one of those stupid people who go on a diet for a week, lose all glycogen reserves and water and claim they lost 10kg of fat. The sheer stupidity of it makes my blood boil. Hunker down, put in honest effort and time will give you results, I promise.

 

[lil puff]

Honestly, the only thing that got me to change my habits was when my digestive health forced me to.

Feeling like I would shart myself on the train or at work, and looking at the gross consistency of my poop. Failing breath tests at the doctors, etc. All of those things convinced me to start taking small steps.

Otherwise, I wasn't changing, but I'm a stubborn shit and I am not suggesting that attitude applies to everyone..

One thing I have in my favor is that I have some decent food choices near my job these days and I am less tempted to cheat. I also power walk everywhere by default. I stopped drinking sugary drinks to the point where they seem disgusting.

I'd suggest don't pressure yourself too much about it, take small steps. Also surrounding factors like internal/external stresses, being unorganized/unpuposeful in general, and an overall negative/hateful attitude in life are not things that help consider bettering yourself.

 

[Trogdor1123]

Ditch booze, sugar, and start with walks (longer the better) and move to runs (scaling up). Get a buddy too as research shows people that do it together are more likely to continue. Do this for your first year and you will begin to change your lifestyle. It's not a diet chang you want, it's a lifestyle change.

 

[Tesseract]

Fasting is a good place to start. Helps you get in a more disciplined mindset. Also, second what Tesseract said about limiting carbs and sugar. That part is crucial.

i'll second fasting, if you can tolerate the hunger pangs (i love the way it feels)

 

[DunDunDunpachi]

To piggyback on the sugar/refined carbs thing, it really is a metabolism killer. "Calories in, calories out" is a gross simplification of how our bodies actually digest food. Your body does not have a daily calorie limit. It goes up and down.

Sugar in particular is converted and stored as a fat cell by your liver based on your body's current glycogen levels. This process is handled separately from normal digestion, almost exactly like an alcohol molecule. The threshhold for storing sugar as fat is far lower than your "daily calorie intake", so you can be eating plenty of (sugary) food while being calorie deficient and still packing on the fat.

"But how can you still pack on the fat?"

That's because fat storage is also linked to blood insulin levels, and if your blood insulin is too high your body cannot initiate the metabolic process used to retrieve calories from your stored fat. Pause and re-read that if it didn't slap you across the face the first time.

Plus, sugar does murder on your brain's physiology and makes you feel hungrier, irrespective of how full or empty your stomach is. An easy experiment is to eat a meal of protein + fats + fiber. Really fill yourself up. Eat until you're satisfied. Then, eat a spoon of sugar 20m later. You will soon begin to feel hunger cravings, doesn't matter how much you ate.

 

[Sleepydays]

Thanks for the responses, everyone: yer all good lads! I have some background reading to do on a few things here: I can't overstate how utterly neglected this aspect of my life has been, to the point I have no idea what foods are high or low carb. It's bad, and that's why I started this thread.

So I'm going to try start right now with drinking more water (duh), cutting out my diet soda habit, and some beginner calisthenics. Medium term I'm looking to cut sugar (this'll be a big one for me), carbs and upping protein. I will look into fasting, too, as that seems like a good exercise in getting control over my eating habits. Sound about right?

 

[cucuchu]

Like others have mentioned here, fasting is an easy concept to grasp and its simple to follow. I have recently switched to a sort of OMAD (One meal a day) diet but really I just eat everything within a two hour window at night when I am naturally most hungry. I find that I will naturally start craving meats and healthier foods, with some less than healthy of course, but overall I feel much healthier and can feel/see the difference.

 

[Tesseract]

always listen to danny devito

 

[sonomamashine]

Eat more vegies than meat.

 

[Swauny Jones]

I would highly recommend stretching while you watch tv and some light cardio until you're comfortable in pushing your body a little bit more. Then jump into things like body weight exercises to maximize your results when you want to push further into a more intensive workout regime

 

[ThatStupidLion]

it starts in the kitchen. be strong mentally - someone brings in homemade cookies to the office. dont have one...smell one if you need to but dont have it. limit meal portions. cut sugars. drink lots of water. stop grazing. eat lean and clean, fats like avacado and nuts are okay. reduce saturated fats like bacon. make you own meals, stay away from prepared. limit drinking booze and if you do switch you vodka sodas as thats the least caloric.

once youve taken the proper steps in the kitchen which is 70% of it.

get your exercise in.

jog 2 minutes sprint 1 minute. do this for 15 minutes. then move on to 45 minutes of weight training.

start out easy, its a marathon.

example....if you can only walk for 2 min and jog 1 min for a total of 9 minutes....do that.

biggest trick at first is making it a habit, then once its a habit you can make it hard and push yourself. so start easy on yourself. the goal in the beginning is to just do it... doesnt matter how hard

gotta train your mind/body to not want/need what youre used, and to enjoy what its unconditioned to.

 

[gunslikewhoa]

If you need to kill a sugar addiction, just go straight carnivore for a month. Eat all the protein and fat you want, count nothing.

Like Tesseract said, walk and bodyweight exercises. I always tell people "getting back into shape" to buy the book Simple and Sinister and get a few kettlebells.

I never bother saying anything to anyone about this stuff unless they come to me and you're going to get a million different answers from complete strangers here. Do a bunch of research and find something that appeals to you. YouTube is a great resource for this.

 

[poppabk]

If time is really an issue then workout at home. Get some dumbbells or similar and find a decent little space you can work out. You can even do it in front of the TV if you want, just don't watch anything funny or too engaging. I got through 8 or 9 seasons of Supernatural while working out at home. If you need a plan, look into stronglifts 5x5 maybe and substitute jn dumbbell lifts, like dumbbell squats and dumbell deadlifts.

 

[#Phonepunk#]

First of all it is unhealthy to sit for more than an hour or two. Circulation among other things are affected. If you can stand up once an hour go for a 5 min walk or stretch that will help keep you limber. If you have a stairwell where you live, so some of that.

on that note, yoga can be an easy, free, no requirements way to get some more periodic exercises in, and you can find lots of routines for targeting various parts of your body like neck and back or whatever is troubling you currently. u can go take classes as well but the beauty is you don’t need any equipment

another free thing to Introduce intro your routine is extended walking. go walk through the park. It will put you in a good mood! can you walk to the store? Walking outdoors gives you lots of grades of territory, natural hills, steps, etc and you can do this all at your own pace.

 

[Deleted member 17706]

high protein, limited sugars, carbs

walk every day, and plenty of calisthenics

push ups, sit ups, squats, pull ups, dips

just get going, you need to build positive momentum

One and done.

 

[triplestation]

 

[synchronicity]

Ditch the boxed, junk, fast food and restaurants. Prepare your own meals from *whole* foods. The grocery store will shrink *drastically* for you.

Exercise.

Meditate.

Accept transience and die to illusion/to the self.

 

[Durask]

Diet soda is OK short term, the problem is that artificial sweeteners still make you hungry and more prone to overeating.

I would recommend you read this book - it gives a decent summation of current state of nutritional science (which is not good and contains plenty of assumptions and unproven advice).

Diet Myth: Spector, Professor Tim: 9781780229003: Amazon.com: Books

Diet Myth [Spector, Professor Tim] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Diet Myth

www.amazon.com

 

[Rat Rage]

So I turned 40 in the last week or so, and I'm a relatively new Dad. Both are probably occasions where people start to think about their health and doing something to positively increase their odds for living a longer, healthier life.

I've really not paid a lot of attention to my health over the years, but in the last ten or so it's become an issue. In my twenties I could eat any old shit (and did) without putting weight on. Never went near a gym, and wouldn't have dreamed of it. I was vegetarian, more interested in going to shows and playing in bands. I was raised on fried foods and a serious sweet tooth that has never not been indulged. Scottish food: huge portions, stodgy as shit, our deep fat fryer never cooled down. I eat a good bit healthier than that now, but I'm prone to over-indulging when I do hit the pizza and other junk. I reach for the sugar whenever I feel wiped out, which is often (aforementioned new child).

A little more info: in my thirties til now, my weight has generally hovered in the 220lb region, 250 at my absolute worst. I've signed up at the Y in the past, but never really kept it up, or known what I was doing on anything other than the elliptical or running machines. I bought an elliptical for home, which is pretty neglected. My job is EXTREMELY sedentary: I'm siting on my ass for 8 hours a day, a lot of it on here . When I get home it's not much better: between baby bedtime routines and part-time college stuff, it's hard to fit in some exercise. Energy levels are just total shit, all the time. I'm busy, and a complete stress-head.

So I'm looking for advice, for someone starting from zero. What is a healthy, sustainable plan for me going forward? What diet apps/plans are worth following, if any? Where to start with exercise, and building my strength/energy? How do I shake the bad habits (sugar, cravings when tired).

Alright sleepydays, it's actually not as hard as you believe. You can do it. You just need to change your nutrition and exersise more. Don't worry about your energy levels, because once you change your nutrition you'll have A LOT of energy.

First of all, start very basic with a blood test at your doctor. You said you are sleep often. Make sure your vitamin d levels are ok, make sure your thyroid is funktioning normally and make sure you don't have any other nutritional imbalances or health issues.

After that, you can stard. I can assure you, you will have a vitamin d deficiency (everyone has it).

So here is the plan:

- stop drinking sugary drinks. Drink water and tee.
- get a good multi vitamin that is not too overdosed
- get additional 2000 i.u (international units) of vitamin d

next

- stop eating junk. Eat vegetables, lean meat and normal carbohydrates like pasta and whatnot. lover your intake of sweets to just one or 2 a day. Incorporate carbohydrates consisting of complex carbs, like oat meal and whole grains (pasta, bread) daily. Don't use them exclusively, You can still eat potates, white rice and normal pasta. Try to get complex carbs for breakfast and they switch days where you eat whole grains for dinner (don't have to do it every day. every next day is enough).

- Drink plenty of water (2 to 3 liters is enough).

That alone will give you your energy back big time. Now you have to invest this energy.

Go to the gym. Do exersise. Start very light. Progress gradually by adding more weight (but take your time. add weight just every month and only a bit).

- move yourself more. Go regularily for a walk. Ride a bike. Go swimming.

That's basically it. Continue with it till you die of natural causes. You will become much happier.

 

[newtypepilot]

cut down the processed food and anything high in sugar, such as fast food, pop or candies etc. Drink water only.
eat in moderation. Don't stuff yourself.
exercise
???
profit

sugar is highly addictive so if your "lack of energy" is probably the body having sugar withdrawal.

 

[triplestation]

Epic post here

On the treadmill right now

Im doing cardio and posting

Simultaneously

What a fucking legend

 

[Gargus]

At 40 it's pretty much just common sense really. There is no magic bullet or special secret.

Eat half way decent, drink water/tea more, and exercise moderately. Smoking and drinking soft drinks aren't good for you, but really not that bad if you do them in moderation. That's it. If you do that you'll be moderately healthy as long as you make it part of your life and be consistant. But dont lose yourself in it, you're going to fucking die one day regardless of how you live.

And realize there are 3 types. Ectomorph, mesomorph and endomorph. Whichever you are you can only have so much control over your type without going to great lengths. And genetic predisposition is a real thing.

 

[TUROK]

I'd start off slow if I were you.

Walking 20 minutes a day is a decent place to start. Just do that until it becomes a habit. One you're acclimated to the walking, then maybe throw in some jogging or some weight lifting. And just go from there.

Lots of solid advice in here, I'd just be wary of jumping into a drastic exercise and diet plan from the get-go. Pacing yourself can help enforce the habit and keep from discouraging you.

The hardest part is sticking with it, so best of luck.

 

[Son Tofu]

No cokes! You'll lose 30 lbs in a month.

 

[Durask]

Also lack of energy could be sleep apnea since it is very common in overweight people.
Also when you are overweight and do not exercise, your testosterone levels go down, so that's another potential reason for lack of energy.

 

[Chromata]

The best exercise regimen is the one you can stick to. You can create the most well planned and balanced exercise schedule in the world, it means nothing if you quit. So don't load yourself up with a list of exercises that will demotivate you before you even see results, because results come with patience and consistency. Exact same thing with nutrition. There are a lot of diets out there (keto, atkins, vegan, iifym, etc.) and eating variations (like 16/8 or 18/6 or 5/2 intermittent fasting or 5 meals a day). If you're going to use one, make sure it's something you can do long term. Don't run a keto diet because you read an article that said it's great then quit a few weeks in because you hate what you're eating. You don't even need to do any of these diets if you don't want to.

Also, carbs are absolutely fine, it just depends on what carbs you're taking in. A lot of people eat burgers, premade dinners, and candy/sweets. These are low fiber, not nutrient dense, and will spike your insulin. Getting carbs from kidney beans, lentils, veggies, fruits, sweet potatoes, etc. are much healthier alternatives. Living healthy doesn't mean refusing food that tastes good. I have meals like avocado/pecan/lime salads, hummus chicken spinach wraps, peanut butter banana protein shakes, and occasional steak with veggies. Just make them at home so you know what's in it and it's not loaded with sodium. Most don't take that long either, everything I listed (except the steak) takes me mere minutes to make and I love their taste.

If you're going to start lifting weights and you have the cash, I'd really recommend investing in a trainer just so you have a proper routine and a couple good movements to start with. Proper form is important, small mistakes add up over long periods of time, and these mistakes are often not obvious in front of a mirror. If you can't invest in a personal trainer (or group training), then using YouTube is much better than winging it at the gym (my personal favorite YouTuber for this is Athlean X).

 

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[Kenpachii]

How to become healty

Ditch all unhealthy food out of your house, what u cant grab u can't eat.
Get a hobby that involves sport. go swim with a group or something for 2-3 hours a week or bike or run or whatever that is active.

Keep it up for the next 5 years

5 years later u will feel better then u do now.

 

[Cato]

220-250lb Unless you are like 10 feet tall you are seriously obese. You are a real fat ass obsese whale and you need to get your life in order unless you want a heart condition and diabetes.
Can you even see your dick?

It can be fixed, fortunately. Very simple to fix. Just needs some willpower:

1, no more soda or light drinks. ONLY drink bottled water or tap water when you are thirsty.
2, NEVER again buy and eat processed food. You know, open can, heat and eat. That shit makes you fatter than the kardashians ass.
3, earn to cook. Eat a healthy serve of veggies, tomatoe, cucumber, salat, onion, at each meal and COOK it yourself from scratch,
It tastes much better and is much healthier.
4, Dont drink fruit/orange juice. They are not healthy. In fact they contain more sugar than coca-cola.
5, excersise, walk 10km per day or ride a bicycle 20-25km a day,

6, change your mind from being a fat ass to someone that wants to be healthy. Stop eating shit. Start running on the beach for an hour every day.

 

[Durask]

4, Dont drink fruit/orange juice. They are not healthy. In fact they contain more sugar than coca-cola.

It's amazing how many people think that fruit juices are somehow "healthy".