God damn I should have gotten a food scale a long time ago. Logging food is so much easier. Also Sean happy anniversary!. I'm going to Costco tomorrow and probably getting all the food you recommended lol. Though surprisingly I already had alot of the stuff on that list on hand. Just need to actually start trying out different recipes again so I don't go insane on eating the same thing every day.
-
Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.
Fitness |OT9|...You looked better before
- Thread starter Chocobro
- Start date
Jacksinthe
Banned
Scales are a definite need, IMO. Good buy!
Psychotext
Member
Your body uses protein to rebuild on rest days... so pretty necessary.
...and any particular reason you're using protein supplements? It shouldn't be hard to hit a reasonable protein target through food alone. How much are you trying to get a day? (most people massively overestimate their protein needs)
If you don't record what you eat, you have absolutely no idea. You could just as easily say that you don't think you go over 4000... without tracking properly it's all vague guesswork.
It's coming from eating too many calories... and those fitbits and the like are a complete waste of time for tracking calorie burn. They're well known for massively overestimating.
Like you said, the first thing you need to fix is your eating. I'd personally sort that and then look at joining a gym.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Adding to Psycho - it's not difficult.
-Start with your BMR
-Adjust calories based on goals and set your daily macros
-Monitor intake DAILY to ensure you don't go over/under
-Monitor weight/strength weekly
-If moving in the wrong direction, make minor adjustments in 200-ish calorie increments no more than once per week (I personally recommend at least 2 weeks since varying factors can contribute to weight fluctuations)
-Profit
That's all there is to it. Set a target, eat said target, adjust when needed for goals.
Forget monitors and the like. Your body is the BEST monitor you have - learn to listen to it. You'll know if you're gaining/losing fat/muscle.
-Start with your BMR
-Adjust calories based on goals and set your daily macros
-Monitor intake DAILY to ensure you don't go over/under
-Monitor weight/strength weekly
-If moving in the wrong direction, make minor adjustments in 200-ish calorie increments no more than once per week (I personally recommend at least 2 weeks since varying factors can contribute to weight fluctuations)
-Profit
That's all there is to it. Set a target, eat said target, adjust when needed for goals.
Forget monitors and the like. Your body is the BEST monitor you have - learn to listen to it. You'll know if you're gaining/losing fat/muscle.
ArkhamFantasy
Member
Dont skip meals, especially breakfast. You are killing your metabolism.
Joining a gym would help, but fixing your diet would eliminate the body fat you've gained. You need to download myfitnesspal and track everything that you're eating because you are probably eating more than you think you are. Little stuff adds up.
Eventually you will figure out how many calories you need to maintain, then you just need to cut about 250 calories off of that, and eventually after a year or so you will be where you want. You dont want to go on any crazy diet that you cant stick with all year round.
Psychotext
Member
Total bollocks. The whole premise behind intermittent fasting is basically "skipping breakfast". Ironically, I'd say my metabolism is better than ever since starting that (I used to be able to bulk on 2,200kcal...).
What's next, the argument that you need to eat a load of small meals instead of a couple of big ones?
I understand why you are saying that and where it's coming from but I have to backup Psycho. It's a myth.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Don't eat after 6pm, bro.
Psychotext
Member
But that's when I get all gremliny! 
velociraptor
Junior Member
That's perfect then. Allows me to continue drinking even late in the day.
Yes food that's high protein/fat only.
Yeah the body is on a strict 24 hour clock. It knows it's no longer in the burn zone at exactly 6.
If you're not in the burn zone, you're gonna have a bad time!
so I don't confuse noobies. I eat most of my calories between 7pm-10pm
I know you're joking around, but one thing I have found is that my food choices directly correlate to the time of day. I'm not reaching for brussel sprouts at 10:00 pm, namsayin'? The time of day thing doesn't matter but I'd guess people make pretty shitty dietary decisions later at night (even non-drunk).
Irobot82
Member
Paresthesia is what it's called. Harmless. Most people take about 4g daily in smaller doses. People usually start feeling paresthesia around 1.5g - I've taken 6g at once a few times. My daily is 4. You get used to the feeling but that 6 had me like :O
I know right
My face, neck, ears and the backs of my hands get all tingly.
Make tasty popsicles with it
Wait wait. On your off non-lifting days you also still take it? So you jack up on the bees for like 15 minutes then head off to work for the day?
Yeah, it works with a similar mechanism as creatine, so it should be taken daily.
Irobot82
Member
Jacksinthe
Banned
But bro! How do you sleep with all those calories:O
True this.
Yup. Because ...
^^this
I approve these messages.
i3allistic
Member
Going back to the gym suck when u just coming back from a vacay , muscle fragile easy 😦
I'm trying to eat about 120g of protein daily.
Dusk Soldier
Member
Joining a gym and starting a weight training program can help because it will stimulate your body to build muscle with your excess weight rather than body fat.
If you've never done weight training before the StrongLifts 5x5 program posted in the OP is a good place to start with; it'll teach you the basics.
--
You also mentioned takeout a few times per week. Takeout meals generally average 1000 - 1500 calories per meal. Which means that if you eat two or three in a typical week, that's two or three days a week when you're going way over your estimated 2000 daily calories.
A couple strategies to consider whenever you do end up eating takeout that can help get the calorie count down include: eating only half the meal and saving the rest for later; substituting fries or whatever side you usually get for a side salad with none or minimal dressing; and substituting the soft drink for water, diet soda, or sugarless coffee/tea.
--
While you can certainly use your fitbit to track calorie expenditure. I strongly recommend to keep your fitbit tracking separate from your food tracking.
For instance, if you set a goal to eat less than 2000 calories of food per day. And another goal to burn 2000 calories tracked by your fitbit. Don't fall into the trap of thinking something like: "I accidentally went over and ate 2500 calories today, I'll just burn an extra 500 calories to make up the difference."
That never works, and you'll end up spinning your wheels.
mdsfx
Member
Guys, guys, I found a new miracle diet for shedding fat and exponentially decreasing that pesky thing called patience:
Breakfast: 32oz water, 16oz black coffee
Post workout snack: 3oz of Ice cubes, 6oz self doubt
Lunch: 32oz water, more black coffee, 200mg caffiene pill (snort it)
Snack: 32oz water, 6oz of ice cubes, and for a treat, just smell some chocolate cake
Dinner: 16oz Ice coffee with a side of aggression sprinkled with hatred
That's it! I have successfully shed 2lbs of fat in 3 days and I've only killed 4 people!
Breakfast: 32oz water, 16oz black coffee
Post workout snack: 3oz of Ice cubes, 6oz self doubt
Lunch: 32oz water, more black coffee, 200mg caffiene pill (snort it)
Snack: 32oz water, 6oz of ice cubes, and for a treat, just smell some chocolate cake
Dinner: 16oz Ice coffee with a side of aggression sprinkled with hatred
That's it! I have successfully shed 2lbs of fat in 3 days and I've only killed 4 people!
Omegasquash
Member
I'd recommend more. Should be pretty straight forward to do that without supplementing, unless you're vegetarian (and not trying to say you should be otherwise). Rule I've always heard (and FitGAF will correct me if I'm wrong here, I trust), is that you want to shoot for at least your target lean muscle mass in grams.
Psychotext
Member
~0.8g per lb of body weight. Any more is pretty much pointless unless you're on a severe cut, and even then it's highly debatable.
...and if you're struggling to get 120g a day from real food, you need to work on your diet.
Swap all that water for coffee, and you've got an average day in Casa Psychotext.
Jacksinthe
Banned
Can I sub the caffeine pill for some of that fine Columbian Bam-Bam?
A 3 egg omelette with cheddar and 1 chicken breast is about 90 grams of protein.
I'm not really struggling to reach that. I guess I just find supplements like a protein shake after a workout or a protein bar for a snack. I think the best way for me to stick to a diet is to have a diet that is convenient. I'm probably not disciplined enough to stick to a challenging diet in a long term. That's why I'm just going with a shotgun approach that I'm confident I can maintain.
I just read up what I've been eating and did a rough count of protein.
30g breakfast
38 post-workout shake
20g lunch
20g protein bar snack
25g dinner
35g before-sleep casein shake
Looks like I'm taking in about 158g of protein daily.
Yeah it's about necessary especially since I'm cutting now. It's nice actually seeing exactly just how much food I'm eating.
When do you guys start to concern yourself with one rep maxes? I've been steadily increasing weights on all of my exercises, except squats. I'm staying low on weights on squats until my form is fixed. But when I try a one rep max, it feels only slightly more than what I do in sets. Is this because the first strength gains comes more from better muscle coordination and not actual muscle growth?
Also, just saw a guy doing machine seated rows with a friend. His friend was pushing the machine in a way that made the reps easier. The guy was pretty huge, so I'm guessing he knows how to lift, but that looked incredibly strange to me. What is the point of having a friend spot you for a machine workout?
Also, just saw a guy doing machine seated rows with a friend. His friend was pushing the machine in a way that made the reps easier. The guy was pretty huge, so I'm guessing he knows how to lift, but that looked incredibly strange to me. What is the point of having a friend spot you for a machine workout?
When I was doing Starting Strength I didn't concern myself with 1RM at all. The program called for 3x5 so that's what I did. Occasionally I would figure one out by calculation just out of curioisity, but hardly thought anything of it.
When I moved to 5/3/1 I didnt worry about it unless I was on a 1's week... And only then after several cycles because in the beginning I was getting quite a bit more than 1 rep on 1's week.
Now I use an app to track my 5/3/1 programming and it does a 1 rep max calculation based on the last work set of each lift. Again, I don't put any real trust in that, but it's halfway useful as a tool to compare between sets at different weight from week to week. But it doesn't affect anything really. Only thing that changes programming is when I start consistently missing reps the program calls for.
/shrug just do what the program calls for, till the program stops working. Unless you plan on competing or something 1RM isn't gonna mean much.
Edit: meant to ask, what program are you running currently?
Right now I'm on a PPL routine that focuses on the areas I want to work on the most. I'm making gains right now, but I'm looking into other programs and reading more into the methodology of weight lifting. I'm just doing what has worked for me before right now and I'm more concerned with form in areas that I'm lacking on since I've only really been back to lifting for about a month now.
Omegasquash
Member
Oof. Just had one of my three meals of the week that ain't part of the plan. Coworker and I ended up walking around the city for a bit looking for a certain food truck, ended up elsewhere.
Ribeye sandwich on focaccia, with a side of grilled asparagus. Now, I can taste the olive oil, but it was worth it.
As an aside, I found that my shoulder and hip mobility isn't what it should be, so I'm going to involve more stretching before my routine. Trainer (doing once a month just to check in) was surprised about the hips given my squat depth, but still, I should work on it.
Ribeye sandwich on focaccia, with a side of grilled asparagus. Now, I can taste the olive oil, but it was worth it.
As an aside, I found that my shoulder and hip mobility isn't what it should be, so I'm going to involve more stretching before my routine. Trainer (doing once a month just to check in) was surprised about the hips given my squat depth, but still, I should work on it.
Imo get that base strength for the first couple months before worrying about it too much. 1 rep maxes are fun sure but form breaks down even more at/near 1 rep maxes which is detrimental to the development of technical skills.
I got too obsessed with it personally and it was hampering my progress overall.
Shy Fingers
Banned
First part made me hungry, second part sparked a question.
I'm like a super picky veggie eater. I a lot of fajitas currently, it gets me eating peppers and onions. Any of you have any decent tips on preparing veggies in a certain way that help make them more tolerable? Or is this one of those just suck it up and eat them kind of things?
I know taste is subjective, but I'm just struggling here.
This is all gluten free and vegan friendly, right?
But the most important rule, the rule you can never forget, no matter how much he cries, no matter how much he begs, never feed him after midnight.
Vanity points.
I feel like the young folks in here may never have seen that
I realized that when I was about to hit the post button.
Omegasquash
Member
I made myself love plain old veggies as a snack (green pepper, carrots, celery, broccoli, etc). For most other veggies I'll steam them with a little salt and pepper, and add a splash of vinegar to the leafier stuff (spinach, kale) or saute something in a bit of olive oil.
Maybe my favorite thing is to halve Brussels sprouts, drizzle a little olive oil on them, sprinkle them with salt and pepper, and then bake 'em at 350 for a little while. Once they start to brown up, it's like eating popcorn. Just don't go too heavy on the oil is all. Hope that helps!