Diet and finding food.

[handygal]

Originally Posted by mjnc

Food Advisor Helps You Find the Foods that are Right for You

That was really interesting, thank you for posting it. I wish I would have seen it last year -- top of the list is B12 deficiency, and that's been confirmed now.

[oma]

Eons ago I read to eat breakfast like an emperor, lunch like a prince and dinner like a pauper. Supposed to be a healthy way of eating if incorporating also the right kind of food at those times.

[Triaxx2]

The idea is this: Eat a big breakfast, to fuel you through the hard work of the day. Eat a medium sized lunch to compliment breakfast and fuel the later part of the day, when a full stomach will weigh you down in the heat. And eat a small dinner because you'll be hungry, but you sleep better on a satisfied stomach than a full one.

[Dario89]

All nice discussion and thanks for that. As far as breakfast is concerned, you must
remember that the people who take their breakfast are comparatively more intelligent
then those who don't.
Its awesome to fulfill appetite need for the whole day.

[Nedlamar]

Well since this got bumped I thought I would give an update.
I gave up and went on a MacDonalds diet and am now 483lbs

Ok seriously it's going well, the missus is still much more disciplined than I am, I cheat a bit here and there. But on the whole it seems to be working, we eat good hearty type meals while watching the sugars and wheats etc, pop has 99.99% gone, water only, which was surprisingly easy to adjust to considering how much I used to drink.
I eat breakfast very morning the past 10 days, fruit with yogurt and almonds, it's getting easier and I'm sometimes actually hungry when I wake up.
Takin lunches to work that are mostly salads of some kind, usually pork or chicken cooked up the night before.

I've had the same belt for 12 years, I moved in a hole last week and again today, been on the same hole for about 8 years now.
I'm annoying most of the girls at work because they exercise and eat good food etc and have been arguing with me over what helps and what hinders.
Today I got several comments and jibes like "Thats really unfair, I hate you" etc etc.
My reply?.... "I told you how to do it, you said I was wrong"

To be honest I attribute the vast majority of loss to eliminating pop and obviously will not continue at this rate.

Next up, I got to get me some weights and an Eliptical, been looking into that.

The missus was doing really well, feeling really good and really happy with her reduction in waist size, I've been paying her many well deserved compliments.
But today she was all grumpy when I got home and said she's bloated and gained weight and gone from this size to that size (exaggerating as certain species lean towards the dramatic ). But I'm not sure, it's more her mood, she doesn't seem so gung ho, don't get me wrong, she's still doing it but doesn't seem to be enjoying it or something.... hell honestly I don't know, she's female, I'm male, for all I know she might just need a really big fart. But it is working. I need to get her spirits back up, she's awesome at this crap, I can't do it without her... me?... I'm cooking bacon as we speak (although bacon is fine in moderation.....ok "Bacon" and "Moderation" should not go in the same sentence )

So yeah, on the whole it seems to be working

[handygal]

That's great.

I tell my hubby I hate him too since it is so unfair that he can lose 10 pounds in 2 weeks if he just "watches a little". UGH.

For the missus, is a little dark chocolate in order? If the blahs continue, sometimes a change in the protein profile can help. People tend to eat too much "muscle meat" like chicken breast which is too high in cystine and trytophan. A good healer is a hearty beef broth soup made with the bone & some veggies.

[Nedlamar]

Originally Posted by handygal

For the missus, If the blahs continue, sometimes a change in the protein profile can help.

I giggled, I'm 35 going on 12

Yeah so the "blahs" were as I originally thought but din't say..... monthly's.

But she is stressed because she only lost 1lb last week (which personally I think is too small to register since you can shift more than a pound by eating lol, of course I don't mention that )
And it kind of miffed her that I appear to have lost 21lbs in 3 weeks
I told her it's largely due to a massive cutback in sugar, mainly pop and energy drinks.

So I'm just rocking this thing without much effort although I got to put some exercise down other than work, which is largely standing around talking to people.

I have every confidence in my girl, especially now I'm starting to feel the buzz of it, it's kind of exciting lol, I'm now 200lbs, I haven't been that light since I was a teenager, need to put some muscle back though. So I'm going to start pulling my weight (so to speak) and be more encouraging and helpful.

It's all in the mind, if you can set your mind to it, it's much easier... Im starting to

Edit: Also, a fairly large factor I didn't mention, we've both had the crap knocked out of us by a cold for the past 2 weeks, really not helping.

[Nedlamar]

Well it's been over a month since my last update.
We seem to have entered what I like to call a "norm" phase, meaning what we are eating and doing is starting to feel normal.
I seem to have plateau'd at 192-196lbs, which I'm fairly happy with.
My flabby bits are fading and muscle is building. I've put 1.5 inch on my upper arms, starting to show a 4 pack (the bottom 2 are still covered by some flubber lol).
I bought a set of dumbells and have been working "explosive" 30 minute workouts, 4 times per week.
I've gone from 15lbs each bell at first with 9 exercises over 2 sets.
Exercises include sit ups, push ups, curls, squats etc. No rest between exercises and 1 minute between sets.
I'm now starting to get comfortable with 22.5lbs each bell, 12 exercises and 3 sets, again only resting 1 minutes between sets. Also increased sit ups from 10 to 20 per set and the same with push ups, ending the whole workout with 30 pushups.
I can actually clap between a few push ups
That combined with the eating plan, which we have not been so hard at it, I've increased protein intake to help with the exercising.
The missus faltered there for a couple of weeks or so, but she's started back at it and has got back into her yoga, she did it faithfully for a month and is now getting back to it.
She also wants to build muscle like I am, but she's confused to what sets would be good for her.
I'm going to find her a bunch of exercises and I told her to basically choose the ones that work what you want them to work and most importantly that you at least sort of enjoy.
This is what I've done, there's only 2 exercises I do that I almost dread, one is a power squat combined with a floor to shoulder lift, the other is a butterfly lift (raising the dumbells from sides to shoulder level out to the sides), man that one kills me, it's almost like it's my challenge because it's the one I find hardest.

So yeah, all in all it's still going well, I highly recommend this type of dietary change.

Also, anyone who wishes to shoot some exercises ideas for me or the missus, please do so.
My goal is mainly upper body structure with some lower added in, more weight, less reps, more sets.
The missus says she would like the muscle, strength and definition of someone like a Tennis player or sprinter.

[mjnc]

That's a pretty tough workout.
I'm older and a much thinner build so I do much less.
For me it's less weight and slowly work up to more reps.

Be careful with the squats. They can be really hard on your knees and do some real damage if done improperly.
I was told by a trainer to keep my heels on the floor and don't go down too far.
I think your thighs should not go to more than a 45 degree angle.
Maybe you can find some good instructional videos for that.

[John_geek]

US people has this problem. I will go to live in China, because there are slim and thin people.

[solaris89]

Originally Posted by John_geek

US people has this problem. I will go to live in China, because there are slim and thin people.

Oh yeah, there are no fat people in China

http://uschina.usc.edu/w_usci/showar...ookieSupport=1

[Nedlamar]

Originally Posted by mjnc

That's a pretty tough workout.
I'm older and a much thinner build so I do much less.
For me it's less weight and slowly work up to more reps.

Be careful with the squats. They can be really hard on your knees and do some real damage if done improperly.
I was told by a trainer to keep my heels on the floor and don't go down too far.
I think your thighs should not go to more than a 45 degree angle.
Maybe you can find some good instructional videos for that.

Yeah the squats are performed with power through the heels, not the toes.
Basically you start in lowish squat position holding one of the dumbells at arms length, then power up through your heels and pop the weight to your shoulder, then on the way back down you switch hands with the weight. This one not only gets your legs , shoulders and triceps , but increases your heart and lung rate instantly.
I was also told by a trainer that as I find them getting easier I should power harder, so much so as to lift myself onto my toes and slowly let myself back down to my heels before lowering my body.
My knees are not in good shape but I have found if I keep the power in my heels it's doesn't have as much impact on the knees.

I forgot about one of the other ones that kills, although I enjoy it somewhat.
I get in push up position with my hands on the dumbells, do a push up and as I raise I lift one of the beels up past my ribs in a saw like motion and of course alternate left and right, man 12 of those is a beast workout on your arms, shoulders and especially sides of my stomach.
I actually found most of these exercises looking up specialist power workouts, a couple of them come from an S.A.S. warm up, yeah what I call killer exercises, these guys call warm ups , I don't want to look like Brock Lesner by any stretch, but I'm chasing that body I had 15 years ago, although that body is faster than this one and I'm not sure if I can catch it

[Phantom]

Originally Posted by John_geek

US people has this problem. I will go to live in China, because there are slim and thin people.

Go and live in Somalia, then. Heard they are real thin, there. .

[Nedlamar]

Missed the edit lol

What I have learnt is depending on what results you want is dependant not so much on which ones you do, but how you do them in respect to weight, reps and sets.
Less weight, more reps and fewer sets is an endurance workout similar to that of sportsmen such as runners (not including sprinters), so I went from the 15lbs each and 12-15 reps, to 22lbs with 8-10 reps and 3 sets, which is power training with definition and strength, I'm hoping in about 6-8 weeks to be up to 35- maybe 40lbs per bell. I never go to the point where I lose form, your last rep should be a bit of a struggle, not so much so you have to use your body motion to get the weight where it's going, control is the key, only use the muscles the exercises is meant to use, example and standing curl, nothing should move except your fore arms at the elbow, meaning swinging the weight forward is wrong and is not doing as much as if you decrease the reps but maintain control and form.
To be honest I always hated exercises, but I seem to be enjoying this mainly because I'm getting results without having to spend hours per week getting bored and dreading the workout.
See I've learnt that anything over 30-60 minutes, 4 times per week is unnecessary and often detrimental unless you are on a heavy protien diet and training for UFC or some crap lol, the line I was given by a 58 year old who is well jacked and honestly looks about 35 (my age) is "I have finished my workout at the gym and leaving while the other guys (with less results) are just finishing their warm ups"
Also over exercising speeds up the aging process and weakens muscle, could well define muscle but strength can be lost if not on the correct strict diet.

[Fred_G]

Dang Ned, that push up barbell arm raise thing is tough. Started my own little 'diet' Monday. No more Cokes, no more fries for lunch... Glad things are going well for you.