Health, Good Practises, and Exercise

[Gutwrench]

Perfect. I think too mank people just arbitrarily decide on a final weight by things like “ this was my weight when I was in my 20s, or I think I need to drop 60 pounds and right now I’m 260 so I need to see 200”. I’m an ecrptomorph and 5’ 10”. I played HS football at 155 pounds and I was fat and out of shape.
For example, There is no way I’d ever get to see 220 and under 15 % body fat. That is simply unrealistic. You don’t want to be setting unrealistic goals, but rather, a series of ones you can reasonably expect to hit, reassess things as you advance and continue to set new attainable goals. I will stop here. I am absolutely terrible at this. I have always had long term goals I was never going to hit because I wouldn’t stick to it long term. What works for me, (when I actually do it) is work out 6 days a week. Taking days off are killers for me. It’s so easy to find excuses to stop. The trick is to regulate things to not overdo it.
The best advice I’ve ever received (for me, not nessessarily others) came from a former Mr. Canada. Don’t miss workouts. It seemed so DUH at the time. But for me it was essential
When I skipped working out, it became just that much easier to STOP.

S

As a prep @ 5’10” I was pretty much an ectomorph too. My off-season walking weight was 160-165 but I competed at 119 & 126 then ballooned up to 132 my senior year. I was at 126 and 134 in college and internationally at 62K.

It was so liberating training without having to worry about weight. At my peak I was training 2-a-day, 7 days a week and reached 198 which put me close to obese by medical charts. Haha. Life got complicated so I slowed training down a lot and dropped down to mid-180s. Today I’m a soft 215 and don’t even care.

 

[Lioness~]

Don’t miss workouts.

I definitely think it is THAT simple. Sweat it! Out!
Of course everyone has different goals for workout.
I have worked out my whole life, in different ways. And I love it!
Depending what have been going on in life, mentally, emotionally & spiritually, I adjust my practice. Everything that affects mind etc affects body.
Life is change, and growth.
Of course there have been periods when I’ve been below the 80-99% general fitness/flexibility/strength/condition where I want to be. When just too much have been going on in life. Minor injuries, maybe just tired or deeper processes, then slower Yoga, more focus on meditation etc. etc.
It’s not about never falling off the horse, so to speak. It’s about getting up again.
And yes, I have been riding horses too, they are absolutely wonderful, and very good workouts

 

[jdechko]

Perfect. I think too mank people just arbitrarily decide on a final weight by things like “ this was my weight when I was in my 20s, or I think I need to drop 60 pounds and right now I’m 260 so I need to see 200”. I’m an ecrptomorph and 5’ 10”. I played HS football at 155 pounds and I was fat and out of shape.
S

As a prep @ 5’10” I was pretty much an ectomorph too. My off-season walking weight was 160-165 but I competed at 119 & 126 then ballooned up to 132 my senior year. I was at 126 and 134 in college and internationally at 62K.

Never knew my body type, but yeah, that's me. 5'10, 125-ish on HS graduation day.

 

[44267547]

What works for me, (when I actually do it) is work out 6 days a week. Taking days off are killers for me. It’s so easy to find excuses to stop. The trick is to regulate things to not overdo it.

I’m the type of person once I have a goal set, I won’t quit. I will fulfill that goal by all means and only making excuses is equivalent to laziness.

However, I do look forward to actually having a day off when I’m not in the gym. On my days off, I study more B.B videos and readings of how I can dynamically change my workouts to consistently confuse my body and *not* have a regular routine, because that Is definitely what you don’t want in bodybuilding. I spend 2.5/3 hours weightlifting and it’s absolutely vital to your body to allow that full day to recover. My mindset is that you have to earn that day off of recovery by working hard in the gym.

I Always had a coach telling me growing up that when you workout (Or weight lift) in the gym and if you’re not sore the next day, then you actually didn’t ‘work out’.

Naturally curious, what are you doing for workouts six days a week?

 

[arkitect]

Since this thread also includes "Healthy Eating" I'll show these off.

Last week's batch of Sauerkraut and pickles:

Plain Sauerkraut, Dill & Cucumber Sauerkraut, Turmeric Sauerkraut, Curtido and some Dill Pickles.

Breaking open the pickles this week — The krauts need to ferment a few weeks longer.

 

[senseless]

I removed the TV from the kitchen area, because I find myself mindlessly eating. That can’t be good.

 

[D.T.]

Since this thread also includes "Healthy Eating" I'll show these off.

Last week's batch of Sauerkraut and pickles:

Plain Sauerkraut, Dill & Cucumber Sauerkraut, Turmeric Sauerkraut, Curtido and some Dill Pickles.

Breaking open the pickles this week — The krauts need to ferment a few weeks longer.

View attachment 776061

We *love* kraut! I bet that homemade one is delicious, I'm literally a little drooly ...

 

[arkitect]

I removed the TV from the kitchen area, because I find myself mindlessly eating. That can’t be good.

I have a rule: Never eat while watching TV etc.
As you have discovered it just leads to mindless eating.

A really bad habit the vast majority of people in the West have fallen in to.

[doublepost=1534336997][/doublepost]

We *love* kraut! I bet that homemade one is delicious, I'm literally a little drooly ...

Haha! Thanks!

Homemade is best — and since it is unpasteurised all the goodness of the probiotics and what have you are intact and ready to be of use.
Love it!

 

[Huntn]

Since this thread also includes "Healthy Eating" I'll show these off.

Last week's batch of Sauerkraut and pickles:

Plain Sauerkraut, Dill & Cucumber Sauerkraut, Turmeric Sauerkraut, Curtido and some Dill Pickles.

Breaking open the pickles this week — The krauts need to ferment a few weeks longer.

View attachment 776061

What I find interesting is that I like several pickled items, but don’t care for Sauerkraut. This maybe a childhood dislike that I’ve carried forward into my adult hood. Did I mention this before? Anyway, maybe I should try it again. Is there ever an issue of bottles exploding? It makes me think of when I used to make home made root beer. You had to be careful.

 

[arkitect]

What I find interesting is that I like several pickled items, but don’t care for Sauerkraut. This maybe a childhood dislike that I’ve carried forward into my adult hood. Did I mention this before? Anyway, maybe I should try it again.

More for the rest of us.

Luckily we don't all have to like the same things.

Mind you, try some one day. You might be surprised. Our adult tastebuds are very different — at least mine are.

 

[Lioness~]

Luckily we don't all have to like the same things.

Mind you, try some one day. You might be surprised. Our adult tastebuds are very different — at least mine are.

Enjoy it.
Last time I tried it I didn’t like it at all. Haven’t tried it in a long time though. Can’t recall, just that it wasn't a pleasant surprise. But who knows, it might taste better to me now, if I get to it again. I pass for now
Wouldn’t have the time to make it anyway.
Kombucha making takes enough time, and that I absolutely love to drink and trying out new flavors in.
Healt benefits might be similar, probably.

 

[arkitect]

Humm… sitting here looking at the rain setting in. And chilly…

I know a nice warm and energising Yoga class is just 10 minutes down the hill from me.

Grrrrr. Just can't move my sorry arse it seems. Filing it under "One of those days".
[doublepost=1534356208][/doublepost]

Enjoy it.
Last time I tried it I didn’t like it at all. Haven’t tried it in a long time though. Can’t recall, just that it wasn't a pleasant surprise. But who knows, it might taste better to me now, if I get to it again. I pass for now
Wouldn’t have the time to make it anyway.
Kombucha making takes enough time, and that I absolutely love to drink and trying out new flavors in.
Healt benefits might be similar, probably.

Thanks!

I love fermented foods and drinks… but I confess that your Surströming defeated me. Holy moly!

 

[Lioness~]

Humm… sitting here looking at the rain setting in. And chilly…

I know a nice warm and energising Yoga class is just 10 minutes down the hill from me.

Grrrrr. Just can't move my sorry arse it seems. Filing it under "One of those days".
[doublepost=1534356208][/doublepost]
Thanks!

I love fermented foods and drinks… but I confess that your Surströming defeated me. Holy moly!

Surströmming, definitely worse then Sauerkraut, yuk.

Good for you with nice yoga class 10 minutes away, I wish.
But we have no authorized Ashtanga teachers in this town. Some hypocrites that I practiced with before I had a really good level 2 teacher here on visit for some time. It unfortunately made it impossible to go back. So now I’m on my own, and struggle to get it work...not so good lately. But not lost yet.

 

[Huntn]

Humm… sitting here looking at the rain setting in. And chilly…

I know a nice warm and energising Yoga class is just 10 minutes down the hill from me.

Grrrrr. Just can't move my sorry arse it seems. Filing it under "One of those days".
[doublepost=1534356208][/doublepost]
Thanks!

I love fermented foods and drinks… but I confess that your Surströming defeated me. Holy moly!

I wish you could send some chilly my way.

 

[senseless]

I’ve always heard that breakfast starts up the metabolism, but some suggest otherwise. Is it really important or better avoided to drop a few pounds?

 

[D.T.]

I’ve always heard that breakfast starts up the metabolism, but some suggest otherwise. Is it really important or better avoided to drop a few pounds?

Don't skip meals, if you're working out, you need some fuel - and it's almost never a good long term strategy when trying to maintain. You'd be way better off eating 3 (or 4 or 5) smaller meals throughout the day (including breakfast), and focusing on the type of intake (i.e., proteins vs. fat vs. carbs).

It doesn't always have to be a big production, just grab some healthy bars of some sort. Easy and quick to eat, gives you a little boost, calorie controlled, and lots of options with low sugar, high[er] protein.

These are solid, currently my go to where I'm not ready to do eggs or a smoothie:

About the product

• Gluten-Free, Egg-Free
• Omega-3s from Fish Oil
• Grass-Fed Whey from New Zealand
• 3 Cups Decaffeinated Green Tea for Antioxidants

The Omega 3s are a nice perk, as well as the green tea.

 

[44267547]

I’ve always heard that breakfast starts up the metabolism, but some suggest otherwise. Is it really important or better avoided to drop a few pounds?

I used to always skip breakfast altogether, as I have never been a ‘big eater’. But I also realize the importance of breakfast starting out your day and giving yourself the necessary energy moving forward, so I made it a priority to Change that. So I tried to break it up in eating five smaller meals a day. The one breakfast food I eat the most, is oatmeal. I find it to be so dynamic in what you can add with fruit, nuts, peanut butter, I even add protein powder in my oatmeal as a ‘pre-workout’ meal. Point being, find what appeals for you to eat something that doesn’t have to be heavy, it can be on the lighter side, but I do find it important.

 

[senseless]

Is there any validity to longer periods of no eating causing the body to more readily scavenge fat for energy vs more frequent mini meals?

 

[x-evil-x]

I have a rule: Never eat while watching TV etc.
As you have discovered it just leads to mindless eating.

A really bad habit the vast majority of people in the West have fallen in to.

[doublepost=1534336997][/doublepost]
Haha! Thanks!

Homemade is best — and since it is unpasteurised all the goodness of the probiotics and what have you are intact and ready to be of use.
Love it!

snacking is mindless eating and its caught onto way too many peoples lifestyle. If people skipped these snacks and just ate all their food in each meal they would be better off.
[doublepost=1534596149][/doublepost]

Is there any validity to longer periods of no eating causing the body to more readily scavenge fat for energy vs more frequent mini meals?

leangains.com Ive done some sort of If for about 5 years now I won't ever go back to the 6-7 small meals a day. It was more of a hassle to eat like that and doesn't make a difference in the end of the day to weather you will loose weight or gain it.
[doublepost=1534596235][/doublepost]

I’ve always heard that breakfast starts up the metabolism, but some suggest otherwise. Is it really important or better avoided to drop a few pounds?

its how companies sell breakfast foods. eating more often does not speed up your metabolism unless you are a rat

 

[Lioness~]

I’ve always heard that breakfast starts up the metabolism, but some suggest otherwise. Is it really important or better avoided to drop a few pounds?

Is there any validity to longer periods of no eating causing the body to more readily scavenge fat for energy vs more frequent mini meals?

There is not one way to eat or exercising that fits everyone, all the time

You have to get to know yourself and see what works for you. And what works for you now, may not work another period.
It all depends on how your mind/life etc is. We are no machines.

 

[Huntn]

Avoiding Artificial Sweetners:
In my quest to avoid artificial sweeteners due to concerns regarding, possible degradation of healthy intestinal bacteria, I have discovered that while a product I like, V8 Lower Sugar fruit vegetable drinks (example: Orange Carrot and Healthy Greens, Concord Grape Raspberry, clearly state No Artificial Sweetners), with sugar that ranges from 11g, 15g as high as 28g of sugar, their cousins V-8 V-Fusion with much less calories says No Sugar Added, and include sucralose in the ingredients to keep the calories at half in comparison.

A stroll down the grocery store isle looking at things like low sugar diet shakes (like Slimfast) and diet/protein bars, all of them rely on sucralose to lower sugar intake.

Sucralose (Splenda): Good or Bad?
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sucralose-good-or-bad

snacking is mindless eating and its caught onto way too many peoples lifestyle. If people skipped these snacks and just ate all their food in each meal they would be better off.
[doublepost=1534596149][/doublepost]
leangains.com Ive done some sort of If for about 5 years now I won't ever go back to the 6-7 small meals a day. It was more of a hassle to eat like that and doesn't make a difference in the end of the day to weather you will loose weight or gain it.
[doublepost=1534596235][/doublepost]
its how companies sell breakfast foods. eating more often does not speed up your metabolism unless you are a rat

Regarding snacking, I think you are mostly right, but I would say it depends on the individual, discipline, and what is being snacked on, and how that is integrated in a total diet (used as a description of consumed food vs restricting food to loose weight).

 

[oldhifi]

Think Apple Cider Vinegar

 

[D.T.]

A stroll down the grocery store isle looking at things like low sugar diet shakes (like Slimfast) and diet/protein bars, all of them rely on sucralose to lower sugar intake.
.

Some of them do. Some are just naturally lower in sugar (see bar above), and there's a decent push with sweeteners like stevia, monk fruit and erythritol (and other alcohol sugar variants).

My $0.02 in order of bad to less bad: Saccharin (pink, common brand, Sweet n Low), Aspartame (blue, common brand, Equal), Sucralose (yellow, common brand, Splenda)

Go with just straight low sugar by design, use +real+ unprocessed sugar, try honey, stevia, etc., avoid pink/blue/yellow if/when you can.

 

[x-evil-x]

Avoiding Artificial Sweetners:
In my quest to avoid artificial sweeteners due to concerns regarding, possible degradation of healthy intestinal bacteria, I have discovered that while a product I like, V8 Lower Sugar fruit vegetable drinks (example: Orange Carrot and Healthy Greens, Concord Grape Raspberry, clearly state No Artificial Sweetners), with sugar that ranges from 11g, 15g as high as 28g of sugar, their cousins V-8 V-Fusion with much less calories says No Sugar Added, and include sucralose in the ingredients to keep the calories at half in comparison.

A stroll down the grocery store isle looking at things like low sugar diet shakes (like Slimfast) and diet/protein bars, all of them rely on sucralose to lower sugar intake.

Sucralose (Splenda): Good or Bad?
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/sucralose-good-or-bad




Regarding snacking, I think you are mostly right, but I would say it depends on the individual, discipline, and what is being snacked on, and how that is integrated in a total diet (used as a description of consumed food vs restricting food to loose weight).

in my 14 years of training and helping friends out all of them had issues with snacks. its an extra 1-500 calories a day they can shave off. Most people ive delt with dont track their food too well if if they do its not for that long. It takes a very strong willed person to track their macros year after year. Very rare.
[doublepost=1534663053][/doublepost]ive used stevia drops for years with no effect whatsoever in my goals. But I also track my macros. I know what im taking in everyday I know how changing my diet changes my body composition. Ive dieted down for shows both the super clean boring way of eating and the more open(mostly good foods with whatever else I want) eating. body composition wise I can get just as lean (contest shape/6-7% Bodyfat) with foods I enjoy as long as I keep track of my macros.
Now health wise may be different. I dont feel any different eating super clean foods to macro style dieting. Anything under 8% Bodyfat I dont feel the greatest with any kind of food. Human bodies dont like staying super lean they fight it any way they can. There are certain tricks you have to do if your body is the type that adapts and wont lose anymore Bodyfat when you get in the lower range.
Ive done food prepping bodybuilder type diets and dieting for 8 years and the last 6 have been a lot of experimenting with foods and different styles of diets.

 

[44267547]

Ive done some sort of If for about 5 years now I won't ever go back to the 6-7 small meals a day. It was more of a hassle to eat like that and doesn't make a difference in the end of the day to weather you will loose weight or gain it.

These are my ‘small’ meals as an itemized list below For my own personal gains, I’m into Bodybuilding (Been lifting for 10+ Prior) and for my “On” days, this is what the protein intake represents as of current. 5 Days a week in Gym/Almost 3 Hours per session:

Meal 1-(Pre-Workout)

Two cups of Oatmeal

Two scoops Annex whey/22 ounces of milk (2%)


Meal 2:

10oz Chicken breast

(One) whole Avocado


Meal 3:

18 ounces of Tuna

1 Oz Raw almonds


Meal 4: (Post workout)

Two scoops of Annex whey/three Grams of creatine CX5

22 ounces of 2% milk.

Two cups of Basmati rice


Meal 5:

7oz Steak

Broccoli


Meal 6:

Four eggs

20 ounces of milk