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Fitness, diet, and exercise. Have some know-how!
12 years ago
General
Mind you, most of this not only incomplete, but the intent is for slimming and toning. The same basic principles apply if you're trying to go into bodybuilding or weight lifting, but you go for keeping your daily calorie count around nearly 5000 calories and more than your body weight in grams of protein, daily. But since I'm fixin' to shed the winter fluff for AC this summer, figured I'd lend a hand to anyone else lookin' to get on the right track to a fitter, leaner self.
First off, lemme get this outta the way:
NEVER.
EVER.
DRINK.
SODA.
Especially American soda. Its all needless sugars that most people generally dont use, but American soda doesnt have SUGAR in it so much as HFCS. High fructose corn syrup is arguably worse for you than smoking daily. And YES, I know that sounds fucked up, but take it from someone who just recently quit smoking for years; I felt better being athletic and puffin' a few jacks a day than bein' chubby and NOT smoking.
If you drink non-diet sodas and you're displeased with your waistline, PUT THAT SHIT DOWN RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. Part of the reason its as bad for you as it is is that it tricks your body into thinking you're starving and flips your metabolism into store-everything-as-fat mode for about 3-5 hours after you've introduced it into your system. It also tricks you into thinking you're not as full as you are, which makes you eat and drink MORE.
Seriously, if you need something tasty to drink, get yourself some Crystal Light. You'll thank me.
And on that same point, ALWAYS check the ingredients list of everything you buy. If its got HFCS in there, dont even bother buying it, ever again.
*clears throat* Kay, now that that's addressed, MOVING ON! 8D
A few basics!:
One, never skip breakfast. Ever. If I can advise ANYTHING more powerfully than any other bit of advice without a moments hesitation, tis this. Namely, because if you skip eating something within 2 hours of getting up, your body treats ANY meal you have after that time frame as you starving; what you even so much as snack on IMMEDIATELY gets stored as fat, since you've just convinced your metabolism that it can never be sure when its getting its next meal. Yes, YOU know when you're going to eat next, but the concious you and the base, chemical you are two different entities in this case; You NEED to remind your baser self that its not starving, and all is well. Never. Ever. Skip. Breakfast.
Second, Breakfast is always touted to be the most important meal in the day since a hearty breakfast is supposed to amp up your metabolism. This is true, but DO NOT confuse this for what is traditionally known to be a "farmer's breakfast". Where most of those folk put a 3k+ calorie meal to USE during the day being farm hands (and burn well over 10k calories before LUNCH), most of us sit on our asses for a living. You dont need anything big, just a small protein-rich snack within 2 hours of getting up. You dont need to exceed even 300 calories, as long as you're eating SOMETHING that's got about 10-15g of protein.
3'd, calculate your lean body mass. Any gym worth its salt will be able to get you a body mass index measurement (usually for free), which calculates lean body mass and fat percentages. Once you have that number, you will want to have no less but no more than HALF your lean body weight in grams of protein per day, every day. This is for trimming down. If you, say, went the powerlifting route, you'd amp that up to WELL over your total body weight in grams of protein per day, but thats neither hither nor thither. Just something to keep aware of.
Once you have your lean body mass and your ideal grams-per-day protein intake calculated, its a numbers game. Keep your calorie count to less than 1200 per day, thereabouts.
You should eat 5-6 times per day. The whole "3 square meals" shit goes right out the window, and is actually one of the reasons our culture is as obese as it is. After breakfast, snack (I mean it when I say SNACK. Not meals. Snacks, to the tune of no more than 300 calories a pop. Optimally, 200.) about every 2-3 hours. This is effective at keepign you slim because its how we're wired to eat; we've been hunting and gathering for THOUSANDS of years, and readilly-available pre-prepared food is only a very recent development in our biological history as a species. We ate what we found as we found it on the move. Things didnt keep long before the advent of the refrigerator, so what was on hand got 'et.
Ergo, our bodies are wired to be reminded we arent starving about every 2-3 hours. Any longer than that and you'll be convincing your system you're starving, even if you dont feel hunger pangs.
If you're leaning out, stay away from carbs and sugars. Those are nutrients that are designed to be used IMMEDIATELY as they're avialable in your blood stream, or at least within 3 hours of you eating. After that, it gets stored as fat, which is why so many people balloon up on fast-food; all those carbs and sugars have nowhere to go unless you're running a small marathon afterward.
Keep in mind that COMPLETELY EXCISING Carbs and sugars from your diet is beneficial for fat loss, but only in the short term. And by short-term, I mean only going that route for 3 weeks. Tops.
eliminating carbs and sugars from your diet puts you into ketosis, which is a state in which your body focuses on energy production by burning fat reserves rather than taking sugars from the blood stream (which its naturally programmed to do as a matter of preference; use the blood fuel sources rather than the "backup/reserves" that are the fat deposits). It does this, because after 4-7 days of no carbs and sugars being eaten, it doesnt HAVE any energy to take from the bloodstream.
Ketosis is a great state to be in for a short while; its GREAT for getting a solid push towards your goal waistline, but it has a serious drawback. It makes your blood slightly acidic.
This is a problem for EVERYTHING YOUR CIRCULATORY SYSTEM TOUCHES. Organs, joints, everything is affected by this. Inlcuding your brain, which will experience notable drops in processing speed as your brain cells, well... die. Slowly. o.o
A few short weeks of this yield no problems. 2-3 weeks of being off the sugars and carbs will yield good results, have a bite of a bagel, ketosis goes away and your PH levels in your blood reset. Even if you have NOTHING carb or sugar related for 4 days, you're still good; it takes that long to reset your body back into ketosis.
Best option is to keep at lest SOME carbs in your diet, daily. Less than 50g of carbs per day is about perfect; it keeps you from going insane whilst still being low on the calorie side of things.
Foods to keep on hand:
Lean meat and cheese. 3 slices of deli meat and one slice of cheese is about perfect for a 3-hour snack, less slices if you're trying to lean down hardcore. Mustard has no caloric value, generally. its also very very good. :9
Almonds (palmfull of about 6-10 every hour or two) have a specific chemical in them that tell your body that not only are you full, but you're in no danger of starving. Thus, your metabolism runs high.
Red wine and olive oil vinnegar dressing on salads. Same effect as almonds, much more potent for fat burning. T's why people who live in Italy eat a starch-heavy diet and still stay more thin than their other American counterparts. Even having a shot of olive oil and a half-serving of wine in the morning is a VERY good way to crank up your fat-burning just gettin' outta bed.
Nevermind that it tastes horrible. You will NEVER be regarding eating for pleasure a viable option, again. Get used to it. I reccomend a chaser shot of something like Crystal Light Lemonade or the like.
Further, if you're looking for the maximum benefit to having a high metabolism during the day, IN ADDITION to spending the least time working out, you will want to do high-intensity burst exercises. P90X, Insanity, fartlek sprints, so on. Even a fast-paced cardio aerobics video will do the trick. All of these you can do in your home (I have downloaded vids of Insanity and p90x if you want them) , so it saves you time ever having to leave to go to the gym. Even if you DO have the time, they're also great for taking with you on a laptop and doing in the aerobics room.
The trick with the high-intensity training is that its the highest-output for calorie burning in the shortest amount of time, yes; but doing them in the morning SOON as you get up is paramount; your metabolism will remain high until you sleep again. The trick, being that you have to be ironclad about getting up and doing it in the morning, every day. Not easy, especially considering how exhausting it can be. x_x
Another great thing to do is get a good book series on your phone and read while you're on the elliptical machine. I've melted inches off just soaking in book after book for hours at a clip, sweatin' my balls off just a-spinnin' away!
ANother similar trick is getting a recumbent (sitting-down 'chair style') bicycle and setting it up in your house next to your TV; I have lost track of the hours I've played R-Type Final, spinning my middle away. I also reccomend getting R-Type Final, in general! 8D
And lastly, I have a final trick for you, but I'll warn you that its not for the faint of heart.
One of the keys to fat burning is maximizing your testosterone levels. Obviously suplements help (do them only for a month at a time with a month's break between each session; you keep doing supplements to amp your test levels, your body will learn to NOT bother making its own testosterone, period. You'll chemically castrate yourself. x_x), but there's a way you can do it naturally, POWERFULLY. Like, to the tune of 3x the average man's daily testosterone levels.
Wake up.
Chug a liter of ice water.
Go to the shower.
Turn on the water to cold. ICE cold as you can get it.
Step in.
Stay there.
For 15 minutes.
.,..
Yeeeeeeah. Its not fun in the slightest, like I'd said. x_x
When your core is chilled, your body compensates by heating itself, which burns energy. SHOCKING your body with such dramatic interior and exterior temperature drops cranks your metabolism into overdrive, trying to heat your system and battle the chills with crazy-ass shivvers. It hurts, but I'll be buggered if there's ANYTHING that gets your test levels that high, naturally, even aside from intense morning exercise!
Its funny, though; You may be amping up your natural testosterone levels, but good luck finding your balls when you're done! YOu might find them trying to turn into ovaries again, somewhere up in your pelvis. xD
This'll be a good starting point. I'll be updating this journal more frequently to include things like exercise plans and other useful tools.
But before that even happens, take a look-see at https://www.bodybuilding.com . They have everything from workout plans to exercise vids, lots of good stuff. I'll elaborate on my own methods, later. :3
CIAO!
First off, lemme get this outta the way:
NEVER.
EVER.
DRINK.
SODA.
Especially American soda. Its all needless sugars that most people generally dont use, but American soda doesnt have SUGAR in it so much as HFCS. High fructose corn syrup is arguably worse for you than smoking daily. And YES, I know that sounds fucked up, but take it from someone who just recently quit smoking for years; I felt better being athletic and puffin' a few jacks a day than bein' chubby and NOT smoking.
If you drink non-diet sodas and you're displeased with your waistline, PUT THAT SHIT DOWN RIGHT THE FUCK NOW. Part of the reason its as bad for you as it is is that it tricks your body into thinking you're starving and flips your metabolism into store-everything-as-fat mode for about 3-5 hours after you've introduced it into your system. It also tricks you into thinking you're not as full as you are, which makes you eat and drink MORE.
Seriously, if you need something tasty to drink, get yourself some Crystal Light. You'll thank me.
And on that same point, ALWAYS check the ingredients list of everything you buy. If its got HFCS in there, dont even bother buying it, ever again.
*clears throat* Kay, now that that's addressed, MOVING ON! 8D
A few basics!:
One, never skip breakfast. Ever. If I can advise ANYTHING more powerfully than any other bit of advice without a moments hesitation, tis this. Namely, because if you skip eating something within 2 hours of getting up, your body treats ANY meal you have after that time frame as you starving; what you even so much as snack on IMMEDIATELY gets stored as fat, since you've just convinced your metabolism that it can never be sure when its getting its next meal. Yes, YOU know when you're going to eat next, but the concious you and the base, chemical you are two different entities in this case; You NEED to remind your baser self that its not starving, and all is well. Never. Ever. Skip. Breakfast.
Second, Breakfast is always touted to be the most important meal in the day since a hearty breakfast is supposed to amp up your metabolism. This is true, but DO NOT confuse this for what is traditionally known to be a "farmer's breakfast". Where most of those folk put a 3k+ calorie meal to USE during the day being farm hands (and burn well over 10k calories before LUNCH), most of us sit on our asses for a living. You dont need anything big, just a small protein-rich snack within 2 hours of getting up. You dont need to exceed even 300 calories, as long as you're eating SOMETHING that's got about 10-15g of protein.
3'd, calculate your lean body mass. Any gym worth its salt will be able to get you a body mass index measurement (usually for free), which calculates lean body mass and fat percentages. Once you have that number, you will want to have no less but no more than HALF your lean body weight in grams of protein per day, every day. This is for trimming down. If you, say, went the powerlifting route, you'd amp that up to WELL over your total body weight in grams of protein per day, but thats neither hither nor thither. Just something to keep aware of.
Once you have your lean body mass and your ideal grams-per-day protein intake calculated, its a numbers game. Keep your calorie count to less than 1200 per day, thereabouts.
You should eat 5-6 times per day. The whole "3 square meals" shit goes right out the window, and is actually one of the reasons our culture is as obese as it is. After breakfast, snack (I mean it when I say SNACK. Not meals. Snacks, to the tune of no more than 300 calories a pop. Optimally, 200.) about every 2-3 hours. This is effective at keepign you slim because its how we're wired to eat; we've been hunting and gathering for THOUSANDS of years, and readilly-available pre-prepared food is only a very recent development in our biological history as a species. We ate what we found as we found it on the move. Things didnt keep long before the advent of the refrigerator, so what was on hand got 'et.
Ergo, our bodies are wired to be reminded we arent starving about every 2-3 hours. Any longer than that and you'll be convincing your system you're starving, even if you dont feel hunger pangs.
If you're leaning out, stay away from carbs and sugars. Those are nutrients that are designed to be used IMMEDIATELY as they're avialable in your blood stream, or at least within 3 hours of you eating. After that, it gets stored as fat, which is why so many people balloon up on fast-food; all those carbs and sugars have nowhere to go unless you're running a small marathon afterward.
Keep in mind that COMPLETELY EXCISING Carbs and sugars from your diet is beneficial for fat loss, but only in the short term. And by short-term, I mean only going that route for 3 weeks. Tops.
eliminating carbs and sugars from your diet puts you into ketosis, which is a state in which your body focuses on energy production by burning fat reserves rather than taking sugars from the blood stream (which its naturally programmed to do as a matter of preference; use the blood fuel sources rather than the "backup/reserves" that are the fat deposits). It does this, because after 4-7 days of no carbs and sugars being eaten, it doesnt HAVE any energy to take from the bloodstream.
Ketosis is a great state to be in for a short while; its GREAT for getting a solid push towards your goal waistline, but it has a serious drawback. It makes your blood slightly acidic.
This is a problem for EVERYTHING YOUR CIRCULATORY SYSTEM TOUCHES. Organs, joints, everything is affected by this. Inlcuding your brain, which will experience notable drops in processing speed as your brain cells, well... die. Slowly. o.o
A few short weeks of this yield no problems. 2-3 weeks of being off the sugars and carbs will yield good results, have a bite of a bagel, ketosis goes away and your PH levels in your blood reset. Even if you have NOTHING carb or sugar related for 4 days, you're still good; it takes that long to reset your body back into ketosis.
Best option is to keep at lest SOME carbs in your diet, daily. Less than 50g of carbs per day is about perfect; it keeps you from going insane whilst still being low on the calorie side of things.
Foods to keep on hand:
Lean meat and cheese. 3 slices of deli meat and one slice of cheese is about perfect for a 3-hour snack, less slices if you're trying to lean down hardcore. Mustard has no caloric value, generally. its also very very good. :9
Almonds (palmfull of about 6-10 every hour or two) have a specific chemical in them that tell your body that not only are you full, but you're in no danger of starving. Thus, your metabolism runs high.
Red wine and olive oil vinnegar dressing on salads. Same effect as almonds, much more potent for fat burning. T's why people who live in Italy eat a starch-heavy diet and still stay more thin than their other American counterparts. Even having a shot of olive oil and a half-serving of wine in the morning is a VERY good way to crank up your fat-burning just gettin' outta bed.
Nevermind that it tastes horrible. You will NEVER be regarding eating for pleasure a viable option, again. Get used to it. I reccomend a chaser shot of something like Crystal Light Lemonade or the like.
Further, if you're looking for the maximum benefit to having a high metabolism during the day, IN ADDITION to spending the least time working out, you will want to do high-intensity burst exercises. P90X, Insanity, fartlek sprints, so on. Even a fast-paced cardio aerobics video will do the trick. All of these you can do in your home (I have downloaded vids of Insanity and p90x if you want them) , so it saves you time ever having to leave to go to the gym. Even if you DO have the time, they're also great for taking with you on a laptop and doing in the aerobics room.
The trick with the high-intensity training is that its the highest-output for calorie burning in the shortest amount of time, yes; but doing them in the morning SOON as you get up is paramount; your metabolism will remain high until you sleep again. The trick, being that you have to be ironclad about getting up and doing it in the morning, every day. Not easy, especially considering how exhausting it can be. x_x
Another great thing to do is get a good book series on your phone and read while you're on the elliptical machine. I've melted inches off just soaking in book after book for hours at a clip, sweatin' my balls off just a-spinnin' away!
ANother similar trick is getting a recumbent (sitting-down 'chair style') bicycle and setting it up in your house next to your TV; I have lost track of the hours I've played R-Type Final, spinning my middle away. I also reccomend getting R-Type Final, in general! 8D
And lastly, I have a final trick for you, but I'll warn you that its not for the faint of heart.
One of the keys to fat burning is maximizing your testosterone levels. Obviously suplements help (do them only for a month at a time with a month's break between each session; you keep doing supplements to amp your test levels, your body will learn to NOT bother making its own testosterone, period. You'll chemically castrate yourself. x_x), but there's a way you can do it naturally, POWERFULLY. Like, to the tune of 3x the average man's daily testosterone levels.
Wake up.
Chug a liter of ice water.
Go to the shower.
Turn on the water to cold. ICE cold as you can get it.
Step in.
Stay there.
For 15 minutes.
.,..
Yeeeeeeah. Its not fun in the slightest, like I'd said. x_x
When your core is chilled, your body compensates by heating itself, which burns energy. SHOCKING your body with such dramatic interior and exterior temperature drops cranks your metabolism into overdrive, trying to heat your system and battle the chills with crazy-ass shivvers. It hurts, but I'll be buggered if there's ANYTHING that gets your test levels that high, naturally, even aside from intense morning exercise!
Its funny, though; You may be amping up your natural testosterone levels, but good luck finding your balls when you're done! YOu might find them trying to turn into ovaries again, somewhere up in your pelvis. xD
This'll be a good starting point. I'll be updating this journal more frequently to include things like exercise plans and other useful tools.
But before that even happens, take a look-see at https://www.bodybuilding.com . They have everything from workout plans to exercise vids, lots of good stuff. I'll elaborate on my own methods, later. :3
CIAO!
Gettem a half slice of bread, he should be fine. He can still do a nearly-no carbs diet and see results, but let's NOT let some of those results be brain damage, on top of everything else. x.x
But yes, letuce makes a good substitute for bread with burgers. Much leaner, and sacrifices no taste. :9
I may try a few of them, we'll see how long it goes.
That shower one may be the trick to waking me up in the morning. I'm so godawful about waking up and staying up.
The low carb ketosis diet, as long as you're fueling your body with protein and Fats, yes. Fats..oooh scary fat, What do you think people used to eat when we were hunter gatherers? Meat, lots of it. Lean or high fat, it didn't matter, people ate the organs for more fat in their diet when they needed it. You can actually get sick by eating too lean meat, which is why you cannot live off rabbit. Generally a diet thats low in carbs, not completely absent in them (50G a day max) Is fine, But your carbs should be comming from natural sources such as the sugar in fruits and carbs from vegetables as the main source.
If you followed the basic rules laid out from BB.com the trick to fat loss is:
Eat a 500 calorie deficit daily. And eat 1g or so of protein per lb of body weight. Eating naturally will help with this.
BTW: I've been running a 500 calorie deficit for around a year now, eating more fats and protein than i am carbs, and i'm down over 100 lbs, A basic calorie deficit, eating three times a day is fine.
Yes, you CAN go only 3 meals a day if you're keeping your calorie count low, but thats still not only not optimal for fat loss, you are literally the ONLY person I've ever met who's admitted to keeping a 500 calorie diet as a lifestyle. You're a VERY rare bird, and that being said for itself speaks highly of your willpower and personal discipline, yes. For that, you have my admiration.
But you - again - are a VERY rare exception. And to EVERYONE ELSE this is information is intended to be for, most of them are looking to lose weight. You? You sound like you could use a burger, even if only just to improve your mood. You're commin' off kinda overly-sarcastic and bitchy.
Eating 5-6 times a day is necessary to keep the body from freaking out and thinking you're starving. NECCESSARY, since you've brought up the whole word "need". So for OPTIMAL fat loss, you NEED to eat frequently in small snack-sized servings.
YOU arent experiencing any negative feedback from eating 3x/day (other than your bitey attitude), because you're keeping yourself to a BARE-ASSED-MINIMUM diet of 500 calories.
Also, you seem to be trying to contradict something I didnt mention as if I believe the opposite to be true; yes, you need fats to help your digestive process. Matter of fact, most athletic councelors suggest a 40/40/20 percent in grams-per-day ratio of Protein/Fats/Carbs. So I dont know where you get off trying to tell me I'm wrong for NOT stating something you're trying to contradict and that I dont even believe to begin with.
Have you copied your original post and put it there for feedback on the advice your giving, I have seen them very quickly correct bad advice, quite brutally too.
All my post was saying is the basics of weight loss are eat 500 calores less than the recommended 2000 a day and youll lose weight.
Also excess protein will combat ketosis.
When you say you eat at a 500 cal defecit, you gave no reference as to whether it was that you at 500 total or 500 calories reduced FROM your average 2000-calorie diet.
I'll update the rest tomorrow. Its 3am, just got back home, very pooped, atm. x_x
EAT LESS & DO MORE! and so many only seem to do one..
=^.,.^=
Why? Because it had SUGAR and not HCFS!
Years later, Pepsi came out with two limited edition "Throwback" sodas, Pepsi and Mt. Dew. I'm not a Mt. Dew fan, but Pepsi? Sure...
...OH MY GAWD WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN IN MY LIFE THIS IS CLEANER THAN WHAT I HAVE BEEN DRINKING I WANT TO DRINK IT ALL... you know, I'm kinda full after 8 ounces. I think I'll just cap this, save it...
And since then, with help from folks who became Throwback fans, you can find Pepsi Throwback in most grocery stores. I get them. I drink them slowly. My soda consumption has been cut, and over the past year I've lost 10 pounds.
Morale of the story: STOP FAKING OUT YOUR BRAIN, READ THOSE DAMN LABELS AND GET BETTER SODA!
I knew about most of the dieting tricks, learned those when I became diabetic, but never thought about the shower one though. I'm just now getting back into my exercise routine after surgery on my legs. That's usually the hardest part for me, finding time to exercise. Though I will take some time out at work to walk around the building a few times. I have learned listening to audiobooks helps me loose track of the time while I'm exercising too.