Healthy Chat Advisory Center!

[trip202]

Exercise would be great if I could find someone to exercise with.

Actually, I think it is better to exercise alone. I say this because people who work out with a partner, become totally reliant on the partner. If the partner skips a day, you skip a day, if the partner quits, you stop going to the gym too. I also see some people blabbing at the gym for so long, all the while they could have done 3 or 4 sets. I have been going alone for years. Of course there are guys at the gym that I'll say hi to or converse with briefly. There is always someone willing to spot you - no need to be shy.

This is all just personal opinion not fact, but this way you learn to rely on yourself and stay focused and dedicated.

[Nilesjones]

Ever thought of doing a food diary? I was told to try one of these to see just what my daily intake was. It's a lot easier to see and make adjustments to your diet this way. It would also help us to advise you.

Yeah June, I've thought about it. I created this thread in hopes of having some motivation. For the past two days I've been taking Ginko, and a multivitamin along with 4 eggs in the morning, 2 glasses of milk and one glass of OJ. And of course I've been waking up with a couple of cups of coffee. I need to cut down to one cup of coffee a day, but wasting a whole pot just seems silly

In all seriousness though, I'll keep a food diary here.

Today I've had 3 cups of coffee, 2 Ginko pills and a multivitamin. For actual food, I ate some Ruby Tuesday's Chicken and Broccoli Pasta. That was within an hour of waking up. To top it all off, I had dessert which consisted of one full Marlboro cigarette. LOL!! Drop the dessert and I'll be good for starting off

[goldenfooler]

I think there simply needs to be balance in the Force.

Fact or Fiction: Raw veggies are healthier than cooked ones

I believe it is mostly false. It does depend a lot on the food. Blanching foods should help but things like tomatoes have different nutrients when cooked.
I think eating veg either way is a good outcome. Weight watchers for some guys I know put any fruit or veg as 0 points and you can eat as much as you want. Veg and fruit will at least be healthy and fill you up.

[trip202]

Veg and fruit will at least be healthy and fill you up.

It's always great to substitute a fruit or vegetable for a snack too. However, I find that fruits and vegetables digest quickly and do not fill you up. If I were a vegetarian I'd probably have to eat every hour lol.

[goldenfooler]

It's always great to substitute a fruit or vegetable for a snack too. However, I find that fruits and vegetables digest quickly and do not fill you up. If I were a vegetarian I'd probably have to eat every hour lol.

You can also just eat some peanuts or other type of nuts. Though if you have to eat a piece of fruit an hour it will be one less candy bar per hour that you are eating and will lose weight either way.


funny thing with the posted food I have been eating is I go to the bathroom a lot less(other then peeing constantly because I drink about 3 naglene bottles at work.. 32 ounces each if your wondering). Lost 25 pounds as of today.

[Nilesjones]

haha, I'm not in the game for losing weight. Hell I weight 150 and I'm 5'9 or something like that. Nah, my main goal is to be healthier, so I can function throughout the day since I can't die from natural causes. I'd kill myself, but I'm too religious for that LOL

[goldenfooler]

Since your still in school take a nutrition class and a basic cooking skills class

[Apache Warrior]

I think there simply needs to be balance in the Force.

Fact or Fiction: Raw veggies are healthier than cooked ones

False. Some vegies have to be cooked to allow the human body to use the nutrients.
Apache

[juneau]

Yeah June, I've thought about it. I created this thread in hopes of having some motivation. For the past two days I've been taking Ginko, and a multivitamin along with 4 eggs in the morning, 2 glasses of milk and one glass of OJ. And of course I've been waking up with a couple of cups of coffee. I need to cut down to one cup of coffee a day, but wasting a whole pot just seems silly

In all seriousness though, I'll keep a food diary here.

Today I've had 3 cups of coffee, 2 Ginko pills and a multivitamin. For actual food, I ate some Ruby Tuesday's Chicken and Broccoli Pasta. That was within an hour of waking up. To top it all off, I had dessert which consisted of one full Marlboro cigarette. LOL!! Drop the dessert and I'll be good for starting off

Remember to never change your diet to the extreme. I've known far too many people that have switched from tv dinners and takeout to salad and chicken and failed in a instant because their inner fatty as I call it, always prevails. Find a medium and start there.

[Fenris]

I grew up as 1 of 5 children with both parents being teachers, so many of our meals were "improvised" and "cheap". Snacks were a rare treat. We had to eat everything on our plates because being wasteful with food was being wasteful with money. "Take what you want, but eat what you take" our mom said.

Which is why after I graduated from college and lived on my own, I developed really bad eating habits. I could eat a whole bag of potato chips or a whole bag of baby carrots. I didn't care which. Up until graduation, I was as skinny as a swizzle stick. Something like 175 lbs and 6'1". I walked all the time, played ultimate frisbee... then I had to go out into the real world where I got a job sitting on my ass all day in front of a computer. Sat in front of a computer at home and gelatinized. Got married to a wonderful woman who assisted me with my bad eating habits by cooking when I didn't feel like it. Together, we gained weight.

At my worst, I got up to 250. That's bad for me. I was wearing size 40-42 pants and XL shirts because they hung loose and masked my fat. Looking back, it's kind of ridiculous I ever got that way.

Thankfully, I got a job four years ago for a company that has a gym in the office. I started using it to work out, but never really paid attention to my diet.

This is going to sound silly, but I owe my change to Captain America. When that movie came out and I saw Chris Evans' physique, I said, "What the fuck am I doing going to this gym and still looking fat? I want to look like that!" My wife bought me a Captain America logo shirt in support of my drive to get in as good shape as Chris Evans. I was about 230lbs at the time. So I devoted hours of downtime to researching diet and exercise. I started pushing myself during my limited time at the gym. I stopped eating junk food like two doughnuts every morning with a tall cup of iced tea with sugar. I actually eat more frequently, but only healthy things (with exceptions). When I start to plateau in my training, I push myself to step it up.

All that said, here's how I eat:

Wake at 5:50 and shower. Breakfast is some form of protein and vegetable, if there's no leftover chicken from last night, I open a can of tunafish. Vegetables are green beans, broccoli, asparagus, etc.

Snack at 9:00: sometimes it's a plain greek yogurt, but I've recently switched to 2 servings of cheddar cheese slices and an apple.

workout at 11:30 til 12:15

Lunch immediately after: can of tunafish in olive oil with a serving of long grain/wild rice mixed together.

snack at 3:00: a protein shake and some vegetable or a protein bar.

dinner at 6:00 (usually): some lean meat and vegetable. I'll make a starchy carb like potatoes or rice if it's wednesday when my daughter has gymnastics and I get a second workout at the Y while she takes her class.

desert: sugar free popsicles.

I'm currently 197 lbs and 15% body fat, wittling my way down to 10%. I started with the hardcore focus in February of 2012, drifted and struggled since most of the time I was doing it by myself with no idea what I was doing. Lots of trial and error, listening to advice, then finding what worked best for me.

The best tip I can give you is to develop a routine. If you don't have a routine, it's too easy to fall out of step. Get so that you do things so regularly that they become second nature. Cutting off the junk food is easy after a while. You start to forget why you even bothered eating that crap in the first place.

Also, give yourself a cheat day. Any time you crave a doughnut or some potato chips, write it down. Then, on your cheat day (mine's Saturday), eat all that stuff you listed during the week. Greasy hamburgers, popcorn with butter, candy, etc. Get it out of your system so that by the time the next week of dieting rolls around, you don't even want to look at the stuff.

Oh, also: drink lots of water. Two cups first thing in the morning. Never drink calories. That means soda, juice (full of sugar), beer, etc. The only supplements I take are creatine that I mix with water and flax seed oil for the Omega-3.

I hope that helps.

[Fenris]

It's always great to substitute a fruit or vegetable for a snack too. However, I find that fruits and vegetables digest quickly and do not fill you up. If I were a vegetarian I'd probably have to eat every hour lol.

Actually, fruits and vegetables are complex carbohydrates and take longer to break down, thus making you feel full longer. Make sure to drink lots of water as well. That'll help.

[juneau]

Actually, fruits and vegetables are complex carbohydrates and take longer to break down, thus making you feel full longer. Make sure to drink lots of water as well. That'll help.

This.

One snack I love that tends to keep me full for a very long time is raw carrot sticks. I could eat those suckers all day.

[goldenfooler]

I always want peanut butter and raisins with carrot sticks. Ants on a log of course

[Duke{CLR}]

This.

One snack I love that tends to keep me full for a very long time is raw carrot sticks. I could eat those suckers all day.

Theses and celery are what I use to snack on during the day.

[Fenris]

This.

One snack I love that tends to keep me full for a very long time is raw carrot sticks. I could eat those suckers all day.

I've done this. I used to buy bags of baby carrots and then absent-mindedly gnaw through the entire bag in a couple hours. Let me just say without going into detail that this never ends well.