your body your health

[Chinorlz]

Sounds good to me, Albert. I wish I could give up carbs. But I just love bread and pasta and potatoes too much :-) Though I could probably do it for a month (not the bread!)

Took over a month to break that "addiction"... i could only describe it as feeling full but utterly unsatisfied with meals. Imagine eating Chinese food without rice. Slowly got used to it and on rare occasions I'll have half a bowl of rice if I'm having a family dinner and some dish would go well with it, but I no longer feel like I NEED it.

I do find that I get intermittent cravings for fried chicken though... Popeyes is always on my mind.

[bukka]

Took over a month to break that "addiction"... i could only describe it as feeling full but utterly unsatisfied with meals. Imagine eating Chinese food without rice. Slowly got used to it and on rare occasions I'll have half a bowl of rice if I'm having a family dinner and some dish would go well with it, but I no longer feel like I NEED it.

I do find that I get intermittently cravings for fried chicken though... Popeyes is always on my mind.

And good wine

[GucciAmen]

Law, would be interested in your thoughts and suggestions... looking to continue dropping fat and adding just a little bit of muscle for definition.

For the last 6 months-ish this is pretty close to my daily regimen:

Insanity:Asylum (30 day workout schedule that I just continue to cycle through)- this is around 45 minutes of HIIT mixed with cardio and some weights days and resistance training each day.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, granola, banana, 2 tbsp honey OR 1 cup cooked oatmeal w/cinnamon and 1 tbsp brown sugar, black coffee

Lunch: salad w/light balsamic drizzle and 1 chicken breast, double shot espresso and banana

Dinner: chicken or fish for protein, 1-2 different types of stir fried vegetables, a couple oranges as dessert

Snacks: small handful (~15) cashews or 2 cups popped popcorn

maybe 2 meals out a week and usually no starches (rice, noodles or bread)

I do consume a fair bit of wine... between the wife and myself average 3-4 bottles a week.


Going to go dry starting this weekend on through the 1st week of April due to some studying that needs to go down, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when I cut out those calories.

In those 6 months I went from almost 200lbs down to 170 now. I care less about dropping weight per se and more about focusing on definition and getting rid of that last bit of weight around the waist that seems to be tenacious!

Would love any and all recommendations. I'm a big fan of discipline and structure provided they are proven. Love a challenge!

This looks really good imo. Residual belly adipose tissue is going to be the toughest to rid yourself of, because it builds up from - sorry to say it - some neglect over the years! Best way to attack is solely from a nutritional aspect (so don't try working out "harder" and have to eat more carbs as a result).

I would consider eating less simple sugar fruits (banana -- although you could get away with half for your post workout shake), and consume more berries (get more antioxidants, etc. anyways -- blueberries are pretty low GI).

I would also cut out any refined sugars, like with your oatmeal; instead I would recommend using maple syrup (inner canuck talking right here lol).

Make sure you are meeting your carb requirements for the day since HIIT is an intensive program (otherwise you will run yourself into the ground and the gains will diminish, may even end up harming your metabolism). I agree that starches aren't the way to go for most of your diet, but I have no qualms in recommending sweet potatoes, they're great for post-workout nutrition due to their complex nature (allows your muscles to make the most of them when recovering).

Congratulations on your success thus far!

[Chinorlz]

This looks really good imo. Residual belly adipose tissue is going to be the toughest to rid yourself of, because it builds up from - sorry to say it - some neglect over the years! Best way to attack is solely from a nutritional aspect (so don't try working out "harder" and have to eat more carbs as a result).

I would consider eating less simple sugar fruits (banana -- although you could get away with half for your post workout shake), and consume more berries (get more antioxidants, etc. anyways -- blueberries are pretty low GI).

I would also cut out any refined sugars, like with your oatmeal; instead I would recommend using maple syrup (inner canuck talking right here lol).

Make sure you are meeting your carb requirements for the day since HIIT is an intensive program (otherwise you will run yourself into the ground and the gains will diminish, may even end up harming your metabolism). I agree that starches aren't the way to go for most of your diet, but I have no qualms in recommending sweet potatoes, they're great for post-workout nutrition due to their complex nature (allows your muscles to make the most of them when recovering).

Congratulations on your success thus far!

Ah yes... years of neglect for sure :) Good idea regarding refined sugars... more than happy to switch to maple syrup. Thank you for the suggestion on the sweet potatoes. Was baking them with rosemary for a while but those fell off the dinner rotation.

Thank you for the suggestions and the kind words! Indeed the best motivator is being able to see results!

Bukka is also right... I know that the wine is most certainly keeping me from advancing as well... it is just so damn good!

[PIERRELEGRAND]

Hhehheh my favorite discussion -fitness

IF is great - especially for men. Two people I know use IF to rapidly cut in conjunction with strength training. It helped them get to visible abs the quickest.

For me, it was fun to test my willpower but the obsessive scheduling of when to eat would conflict with my lifting schedule (aka had to stop eating at 5pm, usually lifted in the evening, couldn't get proper protein intake postworkout= counterproductive)

I am a fan of fasted cardio though !! Highly recommend

Good to see someone else knows about IF and has tried it. First things first I'm someone who always tends to push, so the added will power test is a weird "bonus." It can be tough though. My schedule varies so much; working nights, working days then nights, etc. that every now and then I have to put food in later than I would like to keep myself vertical. When I tried it the first time I was sticking to an 8 hour eating period, 12h to 20h. Recently I have allowed myself to move it to a 10 hour period, 12h to 22h (nothing heavy that late) as my climbing or yoga has been taking place in the evening so I at least need those recovery calories.

I think we all know how much diet plays into weight gain / loss. And I'm really surprised to see the levels to which some on this forum take their dedication. It's also amazing to see how much we can't change regardless of what we do.

One thing that I think about a lot, especially as I near 30 is how much genetics play into my physical condition and obviously that of others. More so how they will change me no matter what I do over the coming years. Here's to being of Swedish / Austrian heritage and to having grandparents on both sides of my family live well into their 90's.

[PIERRELEGRAND]

I will look into rock climbing, but to be honest I like exercising by myself. I am really not into groupthink on any level. I hate the fake enthusiasm of group training, gym rats, health nuts, etc. Or I maybe I should do just do yoga five days a week.

This is exactly why I started climbing when I moved back to NYC from Paris. In my past I was always involved with those enthusiastic groups that you mention. I quickly grew tired of it around the time I was 21. Climbing allows you to push when you want and what you want. If you feel like being social you can, if not don't say a word a no one will say anything to you. It's as much of a brain exercise as it is body. Try it.

[jurassicsnark]

IF is great - especially for men.

Yeah. I've been considering it, and my partner's brother and sister-in-law (both doctors) recommend it to men, too. Results seem very mixed for women, though. We definitely have different hormonal responses to fasting. I'd like to drop somewhere in the range of 7-10 lbs. nothing drastic, but I definitely prefer to be a bit leaner.

[Law]

Law, would be interested in your thoughts and suggestions... looking to continue dropping fat and adding just a little bit of muscle for definition.

For the last 6 months-ish this is pretty close to my daily regimen:

Insanity:Asylum (30 day workout schedule that I just continue to cycle through)- this is around 45 minutes of HIIT mixed with cardio and some weights days and resistance training each day.

Breakfast: homemade yogurt, granola, banana, 2 tbsp honey OR 1 cup cooked oatmeal w/cinnamon and 1 tbsp brown sugar, black coffee

Lunch: salad w/light balsamic drizzle and 1 chicken breast, double shot espresso and banana

Dinner: chicken or fish for protein, 1-2 different types of stir fried vegetables, a couple oranges as dessert

Snacks: small handful (~15) cashews or 2 cups popped popcorn

maybe 2 meals out a week and usually no starches (rice, noodles or bread)

I do consume a fair bit of wine... between the wife and myself average 3-4 bottles a week.


Going to go dry starting this weekend on through the 1st week of April due to some studying that needs to go down, so it'll be interesting to see what happens when I cut out those calories.

In those 6 months I went from almost 200lbs down to 170 now. I care less about dropping weight per se and more about focusing on definition and getting rid of that last bit of weight around the waist that seems to be tenacious!

Would love any and all recommendations. I'm a big fan of discipline and structure provided they are proven. Love a challenge!

No worries mate, will PM you now.

[chandler]

I agree with Gucci's advice. There's an old saying that abs are made in the kitchen not the gym

I'm an advocate of a lower carb diet to focus on reducing body fat. Carbs, especially refined or high in GI, tell the body to store excess calories as fat (or so I'm told). Regardless it works. There are sexier approaches but they require too much discipline in my own experience

In terms of exercise to reduce fat the only thing I've ever had success w is very light cardio in a fasted state. For example, walking on a treadmill as fast as you can but still able to have a conversation. anything faster and you risk deepening a catabolic state where your body will consume it's own hard-gained muscle mass to fuel the workout. I used to do this first thing in the morning before breakfast so your body is in a nice fasted state so that fat reserves would fuel the exercise. This has worked for me but is less powerful than diet. Also because it's slow pace it's more time consuming

[Chinorlz]

Thanks for everyone's input and expertise and big thanks to Law for the in - depth PM! Like a personal coach :)

[Shadowvault]

Im gonna start exercising too.In fact i swore to myself that if i dont put 10kg at minimum im not gonna buy any more clothes.But i guess it makes sense.It would suck to buy some awesome pieces and then gain weight and cant wear them.So no new clothes for me (with the exception of boots since feet dont grow :P)

[thinbuddha]

@chandler what time of day do you work out? i've heard kickstarting your metabolism in the morning with cardio signals your body to burn fat the rest of the day. i often find myself in the gym mid-day so was curious what you thought.

[trentk]

have been getting really into bodyweight exercises / gymnastic holds recently (to complement weightlifting). things like the planche, muscleups, clapping handstand pushups, triple clap pushups, dragon flags, iron crosses, one arm pullups look awesome (sometimes even beautiful) and build lots of strength (in an organic/synergistic way too). also a good indicator: supposing you have a large amount of strength, if you can't do advanced bodyweight exercises you're too fat, too meatheady, or both.

[Law]

@chandler what time of day do you work out? i've heard kickstarting your metabolism in the morning with cardio signals your body to burn fat the rest of the day. i often find myself in the gym mid-day so was curious what you thought.

Fasted cardio first thing in the AM is optimal, provided your heart rate is @ 120bpm (optimal range depending on your age).

[chandler]

@chandler what time of day do you work out? i've heard kickstarting your metabolism in the morning with cardio signals your body to burn fat the rest of the day. i often find myself in the gym mid-day so was curious what you thought.

Sorry for the delayed reply. If you want to burn fat I'd suggest fasted light cardio in the morning. Follow that with oatmeal. The carbs in the morning are generally good to boost the metabolism but you'll probably get better results from the fasted cardio (e.g., walking on treadmill as fast as you can while still being able to have a conversation -- NO faster or you'll go from fat burning to catabolic)

I train mid afternoon because I'm mostly interested in strength and that's when I'm most awake (better neural efficiency)