Re: The Fitness Thread
 

Running more again, ran yesterday and this morning

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At the beach, the only exercise I've gotten so far is digging in the sand.

killer forearm pumps bros, 20 reps of sand digging gogo!

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Where do you get your motivation to go to the gym or exercise at home from? Do any of you use supplements and do they work? I want to start going to the gym again since the college I am going to has a gym and I've also had my tonsils surgically removed which really messed up my nutrition. Any tips on how to get big? I need to gain about 35 pounds so I can be at my ideal weight. I am currently 155 pounds, and 6'3".

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how long ago did you get your tonsils removed and why did it mess up your nutrition? pain?
http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5215316...recovery_.html

you gain weight by eating more


I think the best motivation comes from reading success stories of others, empathizing with what it must feel like to be in their position, and then keeping those feelings in memory as your goal. Having friends/any sort of social network is also good for keeping you going (that's the main reason I made this thread).

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i hear yogurt's fine (some people sprinkle protein powder + nuts in their yogurt)

cardio -- it's good for cardiovascular health and burning a handful of calories (although not as many as people think -- machines are accurate as ****all). doesn't seem to be necessary for fat loss, but a good idea anyway (in light moderation).

I think all that matters is keeping a reasonable deficit if your goal is fat loss. If you do too *much* cardio, you might overstep your otherwise calculated deficit and wind up losing more muscle.

it also seems dangerous if you overdo it because cardio tends to stimulate additional hunger, so some people think that this newfound hunger + an overestimation of calories burned = "great now I can eat this cookie and still lose weight!" and end up with a net gain instead.

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I ended up losing about 20 pounds because I wasn't really able to eat much at the time, I had litterally no appetite at all. How much calories/protein should I be eating per day at my current weight of 155?

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I think you need to stick with greek yogurt, most regular yogurt or "probiotic" yogurt is loaded with sugar.

I'm not a huge fan of steady state cardio, so I tend to do sprint/walks, where I'll sprint 150-200 yards, then walk back, then sprint again. Much more fun.

I posted a "tier" list of supplements, but really if you're just starting, whey protein (if you cant afford good wholesome food), creatine, maybe a joint supplement, and an EFA sup, and definitely a good multivitamin (I suggest Animal Pak, that suckers got everything...)

I like to watch http://www.youtube.com/user/MrPreWorkout for motivation, personally.

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amaz0n: How old are you?

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yogurt is amazing. good digestion health, bacteria, etc

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Cardio is good for cutting/conditioning. Yogurt is good for cutting. My opinion, not fact.

My motivation

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Warning: Unboring food takes time, especially if unexperienced with cooking.

-Keeping the fat on meat makes it immensely tastier, and is arguably just as healthy because you may end up using less/no oil. (Which means less omega 6 which has all sorts of health implications which may or may not be BS, although it does have more cholesterol.)
-Dark chicken meat is way more flavorful than chicken breast.
-Organic chicken is way tastier than regular chicken, and I would definitely go that direction if eating only white meat.
-Bones from chicken can make delicious stock (meat bones + water + simmering for hours + salt/spices + tad vinegar) which you can then use to add flavor to other, less flavorful foods, like to boil rice, or to make gravy by adding a bit of starch, to add to soup or stew or curry. You need a fair number of bones for it to work though.
-Stock is a necessity for cooking, homemade or not.
-Spices are necessary as well. Dried ones work fine for just about everything. Buy one of those packs with multiple different ones. Experiment with them. How they smell will tell you how they taste.
-Eggs are pretty boring by themselves and I find are hard to jazz up without adding a bunch of other things. I personally love scrambled eggs with tomato and onion. Take half an onion, fry in oil/margarine on med heat until they turn translucent. Add mixed eggs, when eggs are almost done, add diced tomato. Yum!
-Frittatas are definitely something to try with eggs too, look some up.
-Combine 1 can tuna, 1 can salmon, half a finely diced onion (don't shred or grate it, it makes onion bitter), a couple tablespoons chopped parsely, around a tsp of dill (it's in season right now fresh actually), a dash of pepper, a tsp paprika, an egg, a couple tablespoons breadcrumbs. Form into patties and fry. I suspect baking them would work alright too, but will take longer. Will make far more than you need for a serving.
-Fresh salmon steaks are super easy to make. Season with (again) dill and parsley maybe some chives and salt on both sides and olive oil. No need to marinade. Baking or frying or convection cooking time (convection either in the oven or microwave makes THE BEST salmon steaks) depends on the thickness of the steaks.
-Steamed vegetables taste a million times better than boiled. Eg: green beans, fresh peas, carrots, turnip, broccoli, cauliflower. You don't need a steamer to achieve this however. Just dice as usual, put into a small pot, add no more than half an inch of water in the bottom. Bring to boil with lid on, turn vegetables a couple of times. Depending on pot size and what vegetable you have, the water should be evaporated by the time the food's done. Be careful though, they burn incredibly quickly once the water's gone.
-Stir fry's a nummy dish to try. Choose vegetables you want, saute each in turn on high heat stiring frequently to prevent burning, until warm and the desired texture (in general, juicy vegetables cook much faster and need no more than a minute to saute, like peppers or zuchinni...onion is an exception because warm, crunchy onion's pretty blech), setting them aside after each one. Cook whatever meat you want if you want, when it's done, add all the veggies into the pan at once. Add whatever store bought stir fry sauce you want, and some soy sauce. Add garlic and ginger (fresh or powdered) in moderation to add flavor, especially if the sauce you bought is kinda meh.
-Never add fresh, raw garlic into anything without first frying it some. It will cook very quickly. Garlic should always be chopping finely or crushed
-If you want to add shrimp, any shrimp you buy that's already cooked (ie: pink instead of grey), will only need to be just heated.
-The most basic curries are very simple: cook meat in a pot with onion and then garlic at the end. Add some cumin and turmeric (I'd say 1tbls each), mix it around until it looks like you'll never get your pot cleaned. Add a tablespoon of flour/starch, and some butter for yumminess (or not). Stir. Add enough stock to cover the meat if using somethingl ike chicken breast. If using something like lamb chops or chicken pieces complete with bones, you can get away with just water instead of stock. Bring to boil, scrape off the bottom and sides, turn down to a simmer, let it cook until the desired thickness. If you want heat add some cayenne or chop a jalapeno. Always add salt to taste. Veggies can be added to any curry as you wish, but will change the taste slightly. You can add fresh cilantro, lemon juice and plain yogurt at the end if you want.
-Fruits can be added to a curry for a little zing. Mango's a popular one, but peaches and plums can be equally exotic and yummy. I find most fruits in the grocery store are underripe and therefore bland. Most fruits ripen best on the counter, not in the fridge, unless you want to keep it around for more than a few days. The down side will riped fastest, so rotate them. Mangos should not be hard!
-Bacon in salad should not be overlooked. Add some juice to the bacon pan to make the salad dressing. Absolutely delicious but that way madness lies. It's also disgusting when cooled. (At least you're eating more of the dead pig instead of throwing it out.)

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That salmon/tuna patty thing sounds amazing :O Thanks for the tips

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Zzzyy or whatever his name was didnt do cardio though, he just stayed lean year round.

I forgot why he died, kinda sucks.

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i think he looks gross. but thats just looking at his face. you can have the best body in the world, but if your face is ugly. its just a disappointment

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I do about an hour of low intensity cardio every day. I think it's great, but to each his own. Maybe once a week I do some HIIT.

From cutting experience, fasted cardio seems like an excellent way to burn fat efficiently.

Also I love yogurt. Good vitamin profile, nice as a light snack. I eat it several times a week. I go with activia, because it tastes delicious and is pretty light. It has a bit of sugar in it, but I'm not too worried about it.

About 2500 calories. If you're looking to gain some mass, bump it up to 3000 @ 150 g protein. If you're just looking to maintain your weight, 50-80 grams of protein on average is probably enough.

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NUTS IN YA YOGURT.

I think I'm gonna register for a 5k within the next couple of months. I'm so lazy and this'll probably give me more drive to run lol.
What are good exercises for running? I don't plan on MIRIN BRAH or gettin ripped or anything, I just wanna lean up because I'm way above the average weight for my height.

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Thank you so much and you have mentionned that cardio is an excellent way to burn fat efficiently, have you ever heard about some sort of After-Burn Effect? I haven't read into it much but from what I understood you boost your heart rate up pretty high then you let it drop down and apparently this is supposed to make your body go through some sort of After-Burn Effect phase where your body continuously burns calories for up to 48 hours? Correct me if I am wrong lol, I just looked briefly.

I am 21 years old, which I believe is a very unhealthy weight for my age/height.

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running gets ya better at running :P

remember to breathe deep, stay hydrated

start off with maybe a half-mile? minimum of three days per week.
i'm not sure of your exact fitness level, but aim for under six minutes.

a big thing to remember is to make a running schedule and stick to it

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Reach and others can correct me if I'm wrong here but:

There's this equation for calculating BMR as a ballpark figure (Mifflin St Jeor):
BMR = 10 * weight(kg) + 6.25 * height(cm) - 5 * age(y) + 5
BMR = 10 * 70.3068 + 6.25 * 190.5 - 5 * 21 + 5 = 1793.693 calories

So you burn roughly 1800 calories a day just being alive. Now, if you don't move around much on a daily basis (sedentary lifestyle), you usually multiply your BMR by 1.2 to bring you to 2160 calories TDEE (total daily energy expenditure). If you do light exercise maybe 1-3 times a week already, you'd use a multiplier or roughly 1.375, and if you did active sports most of the week, maybe 1.55 instead, etc.

Your TDEE is roughly how many calories you'd need to eat each day (assuming you're sedentary) to maintain your current weight. To gain weight, you eat at a surplus to your TDEE. The type of weight you gain depends on workout and the protein/carb/fat distribution of your caloric intake.