The Fitness Thread

[M-Ziggy]

It's that time of year again where many of us will soon begin thinking about those dreaded new years resolutions and therefore, the battle of the bulge. Lets start early and lets do it together. Share your fitness tips, nutrition advice, weight loss strategies and anything you can think of that will help other forum members get healthy and fit.

Please keep the whoring to a minimum! I would eventually like this to become a child board with different topics such as team sports, journals and nutrition to hold people accountable. It's harder to cheat when we're all watching!

Thank you and happy training!

[HeaTransfer]

I am not a fitness nut, nor am I particularly concerned about losing weight right now.  I don't like the usual cardio/weight stuff as I find it boring.  However, I do especially enjoy playing a particular sport (as my avatar should tell you) and I make that the focus of my exercise.

IMO it's far easier to stay in reasonable shape by doing something that one enjoys, rather than forcing oneself into the gym.

Little things add up:
- try to take the stairs.  I travel a fair bit for work and unless I'm heavily encumbered, I'll take the stairs in an airport.
- force yourself to walk.  Some people may live in a walkable area.  Others, less so.  If you're in the burbs and you find yourself shopping at those outdoor "power centers", force yourself to walk.  Instead of parking in front of Winners, shopping there, and then driving and parking in front of Chapters which is a block away,  and then driving and parking in front of Stuporstore which is a block away, park once and walk.
- take transit.  I'm convinced that the walking that I did as a student, both around campus and to and from the bus stop, helped keep me from absolutely pudging up while I was in school.

[Username]

Great idea Ziggy.

I'm trying to fatten myself up for a good before photo. I swear.

  Kev

[Keiichi]

Eat often and eat healthy.  3 meals is not good enough.
Metabolism doesn't slow down, it just slows because we don't eat OFTEN enough and the body slows itself down.  Remember, this isn't about eating MORE, but eating more frequently.  Most experts say 6 times a day at least, and EVEN right before bed.

Weight is a bad measurement, stop trying to gauge oneself with weight.  Muscle has more density than fat, and even if you lose 5 inches, you could weigh the same.

[jefferino]

Drink green tea! It has a ton of benefits. Drinking green tea before working out also boosts your body's ability to burn fat.

[M-Ziggy]

Eat often and eat healthy.  3 meals is not good enough.
Metabolism doesn't slow down, it just slows because we don't eat OFTEN enough and the body slows itself down.  Remember, this isn't about eating MORE, but eating more frequently.  Most experts say 6 times a day at least, and EVEN right before bed.

Weight is a bad measurement, stop trying to gauge oneself with weight.  Muscle has more density than fat, and even if you lose 5 inches, you could weigh the same.

I don't agree with eating 6 times a day. Metabolism has nothing to do with food. Eating frequently only keeps your insulin levels spiked all day.

I drink green tea after every meal. It has great benefits!

[jefferino]

^ Try drinking a cup of green tea half an hour before your next workout!

[rancid]

Eating that frequently is not healthy if you're not doing it as part of a workout routine.  What you're doing is essentially making your body store the excess that it doesn't need for energy.  Our bodies store it as fat....where it gets placed, that depends on your gender and your genetic make up.  As mentioned, you won't really speed up your metabolism by just having more meals/snacks per day.  Your metabolism will slowly speed up with exercise built into your daily routine.  Everyone has a resting metabolism which is the amount of calories your body burns off while at rest.  If you work out, obviously the demands goes up.  You pretty much dictate how your metabolism behaves with your activity levels and the foods that you eat.

I don't have a meal 6 times in a day.  I could but I don't see the need to.  3 main meals is the big thing.  Once you have that squared off and on a routine, you can start to include the snacks inbetween to keep your energy levels up.  My meals consist of the usual breakfast, lunch, snack in the afternoon, dinner, snack in the evening.  Snacks meaning a protein shake or a lean cut sandwich, or just a handful of nuts.  I may have the odd small bag of chips every now and then with some of my meals or as a snack.  Generally if I stray away from this routine, my body feels like crap.  If I go and have mcdonalds or something....yeah, my body does not like it very much.  I will feel really tired and gross after.

I try to goto the gym at least 3 times a week if possible.  Each time I go, I will do weights along with some cardio.  One week I'll do all upper body workouts and the next week will be lower body or a combo.  Depends on how I shift my routines around.  You should change your routines up at least every 4 weeks to give your body a bit of something different.  Doing the same routine day in day out will plateau your body out very quick.  If I can't get to the gym, I just do some simple workouts at home till I can get to the gym.  Cardio is all done at the gym...no room to store a treadmill or eliptical at home.

Lots of people head off to the gym and get really frustrated when they don't see the results they want.  Thing is, it all starts out with your eating habits.  The workouts are one thing.  If you don't eat properly, your body won't have the proper levels of energy to workout with.  If you're trying to loose some weight.  Watching what you eat, especially the portion sizes is very important.  You should keep track of the calories but more importantly, look at the protein, carbs, and fats percentages.  

The other thing is the intensity of a workout.  If you're trying to loose weight on a treadmill and you're only jogging at a comfortable speed for 30mins barely breaking out a sweat, it's not going to do you any good.  You have to push your body to it's limits.  Get the heart rate above 150 beats a min for at least 30mins to burn off some significant calories.  If you're wanting to loose fat mass, you'll have to work for it.  Your body converts stored energy in different phases.  If you really want to get into the nitty gritty of it a text book would explain it quite well.  But the jist of it is: Your body taps first into your glycogen stores as the liver converts the glycogen into sugars to be released to the bloodstream.  Once that's done I believe your body starts to use proteins as energy and then finally fats.  I could go into the whole process of how the body does that but it's rather dry...Glycogen stores gets used up fairly quickly....they don't last very long at all.  Not sure about the time it gets used up as it varies from person to person and activity level. 

[M-Ziggy]

www.fitday.com is awesome for tracking nutritional info if you customize it. Try tracking just what you've had today. The results may shock you but you have to know where you stand before you can make changes.

[rancid]

www.fitbodybc.com if you want a personal trainer.  I've seen a few of the people she's trained....she works at the gym I goto and man she gets results!

[LdQout]

I've heard that eating frequently is good, if the portions aren't as big as eating bigger meals but less because it does keep your metabolism going.

I swear there was a topic like this, but I see that this is more suited for what we're talking about in the other thread. *coughs*

Everything is good in moderation.   There was a story that high-intensity workouts may decrease life because it makes your heart work harder and on overdrive more frequently than it needs to.  Whether that's true or not, I don't want to witness that.  At the same time, eating too much leads to overproduction of sugar and fat that is used to store energy.  Finding a way to expend that energy in right amounts is key to leading a healthier lifestyle. 

For me, nutritionally, I believe I've been lucky since I never really had a huge sweet tooth.  As a child I did, but I haven't had a cavity because of candy.  if you are working out, it is best to eat meat 4 hours before the workout, or carbs up to an hour before.  This gives your body enough time to digest them before working out, and you'll enter your regime on good energy.  Otherwise, you may feel a little sluggish due to your body expending energy for digestion.  Protein is a lot harder to breakdown than carbs, which is why there is a difference in the time you should eat both. 

Gatorade/Powerade or something similar is a great drink to have during an intense workout, though I do advise changing the amounts you drink.  The initial Gatordade/Powerade bottles come with a lot of sugar, and the amount of electrolites you need to replenish don't require a full bottle.  My hockey trainer told us to actually dilute the drink, by splitting it in half, and filling the rest with water.  It helped me, as it didn't leave a dry mark in my mouth after I drank it.  2 for 1 deal is always good if you can find one right?

What you are training for also should determine what you want to eat, and how you want to workout.  If you want an anaerobic workout for short distances and lots of strength, it is best to train under explosive training and in short spurts.  Do more impact drills that cause greater force to be unleashed at once, but for shorter amounts of time.  An example would be something like maxing a bench press.  It works power and strength, compromising endurance and smaller weight for a short burst of force.  This produces more muscle mass and is often used to get "bigger". XD

For aerobic workouts, it's better to use higher repititions with lower weights.  The main goal here is for stamina and endurance, where powerlifting and explosion are its opposites.  A lot o exercises can be done both ways, which makes varying workouts a lot easier.

[RichMac]

I'm a big fan of new years resolutions, if you want to change something about yourself do it, don't wait till some arbitrary date.

[M-Ziggy]

Your metabolism does not slow down when you don't eat. There have been numerous studies on this. People have fasted for 3 days and their metabolic rate stayed the same. Your metabolism works hand in hand with your body weight and the only thing that can change it by more than the "thermic effect of food" is exercise. It is what it is. Do what works for YOU! If you like to eat often, giver. If you lead a busy life and can't be bothered making 6 meals a day, don't stress. The key is to eat real food and less of it. Don't consume things that have no nutrients and can sit on the counter for a month and not grow mold. Start by not drinking your calories. Juices and pop are sugar dense and provide no nutrients.

[Username]

I'm a big fan of new years resolutions, if you want to change something about yourself do it, don't wait till some arbitrary date.

You mean you're not a big fan.

  Kev

[Knifeboy]

Are we factoring in "cheating pills" like hydroxycut? Earlier this year my friend at work tried hydroxycut for a month and lost 15lbs. Of course this is in addition to eating healthier and going for a 30min jog everyday after work. He's tried the healthy diet and exercise routine many times in the past with no results, but this time the hydroxycut gave him an extra boost. Once he attained his target weight/size he stopped the pills and now he just maintains his shape with diet and exercise.

As for eating frequency, I personally try to eat six times a day but that's balanced meals, not 6 full meals. Whether it has any effect on my metabolism, I can't say because my metabolism has always been through the roof. However I do find that I generally feel better throughout the day with more frequent meals, than my previous 2 meals/day routine.

[Username]

I never thought things like Hydroxycut work.

Perhaps I should start working out.

  Kev

[LdQout]

One thing about my eating habits are that they are never consistent.  Sometimes I'll eat at 4 for dinner, other nights I'll eat at 8.  Sometimes I'll work out first before dinner, other times I'll work out after.  I don't usually have breakfast, but I do drink a nice smoothie full o ffruits in the morning before going to work.

I used to use something called Maximum Weigh or something like that.  It's not really a protein shake, but it is a powdered drink for retaining water.  It's supposed to help you keep mass instead of losing a lot of it while working out.  For me, it helped only so much as to give me 5-10lbs.  After that, I just plateaued and it didn't work anymore.  I've always been one for natural fitness, without any use of substances and extra supplements.  I just feel that getting their naturally yields the best results.

[M-Ziggy]

I never thought things like Hydroxycut work.

Perhaps I should start working out.

  Kev

They work in your head. That's about it.

[dave31]

I never thought things like Hydroxycut work.

Perhaps I should start working out.

  Kev

Don't give into temptation. Stay round and proud of it.

[Knifeboy]

I never thought things like Hydroxycut work.

Perhaps I should start working out.

  Kev

They work in your head. That's about it.

Like all supplements nothing works like a miracle pill. It still comes down to hard work and discipline. I've never tried hydroxycut so I just threw that out there as an example based on my coworker's results. Again he took it in addition to healthier eating and exercising. I'm trying to bulk up so I rely on other supplements. I never use to believe in taking any supplements at all. Like LdQout I wanted natural gains. I changed my mind last year after taking on my friend's workout program which included creatine and protein supplements. I achieved more gains than I ever did in my entire life. I'm very in tune with my body, so I wouldn't use anything that I thought was a simple placebo.
So did the supplements give me results? No. Working my ass off gave me results, but the supplements helped me get there faster.