I had a discussion with a vegan friend of mine who insisted he was healthy and my meat diet was unhealthy. So I paid for a host of hormonal tests for him and I to determine whether he was accurate. My results very nice at the top end of the ranges IGF1, Testosterone, Free Testerone, Pregnenolene all in the right ranges for a 43 year old man. Let's just say his were dismal. So if a friend challenges you pay for some tests and it usually silences the critics.
Understand the math ~ Diet vs Exercise
- Thread starter redwing
- Start date
Or just tell them to get stuffed. That usually silences the critics too!
Mine 678. His 328. He basically had the test levels of an 80 year old man. 4 months of meat , eggs and fish by him showed mine at 682 and his at 550. A massive improvement.
Waaay too anal about it all for me.In other news, I did a different workout today and it was enjoyable. I think with the last one it was the workout, not working out that was the issue. I feel good after this one!
So the plan is:
-workouts and back exercises on Monday and Wednesday.
-running on Tuesday and Thursday.
-riding on Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday (less that I am doing now).
I think I will be able to manage that for a while. I'm also doing time restricted eating on Tuesday and Thursday where I eat a bit less food in about 8 or 9 hours. I'm not very strict about it. I just want to give my body a rest from eating some days a week. I try to keep my eating window to about 12 hours on the other days and probably should be a bit more strict about it. There is no necessity to eat for 18 hours every day.
Here's an idea (unless you are a vegan, etc)...
How about eat a large variety of stuff - a bit of red meat now and then, a bit of chicken and fish throughout the week, maybe some pork occassionally too, some salami, ham, bacon every so often, a fair whack of fruit and veg each day, only eat when you are hungry, and get some reg exercise such as a run, a bike ride, a bit of really fast walking, a swim or two, maybe do some weights if that turns you on....
Make sure you throw into that mix a ton of chocolate and icecream, water of course, not too much alcohol, and definitely no smoking.
Maybe do another run to burn off the chocolate.
It's a radical diet, but I find it works really well.
Haha... that sounds fun!
Problem for me is that if I don't plan to do something, I won't do it. It's easy for me if I set monday to be workout day, I will ride home and do a workout because it is workout day. If it wasn't workout day, I would never just get up and do a workout. Same with running. Tuesday is running day. I have no problems riding home and going for a run on Tuesday because it's running day. Apart from that, I wouldn't just go out and run. It's not that I don't like running, it's just that it would never occur to me to just go a do a run.
I'm pretty sure I'm not like other people...
I'm totally with you on the exercise regime - good on you!!Haha... that sounds fun!
Problem for me is that if I don't plan to do something, I won't do it. It's easy for me if I set monday to be workout day, I will ride home and do a workout because it is workout day. If it wasn't workout day, I would never just get up and do a workout. Same with running. Tuesday is running day. I have no problems riding home and going for a run on Tuesday because it's running day. Apart from that, I wouldn't just go out and run. It's not that I don't like running, it's just that it would never occur to me to just go a do a run.
I'm pretty sure I'm not like other people...
My point was more about the diet;
Seems to me that many folks spend a lot of (unnecessary) angst on what to/what not to eat in their lives...
From my experience - yes; no scientific stats again, Sanj - one only has to eat most things in moderation and balance to stay relatively healthy and relatively in-shape (unusual for the greater portion of Australian adults these days apparently).
Easier said than done it would seem.
I'm not that picky about what I eat but I do try not to eat too much junk food. My reason for pulling back my eating time on a couple of days is because I tend to eat for much of the day and I think it is an area where I could set some limits. Effectively all it means is that I drink green tea or coffee without milk until lunch time on two days a week and make sure I'm not snacking after 9 at night. I'm naturally a breakfast skipper, so the biggest change for me is making sure I eat breakfast on Mon, Wed and Fri. The no snacking after 9 is good for me because I was only eating superfluous calories after 9 anyway, nothing that contributed to actual nutrition.
Stopping eating by 9 and not eating again until 12 the next day would be labelled 'intermittent fasting', which is usually for weight loss. I don't have a weight problem, so that's not my motivation. I'm more interested in the other health benefits of giving myself a break from eating such as cellular repair and blood sugar control. All it means for me is to cut out junk food after 9 and skipping a long macc twice a week. So that's really no effort. The research into intermittent fasting is interesting but far from conclusive.
http://www.precisionnutrition.com/intermittent-fasting/chapter-1
I'm really just trying it out for a while and see how it goes. Apart from that, my biggest challenge is to widen the variety of food that I eat. I can easily get into a rut and eat the same thing day in and day out. I want to push myself to eat a lot more different foods to what I'm used to. Sure, I still eat chocolate, ice cream, cake, muffins, pie and all the good stuff. Just not 5 times a day like I used to when I did have a weight problem. I'm really not that rigid about it either. Today was a day where I don't eat until 12 but someone brought in home made apple pie for morning tea. There was no way I was saying no to that!
I think different things work for different people. When I lived in Melbourne I put on way too much weight and started to lose it when I moved to Cairns. To begin with I tried the balance thing and calorie counting but it just wasn't working. I was hungry a lot of the time and didn't have much energy and was eating foods that I wasn't really enjoying, just eating them because they were 'good' for me.
As cliche as it is, I know for me my enemy is carbs. So I moved to the high fat and protein and low carb way of eating and that is working really well for me. As well as losing weight I'm feeling really good for it. Never hungry and don't find my energy lacking and I'm not feeling deprived as I'm still eating most of the things I enjoy.
I went to a luncheon today and they served bread rolls and chicken on mashed potato which I ate. It's now a couple of hours later and my stomach is grumbling like I haven't eaten for 24 hrs which is unusual for me as with my normal daily lunch I'm not hungry till about 6-7pm. Been a bit of an eye opener as to how my body feels with different types of foods and reaffirms I am doing the right thing for me.
Not enough fat and protein. I really struggle when I don't eat enough fat and have to add fat. I have not been getting enough in the last couple of months, so time to crack open the coconut milk. Yummy!
Oh, that reminds me. I have been eating muesli for breakfast 3 times a week because I had a pack I wanted to use up. I really don't find it a good breakfast though. Allegedly, the traditional Okinawan diet included a breakfast of sweet potato and coconut milk, although I have never seen a recipe for any dish like that. Anyway, I want to try out some ideas because a breakfast with those ingredients is much more my style than muesli.
Back to the original topic (dare I?), for those of us who were sold on the pure maths of calories in vs. calories out, it turns out it's not that simple. What is? The landmark study in this case is the Minnesota Starvation Experiment. Essentially, 36 volunteers were starved to lose >25% of their original body weight. Here is a summary of the results (1):
Another team of researchers scoured the research to see if the 3500 kcal rule held true in real world situations (2).
As a result, the researchers have developed what they claim to be a:
There are links to the model here (3) and here (4).
The 3,500 cal rule claims that "Cut 500 calories per day and that's 1 lb per week. Over the course of one year, that would equal 52 lbs" (5). Plugging my data into the model, cutting back by 500 calories per day would give me a 15.6 lbs (7.1 kg) weight loss in a year, far short of the 52 lbs (23.5 kg) predicted by the 500 calorie rule. I actually woudn't mind if I dropped 7 kg, although if I'm working out and gaining muscle, it might not be that much.
I'm going to try to stick to my plan for 12 weeks, so basically all of March, April and May. I'm not really that interested in weight, more in nutrition and fitness, so I'll probably just weigh in at the start and at the end out of interest.
(1) http://www.ambitionfitness.com/blog/article-35
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4024447/
(3) http://www.pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/sswcp/
(4) http://www.pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/weight-loss-predictor/about/
(5) http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111114p36.shtml
Another team of researchers scoured the research to see if the 3500 kcal rule held true in real world situations (2).
As a result, the researchers have developed what they claim to be a:
There are links to the model here (3) and here (4).
The 3,500 cal rule claims that "Cut 500 calories per day and that's 1 lb per week. Over the course of one year, that would equal 52 lbs" (5). Plugging my data into the model, cutting back by 500 calories per day would give me a 15.6 lbs (7.1 kg) weight loss in a year, far short of the 52 lbs (23.5 kg) predicted by the 500 calorie rule. I actually woudn't mind if I dropped 7 kg, although if I'm working out and gaining muscle, it might not be that much.
I'm going to try to stick to my plan for 12 weeks, so basically all of March, April and May. I'm not really that interested in weight, more in nutrition and fitness, so I'll probably just weigh in at the start and at the end out of interest.
(1) http://www.ambitionfitness.com/blog/article-35
(2) http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4024447/
(3) http://www.pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/sswcp/
(4) http://www.pbrc.edu/research-and-faculty/calculators/weight-loss-predictor/about/
(5) http://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/111114p36.shtml
See; to me even that - unless you are an athlete on a mission for sporting success - is not needed.
In saying that, if you combine calorie counting with a decent variation of some serious exercise programs then you will get there.
You never need to go hungry in your life and can still remain in shape.
Again, I am talking from experience and having known literally thousands of people from obscenely thin, to obscenely fat.
To gain weight represents imbalance - imbalance of quantity, of variety, and exercise...usually a combination of all 3.
For the vast majority of folks the imbalance is usually the variety and exercise. ..poor food selection and not enough exercise.
I have a number of friends who are as fit as fiddles, and eat more food than a blue whale.
In short; they are burning it all off. They are not necessarily eating all the "correct" things either.
One of my mates for example will often eat 3 hamburgers and a chocolate milkshake. Has been known to eat two family sized pizzas in one sitting. And so on - no fat at all, because he is constantly doing something; usually sport related. Very rarely sits around doing nothing.
The average Australian adult goes nowhere near close enough to burning off anything.
But they delude themselves that they are.
No offense girls, but I see a number of "walking club" groups around our place - all women - and for the most part they are overweight by varying degrees. They are merely wandering around at an easy pace, chatting profusely and never raising a sweat. It's quite cute.
If they are out there to lose weight; they are wasting their time. The sad part is they probably think they will lose weight from it, but I'd wager the diet is still cr@p, and the physical effort is stunningly falling short.
No doubt it is a combo of social interaction as well I would say.
Look at Chrissy Swan on "Get me Outta Here!" she is enormous, and was lamenting early on in the show how her life had gotten so busy with kids and work, etc and had made it hard to keep weight off etc.
Now she is sitting in a camp with literally nothing to do all day every day.
Haven't seen her do a single stroke of exercise in 3 weeks of the show - not one walk, or push-up - nothing.
Conversely; look at a true "power walker" (my wife is one) - usually on their own, or with one other - and going like bats out of hell at almost running pace.
(of course; there is that element of society who are fat who have given up and look for other excuses such as "my genes"
)Slightly disagree with you there BV. Even with the moderation and variety in my diet (forgetting about calorie counting for the moment) and lots of exercise it still wasn't all that effective. As I was saying, I believe different things work for different people as even though we're all humans our bodies react differently to a variety of things.
I've also seen people eat like a horse and do no exercise at all and still be stick thin. Everyone just metabolises things differently.
Re Chrissie Swan - I read somewhere that they're eating less than 600 calories a day in the jungle so not very conducive to activity and exercise no matter who you are.
I think the biggest enemy to weight gain and lack of exercises is simple - excuses.
I've also seen people eat like a horse and do no exercise at all and still be stick thin. Everyone just metabolises things differently.
Re Chrissie Swan - I read somewhere that they're eating less than 600 calories a day in the jungle so not very conducive to activity and exercise no matter who you are.
I think the biggest enemy to weight gain and lack of exercises is simple - excuses.
No doubt.
Everyone has lost weight - even her - despite her slothfulness.
Low calorie intake/lack of energy sounds like a good example of another excuse though.
, because there are a few others on the show (I've watched every episode to date) who still continue to do a bit each day; and they are the ones who don't need to.I think there is a link in that.
Nailed it in one.
I don't have a weight problem. I am the weight I want to be. I have a fat problem... still too much fat around the middle
I want a narrower waist for the same weight, if that makes sense. I have already lost a belt loop comfortably at this weight and I am working towards losing another one.
Anyway, today I rode home from work (1/2 hour), did a workout, some back exercises and rolled out my legs with a foam roller, then protein shake and a big bowl of fresh, cool watermelon. Perfect afternoon!
The workout I did was the first workout that I didn't like... but this time I looked up the exercises I didn't like and ironically, they were in the 'never do these exercises' lists. Lucky there are better alternatives, so I swapped out the ones I didn't like and did the better versions and had a great workout! In other news, I found triceps pushdowns pretty painful (not a bad way, but grr)
I want a narrower waist for the same weight, if that makes sense. I have already lost a belt loop comfortably at this weight and I am working towards losing another one.
Anyway, today I rode home from work (1/2 hour), did a workout, some back exercises and rolled out my legs with a foam roller, then protein shake and a big bowl of fresh, cool watermelon. Perfect afternoon!
The workout I did was the first workout that I didn't like... but this time I looked up the exercises I didn't like and ironically, they were in the 'never do these exercises' lists. Lucky there are better alternatives, so I swapped out the ones I didn't like and did the better versions and had a great workout! In other news, I found triceps pushdowns pretty painful (not a bad way, but grr)
Something interesting for the calorie counting crew:
https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/mens-health/nutrition/a/17082017/the-skinny-on-intermittent-fasting/
https://au.lifestyle.yahoo.com/mens-health/nutrition/a/17082017/the-skinny-on-intermittent-fasting/
Agreed. They are in my program.
Are you doing this with a gym, trainer, or self?
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