Keeping Healthy

[Jazz]

How many of you attend a gym monthly, weekly, daily or if you're a muscle head twice a day.

Also, I'm interested to hear some of your weight gain, weight loss diets and healthy tips you can give.

I'm a self-claimed health nut (ex pot-head). I'm fortunate enough to have a fast metabolism and a sporty frame but i have just gotten into gaining a buit of muscle and eating healthy. One of my key tips for health is dont eat egg yolk, and just eat the egg white. Egg white is pure protein and egg yolk is pure calories (even though they are good). Beetroot is the best thing for your liver - if you dont like betts then try blending half a beet with 4 apples. It will detox your liver and make all your organs awesomeness. The best hacks for your body.

[DankPanties]

I don't go to a gym, but I did lose 30lbs in one year not too long ago.  What did I do?

I became a vegetarian.
I swore off fried foods, and avoided high fructose syrup as much as possible.
I started walking 2-3 miles a day, plus about 30 pushups.

I went from 180lbs to 150 in about a year.  I now vacillate between 150-145.

I have a desk job so I like to stay active outside of work.  Outside of video games, my biggest hobby is hiking.

[Gideon Zhi]

I used to do a lot of walking. A *lot* of walking. I'd take two-hour walks around town several times per week. I've seen moved, and my current home doesn't exactly make good walking. There are places nearby that ARE good to walk, but you have to drive to get there, and that kind of defeats the purpose :|

Much more recently I was taking tae kwon do classes at a local gym once or twice a week. It was one hell of a workout, but I've stopped going recently because my class schedule frankly started absorbing all of my attention

[Jazz]

Tae kwon do - I would love to do that. My only class at the gym is Boxing which I'm really considering.

I guess it's good to be lean. I used to be 63kg (138lbs) 2 years ago (aged 25) and was really lean all my life. I have in the last 2 years started eating more protein foods and working out and now reached 77.7kg (171lbs)

[Pennywise]

For me running has always been the way to go, but I live next to a bike path, so it's easy. Also I did jiu-jitsu classes for a summer and that's a whole different kind of workout especially when you grappling and wrassling with that thick gi on in the summer.

[Psychlonic]

Daily strength and cardio in the mornings and running in the evening when possible. 230lbs at about 10-12% bodyfat, currently. I eat the whole egg.  All 12 of them. Raw.

You should make sure you don't get biotin deficiency from failing to eat the yolk. Egg whites have avidin in them which binds to biotin and renders it useless. Eating the yolk which is packed with biotin cancels this out as the avidin binds to all of the biotin you consume and leaves you at "neutral" instead of depleting. Brittle nails, thinning hair and dull skin are signs of this.

[Jazz]

hahaha nice Psy but it may look great on the outside but your heart wont be enjoying it.

[Psychlonic]

hahaha nice Psy but it may look great on the outside but your heart wont be enjoying it.

I monitor my cholesterol and triglycerides closely, being strong and being heart-healthy can go hand in hand. My heart will be just fine, as will my other organs. My blood pressure is pretty low, too.

And it's not about how I look, it's about how I feel.

[Jazz]

so whats a typical day diet for you?

[Psychlonic]

so whats a typical day diet for you?

Well.... *long story follows*

12 eggs (3 before, 9 after workout), 8oz vegetable juice, 8oz low fat chocolate milk, 2 bananas <- these are almost daily consumption items.

Proper breakfast after this might be some greek yogurt, oatmeal, orange juice, maybe a granola bar thrown in there.

Snacks include more granola, raw veggies, berries of all kinds, apples sometimes.

Lunch is generally thrown together. Generally more raw vegetables, tuna, sometimes sandwiches on black rye.

For dinner I eat a lot of wild game since I hunt. Lots of elk and venison, which is cool because I get to eat red meat without worrying about the cholesterol stigma. Sometimes chicken. Lots of cooked vegetables and stuff like corn, squash, beans, really simple stuff like that.

I stay away from excessive caffeine and don't take supplements either. Not only do I think it's hard on the body, but I'm cheap anyways and don't see the need to waste money on stuff like that. I eat a lot of shrimp and other seafood as well whenever. Sometimes cold cereal, I eat a lot of multi-grain Cheerios it seems like.

And I eat a lot of all of this crap, it adds up unfortunately. I'm trying to reach 265 and some days I've found that I consume over 10,000 calories. That's a lot of groceries to put away, man. Especially in this economy.  I'm like you, I have a fast metabolism that demands tons of food just to put on a single pound plus I'm trying to build up the right way with cardio and speed training so it's not easy but hey, I don't want to be a big, slow guy. I want reality hax athletic ability. 

Oh, I also have some 90% chocolate, hibiscus tea, and the occasional glass of red wine as well for heart health. It's hard to say how much it helps with everything else stacked up, but it certainly hasn't hurt my numbers any.

[Jazz]

wow that's a commitment to eating right there. So many calories yet you can maintain a 10-12% bodyfat ratio - that's amazing. I would eat that much but I do so much in my day it's hard to keep a regular diet and I am trying to get into eating breakfast. usually I wont eat until morning tea 10am'ish.

I might try add in more raw veggies and some granola. Banana's i heard are a nightmare for the body if you are trying to cut fat/sugars down since they hold a lot of sugar. Berries and raw vegetables i've heard ferment into alcohol in the stomach and create a bad acid reflux as you should normally eat vegetables 3-4hrs after any fruit or before and only fruits apples and pears mix well with vegetables. Strange. But great to see someones diet.

The fact you hunt, workout and do cardio shows you are really active. I work a day job 9-6 sitting down and then i usually translate games and do webdesign at night after the gym and dinner.

[Psychlonic]

To be fair, I didn't start out this way by a long shot. When I first decided I wanted to put on some weight I just drank 3 eggs a day and kept on eating garbage and chugging soda. Some things were the same, like I ate plenty of game, but I also ate lots of chips, candy, pasta... lots of junk and I learned quickly I wasn't going to be able to sustain that. I felt like crap after my workouts which is where the chocolate milk and bananas came in. That tends to burn off instantly and half an hour later I'm hungry for a real breakfast. Then I noticed my heart rate was starting to increase so then I added the tea, chocolate, wine, and orange juice. Eventually I just got used to eating as healthy as possible. Experimenting became fun so I was always trying new stuff and now I don't get bored with what I eat so I'm not tempted to go pig out on Doritos and Mt. Dew like I might have 3 years ago. Dropping soda was actually the hardest part of all of that. I still don't know if I got the process down to a science but I try. I get blood panel tests done every six months and so far I've been doing good.

As for bananas and berries, I think it's all in context. Bananas go into my system instantly and with their potassium they help recarb my body. Combined with the proteins and chocolate in the milk it's really just as good as any formula you can find for recovery. I never get acid reflux but there's probably so much to consider that with the right conditions it could be possible.

And yeah, I'm quite active. I'm on my feet most of the time at work, often lifting goods around or repairing stuff, and when I get home I have my "outdoors hour" where I practice survival skills or work on making knives, both steel and paleolithic. Often this goes beyond an hour because I have fun doing it, but it's just something I do to make sure each day is productive. I also help people with random tasks a lot like splitting wood. Now might be a good time to mention that I really don't do cocaine.

Of course I'm still a game nerd too which is why we're all here so I have my moments where I sit on my ass and game all evening or help out with game-related projects where I can.

[Jorpho]

I tried what might be called a low-carb diet for six months two years ago, not because I was at any sort of remotely unhealthy weight, but just to see what I could accomplish; I sprang for a diet coach and everything.  I did indeed lose 30-35 pounds – some 17% of my body weight – but I was constantly thinking about food.  To be sure, it was an interesting experience; having half a cookie after getting home from work turned into a rapturous celebration of life.  But it was not something I felt like pursuing; in particular, the idea of having to go out and buy three new pairs of jeans was most unappealing.  I gained all the weight back (and no more than that) soon afterwards. 

I keep up some of the habits I established at that time – breakfast consists in part of 1/3 L of egg whites with salsa; lunch is a boneless, skinless chicken breast, a vegetable, and a pound of carrots consumed over the course of the day; midafternoon snack is a protein shake.  I just don't bother depriving myself of the not-so-occasional muffin or cookie.

I did do a lot of weight training earlier this year, as I found an independent gym with a suitable atmosphere (no rap music, ever!), but it was taking a lot of time out of my week – six hours, on average, including the 3 km run to the gym and back each time – and it started to feel like I was hiding away from the world in there.  By the end I was definitely capable of lifting quite a bit more than when I started, but I hadn't really made any gains in terms of size; I just have trouble bringing myself to eat to excess (or at least bringing myself to spend to excess).  So these days I'm back to kickboxing twice a week, which is a darn good cardio workout if nothing else.

I've never cared for alcohol, but I do drink quite a bit of coffee to stay alert at work.  The coffee is supplemented with diet soda, but the soda only amounts to a little more than 2L per week.

It will detox your liver and make all your organs awesomeness.

The idea of "detoxification" is widely overblown.
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/detox_overview.html
http://www.quackwatch.com/01QuackeryRelatedTopics/detox.html

[Draken]

Self improvement is masturbation... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=42cSdyzVcXQ

[DankPanties]

If anyone bothers to do the research, it doesn't take long to realize "diet" sodas are even worse for you than regular ones.  Phenylalanine is converted by the body into a sugar which is converted to fat, the same way high fructose corn syrup is.  Aspartame is fucking poison, period.

I stopped drinking sodas years ago.  I mainly drink coffee, sweat tea, 100% natural fruit juices, real lemonade, and water.

[SargeSmash]

My problem is sticking with anything.  I used to be in very good shape, due to work on the farm growing up, including building our house that we're in while I was an undergrad.  Now, I'm rather sedentary, because I never really learned to "work out".  Not to mention my metabolism keeps me quite slim, almost regardless of what I eat.  I'm sitting at around 165 lbs. on a 6' frame, and it's taken me 15 years to get to that point.  I also used to shoot a lot of basketball, but likely as a consequence, my knees suck.  Still, I'm hopefully going to fix that little problem with my early Christmas present (for which I paid for partially), a Trek bicycle.  Not anything super-expensive, but hopefully better than what you'd get in a Walmart / Target / whatever.

My diet isn't great, either.  Too much fast food.  It's a wonder I'm not worse off than I am.

[DankPanties]

165lbs at 6' is hardly overweight man. 

[SargeSmash]

165lbs at 6' is hardly overweight man. 

Yeah, didn't say it was.    But being the right weight doesn't necessarily mean I'm healthy, and I'm definitely not that right now.  I guess my point with that is that my metabolism, to some degree, has made me complacent about my fitness.  I mean, I don't have to put forth any effort to stay at a proper weight, so I must be in good shape, right? 

[Next gen Cowboy]

I used to be overweight, after that I got fat when I started college. An unhealthy addiction to alot of different stuff, and quitting drinking slimmed me right down. I'm good now.

[DankPanties]

Yeah, didn't say it was.

Some people equate "shape" with their body shape, not physical endurance.  But I get what you meant now.

You should be good until your metabolism drops a gear or two.  It'll happen eventually.  Mine did when I hit 25.  All of a sudden the calories stopped burning themselves.