O_O
Where are you guys buying your protein? I get Muscle Milk/Cryosport pure whey from Costco for about $0.30-0.50 per serving.
I stopped supplementing protein about a year ago in favor of getting all of it from my diet. If I start again I'd go with something like Evolve Foods or another brand that GNC started carrying, the name of which I can't remember at the moment. Both have minimal ingredients.
I've tried Muscle Milk before but like Mex said, I always had an upset stomach. Looking at the ingredients just now, I can see why.
Hey all, I *snip *snip
Hey man! I've gone from 230 lbs to 177 lbs over the course of 18 months, give or take. Once I committed to lose weight, it happened pretty linearly. What I've done was set down a few simple, very clear rules and just follow them as rigorously as possible. Namely:
- No carbs after sundown, except on gym days (and even then, keep those to a minimum)
- Always have breakfast
- Prefer stuff as close to raw as possible (caveman diet). If it went through a synthetic process, then I'd try to pick up an alternative. No boxed cereals. No potato chips. No movie popcorn. No candy. That kind of stuff. This meant a ton more fruit and vegetables (and holy shit, so many gallons of soup) in my diet.
- No sugary stuff (cakes, whatever). In fact, no sugar, period.
- At least 3 times per week in the gym. Have a training program, and do ALL the exercises on it, no skimping, always.
- On gym days, eat more protein and carbs, sensibly. One day I didn't, and felt pretty weak and dizzy towards the end of the session.
- Most important: metrics. I weighted myself and wrote down the values daily, so I kept myself focused.
- Small, tangible rewards. When I hit certain weight thresholds, I got myself a reward, the last being a tattoo
- Indulge myself on crap food on certain meals. This meant usually one meal per week, usually on the day before a gym session, or immediately after.
I didn't follow a very scientific method. I just went with what felt right under the mantra "No excuses. No crap inside you. Be what you want to be."
Most guys here seem to be on a more advanced stage, where things like shakes and the kind of exercises you do have an impact. When you're overweight and are just trying to lose pounds, you don't have to do much more than eat right and be active, all the time. Routine here is what's best. If you keep constant on your lifestyle, your body will adapt to it until it hits a barrier. Oh, and consider you'll be doing that stuff for the rest of your life. It's true that later on you'll be able to eat a cake and not be harmed by it, but overall it's about adopting a healthier lifestyle. And you must be cool with that idea to keep it up.
My shape isn't the best so far, but I'm happy with the outcome. I'm currently going through a very complicated personal and professional phase, and that got in the way of things, but once I get my life stable again, I'll f*cking get back to it.
Hope it helps.
DeThroned wrote:I've been hitting the gym but not even close to enough. My excuses are very weak that I don't go but I find enough excuses that I only go a couple times a week. That being said, I just picked up Power90. I should have it tomorrow and pretty excited about it. Despite the loss of 25 lbs (currently sitting at 194, 5'9" or so) I am not all that in shape. The Power90 said it was more like a beginner's P90X and a good place to start for someone in my shape. I get fatigued pretty easily so really looking forward to trying this and sticking to it. No excuses as I can do everything right from home!
I've done Power 90 several times over the years. It's effective for beginners but I warn you it will become very VERY dull. Choose the option of no music and use your own. The shitty music included is so bad it will make you want to stab rusty forks into your ears.
I second that. It won't be long before you are soooo tired of the routines.
I suggest adding the biggest loser DVDs and, after awhile you might want to add the Bob Harper and Jillian Micheal's stand alone workouts. Bob has some tough workouts that are on par with the P90X routines and Jillian has some, like 30 day shred, that will whip your *** but the "starter" workouts in the biggest loser DVDs are good for those new to workout out at home.
My wife and I started with the P90, then moved into the Biggest loser and have branched out into P90X, Insanity etc.
Good luck.
Tim
I'm an enormous fan of setting event-goals. Works for my motivation like nothing else. Sign up for a 10K 6 months from now, something like that. Knowing that you have something looming, a hard date to work with, keeps me going.
The last 2 years we have been doing something of the sort, where we have signed up for a "Turkey Day 5k." It's a 5k run in a bigger city south of us that takes place on Thanksgiving. The first year, my wife thought it would be nice to enter it and see if we could just do our best. This last year, we did it again, but we have been at our peak and she was kinda frustrated after she completed and didn't get what she thought she could. I think it kind of discouraged her. I felt okay with my time, we tried to just push ourselves and see how we could do. But I didn't really commit to training for it, because the first year I ran beside her and this last time was the first time I actually put my all into the day. But still knew I could do better than last year, without putting much into it. Maybe we need to sign up for more or one that is sooner and get back on track...
Either way, thanks so much guys for the support and helpful tips! It's really appreciated!
@ Solidarity: I might suggest to her we just go for a walk sometime during the days, after I get off work. We used to walk almost every day of the work week that first year, and it really got us into the frame of mind of changing our habits and diet. Thanks for the tip!
I might just have to head over to the Weight Loss group thread and just keep myself motivated and get her back into it. It was my wife that initially dragged me into losing weight and I love having someone else to help motivate each other. It's a really good way to keep yourself/selves accountable.
I'm around 6' and I think my high part of a target weight for me is around 180 lbs. She's right around 5'4" and I think she said she wants to aim for 150-ish (?). Do you crazy kids think those weights are right or attainable? Or is there a better place to find a target weight?
I am a truck driver, so my biggest downfall is all the trashy food out on the road. Trying to find a Subway is usually the best bet, but MAN am I tired of bland and soggy subs :s. I do a lot of local things though for my company and am fairly active at work. I don't Drop/Hook my loads, I have to unload them by hand and load up my own truck. So I get a pretty decent workout at work, but not sure how many calories I should be shooting for to consume because of that. I guess maybe I should get a heart rate monitor with a calorie counter on it and just wear it to work and get an average of what I burn? Still can't get the calorie consumption in line on my end.
Anywho, thanks again all!
I'm around 6' and I think my high part of a target weight for me is around 180 lbs. She's right around 5'4" and I think she said she wants to aim for 150-ish (?). Do you crazy kids think those weights are right or attainable? Or is there a better place to find a target weight?
IIRC The average American man weighs 190lbs and the average American weighs 165lbs. Both seem like reasonable/attainable goals to me. Weight targeted goals are good because they're easy to track and measure. Just try not to get hung up on it when you hit a plateau though, weight isn't an absolute truth either. For example, I weigh more now than I have in the last 5 years, but my waist is more narrow now than when I weighed 15lbs less.
On the topic of protein powders: has anyone tried pea protein? I am looking for non-soy, non-hemp options. I have tried a few whey products and they have not agreed with my digestion. Neither did the Garden of Life product line, which is grain-based. Also, the grams per body weight ration for protein daily allowance, is that target weight or actual?
I haven't had pea protein but I just ate some peas. Market Pantry single serve steam in bag peas. 2 minutes in the microwave and a good source of protein. Fairly tasty, too.
On the topic of protein powders: has anyone tried pea protein? I am looking for non-soy, non-hemp options. I have tried a few whey products and they have not agreed with my digestion. Neither did the Garden of Life product line, which is grain-based. Also, the grams per body weight ration for protein daily allowance, is that target weight or actual?
Look into some of the Vega products. I think some of them are pea based but some might have hemp in them. I have vegan/vegetarian friends who use the supplements regularly. Its expensive though.
Hey man! I've gone from 230 lbs to 177 lbs over the course of 18 months, give or take. Once I committed to lose weight, it happened pretty linearly. What I've done was set down a few simple, very clear rules and just follow them as rigorously as possible. *snip
My shape isn't the best so far, but I'm happy with the outcome. I'm currently going through a very complicated personal and professional phase, and that got in the way of things, but once I get my life stable again, I'll f*cking get back to it.
Hope it helps.
I appreciate the tips and tricks! For the most part, I'm dead on with most of those, just have to be more rigorous. I feel good at 200 lbs, but see a lot of "fatty" areas and want to get back into trimming down some more. Will keep all those in mind, thanks!
@ Solidarity Thanks for the tips! I feel like I've gotten discouraged because of the plateau. So I have kind of slacked off and can actually tell with the gut (not huge, just subtle changes) even though I've been "maintaining." I think I'm going to start doing my measurements once a week as well on waist/hips/chest...
Sarasota Half Marathon is in the bag. My wife and I finished in 2 hours and 18 minutes, which is faster than we've ever ran anything. It's still pretty slow, but I feel accomplished just running 13.1 miles at all. I never thought I would be able to do it.
The medal is gigantic... 
Nice!!
I am finding that my running on the beach on my vacation has right f*cked up my lower legs. My calves are in a bit of pain and I am finding my knees are a bit more tender and prone to random bits of weakness. Gone let them rest for a while before easing into short, slow runs.
Nice!!
I am finding that my running on the beach on my vacation has right f*cked up my lower legs. My calves are in a bit of pain and I am finding my knees are a bit more tender and prone to random bits of weakness. Gone let them rest for a while before easing into short, slow runs.
This is as far as my wife and I have ever run, and her knees were pretty bad at the end. I left her on the couch today with ice on them.
Before this run, I had been having some knee problems as well, but a chiropractor friend of ours suggested Rock Tape and it has been excellent in easing some of my joint pains.
Congratulations JillSammich, 2:18 isn't anything to be ashamed of either. I also recommend seeing a physical therapist about your knee issues. When they escalate they can get really bad. My physical therapist showed me some stretches and exercises to de-stress my knees and I have a problem with them like 3-4 times a year now instead of 3-4 times a week. The few issues a year now are also usually due to laziness on my part too.
Sarasota Half Marathon is in the bag. My wife and I finished in 2 hours and 18 minutes, which is faster than we've ever ran anything. It's still pretty slow, but I feel accomplished just running 13.1 miles at all. I never thought I would be able to do it.
The medal is gigantic... :P
Well done!
That's a great time.
What's next for you?
Tim
Congrats JillSammich!
On a similar note, I ran my second ever 10K yesterday. When I did my first (last December) I had a goal for myself of finishing under 67 minutes and my time ended up 66:58 or something like that. This time I set a goal of 66 minutes, figuring I've been running a bit more since then and could improve some. Final time ended up being 62 minutes. I honestly never imagined I could keep a 10 minute mile pace for that length of time, but there you go.
Since it was a St Paddy's day run I celebrated after with a Reuben sandwich and a Jameson's and ginger ale. 
Now I'm thinking I might just see if I can do the Bloomsday 12K in May. I've never done a run that big before, nor have I ever run that far. I like having something to keep myself motivated for, though.
Well done!
That's a great time.
What's next for you?
Tim
Thanks!
I think I'll try and keep it to light training for a while. My thesis film is due April 1 and I graduate in May. After that, my wife and I will be moving... somewhere. Hard to say where, so that's going to cut into any training time I may have.
Once we get settled, though, I would like to start to look for other events around where we end up. Maybe ease back into the groove with a few 5K's or something. To be honest, 13.1 seemed like an unattainable goal about 3 months ago.
Congrats JillSammich!
On a similar note, I ran my second ever 10K yesterday. When I did my first (last December) I had a goal for myself of finishing under 67 minutes and my time ended up 66:58 or something like that. This time I set a goal of 66 minutes, figuring I've been running a bit more since then and could improve some. Final time ended up being 62 minutes. I honestly never imagined I could keep a 10 minute mile pace for that length of time, but there you go.
Since it was a St Paddy's day run I celebrated after with a Reuben sandwich and a Jameson's and ginger ale.
Now I'm thinking I might just see if I can do the Bloomsday 12K in May. I've never done a run that big before, nor have I ever run that far. I like having something to keep myself motivated for, though.
wow, 10 minutes / mile. That's a pretty good pace. The results said that our time works out to 10:30, and that was really really fast to me. We haven't ran under 11:00 / mi ever. I guess it was just the excitement of the race. Saturday, we had the Tampa Bay Times Beer Dash, which was a 3K, but we got free local beer at the end. It was very nice. And there were food trucks.
The guy that won the whole half marathon finished in 1:10:26. When we met him as he was coming back, I looked at my wife and said "That guy runs a whole marathon in the time it takes us to run a half..."
Need protein shake advice.
Currently, I use ON's 2:1:1 Recovery for my post-workout drink on the drive to work. I like the taste and how it speeds up the recovery process, as well as the protein boost.
The 4 lb barrels of it usually run me about $40 from Amazon, and go through it in about a month. Obviously, not super cheap.
Are there any more cost-effective alternatives that I could try that would give me similar recovery effects? It's totally cool if the answer is "no, protein powder is just expensive."
Need protein shake advice.
Currently, I use ON's 2:1:1 Recovery for my post-workout drink on the drive to work. I like the taste and how it speeds up the recovery process, as well as the protein boost.
The 4 lb barrels of it usually run me about $40 from Amazon, and go through it in about a month. Obviously, not super cheap.
Are there any more cost-effective alternatives that I could try that would give me similar recovery effects? It's totally cool if the answer is "no, protein powder is just expensive."
It's two thirds sugar. You can pick up a bag of dextrose from your local homebrewing store for close to nothing. Mix it with protein powder yourself and you should save quite a bit.
So what's a good protein powder?
Someone else will have to jump in here. The powder I use is Swedish and is most likely not available anywhere else.
Chaz, If you go back to page 13 (halfway-down) there's some protein drank recommendations.
I recently bought some resistance bands to work on my hip-muscles, as recommended to me by a PT I met a couple of weeks ago. Anyone have any specific exercises they like for these giant rubber bands?
So what's a good protein powder?
Isopure low or No Carbs, but it's expensive
Those two guys lifting weights together over there? The ones who are both wearing headphones and talking really loudly to each other so they might hear the conversation over their music? Yeah, those guys are kind of assholes.
You guys need to watch BroScience on youtube. They're hilarious. If you only watch one, make it this one about curls.
You guys need to watch BroScience on youtube. They're hilarious. If you only watch one, make it this one about curls.
I agree, these are some funny videos. I found them a few weeks ago. If you go to his website you can watch them all in order.
"Make sure to stare at your biceps in the mirror.... they'll stare back"
Favorite workout of last week (done in circuit fashion):
Push-ups: 20/20/20/20/15
Pull-ups: 10/9/8/7/6
Sit-ups: 20/20/20/20/20
Dips: 5/5/5/5/5
I was gonna hit the track after for some intervals, but they were closing early that night. Boo.
I'm also really loving my burpee/pull-up day. 15-20 minutes of ladders to max reps with 30-40 seconds of rest between sets is a great burn. Plus, the warm-up is built right in to the workout, so I can just get changed, shake out the arms and legs, and get to it.
So what's a good protein powder?
Several members of my church are using this:
I make no claims personally as I have no first hand knowledge. But they all seem pleased with the results and on a couple the weight loss has been staggering.
On my personal weight loss journey, it had to come to a temporary halt as I am having back surgery Tuesday morning. Hopefully afterwards I can hit it much harder as the only thing I'm getting right now is fatter and older.
Several members of my church are using this:
It's a MLM scheme! Stay the f*ck away from it.
Coolbeans wrote:Several members of my church are using this:
It's a MLM scheme! Stay the f*ck away from it.
Not all MLM products are schemes solely aimed at making money. I'll try to find a podcast from Planet Money that came out around Christmas that goes over both sides of the argument. Here we go.
Also I've skipped my last 2 scheduled workouts on account of PAX. I'm now off to play a frisbee game. I'm confident that I'm malnourished and dehydrated due to con-scheduling; I'm going to feel tight and crampy tomorrow.
EDIT: Yeah, I'm tight all over. I may need to pony up and see a masseuse this week.
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