Thread of diets and exercise

[wisp]

Just a update , i have finally hit the 70's , this morning i weighed in at ....drum roll please.....79kg , i am totally stoked, my bmi is now 25.8 and i have lost a total of 21kg in 10 weeks (i did take a weeks break from the duro mine though ) only 7 kg to go , think i'll have a extra piece of lettuce today to celebrate :P
I can see my feet now without having to look in a mirror :D

[BattleMoose]

Well done, stellar work!

[Toxxyc]

^ Congrats man! Now to keep it down... :P

[Boggle24]

Ok so I've got a few questions for you guys.

I'm not overweight, and I'm not really skinny.
I'm rather short though, but I've got a really decent build for my size.

I do however want to lose a bit of weight (like a kilo or so) and develop some muscle definition.

So here's the deal, don't have any money to go to a gym, so are there any sort of exercise activities that I can do to achieve this goal ?
I do about 40 pushups and 30 situps before I shower most days, but that's definitely not giving my whole body a good workout, and really I should be doing them in sets rather than just once off shouldn't I ?

Also any sort of diet help would be nice, won't mind going on a low GI or something for a while.

[Toxxyc]

^ Cycling and swimming is your best bet. Easy on joints, excellent for all muscle groups.

[wisp]

Ok so I've got a few questions for you guys.

I'm not overweight, and I'm not really skinny.
I'm rather short though, but I've got a really decent build for my size.

I do however want to lose a bit of weight (like a kilo or so) and develop some muscle definition.

So here's the deal, don't have any money to go to a gym, so are there any sort of exercise activities that I can do to achieve this goal ?
I do about 40 pushups and 30 situps before I shower most days, but that's definitely not giving my whole body a good workout, and really I should be doing them in sets rather than just once off shouldn't I ?

Also any sort of diet help would be nice, won't mind going on a low GI or something for a while.

In order to point you in the right direction i need to ask you one thing, have you checked your BMI .If it says you are overweight then its time to act .

Depending on your height your BMI should be between 20 and 25 anything over that is considered overweight .Here is a list of low GI foods

All-bran (UK/Aus)
All-bran (US)
Oat bran
Rolled Oats
Special K (UK/Aus)
Natural Muesli
Porridge
Frozen Green Peas
Frozen Sweet Corn
Raw Carrots
Boiled Carrots
Eggplant/Aubergine
Broccoli
Cauliflower
Cabbage
Mushrooms
Tomatoes
Chillies
Lettuce
Green Beans
Red Peppers
Onions
Soya and Linseed
Wholegrain Pumpernickel
Heavy Mixed Grain
Whole Wheat
Sourdough Rye
Sourdough Wheat
Slim-Fast meal replacement
Snickers Bar (high fat)
Nut & Seed Muesli Bar
Sponge Cake
Nutella
Milk Chocolate
Hummus
Peanuts
Walnuts
Cashew Nuts
Nuts and Raisins
Jam
Corn Chips
Oatmeal Crackers
Plums
Grapefruit
Peaches
Peach, canned in natural juice
Apples
Pears
Dried Apricots
Grapes
Coconut
Coconut Milk
Kiwi Fruit
Oranges
Strawberries
Prunes
Wheat Pasta Shapes
New Potatoes
Meat Ravioli
Spaghetti
Tortellini (Cheese)
Egg Fettuccini
Brown Rice
Buckwheat
White long grain rice
Pearled Barley
Yam
Sweet Potatoes
Instant Noodles
Wheat tortilla
Kidney Beans (canned)
Butter Beans
Chick Peas
Haricot/Navy Beans
Lentils, Red
Lentils, Green
*Pinto Beans
Blackeyed Beans
Yellow Split Peas
Whole milk
Skimmed milk
Chocolate milk
Sweetened yoghurt
Artificially Sweetened Yoghurt
Custard
Soy Milk

sorry if it came out a bit mixed up
It depends on how radical you want to go on your diet or if you even want to follow and main stream diet , i prefered to do things on my own , if its only a couple of kilos like you say then i suggest any Low GI diet , or if you not in to following diets here is couple of things that i have done -cut out all fried foods -rather grill your meat/chicken/fish(or go veg like me :P).Cut out cold drinks -drink at least 8 glasses of water a day-you can occasionally drink fruit juice but only unsweetened kind 100% pure etc .Use olive oil instead of sunflower oil.Slim milk rather than full cream .Cut out salt big time it makes you retain water .Eat at least 5 fruit and veg per day , and cut out sugar .Legumes . lots of legumes very filling and zero fat

Make a drink fruit smoothies at least twice a week ,hope this tips can help you .Have some great diet recipes if anyone wants.

Regarding Duromine .WARNING these pills are frikken deadly. I know a lot of people on the forum warned me about them and i apprecaite the help but i really needed to do this. I have not had the best time while taking these tablets , the side effects have been extreme -depression,chronic insomnia,body tremors , dizzy spells, most day i felt like walking in front ofthe next truck coming down the road, chronic mood swings , extreme temper (yes Zoop you were right but i just wasnt saying anything) and thats everyday ,but i have perservered because i was beyond the point of obsession about losing the weight, i have 15 days pills left so i am going to finish them and then thats it , i never want to go through the last 2 months again .

But despite all that they really do work , you cant eat eg.If i take 100 grams of soya mince cooked in 500ml water and a packet of two minute noodles i have enough foods for 4 meals , you can basically eat about a saucer/side plate full of food at a meal -maybe , or 1 poached egg and half a slice of bread and your full for the day , half a apple at lunch is all you can manage .

But i am certianly not going to put the weight back on ,i have radically changed my life style , gone back to vegan but also cutting out all sweets, cake, cold drinks, chips, chocolates and all those lekker things that make fat and my weight has become the major obsession in my life ( even more than the Sharks ,Gaming and aperfectcircle:D). So i will do everything in my power to stay healthly and within my BMI and keep fit . I have gone back to weight training in a small way and will increase that excerise as i get closer to my goal weight

[wisp]

@ Boggle24 here is a very basic diet incase you want to try

The do's:

The bulk of the diet consists of:
Lentils and a variety of beans
Fresh vegetables
Fresh fruit
The don'ts:

Only eat small portions of:
Low-fat dairy products
Meat, poultry, fish
Nuts
The reasons for the do's and don'ts:
Vegetables and fruit contain significant amounts of potassium. Potassium appears to replace and eliminate excess sodium from the body's tissues, enabling dilation of the blood vessels and lowering of the blood pressure. Some studies indicate that higher levels of potassium in the blood may inhibit the formation of free radicals and the formation of blood clots, both of which play a role in the development of atherosclerosis.
A maximum of two portions of meat, poultry or fish, and three portions of low-fat or fat-free dairy food per week to lower fat consumption (to counteract obesity and elevated blood fat levels) and protein consumption (and thereby hidden fats, as well as preventing possible kidney failure due to high protein intake).
The following table outlines the major food groups, and the number and sizes of servings you need:
Food group
Daily servings
Serving sizes
Examples/Notes
Significance of each Food group to the Dash Diet pattern

Grains and cereals
7-8
1 slice bread
1/2 cup dry cereal
1/2 cup cooked rice, pasta or cereal


whole wheat bread, or low-GI bread, pita bread, cereals, maize meal, samp, oat porridge, ProVitas, RyeVitas
Major sources of energy and fibre

Vegetables
4-5
1 cup raw leafy vegetable
1/2 cup cooked vegetable
170ml vegetable juice
tomatoes potatoes, carrots, peas, squash, broccoli, turnip, greens collards, kale, spinach, artichokes, sweet potatoes, green beans
Rich sources of potassium, magnesium and fibre

Fruits
4-5
170ml fruit juice
1 medium fruit
1/4 cup dried fruit
1/2 cup fresh, frozen, or canned fruit
apricots, bananas, dates, oranges, orange juice, grapefruit, grapefruit juice, mangoes, melons, peaches, pineapples, prunes, raisins, strawberries, naartjies
Important sources of potassium, magnesium, and fibre

Low fat or fat-free dairy foods
2-3
200ml milk
1 cup yoghurt
30 gram cheese


skim or low-fat or 2% milk, skim or low-fat buttermilk or maas, low-fat yoghurt, low-fat mozarella cheese, fat-free cottage cheese
Major sources of calcium and protein

Meals, poultry and fish
2 or less
60 gram cooked meats, poultry or fish
select only lean; trim away visible fat; grill, roast or boil, instead of frying; remove skin from poultry
Rich sources of protein and magnesium

Nuts, seeds, and legumes
4-5 per week
30 gram or 1/3 cup nuts
2 Tbsp seeds
1/2 cup cooked legumes


Almonds, macadamias, mixed nuts, peanuts, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, kidney beans, cooked or canned dry beans, pease or lentils
Rich sources of energy, magnesium, potassium, protein, and fibre

[Boggle24]

Yeah I checked my body mass index this morning before posting, I'm at about 23 and for my size that's well within the the normal range, I do have a rather muscular upper body though, so it's just the muscle definition I really want to work on.

I'll definitely take the diet into consideration, it's just not always that easy for me to get my hands on all the low GI stuff, but fruits and veggies should be no problem.

I'll definitely get my hands on some Special K or All bran flakes, those could feed me forever :P

[Toxxyc]

Special K tastes like twigs to me. I don't like them. All Bran though, with honey, ice cold milk and fresh fruit cut up inside it... Oh my, breakfast fit for a king!

[wisp]

Special K tastes like twigs to me. I don't like them. All Bran though, with honey, ice cold milk and fresh fruit cut up inside it... Oh my, breakfast fit for a king!

Try Jungle Crunch with a small , those tiny ones , no fat yogurt ...the cranberries in the crunch are sooooo lekker

[Darkmag]

Yeah I checked my body mass index this morning before posting, I'm at about 23 and for my size that's well within the the normal range, I do have a rather muscular upper body though, so it's just the muscle definition I really want to work on.

Muscle definition is a body fat issue, should have a body fat of <12% if you want to see your muscles clearly.

http://www.linear-software.com/online.html

[wisp]

I just thought for some clarification on the different types of Vegetarian diets that you get , i was also a bit uninformed (totally my own fault ) that their are different kinds of Vegetarians

First, let's define the many categories that encompass the term vegetarian. Often we hear people say they no longer eat red meat, just chicken and fish, so they consider themselves vegetarians. These people are not vegetarians, but we hope that someday they will become vegetarians. True vegetarians follow a diet that avoids animal flesh and includes only plant-based foods like whole grains, legumes, fruits, vegetables, nuts, and seeds.

LACTO-OVO VEGETARIAN: Eats no meat, poultry, or fish, but includes dairy products and eggs in the diet along with plant-based foods.

LACTO VEGETARIAN: Excludes all animal products except dairy products. Includes all plant-based foods in the diet.

OVO VEGETARIAN: Excludes all animal products except eggs. Includes all plant-based foods in the diet.

VEGAN OR PURE VEGETARIAN: Vegan is pronounced "vee gun." Some people distinguish between vegan and pure vegetarian, considering the pure vegetarian one who eats no animal flesh, no dairy products, or no eggs, and follows a strict plant-based diet for dietary reasons only. While vegans follow a diet consisting of plant-based foods only, they are further committed to a philosophy that respects animal life and the ecology of the planet.
*As a result, vegans also do not eat honey because many bees are killed in the process of forced procreation to maintain the beehive and the continued production of honey. Frequently, large factory beekeepers kill off their hives late in fall or at the onset of winter. The practice is partly for convenience and partly for economic reasons. Rather than maintaining the hives throughout the winter, bee farmers find it more economical to start with a new beehive in spring.
Vegans do not eat refined cane sugar, because it is clarified over animal bone char in the final steps of the process that makes the sugar white. Instead, vegans choose unrefined sweeteners such as evaporated cane juice, maple sugar, maple syrup, date sugar, Sucanat, and agave nectar.
Vegans also avoid gelatin which is made from the bones, skin, and connective tissue of animals.
Because vegans consider the ecology of the planet a priority along with concern for animal rights, they shun the use of leather, wool, silk, goosedown, and any foods or goods that have been processed using animal products. Their concern is that the planet's future resources have been harmed and animals have suffered in order for these products to come to market.

I am a Lacto-ovo vegetarian then and not vegan sorry if i said it wrong in the past , just thought someone may find this interesting :D..and after reading the description of how they get suger white , its like disgusting , will try sweetners instead

[JackB]

I do about 40 pushups and 30 situps before I shower most days, but that's definitely not giving my whole body a good workout, and really I should be doing them in sets rather than just once off shouldn't I ?

Also any sort of diet help would be nice, won't mind going on a low GI or something for a while.

For not using weights you need to push harder.
Push ups - 5 sets, each set push until you cant go anymore.

Sit ups - Dont anchor your feet, it makes you cheat. try to do 100 per day to start then as you get used to it move to 200 per day. Dont worry about how many per sets. Just do as many as you can each time until you get to 100, even if it is 2 at a time. Perseverance is key. Pain is certain.

Hanging leg raises - 5 sets, same as push ups

Pull up - start slow, 3 sets of as many as you can each time.

Burpee's - 3 sets of ten will be a good start.

Squat Jumps - 3 sets of ten also to start.

Dont have more time for diet will try add on when i have a chance.

Good Luck

[Sir PaniCore]

For not using weights you need to push harder.
Push ups - 5 sets, each set push until you cant go anymore.

Sit ups - Dont anchor your feet, it makes you cheat. try to do 100 per day to start then as you get used to it move to 200 per day. Dont worry about how many per sets. Just do as many as you can each time until you get to 100, even if it is 2 at a time. Perseverance is key. Pain is certain.

Hanging leg raises - 5 sets, same as push ups

Pull up - start slow, 3 sets of as many as you can each time.

Burpee's - 3 sets of ten will be a good start.

Squat Jumps - 3 sets of ten also to start.

Dont have more time for diet will try add on when i have a chance.

Good Luck

Or because, Burpee's and squat jumps are Satans exercises (I seriously hate them and I know I'm not the only one) Replace those with swimming Laps, since it works the same area's as those.

[Zen]

Right I've done a speed read through the thread so forgive me if somethings are repeated, however I do feel that I can contribute.

Diet:

You should ideally be aiming for 6 meals a day, that are low in carbs and have low glycemic index values. These are not all the factors that affect the diet, but they are probably the biggest contributing factors. Your meals will be fairly small portions, roughly 200-300 grams each, maybe more maybe less. The reason behind this is to keep your blood sugar levels constant. Too little blood sugar and your body starts eating at your muscle, and too much blood sugar and your body starts packing on the pounds.

There are 4 basic states of sugar levels, in descending order of blood sugar levels they are:

• Extreme anabolic
• Anabolic
• Catabolic
• Extreme Catabolic

Extreme anabolic: Your blood sugar levels are too high. Your pancreas will rapidly release insuling which will bind the sugars to be used later, it will store it in the form of fat. This state allows you to build muscle though, but you're going to pack on the pounds to.

Anabolic: Your blood sugar level is high enough to sustain you in terms of building muscle.

Catabolic: Your blood sugar level is low enough that your body will start converting some of your fat too energy. If you want to lose weight, this is the state most diets want to put you in.

Extreme Catabolic: Your blood sugar level is too low. Your body goes into a defensive state and starts converting your muscles into energy. This is tied to the body's survival instinct. Fat is seen as your emergency stores. This behaviour can be compared to that with that of a hibernating animal such as a bear. It has to pack on the pounds so that it can survive its winter hibernation. Its body converts its fat to energy for this purpose.

Q: What is GI (Glycemic Index)?
A: In simple terms it is an index for measuring how quickly your body metabolises the meal into sugars. A high GI value means it does it more rapidly than a low GI value.

Additional advice below:

• You should be eating between 1.5 grams to 2 grams of protein per day for every kilogram of bodyweight you have.
• You want to cut all refined sugar products out of your diet.
• If you like a sweet coffee or tea, try to get a sweetener that is based off Stevia sugars.
• Sodium intake should be limited to roughly 2 grams per day. (Table Salt)
• Drink 2-3 liters of water a day. Hydration is extremely important to deoxidise the body.
• For meats, the rule is "The less legs the better." Which means eat more fish, followed by SKINLESS poultry and finally beef.
• Your meats should be lean cuts, if they aren't cut the fat off and remove the skin BEFORE you cook them.
• Steam as many of your veggies as possible. Having steamed veggies keeps more of the nutrients than boiling them does.
• Eat as little as possible of foods containing saturated fats and trans fats. These are the bad fats. The good fats are monounsaturated fats and polyunstaturated fats. Nuts and olives are a super source of these.
• Peanut butter, peanut butter, peanut butter. It tastes great and has immense amounts of the good stuff. Make sure to get the all natural ones.
• Sweet potato before regular potato.
• Honey is good for you, but its GI is high.
• Cook in olive oil.
• Don't forget about the Omega-3 fatty acids. Your brain needs food too! Fish and flaxseed oil contain these in abundance. Avocado too! On the topic of Avo's don't overindulge, they pack a fairly powerful punch of calories. Around 50 Cals for a 30 gram serving.
• Nuts! Did I mention this before? Oh yeah, nuts! Almonds, peanuts, cashews etc. They're good for you!
• Pilchards, Tuna, Salmon. Epic fish for epic meals and nutrients. Those Lucky Star Pilchards? Yeah those taste great and give you a nice boost with the essentials.
• Don't forget your dietary fibre. Aim to get a green salad everyday. Lettuce, rocket etc.
• One yellow and green veggie per day.
• Fruit, fruit is awesome, but be careful. There is a reason most fruits are sweet, that reason is sugar. If you're eating apples, eat the green then yellow and avoid the red if you can. With bananas, eat them before they become too ripe. They should be somewhat green but mostly yellow. If a banana's skin starts turning brown it means that the sugar inside have reached somewhat of a peak.
• Cut things contain Fructose from your diet. Fructose is a syrup made from corn that is high in sugar content and is used in a lot of everyday products. One such product is tomato sauce.
• Oats! Oats are perhaps the best breakfast you can eat. Spice it up with slices of fruit, cinnamon and nuts.

Exercise:

I personally go to gym for 6 days a week. Monday - Saturday. You should ideally aim to exercise BEFORE breakfast, and because of this I wake up @ 05h00 each day. I hit the gym, come home, eat breakfast, get dressed and go to varsity.

I alternate training between days.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do strength training. Whereas Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I do cardio. This is to give my body time to recover from the weights, as I tend to push myself quite hard when doing weights.

When I started getting back into my regular routine of gyming roughly 3-4 weeks ago I was 103 KG's with a body fat % of 27.4%. I'm 5'11".

At the moment I stand on 103 KG's with 22.1% body fat. I've lost no weight, just replaced fat with muscle. Its not my intended goal as I don't want to bulk up. I want lean muscle. I'm currently a 40" waist, want to get down to 36".

On a note to wisp. Blood pressure bills tend to have a water tablet in them that causes the body to retain water. To lose 5 KG's in a week is a bit much for it to be 100% fat. I'm guessing its probably 70-90% water weight. But yeah keep motivated and keep doing it!

Keeping motivated:

Have an ultimate goal!

Things don't happen over night, it takes time. Don't be disheartened after a week that you haven't dropped a single gram or body fat %.

Change your lifestyle!

Get a buddy to exercise with you. Having a buddy not only lets you socialise, but it also allows you to push yourself further. You'll be amazed how fast time flies by when you're with a buddy.

Get an MP3 player. I personally find cardio pretty ****ing boring, having cool beats in my ears makes the time go by faster. I also find myself working harder to faster tempo songs.

Oh yeah, here are some awesome alternatives to otherwise bland/unhealthy foods. Youtube Channel

[Sir PaniCore]

I alternate training between days.

Monday, Wednesday and Friday I do strength training. Whereas Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday I do cardio. This is to give my body time to recover from the weights, as I tend to push myself quite hard when doing weights.

When I started getting back into my regular routine of gyming roughly 3-4 weeks ago I was 103 KG's with a body fat % of 27.4%. I'm 5'11".

At the moment I stand on 103 KG's with 22.1% body fat. I've lost no weight, just replaced fat with muscle. Its not my intended goal as I don't want to bulk up. I want lean muscle. I'm currently a 40" waist, want to get down to 36".

The problem is that if you want to develop lean muscle you have too do more cardio and smaller weights.

You first going to have to lose body fat until it's about 12% or less and for that I reccomend running and swimming. Another thing is that heavier weights will make you bulk up instead of cut (lean muscle), so you need to use lighter weights BUT do more reps so instead of doing 10 reps of 100Kg you do 50 reps 25Kg, this will build muscle endurance instead of muscle strength and will cut you. I know thins from martial arts training where we were forbidden to do heavy strength training because the bulk would make us lose speed and flexibility so instead we did endurance training and after 2months we had the most defined muscles without bulking up you could get without being a shaolin monk :P. So for Lean muscle endurance training is better than strength training which will just bulk you up.

[JackB]

The problem is that if you want to develop lean muscle you have too do more cardio and smaller weights.

You first going to have to lose body fat until it's about 12% or less and for that I reccomend running and swimming. Another thing is that heavier weights will make you bulk up instead of cut (lean muscle), so you need to use lighter weights BUT do more reps so instead of doing 10 reps of 100Kg you do 50 reps 25Kg, this will build muscle endurance instead of muscle strength and will cut you. I know thins from martial arts training where we were forbidden to do heavy strength training because the bulk would make us lose speed and flexibility so instead we did endurance training and after 2months we had the most defined muscles without bulking up you could get without being a shaolin monk :P. So for Lean muscle endurance training is better than strength training which will just bulk you up.

I don,t think you understand what lean muscle is. You can still lift heavy and have lean muscle. Lean just means it has less water and fat content in your muscles. Cutting is done when you take bulked up muscle and do high rep training to lean it out by *burning* out the fat and water. ie: giving your muscles their natural lean shape.

That is why if you look at Pier Spies he has a 6-8% bf index but has a very rounded physic. Because he is a patron of the great creatine goddess which retains some water in your muscles preventing it from having that *cut with a knive* look. And he benches 180kg, Dead Lifts 220Kg.

Building muscle on a skinny frame is very difficult unless "like Zen said" you up your protien intake, bulk for 6 months then cut to your required size. That's why some guys bulk then cut 3-4 times before they get where they want.

[Toxxyc]

Or because, Burpee's and squat jumps are Satans exercises (I seriously hate them and I know I'm not the only one) Replace those with swimming Laps, since it works the same area's as those.

What are Burpee's? Drink one beer and produce a set of Burpee's? If so, I'm a pro.

[Sir PaniCore]

I don,t think you understand what lean muscle is. You can still lift heavy and have lean muscle. Lean just means it has less water and fat content in your muscles. Cutting is done when you take bulked up muscle and do high rep training to lean it out by *burning* out the fat and water. ie: giving your muscles their natural lean shape.

That is why if you look at Pier Spies he has a 6-8% bf index but has a very rounded physic. Because he is a patron of the great creatine goddess which retains some water in your muscles preventing it from having that *cut with a knive* look. And he benches 180kg, Dead Lifts 220Kg.

Building muscle on a skinny frame is very difficult unless "like Zen said" you up your protien intake, bulk for 6 months then cut to your required size. That's why some guys bulk then cut 3-4 times before they get where they want.

This is just how the sports science proffesor at the university explained it to me (I asked for the simplest explanation possible) and I took the advice too heart and created a new endurance training Regime (parachute training, less weights but more reps etc) for myself since I had lost some of my physique after stopping Tae-kwon-do, showed it to a fitness instructor at the local gym, just to have it approved and perhaps improved upon. I'm building muscle Mass and losing weight at the same time, while getting that cut look. I don't know, I'm not an expert on this stuff but what I explained above has done wonders for my physique and I have had it double checked and apparently what I'm doing is right for the "Lean muscle" look according to others I have asked.

What are Burpee's? Drink one beer and produce a set of Burpee's? If so, I'm a pro.

Well as far as I know, when we had to do burpees in school for basketball it went like this: Start in a push-up position, throw your feet forward so that you're in a squating position, from the squatting position jump and stretch your body out, land back in the squat and return to push-up position.

[Yuri]

Another thing is that heavier weights will make you bulk up instead of cut (lean muscle)

No. Just no. Your diet will determine how well bulk. Period.
It's this kind of thinking that says woman should only train with little pink dumbbells because if they go heavy they will "bulk" like a man. B.S.

You wanna get huge, or you want the athletic look? Your diet will decide it.