OT: Fitness and Nutrition Part IV - Let's get jacked up Edition

[Mrb1p]

Yeah lol, Bachelors in Nutrition is 3 years and I think the 3rd toughest program to get in at UdeM.

I think its an unprotected term out of quebec though

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

The point here is that there is a difference between being a registered nutritionist and being certified in it through an online course.

 

[GlassesJacketShirt]

There's no magic eating window that makes the most sense for everybody. For example if you're obese you might benefit from going to a medically supervised clinic like the true north health centre and doing a 14-day water-only fast. If you're TOFI you might do 3-5 day fasts.

16:8 is a relatively mild regimen, and I suspect that the physiological advantages are either small or negligible. However it may have good lifestyle advantages, for example if you get used to it you can justify a richer lunch/dinner at the expense of no breakfast. I enjoy doing my exercises in a fasted state. Regardless, it's not a super-intensive regimen, try it at any time, stick with it for two weeks, and see how it goes. It's nothing to worry about.

Nota Bene: do no fast if you're pregnant, breastfeeding, taking insulin injections, metformin, prednisone, possibly other drugs too.

If I can throw my hat into the ring on this one:

I am overweight/obese and have been for most of my life. Four years ago I weighed 300 pounds, a scary number for someone at 6'1''. I started exercising regularly and over a year got to about 254, then went through a stage of depression and climbed back up to 279 before dropping to around 230. Over several months I stalled somewhat and could not get to the next step by the time I hit 225.

I have just finished my second week of intermittent fasting*, where my schedule is 12pm to 6pm for my eating hours (18/6). Usually I find a way to get dinner in before 5:30pm even. I put an asterisk because I did cheat on two days while going out with friends (one of which ended up with me purging everything I had on St. Patty's day). In these two past weeks, I dropped from 224.5 to 216 lbs. Could have been even better if I didn't cheat at all, and I will see what a truly full week of this results in.

For CapSpace, my experience thus far has been entirely positive. Despite the limited time window, I found this to be far less restrictive than the grand majority of diets for the simple reason that it's more about the when than the what. I've been able to function as usual, and I honestly don't go hungry anymore. For someone who has a certain work schedule to abide to, this is a regiment I can see working. Only qualms is whether or not one has other factors to take into account, such as those DA posted above; as such, I can only recommend you looking into it seriously rather than starting it up on a whim.

 

[Kriss E]

They are eating this all-meat diet supposedly for health reasons and it's really ****ing stupid. Just because some folks did "fine" doesn't mean it should be something people should try.

Well those guys tried it and love their results so...you want more people to do it so if it works for them you can ask other people to try it again?
Nobody here has preached people should do this. Again, you are missing the point.

Any extreme diet shouldn't be preached imo, that includes both meat only and veganism. You believe Veganism is the way to go. That, omg, you feel so much better, that everything is better. Good for you man. Those guys feel the exact same way on a meat only diet.
This follows what I have said for a long time. You and I can eat the exact same thing and we would have different responses from our bodies. There is no one size fit all, and no diet should be preached.
You want to restrict yourself from certain foods, go right ahead, but don't argue to others that this is the right way to do it. Maybe it's the right and best way for you, that's about it. That is what those meat testimonies are about, they aren't telling anybody that they must get rid of all veggies, stop killing plants and just eat meat. They are simply sharing their experience on this meat only diet, which worked very well for them but seemingly offends you.

I will always preach a well balanced diet with no restrictions but moderation.

 

[Kriss E]

The point here is that there is a difference between being a registered nutritionist and being certified in it through an online course.

I took some nutrition classes at UdeM that were part of that program. They were still preaching the US pyramid of food..
To be fair, that was maybe 6 years ago.

 

[DAChampion]

I took some nutrition classes at UdeM that were part of that program. They were still preaching the US pyramid of food..
To be fair, that was maybe 6 years ago.

Do you expect them to not teach it? Flawed as it may be, it's the consensus.

I think that this is the most up-to-date version:
Build a healthy meal: use the Eat Well Plate

Which is not altogether different from "a well balanced diet with no restrictions but moderation."

ETA: One of the strange suggestions in there is olive oil for stir frying. Though there's a diverse range, most olive oils have a very low smoke point, so that's a bad idea.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

The new food charts recommend plant based diets FYI

The old ones were actually funded by agriculture lobby groups.

 

[DAChampion]

As for myself,

I've spent the past four months either on business travel, or getting sick on airplanes. I've been to Virginia, California, Connecticut, Florida (social), Louisiana (social), New Zealand, Australia, and Utah, a lot of fun business travel (which was necessary and good) and involved a lot of eating out in restaurants and in hotels where other people wanted to eat, or eating the snacks served at conferences.

I gained 10 lbs which is not bad considering the context, I also lost a little bit of strength. I'm not too unhappy -- it could be a lot worse, it could be 20 lbs or 30 lbs and it would have been when I was younger and less adapted. There were limited opportunities for exercise, in many cases I was busy non-stop from 8:00am - 10:00pm, and lots of hotel gyms are not open 24/7. Some hotel gyms will only have 1 or 2 cardio machines, and so on. And other times as mentioned above, I was nursing a disease likely picked up on an airplane. I now have some sort of upper-respiratory infection being treated with sulfamethoxazole. It makes it hard to either exercise or fast.

Getting so many colds/flus might be inevitable for someone like me who travels a lot. Planes are basically bacterial petri dishes. I don't know what I can do. My blood has been tested and my bioparameters, electrolytes, etc are normal, though the normal range is very broad. There doesn't seem to be some good science on this, I'm considering adding a zinc orotate supplement to my daily routine.

Fortunately, I don't have a lot of travel in the next few months. There's a three-day trip to NY and not much planned other than that. There will be more sunlight. Hopefully I can fast off the weight again and lift. I have never achieved peak fitness (or something resembling it) and I'd like to achieve it at some point, but life always happens, such as the past four months. It could be worse though ... in my first semester of graduate school I gained 30-35 lbs :-(

I do however find myself with less patience for the extreme bodybuilding types like Scott Herman (discussed on the previous page) promoting extreme, unsustainable, and incredibly difficult diets. Within the real world it's just not conceivable to eat 9 specialized meals a day. You have to make do with what's available. When I was in Utah last week I didn't stay in my hotel room to eat a protein shake -- I went out for breakfast with the senior people there, and ate what was served. A lot of restaurants will not serve anything compliant with the extreme diets, you have to make do with general options. It's also more socially agreeable to eat a similar meal to the other people at the table.

Similarly, if talks finish at 7:30pm, people want dinner at 8:00pm, and the gym closes at 10:00pm, then you're not going to go the gym. The youtube stars would say "if it's a priority, you make time". Those guys have time because it's their full-time job to stand in front of a camera and flex.

TLDR; I might emphasize more practicality moving forward.

 

[RussCourtnallsGhost]

As for myself,

Getting so many colds/flus might be inevitable for someone like me who travels a lot. Planes are basically bacterial petri dishes. I don't know what I can do. My blood has been tested and my bioparameters, electrolytes, etc are normal, though the normal range is very broad. There doesn't seem to be some good science on this, I'm considering adding a zinc orotate supplement to my daily routine.

.

Hi man,

I know some people might make fun of me for this, but try ColdFX. I used to get sick allllll the time in the winter. I started taking ColdFX (one in the morning, and one at night) and I'm verrrry rarely sick now. Normally, I don't go in for hippie stuff like that (lol), but the difference in my life was just too great to ignore. Just a thought!

 

[DAChampion]

Hi man,

I know some people might make fun of me for this, but try ColdFX. I used to get sick allllll the time in the winter. I started taking ColdFX (one in the morning, and one at night) and I'm verrrry rarely sick now. Normally, I don't go in for hippie stuff like that (lol), but the difference in my life was just too great to ignore. Just a thought!

Thanks. I'll consider it. I'm going to talk to my primary care provider first, I see him on Wednesday.

I notice that cold FX is made of ginseng. Ginseng is one of those supplements that keep showing up. I'm really annoyed that the Pharma-industrial complex does such a poor job of researching these. It's not that they don't research them, it's that they keep publishing papers with 15 patients followed up for 3 weeks looking at 1 or 2 variables and without proper dose testing. It's a perfect recipe for snake oil salesmen, shills, youtube bodybuilders, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Dr. Oz to profit from.

But there might be legitimate benefit to a lot of these treatments, it's just not researched properly.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

I think a big part of being sick all the time, is simply not getting enough rest to recover- especially if you're weight training as well. But if you're extremely busy it just is tough to find the time to chill- but sneaking in little power naps, making sure to go to bed early, just lounging on my days off, help big time.

 

[RussCourtnallsGhost]

Thanks. I'll consider it. I'm going to talk to my primary care provider first, I see him on Wednesday.

I notice that cold FX is made of ginseng. Ginseng is one of those supplements that keep showing up. I'm really annoyed that the Pharma-industrial complex does such a poor job of researching these. It's not that they don't research them, it's that they keep publishing papers with 15 patients followed up for 3 weeks looking at 1 or 2 variables and without proper dose testing. It's a perfect recipe for snake oil salesmen, shills, youtube bodybuilders, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Dr. Oz to profit from.

But there might be legitimate benefit to a lot of these treatments, it's just not researched properly.

For sure, I'm a pretty skeptical guy, and normally I don't go in for pseudo-science crap, but I was so fed up with being sick all the time that I just tried it. Maybe it's even purely psychological, but, if you stop getting sick, who cares! Good luck!

 

[DAChampion]

I think a big part of being sick all the time, is simply not getting enough rest to recover- especially if you're weight training as well. But if you're extremely busy it just is tough to find the time to chill- but sneaking in little power naps, making sure to go to bed early, just lounging on my days off, help big time.

Thanks.

I'm incapable of taking afternoon naps. My evening sleep is not perfect but has improved recently. How many people can take afternoon naps?

I sometimes wake up at 3:00am to go to the bathroom which sucks. In the next while I'm going to try to phase that out by reducing coffee intake, and not having fluids after 8:00pm.

For sure, I'm a pretty skeptical guy, and normally I don't go in for pseudo-science crap, but I was so fed up with being sick all the time that I just tried it. Maybe it's even purely psychological, but, if you stop getting sick, who cares! Good luck!

How often were you sick before, what kind of diseases were you getting, and how long have you been taking coldFX?

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

In terms of power naps, you don't actually have to reach sleep. If you find a comfy chair in a quiet room just close your eyes and rest your body and mind for 10-15 minutes. If you can find a place to do that during a lunch break that would be ideal IMO. If you add that to a good nights sleep it could help.

 

[RussCourtnallsGhost]

Thanks.


How often were you sick before, what kind of diseases were you getting, and how long have you been taking coldFX?

I used to get a cold like once a month from autumn to spring, like bad colds that would linger. The worst ones always when the weather would change. And the flu I'd get once a year as well. I don't think I've had a flu since I started taking ColdFX (4 years I think?). Now, I get like maybe 1 cold per year, very minor ones too that go away quickly.

No other major lifestyle changes that would have affected it. And I work in a pretty big office where at least a few people are always sick.

I don't take it in the summer.

 

[groovejuice]

@DAChampion I personally have had tremendous success avoiding common colds altogether or at least greatly diminishing the symptoms using Vitamin C therapy.

It's a rather simple solution and has been extremely successful for me for close to 40 years. I take 3 - 4 grams/day
using 500mg tablets in a morning and evening dose.

If I detect even a mild symptom, I bump that up to double the dosage for several days, and in most cases I avoid a cold /flu entirely.

Admittedly this is strictly anecdotal in my case, but you may be interested in reading Linus Pauling's research on Vitamin C and its benefits. Pauling won 2 Nobel Prizes and was considered for others.

I think it goes without saying that you must also enhance your immune system with diet, exercise and rest. Don't consider chewable or time-release, nor Vitamin C powder, which is in contact with the teeth long enough to damage enamel over time.

 

[waffledave]

Now that I'm about 6 weeks post surgery I need to start getting my good habits back. I have come out of this so far being able to get my regular diet back, and my appetite and energy looks to more or less be back to normal.

During my illness I dropped from 185lbs to 168lbs in about 3 weeks or so (most was between the superbowl and Feb 15th). This was because I physically wasn't able to eat. Now that I can again, I'm back to 173 lbs and it's kind of stabilized there for the last 3-4 weeks. I wanted to lose about 10-15 lbs so this is not really bad, although honestly I think I lost mostly muscle. My clothes are looser but I feel I actually look like I have a bigger gut than before all this. Doesn't help that I've been eating a lot of salt and shitty food... It's kind of hard to resist junk when you were sick and unable to eat anything for a long time, and then on a liquid diet for a while too. I missed solid food!

Going to get things in order again now. I quit smoking cigarettes back in January and haven't slipped up again. It's one of those things I needed to curb especially because of my illness. I was using pot to help with my illness and I would like to cut back on that now that I'm better, cause it makes my mornings brutal and I get very little sleep when I'm up till 2 am watching TV while high. Need to cut back on drinking too, it's too much.

Fitness wise I absolutely need 3 things: 1) Get back into running shape, 2) get my lifting routine back in place, and 3) actually do my physio exercises regularly. I know if I try to jump back into this immediately I will give up so this week, I'm going to start by cutting down on bad habits and doing my physio every day. I am planning on getting a new tattoo Saturday so that'll limit what I can do workout wise but I can for sure do some running or something, just to see how much endurance I lost through all this illness BS.

Hope to be back to where I was in Oct/Nov by June or so.

 

[Kriss E]

The new food charts recommend plant based diets FYI

The old ones were actually funded by agriculture lobby groups.

Actually no they don't. They recommend meat and dairy too, albeit in smaller quantities.

Here is the problem with these food charts, they make it a one size fit. They create a cute little chart and say..Boom, that is how the vast majority of people should eat.

Here is one of their tools:
My Food Guide
This lets you create a food chart "customized for you". So you click on this to create your plan, they ask you if you're a male or female, then your age group. I am 34, so I fall into the 31-50 category.
And......that's it. Those are the two questions they ask.
Every single Male aged 31-50 will get the recommendation of 8 servings of veggies/Fruits, the same amount in grains, 2 servings in dairy and 3 in meat.

Ya....that new guide is horse crap instead of bull crap. They knew they needed to change it and recommend more veggies, so good on that, but they didn't really make it any better.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

Actually no they don't. They recommend meat and dairy too, albeit in smaller quantities.

Here is the problem with these food charts, they make it a one size fit. They create a cute little chart and say..Boom, that is how the vast majority of people should eat.

Here is one of their tools:
My Food Guide
This lets you create a food chart "customized for you". So you click on this to create your plan, they ask you if you're a male or female, then your age group. I am 34, so I fall into the 31-50 category.
And......that's it. Those are the two questions they ask.
Every single Male aged 31-50 will get the recommendation of 8 servings of veggies/Fruits, the same amount in grains, 2 servings in dairy and 3 in meat.

Ya....that new guide is horse crap instead of bull crap. They knew they needed to change it and recommend more veggies, so good on that, but they didn't really make it any better.

I'm talking about the new yet to be released food guide. I beleive I've already gone over this, but here is it's outlining principles again: Summary of Guiding Principles and Recommendations | Canada's Food Guide Consultation

Summary of Guiding Principles and Recommendations

Based on the available evidence, Health Canada has translated the science on food and health into evidence-informed Guiding Principles and Recommendations for application in the Canadian context (Table 1).
The Guiding Principles and Recommendations provide a foundation for healthy eating that promotes health and reduces the risk of nutrition-related chronic disease. Health Canada recognizes that Canadians may occasionally have foods and beverages outside these recommendations; less healthy choices high in sodium, sugars, or saturated fat will be consumed at times. What matters most is what people eat on a regular basis.
Individuals with special dietary requirements may need additional guidance from a health care professional.

Table 1: Proposed Guiding Principles, Recommendations and Considerations

Guiding Principles and RecommendationsGuiding Principle 1: A variety of nutritious foods and beverages are the foundation for healthy eating.
Health Canada recommends:

• Regular intake of vegetables, fruit, whole grains and protein-rich foods, especially plant-based sources of protein
• Inclusion of foods that contain mostly unsaturated fat, instead of foods that contain mostly saturated fat
• Regular intake of water

Guiding Principle 2: Processed or prepared foods and beverages high in sodium, sugars or saturated fat undermine healthy eating.
Health Canada recommends:

• Limited intake of processed or prepared foods high in sodium, sugars or saturated fat
• Avoidance of processed or prepared beverages high in sugars

Guiding Principle 3: Knowledge and skills are needed to navigate the complex food environment and support healthy eating.
Health Canada recommends:

• Selecting nutritious foods when shopping or eating out
• Planning and preparing healthy meals and snacks
• Sharing meals with family and friends whenever possible

Considerations

• Determinants of health
• Cultural diversity
• Environment

 

[Paddyjack]

ColdFX, I had the same opinion about it. However I think that the best way to take this is when the symptoms start, not as prevention. But it is very expensive so you have to know that ColdFX is simply Gingseng. You can buy this cheaper.

 

[Paddyjack]

Just anecdotal here, but ever since I moved West to Vancouver I rarely have a cold, and when I do, it is never as bad as those I had East. Obviously it is not as cold here but people are sick all the same. My guess is that the respiratory viruses causing cold are not the same across the Rockies, and I so my body is less affected by these here. Tehre are after all a panel of about 15 different viruses causing common cold. But see, last time I went to Quebec was October, and I got a cold over there that lasted 2 f***ing weeks, I never get that anymore here.

 

[DAChampion]

Actually no they don't. They recommend meat and dairy too, albeit in smaller quantities.

Here is the problem with these food charts, they make it a one size fit. They create a cute little chart and say..Boom, that is how the vast majority of people should eat.

Here is one of their tools:
My Food Guide
This lets you create a food chart "customized for you". So you click on this to create your plan, they ask you if you're a male or female, then your age group. I am 34, so I fall into the 31-50 category.
And......that's it. Those are the two questions they ask.
Every single Male aged 31-50 will get the recommendation of 8 servings of veggies/Fruits, the same amount in grains, 2 servings in dairy and 3 in meat.

Ya....that new guide is horse crap instead of bull crap. They knew they needed to change it and recommend more veggies, so good on that, but they didn't really make it any better.

I think that it would be very difficult to design a general food guide that makes specific recommendations. The most obvious thing to ask for would be allergies (which then necessitate substitutions), and that adds a lot of degrees of freedom to the analysis. More and more people have allergies, for whatever reason.

The food guide above suggests dairy alternatives with dairy. That's misguided. Almond milk, rice milk, etc are nutritionally useless. Soy milk has some value actually, but it's not the same value as cow's milk. Soy milk has good protein, and also fiber which is nice. However, the vitamin A, D, B2, B12, are added as fortifiers and are low quality fortifiers at that. The vitamin D that is added to soy milk is actually vitamin D2 which may in fact be detrimental to human health. Vitamin D3 is what humans need and what is found in animal products.

Anyway, I want to end on something positive, here's a great food (in my opinion) that more people should eat because it's strengths are complementary to what I think are the typical person's deficiencies:

High in fiber, plant protein, and unsaturated fats. IMO It's a "super-food" in the context of the standard American diet, as it has exactly the things that many people eating that diet are deficient in.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

I called Chia a super food a few threads back and a couple posters here had complete meltdowns for it lol

 

[philipsson]

Hey guys, I've been reading this thread for quite some time now and I have to say I am impressed by everyone's knowledge here. If I knew that much, I guess it would be easier to reach my goals. I have the feeling that I am not progressing anymore and I'd like to know if there's any tips or specific workout/diet plan you think might help me.

I've been working out for almost 2 years now, with some periods where I stopped because of injury or simply the absence of any kind of motivation. Now I am in a good mood and my training habits are solid. I also have some kind of diet, which I tend to follow during the week but during the weekend it's a whole different story.

As we speak, I am 6' and my weight varies from 170 to 175 lbs. I have ~11% bodyfat and ~42% muscular mass (masse maigre ?). I have tried pyramidal training and I am now doing super sets, but I am just starting. I would say I am a gym newbie, at least compared to you guys, so my workouts might not be ideal. My new training has a lot of leg training, which I think is good but I am "really" strong with my legs and I think I should be working out the upper body more.

Well, do you guys have any ideas of what I could do to put on mass "quickly" and become ripped af ? Any diets that might help ? At the moment, I'm eating 6 times a day. Breakfast is egg's white, bagel and greek yogourt. Second meal is a can of tuna with lettuce around 10:30. Pasta around 13:00, protein shake and muffin around 15:30, meat + veggies around 18:00 and then almonds + protein shake around 20:30. I almost heard about "fasting" and I honestly have no idea what it is.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'd like to reach another level in my training, and since I am a "newbie" with gym terms (like I don't understand when you guys type your entire workouts here), differents type of diets and stuff like that, I am wondering if there's things I might be doing wrong.

 

[DramaticGloveSave]

What's your split like? I'm a big believer in frequency- at least when it comes to the upper body. Rather than a standard 5 day split, consider a split that has you hitting everything twice a week instead of once.