OT: Healthy Living 3.0

[Fig]

Congrats MM.


Sorry, minor rant from me.

Honestly for me. I'm bleh right now. It's been really rough for the last 3 ish months. Let's just say crap hit the fan in a major way and I spent all my time on others while completely ignoring myself. Around May, I was around 175 lbs and targeting 173. At its worst these 3 months, I went from 177 to 193 in 6 days accompanied by physical ailments such as headaches, back pain, neck pain and even light stiffness in my knee and ankle. 193 lbs exceeded my heaviest weight by 4 pounds.

I've been chipping at my weight lately at about an average of 2 pounds per week. I'm at 184 right now and lately I'm just exhausted. I'm in this weird mode where I don't want want to eat unhealthy, but I don't want to put in the effort to eat healthy, so I would rather not eat. There's been a few days already where I felt like I ate only to avoid being hangry. Thank god for MAMA noodles and instant oatmeal. Throwing hot water on a packet to make hot food was all the effort I wanted to put in. It's like portion controlling junk food. It's super weird.

This has also been a very bad year to roll out a super low alcohol and low caffeine new years resolution. Awesome booze, great coffee, pop... intake massively reduced. Physical pain and low energy isn't inspiring me to use physical activity as a de-stressing method.

There's a chance to get away from it all for about a day this long weekend. Hopefully I can utilize that day to refresh, reset and get motivated to get back on top of my weight and get back on top of the mess that is called life.

Sorry for the rant.

 

[Lunatik]

Thanks Fig

I'm no Dr. but it sounds like the mental side of things is ****ing with you. Hope you start feeling better soon.

 

[Volica]

Sorry, minor rant from me.

Honestly for me. I'm bleh right now. It's been really rough for the last 3 ish months. Let's just say crap hit the fan in a major way and I spent all my time on others while completely ignoring myself. Around May, I was around 175 lbs and targeting 173. At its worst these 3 months, I went from 177 to 193 in 6 days accompanied by physical ailments such as headaches, back pain, neck pain and even light stiffness in my knee and ankle. 193 lbs exceeded my heaviest weight by 4 pounds.

I've been chipping at my weight lately at about an average of 2 pounds per week. I'm at 184 right now and lately I'm just exhausted. I'm in this weird mode where I don't want want to eat unhealthy, but I don't want to put in the effort to eat healthy, so I would rather not eat. There's been a few days already where I felt like I ate only to avoid being hangry. Thank god for MAMA noodles and instant oatmeal. Throwing hot water on a packet to make hot food was all the effort I wanted to put in. It's like portion controlling junk food. It's super weird.

This has also been a very bad year to roll out a super low alcohol and low caffeine new years resolution. Awesome booze, great coffee, pop... intake massively reduced. Physical pain and low energy isn't inspiring me to use physical activity as a de-stressing method.

There's a chance to get away from it all for about a day this long weekend. Hopefully I can utilize that day to refresh, reset and get motivated to get back on top of my weight and get back on top of the mess that is called life.

Sorry for the rant.

Hang on in there man.
Make sure to be mindful of your own health, even when dealing with others. It's easy to say, of course, because most of us kick things like a healthy lifestyle when we come under major stress. Chip away.

The way I deal with my laziness of eating healthy (If I could go get wings every night I would, or order a 'za, etc) is I take about 30 minutes on Sunday to just get a bunch of cooking done. I love cooking (I'm a regular Rasmus Andersson), but I get the 'I'd rather just not eat than take the time to make something healthy' feeling.

My basics on Sunday:

Chicken:
Grab 5-6 pieces of Chicken Breast. The absolute staple of eating healthy
Butterfly them. Half of them, just use coarse salt, and coarsely crushed black pepper. On the other half, in order to get a bit more flavour (so you're not just eating the same **** every day) use salt/pepper, but also rub in some cayenne pepper and smoked paprika. It'll give a nice red colour and different spicy (but not too spicy) taste. Grab a big frying pan (I use cast-iron, because I love it), little bit of olive oil and just fry them up. Because they're butterflied, they'll take no time to cook. All in (from Prep to finish) you're looking at like 25 minutes or so. Some good healthy fats from the oil, lots of protein from the chicken.

Veg medley:
At the same time; grab more or less any Veggie you can bake (Beats, Potato, carrots, squash, broccoli, brussel sprouts, zucchini, green beans, asparagus and peppers) cut'em up, throw'em together, some olive oil, salt, pepper. Bake'em at 425F. If you're doing potato, start them a bit earlier than every else. after about 20 minutes or so, the veggies will be nice and baked, super tasty, super good for you.

For lunch every week, grab a piece of chicken, grab some veg, have lunch. Or mix it up:

Mixing it up:
Have lots of lettuce, cucumber, tomato & spinach available throughout the week. You can easily grab 1 of the 4 items listed there and making a little salad for lunch, it'll take like 2 minutes. I make my own dressings on Sunday, super easy, takes like 2 minutes:
Get a mason jar (like from some old jam container), fill to just under 3/4 olive oil, fill the other 1/4 with some acid (Lemon juice, vinegar, balsamic, wine vinegars, etc), salt, pepper then any addition (dijon is yummy here, course mustard works, whatever you like, maybe some diced blueberries or strawberries); shake vigorously... and then lightly drizzle on a veg for some easy dressing that you know contains nothing ******.

Finally, for breakfast; super easy:
Get Greek Yogurt (find one with good protein, limited ingredients)
Grab berries or oats. Done in 30 seconds, it's good for you.

 

[InfinityIggy]

TIL Volica stocks my fridge.

That's pretty much 80% of what I eat, the other 20% being when I eat out ect.

 

[Volica]

TIL Volica stocks my fridge.

That's pretty much 80% of what I eat, the other 20% being when I eat out ect.

Haha
Yeah. It's pretty common food choices for people looking to eat healthy.

My other pleasures include:
High protein, high fibre, low sugar cereal.
Protein shakes (this is such an easy one. Get a shaker, or for smoothies, get a NutriBullet)

Anddd that's makes up about 85% of my diet
I like other meats too, Pork and Beef mostly. Normally 1ce a week between the two.

Another quick, dirty and tasty thing I've been doing this summer:
Eggplant cut width wise (to make circles) throwing them on a grill pan, covering, turning over, takes about 3 minutes per slice (I do like 8 slices, 4 at a time, total of like 5-10 minutes); then tossing a tomato slices onto each one. Salt + Pepper. If I have extra and need a good breakfast, I throw a fried egg on top of each one, for like an eggs vegedict

 

[Fig]

Buzzed out of my mind at 1 AM after having two cups of coffee at a client's (after so little of it this year) sure didn't do great things with my mood. I don't stock bananas at home. Don't enjoy them and they fattening. For those who don't know, bananas are supposed to be pretty good for getting rid of caffeine buzz from coffee.

Yeah, I'm a pretty good cook and I generally enjoy cooking, but lately I've just rather veg out on the sofa than do anything.

I took a major adjustment to my diet about a month ago which is how I think I started chipping away at the weight even without exercising. I reduced my carb intake a ton and modified the lesser carbs with higher fibre foods or starch. Brown rice, oatmeal infused noodles, potato/yam etc. I really don't think the food adjustment helped my mood. I get hungrier more often.

Cooking wise, I do use chicken, but ground turkey from Costco is more my thing. I still eat quite a bit of beef and pork which I prefer to the Turkey and chicken. Chicken I lean more towards drumsticks or wings than breast. I generally cook with a major emphasis on veggies. Usually a 2:1 veggies or 3:1 veggies ratio. Blanched veggies with oyster sauce is usually a decent and easy side as well.

I snack a lot too. Lots of fruits, veggies and cheese. Crackers, cookies and chips etc. are a thing, but strictly portioned. Guac and Hummus on the side I've never really had a sweet tooth, so my salt intake is perhaps slightly high. I've been trying to reduce it as well, but have essentially settled on drinking more water to dilute and attempt to push it out of my system instead.

I'll drink pop maybe 2 times a week, slightly more than before, but beer has taken a huge cut. I probably drink about 1-2 beers a month now whereas it used to be double/triple that. Whisky/Scotch/rum neat. Less calories and fun happens sooner than before because the stomach isn't full of stuff to absorb the alcohols. But on average, I don't really exceed 5 servings a month.

Essentially, super diligent and super lazy all in one go.

 

[Kahvi]

Buzzed out of my mind at 1 AM after having two cups of coffee at a client's (after so little of it this year) sure didn't do great things with my mood. I don't stock bananas at home. Don't enjoy them and they fattening. For those who don't know, bananas are supposed to be pretty good for getting rid of caffeine buzz from coffee.

Yeah, I'm a pretty good cook and I generally enjoy cooking, but lately I've just rather veg out on the sofa than do anything.

I took a major adjustment to my diet about a month ago which is how I think I started chipping away at the weight even without exercising. I reduced my carb intake a ton and modified the lesser carbs with higher fibre foods or starch. Brown rice, oatmeal infused noodles, potato/yam etc. I really don't think the food adjustment helped my mood. I get hungrier more often.

Cooking wise, I do use chicken, but ground turkey from Costco is more my thing. I still eat quite a bit of beef and pork which I prefer to the Turkey and chicken. Chicken I lean more towards drumsticks or wings than breast. I generally cook with a major emphasis on veggies. Usually a 2:1 veggies or 3:1 veggies ratio. Blanched veggies with oyster sauce is usually a decent and easy side as well.

I snack a lot too. Lots of fruits, veggies and cheese. Crackers, cookies and chips etc. are a thing, but strictly portioned. Guac and Hummus on the side I've never really had a sweet tooth, so my salt intake is perhaps slightly high. I've been trying to reduce it as well, but have essentially settled on drinking more water to dilute and attempt to push it out of my system instead.

I'll drink pop maybe 2 times a week, slightly more than before, but beer has taken a huge cut. I probably drink about 1-2 beers a month now whereas it used to be double/triple that. Whisky/Scotch/rum neat. Less calories and fun happens sooner than before because the stomach isn't full of stuff to absorb the alcohols. But on average, I don't really exceed 5 servings a month.

Essentially, super diligent and super lazy all in one go.

I can relate with a lot of stuff here and your previous post. I can cook, I usually like cooking, I like to think I (used to) eat somewhat healthy, with not a lot of added sugar etc. Too much beer is probably my biggest concern now, not alcohol abuse wise but getting too many useless calories.

But there's been some much stuff going on lately with my life that I just can't focus on that stuff. Go to work, get home, eat something fast&easy&unhealthy, watch TV, do nothing. And I've gained maybe 5-7 kg in the last year (110kg/178cm now).

I know what I should do, but...

 

[GAMO1992]

Last Sunday I went to the hospital after, for no reason whatsoever, I started puking up blood... best way I can describe it is, you know when you feel that scratch at the back of your throat? it felt like that x100 like something was just sitting there, and it made me literally start hacking up and then heaving so much so that I probably tore my stomach slightly, which caused the bleeding.

So while I was at the hospital, nurse tells me that my blood pressure, in any hospital etc that I've seen since 2012 have noted exceedingly high blood pressure, like, 150+ high(really bad). So I immediately make a family doctors appointment, this past Monday, get some blood work done, urine test, and then a Kidney/abdominal ultrasound yesterday(Friday).

Doc asked me to check my blood pressure at local pharmacies and today I tested it at 150/120... sooo yeah pretty much too high.... so I have a follow-up this coming Tuesday....hoping all it is is JUST high blood pressure lol(even tho thats kinda bad at only 25)

Also doesn't help that I work a super stressful customer service job, take care of my disabled dad, and have Social and General Anxiety as well...

So between my job and my dad etc is why I haven't been as active as I'd like around here...

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

Oh man, that sucks Gamo. I hope it's nothing too serious.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

I had pizza last night. It was my first cheat I think in like a month? I felt pretty guilty about it. I'll see how I feel today, hopefully no headaches.

 

[Lunatik]

I had pizza last night. It was my first cheat I think in like a month? I felt pretty guilty about it. I'll see how I feel today, hopefully no headaches.

Guilt is a terrible thing and leads to more cheats. Never feel guilty for a cheat day, we all are going to do it every now and then. The key is to not get too down on yourself and just get back on the same path.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Guilt is a terrible thing and leads to more cheats. Never feel guilty for a cheat day, we all are going to do it every now and then. The key is to not get too down on yourself and just get back on the same path.

Thanks man! That actually helps, a lot.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

I had pizza last night. It was my first cheat I think in like a month? I felt pretty guilty about it. I'll see how I feel today, hopefully no headaches.

What kind of pizza do you have? Pizza Pizza (Or Pizza 73) is usually very healthy and worth eating. I usually go for Metro store pizzas (THey only exist in Quebec and Ontario), and it's great stuff and now and then is actually very healthy for you if you don't eat it 24/7.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Last Sunday I went to the hospital after, for no reason whatsoever, I started puking up blood... best way I can describe it is, you know when you feel that scratch at the back of your throat? it felt like that x100 like something was just sitting there, and it made me literally start hacking up and then heaving so much so that I probably tore my stomach slightly, which caused the bleeding.

So while I was at the hospital, nurse tells me that my blood pressure, in any hospital etc that I've seen since 2012 have noted exceedingly high blood pressure, like, 150+ high(really bad). So I immediately make a family doctors appointment, this past Monday, get some blood work done, urine test, and then a Kidney/abdominal ultrasound yesterday(Friday).

Doc asked me to check my blood pressure at local pharmacies and today I tested it at 150/120... sooo yeah pretty much too high.... so I have a follow-up this coming Tuesday....hoping all it is is JUST high blood pressure lol(even tho thats kinda bad at only 25)

Also doesn't help that I work a super stressful customer service job, take care of my disabled dad, and have Social and General Anxiety as well...

So between my job and my dad etc is why I haven't been as active as I'd like around here...

I honestly hope everything goes well for you. The difference is you and I are kinda at opposite spectrums. I go on hfboards 24/7 because my family are extremely apathetic and sometimes pure out abusive, and unlike most parents that kick their lazy children out when they're 16-18, mines force me to stay with them because of the Chinese mentality of having to take care of your parents and have multi-generational families. I mean it wouldn't be a big deal if it was in Canada where I can legally work and school (And technically just leave and live by myself since I'm already 23), but in places like China and Taiwan, I really can't do anything about it, especially as I can't legally work outside of Canada, so I'm in a huge dilemma haha. Hfboards and exercising are my only ways of relieving stress and being myself. But the smog levels have been terrible the last few days and I already suffer badly from high pollution levels (Another reason I'm dying to go back to Canada), so I'm having cabin fever being forced to stay indoors.

I suffer from general anxiety and social anxiety depending on environment (Which usually isn't a problem in Canada), the inability to focus on tasks for long periods of times (Unless it doesn't require a lot of thinking) and at times paranoia as well, so I understand 100% how you feel. I'm sorry if my rant was a bit too long didn't want to it make it about me, but all I wanted is to tell you to hang in there as we both do and eventually things will get better. That being said I really can't offer much advice on your health situation that hasn't already been offered, so again just hang in there and things will be better.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

What kind of pizza do you have? Pizza Pizza (Or Pizza 73) is usually very healthy and worth eating. I usually go for Metro store pizzas (THey only exist in Quebec and Ontario), and it's great stuff and now and then is actually very healthy for you if you don't eat it 24/7.

Pizza Hut. I'm not a huge fan but Mrs. Hox usually orders from there.

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Pizza Hut. I'm not a huge fan but Mrs. Hox usually orders from there.

Pizza Hut ah, I recall I ate there like once from 2010-2016 back in Canada haha. In Taiwan, China, and Japan Pizza Hut is my go to place for Western cuisine lol. But back in Canada much rather have healthier more local (Even if Metro and Pizza Pizza are still big corporations, hence more local) pizzas.

 

[Mr Snrub]

Pizza Hut. I'm not a huge fan but Mrs. Hox usually orders from there.

Damn some Pizza Hut sounds good right about now...

You're gonna get me to cheat and eat a pizza too

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

Damn some Pizza Hut sounds good right about now...

You're gonna get me to cheat and eat a pizza too

Do it buddy! If you're gonna cheat, cheat with pizza.

 

[Unlimited Chequing]

 

[Bjornar Moxnes]

Do it buddy! If you're gonna cheat, cheat with pizza.

It's really the best way to cheat haha, as pizza still has health benefits. Don't cheat with fried chicken, hamburgers (Unless they come from a great restaurant, not McDonalds), etc.

 

[Johnny Hoxville]

It's really the best way to cheat haha, as pizza still has health benefits. Don't cheat with fried chicken, hamburgers (Unless they come from a great restaurant, not McDonalds), etc.

I'm a real hamburger guy. The Keg has a good burger. When are you coming back to Canada?

 

[Club]

Been pretty much eating sandwiches for the past week. lol

 

[Lunatik]

Been pretty much eating sandwiches for the past week. lol

I recently started taking sandwiches to work for lunch (I was taking frozen dinners from M&M Meats previously, which are pretty good and have a pretty surprising selection of items and cuisines tbh) and I noticed that it was making it very hard to stay under my calorie goal because of the bread. What I have no started doing is doubling the meat and I save 200+ calories because I'm cutting out the extra 2 pieces of bread.

Also other than Friday when I cheated with a Double cheeseburger and basket of onion rings from Dairy Queen, I've been killing it on my caloric goal recently. Friday was the first time I had gone over it in 8 days and since I had a rough patch in mid-end of July, I have been over just twice overall in that time and have been under by an average of 215 calories per day (15 days), despite being over by close to 1700 on those two days.

 

[Fig]

I can relate with a lot of stuff here and your previous post. I can cook, I usually like cooking, I like to think I (used to) eat somewhat healthy, with not a lot of added sugar etc. Too much beer is probably my biggest concern now, not alcohol abuse wise but getting too many useless calories.

But there's been some much stuff going on lately with my life that I just can't focus on that stuff. Go to work, get home, eat something fast&easy&unhealthy, watch TV, do nothing. And I've gained maybe 5-7 kg in the last year (110kg/178cm now).

I know what I should do, but...

Agreed. The concept is easy. Executing it is hard.

Last Sunday I went to the hospital after, for no reason whatsoever, I started puking up blood... best way I can describe it is, you know when you feel that scratch at the back of your throat? it felt like that x100 like something was just sitting there, and it made me literally start hacking up and then heaving so much so that I probably tore my stomach slightly, which caused the bleeding.

So while I was at the hospital, nurse tells me that my blood pressure, in any hospital etc that I've seen since 2012 have noted exceedingly high blood pressure, like, 150+ high(really bad). So I immediately make a family doctors appointment, this past Monday, get some blood work done, urine test, and then a Kidney/abdominal ultrasound yesterday(Friday).

Doc asked me to check my blood pressure at local pharmacies and today I tested it at 150/120... sooo yeah pretty much too high.... so I have a follow-up this coming Tuesday....hoping all it is is JUST high blood pressure lol(even tho thats kinda bad at only 25)

Also doesn't help that I work a super stressful customer service job, take care of my disabled dad, and have Social and General Anxiety as well...

So between my job and my dad etc is why I haven't been as active as I'd like around here...

Sorry to hear. Taking care of family members is rough. I had to take care of multiple, but luckily for me, it's not a long term thing.

RE blood pressure, buy a blood pressure monitor and keep it at home. Seriously. They're reasonably inexpensive. I bought a slightly higher end one, but the $30-40 work fine. High blood pressure is a major issue with many of us these days. Stress doesn't help, the diet on occasion is a problem too.

I've tried adding more Cheerios and oatmeal to my diet. I really don't know if it's helping, but it can't be worse than other things.

I also read recently sugars might be a bigger issue than fats for heart disease. So I've been evaluating that as well. I've also been trying to reduce caffeine from my diet. Not eliminate, but reduce.

I recently started taking sandwiches to work for lunch (I was taking frozen dinners from M&M Meats previously, which are pretty good and have a pretty surprising selection of items and cuisines tbh) and I noticed that it was making it very hard to stay under my calorie goal because of the bread. What I have no started doing is doubling the meat and I save 200+ calories because I'm cutting out the extra 2 pieces of bread.

Also other than Friday when I cheated with a Double cheeseburger and basket of onion rings from Dairy Queen, I've been killing it on my caloric goal recently. Friday was the first time I had gone over it in 8 days and since I had a rough patch in mid-end of July, I have been over just twice overall in that time and have been under by an average of 215 calories per day (15 days), despite being over by close to 1700 on those two days.

Yup. Carbs are brutal. It's easy to say substitute carbs for fibre or starches, but they're not as tasty.

Potato, sweet potato and California style frozen veggies is generally how I try to fill my hunger at times. Oatmeal works well too. Not counting calories on raw fruits and vegetables is a huge part of how I stay sane as well. Yes, they have calories, but other than Avocado, banana and mango... these aren't bad options to go with snack wise. Promoting more of it is a good idea.


Also, as silly as this sounds, cutting certain snacks into ridiculously small portions helps greatly to fulfill snack cravings while keeping calories low.

A pickle is low in calories, and if you slice it into slices, you can enjoy it much longer. Add some cheese sliced small and thin, rice cracker, pepperoni stick all sliced thin, you can put together a snack consisting of a few pickles, a single pepperoni stick and a small piece of cheese, thinly sliced fruits and maybe some sliced olives, you can enjoy an anemic "charcuterie board" for about 15-20 minutes.

A popcorn with no butter but seasoning sprinkled on top isn't to bad for calories as well.

Sometimes, how long you eat fixes a craving more than how much you eat. At least that's how it was for my wife and I when we calorie counted before our wedding.

 

[Club]

Pretty solid workout today for myself!