OT: Summer Fitness Thread

will1066

Fonz Drury
Oct 12, 2008
43,137
58,709
Sounds very cliche, but another thing to try is just eat multiple small meals a day.
 

Filthy Dangles

Registered User*
Oct 23, 2014
28,355
39,715
If your goal is simply lose weight, you gotta just stop eating (as much). Always blows me mind when simpletons think they can just go to the gym 3-4 times a week and keep eating how they're eating and expect to see good results.
 

Charlie Conway

Oxford Comma
Nov 2, 2013
5,007
2,614
I need to get exercising. I eat pretty well--nothing other than water or seltzer to drink. Salad every day for lunch. Breakfast varies--cheerios with unsweetened almond milk and bananas/strawberries. Lately I've been enjoying almond butter and natural fruit preserves on multigrain toast.

Dinner is just whatever happens to be made at home that night. Crazy thing is my cholesterol is pretty high at 228. I'm 26, and i'm pretty thin at 125 pounds. Doctor wants to try me on a cholesterol med with the thought that it could be genetic, but I'm going to try to exercise more to see if I can get that number down.
 

GoAwayPanarin

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May 27, 2008
41,059
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I need to get exercising. I eat pretty well--nothing other than water or seltzer to drink. Salad every day for lunch. Breakfast varies--cheerios with unsweetened almond milk and bananas/strawberries. Lately I've been enjoying almond butter and natural fruit preserves on multigrain toast.

Dinner is just whatever happens to be made at home that night. Crazy thing is my cholesterol is pretty high at 228. I'm 26, and i'm pretty thin at 125 pounds. Doctor wants to try me on a cholesterol med with the thought that it could be genetic, but I'm going to try to exercise more to see if I can get that number down.

You may just run high, 228 is a bit high but its nothing crazy.

Whats your HDL/LDL ratio?
 

Calad

Section 422
Jul 24, 2011
4,041
2,601
Long Island
If your goal is simply lose weight, you gotta just stop eating (as much). Always blows me mind when simpletons think they can just go to the gym 3-4 times a week and keep eating how they're eating and expect to see good results.

Yup. Weight loss is 90% diet, you cant outexercise a bad diet, abs are made in the kitchen, etc... theres a reason for all those colloquialisms

My HDL/LDL ratios are nearly 1:1. Bad cholesterol does not come from dietary cholesterol
 
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HockeyBasedNYC

Feeling it
Aug 2, 2005
19,662
11,045
Here
I'm 39 and I feel like I'm in the best shape of my life. I still play hockey 1-2x per week but hit the gym and/or run almost every day. Diet is the biggest key. I've been mixing in intermittent fasting, while keeping the protein intake high and i've shredded off a lot of excess fat.

I impressed myself by finishing my first ever 5K in 23:00 coming in 2nd in my age group. Never liked running but now I'm an addict. Gonna keep training and aiming for 20 min for the next one.

I think the key is consistently mixing up your workouts with heavy weights, full body and cardio, yoga, core and mobility exercises. I've also learned that if you build a workout plan going into 3-6 week periods (including a specific diet/meal plan) and then execute and measure as you go, its much easier to attain your goals.

I'm not looking for perfection though. I just wanna be in shape and keep up with the 20 year olds on the ice. How I look is a bonus.

It has taken several seasons to come up with the right combinations and timing of foods the day of (and prior) to perform my best on game-days. Its a long process of finding what works best for you. Everyone is different. Especially when you have a full time job, two kids under 7, a house to take care of and other hobbies and commitments, etc, etc. It's all about making it a priority through planning and execution and fitting it all into your daily routine.
 

Hunter Gathers

The Crown
Feb 27, 2002
106,463
11,443
parts unknown
I need to get exercising. I eat pretty well--nothing other than water or seltzer to drink. Salad every day for lunch. Breakfast varies--cheerios with unsweetened almond milk and bananas/strawberries. Lately I've been enjoying almond butter and natural fruit preserves on multigrain toast.

Dinner is just whatever happens to be made at home that night. Crazy thing is my cholesterol is pretty high at 228. I'm 26, and i'm pretty thin at 125 pounds. Doctor wants to try me on a cholesterol med with the thought that it could be genetic, but I'm going to try to exercise more to see if I can get that number down.
Try both exercise and niacin, IMO. Cholesterol meds scare the f*** out of me.
 

Richard Banger

Mamba Mentality
Sep 29, 2017
5,412
6,375
Was Oklahoma now Texas
Currently rocking a high protein high complex carb low fat diet. Mainly just chicken fish and veggies. Every once in awhile I'll eat a steak. Dont mess much with bread just because it's awful for you. And I only drink water and a water/ tea lift off mix from herbal life.

And i'm doing circuit training 6 days a week. ( which I do in the summer then I switch to the gym with M/S Hypertrophy and endurance right around December)

The biggest thing I've seen people struggle with is self control and determination. Its really not that hard to lose weight. I'd argue it's a lot harder to gain muscle (not mirror muscle)

Any diet/ work out you start the best advice is dont give up despite lack of results (Weight loss) chances are your losing inches faster than actual weight.

Everyone has a Plateau you just need to find out what is yours at.
 
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Savant

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Oct 3, 2013
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Does anyone have a recommendation for a good pair of sneakers for general exercise
 

will1066

Fonz Drury
Oct 12, 2008
43,137
58,709
Currently rocking a high protein high complex carb low fat diet. Mainly just chicken fish and veggies. Every once in awhile I'll eat a steak. Dont mess much with bread just because it's awful for you. And I only drink water and a water/ tea lift off mix from herbal life.

And i'm doing circuit training 6 days a week. ( which I do in the summer then I switch to the gym with M/S Hypertrophy and endurance right around December)

The biggest thing I've seen people struggle with is self control and determination. Its really not that hard to lose weight. I'd argue it's a lot harder to gain muscle (not mirror muscle)

Any diet/ work out you start the best advice is dont give up despite lack of results (Weight loss) chances are your losing inches faster than actual weight.

Everyone has a Plateau you just need to find out what is yours at.
As an ectomorph, that'd be me, at 5'7" and 160. Hard to gain weight. I do light cardio to get the blood and heart going, but I cant give up too many calories. For me it is more about turning what I have into ripped muscle.

But I'm in middle age at 44, and my metabolism is no longer crazy high, so I am able to make some gains. I'm natural. Ain't no way I'll ever resort to creatine or steroids.

Self control, discipline, dedication. But also convenience. Probably most critical. Something you can fit into your schedule but also reach logistically. Finding a gym near work was the best thing ever for me. Research also shows working out late afternoon or early evening is best.
 
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Richard Banger

Mamba Mentality
Sep 29, 2017
5,412
6,375
Was Oklahoma now Texas
As an ectomorph, that'd be me, at 5'7" and 160. Hard to gain weight. I do light cardio to get the blood and heart going, but I cant give up too many calories. For me it is more about turning what I have into ripped muscle.

But I'm in middle age at 44, and my metabolism is no longer crazy high, so I am able to make some gains. I'm natural. Ain't no way I'll ever resort to creatine or steroids.

Self control, discipline, dedication. But also convenience. Probably most critical. Something you can fit into your schedule but also reach logistically. Finding a gym near work was the best thing ever for me. Research also shows working out late afternoon or early evening is best.
I took creatine a bit but it did nothing for me.

Me and my good friend who is also a person trainer would make bets with each other. We would gain about 25 pounds of fat and lose about 10 pounds of muscles and see who could lose/ gain the fastest (disclaimer we are both 25)... he kept beating until I realized the douche bag was doing CT with me in the morning and then going to the gym at night :laugh:

We had to stop doing that though because my doctor said it "not mentally healthy" for me to be doing that
 

Fitzy

Very Stable Genius
Jan 29, 2009
34,866
21,392
I just eat two meals a day, and drink liquor instead of beer. Black coffee in the AM does me better than breakfast. Sometimes I eat a banana before 11:30 if I'm getting shaky.

#1 thing is to never drink sodas, milkshakes, ice cream, stuff like that. I'm a seltzer guy.

I don't eat 'healthy' but I avoid stuff that's tons of calories without a ton of enjoyment (For example, copious french fries)
 

will1066

Fonz Drury
Oct 12, 2008
43,137
58,709
I took creatine a bit but it did nothing for me.

Me and my good friend who is also a person trainer would make bets with each other. We would gain about 25 pounds of fat and lose about 10 pounds of muscles and see who could lose/ gain the fastest (disclaimer we are both 25)... he kept beating until I realized the *****e bag was doing CT with me in the morning and then going to the gym at night :laugh:

We had to stop doing that though because my doctor said it "not mentally healthy" for me to be doing that

Hahaha
 

will1066

Fonz Drury
Oct 12, 2008
43,137
58,709
I just eat two meals a day, and drink liquor instead of beer. Black coffee in the AM does me better than breakfast. Sometimes I eat a banana before 11:30 if I'm getting shaky.

#1 thing is to never drink sodas, milkshakes, ice cream, stuff like that. I'm a seltzer guy.

I don't eat 'healthy' but I avoid stuff that's tons of calories without a ton of enjoyment (For example, copious french fries)

I'd be lying if I said I don't have any intake of those, namely ice cream. I keep it to a minimum though. I stick with the drip coffee, even at Starbucks, where it's too easy to get one of those sugar-loaded confection drinks topped with whip cream.
 

Fitzy

Very Stable Genius
Jan 29, 2009
34,866
21,392
I'd be lying if I said I don't have any intake of those, namely ice cream. I keep it to a minimum though. I stick with the drip coffee, even at Starbucks, where it's too easy to get one of those sugar-loaded confection drinks topped with whip cream.

Agreed. When thee times roll around that I need to lose a couple pounds...

1) I substitute any sweets with a couple low-sugar hard candies and gum. One jolly rancher can do as much for you as a bowl of ice cream if you use your imagination.

2) I keep lunches at 500 calories flat. That can be a big sandwich, a decent sized veggie omelette, or even two to three of the Hebrew National 97% fat free hot dogs (They're expensive, but taste almost like the real thing. 50 calories a dog) Most low cal hot dogs are downright terrible, but I'll swear to these. Give them a try. You have three of those on small buns and its a 500 calorie lunch.
 
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iamitter

Thornton's Hen
May 19, 2011
4,006
374
NYC
I love eating the world. Carbs carbs carbs. Recently started realizing I was starting to slightly gain some weight (never been an issue for me really), so I've made some changes. Have lunch & dinner supplied at work (and breakfast - but just bagels, cream cheese, yogurt, etc). Main thing I've restricted myself to is just getting 1 plate for lunch and 1 for dinner - no seconds. I used to go for seconds even when I didn't like the food very much. It was bad. I also don't really eat breakfast. Never been a fan. Only grab half a bagel if I did a HIIT class in the morning and I'm not a huge fan of whatever lunch we have.

The thing is that I basically don't eat any snacks unless they're healthy (vegetables or fruit) and I don't ever drink sweetened beverages with more than like 30 calories. Tons of water/tea for me, but if I have some sweetened tea (like the honest tea kind), I even dilute those with water cause I'm not a huge fan of the sugar. Also generally avoid caffeine. Drink only occasionally on the weekends and never beer.

On the exercise front, I generally do 3 or so HIIT spin classes a week and toss in an evening or two with my dumbbells while watching TV or something. The cardio classes kick my butt (700-900 calories burned in 45 minutes) and I love them. I just can't do weight lifting. Find it dreadfully dull. I have my bench and adjustable dumbbells at home and whip them out occasionally, but that's about it - and only when I'm doing something else, like watching TV.

About 155-160 now, 5'10/5'11. Generally fluctuate within that range. Sometimes closer to 165 if I've been overeating, which is not uncommon. I can put down 4-5 shake shack burgers, with fries no problem :naughty:
 

Fitzy

Very Stable Genius
Jan 29, 2009
34,866
21,392
About 155-160 now, 5'10/5'11. Generally fluctuate within that range. Sometimes closer to 165 if I've been overeating, which is not uncommon. I can put down 4-5 shake shack burgers, with fries no problem :naughty:

Unless you're one of those guys born without any chest muscles I'd say you're doing just fine.
 

will1066

Fonz Drury
Oct 12, 2008
43,137
58,709
I love eating the world. Carbs carbs carbs. Recently started realizing I was starting to slightly gain some weight (never been an issue for me really), so I've made some changes. Have lunch & dinner supplied at work (and breakfast - but just bagels, cream cheese, yogurt, etc). Main thing I've restricted myself to is just getting 1 plate for lunch and 1 for dinner - no seconds. I used to go for seconds even when I didn't like the food very much. It was bad. I also don't really eat breakfast. Never been a fan. Only grab half a bagel if I did a HIIT class in the morning and I'm not a huge fan of whatever lunch we have.

The thing is that I basically don't eat any snacks unless they're healthy (vegetables or fruit) and I don't ever drink sweetened beverages with more than like 30 calories. Tons of water/tea for me, but if I have some sweetened tea (like the honest tea kind), I even dilute those with water cause I'm not a huge fan of the sugar. Also generally avoid caffeine. Drink only occasionally on the weekends and never beer.

On the exercise front, I generally do 3 or so HIIT spin classes a week and toss in an evening or two with my dumbbells while watching TV or something. The cardio classes kick my butt (700-900 calories burned in 45 minutes) and I love them. I just can't do weight lifting. Find it dreadfully dull. I have my bench and adjustable dumbbells at home and whip them out occasionally, but that's about it - and only when I'm doing something else, like watching TV.

About 155-160 now, 5'10/5'11. Generally fluctuate within that range. Sometimes closer to 165 if I've been overeating, which is not uncommon. I can put down 4-5 shake shack burgers, with fries no problem :naughty:

Cool. Your height and weight combo is like a good BMI right?
 

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