OT: P90X/Health and Fitness Thread

[crkone]

Question re: P90X.. how vital is the chin-up part of it? I ask because all of the doors in my house either don't exist (like we have arches instead of actual doors) or are sliding glass doors and would break if I attached the chin-up thing to it. The program sounds pretty effective but there's no way I'd be able to make that aspect of it work without buying an actual apparatus to do pull-ups on.

My wife wraps the bands around a closet pole while I use the chin-up bar.

[Bernman]

My biggest thing is I love food, and especially fast food. The above doesn't eliminate it, but have to be disciplined. Beer is a killer, I use my non 2100 calorie day(s) if I know I will be getting hammered.

Its not an intense plan, but so far its been working. If I stall, I'll have to make changes.

I bet there will be a cap on your weight loss until you significantly cut down, or out, the fast food. Your body can't break much of it down so it stays in your colon.

Do what I said, incorporate more fruit and nuts in your diet, and maybe attempt a colon cleanse (not something I can personally attest to but a lot of people are believers). You'll lose a lot of weight in a hurry, and not in an unhealthy fashion.

I used to drink a lot of soda as a kid, but now I could never imagine drinking soda regularly. I have maybe drank a total of ten cans of sodas combined over the past two or three years. All I ever drink is bottled water and occasionally 2% milk when I eat my Kashi cereal. It is just nasty to me thinking about what you're putting into your body. Anytime I drink Coke, I can just feel the syrup in it. Very nasty to me...

I made a similar decision. I used to love soda to a seriously addictive level, but was forced to completely eliminate it from my diet to an intolerance to sugar, and at first I missed it, but eventually completely lost a palate for it. I miss plenty of sugary foods, but soda just seems like an odd substance to me now that I'm not accustomed to it. I think it's an acquired taste...not something that people are naturally drawn to.

[midranger]

I was going to make a weight loss manifesto thread like this about 3 weeks ago when I first read DB's blog (great job BTW). Then I got busy and didn't. Which is kind of a snapshot into why I should be writing one of these up.

I woke up this morning and weighed myself for the first time in probably 3 years. 237 pounds. I'm 6'3. I believe that puts me in the "obese" range by body mass index. Now, I myself wouldn't say that I'm obese or in absolutely horrible shape. I could run a mile or two today if I had to. I can play 2 hours of full court 5-on-5 no problem. I have a pretty big strong frame, so I can support the weight fairly well. But I'm in no way toned.

I kind of have the opposite problem as some of the other guys here. My body's metabolism is just kind of crappy. In high school I got up to 245 lbs my senior year. At that point I was definitely on the obese side (I've since grown an inch or two and added plenty of muscle), and I eventually saw myself on video tape. It was nasty. I started a crash diet before prom, and continued it through my freshman year at Madison. I got as low as 165 pounds. 80 pounds off in less than a year. At that point, I looked emaciated and in no way healthy. All I did was run a mile a day, lift for about 20 minutes, walk to class, and eat from the salad bar rather than the rest of the **** dorm food.

After moving out of the dorms, my weight settled in right about 190 pounds, were I was fit but not sickly. I liked that weight. Girls liked that weight. Intramural sports teammates liked that weight. Then, things changed. I met my wife, and started a career in medicine. Medical school/residency sucks the life out of you. When I studied, I'd eat. When I was stressed, I'd eat. When I was tired, I'd eat. All the while, I'd be sleeping any free moment I had. No time or energy for exercising.

Now, I'm 28 years old with a baby on the way. I'm working roughly 13 hour days. I more or less hate my job. And now... I weigh 237 damn pounds. That's not the worst part though. My tendency is to carry all my weight right in my gut. The worst (read: least healthy) place. In the last year, I've had high blood pressure, acid reflux, and gout. I'm 28 damn years old for Christ's sake! It's time for a change.

The good news is I've already started against my will. Working the 13 hour days doesn't lend itself to leaving time for meals. I've probably dropped 15 pounds in the last 2 months just due to sheer bodily stress. But I need something more sustained. My plan:

1. Water. Fill the gut with H2O rather than food. Stay hydrated to stave off the gout and lower the sodium.

2. Portions. I already eat fairly healthy foods. No red meats. Limited sweets. Almost no fast food outside of Subway. I just eat too damn much. It's time to cut the portions in about half. I'm thinking 6 inch at Subway rather than footlong type changes.

3. Timing. I can't help that I eat dinner at 8 pm. That is my life. What I can avoid, is that on the rare occassions I do get home before my wife I tend to eat 2 dinners. The first, right when I get home and the second when she gets home. I need to fill that time with exercise.

4. Exercise. I have two poor dogs that need more walks than they get. I have a garden that needs more water than I give it. I have running shoes and dumbells that are lonely. The key is to just do it. My limit for stair at work right now is two flights. Time to bump that up to four.

5. Beer. A biggy. I've seriously reduced quantity of alcohol consumption in the past year or two. I'm unsure how much more I could handle, but I'm certainly going to be more aware of it.

6. Stress. I have to find a more positive way to deal with it. Unsure what it'll be right now, but I have to find it.

7. Public Humiliation. I'm thinking I'll post my weight weekly here as a motivator, in addition to the rest of the motivations. Thanks DB.

I think that's about it.

[jerrod]

damn, that was motivational

but those nacho cheese doritos i shouldn't have bought calling to me from the kitchen

[JoeyMorgan619]

I was going to make a weight loss manifesto thread like this about 3 weeks ago when I first read DB's blog (great job BTW). Then I got busy and didn't. Which is kind of a snapshot into why I should be writing one of these up.

I woke up this morning and weighed myself for the first time in probably 3 years. 237 pounds. I'm 6'3. I believe that puts me in the "obese" range by body mass index. Now, I myself wouldn't say that I'm obese or in absolutely horrible shape. I could run a mile or two today if I had to. I can play 2 hours of full court 5-on-5 no problem. I have a pretty big strong frame, so I can support the weight fairly well. But I'm in no way toned.

I kind of have the opposite problem as some of the other guys here. My body's metabolism is just kind of crappy. In high school I got up to 245 lbs my senior year. At that point I was definitely on the obese side (I've since grown an inch or two and added plenty of muscle), and I eventually saw myself on video tape. It was nasty. I started a crash diet before prom, and continued it through my freshman year at Madison. I got as low as 165 pounds. 80 pounds off in less than a year. At that point, I looked emaciated and in no way healthy. All I did was run a mile a day, lift for about 20 minutes, walk to class, and eat from the salad bar rather than the rest of the **** dorm food.

After moving out of the dorms, my weight settled in right about 190 pounds, were I was fit but not sickly. I liked that weight. Girls liked that weight. Intramural sports teammates liked that weight. Then, things changed. I met my wife, and started a career in medicine. Medical school/residency sucks the life out of you. When I studied, I'd eat. When I was stressed, I'd eat. When I was tired, I'd eat. All the while, I'd be sleeping any free moment I had. No time or energy for exercising.

Now, I'm 28 years old with a baby on the way. I'm working roughly 13 hour days. I more or less hate my job. And now... I weigh 237 damn pounds. That's not the worst part though. My tendency is to carry all my weight right in my gut. The worst (read: least healthy) place. In the last year, I've had high blood pressure, acid reflux, and gout. I'm 28 damn years old for Christ's sake! It's time for a change.

The good news is I've already started against my will. Working the 13 hour days doesn't lend itself to leaving time for meals. I've probably dropped 15 pounds in the last 2 months just due to sheer bodily stress. But I need something more sustained. My plan:

1. Water. Fill the gut with H2O rather than food. Stay hydrated to stave off the gout and lower the sodium.

2. Portions. I already eat fairly healthy foods. No red meats. Limited sweets. Almost no fast food outside of Subway. I just eat too damn much. It's time to cut the portions in about half. I'm thinking 6 inch at Subway rather than footlong type changes.

3. Timing. I can't help that I eat dinner at 8 pm. That is my life. What I can avoid, is that on the rare occassions I do get home before my wife I tend to eat 2 dinners. The first, right when I get home and the second when she gets home. I need to fill that time with exercise.

4. Exercise. I have two poor dogs that need more walks than they get. I have a garden that needs more water than I give it. I have running shoes and dumbells that are lonely. The key is to just do it. My limit for stair at work right now is two flights. Time to bump that up to four.

5. Beer. A biggy. I've seriously reduced quantity of alcohol consumption in the past year or two. I'm unsure how much more I could handle, but I'm certainly going to be more aware of it.

6. Stress. I have to find a more positive way to deal with it. Unsure what it'll be right now, but I have to find it.

7. Public Humiliation. I'm thinking I'll post my weight weekly here as a motivator, in addition to the rest of the motivations. Thanks DB.

I think that's about it.

Good read. I really hope you can get on track. Just stay motivated and don't give up. It starts off hard, but becomes a routine after a while.

[ReasonablySober]

Good read Midranger, and good luck!

EDIT: Avatar screwed me up. Oops.

[LUKE23]

I actually read that whole thing thinking it was Ayt too, then looked back and saw it was midranger.

[blkout]

So I gave up on the bike. It incrementally got easier physically but it was also driving me to consider suicide due to boredom and the fact that a man shouldn't have to suffer so much ass trauma in the name of exercise. I have a gym set-up at home, I'll just have to stop being lazy and do that. Maybe stack some more weights on it. It's at 200lbs at the moment but I've got another 100 I could put on it. Heavier weight, shorter reps etc. Also saves me 7 million dollars on P90X.

[bigkurty]

I am 5' 7'' and weigh about 172 but I topped out at 205 back in the day. To me, all I needed was a good mix of cardio and weights while starting to east smarter and more often while limiting my calories at each meal. I would like to lose maybe ten more pounds in order to get ripped but the last ten are definitely harder. One thing that I laugh at is when people give crap to other people for drinking dietsoda while going out for fast food. Sure fast food is not good in general but switching to diet soda saves you a lot of calories over the long haul and you get used to it and actually think full sugar soda is gross after awhile so that is a recommendation of mine. Everyone I know who makes fun oid diet soda drinkers is much fatter than myself too so who really has the last laugh?

[bigkurty]

So I gave up on the bike. It incrementally got easier physically but it was also driving me to consider suicide due to boredom and the fact that a man shouldn't have to suffer so much ass trauma in the name of exercise. I have a gym set-up at home, I'll just have to stop being lazy and do that. Maybe stack some more weights on it. It's at 200lbs at the moment but I've got another 100 I could put on it. Heavier weight, shorter reps etc. Also saves me 7 million dollars on P90X.

A real bike or a stationary bike? Biking for real can be fun but stationary bikes can be boring. Any man should get cushioned biking shorts if they are going to commit to biking imo. You will be much more comfortable and protect your balls, haha.

[blkout]

Stationary bike. I used to love riding my BMX around but I'm 6'5 now and feel a bit goofy on a mountain bike. I tried music, watching TV, playing Xbox while on the bike etc no matter what I did the boredom still killed me, then once it started getting painful I had to scrap that.

[NeedsMoreCheese]

Id rather drink water than the chemical mess known as diet soda. Not to mention that **** tastes nasty too.

[AussieBuck]

So I gave up on the bike. It incrementally got easier physically but it was also driving me to consider suicide due to boredom and the fact that a man shouldn't have to suffer so much ass trauma in the name of exercise. I have a gym set-up at home, I'll just have to stop being lazy and do that. Maybe stack some more weights on it. It's at 200lbs at the moment but I've got another 100 I could put on it. Heavier weight, shorter reps etc. Also saves me 7 million dollars on P90X.

There's a ton of good stuff here: http://www.rosstraining.com/forum/

The guy who runs the site has a couple of great books for working out at home.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

Id rather drink water than the chemical mess known as diet soda. Not to mention that **** tastes nasty too.

Yeah, there's too many early studies saying how diet soda can be bad for you and psychologically make you more addicted to sweet stuff causing you to get the sugar in other areas of your diet. I love water so that is my first choice.

For those just looking to lose pounds....

Old story but I always keep this in mind when exercising. Yeah, it really down plays the role of exercise, but it makes some good point.
http://www.time.com/time/health/article ... 57,00.html

If you only play basketball for 20 minutes, and during that time you down a gatorade. Basically, all the calories you burned go back into your body before you even finish. Also, we tend to reward ourselves way too much. If we work out at the gym, we are likely to sit in front of the tv and eat a bowl of ice cream. We have to keep constantly moving and make better choices if we want the exercise to work. Instead of ice cream, try a bowl of non-sugar cereal where atleast you get a lot of vitamins, protein, and less fat.

Think about the next time you go to the fridge and are about to grab a low-fat (skinny cow) ice cream sandwich. Even that "healthy" choice will add 150 calories to your diet. Think of how long you will have to be on the bike for that one.
To lose one U.S. pound (.454 kg), you must burn 3,500 more calories than you take in as food.

[jerrod]

i'm far more likely to eat healthy after just getting back from the gym then on days i don't excercise.

[MartyConlonOnTheRun]

i'm far more likely to eat healthy after just getting back from the gym then on days i don't excercise.

It's 50/50 for me. Now that I realize how little you burn in the gym, I am more conscious of eating healthy. But I used to be more like my dad and reward myself. Also, its not just about what you eat but how much you eat. I don't know about you, but i could eat a horse after a day of exercise. It takes a lot of control just to eat normal portions.

ETA: Even though its more known now, but a lot of people don't realize how many calories you drink with Gatorade and stuff while you're working out. Especially people who are just starting.

[LUKE23]

Really, you should eat a good portion after working out. The hour after you work out is when the lactic acid is working the hardest, and you need to refuel yourself. Again, this varies depending on if you're looking at straight weight loss or you're looking to build muscle/get more toned.

[pnanda]

I just ordered the P90x DVD's, I already have a chin up bar. What else do I need besides the dumbbells? Any recommendations on which dumbbells to buy or where to buy them?

[crkone]

I just ordered the P90x DVD's, I already have a chin up bar. What else do I need besides the dumbbells? Any recommendations on which dumbbells to buy or where to buy them?

I would go see if you can find a used set somewhere first. Then check out Walmart, they got some cheap sets there.

[MickeyDavis]

Check craigslist, you might be able to find some used ones.

Selectech or similar style are nice but pricey.

I have a set of hex dumbbells up to 50 pounds that I like.