OT | Official Fitness & Health Thread

bullox · Post #21 » by **bullox** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 4:03 pm

I've used a combination of loseit.com and a fitbit to monitor my daily caloric intake and exercise calories burned for almost a year now. I've lost thirty lbs and brought my BMI almost completely back in to the healthy range for the first time in over ten years.

Yes, I enter every single thing I eat in to a log. After a while I've gotten over the minimal time sink and I now enjoy the benefits of all the available information that your own personal food database provides. Along with the fitbit keeping track of my steps + miles walked, floors climbed, calories burned, time sleeping, times woken up overnight, etc... It's a lot of good feedback. There is also a friends/groups social interaction with the fitbit that adds a lot of motivation. I'm ranked #1 in the Vegas area group in steps over the last few months, and I'm top 3 in the Wisconsin Badgers group.

Nevertheless I sit here with TTS (Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome) in my foot/ankle after walking over 10 miles a day since December. I'm just doing stretch exercises and riding a stationary bike at the moment. If I didn't have my fitbit there is no way I would still be exercising, but I have streaks to keep.

Nebula1 · Post #22 » by **Nebula1** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 4:44 pm

jimmybones wrote:Very skeptical you're even sub 10 if you're dropping weight that quickly.

I've been around 10-12% and a fair target is closer to 6-8% but I'm working on getting to the low end of that. It's also combined with at least an hour of basketball every day (and now outside in the hot sun), lifting, overall reduction of carbs and calories (with an improved diet) and the elimination of sugar and artificial sweetners. My weight had gone up from lingering holidays, an injury and some loose eating habits, but now everything is in check. In the end, I expect to drop about 7-10lbs net from eliminating the artificial sweetners and combined with my normal routine I hope to land at 5-7% body fat and in ideal beach shape. I feel like the artificial sweetners are the final piece to my puzzle.

Nebula1 · Post #23 » by **Nebula1** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 4:45 pm

bullox wrote:I've used a combination of loseit.com and a fitbit to monitor my daily caloric intake and exercise calories burned for almost a year now. I've lost thirty lbs and brought my BMI almost completely back in to the healthy range for the first time in over ten years.

Yes, I enter every single thing I eat in to a log. After a while I've gotten over the minimal time sink and I now enjoy the benefits of all the available information that your own personal food database provides. Along with the fitbit keeping track of my steps + miles walked, floors climbed, calories burned, time sleeping, times woken up overnight, etc... It's a lot of good feedback. There is also a friends/groups social interaction with the fitbit that adds a lot of motivation. I'm ranked #1 in the Vegas area group in steps over the last few months, and I'm top 3 in the Wisconsin Badgers group.

Nevertheless I sit here with TTS (Tarsal Tunnel Syndrome) in my foot/ankle after walking over 10 miles a day since December. I'm just doing stretch exercises and riding a stationary bike at the moment. If I didn't have my fitbit there is no way I would still be exercising, but I have streaks to keep.

I definitely track everything now as well.

averageposter · Post #24 » by **averageposter** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:00 pm

I think maybe the original fitness thread inspired me to finally get off my butt and do something about weight gained. I hadn't stepped on a scale in years, I was always fairly active but a switch to a more sedentary desk job, not only cut back the activity at work but resulted in me eating just terribly at work. Stepping on it and seeing what I saw was the motivation I needed to get things pointed in the right direction. I figured I was flirting with 200 pounds and when I saw 211 in digital readout, well there was no putting off any longer. Two weeks ago I started counting calories, went to a 1700 ish calorie limit, and implemented a workout regimen of lifting for an hour and a half, treadmill for an hour the following day in an alternating pattern. So far I dropped 8 pounds not bad for two weeks. Its a level of activity I feel confident in maintaining going forward after I relax the diet after hitting my target weight which I hope with the lifting to be a comfortable 165 ish. Eating less and exercising more it seems so simple yet I'm sure at some point I'll miss what I'm not eating at the moment.

Nebula1 · Post #25 » by **Nebula1** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:22 pm

Best thing I started doing was getting up at 430-5am and putting in a light workout before work. It gets my energy up for the day and then after work I'm ready for an hour or two of ball.

I think all the info posted on this board has been both motivating and resourceful. Good luck achieving your goals AP.

averageposter · Post #26 » by **averageposter** » Mon Mar 18, 2013 5:53 pm

Thanks. The hardest part so far was actually putting together a reasonable workout on the lifting days. I used to lift in high school, was a fairly religious lifter as far as showing up to work. But I can't say I really did so with a training regimen, a real plan, I went in did chest and arms one day with either legs or back and did maybe abs and the same upper body lifts the next workout day. Probably wasn't the same exercise or intensity from day to day. Didn't really matter at 18, at 36 it matters. Putting together a plan now to efficiently target muscle groups and keep the level of intensity has required a lot of learning especially if you want to work with the equipment you have at home. Starting to really see the benefit of hiring a trainer.

Post #27 » by **ReasonablySober** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 9:20 pm

If you're like me, when it's cold and **** out, a meal you can live on for a few days is ideal. If it's healthy that's obviously preferable.

This is my favorite soup. Bringing it up because I'm making it for about the sixth time tonight. It's got a decent kick, the avocado relish is awesome, and it's healthy. You can fill yourself up on a bowl and not feel bad about it.

jtrinaldi · Post #28 » by **jtrinaldi** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 9:23 pm

Since March first, I am down 19 lbs.

Nebula1 · Post #29 » by **Nebula1** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 9:35 pm

jtrinaldi wrote:Since March first, I am down 19 lbs.

You're losing a pound per day? How so?

PkrsBcksGphsMqt · Post #30 » by **PkrsBcksGphsMqt** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:20 pm

I keep reading about how sitting down all day at work takes years off your life. As a result, I've tried to walk around more at work, stop using the elevator at my apartment (I live on the 8th floor) and try to park a good distance away from the store when I'm out shopping. The articles and studies I've read say that even if you work out regularly (I run 6+ miles 5-6 times a week) you still need to be active throughout the day.

jtrinaldi · Post #31 » by **jtrinaldi** » Tue Mar 19, 2013 10:23 pm

Nebula1 wrote:
jtrinaldi wrote:Since March first, I am down 19 lbs.

You're losing a pound per day? How so?

1 meal a day that is based off the South Beach diet, l have a protein bar around 2. I have cut red meat,dair, and starches out of my diet. I run 3-4 miles a day, and do stairs for close to 30 minutes. An example of my dinner would be Brown Rice,Fried Onions,Rotisserie chicken, and a few peppers. I don't drink any Soda. I only drink Water, and squeezed citrus (lemons/limes/Grapefruit). Basically what it comes down to is burning off more calories than intake. The hardest thing is being able to tolerate middle of the day hunger, which hasn't been that bad after the first week. I have not gone out to eat since I started this diet.

REDDzone · Post #32 » by **REDDzone** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 12:40 pm

PkrsBcksGphsMqt wrote:I keep reading about how sitting down all day at work takes years off your life. As a result, I've tried to walk around more at work, stop using the elevator at my apartment (I live on the 8th floor) and try to park a good distance away from the store when I'm out shopping. The articles and studies I've read say that even if you work out regularly (I run 6+ miles 5-6 times a week) you still need to be active throughout the day.

Yea, we just aren't built to be sitting all the time.
- office worker

Thunder Muscle · Post #33 » by **Thunder Muscle** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:06 pm

Thanks to this thread I've started counting my calories again. Yeah the hard part for me is not snacking after work for one, and how fast food really increases the numbers. I had success last time tracking, but it takes a little discipline, if anything to exercise it off if you want to eat stuff you want.

And man this shows how a good night of drinking beer adds up FAST. I probably drank my calories "goal" alone, if not more last Friday night.

At work we have pedometer/step incentives which is nice too. Need to get 10K steps to earn points for like Amazon Gift Cards and what not. That's helped move me a bit too.

jtrinaldi · Post #34 » by **jtrinaldi** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:15 pm

N8Frog wrote:Thanks to this thread I've started counting my calories again. Yeah the hard part for me is not snacking after work for one, and how fast food really increases the numbers. I had success last time tracking, but it takes a little discipline, if anything to exercise it off if you want to eat stuff you want.

And man this shows how a good night of drinking beer adds up FAST. I probably drank my calories "goal" alone, if not more last Friday night.

At work we have pedometer/step incentives which is nice too. Need to get 10K steps to earn points for like Amazon Gift Cards and what not. That's helped move me a bit too.

Just my perspective about bing drinking
An average can of Beer is around 150 calories, so if you have around 10 of them, that is 1500 calories. An average shot is between 15-20 calories.
The thing about binge drinking, is to do Hard stuff instead of Beer. When I drink, I give the keys to my brothers roommate who will lock it all up in a safe in the room. When I go up to my brothers school and getting plastered, I'll do Gold rum. 1st semester, we split a case of PBR, and had nothing to eat for 24 hours before we started drinking and It was a bad hangover. Did Flesichmans one weekend, and that stuff is toxic, terrible hangover, worse than beer, but much healthier for you

.

Thunder Muscle · Post #35 » by **Thunder Muscle** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:27 pm

Well generally I'm not necessarly looking to get hammered since I'm past the college years. I enjoy beer and relaxing after the work week on Friday, and sometimes it leads to too many.

But yeah, I am sure the above is better from a calorie/carb standpoint.

LUKE23 · Post #36 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:31 pm

jtrinaldi wrote:1st semester, we split a case of PBR, and had nothing to eat for 24 hours before we started drinking and It was a bad hangover.

LUKE23 · Post #37 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:31 pm

jtrinaldi wrote:1st semester, we split a case of PBR, and had nothing to eat for 24 hours before we started drinking and It was a bad hangover.

LUKE23 · Post #38 » by **LUKE23** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 3:31 pm

jtrinaldi wrote:1st semester, we split a case of PBR, and had nothing to eat for 24 hours before we started drinking and It was a bad hangover.

emunney · Post #39 » by **emunney** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 5:28 pm

jtrinaldi wrote:
N8Frog wrote:Thanks to this thread I've started counting my calories again. Yeah the hard part for me is not snacking after work for one, and how fast food really increases the numbers. I had success last time tracking, but it takes a little discipline, if anything to exercise it off if you want to eat stuff you want.

And man this shows how a good night of drinking beer adds up FAST. I probably drank my calories "goal" alone, if not more last Friday night.

At work we have pedometer/step incentives which is nice too. Need to get 10K steps to earn points for like Amazon Gift Cards and what not. That's helped move me a bit too.

Just my perspective about bing drinking
An average can of Beer is around 150 calories, so if you have around 10 of them, that is 1500 calories. An average shot is between 15-20 calories.
The thing about binge drinking, is to do Hard stuff instead of Beer. When I drink, I give the keys to my brothers roommate who will lock it all up in a safe in the room. When I go up to my brothers school and getting plastered, I'll do Gold rum. 1st semester, we split a case of PBR, and had nothing to eat for 24 hours before we started drinking and It was a bad hangover. Did Flesichmans one weekend, and that stuff is toxic, terrible hangover, worse than beer, but much healthier for you .

FYI your #s on calories in hard liquor is way off. A shot of 80 proof liquor is around 100 calories. Drinking alcohol is like eating sugar.

Nebula1 · Post #40 » by **Nebula1** » Wed Mar 20, 2013 8:58 pm

Every Wednesday I play in a noon game and today achieved a weight milestone so I'm pretty happy. I've been weighing myself at night prior to sleep and in the morning as well. In terms of tracking it's been very helpful in monitoring my daily habits.

Glad to see so many people making changes.