OT | Official Fitness & Health Thread

[Thunder Muscle]

Under Armour bought MyFitnessPal and so far so good. I can't recommend it enough as a tool. I've put all kinds of different tracking items in.

I'm still all about the cable flys and also now rowing/swimming much more.

Counting calories is helpful. You truly realize what you're eating and make you more aware. I always get lazy with it over time though and forget to plug things in, etc.

Just did the Kettleworx first workout. Actually was tougher than expected. I used a 15# kettle bell too. Like that its 20 minute workout 3x week, very conducive to my schedule. First impression I liked it. If I can keep my diet habits in check, think I could see a nice result over time.

But it's so much more than a calorie counter. I track all my macros and exercises in addition to personal things like how many minutes I'm reading, etc. and make sure all my data is in by end of day. I treat my body like a business and MFP is basically my income statement, cash flow and balance sheets.

I do know a few guys that love the kettle bells but I don't use them. I know they can be a powerful tool.

Interesting, I'll maybe have to look into MFP more.

I see the reviews on Kettleworx are mixed. Sounds like the DVDs are very repetative. I guess that doesn't bother me if I see results. I like that its cardio but also weight work which could tone arms, etc. We'll see. I mainly wanted to get doing a program again but wasn't really ready to step back into T-25.

[JoeHova]

What apps/programs/sites do people like to use to track their macros? I've been keeping track of what I eat for over a year now but I just do it in my head. I want to get more serious about training, so I think keeping a record and really targeting certain macro goals would be useful. I'm leaning toward using My Macros+, but they don't seem to have a website option, which is unfortunate (I don't like to use my phone much while I'm at home). My Fitness Pal seems fairly good but I've heard they aren't the best in terms of tracking macros, plus I don't really trust their calorie information (which seems to be crowdsourced?).

Does anybody have any stories/recommendations?

[bigkurty]

Anyone ever done a juice cleanse or have any thoughts on them? My wife really wanted to try it so I agreed to do it with her. We are doing the suja one day version today to try it out.
http://www.sujajuice.com/products/class ... t-program/

So far I am not too hungry but its early. I feel like juice cleanses are probably BS but I'll try just about anything once.

[HurricaneKid]

Counting calories is helpful. You truly realize what you're eating and make you more aware. I always get lazy with it over time though and forget to plug things in, etc.

Just did the Kettleworx first workout. Actually was tougher than expected. I used a 15# kettle bell too. Like that its 20 minute workout 3x week, very conducive to my schedule. First impression I liked it. If I can keep my diet habits in check, think I could see a nice result over time.

But it's so much more than a calorie counter. I track all my macros and exercises in addition to personal things like how many minutes I'm reading, etc. and make sure all my data is in by end of day. I treat my body like a business and MFP is basically my income statement, cash flow and balance sheets.

I do know a few guys that love the kettle bells but I don't use them. I know they can be a powerful tool.

Interesting, I'll maybe have to look into MFP more.

I see the reviews on Kettleworx are mixed. Sounds like the DVDs are very repetative. I guess that doesn't bother me if I see results. I like that its cardio but also weight work which could tone arms, etc. We'll see. I mainly wanted to get doing a program again but wasn't really ready to step back into T-25.

I am completely bought into MFP. I'm a little concerned UA is going to try to monetize it but once you understand how BDEE works and what you burn and can accurately track your diet it is a fantastic tool. I couldn't recommend it more highly.

[HurricaneKid]

Anyone ever done a juice cleanse or have any thoughts on them? My wife really wanted to try it so I agreed to do it with her. We are doing the suja one day version today to try it out.
http://www.sujajuice.com/products/class ... t-program/

So far I am not too hungry but its early. I feel like juice cleanses are probably BS but I'll try just about anything once.

I did one a few years ago. Outside of losing all energy it was actually pretty interesting and I did feel a lot better coming out of it. But when I started eating better/drinking less/exercising and did one it didn't do much for me.

[Nebula1]

What apps/programs/sites do people like to use to track their macros? I've been keeping track of what I eat for over a year now but I just do it in my head. I want to get more serious about training, so I think keeping a record and really targeting certain macro goals would be useful. I'm leaning toward using My Macros+, but they don't seem to have a website option, which is unfortunate (I don't like to use my phone much while I'm at home). My Fitness Pal seems fairly good but I've heard they aren't the best in terms of tracking macros, plus I don't really trust their calorie information (which seems to be crowdsourced?).

Does anybody have any stories/recommendations?

MFP has a barcode scanner which pulls the data directly from the source. It's pretty solid. Plus it's got great mobile use and a very solid PC experience.

Plus you can personalize your goals, which is extremely helpful.


Also my girlfriend is my MFP "friend" and we do it as partners to keep each other on track. I think this is a boost in my consistent usage since I hear about it if I don't enter my data. Plus it helps with our meal choices and all that.

[pe_it72]

Anyone ever done a juice cleanse or have any thoughts on them? My wife really wanted to try it so I agreed to do it with her. We are doing the suja one day version today to try it out.
http://www.sujajuice.com/products/class ... t-program/

So far I am not too hungry but its early. I feel like juice cleanses are probably BS but I'll try just about anything once.

You'll get instant results. But if you go back to the same diet you had before the cleanse you go back to where you started.

If you always do what you've always done. You'll always get what you've always got.

Famous words from my trainer.

[HurricaneKid]

What apps/programs/sites do people like to use to track their macros? I've been keeping track of what I eat for over a year now but I just do it in my head. I want to get more serious about training, so I think keeping a record and really targeting certain macro goals would be useful. I'm leaning toward using My Macros+, but they don't seem to have a website option, which is unfortunate (I don't like to use my phone much while I'm at home). My Fitness Pal seems fairly good but I've heard they aren't the best in terms of tracking macros, plus I don't really trust their calorie information (which seems to be crowdsourced?).

Does anybody have any stories/recommendations?

Depending on how much weight you want/need to lose I would recommend HealthyWage.com. Play around with the calculators but if you bet $500 on yourself you can get back ~$1600 depending on how much weight you want to lose. I thought it was a great motivator.

As far as tracking, I think MFP is where its at. Weigh what you eat, write it all in the tracker and it should get you really close over the long term to exactly what they tell you. I'm floored at how far nutrition has come in the last 20 years. I was taught, IN SCHOOL, that low fat diets were the way to go. I think that has a lot to do with ALL my joints basically sucking now. You can easily calculate how many calories you burn and how many to consume to reach whatever benchmarks you are aiming for. And you can rebalance you macros to aim for more protein/fat and fewer carbs if you are so inclined (as I am)

[Newz]

Anyone ever done a juice cleanse or have any thoughts on them? My wife really wanted to try it so I agreed to do it with her. We are doing the suja one day version today to try it out.
http://www.sujajuice.com/products/class ... t-program/

So far I am not too hungry but its early. I feel like juice cleanses are probably BS but I'll try just about anything once.

I tried one once, didn't like it. Mine was a week long and I lasted about four days. You really aren't supposed to workout since you have little to no fuel in your body, you are insanely hungry at all times and if you don't drink enough water you get brutal headaches.

I saw results in those four days... but my advice would be just to eat healthier. If you want a program that gets you crazy results than just eat the healthiest of things over a four-five week period and workout a bunch. I did a five week stretch where I ate pretty much no sugar... my diet was pretty much chicken, spinach, protein powder, eggs, avocado and nuts (in small doses). Went from being skinny fat to having a flat stomach in like two weeks time... and I felt 100x better than after that stupid juice cleanse.

[bigkurty]

Anyone ever done a juice cleanse or have any thoughts on them? My wife really wanted to try it so I agreed to do it with her. We are doing the suja one day version today to try it out.
http://www.sujajuice.com/products/class ... t-program/

So far I am not too hungry but its early. I feel like juice cleanses are probably BS but I'll try just about anything once.

I tried one once, didn't like it. Mine was a week long and I lasted about four days. You really aren't supposed to workout since you have little to no fuel in your body, you are insanely hungry at all times and if you don't drink enough water you get brutal headaches.

I saw results in those four days... but my advice would be just to eat healthier. If you want a program that gets you crazy results than just eat the healthiest of things over a four-five week period and workout a bunch. I did a five week stretch where I ate pretty much no sugar... my diet was pretty much chicken, spinach, protein powder, eggs, avocado and nuts (in small doses). Went from being skinny fat to having a flat stomach in like two weeks time... and I felt 100x better than after that stupid juice cleanse.

Lol, that's what I have been thinking too. I wish I didn't like drinking so much

[JoeHova]

Depending on how much weight you want/need to lose I would recommend HealthyWage.com. Play around with the calculators but if you bet $500 on yourself you can get back ~$1600 depending on how much weight you want to lose. I thought it was a great motivator.

That does sound motivating, and pretty awesome! Unfortunately, I'm looking more into gaining at this point. I'd like to begin with putting on maybe 20 pounds and basically doing a bit of body recomposition.

As far as tracking, I think MFP is where its at. Weigh what you eat, write it all in the tracker and it should get you really close over the long term to exactly what they tell you. I'm floored at how far nutrition has come in the last 20 years. I was taught, IN SCHOOL, that low fat diets were the way to go. I think that has a lot to do with ALL my joints basically sucking now. You can easily calculate how many calories you burn and how many to consume to reach whatever benchmarks you are aiming for. And you can rebalance you macros to aim for more protein/fat and fewer carbs if you are so inclined (as I am)

It does suck how little we were taught about nutrition in school. It's also annoying that diet fads are/were so prevalent, it makes it hard to really trust anything you hear or read about nutrition, even from respected sources. Like, I want to ask my doctor if I should take any supplements (like fish oil or whatever), but I'm wary of even doing that because even doctors will say vastly different things.

As for tracking, I've been doing it for a long time, but just on a daily basis. I'd like to keep a record as I try to gain weight because I want to do everything I can to minimize the amount of fat I gain. MFP does seem very useful for that, it's just that I've heard that you can't really set macro goals. Is that incorrect? As for the calorie stuff, it just seems that anytime I google for a calorie value, if I look at MFP's results, there are always at least a couple of conflicting values.

[JoeHova]

MFP has a barcode scanner which pulls the data directly from the source. It's pretty solid. Plus it's got great mobile use and a very solid PC experience.

Plus you can personalize your goals, which is extremely helpful.

Also my girlfriend is my MFP "friend" and we do it as partners to keep each other on track. I think this is a boost in my consistent usage since I hear about it if I don't enter my data. Plus it helps with our meal choices and all that.

The scanner is a pretty cool feature, as is the ability to use MFP on a PC. And having a partner is definitely a great way to stay focused on your fitness goals, it's helped me quite a bit as well.

When you say personalize, what do you mean exactly? Can you easily change all the macros to whatever you want? Or do they have to be in a certain prescribed ratio?

[Nebula1]

It does suck how little we were taught about nutrition in school. It's also annoying that diet fads are/were so prevalent, it makes it hard to really trust anything you hear or read about nutrition, even from respected sources. Like, I want to ask my doctor if I should take any supplements (like fish oil or whatever), but I'm wary of even doing that because even doctors will say vastly different things.

It's crazy that arguably the two most important, every day things, we're not taught much about in school: nutrition and personal finance. It's no shock we are a debt-ridden, obese society.

MFP has a barcode scanner which pulls the data directly from the source. It's pretty solid. Plus it's got great mobile use and a very solid PC experience.

Plus you can personalize your goals, which is extremely helpful.

Also my girlfriend is my MFP "friend" and we do it as partners to keep each other on track. I think this is a boost in my consistent usage since I hear about it if I don't enter my data. Plus it helps with our meal choices and all that.

The scanner is a pretty cool feature, as is the ability to use MFP on a PC. And having a partner is definitely a great way to stay focused on your fitness goals, it's helped me quite a bit as well.

When you say personalize, what do you mean exactly? Can you easily change all the macros to whatever you want? Or do they have to be in a certain prescribed ratio?

There is a GOALS sub-tab available in either the PC or mobile application where you can modify your various goals from macros, to nutrients, to fitness. I play a ton of ball and lift quite a bit so I've adjusted mine over time to find the right balance to keep the weight on.

Also, I track quite a bit of personal metrics in PROGRESS, like reading minutes, different exercise goals, study minutes (for an upcoming exam). I think it's an effective way to keep yourself accountable for a goal you want to achieve.

And like you noted, it's incredibly helpful to have a partner doing it with you.

[Thunder Muscle]

So I've done the Kettleworx DVD set for just over a week and so far feel like it is challenging me. I feel you're getting a good workout in different areas of the body and love that at most it is a 30 minute time commitment. In addition to the 3x week I do the 10 minute "fast" workouts on 2 other days. I do see the minor quirks/complaints that the editing of the workout is rough. Its alot of copy/paste clips and repeating. I guess this doesn't bother me, but I also got the workout free from a friend & didn't pay $80. But I feel my arms are toning out & clothes are fitting very well. I've actually gone from 195# to 184.5# this morning in about 4 weeks. Its helped that I've cleaned up some of my snacking, etc.

[MilTownBucks]

Funny reading about the skinny fat term, I'm in the same boat. 24 years old, 170, 6', and a beer gut that just seems to keep growing no matter how many situps/ab rolls I do.


Anybody have some tips? I only workout at home now (bench, curls, calf raises, perfect pushup system, etc), but am considering joining anytime fitness as it would only be $8 through my work company.


I, like many others here it seems, love drinking so besides cutting that out what can I do?

[Newz]

It's crazy that arguably the two most important, every day things, we're not taught much about in school: nutrition and personal finance. It's no shock we are a debt-ridden, obese society.

I wish I could And1 this part of your post a million times.

[Newz]

Funny reading about the skinny fat term, I'm in the same boat. 24 years old, 170, 6', and a beer gut that just seems to keep growing no matter how many situps/ab rolls I do.


Anybody have some tips? I only workout at home now (bench, curls, calf raises, perfect pushup system, etc), but am considering joining anytime fitness as it would only be $8 through my work company.


I, like many others here it seems, love drinking so besides cutting that out what can I do?

Well like Nebula is talking about... you could use My Fitness Pal to track your macros. Since you are getting a ton of empty calories and carbs with the alcohol that you consume, make sure to track it and do your best to keep your drinking within your macros. So I'd recommend eating foods high in protein and high in healthy fats while eating very little carbs if you consume that much alcohol.

But the real solution is to not drink as much alcohol. Alcohol is absolutely horrendous for you if you want to be in really good shape.

[LUKE23]

Funny reading about the skinny fat term, I'm in the same boat. 24 years old, 170, 6', and a beer gut that just seems to keep growing no matter how many situps/ab rolls I do.


Anybody have some tips? I only workout at home now (bench, curls, calf raises, perfect pushup system, etc), but am considering joining anytime fitness as it would only be $8 through my work company.


I, like many others here it seems, love drinking so besides cutting that out what can I do?

Do Ab Ripper X to get your core right. I do it three days a week and my core is tight as hell, and that's from someone who also refuses to cut out drinking. 15 minutes of hell though.

You can't get the workout free but you can pull it up on youtube with others doing it and the audio, after you do it enough you'll have it memorized.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=525pLsiQhPI

I'd join the company gym and just get on a three day beginner's weightlifting workout and go from there. I'm actually not a huge Men's Health fan but I did this workout and it's a good build up.

http://www.menshealth.com/fitness/get-back-shape-0

Do the Ab Ripper on your off days, maybe with some cardio mixed in. Done.

[Newz]

Funny reading about the skinny fat term, I'm in the same boat. 24 years old, 170, 6', and a beer gut that just seems to keep growing no matter how many situps/ab rolls I do.


Anybody have some tips? I only workout at home now (bench, curls, calf raises, perfect pushup system, etc), but am considering joining anytime fitness as it would only be $8 through my work company.


I, like many others here it seems, love drinking so besides cutting that out what can I do?

Well like Nebula is talking about... you could use My Fitness Pal to track your macros. Since you are getting a ton of empty calories and carbs with the alcohol that you consume, make sure to track it and do your best to keep your drinking within your macros. So I'd recommend eating foods high in protein and high in healthy fats while eating very little carbs if you consume that much alcohol.

But the real solution is to not drink as much alcohol. Alcohol is absolutely horrendous for you if you want to be in really good shape.

Also, to add onto this... situps and ab rolls aren't going to make your stomach flat. Lifting and activating all of your muscles (which your other workouts appear to be doing) will help. I'd recommend adding in a healthy dose of cardio though.

[KidA24]

Funny reading about the skinny fat term, I'm in the same boat. 24 years old, 170, 6', and a beer gut that just seems to keep growing no matter how many situps/ab rolls I do.


Anybody have some tips? I only workout at home now (bench, curls, calf raises, perfect pushup system, etc), but am considering joining anytime fitness as it would only be $8 through my work company.


I, like many others here it seems, love drinking so besides cutting that out what can I do?

Your body is a machine, if you're putting on fat, you're basically consuming more calories than you're burning. As a big picture, in order to keep your weight the same, your caloric intake = your calories burned.

What drinking does is give you a TON of empty calories. 2 good beers is the same as 1 large chicken breast.

You can do all the ab workouts you want, your abs will be very strong, but you'll still carry that extra fat unless you either start having less calories, or start exercising more (the former is much, much easier than the latter -- and a much better long-term solution)