Help me get started

[ValdostaGatorFan]

It does suck. I'm used to working 3 or 4 days a week out of town, and I eat like shit. Now it's 6 weeks out of town. When I arrive today, I'm going to take some pics so I can do a 6wk before/after.

[Dreamliner]

Another strategy: if you don't have very much to lose, don't change anything about your eating, nothing. The mere introduction of regular may be the only stimulus you require to lose the little bit of fat you'd like to lose.

Here's the rub: don't change anything about your diet meaning, in this context, not one more fork-full of food than you're presently eating. And no reward eating. Just go ahead and pretend that you haven't earned the right.

[ValdostaGatorFan]

Gotcha. I will report back in a week.

[Dreamliner]

Good enough. I meant to say "the mere introduction of regular exercise."

[GuyWhiteyCorngood]

Dream will argue this, but I fully believe you need to classify your caloric intake into two categories.

1. Food - anything your great grandma would have recognized in a grocery store - food should serve a purpose other than fill your belly or give you diarrhea. While food is fuel, it is also raw material for cellular construction and repair. The micronutrients you get from veggies helps you heal.
2. Sh!t you can eat - french fries, funyuns, McMeat - this stuff is usual just pure calories. It is fuel and fuel alone, which means you get no real benefit other than gas (pun intended).

Try to get your food on the road from grocery stores at the bigger exits. Load up on nutrient dense foods (mostly veggies). Maybe get a cooler and load it up with fruits, veggies, deli meat.

Save the fast food for emergencies.

[Dreamliner]

I actually try to dissuade people from regarding food as fuel. Nobody really needs a biology lesson, not even hardcore athletic types. In my world, which includes both normal folks and freaks, the usual rule applies: enjoy your food and get stronger.

As an aside, Michael Phelps eats pizzas and sugary drinks. Conversely, Ryan Lochte turned health food fanatic.

[Dreamliner]

Guy, what the imp in me would like to see: some Crossfitter, somewhere, just blow up the whiteboard, then come out of the closet and admit he eats a lot of fast food.

[ValdostaGatorFan]

Today I skipped breakfast as usual. I ate:

grilled chicken sandwich from McDondalds with lettuce and tomato, sans mayo w/ two bags of apple slices

2 bananas and a 1/2 bag of pork skins

Small jack links beef steak

A bowl of Special K cereal w/ reduced fat milk.

Didnt drink any calories... This is better than yesterday, right? We finally made it to the hotel an hour ago. I went on a good jog. Ran at a good pace for a while, walked for a little bit to catch my breath, sprinted to get my heart rate back up, then walked back to the room to catch my breath and cool down. Got to the room, did pushups in sets of 20, dips using two chairs in sets of 20, and some lunges. They don't have an exercise room here

[LeafUF]

Still not a whole lot of calories I am guessing. And definitely low on protein. Workout looks pretty good for hotel life. Hopefully once you are settled at the extended stay you can start getting in some more well rounded meals.

[ValdostaGatorFan]

Yeah, we are going grocery shopping tomorrow. I might supplement my diet with whey protein. We're still cool, right? I checked that thread about the chubby chasers on my laptop and that booty was rather large... if you know what I'm talking about, lol.

[LeafUF]

Haha, yeah we cool. Big booty girls need love too. They just won't get it from me.

[LeafUF]

Btw, I came across this recently and since you don't have a gym figured it might be helpful.

http://www.marklauren.com/

He wrote a book called you are your own gym. Its all about bodyweight exercise and the site appears to offer some useful stuff also. Give it a look.

[ValdostaGatorFan]

I took some pictures, but I'm kind of embarrassed to post them. I kind of want to post them to help you and dream to critique (Yall obviously sound like yall know what yall are talking about) but it just seems.. weird

[LeafUF]

Pictures are a great way to judge your progress but i totally understand not wanting to post that online. Perhaps a less embarrassing and still useful thing would be to post measurements.

[GuyWhiteyCorngood]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

Guy, what the imp in me would like to see: some Crossfitter, somewhere, just blow up the whiteboard, then come out of the closet and admit he eats a lot of fast food.

I suppose that could happen, but I haven't met any individuals who are tuned to run on processed soy and volatile fatty acids. We have two athletes in my gym that I would consider elite, who have competed at the regional level and beyond in the Crossfit games. Both of them swear to perform better when they stick to paleo. Maybe they are brainwashed somehow and getting a veggie and bacon placebo affect, but I doubt it.

Again, I notice a difference as well. I don't like going too strict with my diet, though, because I think the psychological impact of food reward is important. What good is my health if I can't enjoy the occasional beer, tortilla chips, and Five Guys burgers?

So in a way, I agree that we should encourage people to enjoy their food. But I also have trouble with advocating "moderation" because people are addicts to food. It's like telling a meth head to tweak in moderation.

I encourage people to experiment and relish in deprivation for controlled intervals. Try elimination and re-introduction for things like gluten - go three weeks gluten free, and then eat some pizza. After re-introducing gluten, if you don't feel like an alien is trying to launch out of your intestines, then maybe gluten isn't an issue for you. Experiment with going vegan, experiment with going low-carb/high-fat or vice versa.

For me, I notice a negative difference when I eat gluten and dairy. Without gluten, my fart frequency drops to a point where I miss my morning trumpet calls. For me, I notice that I feel better when I get a big shot of Coconut oil in the morning blended into my coffee. I notice that too much rice and potatoes keep me a few pounds heavier, which in turn impacts my power/weight ratios.

Why put so much effort into this? A few reasons. People often struggle with diet because they want to eat what they want to eat. Correlating your diet with the way you feel and perform can have a big impact on what you "want" to eat. While I may really want a bowl of ice cream, I find that I want to avoid farting my wife out of bed more (on most nights). Additionally, we're a culture of over-consumers, and I find a big reward in deprivation. I don't take my burgers and beers for granted. I treat them like special occasions.

But I'll keep you posted if any rockstars in my gym fess up to Quarter Pounder habit.

[Dreamliner]

I don't feel good about empowering the addiction model. It smacks of whiny protestation. And what is a 'volatile fatty acid' ? Does it blow up inside you if you jiggle the least little bit ?

FWIW, I don't argue even with clients of mine who want to experiment with food choices. However, I have noted that, in the field of athletics, for every Ryan Lochte there appears to be a Michael Phelps.

[GuyWhiteyCorngood]

Originally Posted by Dreamliner

I don't feel good about empowering the addiction model. It smacks of whiny protestation. And what is a 'volatile fatty acid' ? Does it blow up inside you if you jiggle the least little bit ?

FWIW, I don't argue even with clients of mine who want to experiment with food choices. However, I have noted that, in the field of athletics, for every Ryan Lochte there appears to be a Michael Phelps.

Poly-unsaturated fats are volatile. Saturated fats are more stable, and less prone to oxidation. So yes, we are talking about very small, slow explosions After all, an explosion is just rapid oxidation, right?

Your Phelps argument doesn't really work though. In order to prove your point, you would have to talk Phelps into comparing his performance while eating junk food vs. eating otherwise.

[Dreamliner]

Originally Posted by GuyWhiteyCorngood

Poly-unsaturated fats are volatile. Saturated fats are more stable, and less prone to oxidation. So yes, we are talking about very small, slow explosions After all, an explosion is just rapid oxidation, right?

Your Phelps argument doesn't really work though. In order to prove your point, you would have to talk Phelps into comparing his performance while eating junk food vs. eating otherwise.

The Phelps argument does work, in a way. Lochte turns health food nut, undertakes Crossfit-style training, promptly disappoints.

Can you imagine how good Floyd Mayweather would be if not for his junk food diet ?

[ValdostaGatorFan]

This is kind of fun. Tonight I did this.

Did the same run as yesterday, came directly inside and then did..

20 pushups, rest a minute, 20, rest a mintute, 20, rest, and then 10 to muscle failure

Rested a minute

20 crunches, rest 1 minute, 20, rest 1 minute, 20 more

rested 1 minute

20 chair dips, rest 1 minute, 20, rest 1 minute, 10 to muscle failure

rested 1 minute

laid down and lifted my heels 6" off the ground for 30 seconds, rested 1 minute, 6" for 30 seconds and then called it a day

10 minutes later I took 2 scoops (75 grams) of whey protien

That was 10 minutes ago, Im going to eat in about 20 minutes


thoughts?

[Dreamliner]

^ Sounds like old school stuff!