Who has gotten into shape?

Im only 34, dont smoke, dont drink, but need to lose a few pds...like 20. I too love a good burger, and here in Hawaii, theres nothing to do but eat!

I keep trying to get started on a diet,but my wife can eat at all hours of the day anything she wants and doesnt gain a pound, so i eat with her..... and these the results.

 

As a young guy in not-bad shape, my recommendation is to join a gym, and just go, once your there, youll work out. Also, my recommendation is that u go in the morning, dont say "i gotta go to the gym today" it wont get done, have a routine...the morning means that u wont be too tired like at the end of the day, and it will wake you up nicely...last of all, DO NOT start too hard, or youll scare yourself off, go for a half hour...work up to an hour...an hour 4 times a week will get u in passable shape

 

Think about it... be the critter

You awaken by the watering hole you slumbered by the night before - lap up a little water.
Near the water, you enjoy the juice of a fruit off a tree
Then a whole juicy fruit, strawberries sure are juicy
Then a pulpy fruit, like a banana
Then solid fruit, like an apple - not as juicy, since it's further from the water as you make your way out and about.

That apple sure helps you take a big ol' dump - ridding your system of last night's excesses

Energized, you foray into the wilderness a bit, happen upon leafy greens, vine fruit like tomatoes and some sun-toasted grains. Beautiful thing about the grains being toasted is, it converts the sugars within into good sugars - the kind that regulate your body and energize the brain instead of going to your gut.

Mmmmmm, claw the fat off what's left of that road-kill chicken & *Sniff sniff* I smell some root vegetables. Dig dug.

Boo-yaa! Legumes are all over the place here!

Still energized & burning off any fat from all the hibernating you've done for the past 30+ years, you trot around for a while and realize you're motivated to kill something. After hunting down a wildebeest, you snack a little on it - keeping the serving size to the same as with anything else you eat - whatever will fill the palm of your paw... then you realize you've come full circle back to the ol' watering hole - and pass out as your body has had it's fill and is burning calories as you sleep - because you've trained it to.

Result: You can and will enjoy just about everything you did before, lose weight, have the energy and sexual prowess of an animal, look and feel great - I kid thee not. The key is the liquid-to-solid order of food-combining. That's what healthy omnivores do. Believe me - you will exercise - the energy you'll have will give you the wherewithal to seek activities, be they brisk walks or whatever.

 

For me it's about quality of life. If I keep things in balance then I hope to reduce "suffering" as I age. Anything deemed unhealthy eventually catches up to you and you will have to pay the price. So, for me it's easy, I don't want to have to suffer and pay the price of poor health i.e. heart problems, diabetes, etc. So to put it in F-terms would you rather just gas her up and drive and that's it and risk potential huge repair bills or take care of the car i.e. maintenance and most likely have a car that will treat you right? There's no question that a maintained car will be worth more down the road. The choice is yours................

 

Round is a shape...

 

Peters,

While I am not going to tell you "change your ways or drop dead", I will say that losing some weight and getting into better shape does require a personal commitment. If it were easy to do then everyone would be in shape.

Losing weight - in concept - is fairly simple: you need to burn more calories than you consume. Basically if you take in 500 less calories a day than you expend then you will lose 1 LB per week (3500 calories = 1 LB). While this sounds quite simple, the problem is that people do not know how many calories they are taking in and how many they are expending. Herein lies the work.

First you have to calculate approximately how many calories you burn per day just maintaining your weight. There are numerous formulas out there that can approximate this figure (I stress "approximate" as there is considerable variance depending upon which formula you use). Most formulas require your current weight, your age, your height, your gender, and some your body fat %. These calculators will basically provide you with your RMR (resting metabolic rate). Once you have this figure there is another calculation that needs to be run to give you an idea of how many calories you burn in your everyday activities (ie a couch potatoe will burn less calories per day than a construction worker). Once this calculation is run, you then have an approximation of how many calories you need to take in everyday to maintain your current weight.

The second part of the puzzle is to record how many calories you are actually taking in everyday as a result of the foods you eat. This can be a real hassle initially but once you get through a week or so of recording the caloric value of everything you eat (lots of looking at labels and searching for nutritional information on the web) then it becomes much easier as we tend to eat the same foods again and again. It can be pretty frightening (like realizing how many calories are in a whole pizza). By looking at your daily calorie burn and comparing it to the calories that you take in, you can quickly see how close you are to reaching your goal of 500 less calories per day.

Obviously, the other way to improve the differential between calories in and calories out is to exercise more. Again, there are calculators out there that will tell you approximately how many calories you burn for a myriad of different exercises. For instance, walking the dog may burn 0.02 calories per LB of body weight per minute of exercise (i.e. 200LB man walking dog for 30 minutes = 0.02 x 200 x 30 = 120 calories burned). The more vigorous the exercise, the more calories burned. So, if you are currently taking in about the same number of calories through your food as you expend on a daily basis then adding some exercise will mean that you burn more calories on average per day than you take in....which results in weight loss.

Hope this makes sense. Sorry this post is so long. The reason that I know all of this is that one of my companies sells fitness supplements. While I would like to tell you that I have a pill that will solve all your problems, this simply is not the case. Supplements can help is the process of weight loss but they are not - in themselves - the answer. We are currently in the process of putting together an application to allow our customers to record all this information online and to do the calculations that I talked about earlier. There are other companies out there that have similar applications and I can point you in their direction if you would like.

As for the smoking - don't know what to suggest there...sorry!!!

If you want anymore information or would like me to run any of the RMR or daily caloric burn calculations, just let me know.

Good luck with it!!!

David

 

Hey Peter,

I am with you on this one al the way. I have made a commitment to get into better shape myself. Come on out the Phx we can play 3 rounds of golf a day wearing sweats in the 100 degree weather we are having.

Myself i am going to stop eating the Flaming hot chimi's all the time. More chicken and fish. lots of fruits and salad's go ride my mountain bike and join a gym. You wont be able to recognise my skinny butt when i come out for Monterey in August...... Yes you have heard me right i am planning on making it out there

Rob

 

Maybe that is my problem i have torched my insides and now i just collect food instead of digesting it

 

I've been working out three times each week for 23, almost 24 years. Also eat right and weigh the same thing that I did at high school graduation.

My motivation? A number of my colleagues have had by-pass surgery -- probably 7 of them now. After their by-pass surgery they almost all started working out and eating better.

I'm almost 64 now and do not regret staying in shape. It allows me to keep up with almost anyone that I want to keep up with. Sure don't want to be one of those old guys that you see mid-morning, at restaurants, who shuffle off to the restrooms, parking lot, etc..

Kind of reminds me of the old cattle joke. The young bull and the old bull standing on the grassy knoll looking at a head of cows. The young bull says, "why don't we run down and service a couple?" The old bull says, "Why don't we walk down and service them all." Take care of your bod now and it will be there, later, when you need and want it to be there.

Doesn't matter whether you join a club or work out at home (although virtually everyone I know who has worked out for 10+ years does it at home). Just need to take care of yourself. No one else can. Regrets suck when it comes to health.

 

Peter, check out http://www.bodyforlife.com.

I lost 50 lbs in 3 months.

 

Do something you love i'm 6'3 and weighted 290 pounds, now i started kickboxing for a month now and i'm in love with it, if i miss a day i go unhappy, when i'm there i sweat like i've never sweat in my life, i have also cut down my portions, i used to be able to eat a 12 inch subway sandwich and like Allan have a small girlfriend 5 feet tall who can't finish her food so i eat the rest, now with exercise and all i'm having trouble finishing a 12 inch, i can maybe eat all 8 inches but that is it.


So now i'm down to 270 after only a month and this is a lifestyle change, i'm in love with my new self, feel great and take out all the stress in the ring. It feels great. Good luck.

And i also don't smoke or drink at all, try to cut pop all you can, i don't drink pop, only water, like a gallno or two a day, might piss like a racehorse but it's worth it.

 

ara, check your PM's.

 

Tell me about it i have been drinking on average 5 - 8 liters of water a day and boy do i have to go

Sounds like you are off to a good start perhaps we can form a little thread to push each other on just a little bit harder here each day..

Rob

 

I'm 42 and quit smoking 2 years ago. Put on 30 pounds (25 of which I needed to gain anyway). Where I work they installed a nice new fitness center and I've been using that 2-3 times a week. Right now I'm probably the most fit I've ever been in my life and I feel great. I think when you turn 40 or so you finally figure out that it's time to stop taking your health for granted.

 

I'm 31, I hate working out in gyms, and it's real tough for me to get into jogging regularly especially when cold weather rolls around, so I started playing tennis again, almost daily... I figure despite eating the same burgers etc. just in smaller portions, I'll still lose 15 lbs or so in the next couple months... I gave up golf, because it just wasn't excercise and took up a lot of time... I'm hoping to someday be 5'11 1/2 and 175 lbs again...

 

Pushing your lambo up a few hills will most certainly help.

 

Arizonadork, again coming from a kid who is 15 or 16 years old, who spends his full days and nights on computers instead of out banging little girls, any advice you give,is worthless.

Would you like me to enlighten you as to how many people hide themselves from you when they are the computer so you dont talk their ears off for hours on end? Like you used to do to me, begging me to come to your school or home in the Lambo, even offering 5.00 for gas?

Or how about asking someone you dont even know, if you can stay with them in Ca? That was funny!

 

I'm 5'8, 154 lbs. Don't smoke, drink, take drugs, and decided a few months ago to no longer eat fast food like McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, etc. Drink alot of fruit juice, and diet consists mostly of chicken, fish, pork, lamb, and occasionally red meat, as well as alot of pasta, served with either salad or vegetables.

What I have been meaning to do though is go to the gym to increase muscle mass and tone the body.

Any recommendations for a good workout to increase upper body strength?

Thanks in advance.

 

I don't want to sound corny but I read a book a few years ago which changed my life. It's called Body for Life by Bill Phillips. I'm 42 now and I weigh about 193 pounds. I have about 8% body fat. Two years ago I weighed 235 pounds, and I felt just terrible. My wife bought the book for me. It changed everything for me. The premise of the book is to combine weight training and aerobic exercise mixed with good nutrition. I eat 5 to 6 smaller meals a day consisting of protein, carbs, and vegetables. On Sundays I have a "Free day" and I eat anything I want. You can PM me if you need specific information. My partner tried after he saw the results I achieved and it's worked for him too. The book was a NY Times best seller for awhile.

 

Ahhhh those were heady days, when you wouldn't go to jail for trying to bang a 16 year old....lol Arizona, get the hell off the computer guy, once you cross 18 there's no going back son!

 

physical exercise is rewarding, not always in the form of hitting the gym and lifting weights, but playing pickup basketball and hockey are good ways to get the same results
MD

 

That does it. This has got to be good karma at work. My wife and I have both been very stressed the past few months and it's been taking a toll. I'm trying to find a job, she is stuck in a horrible job with an even worse commute, and we're both out of shape. It hits her harder than me because she has the type of personality that can't let go of anything, just spinning it in her head until problems seem many times worse than they are.

I was sitting on the couch this morning, sipping my coffee and thinking about what I can do to help. We're both working on the job thing, but it hit me that the easiest one was right in front of me--getting in shape. She did Tae-Bo three years ago and had phenomenal success, but both of us have pretty much ignored exercise since then...and it shows.

I decided this morning I would work with her and we'd both be in shape by midsummer. That was before I saw this thread. I'm all over it now, we start today!

Mark

 

Well i started my quest this week by going out and purchasing a high quality home scale. today i am going to scope out a few health clubs, our company has started a program with global fit for gym discounts and no long term contracts.

then this afternoon when the temps hit above 90 it is off to the driving range to go hit a couple of buckets of golf balls. ( not just for exercise. the company golf tourny is next month and i have not swung a club since the last tourney )

then to top it off i went shopping for food yesterday and came home with grapes, lettuce, dressing free cole slaw, apples, boneless skinless chicken, fish, lots of bottled water etc.

my first goal is to not have to use a seat belt extender on a airplane when i go out to Indy in June

Rob