The Health and/or Diet Thread

[Ali]

*shudder*  I think I'd rather lay on the couch under a fan...

[Ali]

Just got back from a workout.  Per heart monitor, burned about .6 of a Qdoba burrito, or 1.5 stick of hard Italian licorice.  They are seriously like 400+ cals per stick, Siz?  Yet another reason to avoid them like the plague.

[Asmodean]

Counting calories? Seriously..?  ???

[Siz]

Just got back from a workout.  Per heart monitor, burned about .6 of a Qdoba burrito, or 1.5 stick of hard Italian licorice.  They are seriously like 400+ cals per stick, Siz?  Yet another reason to avoid them like the plague.

If I'd have known I'd be tested... OK, after some research I can confirm that one of my sticks would be about 80kcals. So, around 7.5 sticks per 600kcals. So you can enjoy with impunity, Ali 

That's a decent workout and gotta be worth the free half a burrito. Keep it up...

[Siz]

Counting calories? Seriously..?  ???

Yes, but far from seriously 

[DeterminedJuliet]

Counting calories? Seriously..?  ???

I like to keep a vague awareness of my calorie intake -- only because I know I could eat 4,000 calories a day if I let myself. Which would be bad.

[Ali]

Counting calories? Seriously..?  ???

Yes, seriously!  I have to stay on top of my diet and exercise, and (a big part of) staying on top of it is being aware of it.  If you don't need to count calories to stay at your healthy weight, I am glad for you.  I'm not that fortunate.  

[Asmodean]

I don't need to count them, no. More importantly, I don't really care whether or not my weight is healthy.

[Crow]

Counting calories? Seriously..?  ???

Yes, seriously!  I have to stay on top of my diet and exercise, and (a big part of) staying on top of it is being aware of it.  If you don't need to count calories to stay at your healthy weight, I am glad for you.  I'm not that fortunate.  

What you need is to speed up your metabolism. Calorie counting can actually be detrimental to this because your body gets less fuel therefore your body thinks its starving and slows down the metabolism so you burn less calories, when your body thinks its starving it actually tries to keep as much energy in reserve as possible, then when you eat more than you normally would boom those carbs are going straight to fat.

Fast powerful short exercise that boost fast twitch muscle over slow twitch is only really the proper way to loose weight and maintain it. A lot of people think exercise the first thing in the morning and lots of it is the best method, that's rubbish; exercise done in the middle of the day for ten mins (or until knackered if that comes first) is far better or if work doesn't permit that then in the evening with every other day of rest from exercise so your muscles can heal.

It is important to eat the recommended daily amount of carbs but if you need to cut down do this over a long period of time so your body adjusts to the change. Sugar is one of the main problems in peoples diets far more so than fat so if you feel like you are overly hungry it usually means you have too much sugar in your diet but don't cut it out slowly reduce it. Also make sure you are eating protein and calcium as they are really important for muscles and when are muscles have the correct sustenance the metabolism becomes faster, this doesn't mean eating only meat and cheese but rather make sure you have a small helping of nuts or beans and soft cheeses on the side. Make sure you eat good carbs I personally think a mix is better rather than just eating brown everything. Also make sure rather than eating 3 meals through the day break those meals down into 5 smaller meals.

I think I remember you talking about having a problem with your knee ages ago? If that is the case try exercising without shoes, that will force your foot into positions that don't put excessive strain on your knees. Also give Kinesio tape a try for when you exercise it might just help.

[Ali]

Crow, thanks for the info.  I have an auto immune thing that attacks my joints and also my thyroid, which is what really slows my metabolism down.  I've found that eating around 1700-1900 calories (not that much less than the recommended 2000) and getting plenty of exercise is the most effective way for me to manage it (as well as taking my meds.)   I try to walk for at least a half an hour (usually more like an hour) a day, and then also do about an hour of cardio about 4 times a week.  I want to also take up some weight training.  Now that it's summer and I have more time, I think I'll try adding a couple of days of free weights to the whole routine.  My whole routine doesn't make me "skinny", but I am healthy and strong and that's enough for me. 

I try to focus on whole foods as much as possible, and avoid a lot of pre-packaged stuff.  My one big weakness is ice cream.  I freaking love ice cream, and probably eat it more often than I should.  But I figure that a life devoid of ice cream would kind of not be worth continuing.  LOL 

[Crow]

Crow, thanks for the info.  I have an auto immune thing that attacks my joints and also my thyroid, which is what really slows my metabolism down.

That sounds pretty grim, must make keeping your weight under control a chore.

Now that it's summer and I have more time, I think I'll try adding a couple of days of free weights to the whole routine.  My whole routine doesn't make me "skinny", but I am healthy and strong and that's enough for me. 

Rather than adding free weights in as that focuses on slow twitch and can make you look like a mini she-hulk whilst doing serious damage to your tendons (which I cant imagine being a good thing if you have joint problems), add light weights into the exercises you already do, for example if you do squats hold light weights, I'm sure you get the idea. It's adding this weight and unusual balance that strengthens the muscles in a way that is actually practical rather than just trying to make them look hench. It works on the fast twitch muscles which produce the chemicals for increasing your metabolism, this will also help your joints as it strengthens the tendons.

[Ali]

Crow, thanks for the info.  I have an auto immune thing that attacks my joints and also my thyroid, which is what really slows my metabolism down.

That sounds pretty grim, must make keeping your weight under control a chore.

Now that it's summer and I have more time, I think I'll try adding a couple of days of free weights to the whole routine.  My whole routine doesn't make me "skinny", but I am healthy and strong and that's enough for me. 

Rather than adding free weights in as that focuses on slow twitch and can make you look like a mini she-hulk whilst doing serious damage to your tendons (which I cant imagine being a good thing if you have joint problems), add light weights into the exercises you already do, for example if you do squats hold light weights, I'm sure you get the idea. It's adding this weight and unusual balance that strengthens the muscles in a way that is actually practical rather than just trying to make them look hench. It works on the fast twitch muscles which produce the chemicals for increasing your metabolism, this will also help your joints as it strengthens the tendons.

Haha, definitely have no desire to hulk out!  Thanks for the advice, it would definitely be easier to add light weights to my existing routine anyway.  The reason I wanted to do weights was to strengthen my muscles to add more stability to my joints, so that's great info.

[DeterminedJuliet]

I lost two pounds this week by accidently giving myself food poisoning. I would not recommend this method. 

[Sandra Craft]

Rather than adding free weights in as that focuses on slow twitch and can make you look like a mini she-hulk whilst doing serious damage to your tendons (which I cant imagine being a good thing if you have joint problems), add light weights into the exercises you already do, for example if you do squats hold light weights, I'm sure you get the idea.

When you say light weight vs. free weight, do you mean those things that strap around the wrist and ankle?  I was wondering if those were actually useful since they'd be a lot easier for me (I tend to drop even a 5 lb weight).

I don't count calories either -- not because I don't need to but because it drives me crazy to do it and makes me discard the whole dieting thing faster in sulky reaction.  I just try to do what my girlfriend does: eat mostly healthy foods and exercise regularly.  She's better at it than I am but then she needs to keep on top of her weight because of diabetes whereas I just have my knees to think about.

[Crow]

When you say light weight vs. free weight, do you mean those things that strap around the wrist and ankle?  I was wondering if those were actually useful since they'd be a lot easier for me (I tend to drop even a 5 lb weight).

If they work better for you then go for it, but if you go for small dumbbells there is a wider variety of exercises you can do with them, they are also better at strengthening your wrist and hand muscles. Just remember to go for high intensity workouts.

I don't count calories either -- not because I don't need to but because it drives me crazy to do it and makes me discard the whole dieting thing faster in sulky reaction.  I just try to do what my girlfriend does: eat mostly healthy foods and exercise regularly.  She's better at it than I am but then she needs to keep on top of her weight because of diabetes whereas I just have my knees to think about.

I knew somebody had mentioned they were having trouble with their knees. Try barefooted exercise if possible, you should notice that your Tibialis Anterior and Calf muscles working much more than when using kicks and less impact on your knees. Kinesio tape is good for giving you that little bit of support and I have found the stuff to work and prefer it over other types of support.