Weight loss fun times.

[Llama Juice]

I got a PM asking about weight loss and such. Thought I'd share the information.


So I read somewhere that you lost some weight recently. Don't be creeped out, I just want to know how you did it. I want to lose some weight but its been really difficult. Just stopping GAINING weight was hard enough itself.

Apologies if I have the wrong person.

This is me and my girlfriend Jessie back in April of 2008.

http://photos-c.ak.fbcdn.net/photos-ak-sf2p/v233/72/59/725122466/n725122466_552802_6139.jpg

This was me and my girlfriend back in July of this year.

http://photos-e.ak.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ak-snc1/hs006.snc3/11337_162276742335_503932335_2996071_7765374_n.jpg

I'm down 70 lbs, she's down 75 lbs :P

Mainly it's all in watching what you eat. I didn't exercise too much, basically I walked to class every day and avoided driving whenever I could. That was all the exercise that I got in aside from the great amounts of DDR that I played :P.

If I had to break it down into a daily schedule type thing... then what I'd say the most effective pattern for me was in the morning, breakfast would be eating a pear (It's full of water, you want a water based fruit) while walking to class. Lunch would usually be either a light sandwich, or more fruit with a bagel. Dinner would be generally be something like a veggie burger or something like that. Dinner doesn't matter too much, as long as you rocked breakfast and lunch, and you're not eating super super late.

Drink a LOT of water. Drink nothing but water(Juice is an exception). If you're trying to lose weight and you're drinking soda/energy drinks then you're silly. Get off that stuff NOW and go buy yourself a water filter (like $20) and a water bottle, it'll save you tons of money and it's tons healthier than soda.

Watch how much you eat. General serving sizes at restaurants are like 2-4 times the "recommended serving size"... you don't need that much food. If you get a large, grab a medium. If you grab a medium, get a small. Never give into their silly "Oh would you like the combo?" stuff... it's all just a trick for you to buy more food that's terrible for you, and it'll make you get a soda along with it, rather than a glass of water. Just by downsizing your meal, ignoring the combo and getting water you usually take a $8 meal and bring it down to a good $4 or $5. Which... that adds up... fast.

Don't eat junk food. Seems obvious, but chips and such are terrible for you. If you can look at something and say "This offers NOTHING of nutritional value" then don't buy it.

That holds true to most fast food places. The only exceptions are places like Subway... and that's only if you ignore the sauces on your sub. Avoid McDonalds and Taco Bell like the plague, they are a last resort "Every store in a 38.2 mile radius has caught fire and I need food within four minutes or I'll die." type last resort.

Try counting calories... just for like two weeks. It'll give you a much better idea of exactly what you're eating, and how much you're eating. If you wanna lose weight in a healthy way you're going to want to be in the 1500-1800 calories a day range.

That's mainly what I did... but when I did it I wasn't going in trying to lose weight. I was just trying to change my diet and eat better. The weight loss was more of a side effect of doing so. That being said, the reason why I was able to stick with it and actually be successful is because I approached it as a desire to change myself, rather than "go on a diet" To go on a diet is just silly... that's like saying you want to suffer for a little while so that you can eat like mad afterwards... the whole idea of a "diet" is flawed.

My girlfriend had to work a little harder at it. She had to work out like3-5 times a week and watch what she ate a lot more than I did.

Another thing that did help, but isn't a sole reason for the weight loss is that I'm a vegetarian. I was a vegetarian for a good year and a half before I lost any weight, in fact I still gained a good 5 lbs during that year. The difference is that being a vegetarian forces you to be more aware of the stuff you're eating and makes it a lot easier to realize you're treating your body like shit.

If you guys have any questions about other details of it all go ahead and toss them at me, its 2 AM right now, so I'm going to bed... but toss em at me and I'll do what I can to answer any questions in my limited expertise. :P

[paladin]

You guys look really good. Nice job.

[Ganon]

Nice that you committed yourself into losing that much weight and sticking to it. Around august 08 I kinda had a similar revelation, buy I wasn't fat haha. I was really out of shape though and wasn't really happy with myself. So one day I decided that it was time to do something about it! I began a rather rigorous exercise regiment that took about 2 hours a day... Did a shitload of running and whatnot. Tried to stay away from gaining a lot of muscle mass and instead focused on exersizes that took a long time to complete, and it was fucking painfull. Now that I look back at it, it's kinda amazing that I could only do about 50 sit ups before I collapsed (now I do about 600 in 20 minutes). I watched my diet, and like you, drank a lot of water. After a few months I became a vegetarian as well, and it was great. I'm unfortunately not one anymore, but I only tend to eat chicken and fish. Trying to keep a vegetarian diet does keep you on your toes like you said though. As long as you are physically capable, not really trying to offend anyone, but all success in this field is based entirely on how mentally disciplined you are. Quitting soda, fastfood and eating junk food are great ideas to consider. Even now, I never drink soda unless it's the only thing available or if I feel like treatin myself (I'm not completely anal about it). Haven't eaten fastfood since I quit either. I do however... pig out on junk food... very often :I With what I do though, it doesn't affect me enough to bother me.

It takes a lot of work, there is no escaping that, but the end result is always good. In my case, it made me 10x more self confident and I feel more awake during the day. Also allowed me to discover what a vagina is really like :remmysmug:

[ejburke]

Step 1: Identify foods that you should eat and foods that you should not eat.

Step 2: Make the former available and the latter unavailable.

Step 3: Profit. Literally. Nutritious food is cheap.

Like anything, it's important to have a strategy. When you get up in the morning, make sure you know what you're going to eat that day and when you're going to eat it, roughly. Avoid going more than 3 hours without eating something to keep your metabolism steady and your hunger subdued.

Make weekly allowances for "cheat" type meal items, but focus on quality, rather than quantity. Break your cheat item into 2-3 meals to further diminish its impact on your weight loss.

Talking more specifically, this is what I do pretty much every day.

1) Wake up.

2) Water to rehydrate.

3) 1 hour cardio.

You burn more fat when you do cardio from a fasted state. Strength training should be done later in the day when your supply of glycogen has been replenished.

4) 1 hour after waking up, 3/4 cup old-fashioned oatmeal. Hot. Plain.

This is pretty much the perfect food to eat as your first meal. It digests and is absorbed into your blood stream slowly and eases your metabolism into gear. It is very easy to spike your insulin levels first thing in the morning. Even healthy foods which are a part of my menu can easily cause a spike if eaten first thing.

Before anyone asks, instant oatmeal or other processed oatmeal products are not a substitute. The real stuff takes less than 10 minutes total cooking time. Seriously. Eat this shit or I will find you.

5) 1-2 hours later, 1 cup Plain lowfat yogurt w/ fresh or frozen blueberries stirred in.

Studies have shown that Calcium accelerate fat loss, especially around the belly. Blueberries add flavor and antioxidants.

6) 2-3 hours later, 1 tuna sandwich -- 1 can chunk light yellowfin on seedless rye w/ mustard.

Protein. Omega 3 fatty acid. The bread and the mustard have no real value, but it's hard to eat dry, plain tuna.

If you're going to eat bread, rye has just about the lowest glycemic value, making it an ideal candidate. Mustard is high in sodium, but has no calories. Use enough that you're not choking down the sandwich, but don't go crazy with it.

7) 2-3 hours later, 1 handful shelled walnuts.

Need fat somewhere. Might as well make it healthy and nutritious fat.

8) 1 hours later, 1 cup plain lowfat yogurt w/ blueberries. Again.

You need 1000mg of calcium a day. The average person gets half of that. The catch is, if you eat it in a single meal, your body won't absorb it all. You have to space out your calcium doses by 4-5 hours to get the full benefit.

9) 2-3 hours later, DINNER -- 1 marinated skinless, boneless chicken breast, baked (I use a store-bought tangy, cayenne and vinegar-based marinade almost exclusively), half a large sweet potato, black beans.

Technically, you're supposed to eat heavier earlier in the day and lighter later, but screw that. You need something hot and meaty to look forward to, or at least I do.

The chicken is just protein. The cayenne in the marinade gives it a kick and gives benefits to pretty much every part of your body. I tried consuming cayenne as a part of a drink, but that didn't work out too well for me.

The sweet potato and black beans have all sorts of good shit in them.

10) 1-2 hours later, 1 large apple.

Dessert. I prefer golden delicious.

11) Multivitamin. Sleep.

I agree that a water filter and a re-usable water bottle are terrific investments. Although I still drink diet soda sometimes. Artificial sweeteners tend to make us consume more food when we're not paying attention to what we eat, but if you are paying attention, there shouldn't be a problem. They're bad for you in other ways and you should limit your intake, but if you're only concerned about weight, they can be innocuous enough.

Whew.

Sorry!

[neuro]

this isn't completely weight-loss related, but more into general-health, and in response to the drink alot of water comment.
i'd just like to point out one small thing about water in bottles.

don't buy water in PET bottles (the plastic ones)
there's chemicals in the plastic that leaks out into the water which is especially dangerous to pregnant women.

it's a chemical that counter-acts testosteron, which not only causes the obvious things (SMALL PENIS!), but can lead to incomplete developments for unborn babys when pregnant women drink from plastic bottles.

otherwise, you're fine.


Saido, a chemist with the College of Pharmacy, Nihon University, Chiba, Japan, said his team found that when plastic decomposes it releases potentially toxic bisphenol A (BPA) and PS oligomer into the water, causing additional pollution. Plastics usually do not break down in an animal's body after being eaten. However, the substances released from decomposing plastic are absorbed and could have adverse effects. BPA and PS oligomer are sources of concern because they can disrupt the functioning of hormones in animals and can seriously affect reproductive systems.
Some studies suggest that low-level exposure to BPA released from certain plastic containers and the linings of cans may have adverse health effects.


http://www.planetthoughts.org/?pg=pt/Whole&qid=3011

[Limited]

My advice is, know your body type! Firstly metabolism, you need to know if you have a fast or slow metabolism, this refers to the amount of energy your body uses up just to do general body functions, breathing, heart pumping. It also has to do with how quickly you burn energy off.

I have a fast metabolism, I burn off energy quickly, this is mainly why I have a lean body type. I suppose you could say lucky for me, I can eat pretty much anything and I won't put on weight. Thats all good right? Wrong. being healthy isnt just about weight, its about what good nutrition you put in.

Have a balanced diet, dont have too much of anything, make sure you eat fruit, drink water and have sensible main meals.

If your overweight, my advice is to give it a go changing your eating habits. Dont expect to shed the pounds off instantly, it won't happen. I hate the work diet, because diet means you go on one, and you have to come off, change your eating habits for life. Maybe set a goal to eat an apple every day, and a banana every 2 days. Then build up.

You will feel alot better, you will be able to think clearer, feel happier. Mix this with exercise, such as jogging or running, and bingo.

Back to body type, my housemate is 15 stone, hes a big build though, he only has a small amount of fat, the rest of it is muscle/untoned muscle. Whereas someone else might be 15 stone, but be extremely overweight, depending on the body type. So dont worry if you actually weigh alot.

[annihilation]

Holy shit, Llama.
You look amazing!

I'm trying to loose weight and excersize myself.
I find it so hard to get up and do it though.

[Sel]

Hey I need tips on becoming fat.

anyone wanna help

And damn dude, you look good now, congrats.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

Looking really good there! Self-discipline is the key.

[mech]

If anyone wants to build muscle mass pm me for a workout routine.

[Sel]

I got ripped


IN FOUR WEEKS

[L0d3x]

I just wanted to give my 2 cents and say that fruit juice is actually just extra calories. Stick to water and green tea. Green tea is said to help the body burn fat more efficiently.

Also, apples and alot of fruits, actually burn off more calories than they contain. So if you ate a bit too much some day, just eat an apple. An apple is just the ideal snack.

[SMASH]

I eat what I want and I'm 5'10" 140 lbs and got a resemblance of a 6-pack. I feel really bad for people who take eating as a chore, but I do give props to them. I could never do it.

[paladin]

I got ripped


IN FOUR WEEKS

BEEFCAKE
http://static.open.salon.com/files/cartman_beefcake1219035580.jpg

[mech]

I eat what I want and I'm 5'10" 140 lbs and got a resemblance of a 6-pack. I feel really bad for people who take eating as a chore, but I do give props to them. I could never do it.

You're a scrawny man.

[MetKiller Joe]

You're a scrawny man.

6' 3" 135 lbs. I'm an effin' stick.

But seriously, it is awesome. Few people have that kind of dedication, and you look very happy to boot (who wouldn't be?).

[SMASH]

You're a scrawny man.

Yea, but I'm toned so it's aight. I've tried everything to GAIN weight and it hasn't worked so I've just been focusing on toning.

[blind]

I don't work out but the ladies like what my bodies cookin. So yeah.

[TeeKup]

I tend to walk a lot, I drink water, green tea, and peach tea. Although as of late there hasn't been any decent food in the house. I prefer apples and oranges.

[teh lag]

I got fat in middle school and haven't had luck in dropping it since then. Right now I'm 155 and 5'7. I haven't gained any net weight since last year, but I've fluctuated a lot. I was 165 in the summer, but I get way more exercise during the school year. I walk to/from school, lift weights first period, and run 6-10 miles a week depending on my laziness levels - this seems to be at least a passable amount of exercise. As far as eating goes I'm not big on sweets or Cheetos-class junk food, though I'm pretty much constantly snacking on something (usually nuts or crackers).

[ICEE]

I kind of need the inverse of this. I am 5'10 and weigh 125 pounds. I eat whatever I want. Fast food is a rarity and I never drink dark sodas because of a stomach condition. I am a human rail.

[blind]

i weigh 162.5 and im 6' ps :]

[RedBaron]

Yeah... I need some tips to gain some healthy weight. I'm 5'11 and weigh 125.

This is probably related too, but I feel tired almost all the time. I don't even feel motivated most of the time to do shit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not depressed or anti social, I've got good friends and we have loads of laughs. I treat my body like shit and barely get 6-7 hours of sleep 5 days a week. I swear, American school system does not promote healthy living.

[annihilation]

I'm 5'7 and about 180 pounds.

[Ganon]

yall r short


6'5" 190 lbs

[annihilation]

All the cool kids are 6'' and under.
E: +rep if you get the reference.

[Llama Juice]

Yeah... I need some tips to gain some healthy weight. I'm 5'11 and weigh 125.

This is probably related too, but I feel tired almost all the time. I don't even feel motivated most of the time to do shit. Don't get me wrong, I'm not depressed or anti social, I've got good friends and we have loads of laughs. I treat my body like shit and barely get 6-7 hours of sleep 5 days a week. I swear, American school system does not promote healthy living.

Do you go to McDonalds and such? I know it sounds kinda silly to ask, but like they just did that monopoly thing and my producer started going there every day trying to get the tickets (whadda sap). Slowly through the month he looked more and more miserable. On the flip side, when I turned my diet around I was able to feel it within a friggin week. Stop drinking soda, start drinking a shitton more water(carry a water bottle with you everywhere), and walk more often. Just doing that alone will make you feel heaps better.

Also, you're only supposed to get 7.5 hours of sleep a night, 8 hours is too much apparently. :P

[DEElekgolo]

ITT: body mass indexes. (http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/)
Also, since 3 days ago I promised myself I would finish a bottle of this:
http://www.steveklotz.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/smartwater.jpg
Every day when I finish it I re-fill it and put it in the fridge for the next day. And throw it out after about 5 days or so.

[Llama Juice]

^ I went from a BMI of 32.5 to 23.7

I believe that the BMI is a horrible way to measure obesity considering that it only takes weight and height in... when you could be extremely muscular and it'd say you're obese... but... *shrug* that's just me. Also, with me being 6 foot, 174.6 lbs (just stepped on the scale lol) it's saying I'm damn near overweight.

[blind]

You can't really accurately measure bmi from a calculator guys.

All the cool kids are 6'' and under.
E: +rep if you get the reference.
you said inch. small dick.

[king_nothing_]

You can't really accurately measure bmi from a calculator guys.
Yes you can, because BMI itself is nothing more than a simple calculation. But if you meant that BMI isn't always accurate in determining whether or not someone is at a healthy weight, then I would agree.

[blind]

Yes you can, because BMI itself is nothing more than a simple calculation. But if you meant that BMI isn't always accurate in determining whether or not someone is at a healthy weight, then I would agree.
o right im thinking of actual body fat percentage :wave:

[Heathen]

I'd tap you both.

But naw srsly, you did damn good man. Its inspiring.

Of course the most I have ever weighed was 130, I way 127 atm and I am 5'10".

[Atty]

3) 1 hour cardio.

You burn more fat when you do cardio from a fasted state. Strength training should be done later in the day when your supply of glycogen has been replenished.

4Uhm, while I am in no mood to read your entire post or pay attention to anything else in this thread (until I get bored enough again) I would like to point out one thing:

You don't burn "more" fat when you do it early in the morning, after "fasting". While it's true you are obtaining more energy from fat stores than anywhere else you can easily obtain the same goals later in the day.

Fat loss is dependent on one thing: The amount of calories you take in. If you take in less than you burn then you will lose fat. It doesn't matter when you do your cardiovascular exercise, it only matters that the amount of total calories burned at the end of the day is more than the amount you took in that day.

Now I'm sure "studies" have shown some appealing benefits to doing cardio at one time of the day vs another, same as weight lifting (testosterone levels, strength levels, muscle elasticity, etc, etc) but really, it doesn't matter. Get it done. That's all you need to do.

I could give you ten billion things to help you out here but I'm too lazy, maybe tomorrow when I'm in class I'll type something up instead of paying attention.


If anyone wants to build muscle mass pm me for a workout routine.
Post it please, I could use a good laugh.

[Rook]

ITT: body mass indexes. (http://www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi/)


20.4

[blind]

Uhm, while I am in no mood to read your entire post or pay attention to anything else in this thread (until I get bored enough again) I would like to point out one thing:

You don't burn "more" fat when you do it early in the morning, after "fasting". While it's true you are obtaining more energy from fat stores than anywhere else you can easily obtain the same goals later in the day.

Fat loss is dependent on one thing: The amount of calories you take in. If you take in less than you burn then you will lose fat. It doesn't matter when you do your cardiovascular exercise, it only matters that the amount of total calories burned at the end of the day is more than the amount you took in that day.

Now I'm sure "studies" have shown some appealing benefits to doing cardio at one time of the day vs another, same as weight lifting (testosterone levels, strength levels, muscle elasticity, etc, etc) but really, it doesn't matter. Get it done. That's all you need to do.

I could give you ten billion things to help you out here but I'm too lazy, maybe tomorrow when I'm in class I'll type something up instead of paying attention.


Post it please, I could use a good laugh.
you're such a dick. and actually cardio should realistically be done in the morning to wake u up and give you a happy blast of endorphins

[mech]

Post it please, I could use a good laugh.

Why would an excercise routine make you laugh? I'm not trying to get ridiculed by a guy who ejaculates on a piece of paper and post's it on the internet.

[CrAsHOvErRide]

Barely any overweight people I know. I like many others have to walk to school every morning around 1.5 miles.

[Atty]

you're such a dick. and actually cardio should realistically be done in the morning to wake u up and give you a happy blast of endorphinsYeah, I am a dick, why does that matter?

I was pointing out that doing cardio at any time of day will give him the same weight loss benefit as doing it first thing in the morning. That way no one forces themselves into a non-ideal routine for some benefit they won't actually get.


Why would an excercise routine make you laugh? I'm not trying to get ridiculed by a guy who ejaculates on a piece of paper and post's it on the internet.Why? Because most peoples weight lifting routines are laughable.

[annihilation]

Actually, cardio is more effective first thing in the morning hth

[Heathen]

yall r short


6'5" 190 lbs

Yeah, but your a monster retard, Robert.
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/030813/9427__brad_l.jpg

[Ganon]

you do know that 190 lbs for that height is p FIT >;O

[Heathen]

I just went all over the fucking place looking for the risky prop thread on the ol' UMT freeforums to find your picture and its gone :[

[EX12693]

FUKKK I have a BMI of 15.3! :gonk:
(5 feet 4 inches, 89 pounds)

[Heathen]

http://i171.photobucket.com/albums/u302/tehganon/meathowecaverns.jpg

lololololololololol

[Ganon]

dam u

[EX12693]

idgi?:raise:

[Heathen]

idgi?:raise:

your asking us of you dont get it?

[EX12693]

No. I just dont get it.

[STLRamsFan]

Props to you losing the weight man! I know what's it like man, been there done that. Awesome feeling aint it? Just remember to stay with it man.

As most of you guys know, I'm a hardcore runner. Since some of you guys are talking about routines and such, I'll post a bit of what I do. In terms of running, my workouts can be continuous runs, tempos, intervals, and even long runs. It just depends on when it's scheduled. I do warm up and cool down, always need to get my legs going and shake off my workout. After most runs I do strides which are basically comfortable strints. The strides are to help with leg turnover and such. My mileage has been in the 40s lately be cause of an injured groin but I'm aiming to get it up to the 50s by mid December. Don't want to risk aggravating it.

As far as my lifting goes, I do two sessions a week. Push and pull, no legs because of the stress it put on my legs. While it works for some, it just didn't work for me. I'm planning on adding days of body weight exercises, used to be consistent doing it but stopped during my tampering for my ten miler. I do work on my core but could be a little more consistent with it. Happens to be my least favorite area to workout. I'm possibly adding pilates but I'll probably worry about that later on when class isn't being such a pain in the ass...

And finally, I do some polometrics. These I typically do during my warm up for intervals, while they don't show results right away, it's the long term you have to keep in mind. Your explosiveness off the line can sometimes play a role in your race.

And with that being said I'm done, can't really think of anything more to write haha. If anyone has a question feel free to ask and I'll answer it the best I can.

[Snowy]

Nice job Llama! Great feeling, isn't it? I have a similar story... well, actually, I've been trying to gain weight, muscle mass. Ever since about the beginning of 11th grade, I've been trying to add some size to my frame.. my friends would always tell me how skinny I was, and one friend in particular would always tell me to "eat a cow". I would go on stints of about 3 weeks where I'd hit the gym about 4-6 times a week, and then I'd stop because I'd never see any results (I know this is about me working out, but the same concept applies to those wanting to lose weight). After about 3 weeks of working out, I would not feel motivated anymore. Why bother right? Well, in the beginning of this summer, I finally decided that I wanted to change (and I completely agree with Llama.. you have to really want to change yourself... you can't just start thinking that once you see your target results, you'll just stop.. or the results will go away).

My best advice - do it with a friend. You have to. Otherwise you eventually won't be motivated anymore. There where days during junior year where I would get to the gym and just be like "eh, you know what, I really don't feel like working out today." Get a schedule and stick to it. For this summer mine was workout one day, rest the next. Now that I initially got through the first few months with a friend, I've seen results and (since he's in wrestling now) I workout by myself for the most part, but I don't suffer from that lack of motivation anymore.

Also, get a decent diet... stop putting that fast food in your body. When I was at Quakecon, I made two trips to whataburger at 3am in the morning, and ate pretty much nothing but pizza and bawls the rest of the time. On the Monday after Quakecon, I had absolutely no energy for working out. It took me another week before I felt back to normal. You'd be surprised how much fast food affects you after you starting eating a few more fruits.

Now, don't get me wrong, I have a fast metabolism, and I didn't completely revamp my diet, but like llama said, do a few things.. water, have a banana instead of chips, etc. etc, but you must be consistent.

At the beginning of summer I weighed about 154, now, I weigh in at close to 170. I didn't make a huge lifestyle change or anything, but a few small key things. Anybody can lose or gain muscle, you just have to be committed to it.

[Dwood]

Yeah, but your a monster retard, Robert.
http://img2.timeinc.net/ew/dynamic/imgs/030813/9427__brad_l.jpg

Must. Spread. Rep.

E:
Yeah, I don't move from the computer much...

So I've started biking to relieve the stress of being cooped up all day, build some muscle, and get some fresh air. I don't eat much so weight really isn't a problem for me, I just know I need to bike and get some exercise, so I've started taking my ipod and 10-20 minutes every once in a while and doing something that requires effort.