[frookenhauer]

When you say jammed...does it smell afterwards?!?

[stone monkey]

Or you could just chill, do a little more and eat a little better... Unless you're actually wanting to train for a specific reason or event, just relaxing about stuff and trying not to worry overly about how unhealthy you are will do you a world of good.

[masan's saddle]

I agree with SM, change can be a good thing, however the way you look is usually indicative of your lifestyle in general. Take it easy ma breadskinner, otherwise you might wake up one day and find out you morphed into something grim.

[Slow Ben]

I dont like supplements myself, the only thing i take is protein when i'm not getting enough in my diet or want to cycle in a little extra.
When people ask me the best weight loss supplement I usually tell them "get your ass on a treadmill". the only reason i suggest L Glutamine is it when your trying to lose weight it helps keep your muscles intact so your losing fat and not mass.

And agreeing with SM and MS, if you do some diet and it just makes you miserable, STOP IT, try something else. No use being really, really, really ridiculously good looking if your miserable.

[frookenhauer]

I agree with S&M too, if you keep it up into the wee hours you'll soon see a noticeable difference in the way you carry yourself and even the way you sit may be different.

[RodeoRanch]

Become poor. Start fighting other hobos for scraps.

[HoosierDaddy]

Medieval diet. Newest ancient trend.

[stone monkey]

RodeoRanch, on Feb 20 2009, 01:15 AM, said:

Become poor. Start fighting other hobos for scraps.

And film it so we can put it on the internet...Oops, boat's already sailed on that one...

[Slow Ben]

Thats so wrong...but i still wanna watch it, is that bad?

[Mezla PigDog]

Slow Ben, on Feb 19 2009, 07:14 PM, said:

No use being really, really, really ridiculously good looking if your miserable.

But it helps! Especially if you are a miserable bugger anyway. Might as well be a hot miserable bugger!

CF, are you trying to lose your gut for the wedding?

[cerveza_fiesta]

stone monkey, on Feb 19 2009, 07:38 PM, said:

Or you could just chill, do a little more and eat a little better... Unless you're actually wanting to train for a specific reason or event, just relaxing about stuff and trying not to worry overly about how unhealthy you are will do you a world of good.

I am wanting to train harder for rock climbing and get off this skill plateau I've been on for a couple years.

Slow Ben, on Feb 19 2009, 08:14 PM, said:

I dont like supplements myself, the only thing i take is protein when i'm not getting enough in my diet or want to cycle in a little extra.
When people ask me the best weight loss supplement I usually tell them "get your ass on a treadmill". the only reason i suggest L Glutamine is it when your trying to lose weight it helps keep your muscles intact so your losing fat and not mass.

And agreeing with SM and MS, if you do some diet and it just makes you miserable, STOP IT, try something else. No use being really, really, really ridiculously good looking if your miserable.

Anyway, the first step in climbing harder is leaning up. Pulling less weight means you can climb harder...simple as that. I know I don't have the genetics to (for instance) compete on the national circuit...I just want to improve on what I can do now. Shedding my unneeded fat would help that a lot, but I can't be shedding muscle mass at the same time because that's not very useful...especially since all my muscle is of the denser lean type, rather than bulky bodybuilding type. I'm going to look into the L-glutamine thing. Maybe not for me but it can't hurt to research it.

But thanks for the advices. I'm going to start the multi-meal plan next week and see how it goes....plus try out that calculator thingy to estimate my calorie usage. Seems a sensible place to start, coupled with my regular excercise routine. Nutrition is for sure the weakest link in my training plans.

[cerveza_fiesta]

Last night I went online and did some research for meal planning software. Looks like there's a few pretty good ones, judging by reviews from various discussion fora.

Settled on BigOven software. It lets you seach a massive archive online, lets you add your own recipes, drag-drop meal planning and grocery list generation, including 3 meals and snacks. Nutritional info estimates based on ingredients and quantities for Calorie count, vitamins, fat, sodium etc...

Anyways, it's only 50 bucks to buy the software along with getting a CD shipped to you. Maybe cheaper on amazon but they've got a 30 day trial period. Seems like my prayers have been answered. Now if only they had such a thing for planning your day...

[Mushroom]

As long as you burn more calories than what you consume, you can eat whatever the hell you like.


Works for me.

[Mezla PigDog]

cerveza_fiesta, on Mar 2 2009, 08:55 AM, said:

Last night I went online and did some research for meal planning software. Looks like there's a few pretty good ones, judging by reviews from various discussion fora.

Settled on BigOven software. It lets you seach a massive archive online, lets you add your own recipes, drag-drop meal planning and grocery list generation, including 3 meals and snacks. Nutritional info estimates based on ingredients and quantities for Calorie count, vitamins, fat, sodium etc...

Anyways, it's only 50 bucks to buy the software along with getting a CD shipped to you. Maybe cheaper on amazon but they've got a 30 day trial period. Seems like my prayers have been answered. Now if only they had such a thing for planning your day...

You know you can do that kind of thing yourself for free with a small amount of effort? Basically just make your usual recipes and work out the calorie content. This involves a few boring weeks of weighing your ingredients and working out the calorie content of each thing but you only need to calculate it for proteins, fats and carbs. After a while, you can make pretty accurate estimates of the calorie content of stuff just from knowing the quantities of the raw ingredients used. You just need to know the nutritional information (either from the packet or internet) and have some kitchen scales. Doing it yourself will give you a better understanding of your diet and you will see where your biggest calorie intake comes from and be able to work out where you can cut some out..... It sounds harder than it is. I would say just cook something you usually have and work out the calorie content and see how easy it is.

I did that for a spell and the main thing was that it opened my eyes to what I was eating and has changed my diet permanently because I understand where the energy is in my food.

This post has been edited by Mezla PigDog: 02 March 2009 - 03:41 PM

[cerveza_fiesta]

Mushroom, on Mar 2 2009, 10:28 AM, said:

As long as you burn more calories than what you consume, you can eat whatever the hell you like.
Works for me.

Way too narrow of a view for what I want to do unfortunately. The energy in vs. energy out equation makes sense on the surface, but nutrition is all in how calories of each type get used, how easily they are digested and stored, and the fact that all calories are not equal. 1 calorie-worth of corn syrup is not in any way the same as 1 calorie-worth of beef. The former contains essentialy water and a couple of basic carbohydrate (fructose), with very little other nutritional content. The latter contains essential vitamins/minerals, complex carbs, protein and fat -- all of which are digested and treated in a different way by the body.

Mezla PigDog, on Mar 2 2009, 11:36 AM, said:

You know you can do that kind of thing yourself for free with a small amount of effort? Basically just make your usual recipes and work out the calorie content. This involves a few boring weeks of weighing your ingredients and working out the calorie content of each thing but you only need to calculate it for proteins, fats and carbs. After a while, you can make pretty accurate estimates of the calorie content of stuff just from knowing the quantities of the raw ingredients used. You just need to know the nutritional information (either from the packet or internet) and have some kitchen scales. Doing it yourself will give you a better understanding of your diet and you will see where your biggest calorie intake comes from and be able to work out where you can cut some out..... It sounds harder than it is. I would say just cook something you usually have and work out the calorie content and see how easy it is.

I did that for a spell and the main thing was that it opened my eyes to what I was eating and has changed my diet permanently because I understand where the energy is in my food.

Thanks for that description mez, makes sense and I've tried this and certainly benefited from it. My main problem is finding time to put into such a thing. I have about 500 things on the go in a given week and I was looking for a more quick n dirty solution to my nutrition woes. Just no time to devote to the research and reading required for a proper homebuilt nutrition plan.

I determined my main problem is that nutrition is dangerously close to accounting. I can do complex calculus and all for my engineering projects, but my mind blanks when presented with a $$ sign. In my nutrition thinking, the $$ is all too easily replaced by "calorie" and I get a similar mind blanking effect.

[Mezla PigDog]

Why don't you try a combination of starving, protein shakes and anabolic steroids? I bet you would look like Stallone in Cliffhanger in no time!

[frookenhauer]

Mezla could you possibly invent a diet pill that gives you everything a person needs fer sho. And then we can eat whatever and just count the calories to our optimum?!? Pretty please.

[amphibian]

Frookenhauer, on Mar 2 2009, 12:47 PM, said:

Mezla could you possibly invent a diet pill that gives you everything a person needs fer sho. And then we can eat whatever and just count the calories to our optimum?!? Pretty please.

It's called Soylent Green. Look it up.

Cerveza, make sure you budget for time as well. That initial couple hours spent figuring out the system online is cool, but seriously make that effort to spend 15 minutes a day on that thing. Make it worth your money and energy. Good luck.

[cerveza_fiesta]

@amphibian

Got it. I figured out the basic operation of the software last night and its...convoluted to say the least. I want to try a couple other packages before I settle just cos I don't really like the interface of this one. Its tolerable and would certainly do once I got more familiar with the ins-and-outs, but I hate to pay for software that has put so little thought into the stream-linedness their GUI. Its like going to a company's website and needing more than 30 seconds to find the "contact us" link. Computer age people...get it right.

Not sure is my sentiment at the moment. The 160k recipe archive is pretty awesome all in all. Set up with user submissions and and star-ratings for the better recipes...so you know if its any good. You can add shit to a grocery list and permanently modify the serving-count depending on your personal needs. I'd say once I had it figured out it would be roughly 60 minutes/week worth of searching and adding to get suppers and lunches completely planned out.

I got 4 other packages to try out too...one of which is freeware so I'll update.

[Abyss]

Slow Ben, on Feb 19 2009, 03:13 PM, said:

Or if you wanted to lose weight real fast you could just start using crack, but i dont recommend it.

^ best personal trainer. ever.


On a basic level, just exercising more and paying attention to what you eat makes a huge difference. It's not rocket science to conclude that eating McDonalds on a regular basis isn't doing you any good.

When you have specific goals for specific activities in mind, it pays to do the specific research - climbing, by example, requires certain muscles more than others and a level of cardio fitness that lets you maintain the energy level needed to climb.

- Abyss, notes treadmills taste like chicken.