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Helloo! Thanks for clicking the blog! I hope you can and will help me  !!
I'm not happy with how I look. Blergh. For as far as I can remember, I've been a bit of a fatty. Recently, when I started studying, it's gotten worse. Too much beer and probably not enough effective exercise, combined with eating not too structurally.I want to be healthier, look more fit and feel more fit as well. I've been lazy recently.
About me;
20 year old European male, 183 cm in length, about 110kg in weight (don't have scales here). I spend 5 days a week in my students apartment, 2 days at home. The gear at the apartment; 6 Dumbbells (2x1kg, 2x3kg, 2x7kg, considering purchasing another) and running shoes. At home, I've got a racing cycle I haven't really used lately. I used to be quite good with it (finished a 140km tour through slightly hilly terrain 0.0!!) but stopped.
I don't really know what I am looking for, in fact. I am hoping some of you can help me. The amount of information I can find is just so overwhelming! Do this, do that, cardio sucks, cardio is the best, lifting rocks, just eat less, pattern this, etcetera. I'm sure you understand what I'm getting at. My goal is to end up in a style of like that allows me to have a night out with a couple too many beers whenever I feel like it, but still have me look and feel healthy! I know it could all be split in two parts;
FOOD
Eating well and eating healthy. But recently, I've been reading up on things and apparently, everything not a vegetable is unhealthy for you in some way, shape or form. Right now would be a good time to note that I am gluten and lactose intolerant, making things even more limited. I really don't know what a healthy diet would be. Maybe some of you could offer some help? It has to be affordable, offcourse, and I suppose having a good breakfast, lunch, dinner and perhaps a small list of responsible snacks would do?
As for drinks, I've recently cut myself down to either of these 5: Water, thee (sometimes with honey), coffee, some combination of fruit juice (20%-25%) and water (75%-80%) because I like the taste better, and the occasional beer with the buddies.
EXERCISE
Sports! Which you can split in two categories;
CARDIO
So, I started running. I found a program called 'Start2Run', which uses a schedule (to be found here: http://begin2run.nl/start-to-run/) for beginning runners. I started of having a hard time running for 2 minutes, now I can handle 5 to 6 already without a break! I love the feeling of improvement!!
As for the racing cycle, I plan to do a run weekly from now on. Will I build a lot of stamina going once a week, probably not, but I'll be doing something and I burn the calories regardless.
STRENGHT
I'm really unfamiliar on this area and I don't like it as much either. I don't really know what to do, I end up googling some exercises and doing them, but that really doesn't feel progressive. I found this one hundred push up plan (http://www.hundredpushups.com/week1.html) and I might jump on that?
What I'm really looking for is some structure in my life, as well as tips for the healthy diet. I'm kinda clueless and in the abundance of information on the internet I can't decide what makes sense and what does not. I came to here hoping some experienced people would help me with it!
In short, these are my questions:
- What are good meals to eat, for breakfast, lunch, dinner, as well as the regular snack (Keeping in mind lactose and gluten intolerance).
- What would a good schedule be for working out? I'm currently thinking of (starting at monday): Running / Strenght / Running / Strenght / Running / Cycle one of the weekend days.
- What can I do for Strenght. I don't have a gym in my vicinity, so I gotta do with what I have (one of those yogaball things, a mat, and the aforementioned dumbbells).
- Seeing as I sit most of my day studying/playing SC2, is there maybe something to be done about that? Put an alarm every 30 minutes and do like 1 minute of small exercises just to keep blood flowing?
I'm really hoping I can get some good advice out of you guys!
Thanks in advance,
Toastie
PS dropped this in the fitness and health initiative 2014 as well
 
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If you can get a squat rack/power rack and olympic bar with weights then you can do some excellent training without any more gym. Something like Stronglifts 5x5 is good to start with.
For diet, if you're gluten intolerant I imagine it'd be good to eat lots of rice dishes. But given that you're overweight, cut down on your rice and so on and eat more vegies and fruit. Cut all sugar out of your diet until you're at a more acceptable weight, and even then don't eat much of it. It's not a bad idea to get a rough idea of your calorie requirements for maintenance and losing weight, and then eat just below maintenance and add on the strength training. You'll burn fat slowly, build muscle/strength, and not get any loose skin (from what I understand).
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Good that you posted in the h&f, lots of advice to be found there.
Regarding sitting/sc2 and strength... I try to do push-ups/pull-ups/sit-ups between every game (often based on the number of ladder points won/lost). Get a pull-up bar if you can :D
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On March 19 2014 18:03 y0su wrote:
Good that you posted in the h&f, lots of advice to be found there.
Regarding sitting/sc2 and strength... I try to do push-ups/pull-ups/sit-ups between every game (often based on the number of ladder points won/lost). Get a pull-up bar if you can :D
haha I like that idea! Thanks!!
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On March 19 2014 18:02 Birdie wrote:For diet, if you're gluten intolerant I imagine it'd be good to eat lots of rice dishes. But given that you're overweight, cut down on your rice and so on and eat more vegies and fruit. Cut all sugar out of your diet until you're at a more acceptable weight, and even then don't eat much of it. It's not a bad idea to get a rough idea of your calorie requirements for maintenance and losing weight, and then eat just below maintenance and add on the strength training. You'll burn fat slowly, build muscle/strength, and not get any loose skin (from what I understand).
Any hints on how to calculate that, or is it just estimating?
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Start easy, start slow and don't over complicate things. Please forget about 6 days a week etc (certainly at the start).
IMO, the best way to lose weight (especially if you are not concerned about getting all muscle bound) is lots of steady cardio in the form of running. For the next 8 - 12 weeks commit to running 3 x week minimum with another day devoted to a long brisk walk (and only if you want to). I'd also suggest that you enter a 5K race in about 3 months time to really focus your training.
Three runs a week is doable. You have no excuses and you can reschedule as long as you make 3 runs a week. There are a number of good beginner running programs out there. One good one is the 12 week couch to 5K program. Look it up.
Don't go overboard on diet etc either. Just cut out most of your junk food (chips, chocolate, sugary drinks etc). Have a good breakfast every morning. I recommend something low GI like oats (most cereals are bad) and fruit. Eat lightly at night.
Good luck. And have fun. Exercising is not meant to be work.
Edit/ Removed milk with oats as I realised you are lactose intolerant. Gluten free oats are an option but I am not sure about the purity of these oats. You might want to talk about with your doctor first. So scratch that for a breakfast suggestion.
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On March 19 2014 18:09 SC2Toastie wrote:Show nested quote +On March 19 2014 18:02 Birdie wrote:For diet, if you're gluten intolerant I imagine it'd be good to eat lots of rice dishes. But given that you're overweight, cut down on your rice and so on and eat more vegies and fruit. Cut all sugar out of your diet until you're at a more acceptable weight, and even then don't eat much of it. It's not a bad idea to get a rough idea of your calorie requirements for maintenance and losing weight, and then eat just below maintenance and add on the strength training. You'll burn fat slowly, build muscle/strength, and not get any loose skin (from what I understand). Any hints on how to calculate that, or is it just estimating?
Plenty of information about it on the internet, but the rough way to do it is to just cut down on the amount of food you eat each week until you start losing weight. So take your typical weekly diet, cut down the amount of, say, potatoes in your evening meal each night, and see if that's enough to lose weight. If not, cut it down more, until you find the magic food quantity that will get you to lose weight.
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On March 19 2014 18:14 aZealot wrote:
Start easy, start slow and don't over complicate things. Please forget about 6 days a week etc (certainly at the start).
IMO, the best way to lose weight (especially if you are not concerned about getting all muscle bound) is lots of steady cardio in the form of running. For the next 8 - 12 weeks commit to running 3 x week minimum with another day devoted to a long brisk walk (and only if you want to). I'd also suggest that you enter a 5K race in about 3 months time to really focus your training.
Three runs a week is doable. You have no excuses and you can reschedule as long as you make 3 runs a week. There are a number of good beginner running programs out there. One good one is the 12 week couch to 5K program. Look it up.
I linked a running programm in my post which I try to follow! Thanks for the advise!
About the six days, that'd give me some structure. 30m daily is easy planning :-)!
I don't want to end up like Stalone, but having some muscle tissue won't hurt. Also, for the sake of variety, I like to do a couple of different things, you understand?
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If you manage to go running like three times a week and adjust your diet, then it should be no problem. I don´t know about "getting buff in 3 weeks", but I suppose that´s not your goal. From personal experience:
Exercise:
- Running is better than cycling for burning fat, but harder on the knees. Make sure your knees are warmed up before you start running.
- Get a watch that monitors your heart rate for running, so you
- Weight exercise: There´s books and free online stuff you can google, where you can specifically look for exercises with dumbbells or without any weights. Don´t go hard on it, though. It feels satisfying, but running is way more important.
- Train with these priorities in descending order: 1) frequency, 2) duration, 3) intensity. That means, don´t go crazy on tiring yourself in a short time and feel horrible the next day.
- Train with SC2 streams or podcasts on, so you can fit it in your everyday life
Food:
- Start cooking every day, so the effort doesn´t bother you any more.
- Have vegetables in every meal.
- Get some cook books, either for losing weight specifically or just Italian and Indian cuisine, as they are both great for eating well while still being delicious.
Google is your friend:
- warm up knees before running
- training with dumbbells / without weights
- recipes gluten / lactose free
From personal experience:
- Don´t get too fancy about it. It´s really not that complicated.
- Don´t plan too much. The more elaborate your training- and diet-tables are the more likely you´ll be disappointed when you don´t keep it.
- Routines are your friend.
- Regular sports, cooking and not eating garbage is just fine.
- Routines are your friend. So make them easy routines you can actually adhere to. No fancy-pants!
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On March 19 2014 18:29 SC2Toastie wrote:Show nested quote +On March 19 2014 18:14 aZealot wrote:
Start easy, start slow and don't over complicate things. Please forget about 6 days a week etc (certainly at the start).
IMO, the best way to lose weight (especially if you are not concerned about getting all muscle bound) is lots of steady cardio in the form of running. For the next 8 - 12 weeks commit to running 3 x week minimum with another day devoted to a long brisk walk (and only if you want to). I'd also suggest that you enter a 5K race in about 3 months time to really focus your training.
Three runs a week is doable. You have no excuses and you can reschedule as long as you make 3 runs a week. There are a number of good beginner running programs out there. One good one is the 12 week couch to 5K program. Look it up.
I linked a running programm in my post which I try to follow! Thanks for the advise! About the six days, that'd give me some structure. 30m daily is easy planning :-)! I don't want to end up like Stalone, but having some muscle tissue won't hurt. Also, for the sake of variety, I like to do a couple of different things, you understand?
Just to emphasize it: Running and eating right is enough to get into decent shape. Strength exercises can be healthy, of course, but can also be bad for you. Since you train for yourself, without intricate machines or advice, I´d stay clear of it, or limit it to simple exercises for the abdomen/back, preferrably without weights or much balance required. It´s not a huge thing, mind you, and I find weight training satisfying as well, but it should be the least important part of your plans.
Muscles are dumb: They only grow, or shrink. If trained in an imbalanced way (easy when you don´t know exactly what your doing) your posture and health can suffer from it, as well as your joints, of course.
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I'm thinking of just making a log, starting today, with weight developments and what I do for sports. Should I add what I eat/drink as well?
On March 19 2014 18:30 Daswollvieh wrote:If you manage to go running like three times a week and adjust your diet, then it should be no problem. I don´t know about "getting buff in 3 weeks", but I suppose that´s not your goal. From personal experience: Exercise:- Running is better than cycling for burning fat, but harder on the knees. Make sure your knees are warmed up before you start running. - Get a watch that monitors your heart rate for running, so you I think something fell off over here, something I find quite interesting, actually - Weight exercise: There´s books and free online stuff you can google, where you can specifically look for exercises with dumbbells or without any weights. Don´t go hard on it, though. It feels satisfying, but running is way more important. - Train with these priorities in descending order: 1) frequency, 2) duration, 3) intensity. That means, don´t go crazy on tiring yourself in a short time and feel horrible the next day. Good one. I like to end my runs with a sprint just to feel exhausted. Big NO-NO I guess?- Train with SC2 streams or podcasts on, so you can fit it in your everyday life Haha :-) There isn't too many podcasts around I think  Food:- Start cooking every day, so the effort doesn´t bother you any more. Already do! Meat/Veggies/(Rice/Patatoes/Pasta), but maybe I should lose the latter for a second type of veggies?- Have vegetables in every meal. VEGGIES :D- Get some cook books, either for losing weight specifically or just Italian and Indian cuisine, as they are both great for eating well while still being delicious. Italian!? I know Indian is kinda low on fat, but Italian is high on gluten in everything :-(Google is your friend: I love google!- warm up knees before running - training with dumbbells / without weights - recipes gluten / lactose free From personal experience: - Don´t get too fancy about it. It´s really not that complicated. - Don´t plan too much. The more elaborate your training- and diet-tables are the more likely you´ll be disappointed when you don´t keep it. - Routines are your friend. - Regular sports, cooking and not eating garbage is just fine. - Routines are your friend. So make them easy routines you can actually adhere to. No fancy-pants!
Don't get fancy! That's another good one :-)
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I know it's not for everybody but being lactose intolerant you might try a vegan diet? January 2013 my girlfriend and I we did Atilla Hildmanns vegan-for-fit challenge (i don't like how he turned out to be some vegan messias in mass-media but whatever, it's about the recipes). Without doing any sports I lost 8.5kg in 30 days. (was 1.78m, 95kg at the start) Didn't change much all year. I started to run a lot but our diet got a bit worse so those 2 points evened out I guess.
You can eat delicious things like pancakes and what not for breakfast you just need a bit of motivation to cook each day. I know a lot of people who say vegan food sucks and it tastes horrible etc but that really comes down to cooking skills/recipes. I tricked a few friends with my Lasagna because the meat is not what brings the main flavor : ). That said I'm mainly staying vegan for ethical reasons (and because I noticed that I wasn't missing anything after 30 days.). I absolutely understand anybody who doesn't want such a radical change. If you're having a lot of noodles try using zucchini instead. Takes some time to getting used to but is alot more healthy and quarters your carb-income.
I can't recommend any sports. I like running and sitting on my racing cycle same as you but my main motivation is fun. I might not have the most effective training but I'm constantly doing it because I enjoy it which seems most important to me.
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That vegan diet might actually be worth a try! Do you maybe have some recipes I can steal? Going vegan for couple of days can't hurt and I've got to admit - I never actually tried it either.
If you're interested in helping me a bit with that, we might start a PM conversation or just dump it in here (it's my blog, so I don't mind :D)! I'm always open to try new stuff!
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I lend one of my better cooking books out at the moment and I got to leave for a short time, but I'll try to get a few easy to start recipes online when I'm back : )
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East Gorteau22261 Posts
I'll PM you my Skype if you want and we can chat, I'd be happy to help out (can't until the weekend though)
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I think the most important part is to stay motivated! Really try to put out goals, even if those goals aren't that high or even meaningful. It's just about achieving something.
And don't be lazy after training. Lots of times you will be a little exhausted and feel like you deserve to hang around a little extra or "it doesn't matter if I don't go to the store and cook what I originally had planned, I'm just gonna eat whatever I find in the fridge tonight". That kind of stuff can really set you back. It's kind of obvious, but I think it helps reading it from others.
Good luck!
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United States23455 Posts
I find it's always easier to stay on top of both diet and exercise if you write it down. Keep a fitness journal (you can call this whatever you want, that's what I call mine) and write down all the exercising you do as well as everything you eat. At the start of the your program it will help you analyze what things you are eating that are hurting you physically. I'm one of those guys that just kind of does my own thing to stay fit and doesn't really read guides or expert advice to take everything I say with a grain of salt as I may not really know what I'm talking about :D, but this stuff works for me.
As far as food goes, one of the best things you can eliminate is soda and it seems like you have from your list of drinks. As others have said cooking your own food is really the way to go. Eating out too much is a trap I have fallen into in the past but cooking at home is really not that difficult and is way better for you! I'm usually a chicken and rice/whole wheat pasta/salad/seafood guy. Try to eliminate most red meat except for the occasional steak when you go out to dinner. People tell me to cut red meat entirely but I can't resist a medium rare filet when I go out to eat . Don't eat too many carbs obviously. For breakfast I am constantly eating cereal like a small child haha but I can't stop myself. Since you are lactose intolerant oatmeal can be a good breakfast. Other than that I usually make a two egg omelette with like tomatoes and spinach inside or something it's a pretty good start to a day! This section on eating I am now realizing isn't that helpful but I'm just gonna keep on going. I know there are different levels of gluten intolerance so I'm not sure what you can and can't eat so this may all be unhelpful.
As far as exercise goes I have always been a runner, but my favorite cardio workout BY FAR is swimming. I don't really swim competitively anymore but the benefits of swimming are incredible. You obviously burn fat, but it helps your heart and your lungs tremendously and it is all with the added benefit of not destroying your knees! Running is great too I have always loved both forms of cardio, especially since it can be hard to find a nearby public pool and get a membership or something whereas you can just walk outside and start running.
As far as strength training goes, bodyweight exercises with no equipment can go a long way. Simple things like pushups, mountain climbers, crunches, pull ups (I strongly suggest getting a bar as someone else already said), planks, core exercises, squat jumps, squat thrusts, burpees, etc. can all work wonders. If you are looking to gain mass I am not really the best guy to speak on that .
To get a workout in while playing SC2 you can do as others have said and make sure you get some physical activity between games. Your idea of an alarm every 30 minutes to do some physical activity while studying is really good as this will not only help you stay fit but it will also help you study (taking short breaks and staying physically active helps you focus!) I often work out while watching SC2! I generally do some kind of isometric workout or crunches or something for a game while I'm watching WCS or something, as they generally give enough downtime to recover in between. Believe it or not I was actually doing an isometric leg raise (6 inches) for Mana vs Firecake until like 25 minutes in when I collapsed because I realized there was no way in hell I would make it to the end of that game! Either way try to find a way to work fitness into your SC2 habits and it will become more ingrained and easier to maintain.
Anyways I hope this was at least sort of helpful! Of course check out the fitness threads on TL because those guys are waaaaaaaaayyyyyy more knowledgeable than me overall. As Zealously said I am also available to skype if you feel like you need some more advice/want to discuss things although we are in different time zones so our availability may differ! Anyways best of luck!
EDIT: Holy wall of text batman.
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Russian Federation1016 Posts
Some figures that might help to arrange the diet for losing fat while getting strength.
5 and more times of exercising per week: 38 kcal for 1kg of body mass (2,2g/kg of protein, 4,0g/kg of carbohydrates and approx. 1,5g/kg of fat).
3-4 times of exercising per week: 28 kcal for 1kg of body mass (2,2g/kg of protein, 3,0g/kg of carbohydrates and approx. 0,8g/kg of fat).
This info is taken from a book about healthy eating by Susan M. Kleiner. AFAIK, she is a world recognized expert on diets.
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EPT
