General Electric's Get Fit Thread

GeneralElectric · #1 03-22-2008, 11:46 PM

Hey all, so I've decided to get fit, not just physically, but mentally as well. I'll even post my progress as I go along, and get TB's input.

Right now I weigh 245 pounds at around 6-6'1. I'm not fat, but I've got a gut. I eat unhealthy foods, don't sleep much, smoke cigarettes, and drink.

Lately I've also been finding it harder to think (probably the lack of sleep) as if I'm getting dumber.

I've just joined a gym, and I'm trying to find the proper diet to eat. I've also never worked out a day in my life, though I used to bike a lot (not anymore since it got stolen.)

So, what should I eat, in terms of food, and what fat burning exercises do you recommend?

Today I've eaten 2 Lean Pockets Pepperoni, 2 bowls of Life Cereal with whole milk, egg salad sandwich on rye bread, as well as an oatmeal cookie. To drink I've had regular water, a thing of vitamen water, a large diet coke, as well as a large coffee with milk and sugar.

Trevorus · #2 03-22-2008, 11:58 PM

Get rid of the processed food, frozen foods... Drink more juice, water, eat lean meats (deer is awesome!), no fast food. Cut out soda if at all possible. Quit the smoking (might gain a bit of weight from that at first, but it's better in the long run). Do some weight trasining with some cardio afterwards, and do some jogging. A good balanced multivitamin wouldn't be a bad idea either.

GeneralElectric · #3 03-23-2008, 01:08 AM

I'm working out the non-smoking bit.

Could you recommend some good to eat food for when you're on the run? I eat crap because I'm always busy and I don't have time to eat a proper meal. Between classes, work, and band stuff. Hence hot pockets are my meal of choice (or Ellios) even though I know they're not good for me.

Though tomorrow I'm going over my friend Margaret's house for easter, since me and my family haven't talked since I moved out for college. She's making food, most likely a huge italian meal (all home cooked stuff) Is there any type of food I should be aware of?

Also, what lean meat is there besides deer? I'm living on a college boy's salary and deer isn't easy to come by in the City, at least not cheap.

Trevorus · #4 03-23-2008, 01:30 AM

I generally eat roast beef or turkey sandwiches with provolone, whole wheat bread when I'm on the run. Really good stuff. Part of the issues can come from portioning, too. Italian food generally has a lot of carbs. Most of what you have to do is get grease and fried stuff out of your diet, and replace it with healthy stuff and exercise.

Don't forget grilled fish, boneless skinless chicken breast (with lemon pepper!), too. That's good eats. You might check into one of those George Foreman type grills for in the kitchen grilling.

Tsal · #5 03-23-2008, 06:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralElectric

Could you recommend some good to eat food for when you're on the run? I eat crap because I'm always busy and I don't have time to eat a proper meal. Between classes, work, and band stuff. Hence hot pockets are my meal of choice (or Ellios) even though I know they're not good for me.

Though tomorrow I'm going over my friend Margaret's house for easter, since me and my family haven't talked since I moved out for college. She's making food, most likely a huge italian meal (all home cooked stuff) Is there any type of food I should be aware of?

Also, what lean meat is there besides deer? I'm living on a college boy's salary and deer isn't easy to come by in the City, at least not cheap.

Fat from red meat (beef is a bit leaner than pork) is the worst, chicken is a better alternative and greasy fish is actually good for you. Tuna probably has the best price/healthiness ratio for a student. Protein bars, although a bit expensive, make a good snack 'on the run'. In a typical western diet, it's the carbs that you need to watch - and unfortunately, italian food is full of carbs in form of pasta. Why the processed carbs are so bad, is because they have little nutrients and high energy content - in essence, you are eating a bag of sugar to fill your stomach.

One good way to eat better is to eat less processed or "white" carbs, (potatoes, white bread, white rice and pasta) and also less red meat and animal fats like pork and beef. Colorful veggies are good for you, as in salad, veggie dishes etc. Of course this doesn't mean that you should avoid these pasta & meat dishes all together, but that you need to be aware of them, and aim to replace the poor stuff with veggies, chicken, fish and whole grain products when possible.

**Vorago** · #6 03-23-2008, 06:47 AM

Lentils!

peterbright · #7 03-23-2008, 07:50 AM

Carrots, almonds, oatmeal, broccoli, celery

GeneralElectric · #8 03-23-2008, 10:43 AM

Well its 12:45 in the afternoon. I woke up, brushed my teeth, and took the dog for a half hour walk. I'm home now, I had a bowl of life with whole milk, a vitamin water, and a multivitamin. Progress I guess.

Keep those tips coming as I'm going food shopping tomorrow.

i_got_a_mohawk · #9 03-23-2008, 10:52 AM

Semi or Fully skimmed milk if you can would help (or dropping milk altogether)

Spoiled Grape · #10 03-23-2008, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralElectric

Well its 12:45 in the afternoon. I woke up, brushed my teeth, and took the dog for a half hour walk. I'm home now, I had a bowl of life with whole milk, a vitamin water, and a multivitamin. Progress I guess.

Keep those tips coming as I'm going food shopping tomorrow.

When you are comfortable, wean yourself off the vitamin water and onto regular water. If you need (or prefer) the extra taste, try to find a flavored water with less calories/crap in it. Try to work in six meals. I live on a college boy budget too and am quite busy myself with work, training, and of course, practice, gigging, etc. Since August 2007 I've dropped from 220lbs to 175lbs with most of it muscle. I don't pay too much attention to the scale and I think how I feel + the mirror give me a better review of my health.

Here is what I try to work in everyday.

Wake-Up.
Small meal. Banana + Handful of Walnuts to calm the stomach.
Cardio. (I train using HIIT, you should try cycling/swimming until you are comfortable so you don't wreck your joints.)
Conditioning/Solo Weight Lifting (optional.) I do squats and deadlifts by myself once a week. Also do push-ups, sit-ups, burpees, etc. in the morning.
Oatmeal w/ Honey + Cinnamon + Fruit. Real cheap, takes about five minutes tops and fills you up for a while with energy.
Tuna Salad. Also real cheap. Get low-fat mayonnaises (the real kind!) and mix in celery, relish, pickles, carrots, whatever.
Wrap or Sandwich. This is where I splurge here. I love great deli meats, my main weakness. I get it sliced from the deli, make sure to grab the lean meat! Throw on some lettuce and tomato.
Snack. I love frozen grapes. I usually go with some type of light fruit or trailmix. If I did weightlifting, I try to drink a protein shake.
Dinner! Learn to cook. I can't cook much, but I can do a ton with chicken. I buy this lemon seasoning and go to town with it.

Also, save all your leftovers and eat them throughout the week. What I do is usually cook like five pieces of chicken on Sunday and than throw it all in the fridge. This way if I'm in a rush, I can just pick it up and eat it (chicken is still great cold!)

Most of it is preparation. Go to the store with an idea of what you want to cook, buy as cheap as possible (without sacrificing too much quality) and than cook it all at once!

v-12 · #11 03-23-2008, 11:24 AM

when it comes to diet i definitely go with the wwjld approach- what would jack lalanne do, and go from there.
http://www.businessweek.com/magazine...2/b3885138.htm
you may not have a lot of time to prepare food, but its really not that hard. instead of a hot pocket, try a piece of fruit, some low fat string cheese, and some peanut (look for ones without msg). when making pasta, only use whole wheat pasta, and make a pound or so at a time, that will give you leftovers- and meals- for many days. find someone you know and take turns making a large healthy meal each week, and then each of you gets left overs from that.
i'd work towards skim milk with everything, and lay off the vitamin waters and equivalent- one a day (apprx 125 calories a bottle) would = over a pound of fat a month in excess calories. i'd also work in weaning myself off soda, even though its diet. studies have shown that even though you are saving yourself the calories from drinking a diet soda, your body through association thinks it should be getting sugar, and you will crave it later and you will usually eat something a lot worse for you than a can of soda.
I'd set a goal of dropping or reducing a vice every few weeks or a monthly, if you try and go cold turkey it will greatly increase your risk of giving up on changing your diet.

i_got_a_mohawk · #12 03-23-2008, 11:32 AM

Though i had posted before the milk comment already, but that was a different thread. Anyways:

HIIT (high intensity interval training) : http://www.cs.unm.edu/~wneumann/file...lla_cardio.pdf

When going to the gym, try and do compound lifts, good ones for starting with are Full Squads, Power Cleans, Deadlifts, Military (shoulder) Press and Bench Press

MoD_Scotty · #13 03-23-2008, 11:44 AM

Also, it's possible to still eat SOME fast food and still not do too bad. Most places now have chicken breast sandwiches (not the $.99 ones), they're usually $3something. Get them without any mayo/sauce, and they're not bad. Then instead of fries, get a side salad with whatever light dressing they have.

Drinks are one of the huge calorie dumps. Always look at the label before you buy that drink. Especially that Vitamin Water crap. It's got almost as many calories as regular soda. Gatorade has significantly less calories, but even that has a lot of sugar. I'm a huge fan of Crystal Light stuff...it's practically 0 calories, and still tastes really good. You can drink as much of it as you want. Wal-Mart even sells a generic version that's dirt-cheap. You can also get those little packets so you can mix it in your bottled water.

Water is one of the most important things that your body needs to function efficiently. Every system in your body requires it. Plenty of people dehydrate themselves for the temporary slimming effect, but they are screwing themselves in the long run. I think the general rule is at least 8 glasses of water a day. And a cup for every 15 minutes of intense exercise.

seventhson · #14 03-23-2008, 03:46 PM

http://www.drnatura.com

GeneralElectric · #15 03-23-2008, 08:14 PM

Well just got back a little while ago. Didn't eat much (salad, some stuffed shells, and some weird chicken dish) and I had water with the meal.

I've heard that skim and 2% milk have sugar added to them so that they taste more palatable, is this true?

SeventhSon DrNatura intrigues me, and also disgusts me. Those pictures are so gross I recommend everyone check them out. I'm definitely look into it, as someone once told me that taking butt loads of pain medication screws up your colon and I only poop 2-3 times a week and its never fun. Sounds gross, but it couldn't hurt, now I just need to save up some money for it. Have you tried it before?

XtreO · #16 03-23-2008, 08:23 PM

Skimmed milk with added sugar? What nonsense.

Oh and I read the DrNatura website. What utter rubbish. The only undigestible thing I've ever heard of is hair. This rubbish about toxins congregating in your colon to slowly kill you or cause severe diarreah, nu-uh. Stupid site, stupid products, halfhearted and multi-interpretable arguements.

Spoiled Grape · #17 03-23-2008, 08:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralElectric

Well just got back a little while ago. Didn't eat much (salad, some stuffed shells, and some weird chicken dish) and I had water with the meal.

I've heard that skim and 2% milk have sugar added to them so that they taste more palatable, is this true?

SeventhSon DrNatura intrigues me, and also disgusts me. Those pictures are so gross I recommend everyone check them out. I'm definitely look into it, as someone once told me that taking butt loads of pain medication screws up your colon and I only poop 2-3 times a week and its never fun. Sounds gross, but it couldn't hurt, now I just need to save up some money for it. Have you tried it before?

I would wait on DrNatura or any other laxative. It's not going to magically make you drop 30lb.

Trevorus · #18 03-23-2008, 08:42 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by i_got_a_mohawk

Semi or Fully skimmed milk if you can would help (or dropping milk altogether)

Dropping milk altogether is not that great of an idea. It's a good source of calcium, and it's generally good for you. You want to keep your bones strong if you are planning on working out.

Trevorus · #19 03-23-2008, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by GeneralElectric

...I'm definitely look into it, as someone once told me that taking butt loads of pain medication screws up your colon and I only poop 2-3 times a week and its never fun. Sounds gross, but it couldn't hurt, now I just need to save up some money for it. Have you tried it before?

The reason pain meds can mess up your colon is that the strong prescription ones are narcotics. That slows down the digestive system altogether. Any reason you're taking these pain meds, and is there another way to deal with the pain without meds?

GeneralElectric · #20 03-23-2008, 10:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Trevorus

The reason pain meds can mess up your colon is that the strong prescription ones are narcotics. That slows down the digestive system altogether. Any reason you're taking these pain meds, and is there another way to deal with the pain without meds?

I don't take them anymore, but I used to take buttloads of oxycodin, vicoden, percoset, and even more stuff I don't care to mention for recreational use for several years on a daily basis.

I do have a very messed up left leg from a car accident (shattered my ankle, fractured my shin in several places, and now I have a silicon replacement for my knee) from when I was 14 and I do have a script I never fill for oxy's even though it pains me a lot, as I don't want to continue that lifestyle.