Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

[vt]

http://pittsburgh.cbslocal.com/2014/...e-new-smoking/

The solution?

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-stan...sks-1528244287

And the best of both:

http://inhabitat.com/tag/exercise-desks/

https://www.pinterest.com/treadmilld...xercise-desks/

Geez! This exercise routine is a lot of work

[Fox]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

The solution?

http://lifehacker.com/five-best-stan...sks-1528244287

Thanks to a back injury I spent two years standing at my desk. You won't be able to convince me that's a good idea. Oh and I gained 20lbs over that time too because I couldn't do my regular activities.

So ya, those that think standing at their desk will compensate for an inactive lifestyle are fooling themselves in to obesity.

Geez! This exercise routine is a lot of work

It's actually not a lot of work, it just takes persistent effort and an understanding just how bad our north American diets really are. Take a trip to Europe to see what the difference a healthy diet and decent attitude makes.

It's actually easier than most people realize, it's just most people aren't willing to give up the wine/beer/doughnut/pizza/whatever. And no, running around in circles like a fool at the gym won't compensate for the three beers you have afterwards to celebrate all the work you just did.

Anyone want tips, I have a lot of them. And trust me, I hate diets and I'm not a fan of exercise. However I was able to lose 60lbs and get my abs back. I'm back to the size I was in university and fit into my 14 year old son's clothes. Size 32 and he hates it btw

[shiny!]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

Anyone want tips, I have a lot of them. And trust me, I hate diets and I'm not a fan of exercise. However I was able to lose 60lbs and get my abs back. I'm back to the size I was in university and fit into my 14 year old son's clothes. Size 32 and he hates it btw

I'm curious, Fox. What did you do? I hope your back is feeling better, too.

[Lasher]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

I'm curious, Fox. What did you do?

I'm curious as well. Thanks in advance!

[Fox]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

To be honest for the most part it was a lot of little things; and a couple of big things.

First, the simple of things:
Go through everything you eat and find a low calorie or low carb substitutes.
-- I stopped sugar and cream in my coffee (-400cals/day, I drink a lot of coffee, see below...)
-- I found a better quality protein powder for my breakfast shake and got use to mixing it with water (200cals/day, I'm also diabetic so have to avoid carbs)
-- skim milk, 0% yogurts, low fat cheeses, whatever. get over it and start eating them. You'll get use to the difference in "flavour" (there's actually no difference in flavor btw, it's just your brain over activating your taste-buds when it detects fat)
-- Instead of rice for my "stir fry concoctions" I use butternut or spaghetti squash, or occasionally potatoes. There is also Shirataki Noodles if you want to go really low calorie.
-- I use sweeteners whenever I can. Whatever you think about them, get over it, or learn to love celery. Sugar is the worst possible sweetener out there anyways, so everything else is automatically better. I go with Sucralose (splenda) as I can't stand the taste of any of the others.
-- I like to use PB2 for my peanut butter snacks and cooking.
In any case the point is look at what you normally like to eat, and see if there is a way to make it more healthy. Eat less when you can, but if you can't (and I very often can't) at least it won't be fattening.

Keep lots of low cal snacks around.
-- Fruits (except mellons), veggies, pickles, pickled eggs, what ever floats your boat.
-- Small size packaged snacks for cravings (ie 28 gram chip bags from bulk/wholesalers) or those various "100 calorie" snack packs (quaker has a great variety of rice and multigrain snacks. DO NOT TOUCH THEIR OATMEAL. You're better off having a chocolate bar.)
-- Eat small things occasionally. Don't let yourself get hungry. Bad for diabetes, but also leads to freaking out and gorging.

Find Appetite suppressants that you like
-- As I mentioned, I drink a lot of coffee (caffeine free, caffeine has no effect on me so why bother with it's deleterious effects)
-- also lots of flavored teas, especially green tea. either way, hot drinks help suppress appetite. If I don't have a Tea when I first get home, I'll freak out on snacks before I can finish making supper
-- Get use to Spicy food. And I mean SERIOUSLY SPICY FOOD. I'm talking start with thai chillies and keep going up from there. I call it the "boil in the belly" effect. The heat will stay in your stomach and keep you full for hours (if you really overdo it, you can actually get high). Warning! do not mess around with your girlfriend after cutting extremely hot peppers if you want to keep her around. The spice does not wash off easily, it has to break down over time. I actually use "Capsacin extract" to add heat without ruining the flavor of the food (or making my fingers dangerous). Once you get use to the heat, you realize that Habaneros taste horrible.

And finally, for cheating
-- You can't go around with all the food cues in our society and expect to stick with a diet perfectly
-- Give in to cravings. Let's face it, they will win. The earlier your satisfy it, the less required to satisfy it. So get it out of the way early before you end up "eating the whole thing"
-- It's also why you should have some small but tasty snacks available. If you're going to cheat try to direct it towards something as low cal as possible.
-- If you do cheat with something big, like a pizza, cut it into smaller pieces. It'll slow down your eating and give you time to satisfy your hunger/craving sooner so you eat less. We have "donut day" at work and I eat a quarter of a donut at a time. Usually the rest of the donut is gone when I come back to it and that's fine by me, I've had my taste.
-- Try also drinking something low cal at the same time to help fill you up sooner.
-- Remove the cheat item from sight as soon as possible. I have great will power if I don't see it. I have 0 will power if I can. So keep the bad stuff out of sight as much as possible.

Now on the activity side
-- Replace driving to work/friends with walking or biking. If the activity can fit in with something you have to do, like going to work, it won't feel like it interferes with your day. I have been biking to work for years, but I'm hoping to be able to try jogging to work this summer (7K)
-- Join outdoor groups with activities you like. An organized group/community will help keep you motivated.
-- try getting in a quick jog or exercise routine in the morning before you get caught up in the day. I like planks for their intensity, full body workout, can be done anywhere, and don't take very long (my morning workout is about 20minutes and I'll feel it all day). I hate going to the gym or spending hours working out.

Now for the Big thing I did (Twice)
-- I did the "Ideal Protein" diet for one month (lost 30lbs) and later for two weeks (lost 10lbs)
-- It's basically a "meal in a cup" version of the Bernstein diet.
-- I recommend the diet for a short period of time when you first start. It's really motivating losing a pound or two a day.
-- I drank a bejesus load of green tea to make it work (8 - 10 cups a day)
-- Stick with the diet as long as it's working for you for the motivation. however once you find it "not worth the effort" stop it and switch to the tactics I mentioned above. If you push yourself too long on a diet, your body will kick in all kinds of "starvation" strategies which will make your situation worse than when you started.

Oh and btw, with the exercises/morning stretches and diet, my back and diabetes are both under control. No insulin, braces, or avoiding food or activities required. Although if I get too hungry, or overdo it on something sweet, I will have a crash (at which point I have a beer. It's better than an orange )

Anyways, a bit of a long post. Lots of stuff there, but take what you can and apply it to yourself. Google is your friend (at least in this instance ;P )

[vt]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

Great info and insight. Thanks

[shiny!]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

These are some great tips. Thanks for posting!

[Fox]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

Well I hope I've helped someone.

Keeping healthy is not effortless (particularly in North American society) but it's not insurmountable either. The key is finding what works for you.

If anyone tries the above tricks let me know how it goes. If you find they're not working, I have a few other "motivational tricks" to try, but these aren't for everyone.

And for those interested I can also break down my "Plankagodon" routine in more detail. It's brutal, but it's quick and very effective. Probably take you no more than 10 minutes in the beginning, leaving no excuses not to do it. ;)

[coolhand]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

Well I hope I've helped someone.

Keeping healthy is not effortless (particularly in North American society) but it's not insurmountable either. The key is finding what works for you.

If anyone tries the above tricks let me know how it goes. If you find they're not working, I have a few other "motivational tricks" to try, but these aren't for everyone.

And for those interested I can also break down my "Plankagodon" routine in more detail. It's brutal, but it's quick and very effective. Probably take you no more than 10 minutes in the beginning, leaving no excuses not to do it. ;)

I am interested in the plank stuff...thanks in advance!

[Fox]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

sorry for not getting back sooner. You know how all the every day stuff can get in the way :P

I just wanted to add before getting into my plank routine, another "low cal/carb" trick I do is I substitute cauliflower (or broccoli if it's too expensive) for rice or potatoes. Just grind it up in a food processor and steam or boil it. It can be pretty bland so feel free to throw a bullion cube in. And and if you do use Broccoli it has a stronger flavor and everything willl not only be green but taste like broccoli. I sometimes use it half/half with what I'm substituting.

So back to the planks, they are fairly straight forward however what makes them short AND effective is pushing yourself till you drop. I like to use a stopwatch to push myself. It's the "no pain no gain" philosophy. And quite frankly, anybody that tells you otherwise is out of shape.

So first, start off with a fully extended plank...

This is your main plank so make it count. The more you push yourself here the faster you'll be finished the routine (because you won't have much left to last very long). This is the only one I time btw. The rest I just go by feel. If you find these too hard you can go on your knees and build up to doing a full plank.

Then once you get good at these; and your exercise routine starts taking too long; instead of the plank, do VERY SLOW pushups. This will burn you out more quickly and get things over with.

Next is the side plank...

These are pretty brutal don't expect to do more than a couple of seconds at first. You'll get up to longer eventually. Do each side with this until you collapse. Once finished both sides, you will now have pretty much completed a full upper body workout in about 5 minutes.

Now for the next series you can start here and build up to the above.
Here we start with a plank on your elbows and (if possible) do a leg lift...

Raise each leg; one at a time ;) and hold them up for a count of 10. Then repeat until you can't any more.

Next is the side planks on the elbows with a leg lift...

This is also very brutal, don't be surprised if you have trouble getting it up. :P Ultimately try as much as you can until you can't any more.

And finally, the half push up...

Like the others, it's a do until you die type of thing. It's also just a vanity thing. This one is almost exclusively for biceps. :P

So that's basically my routine. It takes me about 20 minutes and I'll have enough burn to feel it all day. Sometimes even two. Try to alternate days with some kind of cardio, or at least rest, day. You can't do these 7 days a week. If you are doing them right, you wouldn't be able to lift yourself by the end of the week. There are also all kinds of modifications of the above if you are getting bored with them.

Anyways, give it a try. Feel free to curse my name if it helps you push it longer. You'll thank me, one day. ;)

[flintlock]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

Become an electrician. On my feet for 7 hours straight today. Up and down ladders, perpetual motion. I'm still fat.

[lektrode]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

Become an electrician. On my feet for 7 hours straight today. Up and down ladders, perpetual motion. I'm still fat.

not shur if yer braggin or complainin here, flint?

;)

[Fox]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

Become an electrician. On my feet for 7 hours straight today. Up and down ladders, perpetual motion. I'm still fat.

hmm, I would say don't become an electrician then XD

but seriously though if your output is high, and you're still overweight, it's time to look at your input. Remember it's "do more, eat less". Any of my suggestions above fit in to your routine? I would suspect if you're busy at work, you're probably not eating very much there. So the question becomes what is your home and weekend routine like?

This is my sister's failing. She eats very well and exercises like a fiend during the week. But when the weekend comes, it'll be 6 bottles of wine and a couple of pizzas because "she earned it". Unless you run a marathon a day, you won't burn that off.

[BK]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

My solution to changing my input volume and type was tasty fresh apples. Late last summer we picked 50 lbs of apples at a local orchard. I began to substitute an apple for peanut butter and crackers or ice cream that I craved. My next improvement was replacing my morning bagel with a yam with almond butter. Two to three apples a day seemed to help keep me away from my late night snacking and love of ice cream.

Today lunch is often salad, beans, and hummus. Amazing the impact of substituting processed items for things that have no or minimum processing.

[gwynedd1]

Re: Daily Gym Visits Won't Erase Unhealthy Sitting

I eat the weeds. I underestimated day lily shoots until now. I will be doing more early spring stir fry of those. I saw a feast of Siberian elm seeds but unfortunately on a tree trimmed up so that its in the high canopy.


I don't watch what I eat. I look for it. That way I can eat gourmet food like a pig.