Need to get fit'ish

[edudley]

Greetings fellow MAP'ers,

Currently, I am in my mid 30s and need to try and find someway to fit something in the morning for trying to get back in shape. Here is the schedule, I usually start my 'work' day at 9, leave the house by 8:30, kids get me up by 7 AM, so between them and 8:30 I'd like to find something to do to get me active again.

I'd also need to fit in about 10 minutes to shower and get dressed.

Thoughts?

I weigh 205 and I am 5'7", also any nutritional advice is welcomed as well.

Ed

 

[Spartigus]

Hey mate!
So you have around an hour and twenty mins? Unless i misread lol.

I would recommend doing some walking/jogging/running around the block, start of slow, and each time try improve your time and/or distance.

What are your goals? Running speed? Endurance? Strength? Overall fitness? Fat Loss?

If your after overall fitness, running is a must. Depending on what else your after achieving, you could put in some sprinting, plyometrics (focusing on burst strength, box jumps, squat jumps, plyo pushups ect), bodyweight exercises (pullups, situps, pushups ect), and all of this can be done with no real gym equipment.

Let us know what your goals are, and we can help you out more

 

[edudley]

Thanks!

I would say that I have two overall goals, though I think they overlap somewhat. Total fitness and definitely weight loss. According to the fitness chart based on my age and height I am really over weight. Through the years I have noticed the better shape, physically, I am in the more control I have of my asthma.

This is something I want to start off as a routine M-W-F, could start as early as tomorrow

Thanks for the advice!

 

[Kempojujutsu]

If time is an issue. You could possibly park a few blocks away from work and walk there. Or if you have time on your breaks walk then. Heck maybe take the kids on a walk after you get home from work

 

[edudley]

The other thing I really would like to do is drop 2 inches off my waist, nothing earth shattering just 2. I am going to start with the walking in the morning tomorrow.

Any other suggestions is greatly appreciated.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Well, I'll tell you what I did. I'm 5'9", and since February I've lost 17 pounds to my current weight of 165 pounds. I've also lost 3 to 4 inches of waistline.

I cut out alcohol and sugar from my diet, and I stopped eating snacks in between meals. I have an exercise bike that I use 2 to 3 times per week when my kids are asleep and my wife is not yet home from work. Those 2 things have made my weight drop slowly but surely, together with my 2 times MA per week. From a dietary angle, the biggest, best and most healthy thing you can do is to remove carbohydrates from your diet as much as possible. Bread, potato, pasta, ... that stuff is really not good for you. If you PM me your email address, I will send you some good information on that topic.

I track my weight on a weekly basis, weighing myself every Saturday morning after the call of nature. I have an excel sheet where I track my weight with a trendline. This is valuable to me, since initially, weight will vary with hydration and muscle mass increases. So it is quite possible that after the initial drop in weight, there are a couple of weeks where body weight will be static or even slightly increasing. The excel graph kept me motivated.

I've also started to go to the gym 1 or 2 times per week. I train for endurance, so I don't bulk up much. My muscles just get more defined. I usually go during my lunch break at work. Combined with the fact that I can work flex time, this doesn't inconvenience anyone and I don't lose time in the gym in the evening. Combined with the physical exercise, if I lose 5 more pounds of body fat, I will be in even better shape than when I was in my physical prime, 20 years old, and practicing MA 6 times per week.

Of course, the downside is that most of my clothes don't fit me anymore, especially the trousers.

 

[bluekey88]

Been where you're at a few years ago. I started making changed with mny diet...basically, eat lots less sugar and processed foods...eat a lot more veggies. Cut down portion size. Track food intake with something like Fitday.com and see just how much you eat (fat loss is all about diet). switch things up as necessary (right now I'm playing around with different intermittent fasting perotocols with some success).

As far as fitness, figure out what you want. ZFor all around fitness, I'd say take up strength training with moderate cardio as a warmup. Lots of options out there. For me, I started attending the YMCA gym 3 mornings a week. Do 10 minutes of cardio as a warmup and then a basic liftingv routine based on free weight compund movement. I'd do that first thing in the Morning (6AM) shower at the Y and then head to work.

Currently, doing lots of kettlebell work. Still get up at 5:30 or 6 to workout then shower before everyone else in my house gets up. Sets the tone for the rest of my day.

MY final piece of advice is to not go all out. Make smaller changes that you can stick to and change your lifestyle. Going all out and lifting too much or making big drastic changes just leads to getting burned out and then reverting back to your old habits. Slow and steady wins the race in this case.

Good luck!

Peace,
Erik

 

[Spartigus]

Well your body requires protien, fat and carbohydrates to function properly. What i would recommend doing is using a BMR calculator, it will work out how many calories (roughly) you require to maintain your current bodyweight. Then to lose weight, you then take that number and minus 100-500 calories (depending on what you want and what works for your). You then should split those calories in 4-6 meals a day. Its a good idea to make sure you eat some carbs, protein and essential fats in each meal. You can take it further, and find a p/c/f (protien/carbohydrate/fat) ratio that works for you. Most people go 30/50/20 or around that.

You dont really have to go into all that math and calorie counting. But what I would recommend is finding how many calories you require to lose weight (BMR value minus 100-500). Then work out how many calories you consume on average, then make diet cuts/alterations from there.

I spent like 4 and a bit years being into body building, so gaining muscle (bulking phase) and losing fat (cutting phase). This is more or less the standard approach to cutting fat.

Its also important to cut out junk (as people have said). But once every week or so, its a good idea to have a cheat meal, so for a meal eat junk food. Helps with motivation and helps drive adaption and fat loss.

Also doing exercise and helps too .

A good BMR calculator is located on this natural body building forum, called www.muscleandstrength.com. The forum is great articles for diet and exercise, I have been there for like 3 years lol.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Well your body requires protien, fat and carbohydrates to function properly.

Very little carbs actually. I know people who eat less than 50 gs of carbs per day. Carbs were absent from the human diet for 99% of our entire existence. We only added carbs when we settled down for agriculture. A varied diet of protein, fat and vegetables is what our bodies are best at.

I am currently reading 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' and it's truly an eye opener. But it makes sense. Our bodies evolved during the years as a hunter gatherer. The time we've spent in agriculture is not enough for our bodies to adapt to food that is rich in carbs. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbohydrates do because the body stores body fat like crazy if you throw carbs at it. Carbs are responsible for many of our welfare diseases.

I still eat some carbs because it is hard to avoid entirely, and because sometimes a vanilla icecream with chocolate sauce is just too tasty, and because hamburgers come in a bun. But I eat way less of them than before.

 

[Stac3y]

Very little carbs actually. I know people who eat less than 50 gs of carbs per day. Carbs were absent from the human diet for 99% of our entire existence. We only added carbs when we settled down for agriculture. A varied diet of protein, fat and vegetables is what our bodies are best at.

I am currently reading 'Good Calories, Bad Calories' and it's truly an eye opener. But it makes sense. Our bodies evolved during the years as a hunter gatherer. The time we've spent in agriculture is not enough for our bodies to adapt to food that is rich in carbs. Fat doesn't make you fat. Carbohydrates do because the body stores body fat like crazy if you throw carbs at it. Carbs are responsible for many of our welfare diseases.

I still eat some carbs because it is hard to avoid entirely, and because sometimes a vanilla icecream with chocolate sauce is just too tasty, and because hamburgers come in a bun. But I eat way less of them than before.

Vegetables and fruit have carbs, and plenty for our bodies to function on. It's the type of carbs in bread, pasta, etc. that are the problem. They are simple carbs that break down into sugar too quickly and have little or no fiber. I try to keep those, and refined sugars, very low in my diet.

For exercise, if you want cardio, consider jumping rope. I've been told that 2 minutes of jumprope is equivalent to 3 minutes running, so you get more done in less time.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Vegetables and fruit have carbs, and plenty for our bodies to function on. It's the type of carbs in bread, pasta, etc. that are the problem. They are simple carbs that break down into sugar too quickly and have little or no fiber. I try to keep those, and refined sugars, very low in my diet.

For exercise, if you want cardio, consider jumping rope. I've been told that 2 minutes of jumprope is equivalent to 3 minutes running, so you get more done in less time.

Precisely. Carbs in fruit and vegetables are what our bodies were designed for. And those concentrations are low enough (not including the legumes which have been developed during our switch to agriculture) for our body to deal with. However, our bodies were not supposed to deal with a carb bomb like corn bread or candy floss.

 

[robertlk808]

Great suggestions but I'm going to shamelessly plug a well known home fitness program called P90X. Is it worth the money? Yes. Do you need all the fancy stuff they sell with it, vitamins recovery drink, etc.? Not necessarily. If you don't have dumbbells then try the bands.

I know you can find workout programs i.e. Crossfit - Workout of the Day and such on the internet or in Men's Health \ Fitness and that cool too. All I want to say is that this is simple for me. I just follow along the DVD and I don't have to plan anything it's all done for me and I like that.

BTW Im a fairly large guy trying to work my way back down to 215 - 220 and so far it's working and Im getting stronger. I also use kettlebells and other stuff but P90X is my primary program.

We have a pretty good thread going on at the Beachbody Forums which is about Martial Artists who use the program - http://bit.ly/P90XandMartialArts

I even have my own youtube channel so I can document my progress and it helps keep me accountable - http://www.youtube.com/warriorfitness808

Aloha,
Robert

 

[edudley]

Awesome suggestions!

Couple of things I have started doing. I have started the walking daily, only 30 minutes right now. I am watching my portion size for my meals.

One of my questions is in regards to carbs....what is a god carb and a bad carb? For example, my son just asked for a piece of bread for lunch, it shows 24 carbs per slice....is that bad a lot stay away from type or what?

I know fruits and veggies I can a good amount of, but what else?

Thanks!

 

[robertlk808]

Ive been kind of following the primal diet. Pretty simple, and very tasty!

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/definitive-guide-to-the-primal-eating-plan/

 

[girlbug2]

I also follow something like the primal diet, which is broadly called Paleo.

So the short answer is that piece of bread would be considered bad carbs by the paleo eater camp, even if it's "whole" grain.

Bruno mentioned the book Good Calories Bad Calories by Taubes: a lot of the principles in that diet are very compatible with paleo eating. I will add my recommendation to that book if you are interested in learning about how the modern Standard American Diet is the worst possible thing for our health, but be warned--it's lengthy and detailed. I have only gotten about 3/4 through it myself. If you get a chance to read it though, I urge you to at least read the first chapter titled "The Eisenhower Paradox"--a real eye opener. I wish all Americans would read that chapter.

To break it down, grains in general are bad for a variety of reasons. There's the glycemic load (blood sugar spike followed by the "crash"), but there's also the recent studies on phytic acids and lectins in grains which act as anti nutrients. Anti nutrients essentially block the body's ability to absorb nutrients, which leave you deficient. You can counteract this by taking massive amounts of vitamin supplements, or just cut the antinutrients and live on a diet of meats (including fish), eggs, vegetables and fruits (watch the fruits, though, you could still get way too much sugar by drinking fruit juices).

Dairy is one of those Your Mileage May Vary things. Some people do great on dairy, some find that it blocks their progress in overall wellbeing. Technically though, dairy products are not paleo eating. You can get calcium aplenty from leafy greens and sardines instead if you wish.

A great book if you're interested in more about paleo would be Neanderthin by Ray Audette.

 

[Bruno@MT]

Awesome suggestions!

Couple of things I have started doing. I have started the walking daily, only 30 minutes right now. I am watching my portion size for my meals.

One of my questions is in regards to carbs....what is a god carb and a bad carb? For example, my son just asked for a piece of bread for lunch, it shows 24 carbs per slice....is that bad a lot stay away from type or what?

I know fruits and veggies I can a good amount of, but what else?

Thanks!

Portion size is less important than what you eat.
Meat, cheese, low carb vegetables, .... eat as much as you want. You will not gain weight, but only eat when you are hungry, and stop when you are sated.

Technically, all carbs are bad. Whole grain or not does not matter. However, some carbs are worse then other for what they do to your body. HFCS is pure concentrated evil because they go directly into the bloodstream. Grains take some more digesting. However, all will cause a sugar and insulin spike, and all cause a crash when your body runs out of carbs to digest.

Protein and animal fat however, are slow processes. Once you start digesting those, you have energy for a long time, and you start using body fat reserves seamlessly.

Look at the animals for example: carnivores are lean. herbivores are fat. It is a sad myth (which is still being trotted out by doctors) that dietary fat causes body fat. That's not true. Carbs cause body fat. Another sad myth is that cholesterol causes heart problems. The realisty is that cholesterol is a symptom. Trying to artificially lower it with with pills causes many side effects, and the heart problems don't go away either.

I really advise you to order a copy of Taubes book and read it. It will change your life for the better.