Thread: Diet, Exercise, Supplements thread

Originally Posted by MasterShake

Yeah the crash diet stuff never works! I went plant based to help my son with his dietary restrictions and a side effect was losing like 2-3 lbs a week for a few months without even knowing it almost 10 years ago now! I've been able to stay in the 180-190 range (at 6'1")during the winter and lower that just by moving a bit more in the Summer because I just built up a routine instead of overcorrecting one way or the other. Good job and keep it up! Sounds like you got the good habit thing down which is HUGE.

Now if my lazy ass could just start running again I could probably lose even more, but I'm comfortable and steady with my health so I'm ok not jacking up my knees again. I do tons of walks with my dogs and play with my kids, perfect workouts for me for now.

I'm not plant based, but love that there are so many plant based options now. I'm allergic, well technically probably intolerant, of milk protein, so eat quite a bit of vegan stuff, like vegan butter, cheese, etc. Still eat meat, but my wife is typically then using vegan butter and other stuff along side it.

The up side, is I really have to work to find high calorie, high sugar sweets and desserts and the like. But, even with that, where I've gotten in trouble is portion control and too many carbs in general. It's why intermittent fasting has been a game changer for me. Let's me still have a normal dinner, and often a reasonable snack, without feeling like I'm deprived, starving or "on a diet", but I keep my calories in the 800-1400 range most days, and typically when I have a "bad" day, I'm 1800-2200.

I'm really intent to hit a range that I think I can look and feel healthy in. Then, I'm hoping I can get to the point like you describe, where without too much effort, I keep enough good habits that I can stay in a ~10lb or so window, but will probably always need to use the scale to make sure that doesn't turn into 15, 20 or 30lbs and by then the habits have mostly gone out the window.

I don't think running is ever in my future, but I need to get more consistent exercise (elliptical, walking, resistance) than I have during most of my weight loss.

Originally Posted by Canmore

We have incorporated a lot of plant based protein in our meals.

While we've started to use some other plant based stuff, I can't convince my wife that plant based protein is a real replacement for animal protein. Since she makes dinner and shops, it's a battle I've not been overcome.

Originally Posted by Tned

While we've started to use some other plant based stuff, I can't convince my wife that plant based protein is a real replacement for animal protein. Since she makes dinner and shops, it's a battle I've not been overcome.

The only real thing you are missing with plant protein is B vitamins (I think?), but I can see why its hard to convince!

Crazy thing is, when I go to restaurants if they have a vegan option for meat I know prefer it in most cases. Buffalo Seitan wings? OMG. Impossible Whopper? YES! Spaghetti with Beyond Meatballs? OK! I never really realized what I liked was the seasoning and sauces more than the base protein so its not a big deal to me anymore. The few exceptions I have are when I go to a baseball game or something just give me that good stadium dog, and if a place is known for good burgers give me that!

Originally Posted by MasterShake

The only real thing you are missing with plant protein is B vitamins (I think?), but I can see why its hard to convince!

Crazy thing is, when I go to restaurants if they have a vegan option for meat I know prefer it in most cases. Buffalo Seitan wings? OMG. Impossible Whopper? YES! Spaghetti with Beyond Meatballs? OK! I never really realized what I liked was the seasoning and sauces more than the base protein so its not a big deal to me anymore. The few exceptions I have are when I go to a baseball game or something just give me that good stadium dog, and if a place is known for good burgers give me that!

I'm ambivalent about it. As long as there is no milk protein, I don't really care if I have animal (mammal or fish/seafood) or plant. Last year when I was in Spain, I went to a place called Flax and Kale, and I wound up getting a pizza with fake chicken. I'm not going to say the fake chicken really tasted like chicken, but since it was a BBQ pizza, to your point, the BBQ sauce was the main star anyway and it was a reasonable facimile to the texture/look of chicken.

Another thing I've been eating, which far from calorie free, but that seem to be better alternatives to traditional snacks, is Hu cookies and From the Ground Up cauliflower or butternut squash chips. They seem to be a bit less calorie dense than the traditional alternatives. I similarly, when I can find them, have been eating things like Cauliflower gnochi, and birds eye lightly breaded green beans in lieu of fries (such as with a steak, which cooked on the pellet grill is beyond belief, while not Beyond Meat...), and a few times even breaded cauliflower "wings" cooked in the air fryer (didn't think they really were good enough to justify the calories).

I am REALLY a fan of the birds eye green beans. We don't eat them every day, not even every week, but when we feel like eating something like fries, the birds eye breaded green beans are awesome in an air fryer and the calories are very reasonable.

So, I dip my feet more in the periphery and not so much in the meat replacement, but instead lower calorie or lower glycemic response veggie based foods to traditional potato/sugar foods.

Still, I'm benefitting from the tree huggers and cow haters bringing this stuff mainstream. Heck, later this month they are rolling out the plant based reeses peanut butter cups. Woohoo, I am definitely going to try those!!

Originally Posted by Tned

I'm ambivalent about it. As long as there is no milk protein, I don't really care if I have animal (mammal or fish/seafood) or plant. Last year when I was in Spain, I went to a place called Flax and Kale, and I wound up getting a pizza with fake chicken. I'm not going to say the fake chicken really tasted like chicken, but since it was a BBQ pizza, to your point, the BBQ sauce was the main star anyway and it was a reasonable facimile to the texture/look of chicken.

Another thing I've been eating, which far from calorie free, but that seem to be better alternatives to traditional snacks, is Hu cookies and From the Ground Up cauliflower or butternut squash chips. They seem to be a bit less calorie dense than the traditional alternatives. I similarly, when I can find them, have been eating things like Cauliflower gnochi, and birds eye lightly breaded green beans in lieu of fries (such as with a steak, which cooked on the pellet grill is beyond belief, while not Beyond Meat...), and a few times even breaded cauliflower "wings" cooked in the air fryer (didn't think they really were good enough to justify the calories).

I am REALLY a fan of the birds eye green beans. We don't eat them every day, not even every week, but when we feel like eating something like fries, the birds eye breaded green beans are awesome in an air fryer and the calories are very reasonable.

So, I dip my feet more in the periphery and not so much in the meat replacement, but instead lower calorie or lower glycemic response veggie based foods to traditional potato/sugar foods.

Still, I'm benefitting from the tree huggers and cow haters bringing this stuff mainstream. Heck, later this month they are rolling out the plant based reeses peanut butter cups. Woohoo, I am definitely going to try those!!

Yeah the main thing with my kids dietary allergy is milk protein, and all the hippy stuff is sooo good to replace lots of the cheese I like. I prefer Kite Hill Ricotta to the real stuff and I can find it in most grocery stores now!

Originally Posted by MasterShake

Yeah the main thing with my kids dietary allergy is milk protein, and all the hippy stuff is sooo good to replace lots of the cheese I like. I prefer Kite Hill Ricotta to the real stuff and I can find it in most grocery stores now!

Things are getting better in rural Arkansas, but not quite that good. Never seen Kit Hill Ricotta. Maybe whole foods in Little Rock. We periodically bring a big compressor camp cooler and fill it up with stuff (a couple hours away). Need to make another trip and see if whole foods has that and some other stuff.

Now that my neck is getting better, and I think I can do resistance training without pain/damage, I need to get some better exercise habits. With my aggressive fasting, more or less non stop for the last two plus years, I often just feel a bit on the weak side and opt not to exercise and instead stay focused on calorie reduction, but want to start introducing more exercise, cardio (elliptical) and resistance.

Any tips for getting started with resistance without it being a daily hour long ordeal?

At home I have a fairly traditional univeral stack type system, that also has some cables. So, I can do:

Multiple angles of bench/military press (thought shoulder doc said never do military)
Cable fly
Seated row
lat pull down
Hi cable attachment for tricep work
mid cable for things like seated crunch
Low cable
Seated leg press

You know, most of the things you would see on a single stack universal system that also has low/mid/high cables.

In addition, I have dumbells and a adjustable incline weight bench.

At this point, I've only been doing a handful of exercises using therabands (standing mid row, high row, tricep pushdown, and a few others shoulder/upper back I can't think of the name of).

I'm looking to start with some high impact, low time resistance training to get me into the grove so I don't make excuses about not having the time, and then hopefully once it becomes a habit, then I'll expand.

Originally Posted by Tned

Now that my neck is getting better, and I think I can do resistance training without pain/damage, I need to get some better exercise habits. With my aggressive fasting, more or less non stop for the last two plus years, I often just feel a bit on the weak side and opt not to exercise and instead stay focused on calorie reduction, but want to start introducing more exercise, cardio (elliptical) and resistance.

Any tips for getting started with resistance without it being a daily hour long ordeal?

At home I have a fairly traditional univeral stack type system, that also has some cables. So, I can do:

Multiple angles of bench/military press (thought shoulder doc said never do military)
Cable fly
Seated row
lat pull down
Hi cable attachment for tricep work
mid cable for things like seated crunch
Low cable
Seated leg press

You know, most of the things you would see on a single stack universal system that also has low/mid/high cables.

In addition, I have dumbells and a adjustable incline weight bench.

At this point, I've only been doing a handful of exercises using therabands (standing mid row, high row, tricep pushdown, and a few others shoulder/upper back I can't think of the name of).

I'm looking to start with some high impact, low time resistance training to get me into the grove so I don't make excuses about not having the time, and then hopefully once it becomes a habit, then I'll expand.

I wonder if something like Davii's Tonal system would appeal.

Originally Posted by Hawgdriver

I wonder if something like Davii's Tonal system would appeal.

Since I spent that much when we built the house on a Body Solid universal, I'm having trouble convincing my wife that we should get the Tonal, even though I think that's cool as can be.

Sigh, I ******* hate this thread but....

I need help picking out gym shoes that will last.

Well....just hit 100 lost over the weekend. Back down to near high school weight. Just bought jeans that are smaller than anything I have worn in 25+ years. Got my bloodwork done again just to see and my numbers are fantastic! I'm on the other end of the spectrum now...my blood pressure needs to be monitored for being low.

Just eating right, walking and weight training. No surgery.

Originally Posted by King87

Sigh, I ******* hate this thread but....

I need help picking out gym shoes that will last.

I wear Vans. Found they have been the easiest on my feet for weight work. Plus they double as good for the treadmill and walking.

Originally Posted by GEM

Well....just hit 100 lost over the weekend. Back down to near high school weight. Just bought jeans that are smaller than anything I have worn in 25+ years. Got my bloodwork done again just to see and my numbers are fantastic! I'm on the other end of the spectrum now...my blood pressure needs to be monitored for being low.

Just eating right, walking and weight training. No surgery.

You do realize you're going to have to post before and after photos.... right?

Originally Posted by King87

Sigh, I ******* hate this thread but....

I need help picking out gym shoes that will last.

Like Gem said, Vans are great. Converse are good as well. The idea, for lifting, is to get things that are flat soles so you’re neutral (not leaning forward like running shoes).

There are plenty of gym specific shoes, look at anything from Nobull or even the cross trainers from Nike, Reebok, etc but no need to spend that money, get some cheap Vans or Converse and lift heavy things

Originally Posted by BroncoJoe

You do realize you're going to have to post before and after photos.... right?

Maybe just after!!