Jump to content
DVDVR Message Board

All-Purpose Health and Fitness Thread


Super Ape

Recommended Posts

I’ve just slowly built up a midlife crisis dad gym in my basement over the past 6 years since I got into fitness. I could never do a gym and be around all of those people. My sister-in-law has offered up some horror stories from a woman’s perspective and it sounds like a nightmare. 

I do wish I had at least some guidance on form from time to time. I tend to squat with the weight resting almost on my neck, which is obviously a terrible idea. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie
2 minutes ago, (BP) said:

I’ve just slowly built up a midlife crisis dad gym in my basement over the past 6 years since I got into fitness. I could never do a gym and be around all of those people. My sister-in-law has offered up some horror stories from a woman’s perspective and it sounds like a nightmare. 

I do wish I had at least some guidance on form from time to time. I tend to squat with the weight resting almost on my neck, which is obviously a terrible idea. 

 

YouTube has a ton of videos about proper form, which is great because there are so many body types out there that you should be able to find a close enough match to yours. Same with Instagram (you know, once you get past the weirdos in the comments).

Link to comment
Share on other sites

6 minutes ago, Stefanie the Human said:

YouTube has a ton of videos about proper form, which is great because there are so many body types out there that you should be able to find a close enough match to yours. Same with Instagram (you know, once you get past the weirdos in the comments).

I’ve watched some, but I do think I need to find one specific to my body. I was told I had mild scoliosis when they did the exams in high school, but my primary doctors have never confirmed that. I used to have poor posture before I started lifting, but that’s improved quite a bit. There’s definitely something about resting the barbell on my upper back which is awkward. I need to buy a squat rack before I can get serious with heavy weight anyway. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Guest Stefanie Without Stefanie
58 minutes ago, (BP) said:

I’ve watched some, but I do think I need to find one specific to my body. I was told I had mild scoliosis when they did the exams in high school, but my primary doctors have never confirmed that. I used to have poor posture before I started lifting, but that’s improved quite a bit. There’s definitely something about resting the barbell on my upper back which is awkward. I need to buy a squat rack before I can get serious with heavy weight anyway. 

I didn't do my squats with weight before I picked up weightlifting, so I'm sorta in the same position. I used a broomstick to get comfortable with where the positioning of the bar should be (since it's close enough to a bar and it's low weight and can't really hurt me), and now I'm using just the bar before adding weight over the next few weeks. Just takes time to adjust.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

On 7/21/2018 at 2:44 PM, Petey said:

I'm like 5'6" myself... tall people will never understand the struggle of how quickly guys like us can put on weight haha

For me, I'll hold my hands up and say, beer, takeaways and abject laziness were major contributing factors.

So I've got three suits. One I wore to the interview, and fitted into rather well, is on this weeks rotation. The jacket is now too big and, according to my wife, "hangs off me like a sack". I'll see if i can add a pic.

comparisons to david byrne gifs will not handled well.

I cant see much of the weight loss, but the scales and the fact that clothes no longer fit me, as they're too big and not me not being too big for them, means I'm going in the right direction.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Clothes are always a great way to measure progress. A lot of times it's hard to detect just by looking in the mirror since you see yourself everyday (unless you take progress pics like every 3 months and then compare). Keep it up!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Absolutely - because I look at myself every morning in the mirror, Ii don't see much of the change. Neither wifey, nor C see much of the change either.

My mum however, when she was picking up C for a nana-granddaughter day looked at me and "wheres the fucking rest of you?" - so i assume she's noticed. either that or she's going blind.

  • Haha 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

The other thing that makes it noticeable is when you start buying clothes a size or two smaller. Almost 10 years ago, I lost a ton of weight and because I was a broke college student, I kept wearing the same clothes for as long as I could despite them being super baggy. Once I felt comfortable with where I was weight-wise, I bought new clothes that actually fit me properly- namely going from XL shirts to Medium shirts and that probably drew the strongest reaction from people, even those that I saw pretty frequently. I didn't realize how much baggy clothes could really make you look bigger than reality.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

oh absolutely the clothes thing is the best.

 

from age 18 I've been a xx or xxx l size shirt / tee. I've always been and going to be barrel chested,  but being able to buy and fit into a xl for the first time in 20 years brought a tear to a glass eye.

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I know the feeling. I'm just starting to be able to (comfortably) fit back into some of my medium's for the first time in a couple of years and it feels great. It's funny because most of the shirts I have at the gym are old/super big on me to the point where I feel like I can swim in them and they make me look huge (not in a positive way) but then I put on real clothes and I'm like, "ok, there's progress."

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I'm hitting 40 in like 3 months. I went from about 257 to 225 in 3 months following a slow carb plan. I then went to America and did a pretty good job of keeping it off - but then I didn't work out the last week, then I went to Glasgow and ate and worked out like a madman and seemed to put on 10lbs really quickly - I think some of that was definitely added muscle mass (my arms were sick), but shifting that weight has been really hard - I've been on a really low carb regime (not quite keto, prolly not much more than 50g carbs per day though), with added fasts, for 2 1/2 weeks and I am more or less back at 225 - but I get a sense I have plateau'd.

I would like to be 205lbs, ideally by my 40th birthday. But obviously without sacrificing a shit ton of muscle mass. I am moving towards more focus on bodyweight exercises, which I think will lean me out a bit. I have to admit though, it all sometimes seems like a lot of effort!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 1 month later...

Congrats!  Keto is the real deal.

Just be careful transitioning off of it.  I lost about 50 pounds on it earlier this year but have gained back 20 of that just going back to a normal, still fairly healthy diet.  

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I actually don't intend to stop, I like the feeling of ketosis.

I cheated last Saturday a little bit, and three weeks ago I had an epic cheat day 3 weeks ago and there will be one in 2 weeks. I know I can get myself back into ketosis by fasting, and cheating helps in a few ways (some will say it hinders deeper keto adaption but I do want to eat lasagne etc occasionally so fuck it).

I actually fasted from yesterday lunchtime to this evening. I then had 170g of steak with butter and cayenne (after some apple cider vinegar in sparkling water), went to the gym, then ate another 130g of steak. I will now fast until Monday lunchtime. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm a fat fuck and I've been battling food addiction/binge eating for years now. Years ago, and I mean YEARS, we're talking about when DVDVR was split between the glitteratti and bigger guys camps. At that time, I was firmly in the glitteratti camp. I had been around 275 lbs. in 2000. I slowly dropped some weight to get down to around 250 or 260 and that was where I was until about 2005 or so. I then did the South Beach Diet along with pilates and weight lifting to get down to 195 lbs. That was in about 2007. I felt healthier than ever.

And then life happened. Got married, had a kid, got divorced, found someone new, and on and on. I had gotten back up to 240 when I was getting divorced, but at that time, knowing I needed to focus on my own self, I started to get back in shape. I worked out about 5 times a week and just kept my calories low. I probably got down to 230 to 225, but I didn't focus on what really affected me, which was the food I was eating. Mainly sugars and carbs. This is about 2013 to early 2014. Shortly after meeting the woman who would become my wife, I got back up to 240. From there, it all fell apart eating wise.

Over the course of 4 years I ballooned up to 300 lbs. I felt like I was in pain, I was depressed about every day, but every day I would eat a box of Cheez Its or a bag smaller than a Halloween sized bag of candy. I'd eat chicken tenders damn near every day. If it wasn't that, I was drinking lots of soda. I couldn't stop. If I tried pulling away from eating the Cheez Its or candy or whatever I would just feel miserable. Multiple times I'd leave the home at night around 1 or 2 am to sneak off to a Walmart to buy snacks.

Anyway, enough is enough. I don't want to die of a heart attack or cancer and I need to be honest about my addictions and demons. Some people struggle with drugs, others with alcohol, but mine is food. So last Tuesday I started doing Keto or South Beach or whatever you want to call it. I last weighed in at my doctor's office at 306 lbs. and that was probably a month ago. So that's my starting point. I cut out all sugar and nearly all processed foods. The only processed food I probably eat are these tiny little pepperoni sausages and I only eat 6 of those, which is what the portion is. After a few days I felt so fucking sick. I'm prone to migraines as it is, but I had a shit awful migraine and was just nauseous all day. I wanted to eat 4 sleeves of crackers so badly along with a platter of chicken strips. I didn't. I toughed it out. The next day I actually felt great.

Part of the struggle with this diet is getting enough calories. Eating the right foods to get enough calories is fucking HARD. Really hard. I struggle daily to just hit 900 to 1000. One day I only ate about 500 calories because I missed lunch. Over this short period of time though, I've developed a better grasp over my hunger and I'm noticing that I don't have the pull to go to McDonalds and then also stop at Taco Bell on the way home. I don't have the pull to eat boxes and boxes of Ritz or Cheez Its. I don't have the pull to put away a whole 2 liter of Dr. Pepper or grape soda. Every day I've had a green breakfast shake that is basically kale, avocado, protein powder, and unsweetened almond milk. Lunch is a salad with some kind of lean meat in it or no meat. Dinner is something home made.

I've done all of this to the tune of getting down to 286 lbs. after a little less than a week and a half. The weight isn't what matters though, what matters is conquering whatever addiction to sugar and carbs I have. That's the thing I want to defeat the most and if I keep myself sober, then the weight will fall off as an added bonus. I plan on working in exercise soon, but for now, I just want to tackle how I'm eating and destroy the bad habits I had. After a couple weeks I'll work some carbs back in, like fruit, but not a lot. That's where this becomes more like the South Beach Diet where I'm basically retraining my brain to not crave the horrible shit I used to. I'll get there, but I just wanted to post this as some sort of coming clean to someone or anyone aside from my wife and friends to just hold myself accountable to more people. It may mean nothing to anyone else, but it's like playing a trick on my brain. 

Last of all, this isn't something that will work for everyone, but if you felt like I felt, then my heart goes out to you and I wish you nothing but the best and the most success you can have. Nutrition and weight and what not is discussed a lot in this country, but the actual struggle isn't talked about. You can't just give up eating. I mean, you can, but it isn't going to go well. It's just so hard. 

  • Like 5
  • Thanks 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

3 hours ago, Craig H said:

I'm a fat fuck and I've been battling food addiction/binge eating for years now. Years ago, and I mean YEARS, we're talking about when DVDVR was split between the glitteratti and bigger guys camps. At that time, I was firmly in the glitteratti camp. I had been around 275 lbs. in 2000. I slowly dropped some weight to get down to around 250 or 260 and that was where I was until about 2005 or so. I then did the South Beach Diet along with pilates and weight lifting to get down to 195 lbs. That was in about 2007. I felt healthier than ever.

And then life happened. Got married, had a kid, got divorced, found someone new, and on and on. I had gotten back up to 240 when I was getting divorced, but at that time, knowing I needed to focus on my own self, I started to get back in shape. I worked out about 5 times a week and just kept my calories low. I probably got down to 230 to 225, but I didn't focus on what really affected me, which was the food I was eating. Mainly sugars and carbs. This is about 2013 to early 2014. Shortly after meeting the woman who would become my wife, I got back up to 240. From there, it all fell apart eating wise.

Over the course of 4 years I ballooned up to 300 lbs. I felt like I was in pain, I was depressed about every day, but every day I would eat a box of Cheez Its or a bag smaller than a Halloween sized bag of candy. I'd eat chicken tenders damn near every day. If it wasn't that, I was drinking lots of soda. I couldn't stop. If I tried pulling away from eating the Cheez Its or candy or whatever I would just feel miserable. Multiple times I'd leave the home at night around 1 or 2 am to sneak off to a Walmart to buy snacks.

Anyway, enough is enough. I don't want to die of a heart attack or cancer and I need to be honest about my addictions and demons. Some people struggle with drugs, others with alcohol, but mine is food. So last Tuesday I started doing Keto or South Beach or whatever you want to call it. I last weighed in at my doctor's office at 306 lbs. and that was probably a month ago. So that's my starting point. I cut out all sugar and nearly all processed foods. The only processed food I probably eat are these tiny little pepperoni sausages and I only eat 6 of those, which is what the portion is. After a few days I felt so fucking sick. I'm prone to migraines as it is, but I had a shit awful migraine and was just nauseous all day. I wanted to eat 4 sleeves of crackers so badly along with a platter of chicken strips. I didn't. I toughed it out. The next day I actually felt great.

Part of the struggle with this diet is getting enough calories. Eating the right foods to get enough calories is fucking HARD. Really hard. I struggle daily to just hit 900 to 1000. One day I only ate about 500 calories because I missed lunch. Over this short period of time though, I've developed a better grasp over my hunger and I'm noticing that I don't have the pull to go to McDonalds and then also stop at Taco Bell on the way home. I don't have the pull to eat boxes and boxes of Ritz or Cheez Its. I don't have the pull to put away a whole 2 liter of Dr. Pepper or grape soda. Every day I've had a green breakfast shake that is basically kale, avocado, protein powder, and unsweetened almond milk. Lunch is a salad with some kind of lean meat in it or no meat. Dinner is something home made.

I've done all of this to the tune of getting down to 286 lbs. after a little less than a week and a half. The weight isn't what matters though, what matters is conquering whatever addiction to sugar and carbs I have. That's the thing I want to defeat the most and if I keep myself sober, then the weight will fall off as an added bonus. I plan on working in exercise soon, but for now, I just want to tackle how I'm eating and destroy the bad habits I had. After a couple weeks I'll work some carbs back in, like fruit, but not a lot. That's where this becomes more like the South Beach Diet where I'm basically retraining my brain to not crave the horrible shit I used to. I'll get there, but I just wanted to post this as some sort of coming clean to someone or anyone aside from my wife and friends to just hold myself accountable to more people. It may mean nothing to anyone else, but it's like playing a trick on my brain. 

Last of all, this isn't something that will work for everyone, but if you felt like I felt, then my heart goes out to you and I wish you nothing but the best and the most success you can have. Nutrition and weight and what not is discussed a lot in this country, but the actual struggle isn't talked about. You can't just give up eating. I mean, you can, but it isn't going to go well. It's just so hard. 

13

This is so dope.  A lot of people go through life knowing that they have issues and choose to either ignore them or not do anything about them.  It takes a lot of strength to look at yourself, realize you have a problem, and decide to do something about it.  Thanks for the vulerability, I'm pulling for you. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'm about the last person on Earth who can ever relate to weight gain issues, but I'm a type 1 diabetic and a colitis sufferer, so there are maybe 3 foods I can eat with impunity.  I know the struggle of finding calories all too well. Hope you're not allergic to nuts because...

Almonds are your friend. I still nosh ~3 oz a day of them.  You can get 2.5 lb bags at Costco for fairly cheap, less than or roughly $5/lb (anywhere else and they're a ripoff; I've looked).  Sunflower seeds are also good, and a lot cheaper, and have more protein, but they have a crapton of saturated fats in comparison.

Natural peanut butter is something I've gotten very much hooked on as well.  It still has whatever sugar the peanuts have, but it's better than the other brands.  It takes a little while to get used to the taste, but now I couldn't imagine going back.  Just try to look for the ones that separate on the shelf - Smucker's, for example, or some of the store generics.  The ones that look smooth have palm oil in them, and since it's a bittering agent, it makes the taste disgusting.  Or, better yet, if you have a good grocery store nearby, grind the peanuts yourself.  These basically saved my life until I could cobble together enough things to eat that wouldn't beat the shit out of either one condition or the other.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sunflower seeds are my jam when I want something crunchy. I can't believe a serving of those in the shell is about a cup. I'm good with about 1/4 cup. I go for the Bigs brand and mainly stick to the dill pickle flavored ones. A friend sent me the Taco Bell flavored ones and those are pretty good. It's basically replaced the need for something crunchy and tasty that isn't a cracker or chip.

Pickles in general are great.

Almonds or pistachios are another good snack, but it kinda sucks that they're so expensive. Good tip about getting the almonds from Costco though. I don't know why, but that's one of those things I never think to get from there.

I made kale chips once and they tasted good, but it made the whole house stink. If someone can stand the smell, it's worth trying.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Basically, cutting weight for me has been a 3 stage crusade. I weighed myself on 26th December and I was about 262lbs iirc. It had gone up in December as I had just started a contract in Belgium and was eating a lot of bread + meat + cheese in the evening, plus not really exercising much. Now I wasn't a complete lardass, there was a decent amount of muscle from a Steve Corino '7 days a month' gym schedule. But I knew things were getting out of hand.

I started the 'Slow Carb Diet' in mid-January (living in Brussels). I was lucky as we had a really good canteen at work which offered a plat du jour with a great selection of serve yourself vegetables and salad. I would bring in my own beans/lentils. You get a cheat day on that diet where you can eat whatever you like, which I very much enjoyed. I dropped at a reasonable pace. I did that for about 3 months. By the end I was about 225lbs, though I hadn't been lifting as hard and some of that would have been muscle loss. I think this is a good diet for those who find the idea of 'no carbs' unconscionable, but in some ways it is actually more limiting than keto due to whey/casein protein not being an option yet having to eat 30g of protein within 30 minutes of waking.

I then went to America of course. My aim in America was not not let it all go to shit. Now I ate a big fucking deep pan pizza within hours of touching down at O'Haire, and had my dogs and italian beef. And I drank a lot of beer. Once I got to New Orleans, I started drinking a lot of sugary tea in a can too. In Athen, GA I ate some big plates. But mostly, I ate big once a day, with maybe a small proteiny snack at some other point. Because I didn't want to eat train food, and didn't trust myself with snacks - I actually fasted during my train rides from Chicago-Seattle-LA (I had bone broth and green drink and chia seeds sometimes, also a little MCT oil); I think this really saved me tbh. I worked out here and there until Athens GA, but mostly I walked around a lot. In Athens GA, I did a lot of gym and also hot yoga - I didn't weigh myself but I certainly didn't look any worse. My Father died (Fuck you Cancer etc) and last week or so in America I probably ate a bit more, then I visited Glasgow and I ate some bad food but lifted hardcore. By the time I got back to London I was 240lbs. To be honest, I was probably in better shape than I was at 225lbs - but my clothes were feeling tight again and I knew my ageing ass had to carry less weight. So I decided it was time to try full keto.

I think I wasn't getting it right at first. I thought it would be okay, if I drank lemon water with a lot of lemons and a 'dribble' of maple syrup. Probably not. After a couple of weeks, I started trying to get really low in terms of daily carbs. There was definitely a hump period, despite me taking in a lot of electrolytes. But I eventually got with it, and 13-14 weeks later I weighed in at 200 yesterday - and that's without significant muscle loss (I'm still a 44inch chest). I could lose a bit more, but I will actually concentrate more on improving my cardio and my lifts for a bit. I do cheat sometimes, but I usually fast afterwards to get back into ketosis. The lack of sugar spikes make calorie control a shit load easier, skipping meals is no longer a trauma. And yes, there's a lot you can't eat - but there's a lot you can. Broccoli with parmesan is good, mayo on everything (within reason) is good, casein protein with heavy cream is good, lard.....don't get me started. I honestly believe keto + cheating + fasting IS a sustainable diet long-term, more sustainable than 'good carb/bad carb' diets (South Beach was designed for people with cardiac issues who couldn't do Atkins because of the saturated fats). I keep stevia in my kitchen, but I rarely feel the need to use it.

I recommend checking out Siim Land and Cole 'Stop Eating, Fatty!' Robinson on YouTube. The latter is hilarious. There's a video where he eats only McDonalds for 30 days, but because he skips the fries (he eats the buns) and only eats once a day (one day he eats twice as much and then fasts for 48 hours lol), he fares a helluva lot differently from Morgan Spurlock - this chimes with my own experience.

Keto isn't for everyone, but it's the best diet for some people no doubt about it.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

So I'm now officially through with 2 weeks and I'm down at least 16 lbs., but probably no more than 20. I'm not exactly sure how much I lost because I didn't weigh myself to start, but just going off of my last doctor's visit which was about a month ago, I weighed 306 then I think. I can already tell my pants feel looser and so do some t-shirts and dress shirts. I'm back to wearing an XL dress shirt or business casual shirt instead of XXL. 

My wife also discovered an awesome kick ass snack that I'm only going to eat on weekends. They're called Whisps. The ones she bought me were asiago and pepper jack, but they're these round, bite size crispy cheese wafers that are all cheese. I guess they're similar to parmesean crisps or whatever you want to call those. Anyway, the only downside is that they're expensive for a bag with only 2 portions in it. A portion is about 23 chips. It's about $6 per bag in the store, at least the non-Walmart stores here, but Amazon sells a box of 6 bags for $21 and that breaks down to $3.50 per bag. Just a tip to anyone who has a craving for chips or crackers that this is a pretty good and filling alternative.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

As a fellow Cheez-It addict who can easily go through a whole box mindlessly in one sitting, those things are an amazing alternative.  Costco used to carry them around here - the only problem is that it was just one massive bag rather than the individual sized ones and willpower is so difficult when it comes to crunchy cheesy salty snacks. 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

There really needs to be some sort of group meeting for Cheez-It addicts. There are so many people I know of now who say they can't stop eating them. These are both people in good shape and not good shape. Years ago I didn't think it was that popular as a snack, but now it seems like everyone eats them. My go to used to always be the reduced fat ones since those were crispier and had more salt on them, but before I cut out the Cheez-Its completely, I discovered how amazing the pepper jack or the extra toasty ones are.

Evil Cheez-Its.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

My Cheezy-It guilty pleasure would be to eat the regular ones with American cheese slices with a very meticulous method of getting 8 perfect size pieces for 8 Cheez-Its.  Other than that - I've never been able to get into any of the other varieties probably because I am specifically looking for the fix that my body craves from the regular ones. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...