Exercise & Good Eating Habits

[TheeGoatPig]

I work out plenty (well, I would if I wasn't getting over an injury which keeps from working out four times a week), but my eating habits are some of the worst. My diet is garbage (most pizza and burgers), I snack too much (nutrition shakes, Milkyway candybars, and Doritos). I hate vegetables. They make me ill to even look at them and consider eating them. I don't know why, but I just can't do it.

Because of this, I am geting fat around my belly again. I never slimmed down to my old self in high school (140 pounds at my lightest, which is disgustingly thin for a man of 6'-4" height, I'm at 230 right now), but I was getting it under control until I hurt my knee (two or three months ago). Now I'm back up the 15 pounds I lost over the last few years, and just feeling bloated all of the time.

I also eat different ammounts of food at different times on different days. I'll have three meals on weekends, three meals and a snack most week days, and a second or third snack on workout days. Starting this week, I'm trying to cut down to three meals a day on non-workout days, and only one or two snacks on workout days.

I need at least one snack between lunch and dinner (the candy bar) when I work out because lunch is at noon and dinner is nine hours later. But I've found that I feel drained if I don't have something before lunch as well (the nutritional shake).

I'm a mess. I wish I could eat chicken, or fish, or fruits, or vegetables without gagging and wanting to hurl.

Anyone got any tips for a meat-eater who doesn't know any better?

 

[3113]

Anyone got any tips for a meat-eater who doesn't know any better?

Atkins Diet?

 

[Liar]

My eating habits were all shot to hell. Ate wrong and at the wrong times, and felt like crap. Then I made one, just one, adjustment: I started eating real breakfast. Went from having nothing or almost nothying until lunch, to starting the daywith a big mug of coffee, a buncha sammiches, a bowl of porrige when I could stomach it, and whatever else I happened to have at home. Often a or two.

Made all the difference in the world. Gotmy metabolism running, and made the rest of the meals of the day more moderate, plus no energy dips during the day, so no need for that candy bar snack.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Loads, where do I start?

Honestly, the best advice I could give you would be to check out a copy of "You on a Diet" by Roizen and Oz. This works like gangbusters. The first two days suck but after that it's all up hill. It's available at the library if you don't want to purchase it. If you don't want to know all the why's and wherefores you can skim it but some highlights...

Get the sugar out of your diet. Particularly the high fructose corn syrup.
You have to eat those vegetables. You just have to figure out what you can stomach or the proper preparation. Have you ever met a vegetable you liked? Start there.
Snacks are good, just have to choose the right kinds. (Almonds and walnuts, etc.)

Can you at least stand carrots? Most guys will at least eat those.

 

[Vermilion]

Learning to cook is a start. You can 'hide' vegetables in meat dishes... like finely grated carrot in bolognaise or shepherds pie. PM me if you want recipes etc...
x
V

ps- see the 'mood' thread for a smoothie suggestion. Juicing is an easy way to eat more fruit and veg too

 

[Liar]

Atkins Diet?

Ya. Meat is not the big problem. Pasta, bread (white bread, I suppose?) and cheese, is.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Learning to cook is a start. You can 'hide' vegetables in meat dishes... like finely grated carrot in bolognaise or shepherds pie. PM me if you want recipes etc...
x
V

ps- see the 'mood' thread for a smoothie suggestion. Juicing is an easy way to eat more fruit and veg too

I saw it. That's fruit... eww... (I hate my tongue)

I forgot to mention I eat a bowl of cereal every weekday and pancakes on weekends (not a bowl, a plate, just three small ones).

 

[3113]

Ya. Meat is not the big problem. Pasta, bread (white bread, I suppose?) and cheese, is.

Atkins is extreme, but it does have some viable points. Most particularly that it's our overindulgence in carbs and sugar that makes us fat and keeps us eating. I named it primarily because it's a dream diet for meat eaters. What other diet encourages you to eat bacon and eggs fired up in butter for breakfast every morning?

 

[R. Richard]

Liar's idea about breakfast is a good one. If you have a good breakfast, then you get your metabolism up and running and you burn some of the food you eat during the day.

Try snacking on things like dried meat insted of junk.

Instead of the nutrition shake you now use [probably mostly sugar,] try something like Metabolol II from Champion nutrition [or similar.] A metabolic optimizer gives you ALL the nutrition you need and the fats in Metabolol II are medium-chain triglycerides that allow you to digest food, but are too large to pass through the walls of your intestine to be stored as fat in your body.

Your weight of 230 pounds is not all that heavy for a guy 6 feet four inches, but it needs to be muscle, not fat.

 

[MagicaPractica]

Atkins is extreme, but it does have some viable points. Most particularly that it's our overindulgence in carbs and sugar that makes us fat and keeps us eating. I named it primarily because it's a dream diet for meat eaters. What other diet encourages you to eat bacon and eggs fired up in butter for breakfast every morning?

I don't know but I still can't believe it's a good idea. I'll stick with the three egg white and one whole egg omelet with salsa. Hey, salsa... can you eat salsa Thee? That's a veg if you get one without sugar.

 

[Misty_Morning]

I need at least one snack between lunch and dinner (the candy bar) when I work out because lunch is at noon and dinner is nine hours later. But I've found that I feel drained if I don't have something before lunch as well (the nutritional shake).

My first suggestion, don't eat late at night. Seriously, try not ot eat past 6 or 7 pm. When you're eating that late at night (9PM?) you're not giving yourself time to metabolize the food. Adjust the timing of your meals.

Another thing...cut out the candybars....saying that you need it as a snack for energy is a rationalization. Eat an apple instead or some other fruit.

And IMO you GOTSTA eat your veggies. This is what I suggest...go to a really, really big buffet somewhere...try a little of ALL the veggies that they have....then decide which ones you like. If you don't like veggies....somebody ain't prepping them correctly.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Your weight of 230 pounds is not all that heavy for a guy 6 feet four inches, but it needs to be muscle, not fat.

Exactly. I'm working on it. I just need to get my stamina back up (and wait for my shoulder to heal too, haven't done too many pushups in the last few months either )

 

[TheeGoatPig]

My first suggestion, don't eat late at night. Seriously, try not ot eat past 6 or 7 pm. When you're eating that late at night (9PM?) you're not giving yourself time to metabolize the food. Adjust the timing of your meals.

Another thing...cut out the candybars....saying that you need it as a snack for energy is a rationalization. Eat an apple instead or some other fruit.

And IMO you GOTSTA eat your veggies. This is what I suggest...go to a really, really big buffet somewhere...try a little of ALL the veggies that they have....then decide which ones you like. If you don't like veggies....somebody ain't prepping them correctly.

No. I admist, pure filler to keep me from being hungry.

If I eat before class I get sick (proven fact, almost hurled a few times). If I eat after class I get fat. I can't go to an earlier class because there isn't one. I'm screwed

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

Don't worry about it. Take vitamin pills, and just eat sensibly.

I have two meals a day. I decided years ago I could skip breakfast and just suck on coffee all morning, knocking out a few hundred calories. (I think that "most important meal of the day" stuff was implanted by the egg and bacon producers lobby. For two million years we adapted to eat at all kinds of wierd times.) If I'm going somewhere and know lunch will be delayed I might have some real light snack, like a few crackers or something.

My only "real" balanced meal of the day is lunch - usually meat, potatoes, and cooked veggies. In the evening I have cookies, cereal, crackers or chips for "dinner" - a sweet course and a salty course. However, I only purchase items that are low or medium in fat content. 8 grams per oz is the cut off - I just don't buy them if they're higher, and the overall average is more like 5 or 6 grams (per 28 gram serving.) For this evening 'meal' in particular I try to stop eating before I am 'full.' At lunch I eat til I'm full (and often end up taking a 30 minute nap in the afternoon , which a study in the paper today shows reduces the chance of heart attack by more than 30 percent - it's stress related. Yay me. )

All that is well and good, but here's the really important item: I jog three miles, four times a week, and have done at least that for decades. It's hard - I have to tell myself "this is not optional." And it's not, because without that I would be fat. I have a few extra pounds, but not enough to worry about, and my weight is very stable. I happened to get my blood pressure today - its in the upper quadrant of 'normal,' where it's been forever. Same with cholesterol and triglicerides. Any MD wags a finger at me on these gets, "Hey - I run four times a week and eat moderate amounts of low or medium fat content foods - gimme a break; that's enough."

 

[3113]

I don't know but I still can't believe it's a good idea. I'll stick with the three egg white and one whole egg omelet with salsa. Hey, salsa... can you eat salsa Thee? That's a veg if you get one without sugar.

Oh, I didn't say it was a good idea. I only know that it is successful in creating initial weight loss and getting the person to eat less. It also has a psychological appeal. One thing that is problematic to dieters is that they're always asking for egg-whites and steamed veggies and fish--and no fat at all! Which can be pretty tiring unless they actually love such things. It *feels* punitive.

Atkins allows their dieters to ask for a steak and a salad with Roqueford dressing...but, alas, no french fries. Which, for people like Thee who aren't into veggies, can be an attractive alternative. I won't say it's good for a lifetime, but it might be a viable place to start for a veggie-hating-meat-eater.

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Don't worry about it. Take vitamin pills, and just eat sensibly.

What kind of vitamins would anyone suggest?

 

[Selena_Kitt]

What kind of vitamins would anyone suggest?

Vitamins aren't going to help you lose the weight.

But I'd suggest anything that isn't a "one a day" type. There usually isn't enough in those to do any real good. Something that comes in a pack--3-4 pills a day. Try your health food store.

As for what you're eating... try 5-6 servings of fruits and veggies a day, complex carbs only, and 4-6 oz of protein at each meal.

The meat, obviously, won't be a problem...

But you've gotta cut out a lot of the junk food. It's very highly caloric and nutritionally empty.

Tell me some veggies you like. Pickles? Carrots?

Corn on the cob? Potatoes? If you eat them (starch) don't use a lot of butter... some is fine--real is preferable to margarine. (Trans fats)

Fruit... watermelon? Grapes? Berries? What about dried fruits? They're higher in sugar but better than Doritos. If you have a bowl of whole grain cereal in the morning with bananas or even raisins and other dried fruit in it, you're doing better then no breakfast at all, or donuts...

Also, if you're a pizza eater, you can get your veggies in on your pizza...

Do you like things like chicken stir fries? They're simple to make and yummy and have lots of good veggies in them...

 

[Roxanne Appleby]

What kind of vitamins would anyone suggest?

Big ones.

I dunno - I just take a multi with minerals and suck on a chewable C for desert after lunch (which is supposed to be bad for teeth .) I don't buy into the vitamin cult because I've never seen definitive scientific evidence that it's real, but it seems prudent to get the basics.

 

[K-Girl]

Anyone got any tips for a meat-eater who doesn't know any better?

With what you spend on burgers, pizza, Doritos and Milky Way candy bars, you can try a program like Nutri-System for men instead. It is convenient and you can tailor it to suit your tastes. Since you can not exercise because you are healing from injuries, can you at least go for walks? All that fat, salt, processed food, and lack of exercise has me concerned about your cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels. You should get a physical and be more proactive in your health. I think it would be a real eye-opener for you if you did. Diabetes and high blood pressure can sneak up on you in a hurry. Such health problems do not have run in your family or happen later in life for you to get them, but what you are not doing will.

 

[R. Richard]

If I eat before class I get sick (proven fact, almost hurled a few times). If I eat after class I get fat. I can't go to an earlier class because there isn't one. I'm screwed

I drink Metabolol II in milk just before a workout. I then do a very hard workout. I don't feel as if I will barf. Some guys actually take Metabolol II during a workout. Give it a try.

 

[R. Richard]

What kind of vitamins would anyone suggest?

A single serving of Metabolol II has a day's supply of vitamins and minerals. The "day's supply of vitamins and minerals" is for someone doing a hard workout and includes some things like zinc and chromium which are not yet accepted as necessary for human nutrition.

 

[SeaCat]

Honestly I am the wrong person o ask about this. I am on the seefood Diet. Translated I see food and I eat it.

However I do limit my intake. I do this by eating in the morning.

Breakfast? Yes I do make breakfast even when I have to get up early and be in work early. How do I do this? Easy. Let's take tomorrow morning for example.

I have a pot of coffee set up. I also have two ziplock bags in the fridge filled with the contents of our favorite omelletes. That's right, the bags have three beaten eggs each as well as other ingredients.

For my wife there is Ham and Cheese. For myself there is crumbled Bacon, cheese and Salsa. You beat the eggs then ad the other ingredients and pour this mix in a Ziplock.

In the morning I start the coffee pot and set a pot of water to boiling. To the boiling water I add the bags with their egg ingredients.

After ten to fifteen minutes in the boiloing water the eggs will be nice and firm. You pull the bags out of the water and after opening them you can roll the combo of the eggs and additions out onto a plate.

Other morning favorites? I will precut and fry some spuds. These I will mix into a container of beaten eggs with crumbled bacon. In the morning, as my wife takes her shower I toss some bread or English Muffins in the toaster over while I toss the mix of Spuds, eggs and Bacon on a griddle on the stove. These are quick fried until done then cut in hlf and placed on the toast or muffins. For my wife they are ready when she comes out of the shower. Mine is tossd in the Microwave to wait for me to come out of the shower.

Another I will do is Shredded Steak. (Steak'ums) Fry this up and place between two pieces of well buttered toast.

Cat

 

[TheeGoatPig]

Tell me some veggies you like. Pickles? Carrots?

Ketchup...

 

[TheeGoatPig]

With what you spend on burgers, pizza, Doritos and Milky Way candy bars, you can try a program like Nutri-System for men instead. It is convenient and you can tailor it to suit your tastes. Since you can not exercise because you are healing from injuries, can you at least go for walks? All that fat, salt, processed food, and lack of exercise has me concerned about your cholesterol, blood pressure and sugar levels. You should get a physical and be more proactive in your health. I think it would be a real eye-opener for you if you did. Diabetes and high blood pressure can sneak up on you in a hurry. Such health problems do not have run in your family or happen later in life for you to get them, but what you are not doing will.

I can exercise. I have a martial arts class twice a week. I just lost a LOT of stamina and strength from only exercising half-assed once a week for a little over a month. It's getting better, and I'm taking my time getting back into the 4 day a week groove, so as not to injure the same places again.

 

[SeaCat]

Ketchup...

BWahahahahaha

Hot Sauce.

Cat