The "I just got back from the gym" and this is what I have eaten thread.

[SenselessChiefsFan]

Okay, so there are a ton of guys in here that are working out, trying to work out, or 'thinking' about working out.

So, I figured I would start a thread. I am all about making myself accountable. The more people that I tell about working out, the more people I would let down by not going.

If you go to the gym.... then post here when you get back. If you do P90X, post here when you get done. If you ride the excercise bike.... post it here.

Anything you do to get in shape.... share with the board. I know I have gotten some great advice and feedback.

Also, post what you eat. If you post everything you eat, and you know others will be critical, you may think twice before you grab a Twinkie.

Okay, so, I went to the gym. I did five minutes on the cross climber to warm up. I stretched for about three minutes.

Then, I did three sets of squats with just 135. I did back extensions and hanging leg lifts. Three sets each. I did leg curls, calf extensions, abductor and adductor excercises as well.

On my leg day, I do very light chest exercises to work on my explosive power. I do three sets of six pushups as explosively as I can. I throw the excercise ball up like a chest pass while laying on the bench.

Then, I finished off my workout with 30 minutes on the eliptical.

As far as my diet.

Breakfast two pieces of peanut butter whole wheat toast, protein shake, and banana.

I have had another banana, two yogurts, and a handful of cashews as snacks.

I didn't have a 'lunch' per se.

Kids had sloppy joes with lean beef (as if that makes it great).... I took a baked potato, and put a serving of sloppy joe over it, with jalapenos and 2 oz's of lowfat cheddar cheese.

I have also had shotgun with water, and synthesize with water.

I won't eat again before bed.


Okay, I know putting everything down here will open me up to criticism. I know some will think that I am doing things all wrong. I appreciate any advice, but I have done a lot of reading and talking to trainers.... so, I have an idea of what I am doing.... or at least what I think I am doing.

The point of this thread, isn't to get into pissing matches about how to do things.... but rather to give ourselves a gold star for making an effort.

Try not to beat anyone down on this thread, because this is about encouragement.

[Hammock Parties]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

I just got done coming back from the gym.

Just ate a whole bunch of pussy too.

How manly is that?

I think I win.

Gym makes me horny, too.

[MoreLemonPledge]

Originally Posted by CoMoChief

I just got done coming back from the gym.

Just ate a whole bunch of pussy too.

How manly is that?

I think I win.

How much protein is in that?

[SenselessChiefsFan]

Had a great workout last night. I am struggling to go twice a day now because I am really busy at work. I need to tighten up my eating too, I have gained two lbs in the last two weeks. Part of it is not working out as much. So, I have to get my caloric intake at the right level.

Anyways, I am working at getting bigger and leaner, but I really have to start doing it 'smarter'. I am hoping to sit down this weekend and chart the excercises I want to do on each day, and then start logging all my work and my weights. Structure will help me. I have been in a rut for the last two weeks.

[Silock]

You don't need to go twice per day. Just go once

[NewChief]

Not really knowledgeable enough about weight loss (never really had to worry about it) to comment one way or the other on this one... but it seemed like a good article to post:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-b...etosis-primer/
“So, how do you tell your body to start burning stored body fat?” my friend and fellow mother asked.

“Cut the carbs,” answered another mom. “I go into ketosis just about every afternoon.”

“Ketosis? Isn’t that bad for you?”

The short answer? No.

I talk to a lot of people who want to lose weight. They try all sorts of things — exercise, calorie restriction, you name it. Sometimes, they lose the weight. Inevitably, they gain it back. That’s because what they’re doing is going on a diet — a temporary fix at best. What they need is a lifestyle change, a perspective shift, a new paradigm. Of course, you all know the paradigm I espouse — a conversion to eating real, traditional foods.

Yet even a conversion to eating real food won’t necessarily help the pounds melt away. If you’re still eating 200 grams of carbohydrates a day — even if they’re “traditional” carbohydrates like sprouted or soaked grains, unrefined sweeteners, etc, you’re not going to lose weight without making some serious changes.

If your body is regularly storing body fat (you gain a little bit of weight each year), then something is wrong with how your body metabolizes food. Let me introduce you to a new concept: the body fat setpoint.

The body fat setpoint is the mass of body fat that your body attempts to defend against changes in either direction. It’s your body’s attempt to maintain homeostasis. This is why if you exercise more, you eat more. It’s also why if you restrict calories, your metabolism slows down to compensate.

Why should you care about the body fat setpoint? From Stephan at Whole Health Source:

We care because this has some very important implications for human obesity. With such a powerful system in place to keep body fat mass in a narrow range, a major departure from that range implies that the system isn’t functioning correctly. In other words, obesity has to result from a defect in the system that regulates body fat, because a properly functioning system would not have allowed that degree of fat gain in the first place.

So yes, we are gaining weight because we eat too many calories relative to energy expended. But why are we eating too many calories? Because the system that should be defending a low fat mass is now defending a high fat mass. Therefore, the solution is not simply to restrict calories, or burn more calories through exercise, but to try to “reset” the system that decides what fat mass to defend. Restricting calories isn’t necessarily a good solution because the body will attempt to defend its setpoint, whether high or low, by increasing hunger and decreasing its metabolic rate. That’s why low-calorie diets, and most diets in general, typically fail in the long term. It’s miserable to fight hunger every day.

So, how do you “reset” the system? How do you train your body to start burning stored body fat?

One word: ketosis.

Ketosis is the state that your body enters into when it starts converting stored fat into ketones to use as fuel for your cells. If you eat plenty of carbohydrates, you will never enter into ketosis. Instead, your body will simply use all that glucose as a fuel.

Is Ketosis Dangerous?

Ketosis has earned a bad name, though. For one thing, your body enters a ketogenic state when it starts starving itself. But if you’re eating plenty of calories and sticking to a nutrient-dense diet, you need not fear starvation. Ketogenesis doesn’t destroy muscle tissue, but is rather the process by which stored fat is turned into ketones — a perfectly usable energy source for every major body system. Others object to ketosis because it gets confused with ketoacidosis, a dangerous state in which the body not only becomes ketogenic, but also causes the blood to become too acidic. If you’re still getting your limited carbohydrates from vegetables and fruits, you need not fear ketoacidosis.

From Mark’s Daily Apple:

Finally, ketogenic diets, which are generally lumped together by critics, have gotten a lot of bad press. While experts have generally recognized their effectiveness for weight loss, very low carb diets that result in ketosis (like the Atkins) have been criticized on health grounds. The problem with these criticisms? They’re based on diets that allow for 20 grams or less of carbohydrates a day. While I believe we are not meant to run primarily on carbohydrate energy, I do believe we depend on the nutrients offered by low carb vegetables and even some low glycemic fruits. A diet of 20 carbohydrate grams simply can’t allow for the plentiful intake of nutrient-rich vegetables.

When your carb intake is low enough, say 50-80 grams a day, ketosis kicks in when it needs to. Over time, this process becomes efficient as the body “unfolds” in its genetic expression. Yet this carb intake is high enough that you can freely include copious amounts of nutrient- (including potassium) rich vegetables to offer the body sufficient nutrition, fiber, and alkalizing minerals.

In other words, when you cut your carbohydrate intake to 50-80 grams per day and still include plenty of vegetables and fruits in your diet, then your body can safely enter into ketosis when it needs to.

Once you’re at your desired weight and you don’t hope to lose anymore body fat, then sticking to anywhere between 100-150 grams of carbohydrates per day will help you maintain your new body fat setpoint.

The glory of thinking this way is that you absolutely never have to count calories! In fact, you probably don’t even have to count grams of carbohydrates. Just avoid grains, sugars, and sweet fruits. If you start craving those foods, eat more saturated fat from traditional sources like ghee, coconut oil, tallow, and lard. (I swear this works!) When you reach your desired weight, give yourself more grace to eat sweeter fruits and the occasional properly treated grain, tuber, or legume.

When you’re in your “maintenance” mode, what you’ll discover is that you’re eating a diet much more in line with traditional cultures around the world — a diet devoid of artificial and processed foods, a diet full of healthy fats from quality sources, a diet rich in fermented and living foods, a diet absent sugar, you get the picture. The exact quantities of meats, vegetables, and fats you eat can vary greatly depending on your cravings and preferences, but one thing will be sure: you won’t ever want to go back to how you ate before.

[Silock]

Mark's Daily Apple is a good site.

Although, I would say that it's not strictly necessary to be in ketosis to burn fat. All you really NEED is a caloric deficit. If you're significantly under your daily BMR, it really doesn't matter WHAT you eat. However, the closer you are to your BMR, the quicker you'll lose fat by getting into ketosis more often. The key is keeping insulin levels down. When insulin is high, fat burning is impossible. But, if you're significantly under your caloric needs, insulin doesn't stay elevated for very long at all. This changes as you consume more carbs, and thus, more calories. So, as you eat more, you can stay in fat burning mode by consuming more fats and less carbs. However, to get into ketosis, you have to eat VERY few carbs. I'm talking less than 20% of your daily caloric intake as carbs. That's VERY difficult to do over a long period of time, but not impossible. It's not simply a set number as the latter part of the article suggests, because everyone has different caloric needs.

[Silock]

Just got back from an intense workout. Did 55 sets in 1 hour 15 minutes. Renegade Rows are ****ing intense. If you're not doing them currently, FIND A WAY TO WORK THEM IN. Absolutely fantastic.

Currently eating: 1.8 oz of low-fat cheese, and a shake of 1 scoop of protein powder, 1 cup strawberries, 2 tsp olive oil, and 1/4 cup of non-fat, no sugar yogurt.

[Silock]

Had a light workout today. 2x5 sets on the bench, 5x9,8,8,7,6 sets of pullups, 5x5 sets of leg press, 3x15 swiss ball mountain climbers and swiss ball crunches. Including warmup I was out in 25 minutes. FTW!

[Silock]

Another great workout today.

Up for my first meal of the day-- 12 egg whites, 2 tsp olive oil and an orange.

[RedThat]

Originally Posted by NewPhin

Not really knowledgeable enough about weight loss (never really had to worry about it) to comment one way or the other on this one... but it seemed like a good article to post:

http://www.foodrenegade.com/how-to-b...etosis-primer/
“So, how do you tell your body to start burning stored body fat?” my friend and fellow mother asked.

“Cut the carbs,” answered another mom. “I go into ketosis just about every afternoon.”

“Ketosis? Isn’t that bad for you?”

The short answer? No.

I talk to a lot of people who want to lose weight. They try all sorts of things — exercise, calorie restriction, you name it. Sometimes, they lose the weight. Inevitably, they gain it back. That’s because what they’re doing is going on a diet — a temporary fix at best. What they need is a lifestyle change, a perspective shift, a new paradigm. Of course, you all know the paradigm I espouse — a conversion to eating real, traditional foods.

Yet even a conversion to eating real food won’t necessarily help the pounds melt away. If you’re still eating 200 grams of carbohydrates a day — even if they’re “traditional” carbohydrates like sprouted or soaked grains, unrefined sweeteners, etc, you’re not going to lose weight without making some serious changes.

If your body is regularly storing body fat (you gain a little bit of weight each year), then something is wrong with how your body metabolizes food. Let me introduce you to a new concept: the body fat setpoint.

The body fat setpoint is the mass of body fat that your body attempts to defend against changes in either direction. It’s your body’s attempt to maintain homeostasis. This is why if you exercise more, you eat more. It’s also why if you restrict calories, your metabolism slows down to compensate.

Why should you care about the body fat setpoint? From Stephan at Whole Health Source:

We care because this has some very important implications for human obesity. With such a powerful system in place to keep body fat mass in a narrow range, a major departure from that range implies that the system isn’t functioning correctly. In other words, obesity has to result from a defect in the system that regulates body fat, because a properly functioning system would not have allowed that degree of fat gain in the first place.

So yes, we are gaining weight because we eat too many calories relative to energy expended. But why are we eating too many calories? Because the system that should be defending a low fat mass is now defending a high fat mass. Therefore, the solution is not simply to restrict calories, or burn more calories through exercise, but to try to “reset” the system that decides what fat mass to defend. Restricting calories isn’t necessarily a good solution because the body will attempt to defend its setpoint, whether high or low, by increasing hunger and decreasing its metabolic rate. That’s why low-calorie diets, and most diets in general, typically fail in the long term. It’s miserable to fight hunger every day.

So, how do you “reset” the system? How do you train your body to start burning stored body fat?

One word: ketosis.

Ketosis is the state that your body enters into when it starts converting stored fat into ketones to use as fuel for your cells. If you eat plenty of carbohydrates, you will never enter into ketosis. Instead, your body will simply use all that glucose as a fuel.

Is Ketosis Dangerous?

Ketosis has earned a bad name, though. For one thing, your body enters a ketogenic state when it starts starving itself. But if you’re eating plenty of calories and sticking to a nutrient-dense diet, you need not fear starvation. Ketogenesis doesn’t destroy muscle tissue, but is rather the process by which stored fat is turned into ketones — a perfectly usable energy source for every major body system. Others object to ketosis because it gets confused with ketoacidosis, a dangerous state in which the body not only becomes ketogenic, but also causes the blood to become too acidic. If you’re still getting your limited carbohydrates from vegetables and fruits, you need not fear ketoacidosis.

From Mark’s Daily Apple:

Finally, ketogenic diets, which are generally lumped together by critics, have gotten a lot of bad press. While experts have generally recognized their effectiveness for weight loss, very low carb diets that result in ketosis (like the Atkins) have been criticized on health grounds. The problem with these criticisms? They’re based on diets that allow for 20 grams or less of carbohydrates a day. While I believe we are not meant to run primarily on carbohydrate energy, I do believe we depend on the nutrients offered by low carb vegetables and even some low glycemic fruits. A diet of 20 carbohydrate grams simply can’t allow for the plentiful intake of nutrient-rich vegetables.

When your carb intake is low enough, say 50-80 grams a day, ketosis kicks in when it needs to. Over time, this process becomes efficient as the body “unfolds” in its genetic expression. Yet this carb intake is high enough that you can freely include copious amounts of nutrient- (including potassium) rich vegetables to offer the body sufficient nutrition, fiber, and alkalizing minerals.

In other words, when you cut your carbohydrate intake to 50-80 grams per day and still include plenty of vegetables and fruits in your diet, then your body can safely enter into ketosis when it needs to.

Once you’re at your desired weight and you don’t hope to lose anymore body fat, then sticking to anywhere between 100-150 grams of carbohydrates per day will help you maintain your new body fat setpoint.

The glory of thinking this way is that you absolutely never have to count calories! In fact, you probably don’t even have to count grams of carbohydrates. Just avoid grains, sugars, and sweet fruits. If you start craving those foods, eat more saturated fat from traditional sources like ghee, coconut oil, tallow, and lard. (I swear this works!) When you reach your desired weight, give yourself more grace to eat sweeter fruits and the occasional properly treated grain, tuber, or legume.

When you’re in your “maintenance” mode, what you’ll discover is that you’re eating a diet much more in line with traditional cultures around the world — a diet devoid of artificial and processed foods, a diet full of healthy fats from quality sources, a diet rich in fermented and living foods, a diet absent sugar, you get the picture. The exact quantities of meats, vegetables, and fats you eat can vary greatly depending on your cravings and preferences, but one thing will be sure: you won’t ever want to go back to how you ate before.

Good article. Thank you for that.

Just thought Id give my two cents here, they say that ppl who are obese are diabetics. I believe that because diabetes is a condition that derives from insulin resistance. Sugar is the number 1 killer in my opinion. In America its a problem and I cannot stress how much sugar your average american consumes. See, too much consumption of sugar, especially sugar that is "high" in the glycemic index causes the pancreas to secrete too much insulin. If you consume too much sugar on a daily basis, and lets say you do this for a prolonged period of time, years per se, eventually the pancreas has to release too much insulin to meet the demands of the sugar your intaking, your pancreas has to release insulin because that is the hormone that allows your body cells to use glucose for energy. When the cells are exposed to using too much glucose they eventually lose their sensitivity to it. So your body had to produce more of it to become effective. And the more it produces, the more your cells resist.

So insulin starts to accumulate in the blood, and guess what? Your body can't use the glucose effectively nor break it down properly, and as a result, your body converts that into FAT!! This is how people because obese.

Diabetes=too much insulin in the blood

Obesity=improper breakdown of glucose

[NewChief]

Originally Posted by RedThat

Good article. Thank you for that.

Just thought Id give my two cents here, they say that ppl who are obese are diabetics. I believe that because diabetes is a condition that derives from insulin resistance. Sugar is the number 1 killer in my opinion. In America its a problem and I cannot stress how much sugar your average american consumes. See, too much consumption of sugar, especially sugar that is "high" in the glycemic index causes the pancreas to secrete too much insulin. If you consume too much sugar on a daily basis, and lets say you do this for a prolonged period of time, years per se, eventually the pancreas has to release too much insulin to meet the demands of the sugar your intaking, your pancreas has to release insulin because that is the hormone that allows your body cells to use glucose for energy. When the cells are exposed to using too much glucose they eventually lose their sensitivity to it. So your body had to produce more of it to become effective. And the more it produces, the more your cells resist.

So insulin starts to accumulate in the blood, and guess what? Your body can't use the glucose effectively nor break it down properly, and as a result, your body converts that into FAT!! This is how people because obese.

Diabetes=too much insulin in the blood

Obesity=improper breakdown of glucose

I started pondering my sugar intake. I love, freaking love, sweets. I probably have something sweet every other day to eat. Yet, I don't think I have that high of a sugar intake. Then I realized why: I don't drink sodas. Many people drink 3-4 sodas in a day, which is just an insane amount of sugar, I would think. That's, basically, like eating a desert with every meal and plus an extra one for good measure. Of course, lots of people drink diet cola. That is probably opening up a whole other can of worms, though.... who knows what the longterm effect of all that artificial sweetener is going to be on people.

[Silock]

Spin class this morning... 1:15:26 at 92% of my theoretical max HR. Got up to 208, but averaged 174.

[RedThat]

Originally Posted by NewPhin

I started pondering my sugar intake. I love, freaking love, sweets. I probably have something sweet every other day to eat. Yet, I don't think I have that high of a sugar intake. Then I realized why: I don't drink sodas. Many people drink 3-4 sodas in a day, which is just an insane amount of sugar, I would think. That's, basically, like eating a desert with every meal and plus an extra one for good measure. Of course, lots of people drink diet cola. That is probably opening up a whole other can of worms, though.... who knows what the longterm effect of all that artificial sweetener is going to be on people.

When is the last time you got your blood sugar levels checked? It's always good to monitor your blood sugar levels if you're not sure.

Im exactly the same. I love sweets as well, however, I started reading up on them, and the more info I found, the more I stopped putting them into my body. Sweets are one of the worst things anybody can eat. And I don't mean to say this out of discouragement since you enjoy them, but just expressing this as harsh truth.

Most sweets contain "refined" sugars. Refined sugars are rich in calories, but they are what we call "empty" calories. Refined sugars have no usuable nutrition whatsoever that is why they call them "empty" calories.
Because all the nutrients that come from the original sources like sugar canes and sugar beets are lost. The nutrients become exacted and gone once they undergo a refinery process providing no usuable nutrition for the body whatsoever. Refined sugars contain no vitamins and minerals.

Not only do they provide zero nutrition, also, your body can't metabolize them properly since they have no vitamins and minerals. So your body has to call upon its reserves of vitamins and minerals to metabolize it properly. That throws a lot of things off-balance. And, they pose several health risks, i.e., tooth decay, obesity, and diabetes.

Refined sugars feed off the germs and bacteria in your teeth which causes a breakdown in the enamel. But one thing to keep in mind, refined sugars are VERY HIGH in the glycemic index, meaning, they instantaneously become released into bloodstream, and the energy is produced at a rapid pace rather than gradual, this is known as "sugar high". This has a fast and pronounced effect on blood sugar levels, its not even funny. It causes your pancreas to release lots of insulin to meet the demands of the sugar intake and your blood sugar level rises way above the normal standard.

Don't get me wrong, its okay to intake sugars, but what you want are sugars to come from natural sources as you are now aware...i.e., fruits, raw honey, these are examples of natural sugars that are not extremely rich in content as opposed to refined sugars but they also contain usuable nutrition. Id also reccommend foods low in the glycemic index as well.

You are doing the right thing by not drinking cola. I think a can of coke has the equivalency of 8-10 tsps which is about 35-40 grams of sugar. And that is all artificial sugar btw. Insane amounts yes, and I can tell you that many americans are putting themselves at risk with the consumption of 3-4 cans of cola per day. Thats just insane and absolutely not necessary.

*Oh diet cola is deceiving. These coke companies are smart but they also make me laugh because they try to distract people by leading them into thinking, "hey this can of diet coke has very little calories in it? cool!" but then on the other hand, because people are distracted, and deceived, it neglects them from even realizing the potential health effects a can of diet coke has. Yes it is artificially sweetened, you are right, and the artificial sweetener they use for it is "aspartame" which is like one of the WORST things for your health. you know how potent aspartame is? It so potent that it has about close to 100 different side effects. You're probably just better off drinking a regular can of coke? Thats not saying much though.

[Silock]

The worst thing about Diet Sodas is that not only do a lot of them contain bad artificial sweeteners, but they spike your insulin, just like sugar does. This makes it impossible to burn fat while insulin is high, defeating the purpose of drinking a diet soda to begin with. They've been linked to causing people to consume more calories because your body expects those calories to be there via insulin response, but they're not, and you end up eating more.

Indulging in refined sugars every once in a while is a good thing, though

[RedThat]

Originally Posted by Silock

The worst thing about Diet Sodas is that not only do a lot of them contain bad artificial sweeteners, but they spike your insulin, just like sugar does. This makes it impossible to burn fat while insulin is high, defeating the purpose of drinking a diet soda to begin with. They've been linked to causing people to consume more calories because your body expects those calories to be there via insulin response, but they're not, and you end up eating more.

Indulging in refined sugars every once in a while is a good thing, though

Everytime I indulge in refined sugars I find a great increase im my vascularity.