My Dad always said, " You either fly with the Eagle's, or you walk with the Turkey's"

Nuff said!! Primal Blueprint/Paleo (different, yet very similar ways of eating), either one reveals the fallacies of SAD (Standard American Diet) eating and many things so called "medical professionals" and such want you to believe (regarding cholesterol, blood pressure, evils of sugar/wheat/seed based oils, etc, etc). Don't believe it, I certainly do (down 70 lbs, yes, that's right and still steadily losing and keeping my muscle mass). It's not an overly wordy/in depth methodology (I just don't want to type it all out here, lol).

Check out Marks Daily Apple and/or Paleo Hacks for some enlightenment (for those interested of course). :thumbsup:

Add a slice of Bacon to each one of those and it would be the perfect plan.

I'm 24, 6' 225LBS and in the military (currently overseas). My command goes to great lengths to keep us in shape, we have Nutritionists, Personal trainers, and a great gym. This of course is when I am home.

Anyone who has been or is in the military knows that fitness is peaks and valleys. When you are home and can eat right..You don't, when you are deployed and cant eat right...you wish you could.

As a few guys have said eating small meals throughout the day helps big time. Eating breakfast is one of the best things you can do for yourself, and a lot of people skip it because they "don't have time". The biggest thing is it gets your metabolism going, which makes you burn fat. You have to eat fat(good fat) to burn fat. When I'm home I eat 4-5 Meals a day. I am also Extremely active and put down about 4000-6000 calories a day to maintain my weight. I'm not a body builder but a 215 pound man in full body armor weighs at least 270lbs. I refuse to be the guy who cant get my buddy out of trouble.

Some misconceptions about working out are that more time in the gym is better, not the case. After 35-50 minutes your body is getting close to maxed out. I never run more than 5 miles (unless I'm told to). High intensity workouts are the way to go for general fitness. I have tried a lot of programs, from old school Arnold workouts, Big Beyond Belief, Crossfit, GymJones. I will say that I was in the best shape of my life when I was doing crossfit 3-4 times a week. You can do Crossfit in your garage, the workout of the day is posted on their website every morning. If you don't know the exercise you can Youtube it. Working out your large muscle groups (legs), also helps to release hormones that increase overall strength and fitness (I'm not talking about squatting 405 a million times either).

Working out with just your body weight is on of the best ways to get in great all around shape.

Remember when you are tracking your weight Loss/gain to weigh yourself at a similar time everyday, and your body will naturally flux 2-5lbs depending on the person.

As Todd said in the beginning write it down. I write everything down, Food intake, workouts, weight. It does pay off, and when you lose motivation you can flip back 2 months in your notebook and realize you have lost 10lbs and put 50lbs on your bench press.

I'll dig through some of the stuff I have and post up some good links for different "diets".

At the end of the day Diets don't work. Changing the way you eat/grocery shop helps. Next time you go to the grocery stay out of the Isles(where the processed food is) and stay on the outside where the coolers are(fresh food). Just doing that will make you drop some pounds.

Broke out of my mold and got a bike ride in this morning. I am trying to practice what I preach so I pulled my wife out with me. Kids are at grandmas in the Bay Area so it was easy to get her out. I did not take her on my usual ride due to the intensity level so I took her to a popular local bike riding trail off of the Nimbus dam and Salmon Hatchery in Sacramento. The trail runs beside the river and has beautifull scenery. I wish I brought my camera. We did 9 miles.

I'm not dialed on calorie counting and at the same time we were in a hurry to get out due to the hot weather so all I had was a bowl of Honey Nut Cheerios and a couple of waters.

My wife struggled at the halfway mark but is still positive and glad she got out.

Lunch was a turkey sandwich with a slice of cheese and more water. Not sure I will get to the point of counting calories as I never have issues trying to lose weight but I have gained 7 lbs since I stopped riding.

I already feel way better mentally......I've broken out of my slump!!

Todd, just fess up all this is for you to just lighten up your race weight.
Wouldn't it be easier to just get rid of the sub box and amps?
LOL!

I also just started hitting the gym after about a 12 year layoff.
Going to keep an eye on this thread.

The influences discussion is a very important piece of the mental puzzle. You wouldn't got to a bar if you are a recovering alcoholic would you?

One of the quotes from the book: "You cannot hang out with Negative people and expect to live a positive life"

The human brain is attracted to negativity naturally. Why do you think the news is smothered with the worst news they can find? It's because they know humans are drawn to this like a car wreck on the side of the road.

The moral of the story. The more bad influences you expose yourself to on a daily basis, the harder it's going to be to have a good attitude. You can control many of those bad inluences. Stop watching FOX news when you get out of bed. Don't listen to Rush Limbaugh on the way to work. Leave the TV remote on the nightstand and read a good book before bed.

I started Bookending my day at the beginning of my journey. I used to get up and read yahoo news and all kinds of other useless negative crap. Now, I go straight for the patio door with my coffee and Kelli & I enjoy waking up together and I'll sweep up the patio or skim the pool etc. I won't check my business emails, nothing. I go to the gym, come home and eat, and I may check Lateral G for a few minutes before I go to the office. It's completely changed the direction of my days. I start the day fresh with the best attitude I'm capable of.

All hell can break loose during the day, that's OK.

At night, I read a good positive book until I'm ready to call it a night. The key here is to start and end your day on a positive note. It works, try it.:cheers:

Way to go Gaetano. Consistency is the key.

Damn right Bob. :unibrow:

Johnny brings up a great point about processed foods. They aren't any good for you. They are easy. Fresh components are key. If you put junk in your body, you get junk out. Would you fuel your race car with 5 year old gas or feed your dog a twinkie?

All great points


I get your point to not watch TV too much, but the way you said it, is like the other side is positive..

And we all know that that isn't true...

So, I thought I would clear that up. Don't get up and watch CNN. Or Fox.

You are so right, Negative people bring you down. Great thread. Another positive read every day.!

Definitely have no intention of involving politics in this discussion. It's all garbage.:D Let's stick with the topic and positivity.