Some great success stories here. :thumbsup:

You know how we've always been told to get our 'fiber'? I've been reading that eating grain based fiber is like digesting a cheese grater. Instead we should get our fiber from fruit and vegetables.

Another overlooked essential is yogurt (you have to watch the sugar though, and make sure there are no artificial sweeteners). Clean yogurt is live food containing good bacteria the heals our aids digestion so I try to include that in my diet as well.

And my next quest is for raw milk. Since pasteurized milk is a primary source for my spring and fall allergies, I'm going raw to get the live pro biotics and enzymes and to avoid the histamines. It's too bad it's near impossible to come by, as it is illegal to buy from a retailer, but I can buy direct from a farm.

One other thing I have noticed that I forgot to say. Over the last several years I have developed some sort of acid reflux or indigestion. About an hour after I eat I would start to feel it and most of the time start coughing. I kept Tums in my desk and by the nightstand and would have to pop a few to settle it down. Its was getting to the point that I thought I needed to see a doc about it but just kept putting it off.

I just dawned on me that when I started this my Tums bottle at work was almost empty with 4-5 left. (2 days worth at best) A month later there is still 3 in the bottle. My change in diet has basicly completly cured it. :thumbsup:

I live by this stuff... it cured my reflux, helps my digestion and even cured the dry patch of skin on my elbow I've had for the last 10 years... no kidding! This stuff is amazing: Braggs Apple cider vinegar... 2 cap fulls, water and cranberry juice, once or twice a day. Make sure it's Braggs... its organic, unfiltered and unpasteurized.. good stuff.

That's the problem with society, they want an easy way out.

They are overweight, go on some fad diet or take a pill.

They have no energy, take supplements or an energy drink

Can't get a boner, take Viagra.

Depressed all the time, take some antidepressants.

The real truth is we were meant to excercise daily and eat natural things from this earth. It won't fix you tomorrow but if you give it time, the weight will fall off, your energy level will sky rocket, the mirror will be kinder, and your attitude will improve, the way it was supposed to happen, NATURALLY.

As I've said before, "Your life won't change, unless you change".

EXACTLY!!!!!! There is no shortcut that is sustainable. None.

Agreed. Our system and culture treats symptoms, instead of addressing problems. It's more profitable to treat symptoms. The food and health industrial complex does not want you eating clean, grow your own food and use natural remedies to heal yourself. These are things our grandparents done, and in a few generations it's all been lost.

I like that and couldn't agree more!


Let me say, six months ago I was one of those guys. I couldn't figure out why I had no energy or drive. I excercised regularly and got plenty of sleep. I never felt rested.

My bad habits from my Twenties compounded over time and I was drinking more than ever and less than a stellar diet. Now at 35 years old, I had basically run myself into a hole I couldn't sleep or excercsise my way out of no matter what.

I was at Barnes & Noble with Kelli and The Compound Effect stood out like a sore thumb. Not much later I picked up "Feel Young Forever" by Jack Lalanne. The Compound Effect changed my philosiphy on life and Feel Young Forever changed my diet for life. By just changing the way I think and the way I eat, it's completey put me on the other side of the pendelum.

I'm waking up rested at 5:30-6:15 NATURALLY. The power meeter and attitude meeter is a hell of a lot closer to the right than it's ever been. I've lived the wrong way, I'm going to live the rest of my life the right way.:thumbsup:

Did you really have to talk about Weld on this thread? :rofl:

You don't have a Tony Robbins type book deal in the works do you? :D

Just wait 'til you get my age! :rofl:


BTW -- that "whole thing" depends on if you're looking at some 20 something year old -- or chicks my age. One of those choices is just like Viagra!

Let's keep the bull **** to the waste land you call a build thread. :lol:

same for me man!
i had really really bad acid reflux but once i started exercising and eating clean its gone! even when i cheat and eat the stuff that would cause it.

btw- just got back from the park for a 30min run, man its hot! but i love to sweat hard :)

I don't know how I missed this thread, but I'm glad I found it. Being healthy and living good is so important to me. Especially since I work in the healthcare field and I'm a firefighter/paramedic. A little about me and my take on not only having, but maintaining a healthy lifestyle. I don't eat red meat and haven't since 1994...I only eat fish, chicken and turkey. No fried foods, except very rare/special occasions like a big get together and there hot wings, etc. And even mostly then I only have 2-3. I don't eat fast food. Maybe a Subway sandwich at times if I'm out and cannot get anything else, but I usually fix my lunch daily and take it with me even if I'm off of work. I normally cook my food for the whole week, put it in sandwich bags and grab it to go as I need it for the day. I also drink a gallon of water a day. Sometimes a little less if I don't finish the whole gallon. Now, as far as the workout part, I turn 40 in February. Therefore, ever since about the age of 34 I've stopped trying to lift the whole gym and started doing light weights and more reps. I do an hour of cardio daily. When I was in my early to 20's, I'd run 5-6 miles a day straight, nonstop. Now, almost 40 I can't do that. My hour of cardio consists of walking on an incline and a light pace jog in intervals on my treadmill. Now, don't get me wrong there are days I say screw it and I'm tired, but I do it daily for the most part. One of the best investments I ever made was buy a professional grade treadmill for the house and that way I can do it. My friends thought I was crazy when I bought a $3500 treadmill. I get up about 4:30am no later than 5 am and do my cardio. I only lift weights about 3 times a week. Getting older....cardio is way more important to me than lifting every weight in the gym. LOL!! Plus, I have all the weights I need at the fire station. With all that being said, due to my healthy lifestyle, many of my high school classmates are now very overwight. They tell me I still look the same as I was 175-180 lbs with a 32" waist when I graduated high school in 1991 and I am now 210 lbs with a 36" waist. My blood pressure runs about 110/44 with a resting pulse of about 45-50 beats per minute. Trust me I check it daily either at the hospital or at the firestation. So, I'd say after almost 22 years after graduating high school, I'm doing something right by only gaining a little over 30 lbs and adding only 4" to my waistline. People who don't know me are amazed when I tell them I almost 40 years old. Lastly, I bet alot of you guys are like, "yeah right" to my gallon of water a day and my hour of cardio, but I promise to GOD and can assure I never get sick and it works. The pic I attached is my gallon I'm drinking today. If you notice the computer screen in the back is me typing this post to this thread. LOL!! It's no coincidence that I just happened to have a gallon of water at work.

:lol: :thumbsup:

Hey, where is the old mouthy boozed up Todd? He was a lot more fun... :rofl:

yeah the new todd is super uptight about his threads!!!

"no questions regarding the sale of my car":P

lets not forget all the useless BS is what made your build thread one of the top dog threads of lat-g ! hahaha

"We are what we repeatedly do." -Aristotle

"A daily routine built on GOOD HABITS is the difference that separates the most successful amongst us from everyone else" -Darren Hardy


Fess up guys, who's slid back into those old bad habits and why?

Did you bit off more than you can chew and not set up a work out program that is fun and sustainable?

Did you go back to an envrioment that entices you to engage in that bad habit?

Did you give up before your new good habit had a change to actually become a habit?

I'm still eating right and dropped down to 174. Haven't been to the gym for the past 2 weeks because I have been working my ass off physically. Shoveling and wheel barreling multiple yards of decomposed granite and dirt tends to tighten the mid section pretty well. Picking. shoveling, and stacking boulders isn't a bad work out for arms, shoulders, and back muscles either, :unibrow:

Got in 35+ miles last week with a couple of days of weightlifting. One of my runs was a 15.1 miler in 2:22 not bad for a long slow run. This weeks mileage will be between 33-37 depending on if i step back and only run 13 or step up andrun 17. Already got 1 weightlifting session in and 1 bodyweight workout in this week too. Don't plan on getting off the wagon anytime soon!!

yup staying on the wagon here also. hell i got up an hour early this morning so i could go and run at the park then when i opened the garage it was pouring rain!:_paranoid but i was already all set to go so i grabbed a hooded sweater and went anyway. it was actually really fun and a nice change from the usual scorching sun.

still been steady weight lifting 4 days a week and I've started making my meals in advance for the week and just putting them in Tupperware to bring to work (makes it much easier to stay on track!)

Good to hear guys. I woke up at 4:50 AM today. :willy: I headed out at 6 for a run and got pissed on a little. It was great. :D

I broke down and bough a pizza......it was delicious and I cried while I ate it since i knew it was bad.....but seriously i changed 2 things portion size, and started packing a sensible lunch and dropped 12lbs in 3 weeks. trying to get to sub 200 and have 12 more to go. Glad to see others in the fight!

Pizza isn't bad in moderation. Kelli makes them with a whole wheat crust and light cheese and I've grown to like them better.

your right and I had a salad before to help fill me up. It was take out but maybe its time for a pizza stone....:)

I just spent the past hour watching one of the most interesting and thought provoking documentaries on health living. It's a BBC production that was uploaded to youtube in its entirety.



Its all about the impact of various forms of fasting or even periodic calorie restriction can have on health, risk of cardiovascular disease, cancer, Alzheimers, etc.

I'd love to hear what others think so watch it :)

PS. Today is day 62 since I started using myfitnesspal and about 90 days since I got a pedometer. My goal was to increase my activity level on a general day to day basis without having to fit in a formal workout and to eat a bit healthier diet without swinging the pendulum so far it would be unsustainable. The first month with the Pedometer I didn't see any change in weight other than I stopped gaining weight. The past 62 days I've only failed to get some form of cardio exercise (most of it simply fast paced walking that gets my heart rate up) about 5 days.

In that time I've lost about 19 lbs and my waistline is much smaller by how lose my clothes are fitting. Belly fat = bad stuff so I'm pretty stoked.

Good to hear Chad, I'll have to watch the video when I get a chance. I hit my goal weight of 175 lbs on Wednesday myself. That's 20 lbs down this year. I'm in the best all around shape of my life. :thumbsup: All you wanna be race car drivers better watch out. I've got less static weight and more ego than ever. ha ha

I read a few dozen pages of this book last night and I'm sold... ordering it today.

Essentially the establishment is dead wrong on butter, animal fats cholesterol, etc. They are blamed for heart disease when heavily processes vegetable oils are to blame.

And then is goes into studying diet and health from different cultures. Dr. Price found out that people who's diet consisted of grass fed animal meats, butter and diary were the models of perfect health and disease such as cancer, diabetes and heart disease were non existent. Comparing that to our western diet of processed grains, flours and sugar and our health issues, it points out the difference.

Some of it read like a scientific ingredients guide to health too.

The Amazon reviews are a good insight about the book and if you have a Kindle you can download preview.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/096...=ATVPDKIKX0DER

So did any of you know you could die while trying to loose weight? I almost did the other night. If for some reason I had been recording myself I could have made a bunch of money with about 2million hits on youtube by now.

A little back story my shop is pretty infested with brown spiders. I'm not sure what kind of spiders they are. I call them "path" spiders because every where I walk the damn things have made another web in my path. Other than being annoyed they do not really bother me and I am not scared of spiders.

So I was cruising along at a good clip on the elliptical. I happened to notice one of my spider friends about 10 feet away. I don't know what spiders talk about to each other but I know for sure there is some sort of communication.(more on this later)

So this spider catches my attention and I start watching him making a web from the 69' Camaro to the roof. Up and down up and down. I am watching this obvious diversion going on when the spider gives the signal to his partner. You see while I was watching the first spider was making his web another spider that was in on the conspiracy must have been told I had killed a few hundred of his ancestors over the years and they had put a hit out on me. The second spider dropped from the ceiling above me and stopped 3 inches in front of my nose. Now as I said before I am not scared of spiders but I don't think I have ever been sneak attacked by one. Maybe I am a little more afraid than I though I was because my reaction was to step and move back. This was not the best split second decision I have ever made since I was basically running in place at the time.

I don't know exactly what happened next (that would have helped to have video) but trying to stay in an upright position was a challenge to say the least. Their plan is that I would fall to my demise spitting my head open on the concrete floor. I did foil their plan because there was a 78 Silverado only a foot or so away. I can attest the mirror on the door will hold all of my falling weight.

I have not completely planned my retaliation but when I do I'm going in fast and hard. :lol:

Crack kills...:lol:

Just for you - click if you dare

I HATE spiders.

That is one way to get me to run for miles... chase me with bucket of spiders.

I have got some catching up to do on this thread. I am 32 and recently finished Family Medicine residency and currently practice hospital medicine. I am glad to see some dialogue about making good decisions. Most of what I deal with in patients is self-inflicted on some level. Sure, there is a genetic component to many issues, but on some level you can beat genetics or at least delay their effects with good choices. As for me, I try to eat balanced as much as possible, drink plenty of water, eat plenty of fiber (filling and low calories) and practice intuitive eating. With intuitive eating I choose where and how I spend my calories. If I really want some ice cream at the end of the day, I will cut out calories on the front end throughout the day and allow for a small portion of ice cream. With intuitive eating, you have to really ask yourself do I want it bad enough to make some sacrifices and justify it to yourself, but if you find that you really do want something, it is probably better to allow for a small portion and satisfy the craving. If the craving passes, then you probably didn't really want it anyway. If it hangs around, you may splurge and go overboard in a moment of weakness.

I am working on trying to figure out a good exercise regimen with my bizarre schedule. That is the next step for me.

I completely agree Stephen, just because your parents are overweight or have a bad attitude that doesn't mean you have to suffer the same fate. It's really just a lame excuse and the easy way out. Kelli is a prime example. Her Mom was overweight her whole life and had gastric bypass surgery a few years ago. Sure there are some genetics that make it difficult, but it's her habits and lifestyle that led her down that road. No excercise and poor nutrition will lead most down the same road. Kelli has a different philosophy on life.

I tipped the scales at 174 this morning and I've decided to call it a day. I'm going to work on maintaining my weight by adding calories back into my diet responsibly. The 175 mark seems to be my sweet spot. I was 175 at 22 years old. :D

I think this thread will add some accountability into the equation too. I know somebody mentioned the "my fitness pal" app and I think that is a nice tool too.

You should ONLY get your fiber from fruits and veggies... NOT from whole grain - trust me on this.

I was eating shredded wheat every morning for almost a year and the fiber was literally shredding my insides... After some research you find that fiber from grains isn't that healthy at all.

It's just another myth that is spread by the food processing establishment. Grains, sugars, breads all should be at the TOP of the food pyramid, not the bottom, like we are taught in school.

Another fact: Margarine is essentially industrial plastic. The final product is grey until coloring is added to make it look like butter.

LOL - and the only reason it is around was because of WWII.

ps - Nutri-Sweet is also some scary sh!t

Hey, maybe we are being too hard on margarine... I have some dry end-links that could use some greasing... Hmmm :unibrow:

Yep, they like to try and rebrand it every now and then... It's called Splenda now? It's all artificial Aspartame which is the fecal matter of e-coli. Sounds yummy huh?! lol

splenda is reverse engineered sugar i believe. still tastes like a*&

in all things apart from horsepower moderation is the key. I agree with the above, but it's not license to chug butter :D

I do think that people 50 years ago probably ate better than we do now.

There wasn't any choice in the matter. The covnenience of processed and junk foods just didn't exist. Then you factor in computers and the efficiency that's needed in most lines of work to be successful, and the weight gain makes sense as well. Along with the additives that are toxic.

Yes back then real food was still being produced. Go even further back and they were eating very clean.

We are taught from a young age, butter bad! fat bad! cholesterol bad! The truth is if our body doesn't have enough cholesterol our liver will produce it.

No one should chug butter but no one should hold back either.. the idea is to get real butter made from grass fed cows. Your body needs it and its a crucial element for the absorption of vitamins and minerals. Certain animal fats are excellent for you too

I'm currently on the hunt for raw milk from grass fed cows. Here in MO it's illegal for a supermarket to sell that but it is legal for me to buy direct from a dairy farmer. Raw milk from grass fed cows tastes amazing... after trying some of friends supply, I never want to drink dead sugarized milk again.

We also started going to the local farmers market for our fruit and veggies. I picked up some local honey made just across the river from us and so far no allergies this fall! The local organic produce is great too. Our neighbor sells eggs from grass fed chickens too.. you can tell by the difference in the yolks.. a dark orange is good...supermarket eggs from 'happy farms' will be a pale yellow.

Anyway I'm rambling now... my point is don't believe all this nonsense we are taught.. special interests are influencing based on their profit motive.