Healthy Living 101

[Vegas69]

Originally Posted by hifi875

Could be the 2nd best thread behind investing 102. I've been running/lifting consistently for the past 8 years and it makes me feel great. Get all my work done early in the morning. Run about 25-30 miles a week and lift 2-3 days a week. I'm 46 and in the best shape of my life and training for my first marathon. I'm not really on a diet per se but I pay attention to what I eat. The more miles you put on the more weight will come off of course. It does afford you to eat more, because you need fuel. My diet is my weakness. I'm just not into fruits and veggies that much other than potatoes and corn. Just don't get to obsessed or you will burn out. Sounds like you are on your way and you seem to be very driven, so you will be fine.

Wow, my body is no where near ready for those distances. I ran into a lady last week that runs 50 mile trails. My foot starts going numb at the 3 mile mark. I'm not sure I'll ever get to that level. I'm just not a natural runner but I really enjoy it. I'd like to run a half marathon eventually at a respectable time. Dropping the weight certainly won't hurt. Changing your diet will take you to the next level.

[Greg from Aus]

I just got back from a mountain bike ride, first in 2 years, oh my legs are tired. I haven't done much over the last 5 years. Some due to injury, but mostly due to lack of enthusiasm, I tore my hamstring completely of the bone 2 years ago and had to have it reattached. before I got slack I took up Ironman triathlon at the age of 42 and did 3 off them. now at the age of 51 I need to lose 40 pounds and get fit, myself and my wife started 2 weeks ago, I bought a Cross trainer and a home gym. It's all going great, we have both lost weight and are sticking to our nutrition changes,

Greg

[intocarss]

From my late 20's I partied hard into my 30's, and at 37 I quit my addictions all on my own, cold turkey and been 100% sober ever since (I'm now 51 but still smoke cigs). I starting gaining weight and In 2001, I weighed 217# I'm 5'7". I decided to change my "eating habits". I did research on the net and started working out with weights, Mtn & street biking, walking and swimming. I lifted weights 3-4 days a week alt upper and lower work outs and I rode 10-15 miles street or dirt. I would also walk every night carrying those little 3lbs weights. All this time I still smoked cigs . I'm also a beach bum, so I loved to walk in the sand & swim in the ocean, which really works you good.

I also parked my car and walked or biked everywhere I could and when I did drive... I would park as far as I could from somewhere. so it forced me to get in a little exercise no matter what. I also would ride or walk in areas that made it fun so it made me want to do it and didn't feel like work..

My "eating healthy" ( I don't believe in the word "DIET") IMOHO 90% of "diets" fail.. So I replaced that word with "Eating healthy" ..because losing weight and being fit and staying that way is as much a mental thing as it is physical. I also would only get on a scale once or only twice a month, so I would see bigger weight loss which would motivate me more. I also learned that getting fit and seeing more muscles is an addiction and a good one at that !! My eating consisted of course.. watching calories and carbs. Believe it or not I started with slim fast for breakfast then a 30 min walk , and lunch would be a slim fast, fruit and a granola bar.

Dinners were chicken and vegetables or a baked pork chop. and never ate after 7pm. I ate a lot of salads too with a little low cal dressing. I would also still eat what I craved once in a while, but in very light moderation, this way I could control my cravings.. I lost 50-60# in around 9-10 months and got to my goal of around 165#. I kept it off for 4 years and I felt better then I ever did. Todd's right..when you feel good about yourself life is a breeze!

The negative side to this Is.. at the end of 07 I started gaining the weight back and fell into my old eating habits (I'm at 230 # now).. I do have some bad physical issues now but I am going to follow this thread and hope it gets me back on track,,



THANKS for posting this thread Todd !! Can it be made a STICKY?

[Sieg]

About 5.5 years ago I saw 217 lbs. on the scale, looked in the mirror and said enough! My off-road racing weight in '84 at the age of 26 at 5'-11" was 172 lbs. Initially I started on my own version of the Atkin's Diet since I like protein it was pretty easy to drop 25 lbs quickly. At the end of a year I had dropped 40 lbs.

Running doesn't work for me due to a lower back injury when I was 18 so I walk 15-25 miles a week on natural terrain every morning and do a fast 20 minute weight workout at lunch that is basically non-stop crunches, leg press, lat pull downs, chest press, triceps, biceps, and side bends for a total of 450-500 reps.

The biggest change involved shrinking my stomach, I cut my food volume down at least 50%. I nibble on select healthier snack food all through the day and never eat a large meal. Breakfast is a NutraGrain Oat & Honey 2 bar pack and maybe some yogurt, lunch is a 12 oz. cup of soup or a scoop of tuna sandwich mix and a scoop of cottage cheese. Dinner involves some sort of protein and vegitable. Last Friday I saw 170.8 on the scale.

I look at food like I look at fuel for my motors, reasonable quality and properly metered amounts for the activity level. Eating meals is not an event for me, it's a maintenance procedure. In humor - Most people have small block bodies and their mouth feeds their motor like a Pro-Stock carb and in some cases one with a stuck float.

Everyone's motor is different so you need to experiment with what food and activity works for your body and lifestyle. Your self-esteem, energy level, and an accurate scale and good mirror are good motivators.

Just Do It, you won't regret it.

[legend]

Good to see healthy efforts here folks

the mainstream media seems to get "healthy" wrong. If you want to be fit and active for a long time you need a mix of weight training and cardio. Don't go overboard on the high impact cardio. Cycling and rowing machines hurt your body a lot less than running and still have strong heart/CV beneficial effects.

I've found prowler pushing to be an amazing exercise as I don't have enough patience for long drawn out cardio

http://youtu.be/47gZpYUyCAQ like this

Take a multivit/mineral, get lots of fish oil, enough vitamin d [5000iu] per day seems to be good and get your free testosterone checked out

[Fluid Power]

I made a change in life style about 7 months ago. 193 lbs at 5'8". I didn't want to go on meds for cholesterol (it was border line on my last check up) The thing that helped me the most is exactly what Todd did, is write everything down that you eat. It is a huge PITA, however, if you use myfitnesspal.com (it is free!) you can create a profile for yourself, your target weight and the time frame you want to lose the weight and it will do the rest. The beauty of this website (besides being free) is that it also has a mobile app. Download to your phone and use the barcode scanner to import foods that you eat. Log in to myfitnesspal, tap input foods, scan the label of your yogurt and boom, it shows up in your foods. Exercise in the morning? Make a note of it. (You should eat your exercise calories btw) I am down 20lbs and using MFP has been a lifestyle change for me because of the portion control. Do I still eat potato chips? Every now and then and I eat the portion size on the bag. If it is 12 chips, I have 12 chips. The motivator for me has been the exercise. Since you eat the calories, I work my butt off and then I eat pizza on Friday night (without guilt) The key for me was never letting myself get to hungry. I eat tons of fruits and vegetables and I always carry them with me. Pack my lunch for work, etc. I am amazed that for lunch I can get by with a turkey on wheat, 1 oz of cheese, a huge bag of carrots, and diet Pepsi and I am full! Check it out. I think it will work for a lot of people.

Darren

[toy71camaro]

OP. Good timing of this thread! I started about 2 weeks ago doing 10 minutes on the new elliptical we got each morning before work, and on non work days increasing it slowly. Today and Yesterday i hit the 20 minute mark. Also started being more careful about what choices of food I eat.

Originally Posted by Fluid Power

The thing that helped me the most is exactly what Todd did, is write everything down that you eat. It is a huge PITA, however, if you use myfitnesspal.com (it is free!) you can create a profile for yourself, your target weight and the time frame you want to lose the weight and it will do the rest. The beauty of this website (besides being free) is that it also has a mobile app. Download to your phone and use the barcode scanner to import foods that you eat. Log in to myfitnesspal, tap input foods, scan the label of your yogurt and boom, it shows up in your foods. Exercise in the morning? Make a note of it. (You should eat your exercise calories btw)
Darren

Thanks for sharing this.. Im a techie. Love gadgets like this. Just signed up and my my entries for this morning. Hopefully this helps keep on track.


Little background, I'm 32. 5'7", 175. I want to be around the 155 range, but more importantly, healthy and fit. Always been athletic, but as i've got older, you generally lose that side of things.

I see there is a "Friends" option on the myfitnesspal app, if anyone wants to join up for some extra tracking/motivation, feel free: toy71camaro is my username.

[Shmoov69]

Todd, regarding the company we keep... I'll share a quote that my dad always told me and it is pretty good. The company you keep WILL influence you in time, no matter what!
"if you live (or spend your time) with dogs, you're gonna get fleas".

Thanks!
Jimmy

[SSLance]

Wow, very interesting thread. It is pretty cool to see a bunch of "car guys" talking about eating and living healthy.

My deal started a little over 2 years ago now. I was 45 years old, 6'0" and weighed about 180 pounds, pretty healthy I thought, just a little bit of a spare tire forming. Went for my annual physical, nailed the EKG, Stress test, everything looked good...until the blood work came back.

July 2011
Cholesterol 179
HDL Direct 32
Triglyceride 191
LDL Calculated 109

The Doc was mainly concerned about my Triglyceride levels, wanted to put me on a Statin. I refused and started a workout regimen, 30 minutes on treadmill 5 days a week, started drinking 8 oz of Grape juice a day (to raise good cholesterol) and taking an Omega supplement once a day.


Went back for more blood work in Oct 2011
Cholesterol 218
HDL Direct 29
Non-HDL Cholesterol 199
Triglyceride 195
LDL Calculated 150

This pissed me off enough that I stopped working out (aggravating knee trouble contributed as well), but continued with grape juice and omega supplement.


In Jan 2013 went back for more blood work
Cholesterol 243
HDL Direct 34
Non-HDL Cholesterol 209
Triglyceride 291
LDL Calculated 151

Again, the doc stressed that I need to be on a Statin, diagnosed me as "pre-diabetic". Well, just about everyone in my family has been diagnosed as "pre-diabetic" at one time or another due to Triglyceride levels, yet none of them have developed actual heart disease.

The wife and I sat down and decided to change the way we live, drastically. First although we thought that we ate pretty healthy, we reevaluated everything we consume and took out anything that would be considered "processed food". We committed to a fresh fruit, fresh vegetable and sensible protein diet, morning noon and night. We learned about better fish to eat, not just any fish, we learned about adding almonds to the mix, we learned ways of cooking food in a healthier manner. And the wife quit her high stress job and took some time off to just chill and spend a lot of time running to the grocery store for fresh food and making my lunches for me. I've always packed a lunch, but now my lunches have bags of carrots, cut fresh green peppers, nuts, and a light sammich in them instead of jello pudding, applesauce, and cookies along with a big ol honking sammich in there.

We also researched omegas...and learned a TON. I'm convinced the Omega supplement I was taking was wreaking havoc with my system. We found a supplement that was better fit and I started taking it once a day and I quit the grape juice

It's a life change for sure, but one for the better. I lost close to 10 pounds pretty quickly, lost about an inch off my waist and my spare tire went away...and I was eating MORE than I was before portion size, meaning I wasn't starving myself to do this. After 3 months I went back in for more blood work.

May 2013
Cholesterol 211
HDL Direct 29
Triglyceride 184 (the big one)
LDL Calculated 145

Ir was unbelievable to me that just a strict dietary change could lower my Triglyceride level over 100 points in a 3 month period.

You'll never guess what the doc said... "you still need to start taking a statin..." I just glared at her and she understood.

Anyway, it's 5 or 6 months later now, we are still on the "healthy eating kick", weight has stayed right at 170#s or so, feel great and I haven't been back for any more blood work. I wear a fitbit to track my footsteps per day, and try to keep as active as I can, but I don't see me becoming any sort of a workout warrior. My schedule and sore knees just don't fit into that plan. But I like the healthy living and seriously...it is becoming more and more regular all of the time and hopefully society as a whole will head further down this road which will just give us more and more good choices of food instead of more of the crap that is in the center sections of the grocery stores.

[Stuart Adams]

Good for you. Statins are terrible drugs. Find a new doctor.