The Healthy Airsofters Thread

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Just Joe said:

When I say I don't agree with it, I dont agree that you should have to make such a huge change in lifestyle to achieve a more healthy weight / view on yourself / whatever the goal is.

 

Well, you shouldn't, but we have to hoe the row that we've been dealt wait what?

 

In my case, I find it a lot easier to buy and eat none of something than a little of something.

 

Ideally, smaller portions is probably the way to go. Google sorted their developer bloat just by putting out smaller plates in their free canteens.

 

 

 

43 minutes ago, SSPKali said:

Jogging with a set of weighted plates ups the burn

 

Why on earth would you shove them up your bum? 😲

 

OK, I've read that ten times now, and I still can't unsee it.

 

 

14 minutes ago, Impulse said:

I will probably hit the keto diet again once I've paid off debts, but it's far more expensive than my simple calorie restrictive diet

 

Depends how you do it.  It doesn't have to be steak, salmon and organic avocado, I'm doing fine on chicken, sardines and cabbage.  I'm actually eating a lot more greens now than I used to, which is another benefit.

 

At its core, low carb is just about having a salad instead of chips.

[Impulse]

49 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

Depends how you do it.  It doesn't have to be steak, salmon and organic avocado, I'm doing fine on chicken, sardines and cabbage.  I'm actually eating a lot more greens now than I used to, which is another benefit.

 

At its core, low carb is just about having a salad instead of chips.

 

Yeah, I don't find it hard to go keto since I don't have a sweet tooth, so cutting out sugar is easy as I don't really eat sugar anyway. Part of my issue is that I am big and tall, so even my low calorie intake is pretty high. Generally can't get it from veggies unless I eat buckets of the stuff 

[Davegolf]

@Oneshotscott is spot on with all that is required to lose excess body weight.

Drinking lots of water is a big must, not excessive but a good 3-4 litres a day.

And a big misconception is that fat is bad, full fat milk and other healthy fats from seeds/nuts etc are key to the body actually processing fat rather than storing it.

 

Food is simple calories in vs effort/exercise output.

 

Only eat carbs if you have exercised.

Avoid carbs in the morning.

 

It’s also good for gut health and fat burning, getting the most nutrition from foods to fast for a day every few weeks if you know you are not going to be overly active / busy physically.

 

[alxndrhll]

6 minutes ago, Impulse said:

 

Yeah, I don't find it hard to go keto since I don't have a sweet tooth, so cutting out sugar is easy as I don't really eat sugar anyway. Part of my issue is that I am big and tall, so even my low calorie intake is pretty high. Generally can't get it from veggies unless I eat buckets of the stuff 

I don’t know if it’s simply a case of the entire lack of exercise outside of airsofting once a fortnight throwing me off, but given your rough description of yourself (big and tall) but I’m not sure I’d agree with you that 2200 calories a day is high at all. If anything I’d say you’re way under what I’d expect, even taking into considerate that you aiming for a deficit.

 

You know your body much better than I, and as I mentioned at the top of this post it could be the lack of activity that pulls it down. But I’ve never been one for keeping my mouth shut.

[Impulse]

36 minutes ago, alxndrhll said:

I don’t know if it’s simply a case of the entire lack of exercise outside of airsofting once a fortnight throwing me off, but given your rough description of yourself (big and tall) but I’m not sure I’d agree with you that 2200 calories a day is high at all. If anything I’d say you’re way under what I’d expect, even taking into considerate that you aiming for a deficit.

 

You know your body much better than I, and as I mentioned at the top of this post it could be the lack of activity that pulls it down. But I’ve never been one for keeping my mouth shut.

 

Oh, no, 2200 is my BMR, so that's how much I'd burn if I lay in bed and slept all day. I aim for 2000 as a large deficit, but I should be having around 3000 normally. Higher with exercise.

 

I meant 2200 is high for the average person, not a 6'5" dude with a sturdy Dutch build

Edited July 5, 2021 by Impulse

[Davegolf]

Also worth pointing out that starving yourself continually is not healthy from any point of view.

 

Your body needs nutrition, if you are well hydrated and eating healthily you only need to balance input / output weight loss will happen and fitness improve.

 

Being human we only do things we like, so changing your diet (not I’m on Slimfast or whatever) takes time to adjust to what you buy/cook/enjoy.

 

Same goes with whatever exercise you do, if you enjoy it you’ll stick at it.

 

Lots of small incremental changes are likely to be more achievable and permanent as a lifestyle.

 

Our diet is our lifestyle 

 

[Rogerborg]

40 minutes ago, Davegolf said:

Also worth pointing out that starving yourself continually is not healthy from any point of view.

 

How else do you lose weight though?

 

Eat less, or stuff your face and then dancercise it off.

 

 

40 minutes ago, Davegolf said:

Your body needs nutrition

 

I'd certainly advocate vitamin and maybe some mineral supplements if you're reducing your food intake.

 

 

40 minutes ago, Davegolf said:

if you are well hydrated and eating healthily you only need to balance input / output weight loss will happen and fitness improve.

 

Eh?  Weight loss only happens if you're unbalanced, and burning more than you're eating.

 

 

40 minutes ago, Davegolf said:

Being human we only do things we like, so changing your diet (not I’m on Slimfast or whatever) takes time to adjust to what you buy/cook/enjoy.

 

Same goes with whatever exercise you do, if you enjoy it you’ll stick at it.

 

Lots of small incremental changes are likely to be more achievable and permanent as a lifestyle.

 

All good points, although what works for Alice might not work for Bob.  I find it easier to stick to hard rules than a sliding scale which can result in backsliding.  Truth to tell though, when I'm airsofting, I still allow myself a bacon and egg sammich breakfast, with multi-seeded wholemeal bread and lashings of brown sauce.

 

 

[Davegolf]

You’ve gained weight in the first place because of an imbalance - over eating and under exercising.

 

So yes you will be eating less - restoring the balance.

 

Also when you eat dramatically less your body changes the way it works, going toward more of a survival mode, so yes you will initially lose a lot of weight but that is only through the shock of it.

 

Eating the correct amount and correct food will allow your body to process and burn fats properly.

 

Weightloss shouldn’t be seen as a short term big loss event but a slower lifestyle change, this will yield the best ‘locked in’ results.

 

For instance there’s nothing wrong with a bacon egg sarny, just factor it in.

Good bread choice there.

Eggs are a great food source, it’s only the frying and oil that you should be avoiding as that is unnecessary ‘bad’ fat.

Using olive or coconut oil is fine.

RE nutrition: multi vits are a little bit of a band aid, unless you are deficient in something particular you cannot get from your food.

 

A varied little and often diet of unprocessed food groups is what is needed.

 

A lot of nutrition cannot be taken in by the gut properly if supporting food groups are not present to allow the complex chemical reactions to occur.

Edited July 6, 2021 by Davegolf

[alxndrhll]

If you wake up one more and have the urge to start fitting more cardio exercise in, are you likely to head out for a full 26 mile marathon or a 5km walk? If you decide you want to start lifting some weights you're going to find your 1 rep max and work from there (or at least that'll generally be the advice when creating a plan in my experience), not jump straight in consistently trying to lift heavier than you can.

 

Nutrition should be treated no differently.

 

TLDR, in my opinion (and seemingly others too), changes in nutrition should be implemented at the correct pace... hence me saying over and over, if adjusting is something you want to it it's worth talking to a professional.

 

So many just blindly follow what has worked for others, often strangers from the internet, expecting the same results in a similar timeframe... while only replicating one element of that persons lifestyle. It's entirely daft, but it's more convenient than getting assistance from those that are qualified to advise you on the best steps to a healthier body... often with a healthier mind as part of the package. The number on the scales isn't the only thing that matters in the equation, so don't be a slave to it. 15 stone can be carried in a variety of different ways on your body.

 

 

[Lozart]

My weight loss was achieved without any specific, deliberate eliminations. The basic concepts are laid out in any DASH diet plan which is the diet plan most often recommended by doctors for weight loss (it's actually designed for control of hypertension by reducing sodium intake but you can take or leave that part depending on your BP). It's about eating a healthy, balanced diet and paying attention to not only portion size but also to the balance of protein, fat and carbs. Despite what plenty of people will tell you, your body needs carbs to work properly, just not as much as most people on a western diet consume.

 

Rapid weight loss is generally not sustainable, if your weight gain is due to inactivity then you need to move more so you don't starve yourself by cutting calories. Ultimately the body is a relatively simple chemical process and weight loss is achieved when calories in < calories out (eat less/move more it's the same end result). Thing is though that if eliminating one part of the equation results in personal weight loss, bear in mind that it may not be good for you long term as it does result in not eating a balanced diet. That balance is key because our bodies need a variety of nutrients that work together - drink lots of milk for calcium, but if you don't get enough vitamin D then you may as well pour it down the drain (simplistic but you get the idea), iron absorption depends on Vitamin C levels etc etc.

 

Be healthier, live longer. Just not too long because that's when the Alzheimers gets you

 

 

As always - YMMV.

[PopRocket123]

I actually lost a bunch of weight when my partner was pregnant (no not because she ate all my food!) She was diagnosed with gestational diabetes so she had to make some changes to keep her and the baby healthy and of course I made the same changes to support her.

 

We got a diabetic's cook book and followed a lot of the advice in there. Cutting down on sugar, smaller portion sizes, finding healthy snacks to have instead of chocolate or cake switching to wholemeal flour products like bread and pasta and brown rice. All really simple and doable changes that resulted in me losing a stone in about 6 months even though I wasn't doing nearly enough exercise at the time. 

[Davegolf]

Brown rice is actually really nice just take eons to cook!

[Rogerborg]

4 hours ago, Lozart said:

Despite what plenty of people will tell you, your body needs carbs to work properly

 

Why, exactly?  I've seen it often asserted, but never explained.  This NHS page, for example, asserts that "Carbohydrates are important to your health for several reasons." and then goes on to explain glucose -> glycogen -> fat, but provides zero (I counted them twice) reasons why this is necessary, specifically in the context of tubbies needing to get rid of fat rather than storing it.

 

There's no fatty or amino acids in carbs - those are essential.  Body fat gets turned into ketones, which we're able to use quite handily as an energy source, including for our brains.

 

So, really, I'm fascinated to see some clinical evidence of what we actually need carbs for, or what negative things happen when we go into ketosis.

 

Aside, it's essentially impossible to eat zero carbs, I wouldn't advocate trying that.  For one thing, we do need fibre for digestive health, and that always comes with some digestible carbs as well.

 

But I've never felt better than when keeping carbs to a minimum.  What's not working?

[Lozart]

4 minutes ago, Rogerborg said:

 

Why, exactly?  There's no fatty or amino acids in them - those are essential.  Body fat gets turned into ketones, which we're able to use quite handily.

 

I'm fascinated to see some evidence of what we actually need carbs for, or what negative things happen when we go into ketosis.

 

It's essentially impossible to eat zero carbs, I wouldn't advocate trying that.  For one thing, we do need fibre for digestive health, and that always comes with some digestible carbs as well.

 

But I've never felt better than when keeping carbs to a minimum.  What's not working?

 

I think it's fair to say that while a keto diet can be maintained long term, it has to be very carefully managed and supplemented with extra vitamins. The human body is designed to operate on a wide range of foods and in general requires carbohydrates for energy. Yes, you can convert fat to energy, nobody says you can't but there is a lot of questions raised over the long term health effects of a high fat, high protein diet. Even the Bulletproof people tell you not to eliminate ALL carbs and they're about as pro-keto as you can get. The body is just more efficient at turning carbs into energy though, which is of course why a modern western diet results in a lot of obesity - there's just so much carbohydrate involved, way more than most people with increasingly sedentary lives need. I absolutely agree that reducing carbs can be a good thing but so far the only medical suggestion for a keto diet is either controlling diabetes or dealing with epilepsy.

 

Added to all of which is that carb based foods have a wide range of nutrients that are more easily absorbed into the human body than in other forms.

 

I have no doubt that it works for you and I wish you all the best on it, but a healthy, balanced diet is always going to be better for the general health of the vast majority of people.

[Rogerborg]

1 hour ago, Lozart said:

I think it's fair to say that while a keto diet can be maintained long term, it has to be very carefully managed and supplemented with extra vitamins.

 

Well, I'm taking them out of an abundance of caution, but the only thing I've really cut out is sugars, rice, wheat, sugary fruits, and the carbiest of root vegetables (but I'm eating moderate amounts of carrot, onion, radishes and so on).  Low carb does not have to mean butter and bacon.  I'm now eating more green vegetables: cabbage, kale, broccoli, cauliflower, courgettes, celery, tomatoes, olives and green beans.

 

What am I missing out on?

 

 

Quote

The human body is designed to operate on a wide range of foods

 

Evolved, not designed.  We may be having a labelling squabble here.  If I said "Cooked Palaeolithic plus some non-lactose dairy" rather than keto, how are we looking?

 

 

Quote

and in general requires carbohydrates for energy.

 

Why requires?  I have more sustainable endurance now than I did 3 months ago.

 

 

Quote

Yes, you can convert fat to energy, nobody says you can't but there is a lot of questions raised over the long term health effects of a high fat, high protein diet.

 

But what are the answers?

 

In my case it's a moderate fat, moderate protein, low carb diet.  I've reduced my food intake, it's just that I've lowered carbs much more than fat or protein, both of which provide essentials acids.

 

I think I've said several times that I wouldn't necessarily suggest high fat, minimal carbs as a maintenance diet, but dropping carbs has certainly working for losing body fat, particularly visceral fat, and I hope we can agree on the health benefits of that.

 

 

Quote

Even the Bulletproof people tell you not to eliminate ALL carbs and they're about as pro-keto as you can get.

 

It's practically impossible to do so, and nowhere in here am I advocating it.  I'm happy to call it very low carb, Paleolithic, or whatever doesn't imply 90%/6%/4% full keto.

 

 

Quote

Added to all of which is that carb based foods have a wide range of nutrients that are more easily absorbed into the human body than in other forms.

 

Fruits, maybe, but those are seasonal.  Potatoes, possibly, but we didn't evolve to eat those, nor wheat, nor rice.  And see the veg list above, plus a multivitamin a day.  What am I missing out on?

 

 

Quote

I have no doubt that it works for you and I wish you all the best on it, but a healthy, balanced diet is always going to be better for the general health of the vast majority of people.

 

I'm still unclear on what's unhealthy about a diet based around loads of fresh veg, nuts, some dairy, fish and chicken.  I've looked, but all I can find is woo-science handwaving, and unsourced assertions.

 

I'm happy to follow the science, but I have to actually see it.

[ak2m4]

@Rogerborg I've felt absolutely amazing on a low carb diet. I've tried full on Keto, sub 20g and it's super hard, but the sweet spot for me is low carb, around 50g a day.  My 25 year battle with irritable bowl pretty much gone and my energy and concentration greatly improved.  Not for everyone of course.  

[Davegolf]

Carbs are a ‘long life’ energy source, when compared to sugars etc and as such you should eat these well before sustained periods of exercise, like the day before.

 

But you are right @Rogerborg if you are looking to lose weight keep the carb intake very low.

 

If you have a (low) metabolism that allows you to function properly with a lower carb requirement then so be it, however if you have a high metabolism you will need more carbs in order to maintain a set weight/fitness level/functionality.

 

In particular your diet isn’t lacking in much, you shouldn’t completely rule out red meat as it is an exceptional source of B12, this is hard to get from any other food source without eating tons of it.

 

As before, a broad varied diet of unprocessed raw ingredients is key.

 

Potatoes are highly nutritious gram for gram. So a great carb.

[Ricky Sin]

Dave, 

 

I'm a big fan of yours on the MWS thread but Rogerborg knows what he's talking about.  There's NO requirement to consume carbs EVER.  Plenty of resources for you to check out: from an athletic point of view, start with the 2015 FASTER (Fat Adapted Substrate use in Trained Elite Runners) Study by Phinney & Volek; for purely dietary info, look up Dr Paul Saladino or Dr Shawn Baker (not that I'm personally a proponent of the carnivore diet) or just read about Vilhjalmur Stefansson who got stuck with the Innuit in the 1920s.  Keto does work & plenty of people do it for years with no ill effects.  Not my thing but it shows carbs are not essential.

 

Calories in calories out also doesn't work, sorry, at least not in any meaningful way.  If you asked a financial advisor how to get rich & he told you to earn more money than you spent, you wouldn't be impressed.  A calorie is merely the measurement of energy required to heat 1 gram of water by 1 degree celsius & has nothing to do with how food is converted to energy in the human digestive system.  If you consume 1000 calories as lemonade, for example, that's all going straight into your bloodstream.  If you could even manage to eat 1000 calories of steak, at least a quarter of that energy is used just to fuel the digestive process itself, so you can only use the 750 calories left.  Plus everybody's digestive tract has a different amount & composition of gut bacteria to everybody else so 2 people eating the same food, day in day out, will not get the same results.  Even if you did decide to restrict calories, sure, your body would burn body fat initially & you'd lose some weight.  But eventually your body would decide the low-calorie environment was not a temporary situation & would cling on to your remaining fat reserves for dear life, literally.  Your body just down regulates its immune & reproductive systems & makes you want to exercise less while the number on the scale doesn't change.

 

Potatoes are fine, but they're not as nutritious as animal food sources.  Bread is NOT great & giving up wheat would benefit pretty much everybody.  I don't recommend brown rice as its high in phytic acid & even arsenic, but white is ok in moderation.

 

PopRocket123,

 

We all need to eat more in line with how homo sapiens have been eating for the majority of our 300,000 years.  Eat healthy animal sources of fat & protein year round, fruit & veg when (& ONLY WHEN) they are in season if you want.  Fruit is sweet because the tree wants us to consume it & spread its seeds, but it will make you fat (actually a desirable trait as a hunter-gatherer facing a long cold winter).  As for vegetables, only 4% of all the known plants in the world are edible & ALL are toxic to some degree.  When people bang on about kale or broccoli being high in antioxidants, what they really mean is the veg is mildly toxic which causes our bodies to produce more antioxidants in case we decide to eat any more of it in the future.  I see you've had a kid recently, bet you couldn't get anything green down them when they were young.  That's our natural instinct to stop us poisoning ourselves out of existence!  

 

If your goal is to lose weight, then you need to focus on NUTRITION, not calories.  Eat when you are hungry - DO NOT wait for a random number of hours!  Hit your protein / vitamin / mineral targets early in the day & you'll not want to eat as much later.  Ever had a 2,500 kcal McD's for lunch & been starving at dinner?  Because your body didn't get much nutrition out of it & is forcing you to try again.  Weight gain / loss is about hormones, not calories, and insulin is the king of those hormones.  Eating low carb means you will not produce insulin, meaning energy cannot be absorbed by your fat cells.  Protein goes where it is needed, fat just floats around the bloodstream til we use it, and our fat reserves can make up any energy deficit which we actually breath out.  In fact, just working on your breathing technique can help you lose weight, I promise!

 

PS the DASH diet is a piece of shite.  Rant over!

[Rogerborg]

On 06/07/2021 at 19:26, Davegolf said:

Carbs are a ‘long life’ energy source, when compared to sugars etc

 

Er, sugars are carbohydrates.  If we're talking complex carbs, why load your bloodstream with sugars before you have to?  There does seem to be a fair case building that insulin resistance is the slippery slope to a whole raft of common Western health woes.

 

 

On 06/07/2021 at 19:26, Davegolf said:

however if you have a high metabolism you will need more carbs in order to maintain a set weight/fitness level/functionality.

 

I'd suggest that you can tolerate more carbs, if you're burning them off.  The Tsimane people are the prime example of that, doing very well on a high-fibre, complex-carb diet, but a key factor is that they're constantly active so will be using the simple sugars as fast as they're being broken down.

 

As above, when I'm doing a day airsofting (thread relevance) I do have some carbs at breakfast, although I can also get by perfectly fine without them on my disgustang excess body fat and plenty of water.  Day-to-day, I'm sitting at a keyboard, with periods of cycling.  Blood sugars begone, I'll have no truck with thee.

 

I guess anyone lucky enough to have next to no body fat does need to carb load before exertion, but how many AFUKers does that describe?

 

 

On 06/07/2021 at 19:26, Davegolf said:

In particular your diet isn’t lacking in much, you shouldn’t completely rule out red meat as it is an exceptional source of B12

 

Airsoft day is also bacon day.  It's got electrolytes, right?  

 

 

On 06/07/2021 at 19:26, Davegolf said:

Potatoes are highly nutritious gram for gram. So a great carb.

 

That's the Big Spud lobby talking.

 

 

4 hours ago, Ricky Sin said:

Rogerborg knows what he's talking about

 

He really doesn't, he's not looked into this all that much, and it's hard to tell the science from the propaganda or woo.  I mean, pretty much anyone can set themselves up as a nutritionist and make sweeping statements without either evidence or consequence.

 

I guess the key thing is that if you're fat or lethargic, then whatever you're eating or doing needs to change.  You won't know until you try.

 

I tried some tortilla chips tonight, as an experiment, and now I feel bloated and bleurgh.  Untry, untry.

[Davegolf]

@Ricky Sin whoa there where the f*** did you come from 😂

 

“Even if you did decide to restrict calories, sure, your body would burn body fat initially & you'd lose some weight.  But eventually your body would decide the low-calorie environment was not a temporary situation & would cling on to your remaining fat reserves for dear life, literally.  Your body just down regulates its immune & reproductive systems & makes you want to exercise less while the number on the scale doesn't change.”

 

Thats what I said/meant;

“Also when you eat dramatically less your body changes the way it works, going toward more of a survival mode, so yes you will initially lose a lot of weight but that is only through the shock of it.”

 

Yes complex carbs have been present in our diet since the dawn of time, a lot of our intake would have been scavenging beans, pulses and nuts.

 

It goes perfectly in line with your 2500k MacD example, it’s all processed crap, made from nutritionally non existent goods, people would call it a carby meal and they would be right, but they are crap carbs.

Carbs are almost like a small re supply crates, but most are full of all the gear you didn’t need.

 

The right carbs will keep you going for longer as they take more time to be processed (unpacked) and turned into glucose, nutrients extracted.

 

Sugars are straight in hits that will load your bloodstream and fall away again just as fast, leaving you hungry again.

 

I wasn’t saying to carb load, but if you have a physical long day ahead then having a balanced meal with carbs the night before will stand you in good stead for the following day.

 

Going back to our 300,000 year old selves I’m sure our day would have gone something like;

Get up go hunting / gathering.

Snack on small things found along the way throughout the day.

(nuts, insects, fruit, fish?)

Back in the afternoon/evening with the clan have a meal together based on the days collection.

(meat, beans, pulses, etc) 

 

People always feel better on little and often especially when exercising, on low carbs.

As these sit with us and take time to process which ultimately means our body is doing another task internally alongside whatever we may be trying to achieve (airsoft objective)

 

“I guess the key thing is that if you're fat or lethargic, then whatever you're eating or doing needs to change.  You won't know until you try.”
 

Exactly that, you need to listen to your body.

 

[Tactical Pith Helmet]

I've learned a few new terms/words reading this thread, interesting stuff that I wouldn't have stumbled across otherwise perhaps.

 

Anyhow...

 

Six or so years ago I trained martial arts a minimum of 45mins a day at home in the week, 3 or 4 hours on a Saturday, plus two 2 1/2 hour mid-week  classes, and the odd full day class at the weekend.  I ate what the fuck I liked.   I am not one for tinned food or sweets, but I did often make myself game pies in a large loaf tin and eat the lot at a sitting, with chips.  I was just over 10 stone for years (5'11"). 

 

My teacher remarked that it was obvious who trained hard at home by what they ate when we all went out for a Chinese.  The wiry lads who had a lot of strength ate huge amounts, including noodles/dumplings etc, the flabbier fellows usually ate a fair bit less.  

 

One diet/routine is not for everyone.   For one thing, passed a certain age, diet alone will not keep that Dad gut away.  For the time pressed, diet may have to lead where there is no time for exercise.

 

Wish I was that fit still, partly as I enjoyed eating entire multipacks of crisps at a time and not getting fat.  Hardly scientific I know, but observations nonetheless.  

 

Edit: Grammar 

 

 

Edited July 10, 2021 by Tactical Pith Helmet

[PopRocket123]

Had a bit of a relapse last couple of days. I've eaten like crap and haven't gotten out enough, haven't drunk enough water and had about 6 hours sleep in the last two days. Needless to say it's taken a physical and mental toll which can end up becoming a cycle as I end up beating myself up over it. I'll try to do better tomorrow. 

[padraigthesniper]

Its all about small improvements that are permanent. Doesn't matter if you run 15 miles one day and eat steak and veg if you normally overeat and dont exercise. Doing a light work out everyday and not eating excess sugar and processed food will have more of a impact than once a week doing some insane workout. Small changes every week that stick and slowly it will cascade into big ones. I put on bare weight over the lockdown making small changes to go back to having a thigh gap I miss it these thick thighs are no fun when your a man im not cardi b... lol Being able to run and gun at airsoft is a good enough excuse to stay in shape.

[Rogerborg]

16 hours ago, Tactical Pith Helmet said:

For one thing, passed a certain age, diet alone will not keep that Dad gut away.

 

That was about 21 for me, sadly.  The struggle has been real since then, I sorted myself out in my 30s with restricted hours eating, lots of cycling, and some weights, but then I made the mistake of buying a motorised bicycle, and, oops, that was that.

 

But as God is my witness, I will see my toes again.

 

 

 

3 hours ago, padraigthesniper said:

Its all about small improvements that are permanent. Doesn't matter if you run 15 miles one day and eat steak and veg if you normally overeat and dont exercise. Doing a light work out everyday and not eating excess sugar and processed food will have more of a impact than once a week doing some insane workout.

 

Absolutely, which is why it's so important to find a diet that you can stick to.  I'm amazed how easy it's been to drop the bad carbs, after the first week.  Hunger pangs and cravings have plummeted and restricted hours eating is a doddle.

 

There's some evidence that just 3 x 10 minutes of interval sprints a week can have most of the health benefits of regular daily exercise, although that's not for me, I prefer moderate daily cycling. I would highlight the benefits of an indoor option like an exercise bike so that you don't have an excuse to skip it in bad weather.

[Lozart]

On 10/07/2021 at 01:15, Tactical Pith Helmet said:

I've learned a few new terms/words reading this thread, interesting stuff that I wouldn't have stumbled across otherwise perhaps.

 

Anyhow...

 

Six or so years ago I trained martial arts a minimum of 45mins a day at home in the week, 3 or 4 hours on a Saturday, plus two 2 1/2 hour mid-week  classes, and the odd full day class at the weekend.  I ate what the fuck I liked.   I am not one for tinned food or sweets, but I did often make myself game pies in a large loaf tin and eat the lot at a sitting, with chips.  I was just over 10 stone for years (5'11"). 

 

My teacher remarked that it was obvious who trained hard at home by what they ate when we all went out for a Chinese.  The wiry lads who had a lot of strength ate huge amounts, including noodles/dumplings etc, the flabbier fellows usually ate a fair bit less.  

 

One diet/routine is not for everyone.   For one thing, passed a certain age, diet alone will not keep that Dad gut away.  For the time pressed, diet may have to lead where there is no time for exercise.

 

Wish I was that fit still, partly as I enjoyed eating entire multipacks of crisps at a time and not getting fat.  Hardly scientific I know, but observations nonetheless.  

 

Edit: Grammar 

 

 

 

Yep, I used to do a LOT of mountain biking (back in the good old days of tiny frames and long, whippy seat pins) then I got a job commissioning away from home a lot and eating in hotels. Put on a LOT of weight.

 

Few years back I got sick of my face wobbling when I walked so I lost 4.5 stone (portion control and calorie counting, no exclusions). Then my Mum died and I fell right off the wagon. Then smashed it into firewood and burned it. Put on anxiety meds that have a reputation for hindering weight control, then Dad developed Alzheimer's so 3 stone back on now and starting back down the road of eating better.

 

So far I've knocked most of the snacking on the head and a couple of pounds have shifted. Exercise is a bit limited because all those years of mountain bikes with clipless pedals with bugger all float have knackered my knees and decades of being sat at a desk or in a car have screwed my back (software engineer then sales). Still, I managed it before so I'll do it again.

 

Weight loss is as much about mindset as it is about what you eat!