Let's Get Physical - The PC Fitness Club

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    [PokeCommunity.com] Let's Get Physical - The PC Fitness Club
    [PokeCommunity.com] Let's Get Physical - The PC Fitness Club
    [PokeCommunity.com] Let's Get Physical - The PC Fitness Club

    I couldn't help myself!




    In the words of Olivia Newton John, "let's get physical." No matter if you are a beginner, in-shape, could lose a few pounds, younger or older, an accomplished athlete, or whatever the case may be, we can always use encouragement and advice in order to improve our physical health through exercise and nutrition.

    Just a reminder, be sure to be a good sport. Respect each other's fitness goals and input. Civil discussion is encourage, but please be sure to be constructive. There are many unknowns when it comes to diet and exercise, we can all learn a thing or two from each other.
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    Slimmer Summer Challenge
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    Members List:
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    Exercise Resources:
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    Nutritional Resources:
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    Hey everyone! Sign-up for a free membership today!

    My daily workout for the day was kick boxing, which was a first for me.
    It was nice taking a break from the monotonous lifting or running workout.

    Now I can go to bed feeling de-stressed. :)
     
    Oh joining!

    Username: BlahISuck

    Overall Fitness Goal: Marathon by age 24, 100+ pushups, lose my pot belly!

    Summer Fitness Goal: Lose 10 pounds, preferably 1 pound a week, comfortably run 10k, 50 pushups. Hopefully lose pot belly too.

    Favorite Physical Activity: Biking! Wind in my hair and soft on my knees.

    Today's workout: Biking at 10.77 mph for 54 minutes. Followed up with 5 minute cooldown walk/run. A fellow cyclist told me I should raise my seat. I told him it's as high as it goes. I need a new bike (I typed: I kneed a knew bike XD)

    Question: How do you deal with bloating? I've had a pot belly ever since I came back from vacation and it just doesn't seem to go away. I did more drinking than I normally do (none) but I don't think you could grow a beer belly in 3 weeks. I also have invisalign and it makes my teeth feel a bit numb --> chewing food less --> more gas? I eat plenty of vegetables every meal, around 300g cooked for lunch and dinner. Should I consider taking a laxative? I don't think it's plain blubber, it's hard for me to stand up straight, really strains my abdomen.

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    Today's workout: I ran 6.1 km in 30 minutes today (7.6 mph), which I think is a new personal record. Of course, there was a 15 minute (each) warm-up and cooldown. I followed that up with an hour of golf, which is the first time I've played outside of lessons. It was great to see all the training still intact, even a year after I had them.

    I think my next goal is running 30 minutes of 8 mph. I'd also like to bring my 12-minute run level to 7 (2800 m), last time it was 6.5. I think I'll do some light biking on my crappy walmart bike(10-11mph) for an hour tomorrow as crosstraining. I'll probably do the golf thing every weekend now.

    I think bloating is related to my diet. It was gone yesterday, but it's back today cuz I'm Chinese and so I eat a lot of refined carbs. Not going to change that though, just going to add more fibre into my diet with Kelloggs All-Bran Original.
     
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    Hey Kura and Blah! Great job on your exercises!

    I thought this thread was doomed. Haha.

    Kura - Swimming is definitely one of the most rewarding workouts for sure!

    Blah - Wow, looks like you've been hitting the cardio.

    In regards to your question:
    First, do you exercise regularly, or are you just getting into a regular or more extensive exercise routine? If so, those who begin regular exercise will experience bloating for the first week or two; not to worry, it's just water.

    If you have been regularly and consistently exercising, it might be due to dietary changes, as you might have guessed. Actually, lots and lots of vegetables is great for you. Though, I remember not being accustomed to consuming so many of them before I began exercising regularly and I had extreme bloating. Cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cauliflower can cause gas if eaten in large quantities if you are susceptible, but this may subside if you are not accustomed to large intake of vegetables. Another food to look out for is dairy. I believe Asian people are more susceptible to dairy indigestion. (I happen to be sensitiveness given that I am a quarter Native American). I gained 10 pounds of water one week after drinking a 32oz dairy-based protein shake daily. Bahahaha. It was terrible! I bloated so far my ribs were in pain for 3 days! Now I only do 16oz every other day and have not had issues since.


    My update:

    I myself have been playing around with the idea of carb cycling. Eating high amounts of carbs after vigorous work out and very little carbs on days off. Some of my friends have had success with it. Essentially, I only eat significant amounts of carbs including whole grains, starchy vegetables (potato), and lots of fruit, after weight lifting, and on sedentary days, I stick to a low carb diet, mostly less starchy vegetables. Either day, I try to maintain a certain amount of protein both vegetable and animal based. Thus far, over one month, my digestive system has been handling it well. It's exciting that I have been able to eat SO MUCH (2500-3500 calories on workout days), and I have not gained any fat while bulking, actually lost 3 pounds while increasing my sets since adopting this strategy along with my workouts and tweaked intermittent fasting. It sounds drastic "fasting" but it is actually very manageable, and makes sense if you do some research.

    I wake-up around 8 or 9 AM, do business as usual. Then I work out around 1PM, and finish-up around 2PM. I eat my first meal at 2PM (A MASSIVE CARBY MEAL), then I eat at 5PM, a largish-sized meal with plenty of carbs and protein. Lastly, I have my final meal at 8 or 9 PM. Then, I press-on the break on my carb intake, but not completely and eat a medium-size meal. I go to bed and wake-up at 8 AM the next day, taking a break from weight lifting so my muscle can recover and grow. I have my first meal around 2, then 5, and then 9, making sure to limit carbs to vegetable based (not starches), and this day especially is great for red meat, olive oil, fish, avocados, and other fat-rich foods long with protein. I go to bed, that night, and start the two day cycle over again.

    ALSO

    Participant list and points have been updated.
     
    How many calories do you eat on a low carb day? And what's the calorie composition like for both days? Is it a good idea to wake up at 8 and eat breakfast after you work out at 2? Because your blood sugar level is lowest in the morning. I get migraines so I don't think I would want to mess with that too much. What do you mean by vegetable based starches? From what I know, if it's not starches, it's sugar and if you're getting that from vegetables then you'll probably only get 100-200 a day, which is a far cry from 50% of your calories.

    I think the bloating has resolved itself. It was probably since I started exercising about a week ago or so. I like cardio a lot more than I do weightlifting. Probably because I don't have any weights :P. I do basic bodyweight resistance exercises though, like pushups, crunches and dips. I don't think I'll need to work out my lower body much with all the cardio I'm doing and fencing (my thighs will turn out bigger than they need to be even without resistance training, they kind of already have). Although lunges would definitely help fencing so I might want to look into that. But not looking at too much strain on my knees in one day though.

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    June 16

    Today's workout: Biking at 12.3 mph for one hour. Followed up with 45 minutes of golf. It wasn't as good as yesterday, but my waist was really tired from biking and so it was harder for me to isolate my upper and lower bodies. Also my hip didn't listen to me when I tell it to turn. But practicing when tired seems like a good idea because you have to try a lot harder to get your body to do what it needs to do, so your weaknesses and improvements become a lot more clear. A much needed rest day comes tomorrow!

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    June 17

    Today's workout: 50 minutes of fencing. I broke into a real sweat afterwards but I learned a new drill that goes like this: hit, step-hit, lunge, step-lunge. Did a lot of lunging today to add to running and cycling. Also 50 minutes of brisk walking getting to and from the place. The /real/ rest day begins tomorrow! I would do a bit of strength training today, but golf and fencing have destroyed my left and right arms, my waist, my neck and my quads, so I think I will push that off to tomorrow.

    Since I'm biking and lunging a lot from fencing, is doing squats a good idea or is it redundant? Should I focus on increasing the weight I squat versus the endurance aspect of biking and fencing to get the best of both worlds?
     
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    Ooh cool! Glad points are updated! Sounds like fun and a great way to work towards a goal!

    Username: Kura
    Overall Fitness Goal: I want to tone and I want better posture. I work at a desk job and even when I'm home, I find myself on the computer, so I want to do exercises to improve my posture and the balance of my body. I also cosplay, but I've never done anything too revealing- for October, I want to be able to cosplay this character with confidence: https://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/...c7/HighPriestessofProphecy-REDU-EN-ScR-1E.png
    No one ever sees my belly in public. I don't even own a bikini. I'm too self conscious and I want to change that. I want to finally feel good about myself.
    Summer Fitness Goal: This is the thing.. I.. don't think I can put a specific "goal" in place because I'm not sure if you can really measure tone easily. I know a scale that can rate your body fat % is one thing.. but I don't have one, so I don't know how I'd do this.

    Favorite Physical Activity: Does.. Dance Dance Revolution count? Well.. if not then recreational swimming probably. I don't like being competitive.

    Hmm.. there should be an about you section if people are willing to write it.

    Well, I'm 4'10" (no I wont be getting any taller) and about 95lbs which puts me at about.. 19.5 on the BMI scale (even though we know BMI isn't too accurate with anything.. since it doesn't measure body fat %.. but shows I am healthy.) The heaviest I've ever been I think was.. 130 perhaps. Maybe 135.. but on someone so short it is actually a lot of weight and I think my BMI was something like 24-25 at the time.) I lost a quite a bit of weight (15 lbs) when I cut soda out of my diet about 6 or so years ago.. so I have stretchmark from then. Then I had slowly fluctuated my weight depending on if it was exam time and etc, but it always stayed around 105-110. I moved countries and it went to 103-105 on average because I did more walking. Then I joined the gym and I do mostly weights. Now, I think I eat well, but perhaps not as well as I should for the body I want. What I had today/ what I have usually:
    Spoiler:


    As for workout. I last I went was Saturday. I did 6 mins of rower (level 10/20) side lunges, back extension, skull crusher (the tricep one on a yoga ball) uh.. I don't remember what it's called but I did one that works the middle-upper back (you pull down).. then squat presses, and I also pumped up the leg press to 50 kilos and did 3 reps of 10. I also did pilates for an hour that day and we focused on a ab stuff.

    I dislike my upper arms, upper thighs, and I have quite wide hips for someone as short as me so I put on weight around my thighs/ belly/ lovehandles. I want that all to be firm for once.


    I think that's about it for now.



    ALSO BahIsuck, do you do foil? epee? sabre? I did fencing for a summer and it was quite fun, but too expensive to keep going with it, sadly!
     
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    Starting out with foil! But I would love to sabre one day, I want to cut people! I'm thinking of getting a practice foil for $25-30 so I can go through footwork with something in my hand at home.

    I was going with a friend to look at bikes today, but we ended up hanging out and having dinner (it was her birthday and she ended up spending it with me :3). Out of 8 hours I'd say we spent like 3 hours walking and maybe 20 minutes test-riding bikes so my aerobic exercise is more than enough. Perhaps my /real/ rest day finally starts tomorrow!

    En garde, pret, allez!
     
    Yoyo. I've been told by Andy that I don't actually need to sign up to ask a question or whatever so... here goes! If there's no-one here who can help then I'll just make a thread in CC&P or something like that.

    So, here's my situation. I have a summer to kill and, while I'm not looking to get hench or whatever, I basically need to put on some weight and at least get some muscle or something. Just so that every shirt I own doesn't hang off of me, haha. Unfortunately it's not that easy so I can't just go do it.

    Here's my (rather depressing...) situation. I've always been a pretty active guy; I've always run a lot and played cricket, football, hockey and tennis (English definitions here) a lot and if I do say so myself I've always been quite good at them. Certainly, I'd consider myself someone very willing to play sport and generally get exercise, although it'd probably be better if I did something aside from just running around after a ball. However I've always been someone who gets fairly ill a lot so I had nothing really physical to show for it as I spent a lot of time losing weight and whatnot, but I could always deal with that. However that's all kinda changed in the last year or so since I was diagnosed with cancer. At first I handled it pretty well since I was already in a fairly good physical shape and the chemo and whatnot didn't have too much of an effect but as time's gone on I've found myself less and less able to do physical exercise due to weight loss and muscle wastage and as such my response to the treatment is gradually getting worse. I'm in remission for both the primary and later developed secondary cancers right now, which is awesome, but in order to stay that way I'm really gonna need to be keeping myself in shape so that I can continue handling the therapy properly. The issue, as I say, being that the longer the chemo goes on the worse my physical condition gets.

    As I say I have no issue with exercise and whatnot but it's just becoming extremely difficult to actually get any done despite how imperative it is that I stay in decent physical shape. Plus it'd be nice to put some weight and muscle on to boot! I can't afford a gym membership at present and I'm not in much of a state for any heavy physical exercise or whatnot. Or all that much exercise at all, really. At least, right now I'm not. What sort of things should I be doing / what should I be eating / etc to keep me fit, all this considered?
     
    Razor Leaf said:
    Yoyo. I've been told by Andy that I don't actually need to sign up to ask a question or whatever so... here goes! If there's no-one here who can help then I'll just make a thread in CC&P or something like that.

    So, here's my situation. I have a summer to kill and, while I'm not looking to get hench or whatever, I basically need to put on some weight and at least get some muscle or something. Just so that every shirt I own doesn't hang off of me, haha. Unfortunately it's not that easy so I can't just go do it.

    Here's my (rather depressing...) situation. I've always been a pretty active guy; I've always run a lot and played cricket, football, hockey and tennis (English definitions here) a lot and if I do say so myself I've always been quite good at them. Certainly, I'd consider myself someone very willing to play sport and generally get exercise, although it'd probably be better if I did something aside from just running around after a ball. However I've always been someone who gets fairly ill a lot so I had nothing really physical to show for it as I spent a lot of time losing weight and whatnot, but I could always deal with that. However that's all kinda changed in the last year or so since I was diagnosed with cancer. At first I handled it pretty well since I was already in a fairly good physical shape and the chemo and whatnot didn't have too much of an effect but as time's gone on I've found myself less and less able to do physical exercise due to weight loss and muscle wastage and as such my response to the treatment is gradually getting worse. I'm in remission for both the primary and later developed secondary cancers right now, which is awesome, but in order to stay that way I'm really gonna need to be keeping myself in shape so that I can continue handling the therapy properly. The issue, as I say, being that the longer the chemo goes on the worse my physical condition gets.

    As I say I have no issue with exercise and whatnot but it's just becoming extremely difficult to actually get any done despite how imperative it is that I stay in decent physical shape. Plus it'd be nice to put some weight and muscle on to boot! I can't afford a gym membership at present and I'm not in much of a state for any heavy physical exercise or whatnot. Or all that much exercise at all, really. At least, right now I'm not. What sort of things should I be doing / what should I be eating / etc to keep me fit, all this considered?
    Click to expand...

    I'm not a health instructor, but I know if you're trying to build muscle, protien is the way to go. I'm not too versed on trying to bulk because I actually put on weight quite easily so I am trying to do the opposite and mantain my weight. Anyways...
    While I know meats can be fairly pricey, too.. you can get some good iron from hamburger meat (beef) and buying canned beans is a good way to go too! Lentils are also packed with fibre, protein, and are good in any diet. Carbs are good for putting on weight and giving you energy but watch out if the carbs you are having will also have too much sugar (like bananas) bananas are good for you but like I said.. watch how many sugary things you have!
    What are your eating habits at the moment? give us a list of what you have in 2 or 3 days maybe!

    Have you tried any resistance training? Stuff where you don't really need a gym, like pushups, squats, chair-dips.. stuff where you use your own body to build muscle. If you want a little bit of resistance.. use those cans of beans and do squats or lunges with them in your hands. Sounds stupid but adding a kilo can help, especially if you have weak arms.

    Not sure if you are at school or on campus during the summer but usually universities have gyms that are free to use during the year and you just give them your student card. Not sure how it is for your uni though.
    Uh.. wish I could be a bit more help tbh.. but.. sports direct actually has quite a bunch of workout stuff for cheap so it might be good to get a dumbbell tree or yoga ball or something if you have the room for it :3

    Good luck! Wish I could help more ;o;
     
    The way I see it, everybody needs a bit of strength training and aerobic exercise. Aerobic exercise gets the blood flowing, strengthens the heart, and generally makes you more fit. Strength training for you, I think is a must because you're getting atrophy from the chemo, and so building muscle will be a good way to fight that. There are people on the internet who say that you shouldn't be going to the gym because you won't be able to build muscle anyways - I'm not a medical professional, but I feel they're missing the point as you want to slow down or prevent muscle and bone loss. Oh, that's another one, aerobic exercises will help with bone mass as well.

    I'm not sure where you are fitness-wise and how the chemo's doing you, but walking and running for me are the basics and I do them very often. I looked up Manchester on google maps and saw that there are lots of bike lanes that go alongside rivers too, so it's a lot better than Toronto cuz I cycle under power lines lol. That's basically all I know and do for aerobic exercise, walking, running, and cycling.

    As for strength training I don't do weights but I think I'm still benefiting from what I'm doing so maybe it can work for you too. Pushups, crunches, squats, things like that which you can do at home. I'm on this program to help motivate me: https://hundredpushups.com/index.html and there's a whole set of these hundred challenges done by these guys so hopefully it'll be a blast! It's really neat though because they ramp up the difficulty so you can really look at how much progress you've been making. And you can always do a variation of whatever exercise you're doing so it's not as hard on your body.

    As for eating, you want to gain muscle and so you'll have to eat more calories. The best thing I can think of right now is starting with milk (unless you don't like milk or are lactose intolerant). Chemo really messes up with your body regulation and you might have a lower appetite, but consuming your calories through liquids may get around that :P I think it's a great workout drink though, because you have protein, fat, and sugars, as well as liquids and minerals so you have all everything you need to refill that you might've lost during the workout (liquids, minerals, fats and sugars) as well as protein to help you gain muscle.

    You should first talk to your doctor about this though. You sound like you're pretty fit already, but it always helps to have a medical professional do you a once over. If there's any advice I can give you, it's just listen to your body. The worst thing that can happen to you fitness-wise is suffering from an injury, because it'll slow down your progress and especially because I'd imagine chemo to be slowing down your ability to recover from an injury. Don't be afraid to push yourself, but don't forget to take a rest when your body says it needs it. I don't think I've fully learned that lesson yet, because I always want to push onwards when I think I'm doing well, just to overwork myself and get injured for a week or two :P

    All the best though, and good luck! You can continue to post here if you'd like so you can keep track of your progress, in fact I'd kinda like it cuz I don't want it to be just Kura and I posting here all the time :P If it was tl;dr, I think you can take away two things. Eat more, and listen to your body. And talk to your doctor about it, but he'll probably be supportive.

    Stay fit and keep that cancer in remission!
     
    Razor Leaf said:
    Yoyo. I've been told by Andy that I don't actually need to sign up to ask a question or whatever so... here goes! If there's no-one here who can help then I'll just make a thread in CC&P or something like that.

    So, here's my situation. I have a summer to kill and, while I'm not looking to get hench or whatever, I basically need to put on some weight and at least get some muscle or something. Just so that every shirt I own doesn't hang off of me, haha. Unfortunately it's not that easy so I can't just go do it.

    Here's my (rather depressing...) situation. I've always been a pretty active guy; I've always run a lot and played cricket, football, hockey and tennis (English definitions here) a lot and if I do say so myself I've always been quite good at them. Certainly, I'd consider myself someone very willing to play sport and generally get exercise, although it'd probably be better if I did something aside from just running around after a ball. However I've always been someone who gets fairly ill a lot so I had nothing really physical to show for it as I spent a lot of time losing weight and whatnot, but I could always deal with that. However that's all kinda changed in the last year or so since I was diagnosed with cancer. At first I handled it pretty well since I was already in a fairly good physical shape and the chemo and whatnot didn't have too much of an effect but as time's gone on I've found myself less and less able to do physical exercise due to weight loss and muscle wastage and as such my response to the treatment is gradually getting worse. I'm in remission for both the primary and later developed secondary cancers right now, which is awesome, but in order to stay that way I'm really gonna need to be keeping myself in shape so that I can continue handling the therapy properly. The issue, as I say, being that the longer the chemo goes on the worse my physical condition gets.

    As I say I have no issue with exercise and whatnot but it's just becoming extremely difficult to actually get any done despite how imperative it is that I stay in decent physical shape. Plus it'd be nice to put some weight and muscle on to boot! I can't afford a gym membership at present and I'm not in much of a state for any heavy physical exercise or whatnot. Or all that much exercise at all, really. At least, right now I'm not. What sort of things should I be doing / what should I be eating / etc to keep me fit, all this considered?
    Click to expand...

    I am very glad to hear that your cancer is remission and thank you for sharing your situation with us. Of course you can ask a question, though, I must caution you that you may need to consult your (a) doctor before you take my advice.

    First, I would definitely discontinue or heavily limit rigorous cardio. At this juncture, all the hard work put into cardio might be exacerbating the muscle loss and your recovery to full strength.

    Second, I would increase the weight resistance training. Which could be an issue, given that you do not have access to a gym or exercise facility. Though, I have a few ideas in mind. The best way to put on the muscle mass is to do few reps with more weight. For instance, if you can bench 100 lbs 50 times, you need to increase your weight substantially, maybe to 150lbs, if you can only bench that 8 times. Okay, so I am guessing you don't have weights though, but keep this principle in mind. Less reps, more weight. If you have a texts books, or other somewhat heavy articles, and a sturdy backpack I have three exercises that you can focus on, but I am sure there are other alternatives.

    1) Push-ups. Since you don't have access to a weight bench to perform bench press, push-ups are probably the best alternative to work out arms and pectoral muscles. However, remember, what I said. If you can do 20+ pushups, you need to increase weight, to reduce reps. To do this, put like a few giant biology books or bricks (Preferably sand) in your backpack and carefully place them on your upper-middle back while your stomach is flat on the ground. Then, once it's all secure around your shoulders, perform as the pushup. This will also help with postural muscles given the balance; it's like yoga and weight training all in one. You will need to experiment a bit, but the first set of pushups, you should be able to barely get through about 10 (so adjust your weight in the back pack accordingly.) Then, reduce the load a in the backpack for the second set so you are only able to barely get through about 12 push-ups, and then to about 15 pushups in your third set.

    There are many many many types of different pushups you can execute following this same principle. Just remember, you will see much more results if you are struggling through a few rather than exhausting yourself over doing tons and tons of repetitions of lower weight.

    2) Back Squats. simply put the backpack on with the appropriate amount of weight so that you can only do about ten squats. Make sure, your environment is safe, especially behind you in case you lose balance. If I am doing any type of squat in my room, I usually am stand in front of my bed just in case. Next, reduce weight so you can barely get through 12, and then reduce it again until you can barely get through 15.

    A refresher of squat just in case, except you will use additional weight to mimic barbell back-squats:
    [PokeCommunity.com] Let's Get Physical - The PC Fitness Club


    3) Goblet Squat- Same. 10 highest reps. Reduce weight, 12 reps. Reduce weight, 15 reps.

    This with a the backpack and weight.
    Spoiler:


    4) Deadlift - Same.

    This, with the backpack and weight.
    Spoiler:


    You might be able to apply these exercises to other weight lifting techniques as well!

    Make sure to eat plenty of protein and complex carbohydrates after working out or the muscle cannot repair. Avoid eating right before working out.

    Well, this is the most creative and hopefully practical weigh I can think of to get you weight training without the need of the gym equipment. Sometimes simplicity and consistency are good for results. You may want to check-in to see how much weight training you can perform. Maybe, you might need to reduce the amount of weight you use at first. I'd double-check with your physician just in case.
     
    Does cardio really lead to muscle loss? My biochem instincts have always been writhing whenever I hear that. Your body doesn't start stripping away muscle until you're effectively starving, like sub-1500 calories, but even only then for an extended period of time. I find don't find it very believable that muscle turns into fuel when you have perfectly adequate fat cells that store, well, energy. Most cells can undergo the beta-oxidation process that gets the fat molecule inside the mitochondria of that same cell. But for proteins, and if you're talking about stripping away muscle fibres, well that to me sounds like proteolysis. And after you've broken down the protein to amino acids, you have to get rid of the amino group, which sounds like a trip to the liver. The whole process sounds terribly inefficient, especially the second part about the muscle cell (or almost every other cell type in the body) being unable to convert the protein into what can actually be used as energy (fat or sugar). I feel that cardio can only lead to muscle loss when you're doing seriously long distance running, burning thousands of calories that you don't immediately replenish because you're running for so long. Which is probably something none of us are doing, so we're pretty safe from that fate.
     
    I think it depends on your diet, because of sugar leading to a spike in insulin, so the body WANTS to store that fat. But I've heard that cardio does "attack" the muscles before it gets to the muscles.

    What I wanted to ask was.. for a toning diet.. what sorts of carbs are good? And which carbs are bad?

    I eat healthily.. but I don't know if I eat according to a "toning" diet. For example.. it's not what I eat.. but when? What should I be eating 2 hours before working out? I know I should be having lean protein after the workout, though.


    I was a bit naughty today and I had a Wensleydale cheese and carrot chutney (it is like jam) sandwich (with lettuce and brown seed bread.) Quite a bit of sugar and fat in that, I'm guessing.. :c
    But I was glad yesterday when someone brought in Krispy Kreme donuts for people in the office and I didn't go for one >:3!

    you're effectively starving, like sub-1500 calories,
    Click to expand...
    doesn't that technically differ depending on what's your actual limit and your deficiency? If I had 1500 on non-workout days I would probably climb back up to 23 on the BMI scale. Still healthy but tipping quite close to overweight..
     
    Ooops I meant for men. For women around 1200 or so. What do you mean by a toning diet? Like toning as opposed to what else? Toning to me is definition, and that would mean fat loss without muscle growth. I think that's what it really boils down to. You can grow some more muscle too, and there's nothing wrong with that, but I think it's a woman thing to look for "tone" and shirk "bulk", but at the end of the day it's just a muscle:fat ratio in my mind.

    I'm a really macro guy when I come to this so I don't regulate my meals down to the hour and food, I just make sure my protein:fat:sugar ratio is in reasonable bounds, and count calories in vs. calories out. I'm not sure if regulating what time you eat something is really meaningful where we are right now. I've searched about the best time to eat before a workout, but most of what I've read had to do with comfort and basically involved not throwing up in the middle of a workout.

    Spoiler:


    I don't think the kind of food you eat really affects the way your muscles will look.

    I'm sure Fenneking would be a better resource on what toning /is/ since he works out and carb cycles and all that.

    I use sugars as a synonym for carbohydrates, cuz I think it's easier to type. Your sandwich looks really healthy actually - okay maybe dependent on the amount of cheese, but still you've got your brown seed bread and leaf so that's okay in my books. Cheese is great for me cuz my house is really carb heavy, such that I actually have to look for fats to eat, so that's where I'm coming from.
     
    I heard the opposite, actually.. that you can go to the gym as much as you want, but if you don't have the right diet it means nothing results-wise. It's not weight I want to lose, it's that I want to firm. It's not easy for women to bulk up so I can have room to muscle up.
    I'm contemplating asking a personal trainer at the gym to write me up a basic thing of what's good/ what's bad at what times foodwise.

    :c I can't really have carby things at night. I wake up with my stomach feeling all hard-feeling and it's really uncomfortable... ;o;

    Sorry I am rambling. I appreciate the help though! Perhaps I am looking too much into it @_@
     
    Oh I see what you're getting at. What I meant is that I don't think the particulars of the food matters much. I can eat a cup of brown rice, or I can eat a 3/4 cup of white rice + 1/4 cup of all brans. Normally the advice is to avoid refined carbs, but to me the two are more or less equivalent: They both have around 200 calories, and they both have a bit of fibre and other mineral goodies. So one person might say avoid this, avoid that, but I would say it doesn't matter what kind of food you're eating, all that matters is that you're hitting your nutritional targets. Fenneking, does this make sense? Otherwise I've been doing something wrong all this time XD.

    If you don't want to lose weight then you can bulk up and lose fat at the same time or just bulk up. Either way, the ratio is going to change - either the muscle is bigger and presses harder against the fat so you see it better, or you work off some layers of fat so it's easier to see the muscle. Or a combination of both. I know "bulk up" doesn't sound very ladylike, but whatever. I'm "firming" myself right now, mostly by losing fat and weight because I don't have access to weights so I can't really make my muscles bigger that quickly. You're not interested in losing weight, so you'll probably do the opposite of what I'm doing.

    ----------
    June 20

    Today's workout: Really poopy day. I got through all my sets of pushups, but only got through 3/5 sets of crunches. Couldn't concentrate for more than a set of my bicep rice curls.

    I tried a 12 minute run but I felt dizzy by 7:33 in. I decided to make up the rest of the workout by doing interval training. I had just recently updated Endomondo after a long time, and it appears that you need to be connected to the internet, not only to see the default workouts, but also to save your own (why? what is the point of that?). So I ended up just doing it all by ear staying far within my comfort zone because today was just not the day. I ended up doing cardio for 56 minutes, so yay.

    Lesson learned: listen to your body. Six months ago I would probably decided to run all 12 minutes, and then run for another half hour, just to bust one of my knees and make my muscles out of commission for two weeks. If I sleep alright, I'll hopefully be ready to bike on Saturday. OH I'm kayaking that day so yaaaay.

    Also, I have discovered my new thing. Running to gangsta rap is the best feeling when you're running half the speed you're used to. But probably not good on a good workout day, that would be just too much intensity.

    ----------
    June 22

    Today's workout: 2:40 of kayaking!!!!! Arms are tired as hell. No pushups, and perhaps not even golf for the next few days.

    row, row, row my boat
    arms are sore, eyes are blurring
    one stroke at a time
     
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    Sure I'll join. I do karate three times a week for about two hours each session. Then I also try to do a weekly bike ride for around twenty miles. I don't really have any quantitative goals but just to keep getting stronger and continuous improvement.
     
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    I think if I lost any more weight people would be concerned, but I am definitely not firm either. :c So I'm trying to lose fat and gain muscle because I don't want to be ridiculed, and I do have a couple problem-spots (upper arms, upper thighs, the usual for girls.) Thanks for the advice though :3 It is good motivation.
    Also I found this!
    https://shine.yahoo.com/healthy-living/eat-workout-160800423.html

    Anyways, I did an hour at the gym yesterday and another hour of pilates to strengthen my core and posture~ Was good .o. my butt hurts a bit today though!

    What I ate today:

    2 small slices of toast (gluten free)
    hamburger over some lettuce (no bun, but a sprinkle of parmesan and 2 cherry-tomatoes)
    some nuts and raisins (1 handful)
    packet of crisps (baked, wholemeal with oats.. hadn't had crisps in over 2 years lol..)
    miso soup (made with organic brown miso-paste, not with a packet)
    2 ryvita crackers with nutella and topped with some linseed for fibre
    another peice of toast
    and 1/3 a can of chickpeas with a tablespoon of salsa
    and a carrot
    and a small apple

    I had also some dried banana chips (like 5), 2 chocolate-mini-eggs, and a yogurt covered brazil nut because I wanted something sweet.


    .. Why am I so hungry still!!! :c..
     
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    I'mma going drop in and (try) to help with the toning diet question.

    First up: Diet is 80% of what will get you (healthy) toned imo.

    (I'm going to use the paelo diet as an example of what may help. Lots of controversy about it and I personally don't use it cause I think its stupid but a lot of crossfitters do and they are very ripped individuals a large majority of the time.)

    The "contemporary" Paleolithic diet consists mainly of fish, grass-fed pasture raised meats, eggs, vegetables, fruit, fungi, roots, and nuts, and excludes grains, legumes, dairy products, refined salt, refined sugar, and processed oils. (Taken from wikipedia cause lazy.)

    My opinion on what I think would work:

    What you want to do is drop out pretty much anything in your diet that is overally processed or refined, pretty much anything that you buy in packages :O It's good for your health, lowers the amount of rubbish you produce and thus is better for the environment! Isn't that fantastic!

    Second, stop eating bread (this is just my personal choice), bread is baddddd and bloats and all awful things that I prefer not to think about. I can almost guarantee if you completely drop bread from your diet you'll lose weight and tone up.

    Just don't eat junk food very often at all, like once a week is fine but if you're having a packet of chips (crisps) a day plus say a cookie or something similar it's not going to help you at all.

    Eat fruit if you get hungry and want to snack, like apples and banana's cause everyone likes apples and banana's.

    Diary stuff is fine imo, just don't have heaps. For example all the diary in my diet is yogurt that I have with muesli for breakfast and 350ml of milk I have in my protein shakes after my work outs.

    Eat veggies, a lot, they are really good for you and don't taste that bad at all (apparently frozen veggies are just as good as fresh ones and are about 5 times cheaper.)

    Meat wise, fish is great for you (my favourite is salmon), chicken breast is the leanest chicken cut (Im pretty sure) and is a great source of protein and such. For red meats try and get the cuts with the least amount of fat on them or just cut the fat off before you cook it (I can't remember which is the best cut but I generally just get the cheapest and cut the fat off.)

    Don't use much oil/sauces/dressings/addings that a similar in your foods, they aren't really that great for you but you do need them to be healthy. Saturated fats and trans fats are bad for you because they raise your cholesterol and increase your risk for heart disease. But monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats are good for you, lowering cholesterol and reducing your risk of heart disease. (This website has a lot on what fats/oils are good and what fats/oils are badddd: https://www.helpguide.org/life/healthy_diet_fats.htm)

    Also salads are really good, people may call it rabbit food but rabbits barely have any fat on their bodies so they must be doing something right!

    Lots of debate on how much you should eat and how often etc etc, but just eat whenever you're hungry as long as thats not a large meal every 2 hours and you should be fine. Just don't over eat, moderation is the key.

    LETS NOTE RIGHT NOW IM NOT THE BEST WITH DIETARY STUFF BUT I THINK WHAT IVE SAID COULD DEFINITELY HELP.

    For workouts its simple. More reps lower weight. If you do a lot of reps with a light weight you'll get toned rather than put on a heap of muscle etc etc. Cardio is also decent for toning, interval training is pretty decent thing to look into cardio wise.

    If there is anything else or you need some clarification just say and Ill do my best to help you out.
     
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