Health & fitness

[Lucy]

I want to open this thead to discuss all ideas about fitness and diet combined. Weather you want to bulk up, tone, loose fat or reduce muscle. Try me and i will reply to the best of my abilaty.

[Wendy]

Hi Lucy.

By college I was accepted as a guy and started doing things guys do (at the prompting unbeknownst to me at the time of my gay friends).  I transferred schools my second year and I befriended a guy that had been in a car accident.  He was Catholic and had been in a comma for 40 days and 40 nights.  He was very religious and had lost the use of a large part of his brain from the accident.  He kept a weight set in his dorm room and asked if I would spot him while he did some bench presses.  I was a skinny beanpole and he suggested that I work with the weights with him.  I did.  I was 19.

My mom is Italian decent and for her food is love and I love food.  Take lots of T, lots of food, and lots of steel and you get a big person.

Two years ago I started "whatever" and felt exercise would "keep" my muscle mass.  I cut my calories and stopped exercising.  At the same time the only treatment for depression for me is exercise.  (I am having a alot of logic issues dealing with "the stuff".)

Here is what happened.  I have lost a lot of strength and have trouble opening sealed jars in the kitchen or lifting heavy blocks or bags of aggregate outside.  My muscle mass is somewhat smaller but larger than the average cisgender male.  Other measurements are probably better than suggested expectations.

Here is the challenge.  How do you improve your health, lose some muscle mass and not lose progress in other areas?  Thanks.

W

[Lucy]

We have spoke about this before wendy. here is the problem, every one is different, some bodies are more efishant than other at building muscke or producing fat. Muscle also has memory, so if you once bulked out & still have a lot of testostron then weights can be, as u know, may have the wrong effect. So here is my take on exersie. If you concerntrait your efforts on a cardeovascler work, steady jogs, cross trainers and rowing machines. Introduce some light weights working the necersery muscle groups. Low weight high reps should tone not build muscle. If u give me more information i can sugest exersises that would help. As far as diet goes you were right reduce proteen and carbs, if u can change red meat 4 chicken n white fish. Change spuds 4 sweet potato and white bread n pasta 4 the whole meal or brown verhaty. When u eat timeings and portion sizes are very important. Its better to have 7 small meals than 2 huge ones. Again with more information i can suggest good meal ideas and correct callorie intake for furter wait loss. PM me if u want this kept private.


Sorry one thing i have to add is dont forget adequate warm ups and streches after them and at the end of every sesion to prevent injury. And if u are inexperienced in this field get s6e one to demostrait and show u the ropes.

[Wendy]

Hi Lucy,

I thank you for your suggestions.  If we get too personal we can flip to PM's. 

As you know I have taken anti-T for a while and I think that is what makes me very tired.  I have read that anti-T and E should reduce muscle mass.  My biceps are about one inch smaller and my quads are about the same size when measured by a tape measure as they were two years ago. 

Actually my youngest daughter has suggested some dietary changes for me that I am using.  For the past two months I only eat whole wheat pasta, brown rice, and whole wheat bread in place of the refined flours and polished grains.  This has been an easy switch as these items taste good.

You must know my personality.  I eat two big meals a day.  My largest meal is always at night.  This habit is extremely difficult for me to change.  I never eat between meals and I hate to see food wasted.  (These were habits developed as a young child.)  I have always prepared a nice dinner.  This is almost a ritual for me.

I have a simple way to measure portions.  If it sort of fits on a big plate then it is the correct portion.

My youngest daughter has also tried to get me to eat more fish and chicken.  I do like fish and chicken but I also like steaks.  She has suggested I eat steaks only one time a week.  I am doing a little better in this area.

I do enjoy a couple of alcoholic beverages before dinner.  I realize these are empty calories but they tend to relax me. 

I enjoy most foods but dinner without meat is not dinner.  I eat way too much protein.

............

My exercise routine is about 20 minutes on a stationary ski machine every other night and 20 minutes of light floor exercises.  I may include light weights.

..............

If I try to change too many things at once I will fail.

Thanks again.

W

[Lucy]

Give me a while to come up with some new suggestions and ideas, but I do have a few sugestions.

Alcahol as you say are dead callories and the wrong sort of alcahol can be bad for you. I find that one glass of red wine a day can actully have many health benifits.

Red meat is not good for you when it is full of saturated fat but lean cuts are a high sorce of protein and about 7 percent fat. Choose the top round cut, top sirloin, shank, round, flank or chunk, this will keep the sturated fat down.

Healthy fats. In your diet weight loss can be incouraged by cutting down on saturated fats, but unsaturated fats can be good for you in moderation. Good fats to look out for safflower oil, sesame oil, canola oil and the fat in avacardos. You body does need a certain amount of EFA (essential fatty acids) to help burn callories and help fight some diseases, like the fats found in fish. Another suggetion is making up salad dressings with a table spoon of safflower oil and viniger. Fish 3 times a week can be very good for you.

[Wendy]

Lucy,

Good  suggestions.

I can try to swap alcohol to red wine.  I do like a martini, scotch, or cognac.  I can try to switch to burgundy, merlot, rose or chianti.

I also like the lean cuts of beef.  I marinate and grill them. 

I frequently eat canned tuna or canned salmon for lunch with whole wheat bread. I eat tilapia or fresh salmon about one time a week.

Another friend on the forum suggested I cut out Nutra-Sweet and Splenda.   That will be tough since I dring a few caffeinated diet sodas per day.  I will start to redude those.  I enjoy the healthy cereals but I add Splenda to them.  I think refined sugar is just as bad as Splenda but I might be wrong.

I cook with canola oil and add olive oil to many steamed dishes.

I need to change a lot of eating habits.

Thanks for your suggestions.

W

[VeryGnawty]

Diet isn't as important as most people think.  The key is moderation.  You can eat anything that you want, but you can't eat everything that you want.  Personally, I eat big meals, but infrequently.  I rarely eat snacks, or anything considered snack food.

I haven't exercised much recently.  But when it's not raining like crazy, I like to go freerunning.

[Wendy]

Diet isn't as important as most people think.  The key is moderation.  You can eat anything that you want, but you can't eat everything that you want.

Good input.  However moderation is an issue for me.  In the short run I have substituted red wine for the hard stuff.  I have reduced beef, lamb, and pork to two nights a week.  I have fish and chicken several times a week.  I now try to walk 2.5 miles every evening.

I have been feeling better but my weight has not changed.  I am trying to substitute low calorie salads for some of the meats.  (I think the volume of food gets me full.)

I would not be disappointed to lose 1 pound a month.

[Lucy]

Have you considered that may be you are not eating enough. When you eat to little in the way of callories the body goes into starvation mode and then automaticly stores the sugers away into fat incase it is not getting enough later.  What is your callorie intake at the moment. I think for the average man it should be around 2500 and 2000 for a woman you would have to take 200 callories off that for weight loss.

[Wendy]

Have you considered that may be you are not eating enough. When you eat to little in the way of callories the body goes into starvation mode and then automaticly stores the sugers away into fat incase it is not getting enough later.  What is your callorie intake at the moment. I think for the average man it should be around 2500 and 2000 for a woman you would have to take 200 callories off that for weight loss.

Dear Lucy,

Glad to chat with you and glad you are here!  I have been busy in class and have not spent a lot of time on the forum.

I think my body composition has changed during the past couple of years and I need fewer calories.  I never counted calories but I estimate I have cut about 250 calories and increased activity by about 250 calories per day.  If those figures are correct I should lose a pound a week.  However I probably need even less calories than that for the decrease in muscle  mass.  I would be happy with a loss of 1 pound per month.  I am also trying to increase meals to 3 a day as opposed to two meals a day.  My estimate is my caloric intake has always been way higher than recommended.  At least I have stopped gaining weight and I am feeling better.

Your prior suggestions have been very good.  I need to develop several life goals and get back to living.

Thanks.

W

[Keira]

Wendy, even if your not losing weight, doesn't mean your not losing fat. You could gain muscles and lose the visceral fat at the same time.

The first to go when you exercise is the visceral fat in the abdominal cavity. Let your stomach go, and see if it bulges out (it bulges out a big for almost anyone), but if you look like Kermit, then you have got a lot of visceral fats. These fats are the worse by far, they cause much health problems. Even the love handles (over the muscle abdominal fat) is much better than that one.

I've lost 18 pounds since January 188 -> 170, just by eating slightly better than before. The crucial thing is to listen to your body, as soon as you feel even slightly full, stop. If you feel stuffed, you went too far.

Proteins help in curbing appetite.

All foods that are absorbed quickly boost insulin and thus boost appetite.

I just love salmon, I eat it 5 times a week. Its full with vitamin D, which was proved to be a major cancer fighter :-). And of course, its one of the best omega 3 source and all sorts of good fats.

[Jay]

I read the beginning of this topic and laughed to myself... as I was like ummm I do need to lose weight..... whilst eating a Aero chocolate bar! ha ha. Typical me.......

[Wendy]

The first to go when you exercise is the visceral fat in the abdominal cavity. Let your stomach go, and see if it bulges out (it bulges out a big for almost anyone), but if you look like Kermit, then you have got a lot of visceral fats. These fats are the worse by far, they cause much health problems. Even the love handles (over the muscle abdominal fat) is much better than that one.

I've lost 18 pounds since January 188 -> 170, just by eating slightly better than before. The crucial thing is to listen to your body, as soon as you feel even slightly full, stop. If you feel stuffed, you went too far.

Proteins help in curbing appetite.

All foods that are absorbed quickly boost insulin and thus boost appetite.

Keira great job on losing 18 pounds!

Of course I have the worst fat.  I have the visceral fat.  I gained all the weight you lost.  I did not want the food you did not eat to go to waste.

Actually I eat a lot of protein.  I had stopped exercising to lose muscle and I also cut calories.  I lost strength and gained both good and bad fat.  I lowered my metabolism.   However, since I have started to walk every evening my mood is improving and so is my health.   

With my anatomy intact (although suppressed) I am not sure how you can reduce muscles, get rid of the bad fat, and get fat to go to the correct areas.  I think my expectations may be unrealistic.