andy97

iTrader: (1)

A bench and simple weights are fine. One barbell and a set of dumbells will get you along way before needing anything flash.

Just cut down on the crap foods sweets booze and takeaways. Eat normally and gentle workouts will do the rest. A few months later you will see good results if you persevere.

Re 'insanity workouts' I have it and it is a very good, but you either need to ease yourself into the workouts if unfit or build a decent cardio and strength base before starting it. No weights needed, if you can stand the pace you will see rapid toning allover your body and cardio will jump immensely.

LEO-RS

Edd, buy your protein from the website myprotein. Much more cost effective than the Maxi stuff and is highly rated around all the bodybuilding/fitness forums.

The Maxi Cyclone equivalent on myprotein is a product called Hurricane XS and is said to be near enough identical with what it offers. I bought some smooth chocolate Hurricane XS and True Whey Chocolate orange last time around. The Hurricane XS stuff is very good, tastes a bit sweet though but as a post workout shake, I suppose it needs to be to get fast acting carbs into the body. (Drink this one with water straight after a workout for best results) Taste wise, due to taking it with water and it being a little sweet, 7/10 for taste, 10/10 for effectiveness. The true whey choc orange, drink with milk in the morning, taste is 10/10, really nice, frothy and creamy

As for the weight bench, yeah I would go for both, you need free weights too.

Matteeboy

I'm not doing much weights stuff but do "maintenance" 1-2 times a week, sometimes heavy stuff at my local gym, sometimes home stuff with lighter free weights, a pull up bar, a heavy bag and so on. Quite nice to alternate and I'm always trying new bodyweight stuff - currently planche press ups (getting there) which are a absolute bar steward to do.

Cracked front levers, the flag (for about 5 seconds) and a few others.

Dingdongler

Excellent thread.

Leo/Saxo, may I ask some advice?

I had a few bad years where I let myself go a bit. I was working too hard and had two very small kids that didn't let me sleep enough.

For the 18 months, but more so the last 12 I've been hitting the gym regularly. I go about 3 times a week, sometimes more. I do a mixture of cardio and weights and more recently core muscle training. It's gone really well so far both on the cardio and weights side, but have unsurprisingly found I get really really hungry.

I generally eat well, I'll only eat rich/fatty foods a couple of times over the weekend as a treat. Dinner at home is always freshly cooked and healthy ie lean chicken, fish, seafood etc.

I buy big bags of nuts and roast them myself without any oil and a tiny bit of salt. I keep these in my bag to snack on at work so that I won't be tempted to snack on junk.

What I struggle with is breakfast ie what to have. If I have the morning off or at the weekend I'll get back from the gym and make myself scrambled eggs (egg whites) with salmon and a slice of brown bread.

However on work mornings I'm not quite sure what I can take with me as it's too early in the morning to eat before I leave home.

I've tried stuff like Special K with a handful of walnuts on top. However I've found that about two hours after I've eaten it I get REALLY hungry again. I feel almost hypoglycemic, which may be a reactive hypoglycemia from a previous insulin surge due to the sugar/fast carb content of the crappy cereal.

Do you have any suggestions? Btw, I'm not trying to lose weight or eat less. I just want to eat well to augment my training/workouts.

Many thanks

LEO-RS

A protein shake with semi skimmed milk would solve this issue for you. Along with the protein content and the carbs in the protein powder, the lactose in the milk is a slower releasing sugar so the benefits of drinking a protein shake with milk is that it keeps hunger at bay. Drink with water after a workout for a much quicker release in order to feed the muscles you've just damaged working out but with milk if using it in the morning as a 'snack' to keep you going.

I think you would find a lot of value in using protein shakes, both with recovery times after a workout and keeping hunger at bay. Nuts are a good source of protein and energy so you've already got that one sussed

You should be eating 5-6 times a day though, 3 meals a day only, Breakfast at half past 7, dinner at half past 12 and evening meal at half past 6 is no use if that's all you eat. You need to snack inbetween each meal to keep your energy levels up, by snack, of course, I mean something like a protein shake/protein choc bar/nuts, something relatively low/med on the Carb/GI scale. Eating 6 times a day keeps your metabolism running well too. Porridge is a good way to start the day rather than these sugar covered 'healthy' cereals.

Input your food into that app mentioned for one day and see what your macros are telling you. If you're eating 50%+ calories from carbs alone, so say 1000+ calories from your 2000 cal daily intake then that's the reason for the hunger prangs, cut this down to sub 40% and you should notice a big difference with your hunger prangs as long as you are eating 5-6 times daily.

It is actually quite difficult to eat a 175g+ of protein everyday diet unless you're on a caveman diet so protein shakes are a very good way of meeting these targets, I know they may sound like a fad but give them a bash if you haven't already done so

veerinder9

iTrader: (1)

In my experience, oats would be best. It worked for me. I always use to have like weetabix for breakfast but I always have oats in the morning 80g with 300ml full fat milk. (probs better with semi-skim) but yeah it keeps me full longer and gives me a lot of energy that I need in the morning to get myself going. I literaly have oats 6 days a week as breakfast. And sunday will be whatever the mother makes lol

Turbohot

You mean this?



Only joking.

Keep up with good health talks, people. Good thread indeed.

veerinder9

iTrader: (1)

Turbohot

That will ruin all that oat eating, wouldn't it?
Cruel mum.

veerinder9

iTrader: (1)

I work it off so it's all good. Once a week ain't too bad I guess. Rest of the week diet is strict. Currently trying to bulk

Turbohot

Rob Day

iTrader: (78)

Tomorrow then I am thinking of going down this route:

Breakfast:
Banana
Oats with Semi Skimmed Milk

Lunch:
Cesar style Salad, with either chicken or Turkey
Banana/Greek Yoghurt

Snack
Riveta and Low fat Cottage Cheese

Dinner
F()CK Knows


I am finding that due to work commitments that my meals are pretty ****. I wont be home until 12:20am, and I will be having a glass of milk before bed, then up around 8am where I will be rustling up a Salad, and grabbing some Bananas etc on my way to work, I will also be at work for my Dinner so I'm hoping to nip out locally and grab something good (10pm finish if I'm lucky)

I really do need some help on what to pack up for my dinners at work. When working late, and sometime in the cold I feel the need for something good yet healthy that will sustain me.


Today I haven't done too good, but baring in mind I ate what I wanted when I wanted in the past..... So I'm doing OK...just

Today:
Breakfast
Allison Bread - Wholemeal, 1 slice (47g)
Dairy Crest - Clover Spread, 1 tsp
Generic - Coffee From Grounds 1% Milk No Sugar 237ml (8 oz), 237 ml

Lunch
Sainsburys - Peppered Mackerel (155g), 200 g

Dinner
Fresh - Jacket Potato Large (Approx 200g) - Estimated, 200 g
Summer Fresh - Tai Curry Fresh Sauce, 1/4 cup

Snacks through the day
Nestle - Kitkat Dark 70% Cocoa (Uk), 1 bar (4 fingers)
Wrigley's - Extra, Peppermint Gum, 54 g
Generic - Milk Full Fat, 200 ml

Totals
1,437 150 73 67 2,376 24
Calories Carbs Fat Protein Sodium Sugar

Saxo Boy

Dingdongler, as Leo says, a protein shake can be a great way to start things off if you really can't handle food when you first get up. Myprotein Whey with 200mm of semi-skimmed milk is about 200 calories and it gets you started without being hard going (also really enjoyable when you get a flavour you like). An hour or so later when you are ready to eat you can have your real breakfast.

As someone suggested, oats are good way to start the day. I personally love 0% yoghurt with some sugar-free alpen, half a banana and some ground cinnamon. It is far more filling than an off the shelf cereal with milk. Eggs are also an ideal breakfast food as you can change up the way you eat them for variety. My yoghurt dish above is the staple "Part I" of my breakfast. However, Part II alternates depending on my mood/requirements between:

1. Scrambled eggs on 1 slice of wholemeal toast (1 whole, 3-4 whites)
2. Natural peanut butter on 1 slice of wholemeal toast with 2 boiled eggs
3. Two poached eggs on 1 slice of whole meal toast seasoned to taste
5. If I can be bothered, I might make an omelette on occasion.

Even if you are up at 6:30, a protein shake, some sort of filling yoghurt or oats dish and something like poached eggs on a slice of toast should easily see you through to lunch time - especially if you have a handful of nuts mid-morning.

Today was something of a first test for me. My day went to crap and I didn't get home until 22:00. Having not packed anything for dinner I effectively had my evening meal 4-5 hours later than normal. I was hungry for sure, but despite passing chippys/McDonalds on my way home I didn't feel the burning need to take the easy option. That's the thing with eating clean, when you do get hungry it's a natural hunger as opposed to a craving hunger. In years gone by I'd have almost certainly gone for a takeaway option. Instead I made myself a massive low-carb omlette and I feel perfectly satisfied.

Saxo Boy

Plan for tomorrow looks good. Maybe swap out one of the bananas for something else. Two bananas in the morning is quite a sugar kick. As for tea, the general safe rule is to select your protein (i.e. chicken, fish, beef, lamb) and build around it. The other day I cooked up some diced chicken in 1/8th of a packet of fajita spices (Discovery) and had it with brown rice and some veg. Probably a little plain for most people but it was simple, quick and I couldn't be arsed to think! I feel your pain though, thinking up decent evening meals that don't have a million ingredients or take ages to prepare is where I struggle too. There is a massive recipe thread in the Nutrition section of the BB forum; pretty sure I'll find some good ideas in there.

Dingdongler

Thanks guys.

I thought you might say porridge/oats! The problem is I find it disgusting to eat unless it has loads of sugar added, which of course would then be counter productive. But that's my problem I suppose and perhaps I just need to close my eyes and eat it!

I've recently starting taking small amounts of protein shakes post work out. However I worry about what else is in those things ie additives, chemicals, sugar etc. My natural instinct is to not want to consume something that looks so processed, unnatural etc on a regular basis.

Thanks for your help.

Paullen

iTrader: (2)

Just to mix it up a little, I'm in half decent shape, but i hate dieting. I use exercise to allow me to eat more of what I want, I find it easier to maintain that way, otherwise I just end up cheating on my diet.

Weights wise, I can recommend the three compound lifts enough. Squat, deadlift and bench. When you nail those 3, 3 times a week, your body will change shape in no time.

As for cardio, I'd say find something you enjoy. Agree with the gym machines being torture! Get out walking/running/cycling/swimming. Cycling for me has been the single biggest help in dropping fat, I've lost a fair bit by getting out with friends and just riding, its never a chore. For the first time ever I can nearly see my abs and I still eat chocolate and drink beer.

Saxo Boy

I've got heavy squats waiting for me when I get home tonight

Matteeboy

After twanging my back twice recently, I'm back on machine leg presses - oops!

Hotpants

After getting some bad health news ( long story)
I decided to do a month of hell so to speak to really see if I could get the results I wanted / needed and if not I'd never have to bother again as ' what's the point' so to speak. Well guess what, I'm amazed.....it worked !
Basically I ate clean with absolutely no cheating for a whole month, it was really tough and nearly gave up after about 4 days, then at about 2 weeks and then strangely saw it through to the end ( you'll see why later on ). I work shifts and all you need is real determination to do it for a month, bit of forward preparation and always have all the food you need for the coming day, otherwise you'll cheat or skip food which you really can't afford to do, it's eat eat eat weirdly !

The following seems very repetitive and it is, but all I can say it worked for me.
( used supplements during this month, including vit d, omega3, bcaa's and thermobol from maxi muscle )

Breakfast: 4 egg omelette using just one yolk, with spinach and mushrooms and a bowl of porridge made with water( extreme but I got used to it) use semi skimmed now month is over.

Mid morning protein shake( chocolate ) this was my fix/ treat during my month.

Lunch: turkey, broccoli and sweet potato. Sweet potato can be done in the microwave , so really easy, I bought bulk ready sliced turkey steaks from my local butcher which ensured I always had turkey to hand and bought broccoli ever 2 days or so. Seasoned broccoli with Schwartz flavourings to mix it up a bit.


Afternoon snack: snack o jacks, boring but once again for the greater good I stuck with it and now like them. Piece of fruit, apples for me as I don't really do fruit.

Dinner: once again, turkey or plain cod, broccoli / asparagus and sweet potato for the first 2 weeks then brown basmati or sweet potato for the second 2 weeks. ( always ate early at about 5pm ) which I know is difficult for the 9-5'ers but shift actually helped me here.

Dessert was the fat free Greek yoghurts that are actually quite nice as I didn't ever pick anything fat free before this month.

Before bed I took casein with semi skimmed milk to help me not lose muscle mass during sleep. Used the optimum nutrition vanilla one, absolutely lovely, like maccy dees shake.

I trained fairly hard during this period , weights mainly with some cardio as I find cardio boring.
The 1st two weeks were hard and didn't really notice any gains, which was a major downer, but the second two weeks the changes began and really gave me the impetus to carry on.
Overall i lost just over 1 stone, which doesn't sound much (13.5 down to 12.2 ) but more amazingly, I lost 4 inches off my waist, 35 down to about 31, which is what i really needed to happen, handle free for first time ever and waist certainly low enough now to need a belt with my 32's. Chest pretty much stayed the same but looked bigger due to smaller waist.
Sorry to have gone on, but hope it gives some help, feel free to pm me if you need any further info as my diet now resembles this but nowhere near as strict and it is still working. This month was the back breaker to see if it could be done and certainly isn't sustainable for the long term as I was knackered and proper grumpy towards the end of it.
Hope Atleast one person finds this useful.

veerinder9

iTrader: (1)

That's good stuff. Great diet.

veerinder9

iTrader: (1)

Lol I love squats! The pump is insane

Maz

iTrader: (34)

Mind your lower back and knees. Squats are a great compound movement but not easy on joints.

New_scooby_04

iTrader: (4)

Echo that. Also with the compund exercises you really should be doing it in front of a mirror to watch your form - the temptation is to pile on weight and then perform the exercises incorrectly which is a sure fire way to an injury.

Don't even think about squatting/benching/deadlifting anything heavy without a training partner unless you have a Smiths machine with safety latches to catch the weight if you have an off moment or overdo it. It might not be as good for core stability as you're not stabilising the weight, but better that than collapse under a heavy weight through over-exertion. Seen that done too many times!

Turbohot

All you people that are advising good stuff on this thread need to put up your pictures up here, to prove that what you're offering has worked for you. You may include before and after pics. if you don't want to be recognised (your right on your privacy over your pretty face), just stick a paper bag on over your head and face. But do make sure you hold a loaf of bread in your hands (Idea Copyright- Sarasquares) with current Use By date so that we can be sure that it is you.

If you turn out to be a rake or a bloater in your picture, I'm afraid your advice will be classed as null and void, no matter how thorough you may 'sound' here with your c&p or just typing what you've overheard from others.

I bet you highly knowledgeable advisers are in a damn good shape (I know Maz is, actually), so please, prove it.

I am particularly interested in Oat Eating phenomenon.

Matteeboy

Ladies first Turbohot ;-)

Turbohot

Yes, but there are no ladies giving it large on this thread, Matt. It's some men trying to act all fit and healthy, and advising like expert personal trainers with personal experience. I'm not saying that they're telling porkies, but if they aren't, let's see their pics for evidence.

BTW, apart from Maz, you're another one who's fit as a fiddle here. That's good.

Matteeboy

But you've given some useful advice IMO Oh well, I tried anyway. And thanks!

Turbohot

Where?? Not ever on physical fitness. I never told anyone to do 500 sit-ups or sit downs, eat oat or goat, write with a chalk and go for a walk etc. for fitness, man. Never. I know nothing about fitness.

Ellie*

Turbohot- that is a BRILLIANT idea!!!
Put your money where your mouth is, so to speak!
(Although I'm guilty of having made a few comments in this thread!)

I really wish I could stick to diets and meal plans. I really really struggle with self discapline and doing things that don't have immediate gratification, so sticking to a diet or exercise plan is just about impossible, and takes a lot of mental effort that I don't always have.

My clean eating today was 2 whole eggs.
Easter eggs.
My exercise would have been playing netball but that got cancelled!

I'm not the size of a house just yet though.

Turbohot

Well, yeah! Put up or effing shut up, innit?

It's like if I go on about looking 16 at 65 by religiously using Aloe Vera cream. I must prove it, if so. It's no good me saying that if I look like bleddy 90 in my picture, does it? That's why I don't say it.

I'm just messing, people. Don't take anything personally or seriously.

But I have to say that if you do provide evidence of your fitness with your suggested fitness plan, it will be more credulous and even more effective. That's all.