My contest thread for the month of July

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OK, here's photo from a week ago.

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Height: 5' 9"
Weight: 293 lbs

New Lifestyle Begin Date: July 4, 2009

The Plan:
  • Vegan - Not a diet, but a new lifestyle. I'm going to stay away from refined foods, opting for whole grains, fruits, vegetables, etc.
  • Two meals a day - Breakfast at 6am and lunch at noon.
  • Mild exercise - consists of walking a couple of miles every day.
  • No sodas - I gave up caffeinated drinks a few weeks ago. That was a little tough to do, but now that the headaches are pretty much gone I think I'll be OK. I've decided that sodas, and even juice drinks, are not an optimal method of getting nutrition, so I'm sticking to water only for now, with only an occasional juice drink (real juice, not high fructose corn syrup junk).


A few facts I've learned over the years:
  • If you eat strictly vegan food (no meat, fish, dairy, eggs - no animal protein of any kind) your body burns 30% more calories. So you can either eat 30% more calories without gaining weight, so you can lose weight 30% faster.
  • Vegans recover from hard exercise/work much quicker than non-vegans. This is why many professional athletes and Olympians are vegan (at least when they plan to compete).
  • Milk depletes your body of calcium. Contrary to what the dairy industry would have us believe, milk does not do a body good. While milk does contain a lot of calcium, the protein which is also in the milk, causes an acidic condition in the body. The body then has to leech calcium from the bones in order to neutralize the acidity. So with milk, there is actually a net loss in calcium within the body. This is why all of the highest dairy consuming countries around the world (Finland, Sweden, Ireland, Norway, etc.) have the highest incidence of osteoporosis. I've been hard pressed to find a vegan or nearly vegan population that has a problem with bone deterioration.


Anyway, I'm posting this as much for myself as for anyone else to read. I figure that if I write it all down and post it I'll have a bit more motivation to follow through. :D


Good luck everyone! :cool:

--Shawn
 
Vege-Taco said:
Milk depletes your body of calcium. Contrary to what the dairy industry would have us believe, milk does not do a body good. While milk does contain a lot of calcium, the protein which is also in the milk, causes an acidic condition in the body. The body then has to leech calcium from the bones in order to neutralize the acidity. So with milk, there is actually a net loss in calcium within the body.
Click to expand...

I wasn't aware of the "milk issue" but have read that consuming foods that are calcium rich help with weight loss - see below excerpt:

"New studies indicate that consuming adequate amounts of calcium may do more than strengthen your bones. In fact, calcium helps break down body fat and may prevent fat cells from making fat.
Researchers from Purdue and Creighton universities and the University of Tennessee conducted several studies on calcium intake and weight. Results consistently showed that people who consumed more calcium had a lower body weight or gained less weight than those who consumed lower amounts of calcium.
For the best health benefits, try to consume at least 1,000 milligrams of calcium every day. Good sources include dairy foods, dark-green leafy vegetables, fish with edible bones and calcium-fortified foods."
 
Yeah, the protein/calcium relationship really surprised me. Here's a quote from a medical journal:

"The American Journal of Clinical Nutrition published a long term study observing a diet consisting of 75 grams of protein per day, along with 1,400 mg. of calcium. It was discovered that a greater amount of calcium was lost through urine than was being absorbed into the body, creating a negative calcium balance. This study confirmed what many health specialists suspected. Protein consumption has the greatest impact on calcium depletion of the bones, even greater than the level of calcium intake through diet."​
 
I have found that one has to be cautious about the sources for nutrition information. Some are highly agenda-driven. For example, I once read an article in a neighbor's PETA magazine in which an MD writing for PETA asserted that the human digestive system was never intended to process animal protein. The author offered no credible scientific evidence to support his contention.

I don't know the answer to the calcium or milk debate and I'm not trying to start an animal protein argument. What I AM saying is that I recommend carefully researching any such subject and looking for credible studies from reputable universities/medical centers before adjusting your diet. There is too much questionable nutrition advice floating around to rely on sources that are not carefully documented.

DancesWithKnives

[Edit: I wrote this at the same time that Vege-Taco was writing his post. My comments are meant to be a general recommendation and were not in response to his post or any one other single post.]
 
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I'm currentlyu on a fairly high protein regimen, and i'm not worrying about calcium- another one of those dairy industry things gone wrong.

Deep greens. beans. almonds. all good to go on calcium. 1 cup of greens is generally going to be between 100 and 350 mg of calcium. almonds are at 100mg per quarter cup, give or take. Beans go in the 75-125 range per cup.

This is one of those things, like many, where if you eat decently and eat REALLY all natural, it just balances out.
 
DWK2 said:
I have found that one has to be cautious about the sources for nutrition information. Some are highly agenda-driven. For example, I once read an article in a neighbor's PETA magazine in which an MD writing for PETA asserted that the human digestive system was never intended to process animal protein. The author offered no credible scientific evidence to support his contention.

I don't know the answer to the calcium or milk debate and I'm not trying to start an animal protein argument. What I AM saying is that I recommend carefully researching any such subject and looking for credible studies from reputable universities/medical centers before adjusting your diet. There is too much questionable nutrition advice floating around to rely on sources that are not carefully documented.

DancesWithKnives

[Edit: I wrote this at the same time that Vege-Taco was writing his post. My comments are meant to be a general recommendation and were not in response to his post or any one other single post.]
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Quoted for truth! Guys, be careful about what you take as truth. Please research your diets and even talk to nutrtitionists from a well accredited school. From my Biology background there is much in this thread that concerns me, and I am truly worried about the information given here. DO NOT rely on a single source, if what you want to try is legit then multiple independant sources will be able to come up with the same results. Most of what is published is biased, so it is up to us to determine what the bias is and how it is presented. Please, be critical of what you read and take as fact. I am not going to go into specifics here as that is not the point of the thread, but I don't want to see any of us hurting ourselves in the long run based on bad information.
Rant over


BTW- I weighed myself today and am already at 230#!!!:eek: Don't know how I lost so much so quick, but the scale says it. I don't have a specific goal other than to be in shape, but I am assuming that with refining my diet that my body is withholding less water due reduced amounts of excess sodium, potassium etc. and am reaching a better homestatic balance, but it is encouraging. Plus working files through the day making a wedding knife for the sister in law (and one for me too) is burning off some excess calories.

Lets keep going guys!!
 
There was a pic of a man and his son on horseback in the original thread. Encouraged me to go along to my local stables and sign up for a lesson.

The lesson was this afternoon and now I am sitting here with my thighs feeling like blocks of wood. Dear god this hurts.

I used to ride maybe 10 years ago now but I was doing a lot of MA, volleyball and manual labour then so the leg muscles were much stronger. Signing up for lessons once a fortnight.

cleared an area in the garage and hung a punch bag. Plan to go in most evenings and do 30 mins to an hour on the bag.
 
Finally here are a couple of pics of me (if you look it is your fault) at about 235# yesterday morning:










IMG_4767.jpg

(not really flexing)

IMG_4768.jpg
 
I kept thinking... He hasn't bought a koyote yet..... that knife looks familiar. And now you posted in the passaround thread and I say "AHA".

I'm at 230# today, my weight loss rate is minimal. I am, apparently, according to the assorted females in the house, instantly more cut doing the kettlebells for a week and a half.
 
koyote said:
I kept thinking... He hasn't bought a koyote yet..... that knife looks familiar. And now you posted in the passaround thread and I say "AHA".

I'm at 230# today, my weight loss rate is minimal. I am, apparently, according to the assorted females in the house, instantly more cut doing the kettlebells for a week and a half.
Click to expand...

What size k-bells are you using? I am thinking of adding them so I don't have to keep driving up to the gym...
 
ok guys here is the pic of me. This is what I am at, and then there is the one of what I used to be. Big difference for me. Was about 7 lbs heavier with 12ish lbs less fat.

This is what I am. Now at 216 lbs and 16.2% Body Fat. And I am not flexing.

http://img194.imageshack.us/i/photo3ffu.jpg/

Here is what I was at. This was when I was only working, no school, and had time to kill aka Gym 5 days a week with 45 minutes of Jump Roping/Running

http://img190.imageshack.us/i/lf560a7471120487cbf6375.jpg/
http://img41.imageshack.us/i/ld47342d885c04af7821653.jpg/

Now I know I am not in bad shape now, but I want to at least lose these 6 lbs. Once I get to school this August with just classes and no work, then I should start packing on the muscle again.
 
I admit i'm going slow. I need to order my next size up, though. my swinging gear right now consists of:

3# dumbbell
5# dumbbell
10#dumbbell

17# kettlebell
26# kettlebell

the 8kG one was bought for me to learn to move with the cannonballs after my first week using the 10# weight. Using the 10# weight was useful because I learned how to do a lot of movements with low stress and got a lot of ab work that I think I would have missed if I'd had upper body exhaustion earlier with half pood crazyballs. But what it's REALLY for is the girls in the house to start with.

the 12kG is just for me to work my way into things, at least one of the women here will be using it in a week or two, and I should be at a full pood -16kG- by august 15th if I'm lazy.

the 5# weight was to learn how to keep my arm upright on getups and the 5# and 3# weights are so Leif can play around while I'm working out. He does multiple sets of 6 (he's 6 now) two handed swings with the fiver every day. it's cute.

The workouts are intense, and the minimalist workouts- swings and snatches (or clean and press instead of snatches until you build up a bit) alone will do amazing things fast. so fast. This is GREAT!

And it's the ultimate WSS workout tool. you just have a little cannonball with a handle and you take it out into the yard or the park- or the woods and start doing the heavy metal dance moves.
 
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Well boys - I'm back from vacation where I consumed a lot of beer and wasn't all that bad with the diet otherwise. We stayed fairly active but now it's time to hunker down and win this blade.
 
I've switched my training up to include a lot of core type exercises and some super high rep sets.

Here are my two chest workouts:

Feet elevated push-ups * 1 set
Weighted Dips * 4 sets
Spiderman push-ups * 4 sets
Feet elevated push-ups * 3 sets
Flat Dumbell press * 3 sets

workout 2

Dumbell flyes-100 reps * 1 set
Wall to wall dips * 4 sets
Dumbell flyes Heavy * 3 sets
Staggered Push-ups- one hand on hex dumbell-* 4 sets

I'll try and get a recent pic taken. If you are fairly new to training then don't try this workout but if you have been working out a while and fancy something a little different then give it a shot !!!!!!
 
My workout that I did today, was much harder then I thought it would be. I did...

75 Hindu Push ups
100 Hindu squats
200 Crunches

I won't lie. This was 1000 times harder then I thought it would be. It was kickin my butt. This from a guy who can do 200 push ups and squats without a problem. But I say go for it. You'll be sweating you butts off in no time. I promise.
 
Alright I'm initially trying a new workout plan today to acclimate my body, and then hitting it for real next week.

I'm gonna pump *clap clap* you up!
 
Okay, guys. 2/3 through the first month- that's right around 10% done.

I've swung a kettlebell every day since July1, get my bike rides and sometimes dayhikes in, feeling great! My gut got BIGGER for a week due to the exercises, but I'm off to 43.5 from 47. Hoorah!

Hit it! Y'all have to beat my 38 year old butt.
 
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