/kind/ - Random Acts of Kindness

>>28069

>Why do you do it this way?

My bodyfat-loss plan (lose 1-2 lbs a week) comes from years of learning abou health, nutrition and fitness from many sources, trial-and-error and self-experimenting to figure out about what foods and food combos keep me sated long enough to handle (hunger- and energy-level-wise) eating only about 70-80% of how many calories I need to maintain my current weight. This is what (so far) works for me, so don't just follow what I'm doing and expect it to work for you; according to goals (e.g., lose fat, gain muscle, gain endurance, increase resistance to disease and aging, all the above) everyone's "optimal nutrition for health" or whatever you wanna call it is as unique to you as your finger-prints, so everyone has to try and fail a dozen times before they hit on something that works long-term.

For example, I've tried and failed at several high-fat, low-carb nutrition plans – including 4 months of ketosis, which I probably could have continued had I not cheat-meal'd too much and had eaten more filling fats than loads of organic coconut oil and grass-fed butter; I probably would have been fine eating tons of high-fat organic meats like bacon and new york strip steak all the time, but I couldn't find that or it was too expensive. But it was probably just the too many cheat meals. Up until the last few months that's always been my downfall.

>>28070

Here are The Facts that I personally have to live with and work my nutrition plan around – note that I never say "I'm on a diet" because this is for life (changing things here and there as needed or wanted, of course), you MUST stay away from the mindset of being "on a diet" because that implies you'll someday be "off a diet", and then you'll go right back to how you used to be by eating how you used to:

o I am 6'5", large-framed (not lanklet), just under 270 lbs with probably somewhere between 30-60 lbs of extra flab than is healthy. Way better than about 10 years fluctuating between 350-400 lbs, but I've quite a ways to go.

o I've battled with severe depression (mostly from a lifetime of morbidly obesity and social isolation and thus low-energy, low-self-esteem, socially-developmentally-stunted, and so forth); this being my greatest obstacle I've intentionally tried to be more of a "people-person", meditation, enough "sitting quietly doing nothing" time of mindless relaxation in front of a computer so I don't get too flustered with everything I gotta do, too much cardio (super-important for higher mood, health, and energy levels!), doing my best to be a bit more organized (but see next point), etc.

o Dunno why (probably being a lazy fatass most my life) but my psychology or whatever rails against being strict and by-the-book about anything. I go bonkers if, for example, I count my calories all the time. I know, I've tried several times only for each time to crack under the pressure and run back to beer and ice cream just to make the hurting stop. My nutrition solution to whatever the hell's "wrong" with me here has been to count the calories of a typical daily meal plan ONCE, and then eat roughly the same damn things every day for maybe 3-6 weeks at a time before I change things up. One of these pics related, it's how I don't get bored of eating the same damn things all the time without "having" to go to a restaurant once a week for a terrifically unhealthy cheat meal. Nowadays I just have a cheat meal maybe once a month or two (and only if it's with family or friends, I make it a social event!) for all my sauces and spices seem to do the trick of keeping my tongue entertained.

o My appetite is huge (typical lardass) and if I go much longer than about 3-4 hours without food I get light-headed and irritable. It took a very long time but it seems that adding a pound of high-fiber veggies along with a decent protein source (at least 30g) and 8-16 fl oz water keeps my stomach happy for about 2-3 hours; this means I need 4 pre-measured meals a day of a good size (500-700 calories each) to keep me just calorically-deprived enough to lose body-fat at a reasonable, healthy rate (1-2 lbs a week) without losing muscle mass (see next post under protein) on top of loads of cardio and some strength-training.

o My time is limited (all dat cardio and exercise with a full-time job and living alone) so I batch cook a week's worth of meals once a week (takes about 3-4 hours of kitchen time, which is far better than four 30- to 45-minute periods every day) and then just pull out a tupperware containing my meat and veggies and microwave for about 3 minutes then eat. This is especially helpful for work lunches. More info: http://scoobysworkshop.com/2014/10/05/sunday-is-the-key-to-fitness https://youtu.be/9iTTHAyhzSc

>>28071

So now, considering the above, that I believe I've finally struck gold (for now) and hit the right nutritional combos that work around my… many mental and emotional weaknesses and introvert-leaning proclivities (am I repeating myself?)… for the past 2-3 months (and most importantly, stopped having so many cheat meals!!), here is my nutritional plan (in terms of macronutrients; I've already shown how I roughly reach these macros in my typical nutritional plan above):

o <=100g fats (roughly equal mixes of saturated [saturated is not bad4u!], monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated) for healthy hormone regulation, but since I'm primarily getting my energy from carbs I don't want my dietary fats to go too high; in most cases you want to decide whether or not you want your energy from fats or carbs, and keep one high and the other low. There are benefits and drawbacks to either method; I leave it to you to research and self-experiment which one works for you, or if you find your energy and health levels better with both in equal number more power to you! I for one love bread and oatmeal too much to give them up.

o Between 150-200g protein so I have enough for muscle-recovery from my admittedly low-to-moderate-intensity strength-training and bodybuilding workouts and from tons of cardio, and so I don't go catabolic (losing muscle mass rather than body-fat) while in a continuous state of caloric-deprivation; losing muscle-mass is BAD for many, many reasons I won't get into here (but the most important: the bigger/stronger your muscles, the more calories you burn, so the less you need to cut back on calories to keep losing body-fat) so you NEED to keep your protein high while trying to lose body-fat in a healthy manner but not so high that it just gets converted to "less efficient carbs" in the body, or however that works (we're still in the Dark Ages when it comes to research on how exactly specific nutrients affect the body!). Science has yet to determine just how much protein one really "needs", especially if you're athletic, but over a century of anecdotal evidence from powerlifters, bodybuilders, and people in other sports shows that anywhere from 0.5g to 1g of protein per your bodyweight (lower if you're overweight, higher if you're lean and/or muscular) feels "about right".

o The rest of my daily calories goes into carbs. That typically means about 300g to 350g. A good habit I've gotten into from my keto experiment is I differentiate "net carbs" from fiber, so for example a can of black beans is normally counted as 420 calories, but so much of that is fiber I count it as 300. Fiber is not digested (sorta) so it doesn't really count as calories. Or something like that. See previous point about health-research dark ages. I also try to keep most of my carbs complex rather than simple (sugars, mostly) to help feel full longer as complex carbs typically take longer to digest and thus occupy your digestive system longer (and they are normally much lower on glycemic-index and glycemic-load levels which is good to avoid spiking your insulin and such; too much to explain here, google it). This is why I don't eat a lot of fruit nor drink a lot of milk since those are quick to digest and thus quick to leave one feeling hungry afterwards (at least for me). I do have a small (2 measuring cups) glass of organic skim milk blended with a "finger-full" each blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries before and/or after a long bike ride to help speed the energy- and muscle-recovery process with loads of antioxidants.

o To deal with the sometimes overwhelming hunger from being in a continuous calorie-deprived state, huge amounts of fiber. This is the primary benefit of adding a pound of veggies to every meal (on top of the huge amounts of vitamins and minerals) and having a high-complex-carb diet in general. I end up with about 70g to 100g fiber a day, which is about 3 to 4 times as much as one "needs" for healthy digestion and such. Since like water fiber doesn't have calories (or something like that) you can have almost unlimited fiber alongside your sources of protein and fat to keep your stomach and intestines feeling full longer and to scrub your innards clean of toxins and impurities. Depends on how much broccoli or cauliflower or carrots or corn or whatever you can stand in a sitting; it's difficult even for a big dude with a big appetite to eat 2 lbs of any vegetable, even if blended or microwaved for like 20 minutes beforehand! I wouldn't recommend juicing veggies though since that just gives you the vitamins without the fiber.

This adds up to just under 3000 calories a day (each of my four meals typically between 500-700 calories), which accounting for how much cardio I do, my height & weight, etc. feels about right for losing 1-2 lbs a week. Health & fitness is more art than science.

>>28072

So there you have it. I must emphasize again that what's true (so far) for me may not be true for you; you may not be a big fat hungry dude interested in turning himself into a super-chill muscle-monster someday as opposed to the hot-blooded blubber-monster I am now. For example, I can have >1000 calories of beans, rice, potatos, or milk (whole or skim) and feel hungry within the hour (or even in minutes!). But I can have 500 calories of whole wheat bread or oatmeal and be fine for 2 hours. Dunno why. But to really keep my hunger levels at bay I need to combo: thick slices of high-protein homemade bread and about 1/2 lb of peas keeps me fine for 2-3 hours, same with 3 eggs scrambled with a plate full of kale and spinach, alongside a plate full of green beans or broccoli. Each doused in spices and hot sauces, of course.

If you want to do something similar for yourself, here are a handful of sources to check out. Note that some contradict and some may be outright wrong for your scenario (like many of them recommending too much protein than one really needs unless they're a professional powerlifter or whatever). It's good to apply the "13th Warrior Effect" here and in many scenarios: read many sources, note the similarities and assume that if many different people are saying roughly the same things, then it's more likely to be correct.

o http://scoobysworkshop.com/bodybuilding-nutrition-made-simple (also read the other links on the left side under Nutrition and whatever else may be of interest like Cardio, Losing Weight And Sixpack Abs, etc.)

o http://scoobysworkshop.com/book-recommendations

o Books on the Zone Diet, Paleo, Atkins, etc. Note what they say in common like making your own meals, eating unprocessed foods with one or minimal ingredients, lots of vegetables…

o https://boards.4chan.org/fit/thread/17018018/#p17018018

o http://8ch.net/fit/res/65583.html#65583

o http://forum.bodybuilding.com/showthread.php?t=110624041 (bb.com isn't a reliable source of info but many of the sources linked in this thread are)

o https://authoritynutrition.com

o If you're interested in going Very Low Carb / Keto: https://youtu.be/YeJs_hffrhM https://youtu.be/7Lgl3WyqSgE https://youtu.be/dyliIVfnZVM

o Athlean-X has a couple dozen decent videos: https://youtube.com/user/JDCav24

o So does Strength Camp: https://youtube.com/user/strengthcamp

o No supplement-selling BS from this 30-yo bodybuilder! https://youtube.com/user/scooby1961

o http://metalsnob.net/2016/01/introducing-revolutionary-a7x-diet.html (4 teh lulz)

In short: learn first, then baby steps. Don't make the same mistake I did when starting out and doing it all in one go – change ONE little thing at a time, like "replace soda with diet soda, then in about 2 weeks replace diet soda with water" and that's the only lifestyle change you make at first. Then maybe "eat what I've always eaten, but with a side of a big bowl of broccoli with low-to-no-fat cheese on it, then eventually drop the cheese and replace with some other low-calorie, low-sodium, low-ingredient flavor-enhancer like salsas and spices". Assuming your goal is "lose fat", that is; that along with "more muscle" has been my goal from Day 1. Figure out your goal(s) and go from there; The 7 Habits is a good starting point (see the first book recommendation through the second bullet pointed link).

>>28073

A few more photos.

>>28074

And done.

>>28097

That's kind of how I was going from ketosis diet (like 70-80% of my calories from fats and <5% from net carbs) to my current moderate-high carbs. Same thing with eating organic vs. not-organic.

But maybe you can't really "feel" the difference? Maybe more nutrients are "behind-the-scenes" making you better at fighting disease, aging, fatigue, etc. without you noticing?

I know I didn't get sick much before from my horrible sodas and fast food and deep-fried-everything diet, and about 4-5 years since I became a health nut I can count on one hand the times I've gotten ill.

And hey, you are what you eat!