am I hippie or a bodybuilder: HEALTH + FITNESS

[jess]

Well, and also, being fit and healthy is more important than weight anyway. Can you exercise without feeling tired and having your heart rate spike? Are you reasonably strong and flexible? Are your cholesterol and glucose levels and blood pressure and other bioindicators good (though that's only somewhat affected by lifestyle)? My blood tests (not counting blood glucose, since I'm screwed on that one) and blood pressure are great, but I could be a lot more fit exercise-wise, so that's a goal for me. If that comes with weight loss, great (and to some extent it likely will), but I'm still going to consider myself healthy if it doesn't or if it doesn't get me down to a point where I'm not at all fat or whatever. It would be awesome to fit into smaller clothing, not going to lie, but that's more a vanity concern, less a health one.

[peacocks]

I agree with Jess, but it is way annoying to have friends that eat more bullshit than me and aren't as strong or fit but have perfect skinny bodies. I have to work twice as hard to look half as good as some of these girls I'm friends with! But yes, this is all vanity.

[milly balgeary]

i like vanity. fuck health.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Yeah, I'd just rather not have a beer belly than have one.  Also, I like the feeling of being physically powerful. Being able to move heavy things etc. I loathe running, but it just is the most practical/efficient way to burn calories.  I got up to 235lbs my 3rd semester of law school, and with no dietary changes and just regular running, dropped to 195 in about 3 or four months. I'm probably 210 right now. Some of that is new muscle, as I was hitting the weights pretty hard for a while . My goal is to drop about 15 in belly/lovehandles, and then gain another 5-10 in muscle. I'd be a pretty lean mean fighting machine at 200 to 205.

[milly balgeary]

freddy you know you're beautiful, those love handles are just handles for a bear fuckin'.
in all seriousness, i blew up over the winter. i was drinking too much and eating too many cupcakes and too much candy. i've dropped some of it, but i've got some left. i did 78 pushups today. i'm going alpha.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Hoops was lame. Nobody showed up. So we just ended up playing 33 (apparently that's what they play here?)  but yeah yeah then these other kids showed up and I was getting swarmed every time I got the ball. Like 4 guys swatting and swiping. Ugh I need to work on my ball handling.

[dumbfish]

Or become a dick about reaching fouls.

[RavingLunatic]

Hoops was lame. Nobody showed up. So we just ended up playing 33 (apparently that's what they play here?) 

Do you mean 3-on-3 or is this a longer version of the game "21"?

[FreddyKnuckles]

Longer 21. I haven't played 21 since hs and we did free throws after scoring. This was 3s after scoring. Maybe it's an east coast thing? Or a cultural thing? I was the only white guy. I was hoping we'd go 4 on 4 when young guys showed up but we just kept playing 33 and 8 guys is a lot for a game like that.

Trust me df, my hands are covered in fingernail scratches.

[RavingLunatic]

Threes after scoring? That is weird.

Also, who continues to play 21 (or 33) after you've got 8 guys? In general, I'd rather play 4-on-4 than 5-on-5. I can't imagine playing 21 with 8 guys.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Threes after scoring? That is weird.

Also, who continues to play 21 (or 33) after you've got 8 guys? In general, I'd rather play 4-on-4 than 5-on-5. I can't imagine playing 21 with 8 guys.

Yeah, the kids were getting their shoes on and sort of slowly filtered into our game that had recently started and by the time they were all ready the game was intense and I think people kind of wanted to see it through or something? But thing is it takes a long time to get to 33 with that many people (it's still 1s and 2s, and the shots after scoring are still 1pt)...  So by the time it was over everyone was ready to leave.

Oh yeah and the guy who won shot all his 3s from half court after scoring. He was probably near 90%. I finished around 15 but I'm getting to be a pretty good 3 shooter in my old age.

[peacocks]

chiropractor to me: "you're jacked up" So I can't do weights, or run, or do as much yoga for a while. Can you sue someone for making you fat? Just kidding, but damn. I'm going to have to quit eating.

[elpollodiablo]

I was at a wedding this weekend with a pretty large meathead contingent. Listening to people talk about working out all evening is boring as the dickens.

/fatdude

[peacocks]

it's boring no matter what. That's why I save all my talkin' about it for this thread.

[ellaguru]

Yeah, the only thing more boring than exercising is talking about exercising.

[Thermofusion]

I have a couple really ripped co-workers, and yeah I zone out a bit when they discuss weight training but they're both on some crazy next level diet shit (one of them keeps a spreadsheet of his nutrient and carb intake) and I love hearing them talk about that stuff.

[Bernard]

I get two free sessions with a trainer at my gym, and I told her I was currently willing to make zero dietary changes. I don't really eat much in the way of regular junk food like oreos, diet coke, cigarettes, whatever. I am not going to start eating boiled chicken breast, I'm just not. She said it was ok. I can still get stronger, I just shouldn't expect any weight loss. I told her it was a deal. She did talk me into drinking more water and reducing caffeine. I can live with that. Is it delusional to think I can already see some differences? I know for sure I am getting stronger because that baby didn't get any lighter, but I can haul her up and down the stairs a lot more easily. More airplane rides on my shins. I'm more sleepy though (as opposed to tired -- it's not that my ass is dragging, it's that I just want to go to bed earlier at night -- when I'm up I feel quite good).

[G.C.R]

I dunno, I know I eat better when I'm exercising a lot just by accident, which means I lose a little weight.

[FreddyKnuckles]

Yeah I think the idea is that 75% of weight loss is diet.

The problem is that your appetite increases with exercise. But if you can keep your diet steady and start a solid workout regime, I bet you'll lose a few pounds over time. Problem is its hard to burn calories. I gotta run 3 miles to burn about 450(I'm big). I DRINK that...

Can you think of anything you can cut? Even if you cut say the olive oil in all of your recipes... Like if something calls for a third of a cup use a quarter. You don't have to do anything dramatic like eat boiled chicken, but if you can cut calories here and there to supplement your exercise, you'll come closer.

[ellaguru]

I dunno, I know I eat better when I'm exercising a lot just by accident, which means I lose a little weight.

Me too. And because my exercise is all yoga (well and cycling I guess) my eating better = eating less and having more of my food be fruits and vegetables.

[jess]

Honestly, if you're getting significantly stronger and not losing weight, you'll get smaller/more compact anyway (muscle is denser than fat), which is probably what you actually care about more than weight.

[Greg Nog]

I have a couple really ripped co-workers, and yeah I zone out a bit when they discuss weight training but they're both on some crazy next level diet shit (one of them keeps a spreadsheet of his nutrient and carb intake) and I love hearing them talk about that stuff.

Yeah, I'll occasionally lose a half-hour on someone's blog where they're talking about that.  It's like EVE Online or Dwarf Fortress; I like hearing someone obsessive try to break it down, but not enough to actually want to do it myself.

[elpollodiablo]

My plan is to continue to be fat and take up space with my body.

But also to ride my bike a lot.

[Thermofusion]

I have a couple really ripped co-workers, and yeah I zone out a bit when they discuss weight training but they're both on some crazy next level diet shit (one of them keeps a spreadsheet of his nutrient and carb intake) and I love hearing them talk about that stuff.

Yeah, I'll occasionally lose a half-hour on someone's blog where they're talking about that.  It's like EVE Online or Dwarf Fortress; I like hearing someone obsessive try to break it down, but not enough to actually want to do it myself.

Yeah diets like that sound mega awesome but the problem is you have to be already pretty ripped and on a crazy workout regimen to undertake that 6k calorie shit

[FreddyKnuckles]

Can half of the 6k come from booze?   

I am a size where if I worked out an hour a day I could do 4k... When I was in HS I could do 6k without breaking a sweat