Haha, this guy is such a douche. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ae-dlHOmwk4 "I've got TOO much muscle." "I build muscle without even trying." :lol: :lol:
I figured I would bump this for the guy with the thread abotu Supplements. By the way, i am finally seeing goals....well, at least the results I was lookign for. The spare tire is goign away, and if I can cut out drinking for a month or so, I bet I can lost it. I got serious about eating right and forcing myself to do at least 1/2 hour of cardio each time I go to the gym and I got from 184 to about 174 in like 3 weeks. If I can stay at 175 and bring the abs back in, I wil be good to go. Hopefully this CLA stuff will do it...
Very cool! Glad to hear your program is working for you. I've actually been putting more effort in lately, since I'm renewing my wedding vows this summer, and then going on our honeymoon to Hawaii. I want a beach body by the time we go. I've actually cut nuts out as a snack for the most part (only when really hungry), and I've substituted fresh fruit. It's not as filling, but it's good. I'm also drinking a lot green tea. (Brewed manually, not that crap they bottle and present as green tea.) Very good for the antioxidants. Also supposedly boosts metabolism. I don't know whether that's true or not. (I read an article recently that said that Chromium pills and Green Tea Extract pills both increase metabolism and supress fat buildup. I haven't really investigated those claims though.) I still take my multivitamin every morning (this is actually a critical component to fat loss, getting your full nutritional balance every day). I also take my flax/fish oil pill once every other day. (I'd take it every day, but it does tend to force an extra bathroom trip or two on the days I take it, so I try to limit the trips.) The Omega fatty-acids are very important for fighting fat as well as cholesterol. The pill I take (Flax Fish Borage, available at Target) contains Omegas 3, 6, and 9, so it's a pretty complete pill. As for my supplement drink, I take it on the days I take the fish pills, which are my hard resistance traning days. I figure if I'm going to make more bathroom trips, may as well get it all out at once. Here's my current recipie: 1 fresh Banana 1/2 scoop of vanilla EAS Whey Protein (available at Target) 1/2 scoop of reduced fat banana creme Muscle Milk (available at Target) 1 teaspoon of Creatine (I think it's Ultimate Creatine, available at Target) 2 teaspoons of Real Maple Syrup (not that Ms. Butterworth's-type crap. The real stuff without HFCS) 2 teaspoons of cold pressed Flax Seed oil (I think it's Nature's Best, but I can't remember for sure, available at Target) 1 ice cube Top off to 6 oz with water. I throw that all in my Magic Bullet (I think it's available at Target :wink and mix it up until smooth. Gulp it down, then hit the weights. It's actually pretty filling, though it does give you an extra piss or two, if not a full blown crapfest for the day. I swear by the Muscle Milk. I started gaining muscle easier when I started mixing that into my drink. If you're working on building muscle, I'd recommend it. I know they sell pre-mixed ones, but I just do the powder form (the reduced fat: more protein, less calories). I also want to get my hands on some Stevia. It's actually a sugar replacement that is up to 400x as sweet as sugar, but does not have the same negative health effects as sugar. I still use regular sugar in my coffee and tea (though I've cut it out from practically everywhere else). I'd rather use Stevia, which you can get in powder form, and eliminate that crap altogether. I've just been too lazy to get to ordering it. (You can't buy it on store shelves, at least as far as I've seen.)
There is only one Ice Cube. On the Stevia note, that's been banned in the U.S. for some time due to a shoddy study in the 80s. It's legal everywhere else in the world. There's also the conspiracy theory that sugar and artificial sweetener companies were the driving force behind the FDA's ban. Who knows?
Haha, Ice Cube was the best member of NWA. As for Stevia, yeah, I believe it was the sugar/artificial sweetener groups that led to the banning. The interesting thing is, it's not actually illegal in the US. It's illegal as a food "substitute", but not as a food "supplement". Basically, they could only honestly ban it as able to label itself a "sugar replacement" such as a Splenda, or Sweet N' Low would be. What they didn't (couldn't) ban it from was being something like Ginseng, or St. John's Wort, something that can be "added" to food products. I actually drink Celestial Seasonings Green Tea, and Stevia is on the ingredient list. Interestingly enough, sugar, or any "legal" sugar substitute, is not.
Alio...I read the beginning of this thread with all your info. Great stuff! I'm really interested in the "nutrition" portion of your post, because i have an intense workout that i follow already. Thanks for all the information...i'm going to try some of your suggestions (Green Tea, roasted nuts, drinking a tonne of water, etc)
you answered all my questions in the post you made under mine... except one....when you were eating more nuts, which nuts are OK, and why Roasted nuts? PS - the amgic bullet is effin amazing....and magic! I jsut realised this mornign that I am going to have to cut out coffee in the morning for the month or so that the pills I am taking last because apparently they have a lot of green tea extract in them, which is high on caffeine. However, I still had a half cup of coffee this morning and took 2 of the pills and don't feel any different.... I just don't have the determination for creatine any more.....all the water drinkign and peeing, and as for fish oil, etc....adding all that to what I am already remembering to take every day would just be too much, I'd get confused and start takign them all at the wrong times.....so the protein shakes after workouts and the supplements with my meals will hopefully get me where I wanna be. Apparently I am not supposed to do cardio AFTER I lift and keep my heart rate from getting too high in order to stimulate fat burning and prevent my body form burning muscle with the fat.
That's not true...I don't know the history, but I do know that Stevia is readily available at any health food store. You can get powder or extract. It's actually really good in tea as a sweetner. Cooking with it is a little more difficult. If used in just the right amounts, it sweetens just like sugar. When too much is used, it has a black licorice flavor that I don't care for. As a sweetner, it's amazing. No calories. No sugar alcohols (which increase the glycemic index causing your body to store fat just like real sugar). It's actually an herb with nutritional value and dietary fiber.
The Magic Bullet is just awesome! :beer: I don't know how much caffeine is in the green tea pills, but if you have a concern, then don't mix them. Creatine is a take-it-or-leave it thing. As with any supplement, it's only meant to do so much. No supplement is going to be that big of a difference if your nutrition is on the money. Protein supplements are really the only ones that really can give you extra muscle mass. As for the bodybuilding mags, few people know that those magazines are usually owned by the same people who make the products in the articles. For the most part, the magazines are scams meant to make money for the supplement producers. (Now don't get me wrong, I don't think that supplements "do nothing", but I also don't believe that any of them are going to have you all jacked up without you putting a lot of extra work in the gym, which you can do without the supplements anyway.) The Muscle Milk caught my eye in the store because it contains the same proteins that are in the non-standard formula that my infant son drinks. He's by far bigger than my other two who did not drink the same formula. Given the common genes, I have to believe that at least some of the reason is the fortified formula. Since the Muscle Milk is based on the composition of mother's milk (hence the name), I gave it a shot. I like the results. Again, it's not really a different kind of supplement. It's really just a more streamlined form of protein drink. As far as your nuts question, all nuts are good sources of vitamins and fiber. It's all about the preparation though. The reason you want to go with roasted unsalted nuts is because most nuts you purchase are boiled in oils like a french fry. Those oils are poor for you health, as is obviously the salt. I do zero cardio. I mean zero. As I said earlier in the thread, my "cardio" comes from lower time between sets, resulting in my heart rate rising. Otherwise, all of my exercise is resistance based (either free weights or bodyweight).
He's technically right. I explained it above. I've read that it can be nasty if you overuse it. Have you had a lot of success?
Good call on the green tea. I love it. Hot or cold. I've been trying to get down to my "Fighting Trim" again myself, and green tea has been a constant companion. I guess I've been burgin' too hard these past few years.
Alio, I'm just going to echo everyone else here. I've been trying to lose weight, and your system is easily the easiest, cheapest, and simplest system to remember and repeat every day. Thanks for the info.
Cool. I haven't started drinking my green tea cold yet, but I plan on it once I've acquired some Stevia. I love it hot though, and I was never really a tea person. A little bit of honey, and unfortunately, I throw a teaspoon of sugar in it (that's why I want the Stevia, I want to totally eliminate sugar from my diet). Delicious! No problem at all. Glad to hear you're getting in shape! Keep it up, and feel free to post in this thread if you have questions, or even if you have advice to share!
Too much is certainly nasty as far as I'm concerned. It works best in drinks where it can be added little by little to your taste. As for cooking, pre-written recipes are the best way to go until you get the hang of it. It takes a while to get used to sweetening with stevia, but definitely worth it in the end. I wish I used it more often, but started slacking off at the same time I abandoned the Body Ecology Diet. The diet worked like magic, but I would spend all day Sunday (10 hours) and a few hours the rest of the days preparing my food. Just too much.
Wow, that sucks. I don't bother with any diets, I just try to watch the nutritional content I intake daily. Much easier, and allows "cheating" as long as you're dedicated to taking your vitamins, and continuously exercising. As for the Stevia, I only need it for my coffee/tea. I don't cook with sugar. I don't eat much in terms of cakes/cookies/etc. I do like ice cream once in a while, but that's pretty much it, and I work that off easily enough. Thanks for the advice! :beer:
Hahaha, when did you start taking creatine? Last I remember a few pages back, you seemed as adamant as I am against taking it.
Not too long ago. Once I understood what it does I figured what the hell. I use it in small quantities, so that all it's doing is delivering some extra water into my muscles for faster repair. It's a take it or leave it thing really. Sometimes I just don't even bother. Once the container I have is done, I won't bother getting it again.
Bump. Figured i'd bring this to the top, since i plan on actually losing weight now. I've been putting off doing so, with the wife having been pregnant, and me being a procrastinator, but this last weekend really did the trick for me. 1. I had to go buy a new suit for a wedding, and was shocked when I had to go up to size 40 pants! (although my jeans are still a 36, I could do better) 2. Saw pictures from said wedding--hello Mr. Double chin. 3. Weighed myself. Came in at 250lbs. I'm about 6'2". I graduated HS (all of five years ago) at about 150. I more or less started this week by stopping buying lunch at work. Cut out all the fatty shit around here, and bring cereal or a small sandwich or something with me. The savings on money are great too. And it means no more soda. I'm gonna try to keep a bit of a log (I'll actually make use of the Wii Fit I bought and used for like, 5 days--it has a built in weight and fitness log) of how I do.
Good plan. I've recently started to cut back too, for both monetary and health reasons. If I didn't live on the 2nd floor I'd consider the Wii fit, but I like my downstairs neighbor too much to be jumping around
