What have you done for your health today?

Goal 1: quit drinking beer everyday
#2: quit smoking
#3: better diet.
#4: exercise

I try hard to eat a big breakfast, decent lunch, small dinner. I can really tell a difference if I eat a small dinner with no carbs. I was talking to my wife and I think im going to try to quit carbs. I think the hardest part will be lunch while at work. I really need to get back to working on my jeep but have zero motivation. I have a couple engines to build but I cant even get in my garage without opening a beer.
 
RHSCTJ said:
Goal 1: quit drinking beer everyday
#2: quit smoking
#3: better diet.
#4: exercise

I try hard to eat a big breakfast, decent lunch, small dinner. I can really tell a difference if I eat a small dinner with no carbs. I was talking to my wife and I think im going to try to quit carbs. I think the hardest part will be lunch while at work. I really need to get back to working on my jeep but have zero motivation. I have a couple engines to build but I cant even get in my garage without opening a beer.
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I keep sprouted bread from Aldi here in the work fridge. It's pretty hearty and "on the plan" so to speak. I make a honey and almond butter sammy most days along with unsalted peanuts, apples and carrots for a snack. I can pretty much pig out on what I have here where I'm somewhat desk bound.
 
Great thread and mad props for the honest replies.

I’m only about ten pounds heavier than my goal. Food is my killer. I love it. All of it. Can eat well all day and sabotage my efforts on snacking before dinner. Cereal. Peanut butter. Fruit. Chips. If it’s within reach, I’m cramming it in. Tryingthere in my best to stop that. With exercise (on treadmill NOW) and less cramming, I should be there in 4-5 weeks.
 
For those of you talking about quitting drinking, here was my experience. I quit drinking 3 years ago, and it was tough. I struggled for about 3-3.5 months, then all the sudden the desire/urge for a beer was gone, and it hasn't come back.
 
The wife and I started RP Strength diet on the 1st. Three days in and its been pretty good. Plenty of good food and I'm full after I eat. I'm down about 5.5lbs but I'll attribute it to mostly water weight. We both do Crossfit 5-6 times a week so the exercise/intensity is there, just need to get the diet on point. Part of the RP program is little to no alcohol(1-2x a week max). I'm not a heavy drinker by any means but a nice bourbon/whiskey or a cold beer after a day working in the garage was normal. Prior to RP, we were eating fairly clean although I think we were "overeating". I was 226.1lbs on the 1st and this morning I was 221.3. I would like to get down to about 185-195. We will be on this program for 12 weeks and then reassess and do a new baseline and go from there. I also haven't had any sugar from soda/energy drinks since the 1st. So far its been tough as I was a huge fan of sugar free redbulls in the morning but its getting a lot better.
 
CarolinaHD said:
Got a bbq plate from wWhataburger but no large cherry lemon sundrop. I use to never drink sodas until 3 years ago when we moved out to Mt pleasant. Use to just treat myself with a cherry lemon when eating there occasionally, then would stop just to get a drink and it's now turned into a bad habit/addiction..
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Any BBQ sauce on the meat? We had to give up sauce due to all of the sugar in it. It's way worse than the fatty BBQ.
Sucks too, cause we love good BBQ sauce.
 
Really dig the thread @Jody Treadway

When I moved back to Durham I had left a big company in the fitness industry and was spoiled getting meal prep delivered to the office and a warehouse full of supplements as well as a huge gym in the facility. Cardio lunch, eat in the cube and weights after work to avoid the rush hour BS was the norm. Came back here at 195lbs and probably the best shape I had been in since I was a sophomore at ASU and was playing football. Not so much any more after almost 3 years of not being able to get into a routine due to travel and life changes. Honestly if it wasn't for my wife doing meal prep for us when I am in town and my racing, it would be a lot worse. I have always had to work my ass off to stay in shape.

Really what this year is going to boil down to is accountability. MAKE TIME. I absolutely fucking hate working out in the mornings before work, but if my dumb ass can wake up at 5am to hunt, I can wake up to go to the gym.. Even when I am in hotels, at least in the morning I am not beat from being on a show floor for 8-10 hours.
 
Alright got off the work crisis and apparently I sparked some intrigue with the diet comment as a couple PMs and a text seem to indicate.
I wasn't going to dive into it as its controversial and might derail the thread. But for the sake of completeness.

Vince Gironda is one of the legnedary trainers and father's of body builidng. Arnold came to US partly just to train under him.
If you want a fascinating read grab his biography. He was rude, opinionated..but damn effective.
This was his cutting diet going back to the 1950s, in fact it is said that he lived on this diet personally for 30+ years.
It's pretty simple.
For 5 days you eat 2 meals per day during an 8 hour period. (so it is 8-16 IF before that was a thing)

Each meal consist of .75-1.25 lbs of steak and 3-4 eggs. You drink Water, black coffee, and unsweet tea. Nothing else. No snacks. No sauces. Salt and Pepper and Natural butter are fine. No other spices, seasonings, etc.
On the 6th day you "re-feed"...not because of any carb cycling principle but because the diet is so restrictive it is missing on many nutrients and vitamins. Most notably Vitamin C. On day 6 you eat lean proteins and complex carbs. Plus 1 free meal until full.
(For example my first re-feed was Tuesday. I ate a Grilled Chicken breast, a sweet potato and some plain pasta. For supper I ate 2 slices of pizza - because the family was eating it and why not.) Honestly after eating the pizza I felt like shit. My Dr friend's soft spot is ice cream so on his cheat day he finishes his day off with a small (2-4 oz) serving of vanilla ice cream 1 hour before bed. He swore it was the key to a great night sleep. It sounded stupid but ...he's a doc. Damn I slept like a bay. Placebo, Science, who knows but best night of sleep Ive had in years. lol.

So thats what I am doing. Most meals are grilled steak and boiled eggs. I've pan fried steak cuts in butter and had scramble eggs 1x but I think the butter actually slowed me down.
 
Ate a whopper with cheese and a side of fries. One step closer to the grave.
 
drkelly said:
For those of you talking about quitting drinking, here was my experience. I quit drinking 3 years ago, and it was tough. I struggled for about 3-3.5 months, then all the sudden the desire/urge for a beer was gone, and it hasn't come back.
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How much were you drinking?
 
RHSCTJ said:
How much were you drinking?
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Typically 3-4 beers on Fri, Sat, and Sun night, then 1-2 beers maybe 1-2 nights Mon-Thur. I realize most people don't consider that volume as 'drinking', but I really craved those few beers on Fri, Sat, and Sun. Looking back, it was just a habit though, and once enough time had passed, the habit was broken.
 
I started out 2 years ago at 265 and had to come up for air when tying my shoes. That had to change..

Started a boot camp nearly daily to get my heart rate up and then started finishing it off with about 30 minutes of weight training. Finally after nearly a year, I got down to about 210. Exercise was great but the diet was mostly what made the change. Good lean proteins, good rice, whole or sprouted breads, lots of salads and veggies. Stayed away from sugars like candy, pasta, white bread, potatoes, etc. I ate some, just cut back in it a lot. Also, managed portion size and frequency of meals and snacks. I found that 5-6 small/equally sized meals was a better fit for me than 2-3 larger meals.

Now I’m working out of town and my routine has hit quite a few road blocks and I’ve crept up to about 230. Boot camp is out and eating good everyday out of town is challenging.


November I joined the YMCA to get the weight training back in check. Next week I am looking at the Crossfit in town where I’m working to check on options to get heat rate back up when I work out. I started running again since taking a break from training for my last race.

I’ve adjusted my diet back to where it was and I start seeing changes again.


But, I can tell ya, once getting on a good, clean diet of quality, healthy food, I feel like complete crap if I eat pizza or grab some fries while I’m the road. I’ve started to limit my beer drinking to very little, mostly limited to if we go out with friends, etc. aside from some beer, I’ve been drinking water, unsweet tea, and black coffee for at least the last 5 years, so no real issues with drinks. I did have half of a root beer last week while driving since I ran out of water and I can tell ya that it was miserable a couple hours later. I felt like crap! As my body is getting more used to good healthy food, it gets less rewarding when you cheat as your body has worse and worse reactions to bad foods.

I’m hoping to be back down to 210 or less by summer and under 200 by the end of the year.
 
rockcity said:
But, I can tell ya, once getting on a good, clean diet of quality, healthy food, I feel like complete crap if I eat pizza or grab some fries while I’m the road. I’ve started to limit my beer drinking to very little, mostly limited to if we go out with friends, etc. aside from some beer, I’ve been drinking water, unsweet tea, and black coffee for at least the last 5 years, so no real issues with drinks. I did have half of a root beer last week while driving since I ran out of water and I can tell ya that it was miserable a couple hours later. I felt like crap! As my body is getting more used to good healthy food, it gets less rewarding when you cheat as your body has worse and worse reactions to bad foods.
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I have the same experience. I eat clean the majority of the time, so end up feeling bad when I eat dirty food. I cut out soda about 13 yrs ago, and never drank coffee. My daily fluids are limited to orange juice, milk, V8 juice, water, and gatorade.
 
drkelly said:
I have the same experience. I eat clean the majority of the time, so end up feeling bad when I eat dirty food. I cut out soda about 13 yrs ago, and never drank coffee. My daily fluids are limited to orange juice, milk, V8 juice, water, and gatorade.
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V8 is practically 50% sodium and Gatorade is nearly 50% sugar. I’d steer away from those on a regular basis if possible.
 
Getting old sucks is all I have to say. Turned 33 in August, not overweight (6'6"/190 lbs) but man my knees hurt sometimes. I do need to eat healthier and be more active, sure I work hard sometimes but not regular enough to matter. My problem is whatever is on my plate whether it be at home, out to eat, etc I have to eat it all, I eat too fast is probably the cause of that. Definitely am starting to see signs of a 'gut', it's still small but it's definitely there haha.

Luckily never drank so don't have that to worry about, I have a Cheerwine 2-3 times a week.
 
I'm going to run a few local 5k's got side tracked last year with a hurt hip. Going to pile on the milage a little slower this year.

My issue isn't exercise it is food.

I tend to get hyper focused on one thing. Last year it was a little go kart for my girls. I only wanted to do that. So exercise took a back seat. I've got find a balance.

So for today: I brought my lunch and only had a few pieces of candy.
 
5 years ago I was 240 lbs at 5 foot 8. Now I weigh around 140. Started off by walking then got into running. I currently run an average of 7 to 8 miles per day every day. Spring/summer and decent winter weather I always run outside but during the winter months I join a gym for the treadmill. It can be an addiction. I also try to walk during breaks and lunch at work so on average between running and walking I usually get 12 to 13 miles a day. I average an 8mph pave over 7-8 miles. Ran my first and only race in Nov it was just a 5k and ran it in 20.55. At 45 years old I was happy. Like I tell everyone eat less and move more and you will lose weight.
 
rockcity said:
V8 is practically 50% sodium and Gatorade is nearly 50% sugar. I’d steer away from those on a regular basis if possible.
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Many people have mentioned the sodium with V8, but I only drink the small cans, and my blood pressure is perfect. That Gatorade tastes so good after a hard workout, LOL. Do you drink anything special after your workouts?
 
For what its worth, here is a typical eating day for me.

meal #1: Breakfast: 2-3 eggs with 2 cups of spinach, 1 1/2 slices of daves killer bread(for the carbs)(35gram of protein/2 cups veggies/25 grams of fat/10grams of carbs. pretty typical makeup for the entire day)
meal #2: Snack, some kind of fruit/almonds
meal #3: Lunch, today was grilled chicken breast, sweet potatoes, and brussel sprouts
meal #4: banana, half a can of whey protein
Workout for an hour/finish the protein/1 cup of fruit juice
meal #5: lean protein, 2 cups of veggies, carbs(depending on how hard the workout was)
meal #6: casein protein shake before bed and a scoop of Peanut butter.

Water intake is between 150oz-200oz a day. I've cut out just about all the sugary drinks(energy drinks) that I used to drink every day.

So far its working great. I was never a breakfast eater but I can tell I am a lot hungrier an hour after I eat plus I don't get the mid day crash that I used to get.
 
YJJPWrangler said:
For what its worth, here is a typical eating day for me.

meal #1: Breakfast: 2-3 eggs with 2 cups of spinach, 1 1/2 slices of daves killer bread(for the carbs)(35gram of protein/2 cups veggies/25 grams of fat/10grams of carbs. pretty typical makeup for the entire day)
meal #2: Snack, some kind of fruit/almonds
meal #3: Lunch, today was grilled chicken breast, sweet potatoes, and brussel sprouts
meal #4: banana, half a can of whey protein
Workout for an hour/finish the protein/1 cup of fruit juice
meal #5: lean protein, 2 cups of veggies, carbs(depending on how hard the workout was)
meal #6: casein protein shake before bed and a scoop of Peanut butter.

Water intake is between 150oz-200oz a day. I've cut out just about all the sugary drinks(energy drinks) that I used to drink every day.

So far its working great. I was never a breakfast eater but I can tell I am a lot hungrier an hour after I eat plus I don't get the mid day crash that I used to get.
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That’s about what I do except I switch the carbs for veggies. I do eat some whole grain bread every so often.
 
rockcity said:
That’s about what I do except I switch the carbs for veggies. I do eat some whole grain bread every so often.
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Agreed, carbs are great for recovery especially after a hard workout. This diet I'm using is structured in such a way that you can choose how many carbs you eat based on the workout(light, moderate, heavy). So you can custom fit it to the workout every day. Our staple carbs are rice and sweet potatoes. We cook a large portion of each every week and then can just portion it out day to day.
 
cbjeeper said:
In my teens and 20s spent most of my free time on a dirt bike and raced hard scrambles. Then in my early 30s had our first son which took my free time, now with my second son free time is just a fond memory. My plan is to get back to a more active lifestyle now the kids are able to ride motorcycles and 4wheelers. My wife has started us on the whole 30 diet to help reset our body's and hopefully help her loose the stubborn baby weight. So far I've learned that we ate a lot of sugar, but that won't be the hard part. It's my love of a good cold beer after a long day. Man I love beer! I haven't went 30 days without a cold one since high school. One up side I can have lots of bacon!
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Whole 30 was amazing about a year and a half ago! This sounds absolutely crazy, but I felt so amazing when I did it. I lost 20lbs, I slept better, had more energy, no headaches or anything. Knowing that, it’s crazy that I don’t just do it again. I don’t know why I don’t just do it. I felt awful the first 2 weeks, but I did it for about 45 days total and it was great. I lost the 20lbs during the first 30. I slowly put it back on and surpassed what I first weighed.
I just LOVE food, and I eat till I physically can’t becasue of the joy of the flavor. Rather if I eat a small portion, chug water before and after, I feel great about 15 minutes later. But I usually eat till I’m about to bust and regret it later. Now I actually feel guilty when I do that. Ashamed of myself.

Crazy cycle that’s insane and nothing but over indulgence and lack of self control. Trying to change that now.



I also intend to wheel more this year, wheeling is good for my mental health.
 
-I need to loose 15-20 lbs.
-Add some muscle.
-Generally eat healthier, my good cholesterol is a little low and my bad cholesterol is a little high.

I'm not really sure how to get there. I've never been a health or fitness person just have always been really active which kept me in shape. Now after being out of high school the activity level has gone down but the eating hasn't.
 
Ron said:
Alright got off the work crisis and apparently I sparked some intrigue with the diet comment as a couple PMs and a text seem to indicate.
I wasn't going to dive into it as its controversial and might derail the thread. But for the sake of completeness.

Vince Gironda is one of the legnedary trainers and father's of body builidng. Arnold came to US partly just to train under him.
If you want a fascinating read grab his biography. He was rude, opinionated..but damn effective.
This was his cutting diet going back to the 1950s, in fact it is said that he lived on this diet personally for 30+ years.
It's pretty simple.
For 5 days you eat 2 meals per day during an 8 hour period. (so it is 8-16 IF before that was a thing)

Each meal consist of .75-1.25 lbs of steak and 3-4 eggs. You drink Water, black coffee, and unsweet tea. Nothing else. No snacks. No sauces. Salt and Pepper and Natural butter are fine. No other spices, seasonings, etc.
On the 6th day you "re-feed"...not because of any carb cycling principle but because the diet is so restrictive it is missing on many nutrients and vitamins. Most notably Vitamin C. On day 6 you eat lean proteins and complex carbs. Plus 1 free meal until full.
(For example my first re-feed was Tuesday. I ate a Grilled Chicken breast, a sweet potato and some plain pasta. For supper I ate 2 slices of pizza - because the family was eating it and why not.) Honestly after eating the pizza I felt like shit. My Dr friend's soft spot is ice cream so on his cheat day he finishes his day off with a small (2-4 oz) serving of vanilla ice cream 1 hour before bed. He swore it was the key to a great night sleep. It sounded stupid but ...he's a doc. Damn I slept like a bay. Placebo, Science, who knows but best night of sleep Ive had in years. lol.

So thats what I am doing. Most meals are grilled steak and boiled eggs. I've pan fried steak cuts in butter and had scramble eggs 1x but I think the butter actually slowed me down.
Click to expand...
Does it matter from a health standpoint the doneness of the steak i.e. rare vs well?
 
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