Post some must-have's (equipment, nutrition, whatever...) for fat loss :)

Might help some newbies (like myself) with determining what we should invest our hard-earned money on ;) Man.. there's so many products out there :)

Post some must-have's (equipment, nutrition, whatever...) for fat loss :)

Might help some newbies (like myself) with determining what we should invest our hard-earned money on ;) Man.. there's so many products out there :)

Power Rack, Eliptical Machine, Good Dumbells.

I'm a newbie myself, but thats the first three things I'm going to upgrade to....

Static Bike will be replaced by Eliptical Machine.

Crappy bench will be replaced by Power Rack.

Shitty Dumbells will be replaced by a nice set.

I bought an eliptical, and a bow-flex (good for starters)
I used a spread sheet to track what I eat

must have- TUNA, I eat the crap out of some tuna
J

You may also want to have plenty of measuring cups as well as a food scale of some kind.

You may also want to have plenty of measuring cups as well as a food scale of some kind.
good call
J

good call
J
Body Fat Calipers
Good Bathroom Scale
Vinyl Measuring Tape

I know this is probably stupid, but I wanted to throw it out just in case someone else had heard the same thing. I enjoy eating tuna, and the benefits (as far as protein and carbs are concerned) from such a small can rock. But, I heard that there are trace amounts of mercury, and that the companies have put warnings out about it, but are kind of keeping it quiet (yes, I know this sounds like a conspiracy theory). Anyway, I know that it is safe to eat every now and then - but has anybody else heard this?

Also - other than supplements, does anyone know where to get a lot of protein while minimizing carbs? My spread right now is pretty much 15 - 18% for fat, 24 - 44% for protein, and 34 - 49% for carbs (calorie intake ranges from 1200 to 1450). Is this okay as is? I just wanted to drop the carb percent and boost the protein. Thanks for the suggestions.

Yes, I heard about the tuna also. What I heard was pregnant women and young children should not eat it because of the heavy metals (like mercury). I also heard that everyone else should not eat it too often. I tried to find more info on it here is an article from the CBC http://www.cbc.ca/stories/2003/12/11/Consumers/tuna031211
aparently Health Canada (not sure what this is) recommends all people eat fresh and frozen tuna only once a week. They say that there is an expected annoucement coming out about canned tuna soon. I haven't found anything yet. Anyone else have info?

An alternative to tuna is canned pink salmon. I used to eat this as a kid raw from the can - how my parents like it...i

Is motivation. With it, you can accomplish any of your fat loss goals without equipment and supplemention.

Instead of protein supplements, shoot for lean chicken, tuna, eggs (whites) beans, etc etc.

Jogging/biking etc etc can make do for your exercise

My two cents

Is motivation. With it, you can accomplish any of your fat loss goals without equipment and supplemention.

Instead of protein supplements, shoot for lean chicken, tuna, eggs (whites) beans, etc etc.

Jogging/biking etc etc can make do for your exercise

My two cents
I agree with you zamboni!

Without motivation you can have all the equipment,and supplements and you still wont ever reach your goal.

A gym membership always helps me out. :claphigh:

Off the top of my mind:

Nutrition:

WATER - Drink it like its going out of style. I add lemon juice to mine.
Lean Ground Turkey - Spice it up.
Chicken breast- So many ways to cook 'em.
Tuna - It's been said
Green Tea - Its better for you than coffee and has a thermogenic effect.

Workouts:

-A mp3 player or walkman - listening to your tunes really helps.
-lots of water

* Motivation - Give yourself a reason to do it. Give yourself attainable short term goals and achieve them!

My recommendations so far.
Microsoft Excel or something like it: Make a spreadsheet, makes it a lot easier to keep track of everything
A good supply of books: I love biking. I hit up my local gym, get on one of thier bikes and put on one of the programs, crank up the intensity and bust out the book. About every 1/2 page I check my RPMs to keep them consistent, no matter what stage I am at in the program (usually just put the book down and conentrate at the harder parts). Course, I'm a bookworm so it helps
Gym membership: I figure, I'm paying for it (part of tuition), might as well use it to its fullest extent.
Variety: Don't get stuck doing the same thing. Hit up the pool (swimming is an incredible full-body exercise), stairs, weights, bike, run, all of these are good. The hot bodyguards won't recognize you in 6 months when you're slim n trim and can't keep their eyes off of you.
Motivation: this, along with support, are probably the MOST important part to this, even if you are your own support team. If you have a bad day at the gym or you weight increases, don't let it get you down. Stay on track and it will be worth it.

Mercury is not excreted by the body and tends to accumulate over time. That's why fish higher up the food chain will have higher levels of mercury. Health Canada recommends not eating it more than once a week for this reason.

Canned tuna is exempt from this guideline because smaller and younger tuna are usually used. There will still be trace amount of mercury, but not as much.

You might want to limit your shark and swordfish intake to once weekly, but who really eats shark every day?

If you are really concerned, you can eat farmed fish since their water is always monitored.

Every day, for my cardio, I wrestle a shark out of the ocean and eat it, of course ;)

One thing I saw was a plastic exercise suit that's supposed to cause increased weight loss (water, I would think). Anyone know anything about these? I remember kids in wrestling would use them to drop weight, but I've heard that they can be dangerous as well.

Stay away, far away, from those things. Not only are they unhealthy in promoting heat strokes you're only losing water weight by doing that. Keep your hydration level elevated as much as possible and you'll have better results.

Currently: 250 Weight lost: 0
Goal: 180 Gonna be a tough road!

Dave, you will do it. I don't really like talking about myself much, but I am proud of what I reached so far: It took me 2 years to lose 110 lbs. I was 300 lbs and now I am down to 187 lbs. It is a long road but it is possible as long as you stay tuned and motivated. Don't quit no matte what. It will be a while till you see first results. Don't quit. If you feel like you don't want to work out, work out even harder. But work out smart. Start slow and progress you don't want any injuries to keep you from working out. Commit yourself for fittness for life.

Second only to tuna is cottage cheese... ever check the label?

Breakstones 2% milkfat cottage cheese (1 serving)
Calories : 90 (20 from fat)
Total fat : 2.5g (1.5 saturated)
Cholesterol : 15 mg
Carbohydrates : 6g
Protein : 12g

Gotta love the dairy aisle!

i love my cottage cheese, i eat like 300g a day
only thing is that there is like a cottage monopoly in this country, so i can only find 3%fat cottage cheese (nothing lower) but i dont care! its all good
also cottage cheese has lots of calcium to make your bones strong!
best food ever!

Apologies if some of these are repeats from the threads above:



Small Tupperware containers - very useful for storing "cook-ahead" items (like big pot of brown rice) in single-portion servings
Beano - for whatever reason, this food plan (I'm doing 55/30/15 at 80% of TDEE (maintenance level)) generates A LOT of excess gas. [For those that are unfamiliar with Beano, it is a "food grade mold" in tablet form that dramatically reduces ones output of gas]
Good spreadsheet for tracking intake and creating meal combinations (I created my own using John's as a template)
Support system - this forum, your spouse, like-minded friends, etc.

Post some must-have's (equipment, nutrition, whatever...) for fat loss :)

Might help some newbies (like myself) with determining what we should invest our hard-earned money on ;) Man.. there's so many products out there :)



The best thing....
A camera,
A mirror,
and a picture of your goal. :gl:

live a fat and lazy lifestyle until your beautiful girlfriend throws you out cause she is disgusted of your looks and then you will have all the motivation you need to loose all the fat!!!

This is how I do....

on the other hand, if I would have stayed in shape, maybe she would have kept me??? :whistle:

but then I wouldn't have had my motivation right? :gl:

Sam, you da man :). Those are awesome results and true motivation!!

Stephen
http://www.boredskm.com

Well, to the nutrition list (sorta) I would add the supplement CLA.

It promotes more lean muscle mass, and less body fat.

Some Meal Replacement (Like Myoplex Deluxe) allready contain it, but it's also available in a capsule form. Try and get the kind made with Safflower or Sunflower oil, as it contain 70-85% CLA. So a 1000 mg dose gives you between 700-80 mg.

http://www.bodybuildingforyou.com/weight-loss-etc/CLA-Tonalin-research.htm

I fully agree that motivation is important, but perhaps it is even more imprortant to have a belief in yourself. You can have all the motivation that you want but if you don't fully beleive in yourself and you ability to reach your goals and live a healthy life then the motivation will eventually die off.

It might seem like a subtle difference but I think that is a truly important one. :tu:

"Why do we think we can improve on 2000 years of Nature with a bottle of pills?"

Ever seen an airplane? Or a computer? Or a skyscraper? Or a bulldozer so you don't have to use those natural hands to move things? Or a nice cozy house instead of a dank, dark cave?

I'd say we've vastly improved on Nature in just about every respect.

:p

:D

Perseverence
Perseverence
Perseverence


Andrew.

Beano - for whatever reason, this food plan (I'm doing 55/30/15 at 80% of TDEE (maintenance level)) generates A LOT of excess gas. [For those that are unfamiliar with Beano, it is a "food grade mold" in tablet form that dramatically reduces ones output of gas]


I'm seeing / smelling the same thing, and my wife is also noticing my new propencity to 'vent' more often....I will look into Beano. Im doing a 40/40/20 - protein/carb/fat, and I think the combo of the cottage cheese/yogurt/skim milk...

Jerry

i love my cottage cheese, i eat like 300g a day
only thing is that there is like a cottage monopoly in this country, so i can only find 3%fat cottage cheese (nothing lower) but i dont care! its all good
also cottage cheese has lots of calcium to make your bones strong!
best food ever!


I am not sure where you are from but in Florida we have Organic Valley Cottage cheese that is fat free! I LOVE IT!

"Why do we think we can improve on 2000 years of Nature with a bottle of pills?"

Ever seen an airplane? Or a computer? Or a skyscraper? Or a bulldozer so you don't have to use those natural hands to move things? Or a nice cozy house instead of a dank, dark cave?

I'd say we've vastly improved on Nature in just about every respect.

:p

:D

Ever heard of global warming? :dreamy:...I disagree with the supps part,at the end of the day mother nature>>>processed nutrients..

My opinion is that,at the end of the day,money and effort should be channeled towards obtaining real food,figuring how much to eat(calorie wise/macronutrient profile)/weight lift/cardio(when/how much/what form) rather than worry about the latest amino acids/no2/creatine whatsnot/glutamine whatever/supplements

Anyway,just to chime in..although Im a newbi myself..

1)Access to a gym(or sufficient equipment)
2)a pair of running shoes
3)a stopwatch
4)tons of natural food
5)food log(or some way to monitor your calorie consumption..portion sizes works)
6)measuring tape(or bf calipers..w/e suits your goals..)
7)camera
8)water(tons of it)
9)vegetables(tons of it)

And of course..the holy trifecta..perseverance,motivation and determination..
(Edit)oops,I left out the biggest,most important thing...
10)Goal setting+visualisation.Trust me,this goes a long way in obtaining your goals.

Ever heard of global warming? ...I disagree with the supps part,at the end of the day mother nature>>>processed nutrients..


Natural Food is good...


And of course..the holy trifecta..perseverance,motivation and determination..

But sometimes, it takes some sort of supplement to renew your motivation, determination, and perserverance. In no way are supplements SUBSTITUTES, they are complements that do some physical good, but for some (me) they give me the motivation to eat healthy, workout daily, and improve on where I started from.

Hmm main cutting essentials, supplements aren't a must but a good multivitamin is always good. A good whey protein (unless you can eat all that meat), fish oil caps (unless you eat fish), and BCAAs works wonders for recovery.

For food, fruits, greens, oats, sweet potatoes, chicken, brown rice, maybe skim milk, and eggs. I would say those are my core essentials in a cut. Everything else is for flavor to change things up a bit.

A good cutting routine that will keep your heart rate up yet not cause you to overtrain. Some form of cardio, last but not least and most importantly SLEEP! Sleep plays a key role in recovery also this is when your body will burn fat and repair/build muscle.

Natural Food is good...
But sometimes, it takes some sort of supplement to renew your motivation, determination, and perserverance. In no way are supplements SUBSTITUTES, they are complements that do some physical good, but for some (me) they give me the motivation to eat healthy, workout daily, and improve on where I started from.

I agree.That being said,I have tried a whole load of supps ranging from glutamine...to shark cartileage(j/k) and frankly,none of it has done any good for me than whole foods ever have.The only thing I haven't tried are bcaa and some of the latest NO/Leucine/Gakic(whatever the main ingredient in it is called)stuff.

Infact,some of the supps may be counter-productive to fat loss goals.Im referring specifically to maltodextrin commonly found in meal replacements,correct me if Im wrong,but that stuff gives bad blood isugar levels.

What I've found worked so far supp wise are:
1)vitamin C..Been shown to suppress cortisol levels..good for preventing over-training
2)vitamin E...Been shown to have a direct effect on leptin levels
3)whey protein..
4)meal replacement..well from time to time I get lazy in preparing whole meals..
5)multi-vits
6)water

and yes,sleep.Look at it this way,anything which prevents higher than normal cortisol release will build muscle,burn fat and recomp you!

1. Knowledge + Will Power
2. Whey Protein (I cant force myself to eat post workout)
3. Dextrose (For the PWO)
4. Deadlifts and squats :D
5. Salmon

Goals, and FOCUS work for me (for about anything).

You need to have the drive inside to get done what you want to do before anything on the outside can help you.

For me:

My iPod (I can't work out without music, and running without it is so dull)

Wicking shirts (because I'm a sweaty bastard)

And...

PATIENCE! I always want to see results immediately. In fact, if I could see results before I even started, that'd be much more motivating. Unfortunately, it doesn't work that way, and having the patience to know that small gains (losses, in this case) add up, that keeps me on-track.

Quality protein sources that are also low carb?

1. Grilled chicken (per 100 gm it has 105 calories, 1.8 g fat, 0 carbs, and 23 g protein) - a staple of any cutting diet.

2. Non-fat cottage cheese (per 113 g it has 70 calories, 0 fat, 5 carb, and 13 protein).

3. Shrimp (per 100 g it has 99 calories, 1 g fat, 0 g carb, and 21 g protein) - no food I have seen has better ratios if you are after max protein.

4. Egg whites (per fluid oz it has 15 calories, 0 fat, 1 carb, and 3 protein).

The list goes on, but these are staples for me. I typically consume a 10 oz egg white omelet, 16 oz of nf cottage cheese, 300-350 gm shrimp, and 16 oz of grilled chicken breast every day.