SRK 2014 fitness challenge -Season 2 starts on Page 7 Bread is bad....right?

General Discussion
401

So I’ve reached a point in my life, where I am just disgusted by how out of shape I let myself get in the past decade. I used to be incredibly fit (went to what is essentially state finals for you Americans, for track & field, and hockey). Played baseball and hockey and ran track my whole life, until college.

When I got out of high school, I started smoking, and eating poorly. Add about ten years of working jobs that involve lots of sitting, and I’m just not the man I once was.

I had some info done for me, the other day, at a Health and Safety day, and it kinda scared me. Most men in my family die in their early 50’s, which means I may only have a good 15-20 years left in me, if I don’t change some shit.

some random info:

Spoiler

Cholesterol 5.39 (normal is less than 5.2)

Random Blood Glucose (mmol/L) 5.4 (normal is 5-8)

Blood Pressure 126/83

Waist 46"

Body fat% approximately 27.5% (healthy in males is 8.5-24.5)

Weight 240lbs

BMI 36.5

My first problem, is I am a smoker, and have been heavily smoking for the past decade. I’m working on quitting that now, but that’s a whole different beast. I feel as though I can’t begin getting healthier until I quit, but deep down I know that every little bit helps. So while I quit smoking, I need to look into other ways of improving my lifestyle.

Some quick notes:

I don’t drink soda, like ever. I usually just drink water with a squirt or two of Mio or whatever flavour enhancer I pickup. I drink juice occasionally, like when at a restaurant.
I don’t eat chips, cookies, chocolate, or really any snack food. I have popcorn when I am out at the movies.

My problem is that I don’t ever have much time to cook a proper meal. I eat a lot of takeout (subs, chinese food, mainly), and when I do cook, it’s usually something I can make quickly, instead of something healthy. Generally for work, I am taking like 2-3 sandwiches (cheese, meat, bun, mayo, mustard, usually on them), a fruit cup, a piece of fruit (orange/apple) or a bag of berries, and thats about it. I work for 12 hours, and it takes me about 1-2 hours to get to and from work, each time.

So I need some ideas for proper food/meals for a week or two, that can help me start keeping my calories/carbs/etc down, so I’m not gaining weight still, as I prepare to start going back to the gym, and quitting smoking.

thanks in advance

402

There is absolutely nothing wrong about (diet) soda. I drink Coke Zero almost every single day. And before anybody asks… NO, ASPARTAME AND OTHER ARTIFICIAL SWEETENERS DO NOT CAUSE CANCER, BLINDNESS, BRAIN DAMAGE, ETC. !!! There have been dozens of intensive studies performed over the past three decades and there is no evidence that suggests any harm for regular human consumption. The very small minority that aspartame would affect is those with biological intolerance to phenylethylamine (the compound aspartame is derived from). But if you are intolerant to phenylethylamine, your parents would immediately be informed at birth as it is one of the tests performed on newborns. And if you are one, your life pretty much sucks cus you can’t consume a lot of food in general including milk, meat, nuts, to name a few.

Also, don’t ‘prepare’ go to the gym or quit smoking. Just do both of those things today.

403

I don’t touch that stuff mayn. Evidence or not, that’s stuff poison to me.

How’s uuhrrbody doing? I’m a little thicker everywhere and my lifts are bit easier.

404

Everything we consume is made of chemical compounds. The general need to get beyond terms like ‘good food’, ‘bad food’, ‘natural’ and instead learn to recognize and interpret macronutrient and micronutrient that comprise what they eat.

Clinical evidences based on science cannot be trumped by anything other than more convincing clinical evidences based on science.

Shit like paleo diet, gluten free fad, organic fad perpetuated by misinformation, fear and lack of education drives me crazy.

405

Well it’s ultimately your choice what you eat.

As for me, everything I eat tastes natural, nothing is by any stretch of the imagination processed.

All of that food colorants, weird chemical compounds, and (yes) gluten wreck havoc in my body.

Standard produced in Europe is already very close to being organic and tastes great. Over here everything tastes like dumpster food and you have to pony up at Whole Foods just to get something somewhat average.

As for the studies, it’s difficult to believe anything those fools say. The same guys said pink slime is safe to eat. Knowing that these guys are writing such things with a conflict of interest, it causes one to err on the side of caution. I would much rather rely on my gut feelings quite literally.

406

Had an inadvertent “Legs Day” at work thanks to my boss calling me up for some heavy lifting up a lot of stairs…feeling good though.

@SoVi3t‌ I prepare my meals for the week on my last day off each week. When you make a bunch of stuff, it actually doesn’t take much longer than making a single meal. So, for the sake of making “one” meal a week you get a weeks worth of healthy, controlled food. Sounds like a lot of effort on the first day, but the time you save on the other days will turn you into a believer.

407

I’m basically just looking for some filling recipes, that I can eat while at work. Something like just taking chicken breasts, peppers/broccoli, and finding a way to make them still healthy, but not taste like ass.

My diet is my biggest issue. I used to eat a LOT of pasta’s, and have completely cut them out, because of how much weight I was putting on from that.

I have free access to a gym at work, but I have to have worked there for a certain amount of time. I literally hit that time in 3 days. So I am looking into it. My worry is that with my poor lungs, I won’t be as effective.

As for quitting smoking, I am on Champix right now to quit, but it ain’t going well. Quitting smoking is something I haven’t had the willpower to do for a long time. I want to, but the actual quitting doesn’t go so well :frowning:

408

Have you tried vaporizers/“e-cigs”? My brother quit smoking after 25 years by using them, simply by slowly tapering off the nicotine levels he used in the liquids. They’re not for everyone, but it’s just a thought. The only thing he has now is nicotine-free liquid in there, as he’s still in the “habit” of smoking (I suppose there’s something comforting about it after doing it for so long). He hasn’t had a physical cigarette in about a year and a half now.

409

Boil and shred some chicken breasts and chop up a head of lettuce (or grab one of those bags of salad) and you’re set. You could probably get fancier than that, but I just throw some balsamic or thousand island dressing on there and woof it down.

Might want to think about copping some psyllium husk caps to deal with feeling hungry.

410

Also @SoVi3t‌ since you’ve already posted stats, how about you post a target and a picture and see how you do for the remaining 5 weeks?

The fact that I know I have a before/after thing going on has been huge motivation alone. If I find myself skiving on the diet or the exercise, one of the first things on my mind is ‘oh…the SRK guys wont be pleased…’ Lol

411

To me all e-cigs do is substitute the cigarettes, I haven’t met one person that quit smoking and stopped vaping for the reasons to stop. Also, I had some kind of allergic reaction to the liquid, causing the veins in my arm to enlarge or shrink, and the lymph nodes below my jaw to enlarge and harden. To add to that, I hear long time use can harden arteries. I think the best method to quitting, is cold turkey and not use a step down method as the only people I’ve known successfully quitting are the ones that quit with out any nicotine assistance. My mom being one of those that was a chain smoker for over 20 years and the only way she stopped was cold turkey, she’s now around 7 years smoke free.

412

So… when does Season 2 start?

413

I thought season 2 started a while back. Iunno

414

We certainly have different experiences. I personally quit cold turkey, and I believe that it is the way to go too, but not everyone is strong enough to do it. That’s where weening off of dependencies comes into play. He was nicotine free within a couple of months, and has been for a year now, so clearly it worked for him, and may do so for others.

This isn’t the same as being weened off of heroin with methadone and creating a new dependency or something. This is replacing lots of nicotine with progressively less nicotine, until you’re comfortable enough to get through your day without it.

415

Only dropped 0.1% fat this shift and gained 0.1% muscle. Time to find heavier shit to throw around at work…

416

Anyone got any fitness scrubquotes? Stuff they say to themselves to get out of diet/exercise.

“I’ve had a big day already…”
“Eating healthy is too expensive…”
“Can’t exercise today, need to get up early tomorrow and it might leave me tired…”

417

How the hell did you even figure that out lol, not even skin fold callipers can determine to that scale

418

Lol electrolytically? Not accurate in the slightest, but if you check my original post you’ll see I’m using a set of fancy Salter domestic scales. I know they aren’t great, but that’s what I’ve got.

419

Fair enough man, but 0.1% fat is like a can of Irn Bru I wouldnt worry too much about it, actually thats probably where the 0.1% muscle gain came from. Should head to tesco and buy a 4x2L bottle pack and just curl the fuck outta it, get dem Schwarzenegger guns.

420

Lmao my old flatmate used to do kettle bell routines with the big milk bottles.

Point is I’ve levelled off anyway.
Trying to keep the use of weights to a minimum, focusing on bodyweight and exercises I can do anywhere. Basically, I want my fitness level to be good, but self-sustaining, no gym or 3 days per week of hard graft required.
So far that has meant splitting pushups etc across my day. As a rule, I draw 4 of the previously mentioned playing cards from the deck every time I go to my room, 8 before bed and 4 when I wake up.
Only thing I can think of doing now is upping my cardio and increasing resistance ie elevating the pushups etc.
Its a ghetto setup, I know, but that’s living out of a backpack for you. As always, advice is welcomed.