Anyone here work out?

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People don't realize it's just a math equation. They also won't admit that you have to actually put in effort to track stuff. I've known women in the past who say, "I don't eat anything all day. All I do is drink a bottle of wine for dinner." And then they don't understand why they don't have energy and never lose weight.

So much truth there. When I was coming down off my heaviest all I did was make sure I HONESTLY and religiously filled in EVERYTHING I ate into my fitness pal. I knew I needed to be under 3k to even start losing weight, and after a week I realized I was eating/drinking more than 5k calories a day. First step was an easy one. Limit my time at the bar to one night a week. Knocked out over 2k calories a day right there....eat fast food ONCE a day and now I'm 500 calories below maintenance and the body is melting away. It's kind of empowering to see the little choices make a difference.

The work came after I was down to 240lbs. I became a obsessed with fitness and diet, and I can see the trend starting that way again. I'm finally waking up before my daughter, so if I wanted to get an early morning work out in, it's actually on the table. I don't think I feel like cycling anymore, and I've got a nice paved trail right behind my house that is BEGGING for roller blades.
 
Started the week at 193, decided to try and hit 188 (50lbs total) and overshot my goal by Sunday weighing in at 187. Played basketball 3 nights, worked out 3 nights, one cheat meal on Friday night at Outback (cheese fries are my demise). I'm less concerned about numbers at this point more looking for feel, so I'm gonna go hard in the gym and keep with the diet.
 
So much truth there. When I was coming down off my heaviest all I did was make sure I HONESTLY and religiously filled in EVERYTHING I ate into my fitness pal. I knew I needed to be under 3k to even start losing weight, and after a week I realized I was eating/drinking more than 5k calories a day. First step was an easy one. Limit my time at the bar to one night a week. Knocked out over 2k calories a day right there....eat fast food ONCE a day and now I'm 500 calories below maintenance and the body is melting away. It's kind of empowering to see the little choices make a difference.

The work came after I was down to 240lbs. I became a obsessed with fitness and diet, and I can see the trend starting that way again. I'm finally waking up before my daughter, so if I wanted to get an early morning work out in, it's actually on the table. I don't think I feel like cycling anymore, and I've got a nice paved trail right behind my house that is BEGGING for roller blades.

It's a lot like financial planning and budgeting. People always say, "I'm broke, but never spend any money." People won't document every single penny they spend (or calorie they ingest) partly because they are lazy and don't want to write it down, but often times, it's more because they are scared of what they'll actually learn and have to come to terms with.

But like most things, it's a trade-off. Do you want to be healthier, save money, etc. more than overcome your fear of your own shitty reality? 99% of the time, the answer is, "it's easier to be lazy than make the changes I need to be successful." And most often times, you can narrow this decision making down to a few key factors people had when they were growing up. Most of these people who don't want to make the changes are what I would call "average humans". And I don't mean average in a derogatory way, they're just normal people. It's 90% of society. People who do their 9-5, hit the bars or go home and just watch tv until 11pm, don't do much activity or go outside often except to get to their cars and back inside. The people who are willing to document everything and make changes had a childhood playing sports, being in music classes, theater, student leadership, etc. They had to balance life, create goals, plan for success. For people who grew up as the youngest child, played video games, or just generally had a pretty chill life, don't know how to do a lot of this stuff because they've never had to set goals and create plans to get there.

/rant. lol
 
That's kind of how it was for me. I'm a youngest child in a family of 3, have always played a ton of video games (still competing in the amateur League Of Legends circuit) so the working out thing has really been a test for myself to show I can buckle down and be disciplined when I need to.
 
So, I've only been doing the carnivore thing for a week, and the worst "cheat" I've had is a quest bar. The graph is startling, because I've been eating more than I think I should. The 1580 in 2/6/19 is what I PLAN on eating today, but there may be some additions. I have a goal intake of < 1600 calories, but I'm not being nearly as strict as I have been in the past, just keeping it reasonable and on plan.

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One of the crazy things I just figured out was a lie I'd been telling myself for the last year. Since the kiddo, I've just constantly said "I dont have time to cook" and dropped pretty much all of my "disposable" income into food delivery or ready made food. Since I started making a conscious effort to cut back on carbs, uber eats went out the window, and now I find myself cooking without really any thought.

This morning I got up, had my protein shake, waited an hour, grabbed a monster, still felt hungry, made some eggs in like 3 minutes, made one more for the kid's breakfast, and then started my work day. At lunch I've got some taco meat already, so just need to mix with some sour cream, cheese and hot sauce. And dinner, I have marrow bones in the fridge along with a ribeye. Pop the ribeye in the sous vide bath right after im done working, when it's done, pop the bones in the oven and start searing the meat. Thats a full day of food.

It sounds like effort but for some reason, I have plenty of energy at the end of the day now, and my body just naturally goes and starts cooking. It's this crazy cycle of "I need to be following my diet to cook" and "I need to cook to follow my diet". It was a bunch of sardines and summer sausage before I got my ass in the kitchen again. Thankfully I've broken the cycle, but it was a bitch to realize I was lying to myself in the first place.

Say what you want about giving kids a "screen" at young age, but it'll buy you 30 minutes to do your cooking without having to worry about someone burning their fingers.

Slow cooker, Instapot, or baking in large Pyrex glass pans.

Brainless bulk cooking that takes almost no effort.
 
So, I've only been doing the carnivore thing for a week, and the worst "cheat" I've had is a quest bar. The graph is startling, because I've been eating more than I think I should. The 1580 in 2/6/19 is what I PLAN on eating today, but there may be some additions. I have a goal intake of < 1600 calories, but I'm not being nearly as strict as I have been in the past, just keeping it reasonable and on plan.

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Unless you're a 16yr old girl, 1600 calories is likely way too low to not thrash your metabolism. Sure you'll lose weight but your thyroid will down regulate and kill natural metabolism rates and you'll eventually yo-yo back up.

Use the TDEE calculator I posted above or just multiply your bodyweight by 12 for a quick and dirty BMR calculation.

1600 calories = eating for an inactive person who weighs 133lbs.

*I don't want to be a Debbie Downer or Negative Nancy here. I can get behind any diet that eats real food. I've been doing this for about 20 years and have seen a lot of things work. One thing that doesn't work is drastically cutting calories. Eventually willpower has to break and when it does, get ready for the yo-yo effect. For some willpower lasts a day, for others it last 10yrs (the small small minority)...but look at most retired bodybuilders. They did this professionally and NORMALLY look like trash because they just can't keep it up forever no matter what they're shooting.
 
I'm not really calorie restricting to what someone would call "crash diet" levels. If I was, you'd never see a calorie intake in the 2000's. I'm eating when I'm hungry and just making good choices. Do i TARGET 1600? Sure, but I know that around the 2k mark I'll still lose weight. What I am doing is moment's like right now, I grab a couple slices of a summer sausage or a can of sardines instead of going and grabbing some cookies or ice cream.

I get the argument, and I appreciate ya lookin out. Especially with all the grief Jillian Michaels has been getting recently, and deservedly, ya definitely don't wanna crash diet like the biggest loser folks. Making sure I don't crash is front and center in my mind.

For example, here's today so far, and I'll likely throw a can of sardines on as well. Stuff not listed is some mustard, a sugar free monster (finishing off the case, already cancelled the amazon sub), and a 2L of water.
 

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I'm not really calorie restricting to what someone would call "crash diet" levels. If I was, you'd never see a calorie intake in the 2000's. I'm eating when I'm hungry and just making good choices. Do i TARGET 1600? Sure, but I know that around the 2k mark I'll still lose weight. What I am doing is moment's like right now, I grab a couple slices of a summer sausage or a can of sardines instead of going and grabbing some cookies or ice cream.

I get the argument, and I appreciate ya lookin out. Especially with all the grief Jillian Michaels has been getting recently, and deservedly, ya definitely don't wanna crash diet like the biggest loser folks. Making sure I don't crash is front and center in my mind.

For example, here's today so far, and I'll likely throw a can of sardines on as well. Stuff not listed is some mustard, a sugar free monster (finishing off the case, already cancelled the amazon sub), and a 2L of water.

You do you, I'll just expand on my perspective a bit more so you know where I'm coming from.

I would be critical of the plan, something i seldom do because having some sort of plan is generally better than nothing because it's just not appropriate unless you are a very small guy.

I'm making assumptions here but I'm assuming you have to weigh at least 160lbs which puts you at a 1920 BMR with the rough and dirty math. It's actually 2011 calories according to the calculator. That's BEFORE activity. If you exercise, we are talking about you needing a minimum of 2600 calories per day IF YOU WEIGH 160lbs and are active 4x per week.

That's a deficit of 1k a day. That's A LOT. At 7000kcal per week that's 2lbs. For a 160lb male that would definitely mean way too much lean body mass is being lost along with bodyfat.

If you weigh more then the deficit is even larger.

The secret is to eat as much as you possibly can and still lose weight. Everyone wants to eat as little as they possibly can and then wonders why they fail.

It's the same people you're talking to in the investment world that think they'll just "work 2x as hard later in life to make up for their current shortfall" or the exercisers that will just "work 2x as hard at the gym". Extremes just don't work in practice.

You're talking to a guy who owned a gym and has coached hundred of athletes. I ate grilled chicken breast, broccoli and brown rice for about 10 years... And even my motivation broke and diet faltered. My best friend was even more strict than me. Worked at an ice cream shop for 6yrs and never had any ice cream. ...and by his mid 20s he was wilding out. He's still in great shape but the point is the average diet lasts less than 3mo. We were freak shows that lived for this and we couldn't sustain it forever. Being healthy is about creating a way of eating that you can enjoy. It will mature and grow as you do. When it's not work...when it's an enjoyable part of life...then it's a lifestyle.
 
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Yeah that's why I come back to portion control as what really worked for me. And while I never counted calories, per say, I was very conscious of how heavy each meal was. So in that way, I could still go out and get something bad (cheese fries) but as long as I offset it with good meals around it, I kept losing weight and I never went crazy for cravings that way. If I wanted something, I'd eat it, but I would balance it out with the meals either before or after. It's more about lifestyle choices imo. My sister struggles with weight the same way I do and she's always done extreme diets or extreme exercise programs and I think I learned from her example before I embarked on this journey myself. It's still about balance. You can't make yourself miserable or you won't have the motivation to keep with it.
 
So, carnivore, not for me. 10 days of GI distress was my limit.
 

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So, carnivore, not for me. 10 days of GI distress was my limit.

Just try a good ole primal/Paleo type diet that is less extreme.

Eat real whole food, cut milk & dairy, cut non sprouted grains, and drink coffee, tea, or water.

Carb sources are veggies, rice, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes.

Protein should be at least the size of your fist. Carbs the size of your palm. Fat the size of your thumb. Eat as many greens/veggies as you can.

You'll be in a caloric deficit just by cutting out processed food, not eating dairy and grains, and using the portion control guidance above.
 
So, carnivore, not for me. 10 days of GI distress was my limit.

Weird. Normally it does the opposite and stabilizes GI issues. That's why I started doing it. I'm not "cured", but at least now I have more "on" days than "off". But I have issues from all the meds I took for my back issues.
 
Weird. Normally it does the opposite and stabilizes GI issues. That's why I started doing it. I'm not "cured", but at least now I have more "on" days than "off". But I have issues from all the meds I took for my back issues.
Yeah I'd seen the same reports, but just 24 hours after adding veg back in (cauliflower, broccoli, carrots, peppers and Brussels sprouts) my body has returned to it's normal scheduled operation.

I was honestly expecting everything to go fine, but I guess my body is happy doing my normal version of keto/adkins. Not too bummed since it's cheaper than just eating meat.

♂️
 
Red meat is very difficult to digest compared to poultry and fish.

Fiber aids in digestion.

I love Mark Bell and Joe Rogan but any diet as extreme as the carnivote diet will only ever be a diet and not a long term nutrition plan or lifestyle.
 
Red meat is very difficult to digest compared to poultry and fish.

Fiber aids in digestion.

I love Mark Bell and Joe Rogan but any diet as extreme as the carnivote diet will only ever be a diet and not a long term nutrition plan or lifestyle.
I can also appreciate your experience in the matter, but I've had nearly a dozen blood tests done, had my doctor tell me I was cheating on my diet when I wasn't, and not lost weight doing things the way you suggest, which you would have known had you read what I posted earlier in the thread.

For me, if I eat the way you suggest, my A1C is at 5-5.7, my LDL is between 160 and 182, and my HDL was hovering around 60-70. As I mentioned earlier, I've gone through whole food diets, vegan diets, pescatarian, paleo, you name it I tried it, and either I couldn't stick to them, or my blood tests didn't move.

When I eat the way I'm eating now, which is high in red meat (7-10 servings per week), and moderate in fish and chicken, and only intaking fibrous, non-starchy carbs (Unless carb cycling with sweet potatoes pre-workout), and NO fruit, my A1C was between 1.1 and 2.4, LDL was 60-100, and HDL was 130-160. It's fairly easy for me to stick to this as well. Also as I mentioned earlier, I was stuck like glue to keto for a year and a half, and only lost it after a thanksgiving meal.

Unless I'm an hour away from the gym I don't eat even the "clean" starchy veggies or grains like sweet potatoes or brown rice. The veg I had in the picture I stole from my wife since I didn't go to the store. I pretty much stick to brussels sprouts, zucchini and asparagus when I'm eating clean. Ive had 3 blood tests all prove out that I'm eating the right way for me to stay healthy and the scale results match the blood tests. I was just trying something for 30 days with carnivore, it didn't pan out, and that's ok. I'll just stick to what works.

Unfortunately modern dietary science isn't perfect. If it was, there wouldn't be so much conflicting information (like why do my cholesterol levels go down when I'm eating more red meat than ever?), and people wouldn't defend their diet of choice (Paleo, Whole Food, Keto, vegan, whatever) like it was a religion.

There's a reason why everyone says "talk to your doctor before starting a nutrition plan". I have, and continue to do so. YMMV
 
Red meat is very difficult to digest compared to poultry and fish.

Fiber aids in digestion.

I love Mark Bell and Joe Rogan but any diet as extreme as the carnivote diet will only ever be a diet and not a long term nutrition plan or lifestyle.

For people with diseases and autoimmune disorders, it actually can be a lifetime diet. There are simply some foods that some bodies can't handle. The fact that you can get a natural, organic food with a natural immune system is much better than 90% of the food available in your local supermarket. There are interesting cases such as Mikhaila Peterson (article) using a carnivore diet as an approach to an extreme restriction diet.

I'm not saying it's right. I'm just saying it can be a long term nutrition plan in the most extreme cases. (Mikhaila Peterson blog)
 
I keep waiting for my weight loss to stop but fortunately i'm still going even with much more muscle and definition. Down to 183 at 6'1 which is a total of 55lbs lost. I've started working on agility, vertical and explosiveness and my vertical is up 6" in less than a month. I want to dunk by the end of the year, who knows. I certainly didn't think I'd make it this far with anything else.
 
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