Regarding nutritionals/exercising for losing or maintaining weight, some advices:
Keep moderate to low carbohidrate intake, that’s easy withdrawing from starches, breads, breakfast cereals, rice, etc; also don’t eat highly glicemic ones (no mashed potatoes, fried broad beans, beer, etc). This helps keep insulin, the anabolic hormone, under control, very important for those people who have strong insulin response to carbs. The “Zone Diet” books by Barry Sears and “Dr. Atkins’ New Diet Revolution” give a good explanation on this and many other issues. I’m a type I diabetic, I do exactly know the amounts of insulin I need for the different food types, trust my advice.
Fat isn’t your enemy. You actually need to eat some fat in order to lose fat (sounds weird but works that way). Best fat types are poliunsaturated, then monounsaturated and last saturated (actually, last ones are trans fats which are very unhealthy). Certain people tolerate well the “bad” fats (like me), but that’s like the people that eat bad carbs and are thinner than wires. Read the books.
Exercise: mostly aerobic (swimming, running, cycling, …) Forget about trying to get rid of local fat on certain parts of your body, it ain’t going to happen; don’t get fooled. Body fat distribution is mostly genetical, so deal with & accept it. Lose more weight or go have a liposuction (not recommended, not permanent).
As said by Habib, Chromium (increases insulin efficiency) & Iodine (thyroid booster), among others. Two or three caps of a multi-vitamin supplement will help getting all nutritional requirements adequately covered, regardless of what you do or eat a certain day.
On a side note, I’m currently testing tribulus terrestris. It is said to increase testosterone levels and libido. Just two days of taking and so far I’m excited. This morning I went to the doctor and had new allergy tests. While I was waiting for my duties I couldn’t avoid taking a look at every girl/woman at glance. And when having the test, the nurse (a mature woman), made me horny . And I have reasons to think she was feeling the pressure!
Mmm, btw, this evening-night, after work, had some jogging around my usual route. Had some stitches so I walked a bit to get rid of them. Even despite that, I still beat my best time. 'Nuff said.
Will keep testing tough.
Good tips, but might I add one that I think is very important when trying to lose some extra pounds: Weight Lifting! If you are only doing cardio you are guaranteed to lose quite a lot of muscle mass too, which ensures that you have a lower basic caloric need after the diet. Weight lifting ensures that your loss is only or mainly from fat.
At the moment I’m on a diet that’s low in carbs but high in protein, doing weight lifting and some cardio in the gym. This helps greatly!
Tough I can see the point you’re trying to make, let me a little explanation.
You say that by not doing weight lifting of any kind you are sure to lose muscle mass, but I have to disagree. Muscle loss is the result of a mix of factors, yet aerobic exercising isn’t necessarily one of them.
It is obvious that long distance athletes have little muscle mass, but they get that kind of physical structure on purpose. Any kind of extra weight, wether it is fat or muscle, is going to play against their performance, as long as they have enough power to run at their desired speed. For them the most important factor is respiratory system/cardiovascular performance against “drag”, and since extra muscle increases drag & oxygen usage that means this is going to put unnecessary strain on their resp./cardio, and therefore lose performance.
You lose muscle when your nitrogen balance is negative. This happens when your protein intake is too low and/or your energy (calorie) intake is excessively low. Please note the term “low” is relative, as your metabolism becomes more and more protective with your body fat the leaner you get, so you are more likely to put your metabolism into “emergency mode” (metabolic starvation) and burn some muscle to preserve the required fat.
That’s why it is so hard for bodybuilders to get their muscles well defined for competition.
Conclusion: doing cardio and eating right won’t result in muscle loss. But doing anaero (weight lifting or other power exercises) will strenghthen your muscles, which also helps to get that “good looking” shape; it won’t be noticeable if you are not lean, tough. Nutrition is the most important factor above all factors, I can’t say this enough.
I apologize if I came on a little strong about my interests. He said Heavy metal. There is only a few kinds of heavy metal…BlackCore, HardCore,GrindCore,DeathCore. All of the bands I posted fit somewhere within these four categories. A band I did forget though Was “Children of Bodom” and “The Lollipop Lust Kids” and “Arsonists get all the girls.”
@Barkuti: I guess it has, as you said, a lot to do with the desired body and the sports you are into. I’m not striving for a rather “thin” body which is ideal for long distance running, I’d rather change myself into a lean body with decent muscular build.
And I’m still convinced that I would lose muscle that my body finds rather useless while dieting - i. e. every muscle I don’t train. You know, I’ve made that mistake some years ago when I lost around 16 kg of weight. After that I weighed in at 77kg (I’m 1,84m) - that is a very good weight for someone of my height - and I still was kind of wubbely - still had a lot of fat on my belly. And I’m sure that has to do with losing muscles while dieting. I also felt really weak after the diet. Now I don’t - quite the contrary - I actually feel great and stronger than before.
another band you NEED to listen to is Sikth… and Between the Buried and me, and The Human Abstract, and Animosity, and Black Dahlia Murder… and the list goes on and on and on and on…
back on topic… great post man … + reps will be given
z414a4d, find an old album called Vincebus Eruptum by Blue Cheer. Put it on the LOUDEST stereo you can find, preferably one that uses guitar amps for speakers listen to it all the way thru and then say “just”.
Good thread about grooming too Habib.
IME… what makes the greatest difference in how one looks and feels is the QUALITY of the food one ingests… most commercial food is made from low quality ingredients which have been disguised (through ingenious additives made by IFF and other food industry corporations) to taste, smell, and have “mouthfeel” like high quality food… what this means is that raw materials which are total crap for your health, and which your natural protective sensors would regect as sickening and injurious, have had special chemicals put into them (which, by USA law, they do not have to disclose as long as they are categorized as “flavorings”… look at ANY snack food item and on the label it will have the generic trerm “flavoring” without ever disclosing the chemical name or class of molecules these “flavorings” are) which confuse the health protecting funtion of the taste-smell part of the brain… so total crap is perceived as “not so bad”… in truth, there are massive differences in how garbage fat, such as rendered fats which have been extracted from byproducts of the meat processing industry, and clean, high quality fats affect the body. Same with carbohydrates and protiens… one must be very selective about the source of one’s food…
Blackcore? That’s a new one. Most people just call it black metal. Then there’s your hardcore, Thrash metal, Glam, Death metal, Power Metal, Grindcore, and all the other sub genres I forgot. At least get your subgenres correct. CoB, there’s another good one. Seen 'em live a few times.
Tee hee hee, Iron Butterfly is just people on acid that drank too much redwine and there happened to be instruments lying around. Doug Ingle drank so much red wine he couldn’t pronounce “In the Garden of Eden” hence In-na-Gadda-Di-Vida. I’d say Black Sabbath is a more accurate statement for the first Metal band.
Although Iron Butterfly and Zepp helpled pave the way. Iron Maiden over Iron Butterfly anyday
Ask any of the surviving Zep members what they’d consider their old band, and I guarantee you they’d say something along the lines of “blues”. Find and read “Hammer of the Gods”](Hammer of the Gods) if you like LZ. Fascinating read.
. And I have reasons to think she was feeling the pressure!
