[Fitness and Weight Management] Let's crush some 2022 goals!

Kyougu

Thread for us to share our gains, our losses, our frustrations and successes.

And recipes! I can always use more food prep recipes!

And transformation pics! I love seeing you all progress and motivation.

Icemopper

Marathon training progress: Currently in Week 7 of 16, ran 15 miles this past Saturday just fine, and am scheduled for 17 miles this Saturday. 15 was the furthest I've ever run, but I made it to the end without too much pain. The marathon is the Blue Ridge Marathon, which they call the "Toughest Road Race In America," with an elevation gain/loss of 7,430ft. I've run the whole course in portions since I live on it, and I really can't adequately describe some of these climbs/descents. One minute you're better off walking due to gradients approaching 20%, the next you're trying not to trip while running down. Highly recommended.

initiatefailure

I did not go to the gym on Monday. It was 1 degree in the America temperature scale. I also just felt like garbage and didn't actually eat anything that morning so the concept of working out still fasted at 2pm felt painful.

I've never been good at sleeping so I was rough after the weekend and unfortunately actively working out hasn't changed that for me.

I think I should just do some bodyweight stuff around the house today and maybe do like the boxing game on the switch and get back into the normal schedule tomorrow

Doodmann

I tried running yesterday, felt like shin splints or something so I only ran 2 miles instead of 3/4.

Any tips on how to prevent that stuff from happeneing?

Magic Pink

i was trying to get into running all summer and fall but my achilles tendon would hurt like hell if i didn't almost immediately get shin splints

Peen

Probably of interest to people in here: Mattie Rogers (American Olympic Weightlifter) is launching a line of activewear with the explicit goals of fitting all body types, not having gender labels, and offering gender neutral collections. She doesn't have any products up yet but you can sign up for a newsletter and the IG page has some videos with explanations of her goals and ethos and whatnot. Seems cool!

Tube

So Renaissance Periodisation (who I have a lot of time for, and get coaching through) released a podcast where they looked at the data from their dieting app to determine what kind of factors correlate with success in dieting.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gD7-FPQuO0k

Some key takeaways

• starting bodyweight didn't have any impact on success. Heavy people were just as likely to succeed or exceed their goals.
• Eating a diverse array of foods had no noticeable effect compared to eating the same foods every day. Do what works for you.
• Eating pre-packaged foods compared to cooking and eating fresh had no impact, so again, do what works for you.
• Eating more or fewer meals a day had no effect
• Shorter diets were more effective than longer diets at sustainable weight loss
• Losing smaller amounts of weight sustainably over several dieting cycles is more effective than trying to lose 50lbs in one go

It's an interesting podcast in general, I highly recommend listening to it.

Peen

They are smart people who do good work, if I were ever to get diet coaching they'd be the company I'd use for sure.

Weaver

Still trying to get used to splitting my workouts. Weights at the gym, cardio on my equipment at home, and doing both on the same day.

SharpyVII

Just ordered some new work trousers that are 3.5 inches smaller around the waist.

Feels good as my current trousers used to be uncomfortably tight on me and now are so loose that they will fall down unless I wear a belt.

I've lost almost 24 pounds since my son was born, it's been a slow process but it's sticking at least.

Usagi

Hahaha I need to up my stretching game, day after kettlebell circuits I'm definitely a bit creaky

Kyougu

Weather is dropping here so I made this delicious green chicken chili stew for meal prep.

So perfect right now!

Lost Salient

Did basic aerial yoga on Monday evening with my friend who teaches aerial acrobatics as her side gig (her actual job is as a researcher in borderland linguistics and cultures? which pretty much makes her the most interesting person I know) - felt good about it and it was a ton of fun, but boy if you want to feel humble about the flexibility you've got after 11 years of yoga, go to class with an acrobat

ahava

That list up there seems to echo my experience so far.

Last week I had a lot of pasta and cream sauce because pms, and I still lost weight.



Hamstring and calf stretches do not seem to be helping me with the aches in my legs. And I've got a spot on my right foot that is super tight.

But I'm still doing at least a fifteen minute walk every day during the work day. I did a lot of gardening this weekend so I'm being gentle with my arms, but I got back into a yoga practice today and it feels so good.

manwiththemachinegun

Anyone have recommendations for hanging a heavy bag? I don't have a ceiling appropriate to the task, so it would have to be a ground based one. Everything on Ebay is hideously overpriced.

Lost Salient

Oooh man. I feel like hanging a heavy bag falls into the same category as hanging a pull-up bar, aka "I'm gonna use this but I'm 100% sure someday it'll fail and I'll bust my face"

manwiththemachinegun

I hung it from my garage support beams, threw one roundhouse kick, and the whole structure shook for about two seconds.

This should not be interpreted as a measure of my strength, but rather my garage's weakness. :P

Lost Salient wrote: »

Oooh man. I feel like hanging a heavy bag falls into the same category as hanging a pull-up bar, aka "I'm gonna use this but I'm 100% sure someday it'll fail and I'll bust my face"

Door frame pullup bars my dude. Have one, works like a charm.

initiatefailure

i've had reasonable experiences with the floor ones if you're really worried about hanging them

zagdrob

I think beginning tomorrow I will restart stronglifts 5x5 from square one.

I am very worried about my left knee that squats really aggravate but if I am careful I think I can do it. I'm pretty sure half the problem is we have a Smith machine instead of a cage and free weights.

The goal is to go 12 weeks with no injury. And even though it's not part of the program, get back to 2x weekly 5 mile runs. I'm more of a runner than lifter.

webguy20

zagdrob wrote: »

I think beginning tomorrow I will restart stronglifts 5x5 from square one.

I am very worried about my left knee that squats really aggravate but if I am careful I think I can do it. I'm pretty sure half the problem is we have a Smith machine instead of a cage and free weights.

The goal is to go 12 weeks with no injury. And even though it's not part of the program, get back to 2x weekly 5 mile runs. I'm more of a runner than lifter.

Smith Machines are fuckers. I'd rather not squat than use a smith machine. Have you seen a physio about your knee? Are you using a sleeve or wrapping?

Weaver

Got a good run and weights set in today, and weighed myself at the gym. Only six pounds of covid weight to get rid of! Getting my strength(especially core, to protect my back) back up though is the real goal.

Cello

Doodmann wrote: »

I tried running yesterday, felt like shin splints or something so I only ran 2 miles instead of 3/4.

Any tips on how to prevent that stuff from happeneing?

Good quality shoes and a physiotherapist

Rest it and don't push it too hard as well, because I was a dummy and decided "well I'll just keep doing these walks - oh whoops 5km plus all the other activities I am doing have made it so I can barely walk at all, neat!!"

But yeah, I mean, I can list out my exercises but there are no guarantees they'll fix your issues the way a good physio could, it's caused by weakness/imbalance in your shin muscles that you'll need to correct through gentle strength training, heating, etc

godmode

Cello wrote: »

Doodmann wrote: »

I tried running yesterday, felt like shin splints or something so I only ran 2 miles instead of 3/4.

Any tips on how to prevent that stuff from happeneing?

Good quality shoes and a physiotherapist

Rest it and don't push it too hard as well, because I was a dummy and decided "well I'll just keep doing these walks - oh whoops 5km plus all the other activities I am doing have made it so I can barely walk at all, neat!!"

But yeah, I mean, I can list out my exercises but there are no guarantees they'll fix your issues the way a good physio could, it's caused by weakness/imbalance in your shin muscles that you'll need to correct through gentle strength training, heating, etc

To piggyback on this, I've also been told that calf stretching is important as well after you do run or do a lot of walking, as well as developing your calves in general

initiatefailure

webguy20 wrote: »

zagdrob wrote: »

I think beginning tomorrow I will restart stronglifts 5x5 from square one.

I am very worried about my left knee that squats really aggravate but if I am careful I think I can do it. I'm pretty sure half the problem is we have a Smith machine instead of a cage and free weights.

The goal is to go 12 weeks with no injury. And even though it's not part of the program, get back to 2x weekly 5 mile runs. I'm more of a runner than lifter.

Smith Machines are fuckers. I'd rather not squat than use a smith machine. Have you seen a physio about your knee? Are you using a sleeve or wrapping?

If I didn't have access to a cage I would probably not squat, or would be doing bodyweight to dumbbell squats.

I like SL 5x5 it's actually what I've been doing getting back into it after a couple of years. I think there's reasonable dumbbell versions of all of those lifts (except maybe the deadlifting? I'm not sure there but there's gotta be some kind of floor lift.) It certainly won't get you the exact same effect and you can't realistically go up 5lbs a session on dumbbells, but if you're looking for a guideline to focus yourself on like "here's your core areas" I can think of worse things.

I just really hate Smith machines. To the point where I think they do more harm than good

Peen

There's stuff that Smith Machines do make easier; single leg squats and front squats are both easier because you don't need balance the weight the same way, you could try one of those. I don't think Smith machines are terrible, I just don't think they're great for back squats.

Solar

Nailed my pushup superset so I'm adding weight to 20kgs. Definitely stronger and have more power endurance; ideally I'll hit 7 reps and fail on the 8th each time

Doodmann

Solar wrote: »

Nailed my pushup superset so I'm adding weight to 20kgs. Definitely stronger and have more power endurance; ideally I'll hit 7 reps and fail on the 8th each time

How many are you doing per rep?

DouglasDanger

I finally did three sets of 10 pushups again

I had falled off of my routine for a bit, and then was only able to complete 20 and had to the last.10 on my knees

Solar

Doodmann wrote: »

Solar wrote: »

Nailed my pushup superset so I'm adding weight to 20kgs. Definitely stronger and have more power endurance; ideally I'll hit 7 reps and fail on the 8th each time

How many are you doing per rep?

8 reps per set, across six sets (each one a different variant) with 16kgs added weight apart from the diamond set which gets half that. And then I do a repeated superset. I completed every rep in all the sets so I'm going to knock it up by 4kgs (half again on the diamonds).

DouglasDanger

Damn dude that's awesome

Doodmann

I'm currently working my way up to 3 sets of 30, I am at 3 sets of 20-25 right now but I usually fail on the third set.

Solar

DouglasDanger wrote: »

Damn dude that's awesome

Thanks man! I appreciate it. I'd like to get to 22kgs as that's a little above 130% bodyweight which is a good goal.

Solar

Doodmann wrote: »

I'm currently working my way up to 3 sets of 30, I am at 3 sets of 20-25 right now but I usually fail on the third set.

That's a strong achievement. I'd say that if you can, add weight as a next step. Or variants! But three sets of 25 proper form pressups is hard. Good effort mate.

Doodmann

Solar wrote: »

Doodmann wrote: »

I'm currently working my way up to 3 sets of 30, I am at 3 sets of 20-25 right now but I usually fail on the third set.

That's a strong achievement. I'd say that if you can, add weight as a next step. Or variants! But three sets of 25 proper form pressups is hard. Good effort mate.

Yeah I'm thinking I should start varying it, but I'm not planning to start adding weight until I can regularly hit 3/30 or 4/25.

Jars

I'm going to work more on timed sets instead of numbered sets, which, 45 seconds straight of pushups is fucking hard

as hard as my body's gonna be in 3 months bazam

UnbrokenEva

so in the quarantine thread @#pipe mentioned using a meal tracker to record what you eat, track carbs and such

anyone have any experience with how that works when you cook your own recipes 90% of the time? I guess you could input ingredients/amounts to get a total for the dish and then divide by portions but I hope there's a better/easier way that some clever sort has come up with because I really see myself struggling to do that for every meal I cook.

webguy20

Fearghaill wrote: »

so in the quarantine thread @#pipe mentioned using a meal tracker to record what you eat, track carbs and such

anyone have any experience with how that works when you cook your own recipes 90% of the time? I guess you could input ingredients/amounts to get a total for the dish and then divide by portions but I hope there's a better/easier way that some clever sort has come up with because I really see myself struggling to do that for every meal I cook.

I use myfitness pal and you do indeed have to manually input your recipes, but it saves them so when you make it again it’s easy.

They also have a “take a photo of your plate” feature but I cant imagine its in any way accurate.

#pipe

So the one I used was specifically designed to prep people for bariatric surgery so it's not perfect for everybody, but the general advice in that one was to mostly just be chill with it.

Which is to say approximating is okay, and when you cook at home using generic terms like "chicken stir fry" is ok as long as you get the portions pretty accurate and don't skip things.

Generally speaking you will overestimate some things and underestimate others and being approximate and easy to do is much better than being incredibly specific and so difficult that you just stop doing it.

webguy20

Also in general, proteins and vegetables aren't culprits in hidden calories. It the sauces, butters, cremes and things like that. You can have a giant salad for like 200 calories, but depending on how much dressing you use it can go to 300-1000 calories, and the serving sizes are small.

Kyougu

MyFitnessPal also has a huge log of recipes already, so most often than not I just search for something in their database and try to pick something in the mid range of their calorie count.

It's not exact but I also don't think I need to be for the reasons @pipe mentioned.

Cello

Food scales are the way and the light if you want accuracy

Past that I'll make a recipe in MFP and assign servings, if you're using a website recipe you can also link right to it and it'll fill in the list with about a 70:30 success:fail rate (be sure to proofread it because when it fucks up it FUCKS UP)

Once you get in the habit of making recipes it is honestly pretty quick. You can also repeat meals the next day if you didn't write the recipe out but logged individual parts of a meal.

MFP has the broadest food library so even though the interface is somewhat dated I'll still use it as my main fitness app