a few fitness and heathly diet related questions

[stev0]

well i thought i would do myself a favor and decided to bust my ass into shape. i started hitting the weights with a few buddies about 2 months ago, finally got my bike out of retirement and have started to ride between 5-8 miles a day. i figure it's high time i start eating right. im still a larger guy, about 5'9"/10" 200lbs, so i personally don't think i need to start drinking the protein shakes, but then again maybe i'm wrong?

anyway;

what are the best souces of protein in foods these days?
do you think a guy of my size needs to be on those protein shakes? (the guys i lift with say it helps)
are there any certain supplements i should be taking while working out?

thanks in advance

 

[Moonbeam]

I think the government should never have let you get heavy. We should be fed by metering our weight and fitness and made to work out for our food if we get heavy. You'd always be in good shape and live a full and healthy life. You could find some other way to sin, maybe a bit less self destructive, and the gov would be on the lookout for that too. People need to be required to do the things that bring long life and mental well being. Naturally some people would get POed. but that's to be expected. Everybody thinks they know better than the obvious plain and simple truth. Some people think they want to smoke.

 

[yobarman]

there's nothing wrong with keeping natural when lifting. eat lots of natural protien (tuna, chicken) and supplement it with Whey protien shakes around workout time. just keep at it... if you're not trying to maximize your gains just keep to a simple plan. if you want to do the best you can with dieting, then you'd need a complicated schedule and what not ..

 

[Entity]

stev0,

YGPM.

Rob

 

[PMoore]

First off, congrats on starting your healthy journey

1.) Good foods: Tuna is an extreme good source of protein; one can has 30grams and is very light in calories. I suggest incorporating meats, fish, etc in your diet.
2.) If you have some money to burn then get the protein shakes. WWW.BODYBUILDING.COM has some good prices. I suggest getting the Optimum Nutrition Protein Heres a link: Optimum Get the 10lb. bag.
3.) Supplements are mediocre at best in my opinion. Creatine is just like throwing money in the toilet. Stick with a healthy diet, go to the gym 4-5 times to the gym per week, do cardio 3-4 times a week, and you will see some noticeable difference in 2-3 months!

Good luck!

 

[PMoore]

Also, I would suggest hitting your local library and checking out some books. They have a wide range of books. Check the bodybuilding books out. Also, 'The New Encyclopedia of Modern Bodybuilding' by Arnold is the best book ever!

 

[stev0]

Originally posted by: PMoore
First off, congrats on starting your healthy journey

1.) Good foods: Tuna is an extreme good source of protein; one can has 30grams and is very light in calories. I suggest incorporating meats, fish, etc in your diet.
2.) If you have some money to burn then get the protein shakes. WWW.BODYBUILDING.COM has some good prices. I suggest getting the Optimum Nutrition Protein Heres a link: Optimum Get the 10lb. bag.
3.) Supplements are mediocre at best in my opinion. Creatine is just like throwing money in the toilet. Stick with a healthy diet, go to the gym 4-5 times to the gym per week, do cardio 3-4 times a week, and you will see some noticeable difference in 2-3 months!

Good luck!

http://www.bodybuilding.com/store/opt/whey.html <- right link

I could've swore that i read on in a thread here on OT about tuna being a really good source of protein... but i wasen't all that sure.

what it's only $50some bucks for a 10lb bag of the stuff... that really isn't a problem. but what do other people think about the protein shakes?

thanks for the replies all

 

[PMoore]

Get the choc. flavor if you go with the shake. Strawberry one is real bad.

 

[stev0]

Originally posted by: PMoore
Get the choc. flavor if you go with the shake. Strawberry one is real bad.

i've tried a bit of all of them, imo, vanilla is where it's at ... but they are all horrible tasting, strawberry being the worst :disgust:

 

[StageLeft]

I agree with almost everything here, for what it's worth. Arnold's encyclopedia is what started me out almost 10 years ago but I think some of the info even then was dated. I heard that he was updating but I'm not sure if he did. By dated I mean if you read what he said to do for the "expert" program you would be severely overtraining immediately. It was absolutely crazy volumes and nothing the average joe should be doing. His book is massive though and has info from nutrition to correct form, etc. 5 years ago I read a good book put out by Gold's gym, but I imagine they've put out a zillion by now.

Creatine is one of the few supplements (not counting protein) worth a damn. It does work, but I think below PMoore said it was like throwing your money in the toilet because unfortunately a lot of your gains will go away once you get off it. Really I wouldn't bother with it at this point.

Tuna is awesome. However there have been some concerns recently about mercury in it. I made a thread about it here.

Skim milk is an OK source of protein (not crappy like most vegetables but not as good as animal flesh!) and quite cheap. really cheap if you can stomach the powdered stuff. In bulk you can buy skinless boneless chicken breasts at reasonable prices.

If I were you I'd be supplementing with protein shakes. This thread today has a guy similar in size to you and his program he followed on his website. Regardless of whether you're overweight or morbidly obese your goal at this point I'm guessing is to maximize weight loss. You want to do that while minimizing muscle loss (or better yet gain some muscle). The best way to do the former is combining excercise with restricted calories. The best way to do the latter is with keeping protein intake high. Consume protein frequently throughout the day.

Protein is cheap nowadays and most of the whey protein tastes pretty good too. It's also one of the most backed up things in diet nutrition because whether you believe in the atkins diet or the zone or super low fat or whatever most studies will say a diet strong in protein while dieting is a good thing. It will help you gain muscle if you're actually gaining at the moment and help you minimize loss (which many people experience while dieting).

 

[StageLeft]

Originally posted by: PMoore
Get the choc. flavor if you go with the shake. Strawberry one is real bad.

If you're referring to optimum nutrition's strawberry flavor it's the stuff of the devil. I bought a 5 lb tub once and God punished me the whole way through. Terrible stuff. The chocholate and vanilla ice cream are good though.

BTW if you have an ultimate nutrtion store locally I just bought a 5 lb tub of I can't remember what it's called for only $27. I hadn't heard of the stuff before but it seems good and it has banana flavor!!

 

[stev0]

Originally posted by: Skoorb

Originally posted by: PMoore
Get the choc. flavor if you go with the shake. Strawberry one is real bad.

If you're referring to optimum nutrition's strawberry flavor it's the stuff of the devil. I bought a 5 lb tub once and God punished me the whole way through. Terrible stuff. The chocholate and vanilla ice cream are good though.

BTW if you have an ultimate nutrtion store locally I just bought a 5 lb tub of I can't remember what it's called for only $27. I hadn't heard of the stuff before but it seems good and it has banana flavor!!

the only nutrition store we have in town is a couple gnc's... i guess that is what i get for living in ND

as for my goals, i would like to drop some weight, mainly in the gut area, i guess my beer and za diet at school didn't work out too well . and get buffed up in the process.

thanks for all the info skoorb i'm going to start checking out those shakes and next time i'm out at sams i'll pick up some tuna