Barack Obama's Healthy Living Journal

[JJChicken]

Routine:

Monday: Swim 800m
Tuesday: Run 4km + do pushups (currently at sets of 20-25, 3 sets to give total of 70 - aim is to keep increasing this)
Wednesday: Swim 800m
Thursday: Run 4km + pushups
Friday: Either Friday or Saturday is my rest day depending on what social events are planned, the other day will be used to Swim 800m
Saturday: Either Friday or Saturday is my rest day depending on what social events are planned, the other day will be used to Swim 800m
Sunday: Full-court basketball for about 2 hours

It's quite a simple routine. Pushups for strength, swimming and running for general fitness. In terms of diet, I'm looking at lots of milk, vegies and meat every second day or so, and cutting on junk foods and sodas.

My goal is simple:
(1) reduce my acne on my face and back. I think a healthy regime should achieve this, or I hope so, because if you think about it no sportsman has acne. Swimming should dry up my skin and help reduce by back acne I hope.
(2) be regular in my workout. Right now I'm on my final break because uni is finished. I start fulltime work in february so will hope to get into a routine that I can maintain while working. It's probably going to be tough, but its worth a shot. I don't want to just sit at the office all day and do minimal exercise.

Currently at 73-75kg (fluctuates depending on day), height I think is 5'11 (just under), no guts, weak upperbody but decent lower body. I might add in sprinting to my routine to improve my thighs.

What do you guys think of it?

EDIT: UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!

I've experimented with my routine, and I now have the following routine that I have maintained for about 2 weeks:

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday jog: I try for 7.2km at least once a week, I'm bumping it up to 10km, and will do a minimum of 4km if I can't be bothered running longer distances
Sunday: BBall

I will now add situps and pushups on Monday, Wednesday and will leave Friday for complete rest/partying.

In terms of food, I'm moving more and more towards fruits and vegies and lean chicken/fish. I've cut off alot of sweets and will try to keep it up.

One question, how much added sugar (from sweets/juices/sauces/etc) is good? I had a small chocolate with 9grams of sugar, is that too much?

Living healthy never felt this good 😀

 

[skace]

If you've got issues with acne don't expect to "sweat it out". Get Benzoyle Peroxide and treat that issue separately.

You mention a weak upper body, I think if that is one of your concerns, you should target it more. Make full use of your swim days as aerobic days, remove running from your pushup days and supplement those days with more workouts, whether that be bw squats, pullups, situps or weighted exercises.

 

[mcveigh]

DIET!

put some free weights in there.

 

[Kaido]

I came in thinking this was the President Elect's workout routine :brokenheart:

Like mcveigh said, it's all about diet. Diet will be the #1 thing to clean up your acne. Also shower every day, and wash your face after working out (get the sweat off).

 

[RichardE]

Originally posted by: Kaido
I came in thinking this was the President Elect's workout routine :brokenheart:

Like mcveigh said, it's all about diet. Diet will be the #1 thing to clean up your acne. Also shower every day, and wash your face after working out (get the sweat off).

me too! 🙁

 

[skace]

Originally posted by: Kaido
Like mcveigh said, it's all about diet. Diet will be the #1 thing to clean up your acne. Also shower every day, and wash your face after working out (get the sweat off).

Diet is nowhere near the top of the list of things that improve Acne. In fact it has constantly stood on the fence between utterly useless myth and possible hypothesis. Showering is also not a large proponent, while people should was their face, over-washing is just as dangerous as under washing. Since Acne isn't caused by dirt, the largest factor in washing here is oil on your skin, you never want to become too oily, but you also don't want to dry your skin out. Dry skin is prone to 2 negative factors, one is it will dry and flake, and dead skin is what blocks pores so you never want a lot of dead skin and the second is that dry skin is easily agitated and agitation is what causes acne breakouts. Wash normally, especially if you feel like you are oily, but never overdo it and don't expect it to drastically reduce acne in any manner.

On the other side of things, healthy living, in all respects, is a good attack plan. Eat healthier, be more hygienic, exercise properly, live well. I'd say do all these things, but don't expect them to necessarily remove acne on their own. The bacteria has to be killed, the pores need to be unblocked, and if your skin is simply prone to blocking it will continue to happen unless some sort of regiment is maintained.

 

[irishScott]

Originally posted by: skace

Originally posted by: Kaido
Like mcveigh said, it's all about diet. Diet will be the #1 thing to clean up your acne. Also shower every day, and wash your face after working out (get the sweat off).

Diet is nowhere near the top of the list of things that improve Acne. In fact it has constantly stood on the fence between utterly useless myth and possible hypothesis. Showering is also not a large proponent, while people should was their face, over-washing is just as dangerous as under washing. Since Acne isn't caused by dirt, the largest factor in washing here is oil on your skin, you never want to become too oily, but you also don't want to dry your skin out. Dry skin is prone to 2 negative factors, one is it will dry and flake, and dead skin is what blocks pores so you never want a lot of dead skin and the second is that dry skin is easily agitated and agitation is what causes acne breakouts. Wash normally, especially if you feel like you are oily, but never overdo it and don't expect it to drastically reduce acne in any manner.

On the other side of things, healthy living, in all respects, is a good attack plan. Eat healthier, be more hygienic, exercise properly, live well. I'd say do all these things, but don't expect them to necessarily remove acne on their own. The bacteria has to be killed, the pores need to be unblocked, and if your skin is simply prone to blocking it will continue to happen unless some sort of regiment is maintained.

Ummmm.... I had Acne in high school, it definitely got better once I dropped refined sugars. Tested this multiple times. It's not be the only factor, but it's far from a useless myth.

 

[skace]

I said it's straddled the fence. At times it has been overwhelmingly considered a myth and at times it has been considered somewhat of a factor. However it's never, ever been at the top and it's always fell well within "not enough valid testing". Not with stuff like light therapy, benzoyle peroxide, and accutane.

 

[Eric62]

If you want to live healthy like the real Barack Obama you'd better take up smoking, and learn to enjoy the occasional social snort...
Just kidding. You fooled me at first into thinking the press published his actual workout routine - lol.

 

[Mr. Lennon]

First cut out all the shit food and carbonated drinks from your diet.

Find a professional that can give you a facial once a month. Make sure they specialize in extracting acne.

Do not ever pick at a zit or even touch your face. Your hands are filled with crap that will cause acne.

Wash your face in the morning and at night with a anti-bacterial cleanser designed for your face. I would buy:

http://www.amazon.com/Neutroge...Wash-177/dp/B000052YK2
or
http://www.acne.org/neutrogena...reviews/153/page1.html

Here is a review from the first link. This is some great advice:

"This acne wash is absolutely wonderful. Let me explain to you how this product works. Allow me to introduce myself, I'm 28 yrs old and "just started" a fight with acne. As a result, I've done tremendous research to arm myself against this nasty little creature called acne.

First off, acne starts by oil clogging the pores and bacteria (dirt). The first thing you should do to avoid acne is stop randomly touching your face throughout the day...resist to touch your face even if it itches. Don't even use your hands to allow your face/chin to rest. Keep your hands away from your face at all costs. You don't want bacteria (dirt) to get in your pores. You may want to get some antibacterial hand gel. Keep your pillow cases free of bacteria through regular cleaning. Clean makeup brushes at least once a week. DO NOT use any products containing oil on your face. Just like pouring cooking oil down the drain can clog it...so can oil clog up your skin and get trapped inside (creating a pimple).

Second, purchase "all" facial products that do not contain oil. This fact should be advertised on the label. If it's not, don't buy it. Use this acne wash. The wash works because it dries up the oil...which leads to pimples. It addresses the problem at the root cause. You have to use it at least two times per day (morning and night). Any more often that that will lead to extremely dry irritated skin.

Third, get a good cleansing method down pat. For me, when I use this cleanser...first I wet my face with warm water...then I put a wet warm washcloth on my face to loosen the grime (oil/dirt) that you can't really see. This step is extremely important shouldn't be skipped b/c you are opening your pores. Opening your pores when cleansing is important b/c it allows the cleansing agent direct access to your pores to cleanse them effectively. So, allow the warm washcloth to sit on your face until it turns cool...rinse the cloth in hot water and repeat this about 3 times....letting it sit on your face.

Then apply the cleanser, massage it into your pores...don't rub hard. Allow it to sit about 30 seconds (until it begins to look like it's drying out). Then rinse. Wash it again, then rinse. When drying...do not use the same washcloth in the paragraph above. If you do, you'll be putting bacteria and germs straight into your pores again...like being re-infected.

Now that you've cleansed...you want to get rid of that dry feeling. Now that you've just stripped your face completely of all of its natural oil, you must Use some TONER immediately. Then use some oil-free moisturizer...neutrogena makes one and it's good too.

Cleanse your face every single night and morning at a minimum.

Keep in mind that saclylic acid dries the skin...so this skin will fall off creating new skin and this process will cause your acne markes to fade. You have to play an active role in this process in exfolitating your skin so that your skin does start looking dull...full of dry dead skin.

Get a facial sauna/steamer...Do this treatment about 3 times a week.

(1) First cleanse your face with the acne wash as I said above.

(2) Steam your face for about 8 minutes. Put a big towel over your head while steaming to keep the steam going straight into your face. If you need a steamer...Kaz has a facial steamer listed on amazon that gets outstanding reviews so I recommend it.

(2) Use a gentle soft facial brush to brush away the dead cells. Be very gentle..this shouldn't hurt at all. Don't pop any pimples...just brush the dead skin "around" the pimples. Do this for only about a minute at most. Before your face begins to dry up go to the next step.

(3) Get back to your facial sauna. Do it for about another 8 minutes.

(4) Cleanse your skin again with the acne wash to remove the dirt, oil, bacteria that just came out of your pores. Remember to use a different towel than the one you've been using now that your face is free from all that bacteria.

You'll want to cleanse every night...but you'll want to do the facial sauna/steamer ritual about 3 times a week...until you notice you stopped breaking out...then you can cut it down to about 2 night a week.

My skin is so polished and smooth now...I never thought my skin was possible to start looking like smooth porcelain. This acne wash is only "one" of the items you'll need. You need a zit remover...or something that'll dry out the pimple when you get one. I use Naturopathica blemish remover..it dries them out overnight. You'll also need two different types of moisturizer...a regular one without oil..and one that has an SPF to protect the skin during the daytime.

I hope my review has helped at least one person. I wouldn't have written such a long one if these things hadn't worked for me. I'm getting tremendous results and I just wanted to share my tips."

 

[JJChicken]

Thanks to everybody for all the helpful tips.

My diet currently consists of this (but its quite flexible, depending on whether I'm eating out or not):
* Mon, Weds, Fri mornings: Cereal + Milk + jam crumpets/toasts
* Tues,Thurs mornings: pizza sandwhiches (bread, cheese, capsicum, onion, a hint of chili) + cereal + milk
* Mon-Fri lunch (4 out of 5 days): 1.5 sandwhiches (i.e. 3 slices of bread) with lettuce, tomato, cheese, 1 fruit, 0.5 jam sandwhich
* 1 lunch, usually thai or something fast-food



Zeppelin2282

Extra thanks for the time you took to write up that post. Currently, I'm pseudo-following what you elaborated on:

* I eat little junk food, but since I exercise enough I don't mind eating the odd packet of chips or burger. I rarely drink carbonated coke and I've cut down on sweets considerably (to the posters who said cutting down on refined sugars worked, in my experience it does work to an extent).

* I am washing my face in the morning and at night and after exercise. I currently use DOVE extra sensitive soap and it seems to be quite good.

A few questions:
* When I wash my face with soap, I lightly-to-mediumly rub my face with soap - is this advisable or should i just be extremely gentle with the stuff? Does rubbing the skin exfoliate it and hence its good?

* Did you see good results in the very short-term but then saw little to no improvement for a considerable amount of time? This is what tends to happen to me and I end up giving up on my skin regime because I get disheartened.

* You mention drying the skin helps fading the acne marks. Would swimming (in a chlorinated pool) achieve a similar effect as to saclylic acid?

* Should I take cold water or hot water baths? I take cold water in the summer and lukewarm in the winter.

GTG, ill finish this post when i get home

 

[Mr. Lennon]

Thanks to everybody for all the helpful tips.

My diet currently consists of this (but its quite flexible, depending on whether I'm eating out or not):
* Mon, Weds, Fri mornings: Cereal + Milk + jam crumpets/toasts
* Tues,Thurs mornings: pizza sandwhiches (bread, cheese, capsicum, onion, a hint of chili) + cereal + milk
* Mon-Fri lunch (4 out of 5 days): 1.5 sandwhiches (i.e. 3 slices of bread) with lettuce, tomato, cheese, 1 fruit, 0.5 jam sandwhich
* 1 lunch, usually thai or something fast-food

You are going to want to avoid anything that is considered pizza. Pizza is probably the worst food you can probably eat.

Make sure the bread you are eating is wheat. White bread offers no nutritional value.

Fruits and vegetables are key. Make sure you are incorporating that in your diet every day if possible.

Be sure to drink eight 8-ounce glasses of water a day.



Zeppelin2282

Extra thanks for the time you took to write up that post. Currently, I'm pseudo-following what you elaborated on:

* I eat little junk food, but since I exercise enough I don't mind eating the odd packet of chips or burger. I rarely drink carbonated coke and I've cut down on sweets considerably (to the posters who said cutting down on refined sugars worked, in my experience it does work to an extent).

* I am washing my face in the morning and at night and after exercise. I currently use DOVE extra sensitive soap and it seems to be quite good.

STOP using that soap on your face immediately. Purchase this http://www.amazon.com/Neutroge...Wash-177/dp/B000052YK2

A few questions:
* When I wash my face with soap, I lightly-to-mediumly rub my face with soap - is this advisable or should i just be extremely gentle with the stuff? Does rubbing the skin exfoliate it and hence its good?

That's fine, but I would recommend doing that with a wash cloth. If you use your hands, be sure to wash them with soap before using them.

* Did you see good results in the very short-term but then saw little to no improvement for a considerable amount of time? This is what tends to happen to me and I end up giving up on my skin regime because I get disheartened.

My acne was never severe, but it bothered me enough to do something about it. I didn't see good results until I fully researched and found a regime that worked for me. If you follow what I posted earlier to a T, you will see improvement.

* You mention drying the skin helps fading the acne marks. Would swimming (in a chlorinated pool) achieve a similar effect as to saclylic acid?

No no do not do that! You must cleanse with acne wash. Chlorine is absolutely horrible if you have acne. After you cleanse, your face will be dry so you need to use a toner ( oil free moisturizer such as this Product.) A dry face is your enemy!

* Should I take cold water or hot water baths? I take cold water in the summer and lukewarm in the winter.

Always warm water. Steam + warm water helps unclog your pores.


Buy the two products I have recommended and follow every step in my previous post. You will definitely see an improvement if you do....maybe even rid you of your acne entirely

 

[JJChicken]

UPDATE!!!!!!!!!!

I've experimented with my routine, and I now have the following routine that I have maintained for about 2 weeks:

Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday jog: I try for 7.2km at least once a week, I'm bumping it up to 10km, and will do a minimum of 4km if I can't be bothered running longer distances
Sunday: BBall

I will now add situps and pushups on Monday, Wednesday and will leave Friday for complete rest/partying.

In terms of food, I'm moving more and more towards fruits and vegies and lean chicken/fish. I've cut off alot of sweets and will try to keep it up.

One question, how much added sugar (from sweets/juices/sauces/etc) is good? I had a small chocolate with 9grams of sugar, is that too much?

Living healthy never felt this good 😀

 

[MegaVovaN]

What are your goals in fitness? More strength? Better looks? Ability to run half marathon?

Why so much cardio and pretty much NO lifting? (Pushups for strength don't count, very soon you will be strong enough to do so many of them that they will count for endurance).

About acne, don't eat too much sugar & refined carb (pound cake!!!) and it will improve.

Maybe you want to do a 6 day routine:
M - lift
Tu - cardio
W - lift
Th - cardio
F - lift
Sat - cardio
Sunday - rest day.

By "lift" I mean Starting Strength.