Fitness nuts or exercise gurus I need your help

[mrkun]

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: mrkun

Originally posted by: Mill

Originally posted by: mrkun

Originally posted by: Mill
Well, I could not find anything on Craigslist or in my local paper. I went ahead and ordered this bike, because I want to get started on a better exercise program very soon.

I am combining this with diet changes. I am using MyFoodDiary.com to track all the foods I eat as well. So far I am doing great. Much more energy, my diet is clean, and my calories are well within what I need to drop some weight. It also tracks my portions of fat, protein, carbs, and vitamins, cholesterol, etc. Right now my diet is hitting all the targeted ranges except sodium.

I am not worried about sodium just yet. I have good blood pressure (110/70 is my average, sometimes lower) and a low resting pulse rate. I will try to cut more sodium out as I go along, but right now I am trying to mitigate it by not adding salt to ANYTHING I eat.

So far today: 1665 calories, 44.5 grams of fat (16 saturated), 232 grambs of carbs, 79 grams of sugar, 88 grams of protein, and 130mg of Cholesterol.

To safely lose 2lbs of weight I can have another 250 calories today. 1250 calories are needed if I want to maintain my weight. With my exercise program, those numbers are a bit higher.

I will probably consume another 300-400 calories today, and that will be it. My calories are evenly distributed. 300-400 calories for 3 main meals, and then snacks of 150-200 calories (3 snacks). No calories from soda. My beverages are Water, Diet Dr. Pepper, Crystal Light, Reduced Sugar Low-Cal Cranberry Juice, and more water.

I am tracking all condiments as well. I have everything listed out (completely) of what I ate today and yesterday. I started my diet last week, but I just started tracking.

My diet is 24% fat, 21% protein, and 55% carbs.

What are your primary carb sources? Also, you're better off dumping fruit juice and eating the actual fruit. Fruit juices can have fairly high GI/II rankings. Weight loss is more a factor of what you're eating than the quantity (calorie intake).

First of all, it only has 6g of sugar per 8 oz serving as it is sweetened with Splenda. Secondly, I care nothing about trying to lose weight on Atkins, South Beach, or any other type of "diet." The only diet I am interested in is low-calorie balanced diet. No one has ever gained weight by eating less calories than they burn. They will lose weight.

I completely disagree that weightloss has more to do with carbs than calories. Calories are absolutely a function of weightloss.

I think you misread what I wrote. I never mentioned Atkins, South Beach, or any other trendy diet and I never said caloric intake wasn't important. Sure, you will lose weight if you just eat at a caloric deficit, however part of that will be muscle, not just fat, especially if it's a large deficit. As for carbs, you need to eat the amount necessary for your level of physical activity, but you want to be eating low GI/II carbs rather than high GI/II carbs. For instance, if you eat a diet of 2000 calories consisting of white bread, potatoes, deli meats, and processed cereal vs. a 2000 calorie diet consisting of whole wheat bread, oatmeal, and unprocessed chicken breast, there will indeed be a large difference in terms of the amount of fat you burn.

Well, my diet isn't consisting of white bread and deli meats. I'm eating wheat bread, whole grains, and other foods high in fiber (fruits and veggies). I don't know how you took 8oz of Cranberry juice and made it into my diet having a high glycemic index and being bad. But I digress...

I never did say your diet had a high glycemic index. I asked what your carb sources were to determine whether or not it did, but you just got defensive without answering my question until your last post. And yes, fruit juices do have higher glycemic and insulin indices than their respective source fruit; that's all I said.

 

[Mill]

Finally got it today. It took me over 3 hours to put it together (instructions lied about how many washers to use, so I had to rely on diagrams only, plus it came in about 70 pieces), but when I finished I used every piece, nut, bolt, and screw, and it rides fine.

Only given it a 5 minute ride so far. I like it. I probably could have gone for a slightly more heavy duty bike, but this one should work out fine (gotta retighten everything).

I'm down 13 lbs now since my OP.

 

[Mill]

Busted out about 40 minutes worth of exercise on it today. A little over 10 miles at a pretty good clip. Burnt a lot of calories (350+).

 

[Megatomic]

That's not a bad bike to start with, better to spend little money and see if you like the exercise than to buy an expensive bike and find out the money was wasted.

I keep an inexpensive recumbent bike in my garage for days when I don't have time for running. Soon I'll be buying a real bike (tri bike) and hopefully the recumbent bike will go unused.

If only I had the money for an endless pool...

 

[Kelemvor]

I'd love to get a recumbent bike and put it in the middle of my theater area. I could petal for a long time if I was distracted and watching a movie. Especially if it has the computerized program where it automatically adjusts the tensions and such to keep my heart rate at a certain level.

But my wife wants to get a treadmill because she likes running better than biking. Hopefully it will warm up one of these days and I can get out my real bike... But being able to ride inside is just far more convenient.

 

[Podolak]

Personally I use a trainer hooked up to one of my regular bikes.

TREK Indoor Trainer