What are good suplements for weight loss?

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: AmdInside

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: AmdInside
Thanks to everyone for all the information. In has been very helpful and reassuring . A couple more questions. 24 hour fitness told me I should be eating 4 times a day. I used to eat twice a day (not very healthy meals though). I changed my meals to 3 healthy meals a day. Its just hard to eat 4 times a day. Am I ok eating 3 times a day? I figured I should pick up some ammino acids w/ protein to help me build up upper body muscle. Is there a cheap one that I can purchase that is not too expensive? I have decided to not take any more supplements for weight loss and just stick to cardio and weight training for now. Usually I do 20-25 minutes of treadmill followed by about 1/2 hour of weightlifting (mostly excercises for the abs) and then before I leave, another 10-20 minutes of stairmaster.

I like Pro-Score 100 by Champion Nutrition. Tastes good mixed in milk, or whipped into a shake (milk + frozen fruit + protein mix = tasty!) and is a very complete protein source....even contains some conditionally essential aminos like L-glutamine.

Linky.

Thanks Fausto. I was looking at this. To bad they don't have strawberry flavor. Which one do you use? Do you use plain? Can you taste it?

Depends. Chocolate is good if you're only mixing milk with it (they're all nasty as hell mixed only with water, BTW). A tad chalky (they all are), but overall pretty tasty. I usually add a shot of Hershey's chocolate syrup to really make it taste good (contains no fat, believe it or not).

Otherwise, I use the plain stuff. I buy pre-sliced frozen fruit (uber-cheap in bulk from Sams/Costco/etc) and keep it in the freezer. To make a shake, I add a few cups of milk or soy milk, a handful of fruit, a couple scoops of protein powder, and maybe a banana. Blend it up and you're good to go....no need to add ice since the fruit is already frozen (this technique can also be used to make daquiris ). Is actually really tasty.

 

[AmdInside]

About my diet. I get free food at work (lunch and dinner) but unfortunately, most of it is not very healthy which is why I have mostly had to stick to turkey sandwiches. Sometimes they have salmon salad or salmon w/ rice. Sometimes I'll endulge and have chicken curry w/ rice. Sometimes they serve chicken salad. Sometimes I have soup. It depends. On weekends though, I vary my foods alot more. I really enjoy eating good food (I used to eat alot of fast food because it was convenient but I enjoy healthier foods much more, although it is generally more expensive)

My favorite place to eat recently has been a restaurant called Pluto's. They make excellent salads. There is one in Palo Alto on University Ave in California. There is also one in San Francisco I believe. I usually eat there once a week now.

 

[ElFenix]

how are lunges for leg work? they work just about every muscle you could think of.

 

[Amused]

Remember to get a lot of fruits and vegies, too. The only munchies in my house now are bananas, apples and peaches. (used to be chips and cheez-its.)

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
how are lunges for leg work? they work just about every muscle you could think of.

They're fine. I'm just getting old and they don't feel very good to do.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Do you recommend going early in the morning before going into work or going in the evening?

I HAVE to do it in the morning. The hell that I call work drains every living part of my livelyhood through the day. The last thing I want to do when I get back is work out.

I'll have a beer and crack a book, or go for a walk. But I just can't get myself to go to the gym. That, and my gym is PACKED from 3:30 till about 7:00 PM. There's like a 20 minute wait to get on any piece of equipment. So, I get up at 6:30 and head to the gym. Nobody's around, and I get it out of the way.

Yep. Too easy to blow off a workout when you're already wiped out from being at work.

Frequency of workouts:

Cardio: as much as 6 days a week, but shoot for at least four. Just make sure to vary the intensity from day to day. Bury yourself a couple times per week (either with big intensity or big volume) and go easier the other days of the week for recovery. Try to stagger workouts so you don't have a big weight and cardio workout on the same day......too easy to get overtrained that way. My weekly schedule is as follows:

Mon: off bike + 1.5 hours weights (overall body workout)
Tues: 1-2 hours easy bike (heart rate < 150)
Wed: 3+ hours tempo on bike (tempo = low/med aerobic pace < 160bpm)
Thurs: 1-2 hours easy bike + 1.5 hours weights
Friday: 1 hour very easy bike (active recovery hr < 130)
Sat: 3-4 hours bike with group (up to max intensity as dictated by pace of group, hr up to 195 bpm)
Sun: 3-5 hours tempo bike

As you can see, the big efforts of the week are staggered to avoid burnout and allow for proper recovery (although I do kinda double-dip on weekends since I don't have time for really long rides during the week). Obviously, this is a very cycling-specific regimen and not necessarily applicable to you since it's light on lifting (cyclists don't need extra upper body mass) but hopefully still illustrates the need to incorporate active recovery. Also, don't be afraid to take a day off if you're feeling fried (poor sleep, elevated resting pulse, crankiness, etc) since it's easier to make up for a missed day than to dig yourself out of an overtraining hole, believe me.

Lifting: Depends on how you set your schedule. Main thing to remember is to give each muscle group you hit on a given day two days for recovery. So you can do some kind of rotation like upper body (day one)/lower body(day two)/off(day three)/repeat or similar. Lots of flexibility in how you break down your lift schedule on a weekly basis.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: Amused
Remember to get a lot of fruits and vegies, too. The only munchies in my house now are bananas, apples and peaches. (used to be chips and cheez-its.)

Mine have been oranges and bananas, mostly bananas because they are much cheaper. Went to a apple festival this weekend (girlfriends idea, not mine) and had some pretty good apples so I am thinking of eating apples instead of oranges since I already drink orange juice at least once a day. I really liked the Golden apples. Two more questions and I am done. I promise. My doctor told me my ideal weight for my height (5'10) is 170lbs. Does this sound correct if I am building muscle as well? Also, does anyone have a printed workout shedule of what they do during the week that they can email me? A friend of mine did this for himself when I was in high school and it worked well for him to have the same routine since he made sure to workout all of his muscles every week consistently. Thanks.

 

[Fausto]

Originally posted by: AmdInside

Originally posted by: Amused
Remember to get a lot of fruits and vegies, too. The only munchies in my house now are bananas, apples and peaches. (used to be chips and cheez-its.)

Mine have been oranges and bananas, mostly bananas because they are much cheaper. Went to a apple festival this weekend (girlfriends idea, not mine) and had some pretty good apples so I am thinking of eating apples instead of oranges since I already drink orange juice at least once a day. I really liked the Golden apples.

Another upside of apples is that they have quite a low glycemic index relative to most fruit.

 

[Amused]

Fausto1,

I'm a firm believer that one should have one or two days a week off from all structured excercise. Not only can a body burn out, but so can the mind.

Here's my new schedule:

Mon: Run 4 miles
Weights: Pull (heavy)

Tue: Walk 4 miles
Weights: Push (heavy)

Wed: Run 4 miles
Weights: Off

Thu: Walk 4 miles
Weights: Pull (light)

Fri: Run 4 miles
Weights: Push (light)

Sat: Run 4 miles
Weights: Off

Sun: Off

I'll alternate push/pull and pull/push each week.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: AmdInside

Originally posted by: Amused
Remember to get a lot of fruits and vegies, too. The only munchies in my house now are bananas, apples and peaches. (used to be chips and cheez-its.)

Mine have been oranges and bananas, mostly bananas because they are much cheaper. Went to a apple festival this weekend (girlfriends idea, not mine) and had some pretty good apples so I am thinking of eating apples instead of oranges since I already drink orange juice at least once a day. I really liked the Golden apples. Two more questions and I am done. I promise. My doctor told me my ideal weight for my height (5'10) is 170lbs. Does this sound correct if I am building muscle as well? Also, does anyone have a printed workout shedule of what they do during the week that they can email me? A friend of mine did this for himself when I was in high school and it worked well for him to have the same routine since he made sure to workout all of his muscles every week consistently. Thanks.

Good deal on the fruit You'll find they are great munchies and between meal snacks.

As for "ideal body weight." It's just a loose guide line. Your ideal body weight is where your body fat is lower than 20%, you no longer have a spare tire, and you feel good about yourself.

Remember what I told you about watching the scale? Watch your body, and measure in inches, not pounds. Especially if you start weight training.

 

[AmdInside]

Originally posted by: Fausto1

Originally posted by: vi_edit

Do you recommend going early in the morning before going into work or going in the evening?

I HAVE to do it in the morning. The hell that I call work drains every living part of my livelyhood through the day. The last thing I want to do when I get back is work out.

I'll have a beer and crack a book, or go for a walk. But I just can't get myself to go to the gym. That, and my gym is PACKED from 3:30 till about 7:00 PM. There's like a 20 minute wait to get on any piece of equipment. So, I get up at 6:30 and head to the gym. Nobody's around, and I get it out of the way.

Yep. Too easy to blow off a workout when you're already wiped out from being at work.

Frequency of workouts:

Cardio: as much as 6 days a week, but shoot for at least four. Just make sure to vary the intensity from day to day. Bury yourself a couple times per week (either with big intensity or big volume) and go easier the other days of the week for recovery. Try to stagger workouts so you don't have a big weight and cardio workout on the same day......too easy to get overtrained that way. My weekly schedule is as follows:

Mon: off bike + 1.5 hours weights (overall body workout)
Tues: 1-2 hours easy bike (heart rate < 150)
Wed: 3+ hours tempo on bike (tempo = low/med aerobic pace < 160bpm)
Thurs: 1-2 hours easy bike + 1.5 hours weights
Friday: 1 hour very easy bike (active recovery hr < 130)
Sat: 3-4 hours bike with group (up to max intensity as dictated by pace of group, hr up to 195 bpm)
Sun: 3-5 hours tempo bike

As you can see, the big efforts of the week are staggered to avoid burnout and allow for proper recovery (although I do kinda double-dip on weekends since I don't have time for really long rides during the week). Obviously, this is a very cycling-specific regimen and not necessarily applicable to you since it's light on lifting (cyclists don't need extra upper body mass) but hopefully still illustrates the need to incorporate active recovery. Also, don't be afraid to take a day off if you're feeling fried (poor sleep, elevated resting pulse, crankiness, etc) since it's easier to make up for a missed day than to dig yourself out of an overtraining hole, believe me.

Lifting: Depends on how you set your schedule. Main thing to remember is to give each muscle group you hit on a given day two days for recovery. So you can do some kind of rotation like upper body (day one)/lower body(day two)/off(day three)/repeat or similar. Lots of flexibility in how you break down your lift schedule on a weekly basis.

Wow. That is alot. I don't think I could workout that much. Don't think my girlfriend would enjoy me being away so much as well. 4 days a week is easily doable for me though. Have you been in any bicycling events Fausto1? Also, once I reach my 170lbs, should I continue w/ this excessive workout or would 2-3 days a week be sufficient?

 

[Fausto]

I'm a firm believer that one should have one or two days a week off from all structured excercise. Not only can a body burn out, but so can the mind.

I'm well aware of that danger, believe me. I've been cycling long enough (12 years) to know when I need a day off (I generally take Mon or Friday off completely depending on how I feel). Like I said, cycling is a unique animal when it comes to the amount of time spent training. You do indeed spend a ton of time on the bike, but only a relatively small amount of that time is spent at high intensity. 80-90% of your time (depending on what time of year it is) is spent either building base aerobic fitness or as active recovery (very, very low intensity). The other thing about cycling is that there is a yearly "cycle" most racers follow. We bust ass in the spring (building fitness) and summer building (racing) but then we have an off-season (late fall through roughly Jan depending on local climate) that is mostly off the bike doing either nothing or cross-training "fun" stuff. There are guys who try to maintain year-round super-fitness, but they end up burning themselves to a cinder after a couple years of that crap.

Anyway, for "normal" workout regimens like we're discussing here it's definitely prudent to take one or two days completely off per week. No amount of effort in the gym will pay dividends if you don't have adequate recovery time. My body will typically crap out and I'll get a cold if I'm neglecting my recovery.

 

[Amused]

Originally posted by: AmdInside


Wow. That is alot. I don't think I could workout that much. Don't think my girlfriend would enjoy me being away so much as well. 4 days a week is easily doable for me though. Have you been in any bicycling events Fausto1? Also, once I reach my 170lbs, should I continue w/ this excessive workout or would 2-3 days a week be sufficient?

Once you get to where you want to be, you'll want to do moderate cardio three days a week for a minimum of 30 minutes. Weight training is up to you, but you should do a minimum, whole body workout twice weekly to maintain muscle mass. After 20, we gain 1% of fat and lose 1% of muscle mass each year. This REALLY begins to show in your mid thirties. The upside is you can stop and reverse this by maintaining a regular, long term workout routine.

1.5 hours a week to keep your heart in shape and the fat off is not too much to ask, right? Then add another 3 hours of weight training, and it adds up to only 4.5 hours a week and you'll keep looking and feeling like a superstar.

I wake up, and after 30-60 minutes of clearing the cobwebs from my brain, I do my run. I get my weight training in during my lunches. That's what works for me, and I miss no time with the GF.

Fausto's routine is a little advanced. He's just showing off

[edit] BTW, it would be a good idea to pick up some active hobbies/sports. This will really help you along, both in losing the weight, and in maintaning your body after you reach your ideal body type. Tennis, skating, skiing, biking, etc. Something fun that you don't consider "working out."

 

[Fausto]

Wow. That is alot. I don't think I could workout that much. Don't think my girlfriend would enjoy me being away so much as well. 4 days a week is easily doable for me though. Have you been in any bicycling events Fausto1? Also, once I reach my 170lbs, should I continue w/ this excessive workout or would 2-3 days a week be sufficient?

Yeah, it is a lot. Like I said, I wasn't putting that up as a suggested course of action....more to make the point that you need to stagger hard days with easy/off days in order to make progress. Cycling training is really different than most other regimens; bikes are so efficient that you need to spend a lot more time per week to build high levels of fitness as opposed to other sports. A good illustration of this is the marathon. 26 miles on foot is a huge achievement whereas 26 miles on a bike is attainable for even very casual riders. Someone like Lance Armstrong probably puts in 4-500 miles per week in preparation for the Tour de France. :Q

To answer your question: I've been racing bikes on and off since college. I was pretty serious back in my early 20's and did a few races with pro riders (they will often combine top amateurs with pros in order to have a decently-sized field at big races), but more or less just do it for fun now. It's just too much effort to train at that level AND have a job and a life. I'm lucky that my wife is pretty tolerant of the amount of time I'm gone training.....I know plenty of ex-racers who don't ride much any more because their wives bitch at them for being gone all weekend every weekend.

EDIT:

Fausto's routine is a little advanced. He's just showing off

Okay....maybe a little bit. I'm just kinda fired up right now since I'm finally getting my legs back after a few years of neglecting my bikes. I'm hoping to be fit enough by spring to be competitive in races again.