northernmusician's Journal, 01 January 2017

(u)Newbies and New Years Resolution people please read this post. You can read the entire thing by clicking on the text.(/u) (My buddies are also welcome to read it, or anyone else. :)

It's been a rough couple of months. No, this is not a new years resolution. I know I'm over 200 now and will weigh in in about 3 days. I've gotten back to lifting consistently again over the past month but my diet (lol) has been horrible. I can do it, and I'm finally back to feeling like I want to support my lifting again with proper diet - not to mention I've been feeling like crap since allowing high levels of starchy carbs back into the diet. (C'est la guerre!)

For all those who are here as a New Year's resolution, the key is to make some friends here, log in every day, and log all of your food without giving yourself freebies, no matter what they are. Fess up, log the junk, take the criticism, and learn to care about yourself again. Try to steer clear of fad diets, and remember the most important thing... it's the calories, stupid! (Meant as a goad, not a slight.) If you're not extremely overweight, expect to lose 5-8 pounds in your first week. After that, you goal is to lose between 1-2 pounds per week of keeping it relatively strict. It's reality.

Unless you're extremely overweight (talking in the 300 plus range here), losing faster than that will strip muscle which will slow your metabolism. Muscle = metabolism. Get some exercise, but don't go crazy. Deciding you'll cut back to 800 calories per day and exercise hard three times a day is a surefire way to fail. Go for a walk every day. I don't care if it's to the stop sign and back to start. Just do it! (Thanks, Nike.) Get the diet in line. That's job 1. (Thanks, Ford.)

I'm a meat eater. Don't argue vegan-ism or vegetarianism with me, it does not work for me, and I have my own religion thank you.

<u>A quick word about 'eating better' to be healthier.</u> Yes, there are better choices to be healthier, and some of them do have direct health benefits, but don't kid yourself. Most of the better choices will not save you from the consequences of obesity, the main concerns being heart attack, diabetes and stroke. One more thing to consider, eating crap but being under calories so you stay lean will not save you from the consequences of essentially poisoning your body. The medications you will use in the future will never trump the consequences of the food choices you make over a lifetime.

<u>Some terms:</u> (To my buddies, feel free to add terminology as you see fit.)

<u>LCHF</u> - Low carb, high fat. (This is an awesome approach, but takes a little getting used to. Think Atkins.)
<u>16:8 and 'Intermittent fasting'</u> - The approach of taking 16 hour between feeding periods and 8 hours to eat. This is normally done by adhering to something like last food at 8 pm (I like some carbs here to help me sleep) and not eating again until noon the next day. Breakfast is NOT the most important meal of the day, especially with the junk they tell us we 'should' be eating.
<u>Carbs</u> aka carbohydrates - generally any grain, fruit, berry, ... anything that grows in the ground, on the ground, or through hydroponics.
<u>Protein</u> generally animal or animal products. Meat, fish, chicken, and dairy.
<u>Fat</u> any oil or fat product produced by processing (to some degree) an animal or plant product. Olive oil, coconut oil, butter (a staple of mine), canola oil (never, never, never).
<u>Toxins</u> Peanuts (for me), gluten (for people with celiac and to varying degrees for other people - a wheat component), hydrogenated fats, high fructose corn syrup (in damn near everything).

Always willing to accept buddy requests.

200.0 lb Lost so far: 0 lb.    Still to go: 8.0 lb.    Diet followed reasonably well.

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1867 kcal

Fat: 114.41g | Prot: 138.70g | Carb: 73.47g.   Breakfast: LeanFit Whey Protein Shake - Vanilla, Spectrum Organic Virgin Coconut Oil, Coffee. Lunch: Bananas, Mayonnaise, Egg. Dinner: White Bread, Butter, Baked or Broiled Trout. Snacks/Other: Foremost whipping cream, Driscoll's Raspberries, LeanFit Whey Protein Shake - Vanilla. more...