Turnover;441620 said:
Hey Sizerp, could you drop some knowledge of a good regular diet we can try? Some of this advice you're giving is new to me and I'd like to slim my stomach down it has always been an issue of mine. Could you post any websites that might have the info or could you make a thread or both? I never knew about Almond milk, and using a juicer sounds like a good idea, but I never did anything with mine except make smoothies, what else can it be used with?
Sure Turn.
So your goals are to slim down a bit and lose some bodyfat I assume?
First piece of advice for shedding that unwanted bodyfat would be to get a membership to a gym and do strength training. Most people assume that with strength training, you're going to blow up and get all swole like Arnold or something, but this can't be further from the truth. In fact, most women I know dread the idea of lifting weights, or doing any sort of resistance training in fear of gaining mass, but when I get them into a routine of actually utilizing their muscles, they end up very pleased with the results of overall body aesthetics! See the thing is, the more muscle you hold the less bodyfat you'll store. This doesn't mean you need to be jacked to burn bodyfat though! The part where a lot of people get frustrated is they assume they can just do cardio and eat less carbs and get trimmed up. Well, that's really not the best way to go about doing this. Resistance training is the number 1 way to burn stored bodyfat.
If you don't have access to a gym, or a can't afford a membership, then I recommend doing something like pushups pullups (pullup bars are pretty cheap), and crunches. Grab objects around your house and use them for squatting, or curls, etc. If you have never strength trained before, and are completely clueless, that's okay too, you can get an idea from watching youtube on proper form, and to develop ideas about lifting in your own home. The idea would be to train your trunk/core/legs/upper body. Split the workouts up so you're working out 3 times per week. Never train back to back days, give yourself 1 day after training to let your nervous system and muscles recover, then hit it again. So monday/wednesday/friday would be a basic plan. Do about an hour of workout per session. So 3 hours a week! Not bad right!
Onto diet. While strength training you'll want to fuel your body and provide adequate nutrients to help it heal and grow! Remember, you don't grow while working out, you grow while healing, just like in Penis Enlargement! Just like you stretch all day, and pump all night, when you sleep, you wake up ready to begin your exercises again! During this sleep period, your body undergoes its healing miracles. The same things is applied to training, when you lift or workout you're breaking down your muscle fibers, and when you're body is resting over the course of 24 hours, your nervous system and muscles begin to heal and they super compensate and heal to where they are stronger to provide your body with added survivability.
With this type of functionality you'll want to fuel your body with macro-nutrients such as carbohydrates, and try to keep them as complex as possible to balance your satiety. For example, when you wake up you're body has been fasting for 7-10 hours and you're going to need fuel to go about your day! You should be eating some complex carbs (fuel) like oatmeal to give you the required energy.
Try to eat as clean as possible. It's very logical and easy if you take the time to get into the habit of reading your nutritional labels. Just think about it this way, sugar is your culprit for storing bodyfat. When you eat lots of high-glycemic carbs or very sugary foods like soft drinks, most dairy products, desserts, fast food, junk food, etc... you're body releases insulin (a transport hormone) to cleanse your blood of the sugar! When your insulin is secreted from your pancreas your glucagon (a hormone responsible for utilizing and breaking down stored bodyfat as fuel) levels drop significantly. It's kind of like a sea-saw. So the more you spike your insulin, the more you're storing bodyfat, or preventing your body from using stored bodyfat as fuel!
This is why the atkins diet was the biggest rage back in the day, people believed that if they never spiked their insulin (no carbs/sugar) then they would start losing weight! Well, in theory this is correct, however it's not necessarily healthy! By reducing your carbohydrate intake for extended periods of time, and eating a very low carb diet, you are increasing your sensitivity to such carbs. Then, when you DO increase your carb intake again, you are very sensitive and people can actually develop hypo and hyperglycemia through this approach to dieting. (This takes a while though). Not to mention, when you don't have carbs you have no energy to do anything! Workouts suffer, strength fails, and you feel tired and lethargic all day!
The goal is to stay balanced, to keep your blood sugar levels balanced throughout the day. Don't do anything extreme, like zero carb, or cyclic ketosis (although this does have it's application for the experienced dieter). (Ketosis diets are where you drop your carb intake to very low amounts everyday like 20g or less, and after a few days of this your body starts to utilize fat as it's main fuel instead of carb/sugar for short periods of time). Inasmuch, carbs aren't bad, it's just the choice of carb you eat! You should research the glycemic index of carbs, and try to consume ones that are on the low side of the scale. That means things like brown rice instead of white rice, sweet and red potatoes instead of white or baking potatoes, oatmeal instead of cereal (not instant oats), and if you MUST eat wheat, whole wheat pastas instead of the basic ones. Glycemic index basically tells you how much insulin your body will be releasing after eating a certain portion of what type of food your ingesting. You can wikipedia the glycemic index, and also glycemic load (which is less applicable if you are eating regular serving sizes).
I did mention protein? Not only that, protein plays a major role in all of the cells and most of the fluids in our bodies. Enzymes, hormones, neurotransmitters, and even our DNA are at least partially made up of protein. We don't want to recycling protein through catabolism and muscle breakdown, because if you don't consume enough protein your body will attack itself to get it. We use up protein constantly, so it is important to continually replace it. This is the other important macro-nutrient you need to help burn bodyfat. Why? Well because if you are doing any sort of resistance training, protein is going to be the thing building and repairing your muscles! Our body required amino acids for all sorts of functions, and not just muscle building, however, when you eat a healthy amount of protein per day (varied per individual based on weight, bodyfat percentage, goals, etc...) you're allowing your body to synthesis another vital part in staying healthy and in shape. Remember your heart is a muscle too, the most important one in your body in fact!
Fats, healthy fats! Smart balance peanut butter, or most nut/seed butters/oils will help to provide a good balance of Omega3:6 and that's what you need for all sorts of metabolic functions, muscle building included. Eating the essential fatty acids our bodies cannot produce on their own (omegas, 3, 6, 9 most commonly) will in turn help your digestive track stay lubed, improve neuron function, and prevent cancer and diseases. Fish oil is one of the best supplements you can take, I would grab a bottle of Carlson's and take at least a serving per day.
If you give me your stats I can help develop a more tailored diet for your needs. We'll work one step at a time and figure out what types of foods you enjoy eating and what kind of activity level you currently have.
Start with this
Age
Height
Weight
Thanks for reading!
