Fitness, Nutrition and Health- All Welcome (Hardcore and “Light”)

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1901

The book, The Barbell Prescription, is where I got the daily protein goal, based on my estimated body weight.

The book says our systems are less efficient as we age, like it or not. At 56, my body is not going to use all that protein as efficiently as it would in my 20s, so it’s important to take in “extra”, if you want to add muscle mass.

My goal is 150, but I’m not going to flip out if I only get 125-130.

This is what it usually looks like:

Breakfast: 2 Siggi Yogurts with Bran Buds

Lunch: Base layer of starch (roasted potatoes & veggies, farro & veggies) with chicken breast & salsa.

Dinner: Base later of starch (roasted potatoes & veggies, farro & veggies, store bought power bowl) with chicken breast & salsa

The yogurt is 30 grams. The chicken at 2 meals can easily be 75-125 grams.

The potatoes, and farro add in a few grams.

If I snack, it might be an RX bar (12 g).

I change up the salsa — there are so many good ones!

If I’m coming up short for the day, I might mix a scoop of NOW whey protein isolate with a Diet A&W and a splash of half-n-half. 25 grams. This is not a regular thing, but a good option on busy days.

I do eat red meat as well, although I have to be careful the calories don’t add up too quickly (the fat %).

I am fine eating very simple meals and eating slight variations of the same thing day after day.

I don’t cook for anyone else. I cook the farro and roasted potatoes/veggies in a big batch. I often buy the chicken pre-cooked at Trader Joe’s.

I don’t weigh anything, and measuring is ballpark (that’s about a cup of farro!).

When I was working, I would take meals at work too (restaurant). It was almost always chicken breast over a salad or chicken breast with a side of roasted potatoes/veggies.

I love whole eggs, but I find the calories can really add up fast without getting a lot of protein for the calories.

One tip I got from the podcast is “put protein first” when planning meals.

I also find a slightly boring food routine drastically reduces cravings. YMMV

I will still have a burger & fries, or a bacon wrapped bison meatloaf at a restaurant, but it’s a treat, not a regular thing.

When the kids were home and I was cooking all the time, it seems like we were really driven by what sounded yummy to eat. Always trying new recipes, and BAKING (my weakness). Pizza!

It’s much easier now, frankly. And I’m much more at peace with my relationship with food.

With three meals, lean protein, I’m easily up to about 1600 calories. Add in a snack or a beer, or if the protein is not lean, I’m easily at 1800-2000 calories and sometimes 2200.

If I didn’t strength train, I’d have to cut my calories down quite a bit to maintain & I think that would be very challenging.

IME, protein is highly satiating as well — another bonus. I don’t feel hungry all the time, like I used to.

Even if a female could get their protein up to 100 grams a day, that would more than double the average intake.

1902

I’m happy to have been able to keep up with my 5 mile runs, which is a good thing since working from home has led to increased snacking (something I don’t do when I’m at the office). I have made it a point to also go for an afternoon walk every day (unless it’s raining) to get away from my computer, and it’s been wonderful. Walking for me had always been something to do quickly to get to a destination, and now I’m enjoying taking deep breaths and enjoying my surroundings while appreciating being outside in the fresh air.

1903

Raining this morning so I stayed inside on the treadmill. 5K done before my first meeting. 2.23 miles for Maud, the young black man who was murdered in February in Georgia. It’s supposed to be really cold tonight (record cold) so I’m not thrilled about that for my longer run in the morning. Wore the Allbirds on the treadmill this morning and they felt good.

1904

@“Youdon’tsay” , it could be that you are underestimating your caloric intake and overestimating your caloric burn from exercise. Or it could actually be that you can’t lose weight because you’ve been eating too little for too long given your level of activity. Without diving deep into the weeds of the science about it, it’s something that actually occurs. Often, what helps is to “reverse diet” i.e increase your caloric intake to reset your metabolic clock. Without knowing more details about you and your circumstances, I’m shooting from the hip but it might be interesting to see what happens if you slowly increased your food intake to about 10-20% more than your calories/day for a couple of months. If you do a google search for Precision Nutrition Reverse Dieting, you will find some very worthwhile articles on this.

1905

Another person who did 2.23 for Ahmaud. 3.3 total today. Tomorrow I will finish the lululemon challenge, didn’t get in a recordable workout on Tuesday.

@“Youdon’tsay”, I would do some research on what @MichaelNKat talked about. He’s really on top on nutrition and diet and I would listen to any advice he would give me.

1906

Thank you @deb922 , that is very kind of you to say.

1907

Re @Bromfield2 post 1876 and @BunsenBurner post 1877, yes, glute strength has a direct bearing on low back pain. Quick explanation. We spend so much time sitting and engaged in activities that are quad and hip flexor dominant that we end up with an anterior tilt to our pelvis (tilts forward). This causes excessive curvature in our lumbar spine (lordosis) which leads to low back pain. A solution to this is to strengthen your glutes and hamstrings, which will pull the top back of your pelvis to rotate to the rear and to strengthen your abs which will pull the bottom front of your pelvis forward which creates a posterior (rearward) tilt to your pelvis. This eliminates the excessive lordosis and stabilizes your pelvis in a nice neutral position. Hip bridges, heel taps from a step bench, squats (with a strong hinge), deadlifts and planks are great exercises for this.

1908

I thought this morning was day 50 in the C-gym, but now I think it was yesterday. My days are all lost and mixed up. It was supposed to be an easy run, but I felt good so I did tomorrow’s more peppy run today. Video of the day was isometrics. I did pretty well with this one. It was 6-7 exercises for 1 min. 4 rounds and the rest between exercises decreased with each round. (30s down to 15) I was pleased to do most of the chin-up exercises. That was was chin-up/flexed arm hang for 10 seconds, drop down (still hanging) and pull-up repeat. Basically 5 chin-ups with 5x10 sec flexed arm hangs per round. I did the first two rounds perfectly. The last two I dropped and rested for the 4th flexed arm hang.

Tomorrow’s workout looks scary. We will see how I fare. I am really enjoying these workouts though.

And I’ve mentioned I’ve got the bad hip tilt/banana boat back. My hips also twist to the left due to sitting in a twisted chair at work 40 hpw for 17 years. I’ve got a new setup now, but I think the twist is permanent. I work and work at it, but progress is oh so slow. Maybe I’ll be all fixed when I turn 80.

1909

I rode my bike over 20 miles yesterday, walked a couple of miles, and did a fair amount of yoga/stretching, knowing today was going to be a bad day.
Today I went to pick up our new kitty and have been dealing with her all day. I didn’t do my exercise or my work related webinar, but I can catch up over the weekend.

1910

^A new kitty!

1911

@1214mom How did the kitty pick up go? What kind? (Edited- I see it’s a Bengal!). How sweet. (I have 4 cats)

1912

Yesterday was 50 minute gym and a long (3.5 miles) walk. Today was two hours of pulling up weeds and filling pots with dirt and lugging them around.

1913

Such a great and uplifting thread! Definitely inspired to get more into fitness

1914

@1214mom new kitty? So cute! And a bengal? Those are so cool. We went to an arcade a few months ago and a guy bought his dog and his bengal cat. The cat likes to sit on the bar apparently.

@MomofWildChild we have 4 cats too! Though 3 is probably ideal for me. We had 5 but lost a 17 year old last Sept. and another will be 17 in July who’s not doing so well either.

1915

@ClassicMom98 I have 3 Ragdolls- 1 is 15. The tortie is 16 1/2 and seems to want to hang on forever. Also- 2 rescued Golden Retrievers. We adopt older rescued Goldens. Current set is a mother/son- probably 11 and 8 or so.

1916

Ran 2.23 for #irunwithmaud yesterday.

No running today, my virtual 4 mile Mother’s Day race is tomorrow. So planning some light strength/stretching today and likely a walk.

I am currently without a pet (dog died 2 years ago and not a good time to get another or foster). Would like a cat, but my allergies say no.

1917

I have a 10 yo Bengal and now a baby. She’s 11 weeks old. She’s a marbled Bengal. Older one is rosetted (what you expect Bengals to look like).
Pickup was yesterday in a restaurant parking lot, in the rain. (It was a half way point as the breeder agreed to meet me because in Maryland we are not supposed to leave the state or we are supposed to self-quarantine for 14 days).

Kitten is doing great - she’s conquered climbing up the bed and onto the top of her carrier (Bengals like high places) and she jumped from the bed to a low dresser kind of thing and back, all in her safe room. She’s very playful and eating well already. (We were warned she might not eat well yesterday, but she seems to be a hearty little thing).

Older cat is NOT happy though. She hisses at us when we smell like the kitten. Hopefully she will get used to her over time.

Today my son and his gf are coming (they have been self-quarantined for quite some time, so we feel safe having them come), so my workouts for the weekend will likely not be long.

1918

I loved my workout this morning. The run part was not to be hard, but I did 3 loops with the big hill, so those minutes weren’t easy. It makes me feel like I accomplished something. And then the video was a high rep workout. 50 reps of 8 exercises. I’m sure I can’t remember them all, but I know I’m in trouble when it starts with burpee sliders. The rests were 45 sec of army crawl dragging legs on the sliders. I was really good at those! And then I was so pleased with my diamond push-ups. I could actually do them. Ok all 50 were not amazing and I took a few breaks. But in P90X I couldn’t do 1 for real on my toes. I think for me watching people do them helps. (I preview the video the day before.)

I instructed everyone not to buy me anything for mother’s day. I want my kids to save their $$$ for themselves. But they are going to help me purge and clean. The clean will be this weekend. Purging is a long project. Older S is in the process of moving home for a month and then to new city July 2nd. He has way too much stuff and finally agrees…

1919

I would love a purge and clean @ClassicMom98 . That’s a great gift.

Happy Mother’s Day to all.

1920

I’m glad that all of you have perfect cats. Unfortunately that’s not the case at our house. Our orange tiger cat:

  • destroys a phone cord charger every month
  • returns shredded animal carcasses to our deck 2-3x per week
  • needs to be let outside 29x per day.
  • wakes me every morning at 5:30 am wanting to be fed
    I know I have no one to blame but myself. Just a bad parent. Just venting!