Be specific. For me personally (and quite a few others), losing fat is done most efficiently by increasing protein and fat intake, and cutting WAY back on carb sources that aren't green vegetables and small amounts of fruit. If you're into intense weight training at all or aspire to be, "carb cycling" works well also.

It's more complicated than that. I've definitely met vegans that were really into body building and quite good at it, but the amount of discipline that it takes to get it right is pretty significant.

It's also worth noting that meats aren't uniform in their impact on the body, some meats have more LDL than others do and exercise has a pretty significant impact on what it does to ones body.
This is one of the reasons why the Atkins fad was such a horrible idea. Not all carbs are equal and it tended to lead to a conclusion which was contrary to ones interest.

Cutting refined sugars down to a minimum is definitely a good idea, but cutting out foods just because of carb content can lead to things like ketoacidosis and not getting enough of the various nutrients in fruits and vegetables.

The biggest problem with the Atkins diet was that people concentrated solely on the first two week, high protein aspect of it. They just kept repeating it over and over. Terribly unhealthy. The actual diet plan itself (after the initial two weeks of high protein) has you eating more and more veggies with some good carbs as well (i.e. not refined white flour).

Anyway, on topic: I've been gaining weight lately due to a physical problem barring me from getting enough exercise, and falling into poor eating habits. I've been fixing the eating part of things and am seeing a doctor today to get the physical part worked out. So hopefully in the very near future, I'll be back on a regular exercise routine.

Juice for breakfast is infinitely superior to nothing for breakfast.

Personally, I got around to doing my first full weightlifting session in an embarrassingly long period of time. Embarrassing because I own the equipment and don't need to leave the house. Sometimes I need things like this to get my butt in gear.

On the plus side, my ankle is feeling almost healed already.

I made a point to do 30 minutes of real activity a day for the last two weeks... walking on the beach, exploring a local fort, power walking around my neighborhood, etc... and I didn't lose a pound. I didn't expect to burn weight off but after months and months of literally doing nothing I was hoping I would see some kind of loss.

I guess I need a real exercise program. I like swimming but I don't think I can do that everyday or even every other day, it's just not something I want to do that frequently unless I have a pool in my house. I am thinking right now I want an exercise bike... peddling on that while watching something stupid on TV would be fine.

IMO, when weight loss is your goal, nutrition is where you're going to succeed or fail. 30 min of activity a day is great for a plethora of reasons, but isn't likely to make a huge impact on weight loss on its own- if you're eating too much (or simply far more carbohydrates than you actually need to taking in, most peoples' mistake once they're trying to cut calories), the weight loss aspect of being active for 30 minutes can be easily destroyed by a few beers, cookies, or whatever.

If you've got the nutrition part dialed in, then light cardio activity (walking, jogging, biking, swimming, etc) can definitely accelerate your results, but on it's own really doesn't burn calories in any great amount.


(no longer directed to stingingvelvet)
IMO, the biggest problem with Atkins was that most people seemed to just miss the point entirely. Seems like most "Atkins dieters" thought it meant "buy fast food hamburgers and just eat the meat and cheese while snacking on pork rinds all day". All of the greens, healthy fats, and quality protein sources just kind of went out the mainstream window on that one.

Down to 184 lbs.

Increasing fat intake? I'm assuming you're not referring to saturated fat. ;)

No offense, but I don't feel like getting too specific right now; however, I'll give you another gist of my meals today: no breakfast, although I did have a banana around 10:30 (probably the worst fruit to have, eh?) - for lunch 1/2 sub with 2 slices of fake turkey, 2 pieces of cheese, some mayo, lettuce and tomato; roughly two cups of some pasta salad consisting of those curved noodles, some kind of dressing and chopped up veggies like cucumbers, onions, etc.; a cookie; and one of those mixed berry juice boxes - and for supper, 3 waffles and some peaches. (I did about 40 min of swimming tonight, too.)

(BTW, I'm not into the real /intense/ weight training.)

I agree with this. For someone with a slow metabolism (like me), it's more important to avoid calories than to try to burn them off. (Hard sometimes, but ultimately better for me.)

Yeah, that was the original intention. I figured, "What the fudge, why not create a thread to motivate myself and others to get in shape (if they want to), even if we have to slog towards our destination at times."

While I do need to lose weight I am honestly most concerned with just being healthier. I don't want to have a heart attack at 50, which honestly I am building towards right now. I don't eat a lot of desserts or anything but I don't eat vegetables very often either. I do get a lot of fruit because I love apples, oranges and bananas.

My plan right now is to add vegetables to my diet and add cardio workouts.

In my current understanding, saturated fat (usually animal fats) can be just fine- it's TRANS fats that you want to avoid at all costs.

http://www.charlespoliquin.com/ArticlesMultimedia/Articles/Article/444/Whats_Really_Making_Us_Unhealthy_Hint-_its_not_sat.aspx

"It’s interesting to note that prior to the 1920’s, Americans ate tons of lard, butter, beef and cheese but both strokes and heart attacks were far less common than they are today. Enter the saturation (forgive the pun) of the food supply with hydrogenated oils, high omega-6 vegetable oils and tons of carbohydrates--now heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States."

This is an interesting read as well, although this guy isn't at Charles Poliquin's level:
http://www.musclehack.com/the-saturated-fat-cholesterol-myth-destroyed/

More reading I'd recommend checking out if you're interested.

http://www.amazon.com/Why-We-Get-Fat-About/dp/0307272702/ref=pd_sim_b_1

Do you eat eggs or fish Tfishel? Wondering since you said "vegetarian" and not "vegan".

Bodybuilding.com has gone to the trolls. Shit, I think people there troll more than they discuss about working out. Any attempt at asking for helpful advice tends to get called out as being ignorant, in spite of having read the stickies. And don't even get me started on Misc...

But back on topic, I've been working out on and off for about 7 years already. I haven't gotten to the desired mass because real life often gets in the way, especially during my 2 years of national service, which caused me to put my training on hold. Working hours were irregular, and once I had to stop training for months after injuring my wrist while servicing a tank.

These days I hit the gym 3 times a week, but I'm going to try and incorporate one more day in there for legs (squats, calf raises and deadlifts). My current schedule on a perfectly normal week (where I sleep well, don't stay up later than I should playing games etc) is as such:

Monday: targets are forearms, chest and triceps. Got chest covered with 3x8 dumbbell flys, or 2x8 dumbbell flys + 2x8 bench press. Triceps will be 3x8 skullcrusher. Forearms will be reverse grip curl.

Wednesday: Got back and posterior delts covered with this. Typically 2x8 lat pulldowns + 2x8 seated row; posterior delts will be reverse fly.

Friday: Mainly shoulders here. Dumbbell raise for anterior, lateral raise for lateral.

For biceps and forearms, I just pick any day when I'm not at the gym and do 3x8 curls with a set of dbs I have at home. Same with core, anytime I'm at home, I'll just randomly find time to do 2 sets of side planks and 3 sets of crunches.

My aim right now is first and foremost to make sure I'm training right. Only 4 years after my first work out did I realize that I'd been doing it wrong all along. I could bench 60-80kg back then but didn't realize I'd been doing it all wrong.

Don't skimp on the breakfast man. It'll make you feel like shit i.e. horribly lethargic. Plus when you wake up in the morning, your body goes into catabolic state and will breakdown more muscle than fat tissue. You need to have some carbs, preferably high fibre, to keep it out of that state.

I know, it's terrible and I really need to. (It's just a habit; I haven't usually eaten breakfast during my semesters, as I just love sleeping until I /really/ need to get up. :P) I did not know about the catabolic state thing, however. I guess it would work in my favor, having to get up earlier, because then I'd need to go to bed earlier and that would keep me from eating late at night. We'll see what happens.

Some will disagree with what I do, but when I'm in a rush, I just grab a Kit-Kat and wolf it down. 80 calories there, but it's good enough for me to sustain a morning run followed by a workout. It is better than not having eaten anything for the past 12 hours - which is what happened on Wednesday. I completely forgot to eat and went straight to the track. Running was okay, but on the way to the gym, I felt the onset of a migraine, but ignored it. While doing seated rows, I nearly puked due to the migraine caused by the exertion.

I understand how it is in the mornings when you just want to catch that extra hour of shut eye. Besides chocolate, sometimes I drink Milo, or coffee + chocolate milk, which keeps me going for a few hours until lunch time. I can be really lazy in the morning, and even cooking up something simple like oats can feel like a chore, so this is where I turn to the above quick recipes.

May I suggest Hemp Protein shake? With a shaker cup it will take you about 30 seconds to make a quick one. Hell of a lot better than a Kit Kat. Use almond milk for a bit of extra sweetness. I like Manitoba Harvest brand but any brand will likely do.

I used to go crazy on ON Whey, and bought about a total of 8 tubs, which lasted me about a year. However, I stopped after feeling hot and bothered by it, literally. The stuff was heaty, and my sweat just smelled really bad during the period when I consumed it everyday. Subsequently, I cut back on it and decided to just stick to tofu, fish, meat and eggs.

I don't know about hemp. Is it as heaty? Maybe I'll give it a go. Any flavour you'd recommend? Do different brands taste differently?

(I once tried mixing liquor with whey. Incidentally it actually tasted pretty good)