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Good Evening from Sirdle!


sirdle
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Hello everybody,

 

I was passing through this website a few days ago, looking for some bodybuilding tips, and got sucked in by the variety of the posts here. I have posted a few replies, myself, and compassionategirl suggested I introduce myself. So here goes:

 

Yeah, that's a picture of me. It's a few years old, though. I am 41 now, but that was the last time I had a killer body, so I thought I'd use that pic. These days I work too much and don't spend enough time with my friends or my wife, but I am working on changing all that. (The son of a friend of mine, who is six, said I am a workaholic. I asked him if he knew what that meant. He said, "That's when you work all the time, and don't have time for a snack! )

 

I started a nutrition and exercise program 2 months ago: I've dropped my body fat from 27% to 25%; dropped resting heart rate from 57bpm to 51bpm, and spent a week with my wife and one of her nieces playing card games, visiting museums, and eating vegan food. (I am not vegan or vegetarian... yet.)

 

I love good music and I am curious about life, the universe, and everything. If all goes well, my wife and I will have kayaks in a few weeks. Can't wait to get on the water...

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Yeah, that's a picture of me. It's a few years old, though. I am 41 now, but that was the last time I had a killer body, so I thought I'd use that pic. .. (The son of a friend of mine, who is six, said I am a workaholic. I asked him if he knew what that meant. He said, "That's when you work all the time, and don't have time for a snack! )

 

 

 

aaawwwww you were such a cute boy!!!!!! and that is a funny story - i like your sense of humour already sirdle!!!!

 

thanks for making me laugh!!! With you and the other funny man SkinnyDipper (Dan) on this site, this place is getting more entertaining by the day!!!!

 

Anyways, an official "Welcome" and I am sure you will have a flood of warm welcomes by tomorrow night!!!

 

peace

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Welcome new friend!

 

Thanks for discovering our site and for joining. It is great to have you here. Yes, Compassionategirl is great about encouraging others to participate, and welcoming everyone. She is also a very inspiring activist and writer on this forum.

 

Great to hear that you were able to spend time with your wife and take a break from work. I know I don't know a whole lot about life yet (I'm just 25) but I do know that sometimes we neglect some of the things that really matter most in life........that could be our health, our relationships, family, friends, the environment, animals, etc.

 

Glad to hear you are seeing some progress on your training as well!

 

Keep up the awesome work and it really is great to have you here.

 

Robert

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Thanks for sharing your story and welcome!

 

Congratualtions on your road to being healthy. Great to hear that you are putting work aside for your family. If you have any questions, feel free to ask and we will help you to the best of our ability. Good day!

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Thanks, everyone, for the welcome! It is nice to be here.

 

Here is where I am at:

6', 230#, 25%bf, 41yo, carnivore

 

Here is where I want to be:

6', 185#, <15% bf, 28yo, vegetarian

 

Shortterm Goals:

Cardio --- 2 hrs/wk at my target heart rate, running or eliptical trainer

Weight Training --- 2 hours, 3 times/wk

Nutrition --- 50% complex carbs, 20% simple carbs, 20% protein, 10% fat

Food Quality --- vegetarian

Weight --- continue to lose 0.5% to 1% bf each month for the next 18 months

 

Longterm Goals

Cardio --- 4 hrs/wk at my target heart rate, running, kayaking, cross-country skiing, bicycling

Intervals --- twice per week

Weight Training --- 2 hours, 3 times/wk

Nutrition --- 50% complex carbs, 15% simple carbs, 25% protein, 10% fat

Food Quality --- vegan

Weight --- once I get to 15% bf, decide on new goals vs effort

 

My workout is going well, but I have a lot of trouble with getting enough caloies with only 10% fat. When I am at home working, I eat all day long and I can get 2200 caloies, but when I am away from home, I get all light headed from lack of food and end up eating a bunch of fat and meat at a fast food place .

 

Thanks for your support, I'll keep you posted.

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My workout is going well, but I have a lot of trouble with getting enough caloies with only 10% fat. When I am at home working, I eat all day long and I can get 2200 caloies, but when I am away from home, I get all light headed from lack of food and end up eating a bunch of fat and meat at a fast food place .

 

I eat a very low fat vegan diet. I am typically around the 8-10% fat range, although I do splurge from time to time. These are my thoughts based on my experience.

 

- I eat 6 meals a day, eating every 2 - 3 hours.

- I try to make them about equal quantity to keep blood sugar regulated.

- If I get hungry before I eat, it is usually too late, and I pig out, so the trick for me has been to eat before I am hungry.

- It takes a lot of planning and patience to pack food in advance of being away from home (I work at home too). I always pack a snack whenever I go out just in case. I also read somewhere that a good trick is to keep a stash of healthy snacks in the car, just in case. Dried fruit are good for this.

- I don't know if you eat whole grains or not, but I find that the less refined the food, the longer it sustains me at the same calorie level. I think the fiber helps to slow the release of carbohydrates into your system, making them last longer.

- Beans are also really good at packing in calories, plus all the fiber also makes them sustain your energy longer.

- Fruit juice and dried fruit can also help to increase calories, but be careful, it is really easy to eat too much.

 

Don't know if this helps or not, but it has been working good for me.

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Sirdle, who gave you this:

 

Shortterm Goals:

Cardio --- 2 hrs/wk at my target heart rate, running or eliptical trainer

Weight Training --- 2 hours, 3 times/wk

Nutrition --- 50% complex carbs, 20% simple carbs, 20% protein, 10% fat

Food Quality --- vegetarian

Weight --- continue to lose 0.5% to 1% bf each month for the next 18 months

 

Longterm Goals

Cardio --- 4 hrs/wk at my target heart rate, running, kayaking, cross-country skiing, bicycling

Intervals --- twice per week

Weight Training --- 2 hours, 3 times/wk

Nutrition --- 50% complex carbs, 15% simple carbs, 25% protein, 10% fat

Food Quality --- vegan

Weight --- once I get to 15% bf, decide on new goals vs effort

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Thanks dtougas,

 

Yeah, brown rice, whole wheat pasta, beans, I try to eat unrefined foods whenever I can.

 

The tips about good snacks in the car and eating before I get hungry are good ones... I'm all over 'em. And of course, planning out what food to take with me when I am away from home is the next big step.

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Well Kollision,

 

It is really a mixture of advice. Let's see:

 

Cardio: this is my own goal. I think the aerobics will help me to burn off the fat and it's a lot of fun for me. (20 years ago I used to race bicycles. That is the only thing I ever wanted to do in life. I had so much fun... I would love to regain some of that fitness.)

 

Weight Training: I am starting with a program form one of Bill Pearl's books. I am doing 3 sets, 3 times/wk. But I morphed it out of recognition by adding extra exercises. Pearl's recommendation was 45-60 min per session. I should probaby cut my workout down smaller, but I am afraid to leave anything out.

 

Nutrition: The general advice of reducing fat and protein and eating more fruits and vegetables and beans and whole grains comes from a variety of sources. These particular percentages, however, come from a book by Dr. Robert Hass called Eat to Win which was a favorite of mine when I racing. The goal is to help me reduce my body fat, high triglyceride level, high cholesterol, high uric acid, etc. Some of these recommendations are supported by Covert Bailey in his Fit or Fat series of books.

 

Food Quality: Seems like a darn good idea to me.

 

Weight: When I lose weight too fast, I find that I lose a lot of muscle. I am hoping that 1% per month body fat reduction is attainable. Bailey suggests that anything over 15%bf is not healthy. How low can I go? I don't know. It will depend on how much effort it takes to get lower.

 

I know you had a reason for asking... there must something on your mind. I'd be happy to hear your suggestions.

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Hi there Sirdle,

 

Thanks for the explanation on your diet as well as your regime. Heres a few things that i need to know.

 

At the moment, you are doing 2 hours of cardio per week. How many sessions of cardio are you doing, at what intensity, and how long each session? Is this at the same day you are doing weights? As for weight training, you really have it right on the nail. 40 minutes is about the right amount for someone to be in the gym for.

 

I also think that the carbohydrate intake is pretty high, but we'll get into that later.

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Hey Kollision,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

I felt that I needed to start small and work my way up. Since my work schedule is so screwy, and often unpredictable, I made a commitment (2 months ago) to work on weights at the gym 3 times/wk with at least one rest day between. I know I can do that! And I am committed! The cardio fills in the gap as my schedule and fitness allow.

 

Since I am committed to being in the gym 3 times/wk, I get a light cardio on those days (65% of maximum heart rate) using an eliptical trainer --- 5 minutes warmup, 20 minutes cardio, 5 min warmdown --- then weight training --- then stretching. I have had back trouble in the past and I am afraid of injury during lifting, so I think of this as more of a total-body warmup rather than true cardio.

 

For my full cardio, I started 4 months ago with just walking. This was enough to get my heart into the target range (I was that out of shape

). When that became too easy, I started walking uphill... then hiking... then hiking uphill and jogging downhill. Now I am up to slow jogging on a mostly-level dirt road. On a good week, if my work schedule permits, I jog 2 times for an hour each time, at about 13 min/mile. This keeps my heart rate at 70-75%. Sometimes I only get out once in a week. These workouts are on my non-weight training days.

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Hey Kollision,

 

Thanks for your reply.

 

I felt that I needed to start small and work my way up. Since my work schedule is so screwy, and often unpredictable, I made a commitment (2 months ago) to work on weights at the gym 3 times/wk with at least one rest day between. I know I can do that! And I am committed! The cardio fills in the gap as my schedule and fitness allow.

 

Since I am committed to being in the gym 3 times/wk, I get a light cardio on those days (65% of maximum heart rate) using an eliptical trainer --- 5 minutes warmup, 20 minutes cardio, 5 min warmdown --- then weight training --- then stretching. I have had back trouble in the past and I am afraid of injury during lifting, so I think of this as more of a total-body warmup rather than true cardio.

 

For my full cardio, I started 4 months ago with just walking. This was enough to get my heart into the target range (I was that out of shape

). When that became too easy, I started walking uphill... then hiking... then hiking uphill and jogging downhill. Now I am up to slow jogging on a mostly-level dirt road. On a good week, if my work schedule permits, I jog 2 times for an hour each time, at about 13 min/mile. This keeps my heart rate at 70-75%. Sometimes I only get out once in a week. These workouts are on my non-weight training days.

 

This is exactly something people need to realize. A lot of people do cardio instead of an actual warm up. Cardio if done should be kept at the end of the workout followed by a cool down so that your body gets back into the way it was when you came to the gym.

 

The same goes for stretching. Never stretch without warming up. The body needs to have a higher temperature than normal for successful stretches, if not, you can cause damage to your body.

 

One thing with your program that I would find a bit off is that there is way too much cardio. Although cardio is good, there is a limit. Perhaps if you sacrificed some cardio time with weights, you would get even faster results. The reason is that muscle burns fat. A pound of muscle burns around 35 calories while a pound of fat burns around 2. So what would be advisable would be to gain more muscle mass.

 

This is all just a friendly advice that I am lending you, and I am in no way telling you to follow it. Hope that this helped.

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Thanks for the feedback, guys.

 

dtougas: yeah that is the picture I was thinking of. I thought he was 60 in that photo. He's not? How old do you think he is?

 

Kollision: yeah, I noticed that about the cardio, also. I have been told that 20-30 min 3 times/wk maxes out the cardio benefit, and that if you're doing it for longer than that it is for some reason other than good health. I just love it. If I run into a time crunch, I'll reduce it, but for now... I'm having too much fun.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I'm STOKED!

 

I lost another 2%bf this month!

I lost 5.4# of body fat and gained 1.6# of muscle!

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Thanks for the feedback, guys.

 

dtougas: yeah that is the picture I was thinking of. I thought he was 60 in that photo. He's not? How old do you think he is?

 

Kollision: yeah, I noticed that about the cardio, also. I have been told that 20-30 min 3 times/wk maxes out the cardio benefit, and that if you're doing it for longer than that it is for some reason other than good health. I just love it. If I run into a time crunch, I'll reduce it, but for now... I'm having too much fun.

 

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

I'm STOKED!

 

I lost another 2%bf this month!

I lost 5.4# of body fat and gained 1.6# of muscle!

 

Congratualations! You are doing really good for yourself. So I take it that you are now 23% bodyfat? Are you taking these measurements yourself? And if so, what are you using? Regular calipers?

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Thanks,

 

I am at 24%. I was 26% on on July 1st, and 27% on June 1st. So I have dropped a total of 3%.

 

Are you taking these measurements yourself? And if so, what are you using? Regular calipers?

Well, ya found me out. I know I should get some calipers, but I am not sure where to buy them and I've heard that unless you have experience using them they can be a little inaccurate. I have been using a cloth tape measure and a formula I found in a book. The formula is from Covert Bailey. He is retired now, but for 40 years he ran an exercise and nutrition clinic. Whenever he would do an underwater body fat test, he would also take that person's measurements. He claims that the tape measure formula is accurate to about ±2%.

 

On June 1st I was tested at a health club with calipers and they said I was 27.4%. When I got home, I took my measurements and calculated 27%. So, until I can get some calipers (and learn how to use them) I'll pretend the tape measure is fairly accurate.

 

Oops, you snuck it there while I was typing this, dtougas. I'll check it out.

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I personally don't know how accurate it is, and you know more than me on measuring with the tape measure. But the thing is, how will you know what exactly is the fat with the measure? COuld you explain?

 

As for the calipers, there is a long formula for it. Basically you need three places on the body, input that into some long formula, and there you have it. Of course, unless you have the electronic ones.

 

So far, underwater is the most accurate.

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Measuring with with a cloth tape is supposed to be very accurate (depending on the formula you use, and there are lots to choose from). Some formulas can be almost just as accurate as having it done in water.

 

The mybodycomp.com formula measures all kinds of places on your body. Some of the areas measured are your wrist, ankle, and knee, which are used in the formula to determine the size and weight of your skeletal structure. When they take all those measurements together, along with your height and weight, they get a number for how dense your body is. The density is what determines how much fat you have.

 

sirdle, I would be very interested in seeing the formula you have, and try it out. Would you mind posting it? I would like to find some formula that was reasonably accurate that I could do own without requiring a website.

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Bailey's formulas are totally empirical, i.e., he just played around with numbers and formulas until he found a formula that would give a result close to that of underwater body fat testing but without all the hassle. He claims they are accurate to ±2%. But this is for the average male and female. As a person becomes super fit (most dedicated body builders) these formulas will give a result 3-5% higher than the actual number. For a person who is very skinny but very out of shape they will give a result 3-5% lower than the actual number. So I think these numbers are good enough for someone just starting to get in shape, but as my body fat gets lower I'll need to do something else.

 

I don't know about the accuracy of the formula at http://www.mybodycomp.com. I logged on and typed in my measurements, but the report it generated didn't give me a body fat percent. It looked like I needed to join ($10/month) to get access to that feature. I'm pretty cheap!

 

I'd be happy to see the results that other people get with these formulas.

 

Women 30 years and younger:

hips + (0.8 x thigh) - (2 x calf) - wrist = % body fat

 

Women over 30 years:

hips + thigh - (2 x calf) - wrist = % body fat

 

Men 30 years and younger:

waist + (0.5 x hips) - (3 x forearm) - wrist = % body fat

 

Men over 30:

waist + (0.5 x hips) - (2.7 x forearm) - wrist = % body fat

 

Where to measure:

 

Waist: measure around the widest part (probably around the belly button), when relaxed... not with stomach pushed out, but not with it sucked in either... and not relaxed like your girlfriend is watching you, either... like you're by yourself and no one else is around. From maximum suck in to totally distended this measurement can vary by 5 inches! and this is where most of the error in the formulas comes from.

 

Hips: don't measure too high. Take this measurement around the widest part of the hips and buttocks with your feet about 4" apart.

 

For the following measurements, use your dominant side.

 

Thigh: measure around the widest part of the upper thigh while standing with your feet about 12" apart.

 

Calf: distribute weight evenly on both feet. Measure at the widest part.

 

Forearm: measure at the widest part with your fist clenched so the forearm is flexed.

 

Wrist: measure between the bony protrubance and the hand.

 

Let me know what you think!

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Hey! Welcome to the board, dude! Also, thanks for the positive feedback about my approach to vegan outreach, as you pointed out on the other thread. From my experience, that seems to work best. It's nice to have that, in some part, validated by a non-vegetarian with a different perspective on things. And congratulations with all the gains you've been making!

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Thanks dtougas and sirdle, I learned something today!

 

However, where it says the body part, you put in the inches? And if it is so, how can this be accurate at all? Gunter the IFBB pro has a 40 inch waist from what I heard, yet he isnt fat at all. And if I where to have big calves with muscle, how is this going to be accurate also?

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