Dietrich

A while back I was faced with a very limited amount of cash, and almost 3 weeks to feed myself with it. Something totally unfor$een had happened, so I decided to see it through. Some of the habits I formed that month have stuck with me to this day. I am curious to read any feedback you might have (although I'm not interested in getting into a raw vs. cooked grains sort of conversation. I eat what I eat, for reasons I am comfortable with). Anyhow, I always have organic steel-cut oats in my cupboard. This is the basis of most of my concoctions. Oats have replaced pasta for me. I have brown rice occasionally. I will almost always cook the oats along with organic green lentils. These two things are close to each other at the bulk food place where I shop. They are quite cheap too! Ok, oats and lentils. My co-workers think this is bizarre. Oats to them are for breakfast, with sweet toppings... IF they eat oats at all! I will also add garlic, tomatoes, olive oil, various beans, other veggies at times, and my favourite... Avocado! I now eat several avocados a week, usually stirred into the warm oats (after they cool a bit). The avocado turns into a sauce, almost. I don't cook it. Maybe the heat from the oats does, a bit. But I don't add avocado when the oats are too hot. Seems bland? Many people tell me this. But I live alone. I love oats and the other things I've listed, and I combine them in various ways. These things combine to make my "big" meals. Before biking to work in the afternoon, I tend to eat a lot of other fruit too. I also buy bananas when the local store wraps 'em up and prices them at 89 cents or 99 cents for 6 or 8 bananas, just because they have brown flecks on them. I put them in the freezer in a plastic bowl with a lid, broken into chunks. Apples and bananas and water in the blender... drink it down. Yum! Spinach or kale are other regulars for me. I can even put them into the fruit blender-drink. I drink green tea a lot. A Lot. Fairly weak tea though. Gunpowder, loose-leaf. I'm curious what folks here think of this combination. I'm probably lacking something, but if I buy all of these items/ingredients throughout the month, and combine them in various ways, I'm pretty happy. The 'mainstream' online newspapers that I look at seem to always have contrary opinions from day to day, regarding what we should be eating. I like to think that the things I eat (one, maybe two ingredients IF they even require ingredient lists) are pretty basic, healthy and they entertain me. I'm waiting for someone (elsewhere, not so much here) to start preaching about gluten or the fat content of avocados (who cares?) or the latest fad, or my supposed lack of protein (I doubt it). My food habits evolved from a time when I was almost broke. There have been some changes, but I can still eat well for the price of what some people pay for their monthly soda pop and chips. Anyhow, thanks for reading.

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I was thinking about this recently too. Motivation. I've had a few false starts this year, trying to just establish workouts as a habit. I tend to get interested in something, start reading about it, join webgroups (well, this one anyway) and read more... Soon I'm bogged down in the details (what to do when, when to eat what, etc etc)... I would start doubting my methods, -often this has been the point where I got discouraged. This time I made a simple decision. I would just lift the weights. Not every day, but at least twice a week. I have tried to establish this as a habit, something I need to do, to feel good about my week. I still read advice from others, still tried to eat right, at the right times, in the right proportions. But first and foremost: Lift the weights. DO something. Someone here said "Anything works for a beginner, for a while." This seems true. The more I stuck to my "habit", the more results I noticed. This kept my enthusiasm high, and then I was better able to bring food and other aspects into the equation. Ever have a great workout, and then your enthusiasm peaks during the next couple of days when you should be resting and growing? When this happens, and I'm recovering, I direct this enthusiasm toward eating the right things, foods that will make me grow and recover. If I worried about the ideal diet or schedule at the beginning, I would have found excuses to wait until... grocery day? The "perfect time" to work out? Next payday when I can buy this equipment? I put all that stuff aside and just lifted the weights. Nothing too intense at first, just DO something. I realize now that all the "little details" (like timing, diet, intensity level, cardio considerations)... These ARE important. But not without lifting the weights. So yeah... Long story short, I kept motivated this time (knock on wood) by establishing my workouts as a habit, and bringing the other details into the spotlight later. Lots of good information on this board. Thanks folks. -D.

Can I chime in on this? The topic has been on my mind lately. Yesterday was a pretty good (=intense, satisfying) workout day. I tend to 'graze' on food from morning until bedtime. I ate: A pile of steel-cut oats (filled a 1 kilo yogourt container TWICE) mixed with 1 can of black beans/red beans/garbanzo beans plus one large can of tomatoes. This was eaten throughout the evening. The remainder of this mixture was later mixed with my friend's couscous/veggie mix (she's a pretty fussy vegan, so I didn't worry about the contents). There was probably some olive oil in there. (No sauces or anything added to any of these foods. I like simple stuff.) Here's the non-veggie elements. I ate 3 hard boiled eggs during the day. Not common for me, but trying that out. I ate at least a cup of 'soy nuts' (roasted soy beans, unsalted). Total of 8 slices of whole wheat bread (eaten with the other stuff, no margarine used). 3 bananas, my usual breakfast (alternate with organic apples or blueberries, depending on the most recent shopping spree). Lots (LOTS) of water and green tea. At night I had (as I often do) whole wheat pasta with tomatoes (not sauce). Sometimes I have more steel cut oats instead, and the oats are usually mixed with the can o' beans. Sorry, that sounds pretty random, but it's a typical day of eating for me (except the eggs). And I usually feel full, as the original poster stated. I'm sure this isn't a lot of calories, but the 'grazing' habit (eating all day, little portions) satisfies me. If I were trying to LOSE weight, I guess this would be a good thing. But I wonder what stuff to add if I'm trying to gain muscle. Any remnants of my belly are gone now. I think it's time to work out harder and gain my shoulders/chest/arms/legs back. Thanks for any comments. I hope I have stayed on topic. -Dietrich.

Hmmm. I guess I will just have to leave for work earlier, and ride the bicycle at a slow pace (maybe?). I used to love the rush of trying to cut minutes off my trip, and the burn in my legs is great. But I do prefer to put some mass on. I guess I'm doing approximately an hour a day of cardio (50 minutes of bike riding plus whatever else I accidentally do) 5 days a week, March to November. Does this seem excessive? Keep in mind, this is just how I get to work. I didn't really consider it 'exercise' for a long time, and then I started reading this board and saw that (as you explained above) the cardio competes with the mass gains.

I was wondering about this too. I ride a bicycle to work almost every day. The trip takes about 25 minutes each way, and is really enjoyable. Some days are easier than others, but I really feel it when the wind is against me (as it is on the 'going to' trip). This is in the early afternoon. Weights are usually done late at night, after work, between 2 and 3 am. I work nights, so there is no adjusting this. The bike riding helped me get and keep a trim stomach (and I'm 41 years old). Now I want to start gaining some muscle mass, so I'm eating for that and hitting the weights. But I have no choice. The bike rides must stay. But it must be possible. There are certainly worse things that I could be doing.

Hello Paddy. I see your last post on this thread was a bit over 3 months ago. Are you still feeling the same enthusiasm? Everything still working well? I ask because I am about 1 month into a program, after a bad shoulder injury. At first I wanted to be training every day, but later I had to fight to keep my enthusiasm. Still going, but hoping the workouts become a habit soon. Best luck, -D.

Thanks. I think I will enjoy it here. I am not only looking to improve my workouts and food intake, but I'm hoping to wean myself off stuff like facebook, and obsessively checking to see if my ex has sent me messages (ha ha!). Since a painful (but mostly friendly and long-distance) break-up, hitting the weights and concentrating on what I eat has been a real help, mentally. I found your other site, and read almost all of the articles over about a week (night shift at work, internet use allowed). So I think I'm ok with the basics of what I'm doing. So far, so good.

Hello. I've been reading posts on this board for a few weeks. I have now registered. I may have some questions for some of you later, but for now... Hello! -Dietrich.