alekth Member

From what I've seen quality varies dramatically. Haven't observed the worst of the lot personally, but on youtube alone there are plenty of examples where you wonder whether the training is about sustaining the heaviest injury in the least amount of time. There simply doesn't seem to be enough control over the…

The website is fine (although you still have to manually click a sync link to get mfp calories). In the app they just fixed active calories showing properly, and there you can't do anything about getting the mfp calories, it just syncs itself at some very rare and random times, as far as my experience goes. Generally, the…

All I take is fish oil and vitamin D (might stop this one, I've been doing sport outside lately). In the winter Vitamin C as well.

Probably battery, yeah. On the calories, can't really tell without knowing the duration at the very least. 970 kcal at 170ish bpm for me would be nearly 2 hours of cardio and we are pretty close in age/weight going by profile/pic, so if you did considerably less, it is likely a way too high estimate. Endurance runs usually…

Yep, breakfast is called breakfast for a reason.

Well, that depends the most on the calories the protein shake has vs the calories your typical breakfast has. If it has fewer, then likely yes. Although depending on what your typical breakfast is, it might have other benefits. Mostly if you tend to have a carb-heavy breakfast, having the shake could keep you feeling…

Strictly speaking they are only a supplement if you're not getting enough protein in your diet. A generous amount of protein for intense weight training is about 1g per lb of lean body mass. Cardio doesn't really factor much, unless it's a circuit program, since you have some strength/cardio mix there. Protein shakes for…

It's normal for your body to start working at a lower HR for the same thing, and age also lowers it, but neither of these will make 30 bpm vanish from one day to the next. My first check would be the HRM itself. This issue manifests on mine when there isn't good contact, but battery dying would be my first guess. Battery…

I was buying almond milk for a couple of months, but it's really expensive for what it is. Got a blender some weeks ago and I'm making my own almond milk now (also cashew, Brazil nut, walnut, pumpkin seeds, you name it). Since I'm using it for shakes and smoothies and drinking with a jumbo straw, I don't bother filtering…

My favourite tastes are those in the PhD protein shakes. However, if you simply can't find anything you like, you can just get plain protein powder and add your own taste by mixing in fruit/coffee(already brewed)/flavoured milk/peanut butter/cinnamon etc.

On the issue of salad, it's not some inherent benefit of cabbage or any other particular vegetable by itself. Sure, vegs have vitamins and minerals, and it's probably better to get those in your food rather than in a pill, but I was considering them more in line with your particular problem. Raw vegetables in particular…

There is no problem with sticking to paleo to whatever degree you wish, just have most of your energy come from fat rather than carbs. That much protein is way too much and completely unnecessary, both percentage-wise and as the 200+ grams it works out to in a 1450 cal diet. I feel you should talk to your trainer regarding…

Hm, after looking through a couple of days, you should probably tone down the carbs and put in some more fat. If you like eggs (you had one breakfast with them), you should have those at breakfast, maybe with some toast and ham/etc instead of cereals. Do keep the fruit though. For the quest bar... frankly it's likely not…

If you have the problem of being used to eating whenever you feel a bit hungry, first set some fairly strict eating time windows for breakfast/lunch/dinner or whatever meals you plan on having. Your body will adjust with some time and you won't get very hungry in between meals. I don't know whether you mean 1300 net…

I'm a bit perplexed with these devices tracking (in some of the described cases) more calories than one would expect to have burned. It's usually the opposite since there is barely any time for the heart rate to go up and that doesn't register as anything strenuous. It must be said though, that for some types of weights…

What others said, plus set yourself a 6 months goal rather than a 6 weeks one, and don't limit your diet to the point of getting to hate it, or you'll get back to where you started when it's over at the latest.

European here, and my favourite brand is PhD. They seem to be present in Australia too. They have good combinations aside from the regular protein - a "Pure" line with very little extra calories, and a "Diet" line, oddly with more carbs than the Pure, but also some bran or similar, and other stuff, and it does seem to be…

I take fish oil and vitamin D. I'd also have some vitamin C during the winter, but not the rest of the time. Also protein shakes after a workout if I'm not going to have a proper meal soonish after that, or when I'm hungry out of schedule and likely to eat something way junkier.

I didn't end up getting it, but researched quite a bit about the HR measurements since that's an important part of it. From what turned up, it's not very good at measuring HR during non-walking activities - even running, and even worse during something like a circuit training with weights etc. The measuring position at the…

I prefer dumbbells personally. I used bands for a substitution for the pull-up bar because I couldn't find one for my door frame. As far as doing other exercises with the bands goes, some are a bit more awkward, and some are actually better grip/feeling-wise, but it's just so hard to track the weight with them - sure there…

There was recently a good online course at EDx (The Body Matters) that also touched on stretching based on a fair amount of studies. The gist of it was that while warming up and cooling down were definitely things to do before/after exercise, stretching at those times didn't really contribute to performance or general…

I walk fast, people complain. A colleague I met on the way to work once said I ran too slowly getting there. I've learned to tame my pace a bit when walking with my parents, but walking slowly with young people starts irking me pretty soon.

It would certainly take a lot of discipline and equipment. I'd say though, if you ever plan on heavy lifting, invest in a personal trainer, even if it's for a session every two weeks or something like that. On the one hand improper form can cause some long-term damage, and on the other people generally tend to sway either…

MFP doesn't really do much about tracking weight training, but unless the workout is more of an interval/circuit type thing with lighter weights and more repetitions, there isn't much to do about it either. The actual lifting doesn't burn much, the main expenditure is afterwards when the body is repairing and building…

While you can achieve some optimization on energy consumption by improving cardiovascular efficiency, and you'll burn fewer calories the lighter you get, generally the human body is pretty efficient and you're likely still burning your calories. Of course, if you're eating it back, you won't be losing weight. On the…

Generally you should never grit your teeth and continue an activity if there is pain. Soreness - yes, but not pain. Give it a couple of days to see if it goes away, and if not - do visit a physician. Also, if the heel trauma resulted from repeated stress on the heel during running, you should be looking into changing your…

I'm sort of learning to half-ignore/half-acknowledge the red bar. I can't do any meaningful walking (or even much of a meaningless walk) while studying/working at home. I have taken to doing some push-ups and squats when the bar increases but tough luck if I don't walk enough to reset it once it's full. Quite happy with…

Short of deleting and re-adding it doesn't seem possible to edit the type of activity on MFP. Likely it's sent only once right when it's uploaded and not continuously synced to reflect changes. edit: oh, it appears you have to be real quick and catch it right away!

My connections list is pretty empty too. Leave a username for me to add/feel free to add alekth :) (Adding people is done via the Connections page, Find people tab.)

I'm fairly happy with my Vivofit 2. Although I must say I wasn't so pressed for the cheapest device and I ended up getting the Vivofit for its water resistance, excellent band clasp and 1 year battery life first (so I basically don't take it off, ever), me being already in the Garmin ecosystem with a running watch second,…