xvolution Member

I usually do cardio before lifting, but only a very short 5 minute warmup [I only do one extended set of cardio per week].

When strawberries start to get overripe, I usually puree them, then freeze them into cubes in an ice cube tray. Then you can add them to smoothies if wanted.

You can get most of your protein from the foods you normally eat. When protein isn't necessary unless you're having a hard time getting enough protein for some reason.

Resistance bands are fairly low impact, and they'll help to build strength and keep gained muscle.

Arnold Schwarzenegger put out an article in Muscle & Fitness about several body exercises you can do, proving that you don't need equipment to get bigger and stronger. It recommended push-ups, pike push-ups, one-legged squats, standing one-legged calf raises, chair dips and crunch time (just pick your favorite ab…

I actually do a little bit of cardio before the lifting exercise [usually the Fitness Test on my Shwinn 150, it only takes 4 minutes]. This gets my body warmed up for lifting.

Breakfast burrito, fat-free cottage cheese/peach nonfat greek yogurt/lemon juice, red grapes and pineapple juice mixed with 1/2 scoop whey protein. The juice/whey mix works best with a whey with low amounts of sweetener [EAS is a good one].

What I do is, for each lifting exercise I do, I attempt to do 3 sets of 20 reps. If I'm able to complete the entire 3 sets/20 reps, then it's time to increase the weight.

I took a look at the nutritional information listed in the food database for C4 Pre-Workout Blue Raspberry. According to that, one scoop only has 5 calories, so I doubt that would affect weight at all. Most pre-workout powders consist of creatine, L-carnosine, caffeine, B12 and vitamin C. I usually buy a pack of energy…

Just to clarify, I only need to use 1 tsp mayo when adding the mustard and other ingredients [41 calories, 7g fat, 7g sodium, 3g protein]

Those are only bad if you're on a potassium-restrictive diet. Both bananas and peanut butter are high in potassium.

Anything upper body [shoulders, biceps, triceps, pectorals, deltoids], which is why arm day is my favorite day.

When I make tuna salad, I usually do a mix of homemade mayonnaise [bit less fat and less sodium than most store-bought], spicy mustard and some Mrs Dash lemon pepper blend. Turns out great.

Tonight: tuna salad with homemade mayo, diced onions, mrs dash lemon pepper blend and a bit of ginger [yes, I like the twang of ginger in my tuna salad] and three ears of corn.

It depends on what the exercise is [lifting vs yoga vs cardio]. On lifting days [4 times a week] I lift for about 60 minutes [12 exercises each day, 5 minutes of lifting/rest for each exercise], yoga [once a week] for 40 minutes, and cardio [either walking or doing elliptical once a week] for 30-40 minutes.

What I did with lifting is start at the lowest weight possible, then try to do 3 sets/20 reps of an exercise [or until failure]. If I can push myself to do 3x20s without failure, then I know that next week I should up the weights a bit. So far it's helped a lot with regaining lost muscle mass and strength. As for muscle…

I would try to keep up some kind of resistance training. Otherwise your body might start eating at the muscles to cover any calorie deficit. If you want to fill them out to try and reduce the look of flabby arms, then you'll have to keep them challenged. Increase the amount of weight tension whenever you can do full sets…

Strength training does have some cardio-like effects, depending on how intense the workout is. There is a slight aerobic effect after strength training as your body works to begin the healing process, which can last several hours. The effect isn't as strong as doing actual cardio, but it's still there.

Usually if you're working out frequently, eating at a surplus [over your normal TDEE] you should gain muscle.

That's a lot of water to drink daily [that's 4 times the amount of water recommended in the 8x8 water plan (8 8oz glasses of water) ]. Something tells me that some of that bloating and weight might not be fat, but excess water. 2 gallons of water weighs around 16 pounds.

I usually go by the advice of never going below your goal weight BMR [if you can't eat to maintain your goal weight, then it's gonna be difficult to switch to maintenance once you get there]. In that sense, very few people have an ideal weight BMR below 1200 [usually very short, older women] and even fewer [if any] at 800…

I second pickles for a low calorie salty treat. A whole kosher dill pickle has from 1-5 calories and around 840mg sodium each.

Red grapes, peaches, and a few corns on the cob.

You may want to keep track of your weight using an app that tracks trends instead of day-to-day weight [I use TrendWeight]. This way it shows your actual weight loss over time and compensates for water weight.

I did a quick search, and I'm assuming the device you're talking about is a MediGem. It measures how much oxygen your body uses to determine your resting metabolic rate. Do you have any breathing issues? I can see a device like this being inaccurate if your intake and expenditure of oxygen is impaired.

I checked using a BMR calculator and it says your BMR is 1260 [based on height, weight and age]. I've never heard of a breathing device that measures a person's BMR before.

I've seen several people recommend Bret Contreras's Strong Curves program. Searching for it should give a link to his free pdf of exercises, which are all focused on working the glutes. I haven't tried it myself yet, but one exercise that I know works is a standing glute press with resistance bands. Whenever I do them I…

When I lost a lot of muscle mass due to an allergic reaction to a drug, my physical therapist recommended that I start strength training with resistance bands. They rely on tension instead of weight, which puts less of a strain on your bones. Plus it's easier to keep form with them. I used them after being released from…

When logging a strength training exercise, there should be a sets box, a reps per set box and a weight box. If you mean it doesn't register on the cardio tab, there is an exercise called strength training which will guesstimate how many calories you burned during your workout session.

I usually do five six-hour night shifts, which fits in perfectly with my eating schedule [eating every six hours]. I just log everything as I eat it, lunch right before work and dinner right after.