Saaski Member

Working out is working out. What time you do it doesn't really matter, it's what you do. If you think that working out earlier might alleviate some of the stress you're feeling, have at it. If you eat better after working out, that might make it better for you in particular. But the effectiveness of the actual exercise is…

@cessi0909 I did! I got up, drove over, and was in the pool for an hour! I only was able to swim consistently for 15 minutes (and did 200 yards, haha), but I either kicked with a board or walked for the rest of the time. For me, it wasn't a bad first day. In fact, I even managed to get up a little earlier than I "had to"…

I tend to just take the meat off the bone of the chicken and then weigh that, using an entry for chicken that uses oz as a measurement.

I usually cycle between three things: oatmeal with a tablespoon of cocoa mixed in two eggs and a banana, cooked together smoothie with a frozen banana and milk + another fruit

Have you been to physical therapy for the injury? I also have lower back issues, and PT did a lot of help me strengthen it. It's also probably a good idea to ease back into deadlifting if you do it. Making sure that your form is good, that you aren't going too heavy too soon, etc.

I remember seeing an infomercial as a kid about some sort of exercise/nutrition whatchamacallit where the guy was ragging at steppers and treadmills because "what people don't understand is all that exercise will just make your legs and thighs look bigger."

@SusanMFindlay that is correct. @trigden1991 I plugged in numbers to several online calculators and then went with the general average for BMR, because I wanted to figure out roughly what mine was. With MFP, I put in all the numbers for the weight I am aiming for and the rate I want to lose to get there and set my activity…

Absolutely. And I recently got a food scale and it made things SO much easier, especially for condiments and spreadables. $15 well spent. I actually found out that I'd been underestimating some stuff, like peanut butter. 16g looks very different from one tablespoon.

Okay, so. I read the whole article. I actively have no idea how to calculate TEF and TEA, (even the article itself states that trying to figure those out "can be a real hassle") and I wouldn't count NEAT because I have no real way of determining that and I'm not about to add in an overestimation, especially when I have…

I also work out primarily at home doing body-weight exercises. Push-ups, supermans, planks, squats--and I installed a chin-up bar so I can do chin-ups/pull-ups/shoulder engaging. If you've never done any of that before, start by doing as many as you can, or for as long as you can. It might be five push-ups, it might be a…

There is absolutely no reason to stop training! Were you doing any exercise before starting martial arts? Because going from no real exercise to training regularly means you might already be eating at a slight deficit, since you bumped up the amount of calories you could be eating with the new activity. But if you truly…

For what you're looking for, popcorn sounds like it might work. Baby carrots, cut up celery, cucumber slices... most veggies really. Grapes, apples. This may be weird, but I also like frozen peas! I don't know how well this might work for you, but I really enjoy cashews. If I weigh out a portion or half a portion (28g for…

lightenup2016, it has a calorie counter, but the general consensus is that machines (adn even MFP) tend to overestimate actual burns. If I was to believe the machine, I burned over 1200 calories for 3.5 hours or light pedaling! I'm on the bike right now for example. In total I've biked 102 minutes so far. And the machine…

All good thoughts so far. Thank you!

Yes, I'm very careful about that. Usually if I'm in a 1.5 hour class, I log for 60 minutes because I know that's about how much I've been active. But some classes it really is you start and just go nonstop, minus a few breathing or water breaks.

Yeah, I've logged rock climbing before (after doing rock climbing) and was frankly astonished at the supposed burn. I took that with a huge grain of salt. I think it's reasonable for us to log under gymnastics. And thank you!

Exercise-wise, if your hotel doesn't have a gym, bodyweight workouts are your friend. Take a walk outside (or in the halls of your hotel if you don't feel safe outside). Do push-ups, squats, plank, jumping jacks, stretch, etc in your room. Run in place while watching television. There's lots of stuff you can do! As for…

I second seeing a doctor. A similar thing happened to my grandfather--after a sickness, he suffered massive fluid retention. He ended up needing to be put on a limited fluid diet, among other things. Talk to a professional about it. Hope it gets sorted!

I've found that in cases of low energy, something is better than nothing. Don't feel like you need to do an intense hour-long workout for it to matter and if you can't, it's not worth bothering at all. If the only thing you're up for is a five-minute walk, then do those five minutes and stop. Ten jumping jacks, five…

Oak Park!

You probably won't be able to keep the same pace, at least to start.. You'll be changing from a smooth, steady track to one with rocks, gravel, dirt, and other debris, a much less level track due it just being ground, and you'll also be dealing with an air and temperature change. Especially with spring coming, you'll also…

When I look for yogurt, I compare the protein to the sugar to see if it's worth eating. If the sugar is higher than or close-to-equal-to the protein, it's a definite no. Now I mostly buy the store brand nonfat plain greek yogurt (the one I get at kroger has 23g protein to 9g sugar per cup, though I usually 1/2 a cup at a…

Not to hijack the thread (but since we're on the topic of swimming), does anyone else have breathing problems while in the pool? Not related to exertion or anything--I mean, as soon as my torso is submerged in water, it becomes harder to breathe. It makes swimming not just difficult but very unpleasant/frustrating, because…

Well, as said before, I'm working out at home, with the equipment I've got. And I don't have barbells or benches. I do change up the weight training when it gets easy to do the reps and sets I've set out for myself, but if I don't know if I necessarily have the equipment to target specific muscles past the isolation…

Food is made of protein, carbs, and/or fat. You can't really...have an edible item that doesn't contain at least one of those three things. Are you looking for food that isn't empty calories? That doesn't have unnecessary carbs/fat in them?

After some pretty debilitating back issues, I went to a doctor who told me that my back was hyperflexible and that I should stop stretching completely and just work on building the muscles. Two years later, after suffering a back-related incident that essentially paralyzed me for two days, I went to another doctor. His…

Why don't you measure them? If you didn't take measurements you can't compare, but in another few weeks you'll be able to know for certain whether or not their actually increasing in size, over just firming up.

I know two people who can vouch for the 'Thin Treatment' and, in my opinion, really proves how completely inappropriate it is. The first, a girl I know, Dora, has several health conditions, and during a treatment was taking medications that were huge appetite suppressants. She was at a good, healthy (and fit--she's a…

Do whatever is going to make you enjoy (and do) your exercise. If you feel you didn't do enough for the day, you can always supplement.