Method2Madness

There are a variety of ways that you can use your protein shakes to your benefit: - Using the shakes as part of your overall meals has the benefit of increasing overall protein consumption and maintaing a healthy blood sugar level condusive to burning fat instead of burning muscle. When your body is sated with adequate…

Making your own can be much cheaper, tastier and healthier. My favorite pizza used to be a pepperoni pan pizza. The problem is that it's so greasy and calorie laden that even modest amounts would kill my calorie count and make me not feel my best. We now make our own pizza and it's much better. Here are a couple tips: 1)…

If you haven't worked out much before and have started a rather intense regimen, this can be the case...though I don't know if there are any good formulas that help you figure out progress other than using very accurate %body fay measurements. I worked w/ a trainer for three months, during which I lost only 4lbs...but my…

Recommend MaxMuscle's MaxGourmet line of protein/meal replacement shakes. Mixed with milk...they're the best tasting I've found, are very good on the mixture of ingredients.

Disclaimer: I'm not a nutritionist or a hard core body builder...so I'd recommend stopping by a reputable local place to ask questions before making a final decision (I can recommend a chain via wall post if you'd like...specific store not mentioned here to abide by forum rules). I've been back to the gym with great…

An acutal sporting goods store is likely to have a better selection than other stores (i.e. "Richards" or Sports Authority over Target or Best Buy). I have a Polar RX300 and love it. It's a bit more expensive, but very nice. The FT7 is an excellent model if you want to keep costs down. Next up, the Polar strap is fabric…

First of all, I'd recommend checking out the BMR (basic metobolic rate...also referred to as RMR, resting metobolic rate). If it's above 1500 calories per day, you may be hindering progress by placing your body in starvation mode. Checking this number is a good place to start. Next up, if your RMR and the number of…

I've had the same problem. I've been going strong for 10 weeks now, have seen a dramatic change in my fitness levels (for the better) and lost a measely 4lbs. The easiest home test is the simple measuring tape. Waist and neck measurements can help track fat loss while quad and arm measurements can help detect muscle gain.…

I just bought a Polar RS300X for about $100 on www.amazon.com and like it. Because I did cardio testing to determine my heart rate zones, I can program the RS300X with my five zones. The RS300X also has some more capabilities for display and running timing. If you're not going to use those features, I'd recommend the FT7.…

It's actually really encouraging to hear your frustrations. I'm in the exact same situation and it's great to hear that I'm not alone. The idea of eating more to lose weight is still somewhat uncomfortable for me, but my trainer has been continually insistent on it. I think you're safe moving up to just over 1600 calories…

A couple of ideas/thoughts: 1) How do you measure your calorie burn? If you're using the estimator on MFP or the displays of most cardio machines, you can be way off (which can then cause you to undereat or overeat). I recently started using a heart rate monitor to calculate calories burned and it's made a huge difference.…

My methods are to use Propel Zero or (if I'm working out) low calorie G2 (Gatorade).

I've had significant trouble losing weight (at least on the scale) using calorie counts. The logic that every calorie under your daily max equals lost weight isn't completely true. In my case, I actually needed to eat a lot more than my MFP recommendation. That recommendation was based on a desire to lose 2.5 lbs a week.…

Omaha, Nebraska

Thanks everyone. It does help seeing that others have been in the same situation. I brought up this topic with my trainer today, and he re-did my body fat percentage measurements via caliper. It indicated I've actually dropped a couple percentage points in the past month. :)

Awesome...my wife and I love Jamie's Food Revolution (the cookbook is great), so it's neat to see this.

Scary. I'd like to hope the research behind this was flawed and that it's not really this bad. How do you do anything successfully if you're not reading thorughout adulthood? As a graduate student, I'm most definately in the reads lots of books category at the moment, but I've been reading (fiction and non-fiction) off and…

Thanks for posting this. I'm starting at about the same weight you did and appear to have a similar build. This gives me a sneak peak at how awesome the results can be and also provides some motivation. Hoo-yah.

Welcome! I was in the AF and stationed in Alaska (met my wife there)...what an awesome assignment and a great place to get in shape with all the outdoor activities.

If the resturant doesn't have a nutritional guide on-line...I've found a lot of good information at: www.calorieking.com It's a good place to search for lots of foods and get approximate calories. It's often how I calculate the calories for complex meals that I make...or I can often find another resturant's version that…

Congratulations on the engagement and good luck. I'm in a similar boat...trying to be healthy for the sake of a better life w/ my spouse.

Oh yeah...if interested, the goal in my signature line of 189lbs represents the weight class I wrestled in during high school. If I can get down there again, I'll be pretty darn happy and I'll assess things (BMI, % body fat, etc) to see where I should go.

Your boyfriend is probably not telling you you're beautiful because he's your boyfriend and because he's sweet. He's telling you that because the typical male reaction to you should be somewhere in the area of "wow." It's often to take the opinion of a significant other for granted since we're often biased towards the one…

I've been there. On the bright side, there is a lot of benefit to simply maintaining your weight while adopting a more healthy lifestyle. If you haven't worked out for a long time and are just getting back into it, you body may be maintaining it's weight because you are experiencing muscle gain, which offsets fat loss on a…