Replies
-
Hey guys, Wow! Lots of new questions! I've had a SUPER busy weekend, but I'll be on tonight/tomorrow to do some catching up! Sorry for the delay! Best, Kent
-
Some great questions so far guys! Keep 'em coming if you got 'em!
-
In terms of eating on the go, your best strategy is to plan ahead! Spend one evening a week cooking a BUNCH of healthy food, and store it for later. I do almost all of my cooking on Sundays (heaps of chicken breasts, all sorts of different veggies,) and then I'm set for the whole work week! Also, for healthy eating on the…
-
Pretty much all fruits and veggies are full of micronutrients and phytochemicals, but locally grown tend to be better since they are actually allowed to ripen on the plant instead of being picked early and allowed to ripen on transport... You really can't go wrong... pick vibrantly colored, fresh vegetables (preferably…
-
I did NASM. It has a good amount on muscle imbalances and how to correct them, which I really liked, but I strongly disagree with some of the programming and nutrition components. The best personal trainers are those that absorb information from all around them, all the time, and compose their own working knowledge base…
-
The problem with any numbers in weight loss is that they are estimates. Your BMR, calories burned by exercise, even the caloric contents of food, they all have fairly large margins of error (10-20%, depending on who you ask.) Unfortunately, until you pick a daily caloric intake that's in the ballpark and just try it,…
-
Fat free cheese, while lower in calories, tends to have weird chemicals and added carbs. A little bit of whole fat cheese is fine, and, if you find cheese from grass fed cows, it is a great source of healthy fats. Just keep the serving reasonable and enjoy! I love paneer cheese! I don't actually know anything about the…
-
Sorry guys, gotta call it quits for tonight. Worked a 12 hour shift today, pretty burnt out. I'll get back on tomorrow to answer more! Kent McCann
-
In all honesty, I have no experience with it. If it fits well into your life in terms of time and accessibility, I say giving it a shot can't hurt! If you find it burns you out, just leave it be. Having a 1 year old adds more cardio to your life than most people get going to the gym 3 days a week!
-
Cycling is a great idea, but it works best if done in concert with your strength training. Keep protein high (30-40%) every day, but then do higher carb lower fat on strength training days and higher fat lower carb on your other days. I actually put up an article recently explaining a bit more in detail why this can be…
-
Haha "replaced with pure awesome," well put! I think the scale is a horrible tracking device for anyone who is already fairly close to their goal. Keep doing strong lifts, eat enough to fuel your performance (it sounds like you are,) and give it time, you're definitely on the right path.
-
A smoothie for breakfast works great, but you still need to eat healthy during your other meals. Even if you can't weigh and measure everything, try to get a good serving of protein + veggies with each meal to fill you up for not too many calories. Other than that, it's a matter of time + consistency! As far as the gym…
-
If your immediate goal is still fat loss, then yeah, 7-10 days at maintenance should be fine. If you're interested in losing weight, building muscle, and generally creating a better overall physique (which is a very reasonable thing to do at 23% for a woman,) you could eat around maintenance and do some strength training…
-
Haha it makes perfect sense! Think not just about what you want, but WHY you want it. Until you know what you want, of course you're going to be confused! Until then, keep active and eat whole foods... no point in eating poorly just because you're not sure what direction you're going in, right? Once you know what you want,…
-
Yes, I believe that diet breaks are necessary and can help speed up metabolism. I would slowly increase your calories up to maintenance levels (add 100 a day til you get to there,) stay there for a week, and then taper back down until you reach a reasonable deficit. Here's a relevant article about why diet breaks can be…
-
It's really my pleasure!
-
Make gradual, sustainable change. Don't say tomorrow starts your diet. Instead, commit to eating more vegetables every meal. Once that becomes an ingrained habit, add another healthy habit, like eating enough protein. Slow and steady wins the race! If you think of a diet as temporary, the results will be temporary. Hope…
-
You can eyeball how much of the package you're using. A package generally has 7 servings, so do your best to take 1/7th of it when you give yourself a serving and you know how many calories are in it! I highly recommend getting a scale though, it's much more accurate than using your eye or even using measuring cups. Hope…
-
Drizzle some baby carrots with coconut oil and bake at 450 for 10 minutes, flip and bake another 10. They sweeten up like candy! Roasting any vegetable brings out the natural sweetness and makes them super tender. Don't use olive oil though, it burns at pretty low temperatures. You can also chop + sautee veggies with a bit…
-
As long as the sprints were ALL OUT, that sounds fine to me! HIIT should test your will, every time, to get the full effect. If you're pushing on every one of those 30 second sprints, giving it all you've got, then yeah, that right there is a perfectly fine HIIT workout.
-
<--
-
The last pounds are always the slowest... Keep your deficit to a few hundred calories at most. Lift weights. Do a few hours of cardio a week. Give it time, you'll make it!
-
Absolutely possible. Give yourself a calorie buffer on the day you're going to drink by sticking mostly to lean protein + veggies. Then, for drinks, stick to spirits + calorie free mixers (diet coke, soda water, what have you.) Don't go too crazy and you'll absolutely still be able to lose weight, just don't binge on…
-
You don't HAVE to. Listen to your body. If you worked out and are ravenous because you burned 1/3 the calories you ate that day, eat them back. If you feel fine, don't worry about it!
-
Lots of foods these days are engineered to trigger the reward centers in our brains, making us actually crave them. These chemical urges are extremely strong, so they're tough to have to will your way through all day every day. Also, people tend to think in terms of all or nothing. They let a single bad day lead to a week…
-
A good place to start is setting your intake at your maintenance level. From there, adjust up if you're still losing weight too fast or down if you're gettin' a little pudgy (shouldn't happen with your activity level, though) Also, strength training is you're friend! I don't know about the programs you listed, but if…
-
Look up Staci from Nerd Fitness. She did Starting Strength 3x5 and can probably lift more than most of the guys I know, and she looks damn good. The "girls will get bulky" conception stems from female bodybuilders who dope with so many anabolic steroids that they develop highly masculinized qualities. Women should train…
-
A few bad days isn't going to make or break you! Put your nose to the grindstone and just keep going. I would avoid the scale if you binged a little bit, however... extra salt and carbs tend to cause you to hold a little bit of water weight which might scare you if you step on the scale before it has time to pass. I…
-
The protein recommendations by default on MFP are low. Aim for 1g/lb of lean body mass as a good daily target. You're not going to eat too much protein. The only reason anyone would have trouble with a high protein diet would be kidney disorders, in which case talk to a dietician.
-
Yes, weight loss takes place 90% in the kitchen, 10% in the gym! However, if you're wanting to look good naked, you need some muscle to show off once the fat's all gone... for that, you're gonna have to exercise.
