Isis22 wrote:
http://www.tacobell.com/nutrition/information

There are a dozen drinks at Taco Bell that contain 1134 calories. NO fat, pure carbs and yes, empty calories. Your body doesn't care if the calories come from a drink or from food, you will gain weight regardless if you are taking in more than you are burning.

LOL who drinks a 40oz of brisk or any soda? That's crazy, but even if they did they would not gain weight from that because there's no fat in it.

Not to mention that like I said before, your body will not turn sugar into fat UNLESS you mix sugar with fat which causes an insulin response in which your body will hold onto the fat you eat.

If someone drank all of that brisk and had no fat with it they would end up excreting all of that sugar and their metabolism would be boosted because carbs cause your body temperature to rise speeding up your metabolic rate.

8 bananas is pretty easy to eat yet (if you're hungry it's a joke to eat 8 in a row) that contains around 1,000 calories (Contains a TON of fructose as well which the other poster said to avoid which is a load of nonsense....fructose is good.) and I have YET to meet someone that is not extremely lean that eats mostly fruit and vegetables.

The people that are fat are those that eat a diet high in fat or animal product (dairy, fatty meats, cheese, milk, etc etc).

All of the foods that I just mentioned to avoid are mostly empty calories as well but stick to your gut as fat doesn't need to be converted to anything else in your body so your body easily and readily stores it as fat.

The best way to lose weight is to eat all of the fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes, starches, nuts & seeds that you want.

All of those foods contain practically 0 fat and the fat the very tiny amount that a piece of fruit or vegetable or even legume contains has a high omega 3 to omega 6 ratio meaning it's healthy fat.

I agree with the poster that said that calories in and out is BS.

Google search fruitarian or low fat vegans and than Google search high fat low carb advocates and notice the evidence with your own eyes of how the ones eating the most fructose are the leanest and the ones eating the fat and staying away from sugar have a gut and are fat.

Warrenjrphotography-SJ wrote:
Candy and pure sugar based snacks are fine as long as they are fat free.

The process of turning sugar into fat is too difficult on the body so contrary to popular belief you excrete all of the unused sugar instead of it turning to fat.

Fruit juices are great as they contain no fat.

A can of Coke doesn't even contain near 1,000 calories (You'd have to drink around 10) so I doubt any of those drinks come close to a thousand calories unless they have fat in them.

Contrary to popular blief you havr to eat more to lose weight.

When you eat your body's metabolism speeds up and your body doesn't go into starvation mode and tries to hold onto everything you eat.

If you eat all of the fruits, starches, vegetables, beans, and grains a long with sugar that you want you will actually lose weight.

You wear the fat that you eat.

I was talking about specialty drinks from coffee shops containing over 1000 calories.  I know that a can of Coke doesn't contain that many calories.

I think you're giving dieting advice based on what works for you personally.  I remember being vegetarian back in my late teens and early twenties.  I was starving all the time, even though it felt like all I ever did was eat.  I felt like crap all the time, and ended up gaining over ten pounds. 

So, what you said in your above post--"If you eat all of the fruits, starches, vegetables, beans, and grains a long with sugar that you want you will actually lose weight"--does not apply for me whatsoever.  I did exactly that for over a year and a half, and ended up gaining a significant amount of weight.  It just didn't work for me at all.

Please speak for yourself.

Warrenjrphotography-SJ wrote:
Candy and pure sugar based snacks are fine as long as they are fat free.

Strictly, sugars are not fat but they certainly are fattening.

Eugenya wrote:

I was talking about specialty drinks from coffee shops containing over 1000 calories.  I know that a can of Coke doesn't contain that many calories.

I think you're giving dieting advice based on what works for you personally.  I remember being vegetarian back in my late teens and early twenties.  I was starving all the time, even though it felt like all I ever did was eat.  I felt like crap all the time, and ended up gaining over ten pounds. 

So, what you said in your above post--"If you eat all of the fruits, starches, vegetables, beans, and grains a long with sugar that you want you will actually lose weight"--does not apply for me whatsoever.  I did exactly that for over a year and a half, and ended up gaining a significant amount of weight.  It just didn't work for me at all.

Please speak for yourself.

I never suggested going vegetarian. I suggested eating foods high in fiber as fiber has practically 0 calories and keeps you filled up longer. Carbs are the food group that are highest in fibre (starches, legumes, fruits, veggies, and nuts/seeds are all very high in fiber.)

When it comes to meat I'd suggest lean fish such as low sodium tuna, scallops, pink salmon, and egg whites are fine a long with bread.

What anyone will find though is that beans are a miracle food when it comes to losing weight.

You can load up on beans and they will keep you filled up for a long period of time because they are extremely high in fiber, protein, and contain the electrolytes and minerals your body needs.

Most people are overweight because they're not getting enough fiber and filling up on foods that have 0 fiber and are mostly empty calories (such as fattie meats, dairy, and milk).

Warrenjrphotography-SJ wrote:
This is bad advice.

When's the last time you saw a fat fruitarian or low fat vegan?

A gram of carbs (long chain sugar) only contains 4 calories, a gram of fat contains 9 calories...if you don't believe me look at the bottom of any nutritional information box on food and it will say this.

Fat comes from eating foods high in fat and low in fiber.

I can sit on my butt all day and stay thin because I eat a ton of sugar, carbs, and foods high in fiber.

Ripe Bananas for example are almost all sugar yet I'd love to see someone try to get fat eating them at around only 100-120 calories each.

To be completely fair, the LFR vegan community - or at least many of the most vocal members - are very young. As in, 20s and 30s (though, Doug Graham himself is older). They are also a group of people who tend to participate in endurance sports, such as running. Endurance athletes can burn twice as many calories as a regular person, or more sedentary individual, or even three times the amount of calories, if they are participating in serious distance running.

"Fully Raw Kristina" admits on her videos that she runs sometimes 12 miles everyday, so the tremendous amounts of fruits and vegetables she is regularly consuming are easily burned off.

People DO gain weight on LFR lifestyles, with high fruit intake. "Average" people maybe go do a couple of miles on a treadmill 2-3 times every week, and once they develop the faintest beads of sweat on their foreheads, think they've gotten a good workout, and do not get any physical activity beyond that. These people then find a lifestyle (often followed by 23 year old distance runners) that promises them they can gorge themselves on very sweet foods, as long as they keep the fat low, all their excess pounds will fall off. It's simply not true for sedentary people, who begin eating huge quantities of food - especially calorie dense foods, such as bananas and dates - the staples of some LFR folks.

Meghan Elizabeth, a fructivore, has made several videos about this. Here is one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZo-2r5vmFU

There are also a number of very overweight folks, with food-related illness, who've switched over to that lifestyle and experienced tremendous positive changes.

There's no way to know what will work for you, until you try a wide variety of things. For some people, multiple diets "work," for others it's much more narrow.

I cannot sit on my butt and stay thin, no matter what type of diet I follow,  but then again, I've never been a "thin" person, and thinness isn't really in my genetics.  And, I've gone through periods of everything from eating Paleo, to eating LFR vegan, to a "gourmet" raw style of eating, to more a more conventional vegan diet-I neither lost, nor gained, significant amounts on any of those. I'd say the exception was with carb-cycling, doing it bodybuilding style, during which time I did manage to drop about 5-7 pounds of fat and get a full six pack to show. Cycling your carbs is nice in order to look good on a vacation, but you can't do it as a lifestyle. It's grueling, and the food is awful, and you get really tired after a month or two, which sucks. That's the only thing, however, that ever stimulated me to lose additional fat, during the past 6 or 7 years, after I'd already achieved a "medium" sized body for my height.

On a LFR diet, I typically hold extra water-weight, of about 4-5 pounds, but it's water, not fat - so I don't consider that a weight gain.

If you can sit on your butt and not gain weight, it's likely due to genetics. It's not like that for other people, regardless of how they eat. It's a much more complicated process, and different people's bodies work differently.

Marin Photography NYC wrote:
Update the info on your page and don't worry about it.

+1

Warrenjrphotography-SJ wrote:
LOL who drinks a 40oz of brisk or any soda? That's crazy, but even if they did they would not gain weight from that because there's no fat in it.

Not to mention that like I said before, your body will not turn sugar into fat UNLESS you mix sugar with fat which causes an insulin response in which your body will hold onto the fat you eat.

If someone drank all of that brisk and had no fat with it they would end up excreting all of that sugar and their metabolism would be boosted because carbs cause your body temperature to rise speeding up your metabolic rate.

8 bananas is pretty easy to eat yet (if you're hungry it's a joke to eat 8 in a row) that contains around 1,000 calories (Contains a TON of fructose as well which the other poster said to avoid which is a load of nonsense....fructose is good.) and I have YET to meet someone that is not extremely lean that eats mostly fruit and vegetables.

The people that are fat are those that eat a diet high in fat or animal product (dairy, fatty meats, cheese, milk, etc etc).

All of the foods that I just mentioned to avoid are mostly empty calories as well but stick to your gut as fat doesn't need to be converted to anything else in your body so your body easily and readily stores it as fat.

The best way to lose weight is to eat all of the fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes, starches, nuts & seeds that you want.

All of those foods contain practically 0 fat and the fat the very tiny amount that a piece of fruit or vegetable or even legume contains has a high omega 3 to omega 6 ratio meaning it's healthy fat.

I agree with the poster that said that calories in and out is BS.

Google search fruitarian or low fat vegans and than Google search high fat low carb advocates and notice the evidence with your own eyes of how the ones eating the most fructose are the leanest and the ones eating the fat and staying away from sugar have a gut and are fat.

What if I told you... I know fat vegans, who just eat mostly carbs aka sugar.

Warrenjrphotography-SJ wrote:
LOL who drinks a 40oz of brisk or any soda? That's crazy, but even if they did they would not gain weight from that because there's no fat in it.

Not to mention that like I said before, your body will not turn sugar into fat UNLESS you mix sugar with fat which causes an insulin response in which your body will hold onto the fat you eat.

If someone drank all of that brisk and had no fat with it they would end up excreting all of that sugar and their metabolism would be boosted because carbs cause your body temperature to rise speeding up your metabolic rate.

8 bananas is pretty easy to eat yet (if you're hungry it's a joke to eat 8 in a row) that contains around 1,000 calories (Contains a TON of fructose as well which the other poster said to avoid which is a load of nonsense....fructose is good.) and I have YET to meet someone that is not extremely lean that eats mostly fruit and vegetables.

The people that are fat are those that eat a diet high in fat or animal product (dairy, fatty meats, cheese, milk, etc etc).

All of the foods that I just mentioned to avoid are mostly empty calories as well but stick to your gut as fat doesn't need to be converted to anything else in your body so your body easily and readily stores it as fat.

The best way to lose weight is to eat all of the fresh vegetables, fruits, legumes, starches, nuts & seeds that you want.

All of those foods contain practically 0 fat and the fat the very tiny amount that a piece of fruit or vegetable or even legume contains has a high omega 3 to omega 6 ratio meaning it's healthy fat.

I agree with the poster that said that calories in and out is BS.

Google search fruitarian or low fat vegans and than Google search high fat low carb advocates and notice the evidence with your own eyes of how the ones eating the most fructose are the leanest and the ones eating the fat and staying away from sugar have a gut and are fat.

I don't know who fed you that hogwash, but Fat free is HORRIBLE for you BECAUSE they add MORE SUGAR. I actually put on seven pounds from eating nothing but high sugar fruits like bananas and grapes.

Don't get me wrong, fruit is very healthy for you but only in moderation. No, you will never become three hundred pounds obese from eating fruit, but it can make it hard to lose weight. You body responds to sugar no matter what else you eat with it, and reacts the same no matter if the sugar comes from fruit or from a candy bar. That's why when your blood sugar drops and you feel light headed, you can eat a banana and your blood sugar goes back up. 

Did you know that fat can actually be GOOD for you in moderation? There are different types of fats. The worst is Trans fat, which is found in most processed foods, and the best is monounsaturated fat, that is found in olive oil and avacadoes. Trans fat leads to obesity, as well as an increased risk for heart-attack and stroke. Healthy fats, or Monosaturated fats are proven to lower bad cholesterol, decrease risk for heart attack ,and to help maintain a healthy weight.

You are somewhat on the right track, especially about only eating whole foods, but basically everything you've stated about macro-nutrients is wrong. Like cholesterol, fat can be good or bad, and what kind of fat you eat makes all the difference.   


Soda and other sugary drinks are the leading cause of obesity in America.
Also, your body treats carbs the same as sugar.

References:

http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionso … act-sheet/

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHe … rticle.jsp

http://www.heart.org/HEARTORG/GettingHe … rticle.jsp

http://www.diabetes.org/food-and-fitnes … serts.html

lynne g wrote:
Er, are you sure you're not gaining weight because you're... Turning 18? The female body stops developing in black women around this time, in caucasions as late as 21. ...

I'm a late bloomer, (my age of set and gain was about 46.) coincided with my intake of Merlot!


Back to the OP, now that I've reached my "age of set weight and gain" I have rebounded back to that weight and then some when I trimmed down just about 5 lbs or so down. When that happens I feel like I am huge and I probably over stress the point when scheduling a shoot about it. I think updated our weight and stats is good and then just to mention the weight and share a current picture.

I fuss too much about it in my case and think I should ease off.

Jen

Warrenjrphotography-SJ wrote:
...and I have YET to meet someone that is not extremely lean that eats mostly fruit and vegetables.

The people that are fat are those that eat a diet high in fat or animal product (dairy, fatty meats, cheese, milk, etc etc).

Hi,
It isn't just fat that makes you fat.

As a side note, I'm not diabetic but if I am over hungry and eat an apple it sends me into a sugar overload and a bit of an insulin dump, (need to add some fat and protein when that happens in order to feel better.)

Also, I have a friend named "P" who when she quit smoking she replaced it with eating grapefruit over one summer.

Wow, just wow on how large this lady got over one summer, (we were roomates and she was nearly my height and probably a lot slimmer than I at the start.)

So I also got to thinking about those diets where you can eat all the fruits and vegetables you want and I remember her. I also realize that elephants, horses, cattle and even giraffes and Moose, (I haven't left Alaska yet,) all eat all the vegetables they want too.

Jen
edit: for what its worth I eat a lot of fat, (olive oil, butter, peanut butter, avocado, coconut! I love fat.)

edit: Vegan for me, no problem but fruitarian and I'd be super sick, ugh, nd amy teeth just hurt thinking about certain fruit! Once in a while yes, every day? No way.

Celine Sophia wrote:
Thanks, the stats are current.  I just don't want to show up at a shoot and the photographer be disappointed because I'm not what he expected. I want to be professional at all times and succeed as a model and will do whatever I takes to make that happen.  BTW I turn 18 in two weeks!

Hello and by now, Happy BELATED Birthday. !!

lynne g wrote:
The carb no fat advice is a not positive. The reason the calorie is a calorie theory stands is because it's been proven study after study. However, different foods satiate you in different ways. The tab creates a spike in blood glucose. And any way you want to slice it, requires more insulin production. A carb NEEDS to hind with a protein or fat molecule to stabilize glucose levels. This is not an opinion but proven and taught in colleges of medical science. Not on web md. This is why if you wanted to be healthy and a vegetarian, it is possible, but you couldn't just cut out meat, but would need to find a substitute such as a diet high in legumes such as a Indian  diet. As for high fat, take the Inuit culture. They are historically know for having a diet above 50% fat, yet good cardiac health. Go figure. The right diet is the one that works for you and your body. But no fat has been an epidemic plaguing women for decades. This is one of the leading causes of gi bloating and upset. Fat helps "run things threw".

I fully agree. I feel this personally. Although I am mixed cultured with an ethnic mix that involves Northern Native. When I lived with my Italian roommate she always said that people would tell her not to eat all her pasta but it was in her 'bones.' She would eat gobs of pasta and I'd eat my loads of fat, (both of us were very slim at that time.)

I feel this personally also with needing fat and protein before eating an apple on an empty stomach too, whewie!

Besides, to the folks who want to eliminate lipids, every single cell in our body uses this as part of its membrane. It cushions our organs, spinal column and even eyes and our hormones use lipids as a transfer mechanism to get into and out of cells.

Jen

Celine Sophia wrote:
I'm speaking to a nutritionist on Wednesday, and will be getting a personal trainer. Between the two I'm hoping to see a difference soon.

Smartest thing.

I have recently counted every calorie and I have done endurance running.  Not really counting calories anymore but may use MyFitnessPal again if things get off track.  I will say that most trainers will want to get you started on a 1200 calorie diet which is the worst thing you can do.  A nutritionist I spoke to at my gym told me when her clients upped their calories from 1200 to 1500/1700 they started losing weight.

Nothing beats diet and exercise.  I will say, no matter WHAT I was eating, running made me the skinniest I've ever been in my life.  It can be a hardship to get in running shape but once you're there, you're there.  I ate pasta and a lot of fruit (carbs/sugar) and with sugar be it fruit or gummy bears gets metabolized the same way. 

There is SO much that goes into nutrition and exercise and the KIND of exercise you do (running breaks down muscle/that's another topic) but it's true- "Abs are made in the kitchen".

Jen B wrote:
So I also got to thinking about those diets where you can eat all the fruits and vegetables you want and I remember her. I also realize that elephants, horses, cattle and even giraffes and Moose, (I haven't left Alaska yet,) all eat all the vegetables they want too.

To be completely honest, at the beginning of 2016, I started eating around 3000 calories per day of all the fruits (especially) and vegetables I want and little else. I mean, stuffing myself. Prior to that, I ate a healthy, "balanced" vegetarian diet with almost no processed food at all, everything cooked at home.

I started getting up in the morning and drinking 7-10 bananas puréed in water, homemade juices, etc and easily dropped my body fat below 20% for the first time in a few years eating that way. I eat about 80% of my daily food intake from veg and fruit carbs now, very little fat or protein and just stay...really really lean now.

I don't think that would work for everyone, but damn, it works for me. In addition to that, I've always had a high resting heart rate, no matter how hard I worked out or how I lived. Even fairly intense cardio training for extended periods of time would not drop my resting heart rate below 82 BPM. It's been at 82 BPM since I was 21 years old (the first time I ever counted it) and has varied between 82 and 93BPM resting, no matter how I worked out or trained in my life. It just doesn't get below 82 BPM, though I am healthy in every detectable way. Great iron levels, calcium levels, good blood pressure, very good cholesterol numbers, etc.

After eating this way for a number of months, my resting heart rate is down in the 70s for the first time in my life. I have no idea if they are related, possibly totally unrelated, but ...it's just...all the sudden I start eating differently and, bam, resting heart rate starts responding positively to exercise.

Koryn wrote:

To be completely honest, at the beginning of 2016, I started eating around 3000 calories per day of all the fruits (especially) and vegetables I want and little else. I mean, stuffing myself. Prior to that, I ate a healthy, "balanced" vegetarian diet with almost no processed food at all, everything cooked at home.

I started getting up in the morning and drinking 7-10 bananas puréed in water, homemade juices, etc and easily dropped my body fat below 20% for the first time in a few years eating that way. I eat about 80% of my daily food intake from veg and fruit carbs now, very little fat or protein and just stay...really really lean now.

I don't think that would work for everyone, but damn, it works for me. In addition to that, I've always had a high resting heart rate, no matter how hard I worked out or how I lived. Even fairly intense cardio training for extended periods of time would not drop my resting heart rate below 82 BPM. It's been at 82 BPM since I was 21 years old (the first time I ever counted it) and has varied between 82 and 93BPM resting, no matter how I worked out or trained in my life. It just doesn't get below 82 BPM, though I am healthy in every detectable way. Great iron levels, calcium levels, good blood pressure, very good cholesterol numbers, etc.

After eating this way for a number of months, my resting heart rate is down in the 70s for the first time in my life. I have no idea if they are related, possibly totally unrelated, but ...it's just...all the sudden I start eating differently and, bam, resting heart rate starts responding positively to exercise.

Did you get this idea from that Banana girl on Youtube?

Jules NYC wrote:

Did you get this idea from that Banana girl on Youtube?

No. I can't stand her personally. She has body image issues and engages in fat-shaming.

I learned about this initially through FullyRaw Kristina and T Collin Campbell (The China Study), and it's always been pretty natural to me to want to eat carbohydrates and not much else. When I think back to my favorite meal as a kid and teen, it was plain baked potato with salt and boiled corn on the cob. I eat that for dinner pretty regularly now, because it's still one of the best things ever. Except now I have a two baked potatoes and 2-3 corn cobs.

I've spent the past three years interested in the dynamics and lives of people who eat this way. I watch their videos, read their books and have read most of what are considered "the books" on high carb, low fat eating. Some are better than others - but I'd recommend T Collin Campbell's "Whole" to anyone. It is, however, like reading a very long research study, so the writing might not be for everyone. It's not exciting, but it's eye opening.

Koryn wrote:
No. I can't stand her personally. She has body image issues and engages in fat-shaming.

I learned about this initially through FullyRaw Kristina and T Collin Campbell (The China Study), and it's always been pretty natural to me to want to eat carbohydrates and not much else. When I think back to my favorite meal as a kid and teen, it was plain baked potato with salt and boiled corn on the cob. I eat that for dinner pretty regularly now, because it's still one of the best things ever. Except now I have a two baked potatoes and 2-3 corn cobs.

I've spent the past three years interested in the dynamics and lives of people who eat this way. I watch their videos, read their books and have read most of what are considered "the books" on high carb, low fat eating. Some are better than others - but I'd recommend T Collin Campbell's "Whole" to anyone. It is, however, like reading a very long research study, so the writing might not be for everyone. It's not exciting, but it's eye opening.

I like research studies.

I don't know much about the Banana Girl but I do know FullyRaw Kristina.  It's just incredible how her eye color changed.  People were slamming her for gaining weight (what?).  It's weird. I like her approach to life and philosophy.

My body really likes carbs... I mean a LOT.  When running I ate HUGE plates of pasta but I was running many miles and I needed the carbs and sugar wherever it was coming from.  I'm still experimenting with calories & what to eat these days.  I'm listening to my body more.  Hungry?  Eat.  Not hungry?  Don't.  Simple things.  I eat really well, the things I put in my body.

I grew a cup size so I can't zip up designer fashion sometimes but all my clothes fit looser being a 4 sometimes 2. I upped my dress size because in designer-land EVERYTHING is sized smaller.  If I did nothing at all my body 'likes' being a certain weight but I don't like that weight lol.  Even though you can weigh a lot and look smaller, I still like the numbers to be there.

This puts it into reality for me:

Jules NYC wrote:
My body really likes carbs... I mean a LOT.  When running I ate HUGE plates of pasta but I was running many miles and I needed the carbs and sugar wherever it was coming from.

Eating a million grams of carbs every day is about the only way I can seem to get my body to not only enjoy cardio, but actually benefit from it.

Even with no real training as a weightlifter, in my early 20s, I could win bets by picking up 200 pound men at parties and carrying them around. I weighed maybe 110-120 pounds when I was doing that, and had a job moving boxes all day in a warehouse (that I loved beyond reason), but had only just started to get interested in exercise. The very first deadlift I ever did in a gym was with more than I physically weighed and I didn't even really know what I was doing at the time.

So, I'm a naturally very strong person, disproportionatately so for my physical size. I loved sprinting as a kid, but never could run distance worth a damn. I'd always win the "XYZ Meter Dash" at our elementary school field days, but be straggling behind, and last picked for teams, during P.E. Get me in a swimming pool, I sink like a stone. Never could swim either. Give me some jar to get open, or a couch to move, and I'll have an easier time of it than a lot of big men. I remember a gym teacher in middle school commenting that I was "very athletic, to be so non-athletic."

I always wanted to have a more well-rounded athletic life, but I was just strong and that was it. It's interesting to see how changes in my eating habits have started to change that. I'm very motivated to make changes, so sticking to something that's working matters to me, no matter how uncomfortable it is socially, or how much society maligns it. I work full-time at a gym, and in gym culture, low carb reigns. My coworkers find my food choices amusing at times, because it's stuff they associate with getting "fat," but I'm trimmer than most of them and stuff my face all day long.

I've had such awful running endurance my whole life (and I do hiking up 4,000 foot above sea level mountains, was great at sport climbing, etc) that I think the first time I'm actually able to run a full mile without dying, I'm going to cry tears of joy.

That being said, I had very bad upper respiratory problems, chronic sinus infections (that actually hospitalized me) and asthma as a kid and I think that is really part of why I've struggled so with cardio stuff. My lung capacity as a kid was always diminished by my respiratory problems. I don't have those much anymore, though I do still am prone to sinus infections, minor ones. And get phlegm in my chest as soon as the weather starts getting cold. Moving to a warm climate year after next should stop these last remaining issues once and for all.

Koryn wrote:
Eating a million grams of carbs every day is about the only way I can seem to get my body to not only enjoy cardio, but actually benefit from it.

Even with no real training as a weightlifter, in my early 20s, I could win bets by picking up 200 pound men at parties and carrying them around. I weighed maybe 110-120 pounds when I was doing that, and had a job moving boxes all day in a warehouse (that I loved beyond reason), but had only just started to get interested in exercise. The very first deadlift I ever did in a gym was with more than I physically weighed and I didn't even really know what I was doing at the time.

So, I'm a naturally very strong person, disproportionatately so for my physical size. I loved sprinting as a kid, but never could run distance worth a damn. I'd always win the "XYZ Meter Dash" at our elementary school field days, but be straggling behind, and last picked for teams, during P.E. Get me in a swimming pool, I sink like a stone. Never could swim either. Give me some jar to get open, or a couch to move, and I'll have an easier time of it than a lot of big men. I remember a gym teacher in middle school commenting that I was "very athletic, to be so non-athletic."

I always wanted to have a more well-rounded athletic life, but I was just strong and that was it. It's interesting to see how changes in my eating habits have started to change that. I'm very motivated to make changes, so sticking to something that's working matters to me, no matter how uncomfortable it is socially, or how much society maligns it. I work full-time at a gym, and in gym culture, low carb reigns. My coworkers find my food choices amusing at times, because it's stuff they associate with getting "fat," but I'm trimmer than most of them and stuff my face all day long.

I've had such awful running endurance my whole life (and I do hiking up 4,000 foot above sea level mountains, was great at sport climbing, etc) that I think the first time I'm actually able to run a full mile without dying, I'm going to cry tears of joy.

That being said, I had very bad upper respiratory problems, chronic sinus infections (that actually hospitalized me) and asthma as a kid and I think that is really part of why I've struggled so with cardio stuff. My lung capacity as a kid was always diminished by my respiratory problems. I don't have those much anymore, though I do still am prone to sinus infections, minor ones. And get phlegm in my chest as soon as the weather starts getting cold. Moving to a warm climate year after next should stop these last remaining issues once and for all.

Funny, I was on a swim-team and can't sprint for shit.  Well, maybe I could but it seems and feels SO unnatural to me.  I feel like if I sprinted my limbs would be drawn and quartered. My coach on the swim-team wanted me to do the 500 but I always refused because I don't know how to pace myself with other people.  I'm good in solitary things.  When running my endorphins soar through the roof and I become a machine.  I was in such good running shape at one point in time my friends in San Diego went to a party... I ran, one friend on a skateboard, one on a bike.  I didn't have my car at that point in time, ha.

As for food and exercising, there is NO way I can exercise hard without having carbs to fuel me.  I have to have something... juice, something that will give me energy.

I don't know the magic formula really, I just know what works for me.  With all this talk you do about training and such, I wish you were closer to me because I'd be curious how you'd train me. 

Losing weight and getting 'toned' is more difficult than people give credit for.  You can look 'skinny' and look kickass in clothes and to do a shoot in next to nothing is very telling.  I should just start running like I did before again.  I love eating.

lol

Jules NYC wrote:
When running my endorphins soar through the roof and I become a machine.

People talk about a "runner's high" and honestly, I have no clue as to how that might feel. I get energy in sudden, giant bursts, that will only last a minute or two. That's how I've absolutely always been. I feel great for about 60 seconds of huge power output, then nothing. Back to normal. Any sort of sustained energy in exertion is something I've never experienced, certainly not a "high." Running is something I'm better at since pretty much permanently carb-loading, but I highly doubt it will ever be enjoyable to me. I can tolerate it better now and the changes in my body are more apparent with the dietary changes, but that whole endorphin thing?? Nah, I just get wicked tired. There's never been a time when I got back in my car after a hard workout, or got back home, and didn't have to fight the urge to go immediately to sleep. I've always been either full-speed or barely alive. I'm that way when I exercise and that way in how my mind works as well. It's less drastic now, but it's still pretty much how my energy systems work.

Koryn wrote:
People talk about a "runner's high" and honestly, I have no clue as to how that might feel. ...

Neither do I and I was a cross country runner, athlete in high school and college and then recreationally ran marathons and long runs into my mid 30's.

Never experienced such a thing...

Jen
edit to add: in the early 80s when I started it was still believed that 100 mile weeks were the minimum, still, never lived this so-called hyped high...

edit again to comment:

Jules NYC wrote:
...Losing weight and getting 'toned' is more difficult than people give credit for.  You can look 'skinny' and look kickass in clothes and to do a shoot in next to nothing is very telling.  I should just start running like I did before again.  I love eating.

lol

I agree and recommend taking advantage of all pre-menopausal consistent exercise you can do, it will protect you beyond. I've learned that post menopause it is no longer the same equation. It isn't calories in/calories out/exercise...it is a different collective of what type of calories in and what type/ratio of exercise and remember cortisol from exercise will have a revere effect in making you store fat, without the same estrogen levels.

Still, I want to run, and since I still can, (jog,) I hope to start back soon!!

Koryn wrote:

People talk about a "runner's high" and honestly, I have no clue as to how that might feel. I get energy in sudden, giant bursts, that will only last a minute or two. That's how I've absolutely always been. I feel great for about 60 seconds of huge power output, then nothing. Back to normal. Any sort of sustained energy in exertion is something I've never experienced, certainly not a "high." Running is something I'm better at since pretty much permanently carb-loading, but I highly doubt it will ever be enjoyable to me. I can tolerate it better now and the changes in my body are more apparent with the dietary changes, but that whole endorphin thing?? Nah, I just get wicked tired. There's never been a time when I got back in my car after a hard workout, or got back home, and didn't have to fight the urge to go immediately to sleep. I've always been either full-speed or barely alive. I'm that way when I exercise and that way in how my mind works as well. It's less drastic now, but it's still pretty much how my energy systems work.

Do you know how people take street drugs to get high?  Imagine not feeling shaky, 'weird', needing to balance the high in ANY way and it being a natural high?  That's Runner's High to me.  It's like a feeling of mania without being Bi-polar.  Maybe these are outrageous examples but for the person that generally feels 'good', this is like *insert best feeling whoot ever* if you run. 

As for the immediately sleeping thing, I hear you on that.  When I fueled myself properly after a workout, that "I need to sleep NOW" feeling subsided.

Jen B E wrote:

Neither do I and I was a cross country runner, athlete in high school and college and then recreationally ran marathons and long runs into my mid 30's.

Never experienced such a thing...

Jen
edit to add: in the early 80s when I started it was still believed that 100 mile weeks were the minimum, still, never lived this so-called hyped high...

edit again to comment:


I agree and recommend taking advantage of all pre-menopausal consistent exercise you can do, it will protect you beyond. I've learned that post menopause it is no longer the same equation. It isn't calories in/calories out/exercise...it is a different collective of what type of calories in and what type/ratio of exercise and remember cortisol from exercise will have a revere effect in making you store fat, without the same estrogen levels.

Still, I want to run, and since I still can, (jog,) I hope to start back soon!!

Thank God for muscle memory and 'picking up where you left off'.  Getting into runners shape is kind of tough but once you're there it's like, wow, I can run forever!  Right now I'm doing the stairmaster but the one where you climb 'real' steps.  It's good for my bones & hips.  I never thought I would have to be worried about bone strength but I do.  Having low estrogen all my life the culprit and the reason I have to be on the pill.  Cool though because I'm not going to argue my boobs getting a little bigger lol.

Reason to run:

Jules NYC wrote:
...Having low estrogen all my life the culprit and the reason I have to be on the pill.  Cool though because I'm not going to argue my boobs getting a little bigger lol.

Reason to run:

Oh gee, you just reminded me that I need to replace my calcium chews. Funny thing though is after menopause my A boobs decided to become little bees but, I think that was from overall weight gain!

Jen
p.s. considering this is a 2014 thread, I think our drift is perfectly okay, right?

Jen B E wrote:


Oh gee, you just reminded me that I need to replace my calcium chews. Funny thing though is after menopause my A boobs decided to become little bees but, I think that was from overall weight gain!

Jen
p.s. considering this is a 2014 thread, I think our drift is perfectly okay, right?

I think your body is killer, seriously.  I just read a really cool article on different butt shapes and specific exercises to work on making one's specific shape 'better'.  Maybe I should post it later.  Now I have to get ready for a fitness shoot for a gym and a phone app.  Hopefully I won't look fat in it, ha ha

I think I'm pretty good and look like I spar with someone at best.
As for drifting, I'm a great fan of tangents:)

Jules NYC wrote:



I think your body is killer, seriously. ...I think I'm pretty good and look like I spar with someone at best.
As for drifting, I'm a great fan of tangents:)

Likewise! Thanks and yes to you!


Yes to the but workouts, I think I should stop caving to gravity for a bit.
Jen