You’re not kidding. I went out for what was supposed to be an easy run in the mid 80s today, and had a way too high heart rate and felt like garbage at the end. If I do speed work tomorrow it’s going to be on the treadmill.
Bought myself an e-bike last month. So far I’ve gained 20 pounds.
Pros:
Easy to drive
Awesome
Climbs any mountain
Cons:
Costs 7k€
After a 2 hour drive drinking water actually makes u fatter, apparently
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Have been curious about these. Does the e-bike remove all need for peddling?
Depends on whether it has a throttle or not. If it does, you can engage it and the bike works like a motor scooter (although you can still pedal). If it doesn’t, then yes, you’ll need to pedal, although it’s a lot easier.
Laws vary worldwide as to whether e-bikes with throttles are allowed, and whether they need to be registered as a moped or motor scooter.
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Update.
Health has been very mixed.
I’ve been doing the physio work consistently, and elbow tendonitis is recovering slowly but surely. Now able to do things like carrying a grocery bag without a flare up. So that’s great.
I’ve also been slowly adding weight to the bar. So now back up to a full plate on DL and Bench. Still feels like kiddy weights, but good to be heading back up there.
But weight and diet is fucking awful. Still putting ON weight. Rather than cutting back. I’m the heaviest I’ve been in a very very long time. And the last time I was this big I was also DLing 500 pounds.
This is getting to the point where if I dont turn it around I’m going to be impacting my health long term.
I figure I need about a 7000 calorie turn around per week. More exercise once elbow is better will be about 2000. But I’ve got to find a bunch more from diet and activity.
My preferred method of weight loss this summer was hiking in the Himalayas. You burn a bunch of calories on the trail plus the altitude suppresses the appetite quite a bit. Getting a stomach bug can also help increase the caloric deficit!
It is so choice. If you have the means, I highly recommend it
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Lol. And on an internet full of impractical weight loss advice, I think we have a winner.
Seriously though. I do enjoy hiking. Mrs R does not, so it’s not something we would plan for a holiday. We now do road trips through wilderness as a compromise. Good for the marriage, less good for my pants size.
It was pretty effective though!
For you, I’m assuming you know pretty well how to lose the weight, you just have to do it?
Knowing and doing are pretty different. And tbh. If I’m not implementing. Then probably I’m probably missing something.
Just curious, what’s your liquid calorie intake like? How often do you go out to eat vs make meals at home?
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Liquid calories almost zero. With the exception of 3 or 4 beers out maybe once every two weeks.
Meals definitely an issue. Eat out maybe once or twice a week. But uber eats a LOT of other nights.
Evening meal quality and quantity definitely one issue.
Junk food. Cakes. Cookies. Pastries. Icecream. Definitely another issue. Mrs R often buys these (I generally dont) and is able them to have them around to eat occasionally. I am demonstrating zero will power lately when they are in the house and just eat what’s in front of me.
Third issue is definitely activity. When I’m in the office (maybe twice per week) I walk a moderate about and will do about 5000 steps. On other days. I’ve got my light workout and then basically no other activity. Maybe about 1000 steps IF I go get a sandwich for lunch from across the road.
Yeah, sounds like you’ve got plenty of room for improvement. Do you guys like to cook? Cooking most meals at home is so much healthier than ordering out so much. And avoiding the middle of the grocery store when you’re there. Those sugar bomb snack foods are a real killer.
It is crazy how much sugar is in the average western, especially American diet. I basically grew up on straight sugar, its almost crazy thinking about it. And even now that my diet is pretty clean and I don’t each too much junk food, I still have trouble avoiding the sneakier stuff that has lots of added sugar like peanut butter, yogurt, granola, fruit juices, and I do get the late nice ice cream cravings.
I do enjoy cooking.
The challenge at the moment is finding food that is healthy, that I know how to cook, and that Mrs R will enjoy.
Even as I type I realise that I’m finding excuses for not doing the fairly obvious things.
It has been difficult lately though. Between studying, a serious job, looking after my dad and mental health challenges, theres not been a lot of headspace or time to dedicate to healthy eating.
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Yea it’s definitely not always easy. When things are stressful for me I’m pretty good with diet and then pound 100 oz of 9% IPAs heh
Yeah, this is the normal struggle and it’s why stuff like healthy eating depends on forming habits, not willpower. Nobody that eats healthy does it by getting a bacon double cheeseburger and milkshake, then working up the willpower to throw it in the garbage and steam some kale instead. People eat healthy because that’s their routine.
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This is a great point. Thanks for pointing it out. I have to train myself to really accept it and live it. I have long had similar feelings about workouts. First and foremost it’s about training yourself to workout 3 times or 6 times a week. The actual workload doesn’t matter than much initially, but ramp up the intensity gradually and within a few months you’re doing a really challenging workout consistently. The trick for me now is to find a healthy eating menu that I can really enjoy and commit to over the long term without having to overthink it.
One hopeful observation is that your tastes adapt. If someone eats fast food all the time, then alot of healthy food will feel off putting to them because you’re training your taste buds to seek sugar, salt, and saturated fat.
Learning to cook veggies is pretty game changing. I love vegetables but I don’t want Brussels sprouts boiled until they’re mushy. But charred Brussels sprouts tossed in a bit of maple syrup and Sriracha? Yes please.
One of the biggest things for habit forming is to make choices when you are best positioned to make a good choice. Everyone is susceptible to advertising and convenience and the indisputable deliciousness of French fries or ice cream. The “trick” is to avoid daily behaviour patterns where you’re more likely to make a bad choice. If I’m starving and tired and driving home after work with no food at home, then I’m getting fast food 100% of the time. But if I made the decision at the beginning of the week to buy fresh ingredients and they’re waiting at home and I have a plan to cook them already, then I’m doing that 100% of the time.
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Yeah. I’ve largely succeeded on fast food. An egg mcmuffin/hash brown maybe once a month, but that’s it. Restaurant food in general, I try to avoid. Sometimes to be social, you have to, and I enjoy it, but the portions are insane, and the salt content is too. So I’ve eliminated a lot of stuff, like bacon, sausage etc, but pasta, bread, cereal etc are my downfalls. I’ve embarked on the battle against them but omelettes, tuna salad, and garden salads are getting old quick, and I haven’t succeeded yet at eliminating the ice cream or candy helpings. Not gaining, but not losing either. And so it goes. Gotta get my discipline where it needs to be.
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One big improvement I’ve made in my diet is using these delicious goodnesses to flavor other food. I’ll use a couple of slices of bacon to flavor a whole pot of lentils or bring some sauteed veggies to life. I’ll use maybe two italian sausages to flavor red sauce and make pasta with a can of beans in it, or use one chorizo to flavor a mix of beans and kale. Stuff like that. The beauty of bacon and sausage is that a little goes a long way.
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At least for me it’s a pretty strong correlation between how active I am and how healthy I feel like eating. If I’ve been being lazy i’m more likely to make a big ole quesadilla. if I’ve been out running or hitting the gym im in the mood to cook up a nice meal with lean meats and veggies.