The question should be 'are you healthy enough NOT to work out?' Lol
Your body will let you know... Start off light 2-days a week and increase from there, no point in pushing olit to the limit first time cause your muscles won't like that

 

Unsweetened almond milk is very healthy to my knowledge. Something like 1g of sugar per 8 oz and 0 fat. It depends on your weight and physical size what amount of protein you eat. I'm trying to lose fat so I go with whey isolated. I think I have around 100 grams a day. But, if you're workin out a lot like I do you need it, and you need to drink a lot of water 8-12 bottles like I said earlier. What your body doesn't use from the protein, you will urinate out. That's why the water is healthy it flushes out what your body doesn't use. I highly recommend unsweetened almond milk. I have the vanilla flavor it's healthy, and no sugar no fat. It tastes weird at first but I love it now and can drink it like normal milk. But I only use it in shakes and quick swigs. Not just drinking hole. You can, but water water water haha.

 

Forgot to add
Carbs= energy.
Unused carbs= fat.
I don't eat too many carbs. But you still need some. I'm no expert on this stuff, my friend did this same diet and burned all his fat and I've lost a lot of fat in a little amount of time. His mom is a nutritionist and she created it for him.
He also drives an sti haha. Not on the forum though.

 

Water intake needs to be calculated based on a sliding scale according to energy expenditure. There are plenty of negative effects of too much water.

As for milk, get organic milk with DHA and Omega 3s.

You realize fat is still energy? 1g of CHO is 4.2kcals whereas 1g of lipids is 9.4kcals.

This is how your body uses energy:


Your aerobic CHO utilization is supplemented by gluconeogenesis/lipolysis.

Someone training for a 5k is going to diet and train VERY differently than someone interested only in resistance training.

If you're looking at losing weight, you need to be expending a ton of calories. I recommend swimming or cycling for that in combination with a strategic diet. Very low carbs, moderate protein.

 

Ya that's way above my knowledge....
Very good points though. My thought process is cut sugar and bad fat and keep working out a lot with a lot of cardio including running biking and swimming. Too much water is dangerous but I've never run into that.... 8-12 bottles a day is good. I've never gone over that...

 

For OP, to give you an idea of what to shoot for:

Aerobic (cardio):
Frequency 2-5 days a week
Intensity 65-90% of max heart rate (let's say 190)
Duration 20 to 60 min (more is fine)

Resistance (weights):
Frequency 2+ times a week
Intensity 8-12 reps; 1-3 sets
Duration 18-20 different exercises

Flexibility (yoga/pilates)
Everyday or in combination with other exercises


It has been proven that exercise decreases mortality rate and incidences of cancer. There are an amazing amount of benefits if you can get into the habit of doing it. I'd start making it out 2-3 times per week. Don't worry about pushing yourself, just get into the groove of sweating.

Runner's world usually has some good tips and meal strategies. Here's their "grocery list" The Runner's Ultimate Grocery List - Runner's World | Runner's World & Running Times

 

Another vote for unsweetened almond milk.

Doesn't taste as good as the sweetened version (which tastes better than cow milk), but it's not bad and saves on the sugar input.

You can get all caught up in the counting, weighing, calculating, etc of what you eat, but you pretty much know the basics already. Stick with those and you'll be on the right path.


"Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants." - Michael Pollan (Food Rules)


That being said, since nutritional science is still in it's early stages, one way to be sure that you're making progress is before/after blood work.

 

Eh, brown rice is not that much better than white rice. From a nutritional standpoint, yes it's better, but brown rice contains much higher levels of arsenic than white rice does. So the long-term risks may outweigh the benefits of eating brown rice.

 

Switched it up today I had a whole wheat english muffin with egg whites not as bad as I thought.

 

In general, if you do heavy cardio work, you want to make 10% increases each week to avoid any joint/muscle issues. I used to road cycle 100-150 miles a week with over 2000' of climbing each ride but I wouldn't dare try that right now. I could keep my heart rate in the 150-165 range for hours at the height of my training... And I would get funky heart murmurs because my resting HR would dip into the 40s and high 39s! Anyway, start slow and learn your body.

Right now I'm training with free weights at the gym, doing a program called StrongLifts 5x5. Squats, deadlift, bench, overhead press, barbell rows.

Anything you do is better than nothing. Get off the couch and eat clean!

 

I'm not the best nutritionalist, I just wanted to spread the info that I know cheerios aren't very good for you. If you want similar styles, they have low sodium "health food" style cheerios that should be fine. Otherwise, I'd recommend eggs (debateable info about cholesterol, but my sister eats at least a dozen eggs a week and she has no cholesterol problems), some fruit, and a fluid, maybe almond/hemp/chia milk. I have a very limited selection of milks, because I'm lactose intolerant and I'm allergic to almonds, lol. If you're a guy, I recommend against soy and flax because they both contain a lot of phytoestrogens, which basically act like estrogen in the body when consumed. Coconut milk, while healthy, has a ton of fat and I'd rather choose another option if trying to lose weight.

A friend told me, losing weight and getting fit is 80% diet, 20% exercise. So, if you want to lose weight, you gotta eat like you want to lose weight.

A good rule of thumb: The less ingredients listed to make the product, the healthier it most likely is.

There's a ton of information in this thread, but always do your own research before trusting someone who posts something.

 

The sodium intake isn't that straight forward. Sort of like eggs, it's negative effectives have been overhyped and now are just repeated like gospel (less sodium, good!). Here's an article to help elaborate.

It's Time to End the War on Salt: Scientific American

As far as the soy milk having the effects of estrogen, the jury is still out on that one. So, better safe than sorry. Plus, most of the soy in America is owner by Monsanto patents, so if avoiding soy helps keep another $0.25 from going into their pockets, good!

Coconut milk, from what I've read has lots of saturated fats. There are arguments as to whether those are the beneficial chains of saturated fat, or the bad fatty chains. Since the jury seems to remain out on this as well, plus coconut milk's high calorie content, you might want to look at the other options for now.

 

Eh, high sodium isn't good. Sodium bonds to water which makes you **** out the water there. Making your body less hydrated, even if you drink hella water with other high sodium stuff.

 

Want to lose weight and gain strength? This is what worked for me: Definitive Guide: The Primal Blueprint | Mark's Daily Apple
Primal Blueprint is just another approach to eating well and getting fit.
A good read regarding food is: Amazon.com: Why We Get Fat: And What to Do About It (9780307474254): Gary Taubes: Books
Plenty of good info here...shoots holes in a lot of food BS that we have heard in the past. IMHO, if you want to lose weight, carbs are the Devil!
Get your bacon on!

 

From the article: In fact, the population that ate the most salt, about 14 grams a day, had a lower median blood pressure than the population that ate the least, about 7.2 grams a day.

That range is insane. 14 grams of salt is ~ 8400mg of sodium (approximately 60% of salt is sodium) and 7.2 grams is ~ 4300 mg of sodium. 4300 mg is almost double the current recommended daily recommended value. Not really sure what to make of this study... Other than that, I see little numerical data stated in that article. Would love to see the data from the studies instead of just conclusions though.

Plus, as iLoqin said, it increases the potential of dehydration.

As for phytoestrogens, people have reported getting puffy nipples when drinking soy and flax regularly, which they report goes away after a while when they stop. This is just what people say, so as you said, the jury is still out and I'd err on the safe side.

Coconut is gaining a lot of momentum in the health craze. Coconut oil is getting really popular due to the high oxidation point and low melting point. As for the milk though, again, high fat means more calories (9 calories for each g of fat) and the jury is still out on saturated fats, ala paleo dieters using lard and duck fat regularly.