How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)
ryanleecarson.tumblr.com
ryanleecarson.tumblr.com
For the last three months I've forced myself to go for a jog every morning, no excuses, even if it means I'll get started on stuff a little later, so be it. It's an amazing complement to the uncertainty and mental challenges of a startup.
Daily exercise makes me feel less tired and helps me think more clearly. For me changing my diet has been more difficult. I am going to start by changing breakfast (the meal I always eat alone), and then working from there.
[1] Commit for iPhone: http://thinklegend.com/commit
Just as an FYI: I went to check out your app and your website says it's a buck but it's listed for $2.99.
May want to update that :)
There's a lot of literature that workouts beyond an hour-hour and a half don't add much benefits and the shorter and more intense they are, the better. (of course this does not apply to athletes)
I've also found that, by bike commuting, I can integrate exercise into my day in a way that doesn't really take much additional time.
Nice work Ryan.
Weights are good too, and they're much better at making one look fit (upper body especially).
Oh, and good on you Ryan. I've seen some around here talk about how it's worth sacrificing one's health for a startup. It's good to see not everybody shares that belief.
If anyone is interested in starting, but lacks the money for a personal trainer, I've found Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe (http://www.amazon.com/By-Mark-Rippetoe-Lon-Kilgore/dp/B005PI...) to be a huge help in learning all the lifts. The first chapter is almost 60 pages just on squats going over everything from foot position to hand position, along with an explanation of why.
http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra...
There's a free iOS app for tracking progress too: http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-app/
Good for you, you're on the right track.
This is what happens if you skip the cardio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HghbpgHNxC0
(Sorry for the crappy music video, it's the only one I could find.)
Compare two genetically similar individuals, both lift weights 3x / week, one regularly consumes a 1000 caloric surplus, and the other consumes their daily caloric requirement. The outcome will be quite different.
If you play sports that last more than about 30 seconds, they can provide you with the adequate amounts of cardio you seek. If you play competitively, adding cardio may be a good idea.
Cardio is for health and endurance, if you want to run marathons or cycle, then yes, you should include more cardio. Otherwise, weightlifting adequately stresses your heart. Go deadlift 300lbs and tell me your heart isn't going nuts.
If you want to get in shape, regular exercise with an emphasis on weight lifting and proper nutrition will get you where you'd like to go.
At rest, muscle burns significantly more calories than fat, you don't need to cake on lean muscle to benefit from this, either. You only exercise for an hour or so, I'd rather work to build something in that hour that burns calories for the other 23.
Now with all that said, I personally try to do both, my cardio comes in the form of Squash on days I do not lift weights. I despise the treadmill zombie.
Your heart will certainly go nuts. But deadlifting won't enable your heart to keep going at 80% for 5 minutes straight unless you do some 1x100@100lb crossfit style deadlifting.
I strongly recomment weight lifting for most people. I'm only suggesting that out of 5 days, do 3 weight and 2 cardio days. And yes, the cardio days should probably be squash, heavy bag or football rather than the treadmill.
I'd rephrase this and say cardio days should be something you enjoy doing. Some people enjoy running on a treadmill. I don't understand how that's possible, but if you like running on the treadmill, more power to you.
On the other hand, if you hate running on the treadmill, don't force yourself to do it! Exercise is a lifelong commitment and doing something you dislike isn't sustainable. Find something fun and do it regularly.
http://www.lanimuelrath.com/blog/calories-burned-by-muscle-v...
It goes on to say that having more muscle helps burn calories when active even more so. I agree with your assertion that extra muscle burns off extra calories 'at rest' may be imply more than its actual results, but I don't see that it makes it a flat out myth.
More muscular people who exercise burn more calories than less muscular people who exercise the same amount, and burn more calories at rest than less muscular people at rest. That statement evaluates to True. That it isn't to the degree you like doesn't make it False.
Of course you're right to debunk the argument on its face, but I do wonder how much more caloric burn you get from the muscles you have during exercise, and whether that doesn't make up for it.
You changed to Paleo. You worked out 3 times a week. You took some supplements. You saw some results. You did this with a day job (albeit 4 day a week job) and a family.
What new obstacle did you overcome ? what breakthrough did you achieve ?
I think your achievement is commendable, just not sure what its doing on the front page of HN.
Also, I was never able to achieve success before, even though I tried multiple times.
That said, I still need to lose the final, irksome bit of gut. pulls finger out, decides to get some new running shoes
My buddy and I created a web/iPhone app that is great for people trying to get fit but struggle doing it because they can't find the motivation. So for those who are motivated by Ryan's story and are looking for additional tools, maybe give it a try.
http://1upfit.com allows you to compete against friends in simple workout challenges. Pushups, pull-ups, running, swimming, etc. We are actually in beta testing right now for tracking a weight loss challenge similar to what Ryan did above. (We both recently completed a slow carb diet, which is very similar.)
Training by yourself or changing dietary habits by yourself can be hard and sometimes you don't have the people around to properly motivate you. My brother is an Ironman but lives in Colorado (I'm in Portland) so it's hard to say "Hey let's go for a run". By using the app though, I can see every time he runs and it motivates me to go out and do it too, for fear of losing a competition to my brother.
The only thing I'm skeptical about is all the meat in your diet. If you watch Forks Over Knives and read the China Study, it talks about meat and animal products directly leading to the growth of cancer cells. Have you heard about that and what's your take?
Going out and grabbing some food is a rewarding part of my day, but I'm struggling to think of any options for low carb, almost everywhere seems to focus on bread, pasta or rice.
There are some places that specialise in salad/veg rather than sandwiches, but they tend to be vegetarian with the only calories coming from cous cous or potato.
I'll have a look around though.
Some research has shown that soy decreases testosterone in men. It does not seem to be a decided question, though a nutritional epidemiologist I trust believes it is. You might replace with rice milk to be on the safe side.
Also I was slim for 16 years as a vegetarian, and vegetarian diets used to be considered healthy. Gained weight in the last three years, though - but I eat lots of sweets...
If you're vegetarian for health reasons it might be time to reevaluate. If it's for ethical reasons it just means you really need to sit down and look at the macronutrient composition of the foods you eat. Not eating meat isn't a license to eat starch and sugar.
You absolutely don't need to do the paleo/keto nonsense at all. I eat meat twice a week and barely eat any dairy (just a little cheese once in a while). I eat pasta, white rice and potatoes all the time. I've lost 68 pounds so far as of this morning. No matter how much people want to pretend there is magic involved, or point to hilariously bad books like Taubes' junk, it really does come down to "burn more calories than you consume".
I can't tolerate low carb diets, I feel hungry and tired all the time and end up going nuts after a couple weeks and breaking down and eating a ton of pasta. So I didn't go low-fat or low-carb, I just eat reasonable portions, make sure the food I eat is always satisfying, and exercise. I find it much easier for me to increase the calories I am burning than to decrease the calories I am consuming too far.
And contrary to what spking says, it is not hard at all to get enough protein as a vegetarian. You only need ~55g a day, which I get easily on days where I don't eat meat. On meat days I end up around 90g. If you are doing heavy lifting you'll need maybe 20g a day more than average, and if you do endurance sports you could need up to double the average. But if you aren't doing either of those things, you should easily get enough protein without making any special effort or using supplements.
Basically pick anything that reduces your caloric intake. Yes, some diets might get you more rapid results, but in the end most people fare better with something they can actually live with, especially if it's not just sprinting towards a goal, but keeping that dietary change for a long time (permanently, even). I'd be wary of picking any extreme as your first stop, in any endeavor.
For me, just training yourself of snacks and sweets worked out quite well (I've got one hell of a sweet tooth). I did this mainly by picking 24 consecutive hours in a week where I didn't eat anything (and neither made up for it before or after that). That alone saves you some calories, but for me the main benefit wasn't this fasting, but teaching yourself that you don't have to eat all the time.
I'm sure some see 'paleo' as pseudoscience, but there are definitely people in the community trying to pin down the science.
Although I do guess that the "sole true human diet" factor is contributing to the effectiveness, as people who accept that are more likely to stick with it.
Vegetarians don't have it easy when it comes to losing weight, since some of the most common vegetarian foods can be high in natural sugars and carbs and low in fats and protein. But you certainly can lose weight this way. I usually have a mix of fruits, vegetables, starches, fats and proteins in the meals I cook for myself, or if i'm lazy go for a reduced-fat peanut butter & jelly sandwich on wheat (substitute banana for jelly for a healthier alternative).
It's getting trite at this point but you really should include a steadily-increasing weight lifting regimen to shed fat and gain lean muscle, in combination with the healthy eating. It doesn't even have to be as expensive or hard as the OP describes. My gym has a set of machines that target specific muscle groups, and a numbering system that lets you go down the line using each one in sequence. They also have small instructions for the number of reps and how to change up each rep. This is not the same thing as "lifting" weights, but combined with some actual lifts like the deadlift and squats, can be very effective at growing specific muscle. Which will help you lose fat quicker :)
All the people on loseit are a much bigger sample and low carbs works, just not quite as fast as the more extreme keto or paleo.
All the dairy you could have kept. I lost 25lbs while still drinking 7 cups of tea a day for example by moving to a very similar diet to yours. Cheese was one of my snacks in fact.
The problem is that for actually both dairy and nuts it's very easy to overeat them as they are calorie laden.
For breakfast I eat eggs almost every day. Hard boiled eggs are a good breakfast because you can keep them in the fridge at work but however you like them is fine.
Lunch is usually either a breadless sandwich (a plate of cold cuts and cheese) or a salad with a lot of meat in it with a tasty, high-fat dressing (because I can). In a pinch you can grab a fast food burger and eat around the bun, but I don't recommend it because the bun is there to mask how bad the meat is.
Dinner is pretty easy, just increase your meat and vegetable portion and remove the starch component. I end up eating a lot of what I affectionately refer to as "slop bowls" which is just the ingredients of something like a fajita but without the wrap.
For snacks I eat nuts (almonds are my favourite, pistachios are great too but a bit higher in carbs), cheese, cold cuts, cut up veggies with high-fat dip (because I can), dark chocolate, and more cheese.
For drinks, anything low-carb is fine. I like black coffee or green tea during the day and whisky at night. Dry wines are also fairly low carb, and a few brands of beer as well. Oh, and water!
The best thing about this diet (and I hesitate to call it that, I'm never going to stop) is that you can eat really good food every day. I used to be like most people and try to restrict fat when I was trying to eat well. I would end up eating stuff like rice cakes or salad with very little dressing. Now my diet food is bacon, steak, rich cheese, butter, sausage, salami, and so on. I can practically gorge myself on this stuff and the weight still comes off.
I highly recommend going low-carb for anyone that's had problems sticking to traditional diets. And I also recommend watching this video if you're wondering why the hell people think we need so much starch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr-c8GeT34
You pretty much can keep making the same meals, you just get rid of the filler stuff. The essence for me was to just stop eating so much bread, potatoes, rice or pasta. Before I would graze all day, switching to low carb got rid of my need to eat all the time almost overnight.
A minor nit pick: that's exactly what a diet is. Your diet is what you eat every day. What pop culture refers to as 'dieting' is more like a selective fast: a temporary change or reduction in diet.
And that's why 'dieting' doesn't produce lasting results for most people. Most of those diets do work. But people fail because they stop doing them. They don't recognize paleo or south beach or atkins as a lifelong change. They try them, get results, get comfortable then fall back into old habits and thus their old shape.
That's why it's key to approach changes in diet and exercise on the basis of what you will maintain. And ultimately why talking about relative benefits of various diets and exercises is silly.
The 'best' diet and exercise is the one that keeps you healthy and that you maintain.
Plus then I don't feel like I've "blown my diet" when I eat pizza or drink beer.
That said, many people find it easier to control their food intake by eliminating simple carbs. Swings in blood sugar can create cravings and eliminating or reducing carbs will reducing or eliminate such cravings.