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Sounds like something they'd say on Star Trek, doesn't it?
Allright, Kyrose guilted me into doing this with his omnipresent chipper outlook on life and unflagging support of my craptacular efforts at weight loss, fitness, and general health.
My system isn't remotely as rigorous as I would like due to time constraints. I have three kids, who need quite a lot of attention, and a full-time job quite a large distance from home. My only remotely large chunk of free time is when I wake up early in the morning to exercise, and that is only if I got enough sleep the previous night (I have an angry 19 month old and a sick 3 year old, so that hasn't really been my fate this week).
When it comes to setting times for workouts, exercises, or anything regular and predictable, I don't even try. There's no guarantees. Consequently, my system fits into the "What I Can, When I Can" category.
Part 1 - Nutrition
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Luckily, nutrition is something that doesn't need much time at all. Breakfast at
home is usually just a quick and easy whey protein + milk + whatever now-sugar cereal I've got on hand (this week, it's 75% off "Fibre One", which doesn't taste all that great, but is still perfectly edible.) My meals at work are also fairly simple, thanks to our refrigerator. I keep a stash of tuna and herring on hand, and a bag of Granny Smith apples in the fridge, and a 2lb bag of baby carrots. My first work meal (about three hours after breakfast) is typically fish, 8 baby carrots, and an apple. My post-walk meal is usually whey, 8 baby carrots and an apple. If I feel a gnawing in my belly, I'll have another couple carrots and fish towards the end of the day to last me until dinner. All told, high protein, low sugar, almost zero fat. I consume maybe 3L of water at work now, in a given day. When it comes to dinners, I eat what my family eats, BUT I limit myself much more than ever before (even with three kids, I probably eat less than the three-year old now). No more thirds, no more seconds, and only ONE scoop of whatever starch we're having. I allow myself a couple tiny pieces of dark choclate at night (we usually have some fancy stuff on hand, and right now I've got Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Cayenne Pepper Orange Mint chocolate bars in the fridge). About 20g per night. Also, if my wife makes a non-dessert style snack, I'll have a little bit (lately, it's been no more than three jalapeno poppers, 80 cals each). I've dropped my calories intake from 3500 to about 2200, and after the first three weeks it became as normal as my old diet. I'm not even tempted when I go shopping, which is a completely new experience for me.
Part 2 - Exercise
-------------------
Here's the hard one. Like I said, almost no free time. There's two things I do consistently (and even then, it's not THAT consistent). Whenever I go to the bathroom (and with 3L of water, it's often) I do 10 pushups (lately having switched to knuckles after finding out it works my forearms). I rack up about 100+ per day now without even trying. In the mornings or the evenings, I use the elliptical, but that's only every OTHER day lately, just due to my insane schedule (kids up late, so I can't do it in the evening. Kids up all NIGHT so I can't do it in the morning). Every day at lunch, barring situations where I have to drive my family somewhere (which uses up my lunchhour) I go for a walk. According to Googlemaps, it's about a 3km walk, all told, which I cover in a brisk 30 minutes (I walk fast). Keeps me active, at least. I haven't done much else outside this in weeks, but this is a lot for me, so as this gets easier, and the sleep schedules go back to normal, I will start introducing more (belt reviews again, especially). Right now, I'm not training for strength OR endurance, I'm just trying to get a basic level of tone and fitness back, and drop a lot of weight. There'll be time for goal-oriented training.
Allright, Kyrose guilted me into doing this with his omnipresent chipper outlook on life and unflagging support of my craptacular efforts at weight loss, fitness, and general health.
My system isn't remotely as rigorous as I would like due to time constraints. I have three kids, who need quite a lot of attention, and a full-time job quite a large distance from home. My only remotely large chunk of free time is when I wake up early in the morning to exercise, and that is only if I got enough sleep the previous night (I have an angry 19 month old and a sick 3 year old, so that hasn't really been my fate this week).
When it comes to setting times for workouts, exercises, or anything regular and predictable, I don't even try. There's no guarantees. Consequently, my system fits into the "What I Can, When I Can" category.
Part 1 - Nutrition
--------------------
Luckily, nutrition is something that doesn't need much time at all. Breakfast at
home is usually just a quick and easy whey protein + milk + whatever now-sugar cereal I've got on hand (this week, it's 75% off "Fibre One", which doesn't taste all that great, but is still perfectly edible.) My meals at work are also fairly simple, thanks to our refrigerator. I keep a stash of tuna and herring on hand, and a bag of Granny Smith apples in the fridge, and a 2lb bag of baby carrots. My first work meal (about three hours after breakfast) is typically fish, 8 baby carrots, and an apple. My post-walk meal is usually whey, 8 baby carrots and an apple. If I feel a gnawing in my belly, I'll have another couple carrots and fish towards the end of the day to last me until dinner. All told, high protein, low sugar, almost zero fat. I consume maybe 3L of water at work now, in a given day. When it comes to dinners, I eat what my family eats, BUT I limit myself much more than ever before (even with three kids, I probably eat less than the three-year old now). No more thirds, no more seconds, and only ONE scoop of whatever starch we're having. I allow myself a couple tiny pieces of dark choclate at night (we usually have some fancy stuff on hand, and right now I've got Dark Chocolate Cinnamon Cayenne Pepper Orange Mint chocolate bars in the fridge). About 20g per night. Also, if my wife makes a non-dessert style snack, I'll have a little bit (lately, it's been no more than three jalapeno poppers, 80 cals each). I've dropped my calories intake from 3500 to about 2200, and after the first three weeks it became as normal as my old diet. I'm not even tempted when I go shopping, which is a completely new experience for me.
Part 2 - Exercise
-------------------
Here's the hard one. Like I said, almost no free time. There's two things I do consistently (and even then, it's not THAT consistent). Whenever I go to the bathroom (and with 3L of water, it's often) I do 10 pushups (lately having switched to knuckles after finding out it works my forearms). I rack up about 100+ per day now without even trying. In the mornings or the evenings, I use the elliptical, but that's only every OTHER day lately, just due to my insane schedule (kids up late, so I can't do it in the evening. Kids up all NIGHT so I can't do it in the morning). Every day at lunch, barring situations where I have to drive my family somewhere (which uses up my lunchhour) I go for a walk. According to Googlemaps, it's about a 3km walk, all told, which I cover in a brisk 30 minutes (I walk fast). Keeps me active, at least. I haven't done much else outside this in weeks, but this is a lot for me, so as this gets easier, and the sleep schedules go back to normal, I will start introducing more (belt reviews again, especially). Right now, I'm not training for strength OR endurance, I'm just trying to get a basic level of tone and fitness back, and drop a lot of weight. There'll be time for goal-oriented training.
