Healthy Habits

After taking a month off from real exercise, I started back up today. Brought a small home gym setup, The end of last year. It finally arrived a week ago, so I spent all day yesterday setting it up.

Did some light exercises to ease me back in. Felt good to do something again. Now I need to find a workout routine that is geared towards cycling.
 
These arnt earth shattering changes or anything but wanted to share some dietary/grocery substitutions we recently made that I think are for the better.

Liquid amino acids instead of soy sauce. Both soy products that in the grand scheme of things is pretty mundane and inconsequential considering one would consume what maybe a couple teaspoons of as seasoning in a meal? Anyway, if aminos are “better” than soy sauce, its a change i welcome with open arms because it tastes great on my usual white rice that otherwise I might spritz up with a higher calorie count teryaki sauce.

Homemade, oatmeal brownies instead of literally any prepacked sweet treat from the store. My kids thought they were suspect at first but now they ask for them. Rather than being a “treat” that you can crush an entire box of, just 1-2 pieces is pretty satisfying. Its not a healthy “weightloss” snack but the only sources of sugar are maple syrup and a can of coconut milk along with optional chocolate chips. I dont have the recipe infront of me but I made it enough of times to comfortably say it consists of:

whole oats, unsweetened cocoa powder, baking powder, flax meal, special dark chocolate chips (optional), walnuts (optional), coconut milk, maple syrup, vanilla extract and peanut butter (i use unsweetened almond butter)

it gets baked for 40 minutes and irregardless of how thick/thin I make them in different sized pans they always come out moist like brownies that havent been cooked all the way through which brings out the savage version of myself that I cant resist so I only allow myself to eat one immediately before a workout as “fuel” lol
 
Woke up this morning and it occurred to me that nearly every single breakfast I have consumed thus far in 2023 (except for 2 days) has been the exact same thing:

.5-.75 cups of oatmeal soaked in milk overnight with unsweetened cacao powder, vanilla whey protein and either unsweetened almond butter, pb fit powder or walnuts also added in.

This morning I got wild and instead of the chocolate/nut addition I did flax meal, cinnamon and a quarter cup of blueberries.

It felt like I was having a cheat meal ala liquified blueberry muffin. Holy shit ill having that again.
 
Here's a question some friends and I were discussing...which is your preference, and do you think it matters in terms of weight loss?

Large breakfast
Medium lunch
Light dinner

Light/no breakfast
Medium lunch
Huge dinner

I always thought I heard that eating late was bad for the waistline, thinking if you eat 1,000 calories at breakfast, you have all day to burn it off, but if you eat 1,000 calories at dinner, there's only a few hours before you hit the hay...but....I guess if you think of it as a total math problem, maybe you went into a deficit by eating a small meal earlier (if you're careful about it) - maybe you only have to worry about eating a huge dinner if you've had one or more other big meals?
 
capnmike said:
I always thought I heard that eating late was bad for the waistline, thinking if you eat 1,000 calories at breakfast, you have all day to burn it off, but if you eat 1,000 calories at dinner, there's only a few hours before you hit the hay...but....I guess if you think of it as a total math problem, maybe you went into a deficit by eating a small meal earlier (if you're careful about it) - maybe you only have to worry about eating a huge dinner if you've had one or more other big meals?
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This is mostly bro science. Timing doesn't really matter that much unless it makes a difference to your personal preferences. Some people have a hard time sleeping if they eat big meals late, so that's something to be aware of.

I think the "don't eat late" comes into play when you are mindlessly shoving doritos in your mouth at 11pm because you are bored and watching reruns of the bachelor on netflix.
 
capnmike said:
Here's a question some friends and I were discussing...which is your preference, and do you think it matters in terms of weight loss?

Large breakfast
Medium lunch
Light dinner

Light/no breakfast
Medium lunch
Huge dinner

I always thought I heard that eating late was bad for the waistline, thinking if you eat 1,000 calories at breakfast, you have all day to burn it off, but if you eat 1,000 calories at dinner, there's only a few hours before you hit the hay...but....I guess if you think of it as a total math problem, maybe you went into a deficit by eating a small meal earlier (if you're careful about it) - maybe you only have to worry about eating a huge dinner if you've had one or more other big meals?
Click to expand...

I love this topic/discussion as well as consideration of ratios to fat/carbs and its timing.

Let me preface all this by saying im not a doctor but I am very opinionated after doing experimentation on myself and researching what others whom are far more intelligent than I have to say about the very same subject(s.)

In the big picture, what matters most is what is/fits best for an individual that they can adhere to. The comment you made about being a big math problem and the average being what counts is pretty spot on to a large extent. I can tell you, personally I thrive on 3 well rounded meals. A decent breakfast gets my day started and I dont get distracted with hunger until its meal #2 time and same for #3. I cannot over-indulge in any of those meals else I feel lethargic and unmotivated. I especially cannot eat extra late in the day or I run the risk of acid reflux and a terrible night of sleep.

There is some research suggesting the timing of meals that have higher than “normal” carbohydrate ratios are best consumed in conjunction with low or no fat immediately before or after intense exercise so that glycogen levels can be full/refilled faster aiding in recovery from said exercise. But does that mean you have to do that? Absolutely not, if you are low on carbs for the day and not doing some sort of carb restrictive diet then there is nothing wrong with a bowl of cereal being your last meal of the day if it fits within your needs.

The reason why “one meal a day” or fasting or “time restrictive eating” works isnt due to some amazing scientific breakthrough in timing of when you take in food, its moreso because limiting yourself to a window of feeding also generally limits the total number of calories you are able to consume on the average for that day. Having said that, its not talked about but someone who goes carnivore diet is very much capable of actually gaining weight instead of losing if all they eat is bacon…

And I suppose it should also be stated that there is some research suggesting reduction in total number of meals or snacks per day can impact insulin sensitivity and possibly hormone levels in some percentages of the population.
 
Not a Doctor as well, but this is what works for me.

I do a medium breakfast, oatmeal with almond milk with some fruit or an egg white veggie omelette with a slice of whole grain toast and PB or Almond butter.
A bigger lunch, leftovers or a sandwich and salad or soup.
Dinner I try and do a light meal, but sometimes I over indulge, because I am a weak person. On days when I do overindulge I typically feel like crap that evening and have trouble sleeping.


I don't do any intermitten fasting, but I don't eat anything after dinner, which is usually around 6pm. If I get hungry at night I usually just drink a bunch of water to fill me up. I need to work on snacking at my desk during work. This is my downfall.
 
I've eaten the same breakfast for 99.9% of days since the pandemic started - regular cheerios, strawberries/blueberries (or a sub of black/razz if one of the regulars aren't available), whole milk (we're a skim household, but I used to grab a carton of whole milk when traveling for work as a "treat" and I started buying it at the start of the pandemic and haven't stopped).

Lunches have become leftovers, or some veggies in the oven/air fryer with eggs (thinking sweet potato/soft boiled for today), or occasionally sushi if I have to run to Whole Foods for anything else. This sushi tray I get is great - 8 pieces, take a while to eat, always feel pretty full after, 300 calories.

Dinner is the largest prepared meal of the day, but a work in progress on portion size and number (I pretty much always have seconds, but I try to make my firsts and seconds at least 50% veggies now in addition to whatever else I prepared). We're having way more leftovers now, which is great for my wife to bring for lunch the next day (or me if I get lucky).
 
capnmike said:
Here's a question some friends and I were discussing...which is your preference, and do you think it matters in terms of weight loss?

Large breakfast
Medium lunch
Light dinner

Light/no breakfast
Medium lunch
Huge dinner

I always thought I heard that eating late was bad for the waistline, thinking if you eat 1,000 calories at breakfast, you have all day to burn it off, but if you eat 1,000 calories at dinner, there's only a few hours before you hit the hay...but....I guess if you think of it as a total math problem, maybe you went into a deficit by eating a small meal earlier (if you're careful about it) - maybe you only have to worry about eating a huge dinner if you've had one or more other big meals?
Click to expand...
My biggest preference is not to have a heavy dinner close in time to want to go to sleep. It messes with my sleep causing me to wake up in the middle of the night very thirsty. Otherwise, I have trended towards eating a small breakfast later on in the morning. The plan is to then have reasonable lunch and reasonable dinner. Usually goes off the rails after work when I scarf down anything I can find. That and wasted snacking out of boredom.
 
Typical day for me:
Wake up, drink coffee and water
Morning snack at like 10:30ish, maybe. Try to make it high protein.
Lunch at noonish - 600-700 calories
Water
Coffee
Small afternoon snack at 4ish
Dinner at 6ish 1,000 calorie, 75g protein target
Get high at 8ish
High protein, usually dairy-based protein-heavy snack between 9-10
Eat chocolate, try to refrain from eating three bowls of cereal

What do y'all think? Should I write a book?
 
JoeLikesBeer said:
Typical day for me:
Wake up, drink coffee and water
Morning snack at like 10:30ish, maybe. Try to make it high protein.
Lunch at noonish - 600-700 calories
Water
Coffee
Small afternoon snack at 4ish
Dinner at 6ish 1,000 calorie, 75g protein target
Get high at 8ish
High protein, usually dairy-based protein-heavy snack between 9-10
Eat chocolate, try to refrain from eating three bowls of cereal

What do y'all think? Should I write a book?
Click to expand...
Liked, subscribed and following
 
R1pps said:
intermitten
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dat UP on mainland action


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Finally back to where I was in March 2020. What a relief!

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The big thing I’m noticing is that my body composition is different now than it was then - clothes that were getting loose on me at the time are slightly snug now. I’ve exclusively been doing cardio lately, but was doing a lot more weightlifting then. Need to find a way to work some weights into my new work schedule.
 
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