Help! I'm Fat - *** Official Exercise and Weight Thread ***

[ScottyP]

I have found limiting availability of sugary treats. No reason to go cold turkey, but gradually stop buying or buy less frequently. Aka don't always have pop, ice cream, candy in house. Replace with healthy snack like nuts.

Most important is portion size! Instead of 16oz pop each day, drink 8oz.

I have also founding drinking water frequently during day helps with food cravings. Plain H2O, H2O with real lemon juice, H2O with ACV or non-flavored Carbonated H2O if I have a craving for pop.

Educate yourself on food. You can go down rabbit hole on internet/YouTube. It's a scared straight approach.

Not a fan of keto, carnivore, etc diets. I don't have the discipline and too many different mouths to feed with different tastes. But I do limit processed foods and fake sugars.

What is interesting is although I'll occasionally crave some sweets, my craving for pop/soda is mostly gone. I'll occasionally have a diet soda for something different, but that is only on occasion. Plus, I save a little bit of money by only getting a water if I'm getting food from somewhere else.

The cravings usually come up if there is a sugar in the house. The kids had a bunch of leftover Easter Candy that derailed me for a week (Reese's eggs got me). I finally had my wife put the leftover Easter chocolate in the freezer so I wouldn't see it.

 

[madguy30]

Let's face it, this thread is 100+ pages of "eat balanced nutritional food and get some exercise". 97% of what you need to know is from Schoolhouse Rock in 1978.

But I do like this thread for ideas on how to approach that challenge. Everyone has their own little "hacks" and you never know what might make it easier for YOU. Plus the group support makes you feel not alone!

It's a basic foundation and there's various threads or routes to take to get there or keep it and there's certainly no 'one size fits all'.

Imo with consumerism etc. we've gotten so far removed from the foundational stuff that basic, simple, lean eating sounds like some crazy notion. I still get looks when I tell people that cooking your own meals doesn't need to be the 14 ingredient, 45 minute prep meal that came up on a Google search.

It reminds me of during Covid when doing outdoors activities was suggested and there was this 'wow I never realized I could do this!' when it was there all along.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I wouldn't expect someone making their money off of similar patients to say anything different.

Yeah I’m really not, I’m in emergency medicine. Usually just see the people after the chiro has messed them up even more.

This isn’t a perfect video but it’s well made and should give you an idea of just how horrible the field is from its inception to current day.

 

[4theCYcle]

And I wonder sometimes why my performance can be better even when I feel like ass.

This weekend was an example. Weight training was a goddam chore going into it. Multiple nights of little sleep with the kids

But I put up more weight.

The hardest part is just hitting the play button. Some days it's really hard hitting that button.

I definitely know how you feel on the lack of sleep part with kids. Shoot, I go 4-5 days during the week on 4-6 hours. I try to get workouts in here and there but I can tell my motivation has trended upwards over time even with lower sleep, with occasional just not feeling it today. I've found, besides my own coffee, adding in some honey/Himalayan salt and/or watermelon has really kind of perked me up as a "preworkout." Watermelon is underrated as a cheap preworkout and I'll even drink the juice from it too. Lycopene, potassium, citrulline, beta-tryptoxanthin, B-6 and water. Now, I feel I need to post this as not medical advice and isn't for everyone who may have medical conditions.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

My PT thinks my shoulder pain is also nerve. Ruh roh. She's not a shoulder person though so she told me to get a shoulder PT and I've been putting it off.

If you haven’t gone to ortho yet or gotten any scans that could be a very good idea. Can rule some things out and also give a better idea of what’s wrong. Shoulder impingement sucks but can be fixed/managed not surgically

 

[BWRhasnoAC]

If you haven’t gone to ortho yet or gotten any scans that could be a very good idea. Can rule some things out and also give a better idea of what’s wrong. Shoulder impingement sucks but can be fixed/managed not surgically

So they say. Mine just hurts more with the exercises they recommended.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

So they say. Mine just hurts more with the exercises they recommended.

That’s the way PT works a lot of the time unfortunately. That and managing the inflammation from the injury/underlying problem

 

[cowgirl836]

Walking is so underrated as a form of exercise.

I love the Ghost powders. I never thought of putting it in my yogurt. Noting that for my future self.

I do a different protein powder but by about 4pm if I know that I'm tracking short on protein, I'll mix a scoop with a portion of the high protein chobani drink and get a quick 20.

 

[cowgirl836]

If you haven’t gone to ortho yet or gotten any scans that could be a very good idea. Can rule some things out and also give a better idea of what’s wrong. Shoulder impingement sucks but can be fixed/managed not surgically

I may, I have to run it back through my primary to get the referral. It definitely comes and goes and is worse with repetitive positional things like arm on my chin to read my kindle or under my toddlers' head for 5am snuggles.

 

[CycloneSpinning]

Please don’t promote quack science

MDs are generally good at helping if you want to keep from dying…or if you require surgery. I actually also like my personal physician a lot, but in general they seem quite poor at helping you have better quality of life and looking for underlying problems. If you feel bad and go to them, they lean far too heavily into medication for my liking (again with my personal physician being much better than most I’ve seen).

I do think that if you see a chiropractor, stretching or receiving some form of physical therapy alongside of that is ideal.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

MDs are generally good at helping if you want to keep from dying…or if you require surgery. I actually also like my personal physician a lot, but in general they seem quite poor at helping you have better quality of life and looking for underlying problems. If you feel bad and go to them, they lean far too heavily into medication for my liking (again with my personal physician being much better than most I’ve seen).

I do think that if you see a chiropractor, stretching or receiving some form of physical therapy alongside of that is ideal.

I agree mostly with the first part especially the medication line, although there are very real reasons for that. I disagree with the underlying problem part to an extent.

As for the second part just skip the chiro, either go to PT or just get a massage.

 

[cowgirl836]

MDs are generally good at helping if you want to keep from dying…or if you require surgery. I actually also like my personal physician a lot, but in general they seem quite poor at helping you have better quality of life and looking for underlying problems. If you feel bad and go to them, they lean far too heavily into medication for my liking (again with my personal physician being much better than most I’ve seen).

I do think that if you see a chiropractor, stretching or receiving some form of physical therapy alongside of that is ideal.

I have a ..........lot........of chiropracters in my family and it's definitely a very big gateway into the anti-vax, take greens to beat pancreatic cancer type pipeline. But their profit structure allows for such a greater level of personalized and accessible care (if you have the discretionary income - and honestly depending on your health insurance, it may actually be more affordable). I see why people turn to it. The PCP you had to schedule five months out who has you in and out in 5 minutes because they have to move on get to the next one. Maybe you feel dismissed, maybe you have chronic issues you haven't been able to get taken seriously and addressed vs the person who can get you in next week, take 30 minutes, ask about your grandkids, you know from the local community and deep dives into the issues you are having (and prescribes many supplements to address them!!). And I do think the adjustments can help temporarily in some cases but........this quickly goes the Cave route. There are a lot of holes in the Western medical system and chiropractic gives the illusion of helping some of those who fall through.

 

[RotatingColumn]

Yeah I’m really not, I’m in emergency medicine. Usually just see the people after the chiro has messed them up even more.

This isn’t a perfect video but it’s well made and should give you an idea of just how horrible the field is from its inception to current day.

I had a chiro put me on a table that turned me upside down to "decompress my vertebra." Once my insurance stopped covering it they decided that leg of my treatment was complete. And my mistrust of them was also complete.

My current chiro just cracks my back and I feel like a million bucks. I wouldn't be able to workout to maintain my weight without getting this done every month.

 

[FriendlySpartan]

I had a chiro put me on a table that turned me upside down to "decompress my vertebra." Once my insurance stopped covering it they decided that leg of my treatment was complete. And my mistrust of them was also complete.

My current chiro just cracks my back and I feel like a million bucks. I wouldn't be able to workout to maintain my weight without getting this done every month.

Yeah but they aren’t doing anything when they “crack” your back. Your spinal column and its supporting structures are incredibly strong. It usually takes trauma or a considering to “misalign” something. That’s why it’s quack medicine. You’re basically taking a placebo but again like most placebos if it isn’t going to cause harm I say go for it.

The problem is that many chiropractors CAN cause major harm to people and that why I always call it out.

Glad your able to work out regularly though from it!

 

[carvers4math]

One of my sons cracks his own back to disturb the chiropractor that goes to our church. I don’t know if this is related to the crazy double jointedness they all seem to have gotten from me. I try to get them to quit doing tricks with the wrists to freak people out. I used to do a lot of that with the toes but get a lot of cramps in my feet and wonder if that is related.

 

[RotatingColumn]

Yeah but they aren’t doing anything when they “crack” your back. Your spinal column and its supporting structures are incredibly strong. It usually takes trauma or a considering to “misalign” something. That’s why it’s quack medicine. You’re basically taking a placebo but again like most placebos if it isn’t going to cause harm I say go for it.

The problem is that many chiropractors CAN cause major harm to people and that why I always call it out.

Glad your able to work out regularly though from it!

Oh yeah, I believe what you're saying is true. But it works for me at least.

 

[besserheimerphat]

Yeah but they aren’t doing anything when they “crack” your back. Your spinal column and its supporting structures are incredibly strong. It usually takes trauma or a considering to “misalign” something. That’s why it’s quack medicine. You’re basically taking a placebo but again like most placebos if it isn’t going to cause harm I say go for it.

The problem is that many chiropractors CAN cause major harm to people and that why I always call it out.

Glad your able to work out regularly though from it!

I'm undecided on how effective chiropractors are for "mechanical" or structural issues - "misalignment" and nerve impingement and so on. But when they claim that it will increase blood flow or nerve function or digestion or mental acuity or whatever... that's not a thing.

 

[4theCYcle]

For the first time in my life I'm 210... All my medium shirts are too small..

Trending in the wrong direction for sure.

Late night snacking and my new job has me sitting at my desk all day.. Any tips for snacking after 8?

Tomorrow i am going to block two recurring 15 minutes walk sessions a day. What else has helped people at work be more active?

Watermelon, greek yogurt, cottage cheese, cheese sticks.

Please don’t promote quack science

Ahhh yes, because in the medical world, medical doctors are the only ones who can help and fix people, signed and certified pharmaceutical reps. Got ya. So instead of addressing a root cause of something, let's just medicate and mask the issue to further create more issues. I don't know about anyone else, but there are times when going into the Dr, I feel like a number and they just push them through quickly to get to the next patient. Of course every industry has their bad apples, but I for one can account on numerous occasions where a chiropractor helped someone, including me.

 

[4theCYcle]

Yeah, mix a serving of Oikos Triple Zero Vanilla (or Peach or any of them - or hell, any yogurt you like) with a serving of Ghost Marshmellow Cereal powder, with some slices of banana mixed in - I am addicted. Satisfies all sweet tooth cravings while getting a ton of protein.

Oikos seems like a good brand. Been buying a lot of their yogurt!

 

[ClonesFTW]

Yeah but they aren’t doing anything when they “crack” your back. Your spinal column and its supporting structures are incredibly strong. It usually takes trauma or a considering to “misalign” something. That’s why it’s quack medicine. You’re basically taking a placebo but again like most placebos if it isn’t going to cause harm I say go for it.

The problem is that many chiropractors CAN cause major harm to people and that why I always call it out.

Glad your able to work out regularly though from it!

As someone who has had chronic back pain for 20 years and tried everything under the sun, the #1 exercise/stretch that alleviates my pain is doing dead arm hangs. Hanging from a bar, tree branch, etc. for as long as you can a few times a day will do more than a chiro - and it's FREE!