I'm getting fat

Syenye · Post by **Syenye** » March 2, 2008, 8:50 pm

thanks for the heart rate monitor recommendations... I think I'm going to go with a Polar one, I like all the options that it will give her and she can upgrade the belts and stuff if she wants.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 3, 2008, 4:00 pm

I know the Polar supposedly has decent software (much better than the Garmin they say) but you should give SportTracks a try. It's a bit funky to setup properly due to how he has the menus (pulldowns all over the place) but I like it. It's primarily geared for the GPS versions but it supports various formats from what I can tell.

http://www.zonefivesoftware.com/SportTracks/

noel · Post by **noel** » March 3, 2008, 4:20 pm

Neither of the models she's looking at support download of workouts, so the software is really irrelevant, but yeah for anyone considering a HRM, the Polar software is very good, but depending upon your needs there are other options.

I used the Polar software for years before I started using TrainingPeaks and it's great for anyone that's keeping track of HR and doesn't need to worry about Power, Altitude, etc.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 3, 2008, 5:07 pm

It was mainly just a generic post to whoever happens to be using HRMs to give SportTracks a look since it's free.

Siji · Post by **Siji** » March 3, 2008, 5:34 pm

noel wrote:Polar also offers what's called a 'Wearlink' chest strap which is a fabric material instead of the traditional plastic chest strap. It's much more comfortable to wear than the plastic (not that the plastic is that bad).

Another vote for the newer Polar's with this, or any Polar's in general. Nice thing about Polar is that most of the equipment at the gyms that I've been to will read the heartrate info from the Polar strap. Not sure they do that for other brands of HRMs also, but I've had good luck with the Polars. I've got the S720i and S725x myself with the cadence/speed sensors. Noel would probably agree these are especially great if you're into cycling, though the S725x also works with the Polar (overpriced imo!) footpod for running/walking.

noel · Post by **noel** » March 3, 2008, 5:40 pm

Siji wrote:
noel wrote:Polar also offers what's called a 'Wearlink' chest strap which is a fabric material instead of the traditional plastic chest strap. It's much more comfortable to wear than the plastic (not that the plastic is that bad).
Another vote for the newer Polar's with this, or any Polar's in general. Nice thing about Polar is that most of the equipment at the gyms that I've been to will read the heartrate info from the Polar strap. Not sure they do that for other brands of HRMs also, but I've had good luck with the Polars. I've got the S720i and S725x myself with the cadence/speed sensors. Noel would probably agree these are especially great if you're into cycling, though the S725x also works with the Polar (overpriced imo!) footpod for running/walking.

Polar is great on the bike as long as you're not using their power sensor which is a pain to mount and not as accurate as it should be.

My experience has been that some gyms purchase gear that specifically works with polar chest straps, but some other vendor's chest straps will also work. The Nike strap works with Nautilus gear as an example.

As far as the footpod goes, I find the Nike+ device that works with my iPod to be more useful for *my* needs.

All of that said, for running, the Garmin GPS device with built in HR is a better way to go. More expensive, but very accurate and when imported into the right software it gives you some great information.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 3, 2008, 5:55 pm

How useful are these things?

I can see them being very useful for those with heart problems if they detect an irregular heartbeat and also useful if they monitor your blood pressure. When I look at these things, it reminds me of crunching DPS data in EQ.

What do you do with this data Noel? (since you're the leading health nut on the board, or anyone else that cares to respond)

Do you monitor your heart and if it's going too fast, slow down? I'm genuinely curious as to how useful the data is that you get from these devices.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » March 3, 2008, 6:01 pm

It's not like an EKG. You're not really going to record an irregular heartbeat. And it doesn't keep track of blood pressure.

The main use is to keep your exercise at the target heart rate zone that you set. If you don't have a way to monitor it it's not very effective because you're just left to guess. They are a tool to make your workouts more efficient.

And with the GPS enabled devices you can plot your courses and such. Kinda nifty.

noel · Post by **noel** » March 3, 2008, 6:05 pm

What Aslanna said.

I'd add that I'm really not what I'd consider a health-nut at all. I do eat healthier than most I guess, but I'm certainly not weighing my food or shopping at Whole Foods all the time or a variety of other things I'd associate with health nuts. I do watch what I eat, but I'm certainly not anal-retentive about it. I view my body as a machine though, and I do make an effort to put in good fuel. That doesn't mean I don't occasionally crush candy, cakes, pies, chips, dip, etc.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » March 3, 2008, 6:45 pm

Do you monitor your heart and if it's going too fast, slow down? I'm genuinely curious as to how useful the data is that you get from these devices.

Or speed up, increase intensity or whatever. Handy if you're doing any intervals in your exercise as well. I've got a lower end model, the F6. It doesn't do all the spiffy stuff Noel's will or have nearly as nice a software package. For general fitness type use it's pretty good.

Aslanna wrote:They are a tool to make your workouts more efficient.

Yep.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » March 3, 2008, 7:44 pm

Hmmm,

I'd be interested in an unobtrusive device that monitored my blood pressure seeing as I haven't been inside a hospital in over ten years. I'd also be interested in do-it-yourself home blood testing kits. Are there such things? I've got very good health insurance but just don't want to be anywhere near hospitals.

Back in my Motorola days, I could have my blood tested right at work with an extensive report mailed to me afterwards. My new company sucks for that kind of stuff.

----

Slightly off topic but not too bad:

"The Awful Truth Behind 5 Items Probably On Your Grocery List"

http://www.cracked.com/article_15967_aw ... -list.html

This is from cracked.com. Seems an odd thing to have in that magazine/site. I guess they present the info in a humorous way.

sarlen · Post by **sarlen** » March 13, 2008, 12:14 pm

Since we seem to have a few experts running around this thread I have a question of my own.

I have tried to cut way back on the sugar intake as a means to reduce my weight (175 at 5'8") but when I limit my self to the 2 tsp for my morning coffee I get weak, dizzy and nauseated. I hit up a sugar packet or two and I'm fine in about 15 min. I get this if I try to go cold turkey or even a week long weening.

My biggest weakness is my coffee. I drink 5 Cups of coffee a day and water (about 10 20oz bottles a day) for the rest of the day. Does coffee adversely effect anything for weight loss?

Xyphir · Post by **Xyphir** » March 13, 2008, 12:36 pm

Caffine is a mild appitite supressant. If I drink coffee, I usually don't even consider eating breakfast and can coast until lunch. There are no calories in coffee unless you put sugar/cream in it. I stopped putting sugar in my coffee a while ago.

No idea why you're getting dizzy from lack of sugar. Low blood-sugar? Have you thought about being tested for diabetes?

noel · Post by **noel** » March 13, 2008, 4:39 pm

I agree. Getting dizzy without sugar for anyone is not normal no matter how much you're 'used to'. You should probably talk to your family Dr. about that.

Also, bear in mind that a packet of sugar is like... 25 calories? If you have 2 packets per cup of coffee and 5 cups per day, that's only 250 calories you'd be cutting out. I'd be willing to bet that the sugar in your coffee isn't the issue.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » March 13, 2008, 5:55 pm

Kaldaur · Post by **Kaldaur** » March 14, 2008, 8:23 pm

That is the best picture ever. Much love for Wilford Brimley!!

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » August 8, 2011, 3:56 pm

To resurrect this thread, the Polar F11 HRM I bought in 2006 finally croaked.

Replaced it with a Garmin FR60 w\ bicycle module, w\o footpod. Does what it's supposed to, nothing missing I can think of offhand. The ANT interface is cleaner than the audio one used w\ the F11. Easily replaceable battery in the chest strap is nice.

Avestan · Post by **Avestan** » August 10, 2011, 12:35 pm

Pretty sure that smoking a pack a day is worse for you, by far, than being 20 lbs overweight. At least that is what life insurance actuaries believe.

Fash wrote:Have a smoke! Don't listen to me, I'm terrible.

But seriously, Don't quit if you can't do it without replacing it with a worse habit. Over-eating is far worse for you than smoking a pack a day.

Yes, I'm a smoker... I'm also within 10 pounds of my lowest weight for the past decade, and consider myself healthy.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 10, 2011, 1:49 pm

Winnow wrote:I dug out some recent Costco receipts. I like bulk shopping there. Here's some stuff I bought (not counting the massive quantities of toilet paper and other non edible items)

Box of mini Chicken Qusadillas (60 seconds in the microwave and you have a great snack)
24 pack 16oz bottle Lipton Green Tea
Box of Chicken Bake Wraps
Box of 70 Nestle Cocoa Mix Packets
Box of Instant Oatmeal
Box of Breakfast Croissants (similar to Egg McMuffins I guess)
Box of Chicken Pot Pies
Box of Pizza Pockets
3 Pound Bag of Iceberg Salad (with carrots and red cabbage)
Box of Microwavable Baked Potato thingies
Box of Pop Tarts (won't buy them again)
Huge Box of Waffles
MacNCheese packets (lost my mind on that one. They'll be in my closet forever. I'll eat them in 2012 during the "event")
Case of 20oz Propel Invigorating Water (water with vitamins and some caffeine in it)
Case of 20oz Vitamin Water (more flavored water with stuff in it)
Big Bag of Mixed Veggies (Corn, Carrots, Green Beans)
Big Bag of Mixed Berries (Blueberries, Raspberries and Marionberries)
Box of Bean and Cheese Burritos
Case of Chicken Chili
Big box of Frosted Mini Wheats
Case of New England Clam Chowder (another item that may last until the apocalypse)
Case of Canned Mandarin Orange Slices (best snack ever)
Case of Orville Pop Microwave Popcorn

So far so good. I also buy paper bowels/plates in bulk so I don't have to wash many dishes. I haven't degenerated to plastic utensils yet. Everything is microwavable in less than 2-3 minutes for instant gratification.

Just an observaation... But there's a whole shitload of processed food on that list. That can't be healthy!

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » August 10, 2011, 2:03 pm

Shopping list looks like my neighbors', she's a perfect example of a typical American suburbanite - as presented on TV.

Canelek · Post by **Canelek** » August 10, 2011, 2:22 pm

Aslanna wrote:
Winnow wrote:I dug out some recent Costco receipts. I like bulk shopping there. Here's some stuff I bought (not counting the massive quantities of toilet paper and other non edible items)

Box of mini Chicken Qusadillas (60 seconds in the microwave and you have a great snack)
24 pack 16oz bottle Lipton Green Tea
Box of Chicken Bake Wraps
Box of 70 Nestle Cocoa Mix Packets
Box of Instant Oatmeal
Box of Breakfast Croissants (similar to Egg McMuffins I guess)
Box of Chicken Pot Pies
Box of Pizza Pockets
3 Pound Bag of Iceberg Salad (with carrots and red cabbage)
Box of Microwavable Baked Potato thingies
Box of Pop Tarts (won't buy them again)
Huge Box of Waffles
MacNCheese packets (lost my mind on that one. They'll be in my closet forever. I'll eat them in 2012 during the "event")
Case of 20oz Propel Invigorating Water (water with vitamins and some caffeine in it)
Case of 20oz Vitamin Water (more flavored water with stuff in it)
Big Bag of Mixed Veggies (Corn, Carrots, Green Beans)
Big Bag of Mixed Berries (Blueberries, Raspberries and Marionberries)
Box of Bean and Cheese Burritos
Case of Chicken Chili
Big box of Frosted Mini Wheats
Case of New England Clam Chowder (another item that may last until the apocalypse)
Case of Canned Mandarin Orange Slices (best snack ever)
Case of Orville Pop Microwave Popcorn

So far so good. I also buy paper bowels/plates in bulk so I don't have to wash many dishes. I haven't degenerated to plastic utensils yet. Everything is microwavable in less than 2-3 minutes for instant gratification.
Just an observaation... But there's a whole shitload of processed food on that list. That can't be healthy!

Lol. Not quite healthy.... Looks like the shopping list for the mother of 2-3 morbidly obese teenagers.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 10, 2011, 6:06 pm

My metabolism is still hanging in there!

My shopping list has improved a little since then as well!

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 10, 2011, 7:22 pm

Calories aren't the only thing one should consider. In which case metabolism rate probably isn't that helpful. You need to start buying some whole foods and making your own meals. It's not really that hard!

Leonaerd · Post by **Leonaerd** » August 11, 2011, 2:26 pm

my super health blend! I make one once every other day. must have a good grinder if you want to attempt. everything listed is double plus organic. I order most every ingredient online. it's proven to be very cost effective, considering the junk it replaces in my diet.

0.5 - 1 cup barley seeds
6 coffee beans
6 cocoa beans
6 pecans
6 almonds
2 tsp hawaiian spirulina
1 spoonful green phyto foods
some fenugreek, fennel, turmeric, cinnamon
honey to taste
mix with almond / rice milk

It took me a while to find a taste and consistency that was even remotely palatable, but I wasn't going to give up after the first batch, given what I'd heard from others about this general recipe. Now, I have it down to a tasty, pre-portioned science.

There's nothing better than feeling full without that gross food lump in your stomach.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » August 12, 2011, 10:48 am

My wife recently joined weight watchers at her work. The system has totally changed since last I saw it. Now it is very much like a low carb diet though they are calling it a high protein diet. The new philosophy is that the body works harder to breakdown protein and as such you burn more calories. Finally a diet where a Big Mac is better than a fiber bar.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » August 16, 2011, 3:32 pm

Speaking of fat, I see a decent number of extra large people out on the bike trails. Most just plod along, hope they reach whatever goal if any they have in mind.

Comment comes in that a number of them can move right along, 16-20 mph for 20+ mile rides. Which requires reasonable physical condition, not sure how you maintain that and a 250-300lb body weight.

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 16, 2011, 3:42 pm

Pretty simple: eat as many calories as you burn. I maintained my festively plump physique at our previous employer even when I was working out 5 days a week and busting trails every weekend because I ate like a horse.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 16, 2011, 3:45 pm

masteen wrote:Pretty simple: eat as many calories as you burn. I maintained my festively plump physique at our previous employer even when I was working out 5 days a week and busting trails every weekend because I ate like a horse.

Horses are vegetarians so... not just like a horse!

masteen · Post by **masteen** » August 16, 2011, 3:46 pm

Aslanna wrote:
masteen wrote:Pretty simple: eat as many calories as you burn. I maintained my festively plump physique at our previous employer even when I was working out 5 days a week and busting trails every weekend because I ate like a horse.
Horses are vegetarians so... not just like a horse!

Quantity is the core of that metaphor, not composition.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 16, 2011, 3:49 pm

I'm just trying to draw Spang (back) into the conversation since this thread is lacking in FACTS.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 17, 2011, 7:58 am

If you're interested in losing weight and being healthy, go vegan.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » August 17, 2011, 9:12 am

masteen wrote:Pretty simple: eat as many calories as you burn. I maintained my festively plump physique at our previous employer even when I was working out 5 days a week and busting trails every weekend because I ate like a horse.

While not slender I didn't think you were all that porky, the folks I'm talking about have a circumference approaching their height. Looking at them you'd think they'd get winded walking up stairs. One dude out at Flatwoods was eating what looked like a pound cake as he trundled along on his $4500 carbon bike.

Bubba Grizz · Post by **Bubba Grizz** » August 17, 2011, 10:40 am

Mmmm pound cake.......

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » August 17, 2011, 10:48 am

Speaking of Weight Watchers, it's always seemed effective for those willing to follow it.

Most folks fall into the "it's only a ..." syndrome and then cry that they aren't losing weight.

miir · Post by **miir** » August 17, 2011, 11:15 am

I know a few formerly fat people who used Weight Watchers.
It's an awesome program that promotes healthy eating habits.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 17, 2011, 11:43 am

miir wrote:I know a few formerly fat people who used Weight Watchers.
It's an awesome program that promotes healthy eating habits.

Unless it's promoting a vegan diet, it's full of shit. You may lose weight with Weight Watchers and all those other diets, and you may be healthier than before you lost that weight. But you won't have optimum health until you've removed meat, eggs and dairy from your diet.

Winnow · Post by **Winnow** » August 17, 2011, 11:53 am

Spang wrote:
miir wrote:I know a few formerly fat people who used Weight Watchers.
It's an awesome program that promotes healthy eating habits.
Unless it's promoting a vegan diet, it's full of shit. You may lose weight with Weight Watchers and all those other diets, and you may be healthier than before you lost that weight. But you won't have optimum health until you've removed meat, eggs and dairy from your diet.

You're trying too hard to troll now.

Aabidano wrote:Looking at them you'd think they'd get winded walking up stairs. One dude out at Flatwoods was eating what looked like a pound cake as he trundled along on his $4500 carbon bike.

That's awesome! It's a great visual imagining fat people that can't stop eating even while they exercise. Walking machines in gyms should have food troughs that fat people can stick their faces in to feed while they walk.

Aabidano · Post by **Aabidano** » August 17, 2011, 12:12 pm

You've never seen anyone at the gym slurping down a super big gulp & cheese fries while on the treadmill? I'm exaggerating but only on the cheese fries part. Those are for on the way home as a reward.

Similarly someone who's trying to lose weight by exercise and guzzles a liter of Gatorade while they do isn't accomplishing much towards their main goal though fitness may improve if they keep it up.

The bear looking guy with the poundcake made me snicker.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 17, 2011, 12:28 pm

Spang wrote:Unless it's promoting a vegan diet, it's full of shit. You may lose weight with Weight Watchers and all those other diets, and you may be healthier than before you lost that weight. But you won't have optimum health until you've removed meat, eggs and dairy from your diet.

Oh hey there's Spang and his bag of facts... We've missed you!

If anyone is full of shit it's you and your newly found religion. Optimum health.. How do you even define that. So someone who is within their proper weight group and has a normal blood pressure and cholesterol, yet who happens to eat meat, etc, you wouldn't consider (optimum) healthy?

miir · Post by **miir** » August 17, 2011, 12:47 pm

Spang wrote:Unless it's promoting a vegan diet, it's full of shit. You may lose weight with Weight Watchers and all those other diets, and you may be healthier than before you lost that weight. But you won't have optimum health until you've removed meat, eggs and dairy from your diet.

Weight Watchers ins't a diet.

Only an idiot would try to promote veganism as the only healthy diet choice.

I know a number of unhealthy vegetarians/vegans. They are anemic and seem to be constantly getting sick.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 17, 2011, 12:51 pm

Aslanna wrote:So someone who is within their proper weight group and has a normal blood pressure and cholesterol, yet who happens to eat meat, etc, you wouldn't consider (optimum) healthy?

No, because the human body isn't designed to eat meat. The consumption of meat can lead to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and a handful of other cancers that don't care that you're within your proper weight group or have normal blood pressure and cholesterol.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 17, 2011, 12:59 pm

miir wrote:I know a number of unhealthy vegetarians/vegans. They are anemic and seem to be constantly getting sick.

That's because there's unhealthy vegan foods, such as potato chips, french fries, cookies and soda. But if you're consuming healthy vegan foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole-grain pastas, brown rice and legumes, you're consuming the healthiest diet on the planet.

Boogahz · Post by **Boogahz** » August 17, 2011, 1:05 pm

Spang wrote:
Aslanna wrote:So someone who is within their proper weight group and has a normal blood pressure and cholesterol, yet who happens to eat meat, etc, you wouldn't consider (optimum) healthy?
No, because the human body isn't designed to eat meat. The consumption of meat can lead to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and a handful of other cancers that don't care that you're within your proper weight group or have normal blood pressure and cholesterol.

bullshit

miir · Post by **miir** » August 17, 2011, 1:05 pm

Spang wrote:No, because the human body isn't designed to eat meat.

Science be damned!

miir · Post by **miir** » August 17, 2011, 1:06 pm

Spang wrote:That's because there's unhealthy vegan foods, such as potato chips, french fries, cookies and soda. But if
you're consuming healthy vegan foods, such as fruits, vegetables, whole-grain pastas, brown rice and legumes, you're consuming the healthiest diet on the planet.

So you admit that good health and veganism are not mutually exclusive.

Are you going to start arguing with yourself now?

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 17, 2011, 1:13 pm

Spang wrote:No, because the human body isn't designed to eat meat. The consumption of meat can lead to breast cancer, colon cancer, prostate cancer, and a handful of other cancers that don't care that you're within your proper weight group or have normal blood pressure and cholesterol.

Are you in posession of the original blueprints or something? We weren't designed to fly, deep sea dive, or go into space either.

As intriguing as these arguments may be, the idea that humans are natural vegetarians has "no scientific basis in fact," argues anatomist and primatologist John McArdle. Alarmed by this growing belief, McArdle, a vegetarian, says the human anatomy proves that people are omnivores.

"We obviously are not carnivores, but we are equally obviously not strict vegetarians, if you carefully examine the anatomical, physiological and fossil evidence," says McArdle, executive director of the Alternatives Research and Development Foundation in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

According to a 1999 article in the journal The Ecologist, several of our physiological features "clearly indicate a design" for eating meat, including "our stomach's production of hydrochloric acid, something not found in herbivores. Furthermore, the human pancreas manufactures a full range of digestive enzymes to handle a wide variety of foods, both animal and vegetable.

"While humans may have longer intestines than animal carnivores, they are not as long as herbivores'; nor do we possess multiple stomachs like many herbivores, nor do we chew cud," the magazine adds. "Our physiology definitely indicates a mixed feeder."

If people were designed to be strict vegetarians, McArdle expects we would have a specialized colon, specialized teeth and a stomach that doesn't have a generalized pH-all the better to handle roughage. Tom Billings, a vegetarian for three decades and site editor of BeyondVeg.com, believes humans are natural omnivores. Helping prove it, he says, is the fact that people have a low synthesis rate of the fatty acid DHA and of taurine, suggesting our early ancestors relied on animal foods to get these nutrients. Vitamin B-12, also, isn't reliably found in plants. That, Billings says, left "animal foods as the reliable source during evolution."

History argues in favor of the omnivore argument, considering that humans have eaten meat for 2.5 million years or more, according to fossil evidence. Indeed, when researchers examined the chemical makeup of the teeth of an early African hominid that lived in woodlands three million years ago, they expected to learn that our ancestor lived on fruits and leaves. "But the isotopic clues show that it ate a varied diet, including either grassland plants or animals that themselves fed on grasses," reported the journal Science in 1999.

So, the question remains: Are humans natural vegetarians? In the end, whether a person lives a vegetarian lifestyle has less to do with esoteric matters of anatomy and more to do with ethics and personal values. The architecture of the human body offers no simple answers.

I hope you're getting enough oxygen way up there on your horse.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 17, 2011, 1:14 pm

miir wrote:So you admit that good health and veganism are not mutually exclusive.

Well, yeah, common sense should tell you that.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 17, 2011, 1:19 pm

Aslanna wrote:We weren't designed to fly, deep sea dive, or go into space either.

Which is why we can't fly, go into space or deep sea dive without some mechanical assistance.

Aslanna · Post by **Aslanna** » August 17, 2011, 1:23 pm

Spang wrote:Which is why we can't fly, go into space or deep sea dive without some mechanical assistance.

Wow how did I know that's the part you would choose to respond to? Good job on ignoring the large article of quoted text. Typical response for you... Pick and choose what you respond to when it may disagree with your world view. I'll be sure to specifically focus future posts so you can't just answer a trivial aspect of it.

Spang · Post by **Spang** » August 17, 2011, 1:28 pm

Aslanna wrote:Good job on ignoring the large article of quoted text.

Would you happen to have a link to the source?