LMAO @ this thread. man, OBM is like i don't even know man... I hear what he is saying and he's jacked on the big 3 lifts but there's more to it.
I found out this awesome way to make "hard boiled eggs" that taste better and is super easy to do. i make like 12 at a time: "[FONT=Georgia, Century, Times, serif]To make the eggs, simply bake them in a 325 degree oven for 30 minutes. You can place them directly on the rack or use a muffin tin, which makes it easy move them in and out of the oven in bulk. Once the 30 minutes have passed, remove the eggs from the oven (carefully, because they are hot) and plunge them in cold water for 10 minutes"[/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia, Century, Times, serif]Eggs are like a ****in super food. awesome protein, decent fats, little to no carbs and very filling. I just stick them in my fridge for when I want a snack. Great for "hardgainers" to get extra protein/calories. For bigger guys on a cut just simply stick to the egg white and avoid the yellow (i'm not big on the yolk anyways). [/FONT]
[FONT=Georgia, Century, Times, serif]@Smokes: @ your training: with dumbbells, a place to do pullups, and space to do bodyweight work you can get in pretty damned good shape. You might not be able to pack on muscle like the freaks in the gym but you'll get to a very athletic/lean(ripped) body with good diet and a decent workout schedule if you are consistent. That stuff is the basis for programs like p90x and others. You can find free p90x downloads on torrent sites and have the full program at your finger tips. Other good, free programs are ones like Convict Conditioning. You don't need to be at a gym lifting crazy heavy to make gains (though I did find heavy squats and deadlifts gave me the fastest gains in fitness when i was a beginner). Be sure to do a variety of things for your fitness. Try new things you never thought of doing before. I just started doing gymnastics once a week. I try to fit in yoga, swimming, basketball, running, cycling, as well as weight lifting/training.
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@ the diet: Keep things as simple as possible. The best way to improve your diet is to write down everything you eat for a week or two. Literally everything, if you had Ketchup with your fries add that in there. I use an app on my phone that calculates the fats/carbs/proteins for me. You can use sites like SparkPeople to help track if you don't have a smart phone. Or just write it all down in a notebook.
In your food choices try to eat whole foods that make sense. Cook up chicken breast, eggs, fish, lean red meat, veggies of all kinds and colors, fruits, nuts and grains. Try to limit refined sugars, limit alcohol, cut out white breads all together. Cook your own meals, cook in advance and freeze/package your stuff for lunches and snacks. If you do eat out use common sense, skip the sauces and bull****, go for grilled chicken over breaded or fried, sub salads for fries, etc. Try to limit the "supplements" if you can but some of the ones I'd recommend are Fish oils capsules (wild salmon or Cod Liver give great omega-3's, sub flax seed oil for the vegans out there) and Whey protein if you are having a hard time meeting your protein levels. Forget the rest for now. It's all a money racket trying to sell you the latest snake oil quick fix remedy. Best "secret" supplement that you're probably over looking is sleep. Set a bed time, adhere to it. Get at least 7 hours a night MINIMUM.
Getting into more advanced stuff (better diets) There's some calculations and maths you need to do. Find out your BMR (base metabolic rate). this lets you know how much calories your body burns just breathing each day. You can do some adjustments depending on your activity level but essentially you want to eat 3-500 calories a day above that number to start adding weight at a healthy level. If you do that for 2 weeks and you see no change in the mirror/scale, inrease by 100 cals/day for a week until you do (you will). You should get enough protein to keep your Lean Body Mass (the muscle you already have) that usually works out to about 1 gram of protein per pound of muscle on your frame. For a guy trying to add muscle you can go ahead and do a 1-to-1 for your body weight. So if you weigh 160 lbs you should get roughly 160 grams of protein a day. If you make sure you get this and meet your caloric needs your fats and carbs should line up nicely. Keep tracking, recording, tweaking for better results. The longer and more consistent you are the better you will look and feel.
[FONT=Georgia, Century, Times, serif]One thing I've found about fitness/diet is that it really all boils down to one thing: Consistency. [/FONT]
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If you have a consistent diet and schedule that allows you to workout on a regular basis you're going to see gains in fitness, it really is a matter of sticking to it on a regular basis and not doing "cheat days" or taking extended breaks from working out. I've dropped 75 lbs, over 10% body fat and increased my athletics, strength, and flexibility over the last 2 years doing this. So I know this **** works.
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