*** The 2018 Gym Rats Thread ***

What do people here do for everyday eats?

Lost around 4-5 pounds since I started 4 weeks ago and whilst I think that's adequate, I know I could be doing more with my diet.

Tis worth stressing that I'm not looking to make any big gains or anything. I do a few sets of deadlifts as well as some work on the pec machines from time to time but mainly stick to cardio (mostly cycling and rowing). I just want to get to my target weight of 12 stone (14 and a half at the mo) and maybe tone up a little as I go. I know many of you will suggest that I lean more toward working with weights and the like, but I just don't enjoy it anywhere near as much as an extended cardio session.

Average day of eats so far consists of:

Morning - Overnight oats with various fruits, nuts and seeds. Banana around 11ish

Afternoon - Rice bowl with various salad beans and a touch of seasoning. Sometimes quinoa salad if I remember to prep it the night before.

Evening - Generally whatever's there when I get home. Living with the parent at the moments and my moms a bit of a health freak so it's always some combination of fish, veg, salad etc.


Weekends is generally the issue as I just don't possess the willpower to stick to anything :/
 
DrToffnar said:
What do people here do for everyday eats?

Lost around 4-5 pounds since I started 4 weeks ago and whilst I think that's adequate, I know I could be doing more with my diet.

Tis worth stressing that I'm not looking to make any big gains or anything. I do a few sets of deadlifts as well as some work on the pec machines from time to time but mainly stick to cardio (mostly cycling and rowing). I just want to get to my target weight of 12 stone (14 and a half at the mo) and maybe tone up a little as I go. I know many of you will suggest that I lean more toward working with weights and the like, but I just don't enjoy it anywhere near as much as an extended cardio session.

Average day of eats so far consists of:

Morning - Overnight oats with various fruits, nuts and seeds. Banana around 11ish

Afternoon - Rice bowl with various salad beans and a touch of seasoning. Sometimes quinoa salad if I remember to prep it the night before.

Evening - Generally whatever's there when I get home. Living with the parent at the moments and my moms a bit of a health freak so it's always some combination of fish, veg, salad etc.


Weekends is generally the issue as I just don't possess the willpower to stick to anything :/
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Everyone is different - and it took me aong time to realise that what I needed was something that worked for me, and not what had worked for other people. I've got a very different set of circumstances to you, but there might be some value in sharing what's working for me and the thought process that got me there.

I have little willpower, and I'm the only one dieting in the house. I needed a simple plan that I could stick to.

I settled on:-
  • Weekday only diet - weekends are chaos at home.
  • Weekday breakfast - coffee
  • Weekday lunch - post-gym protein shake
  • Weekday supper - whatever I feel like
Doing this meant I lost 2.5 stone in about 2.5 months (with a 3 month plateau in the middle over Christmas and a period of focusing on performance gains).
 
DrToffnar said:
What do people here do for everyday eats?
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An example of a typical day might be something like this (though I'm about to change things about a bit/reduce the carbs down somewhat):


Breakfast - homemade protein shake: nuts, egg, berries, spinach/greens, small amount of agave or xylitol, soya milk.

Mid-morning - if I do eat something, then it will be a convenient quick snack like 1/4 - 1/2 cup of nuts/seeds, or maybe a very small amount of mozzarella or brown rice puffed cereal with nuts.

Lunch - I usually eat out for lunch, so a black coffee and something as healthy as poss, but if I feel like a small indulgence, I'll have it. Usually, though, I'll buy something like a salmon and cucumber sandwich/egg mayo/salad/chicken salad.

Mid-afternoon - I don't usually have anything, but if I do it could be a snack like at mid-morning.

Dinner - e.g. stir fry veg (rapeseed oil) and herbs/spices with some lean meats, but not so lean that there's no flavour! I had some duck breast tonight and it was very nice. No skin.
 
You need to get into the habit of sorting out your weekend eating, and if you make it a habit then eventually you won't have to rely on willpower (which is transient) to stick to your plan and you'll just do it automatically. As far as weekdays go, as long as you're aware of the calories in your dinner you can budget accordingly for the rest of the day I'd imagine.

Everyone on here has their own dietary preferences and people tend to adhere to diets they enjoy more, and judging from what you've listed you're mostly vegetarian with a some seafood thrown in, so I'd imagine you'd be sticking to that theme at the weekends. You can get something like Huel that takes all the effort out completely (at least for one of your meals), or something that's relatively quick to put together as obviously the less faff involved, the more likely you'll be able to keep doing it. Google some quick high protein veggie or pescatarian meals, look for reduced 'easy to cook' type meals in the reductions section when you shop that you can freeze for weekends (these aren't cheapo ready meals but things like fish in a sauce w/some veg in a foil tray etc).
 
Cheers for the advice guys!

I doubt I could do what @garnett does and literally skip breakfast. I have an insatiable metabolism which demands 3 set meals and a few fruit snacks. But yeah, I think I'll just try and attempt to sort my weekends out as all notions of diet go straight out the window come Friday evening. I'm also a big beer lover (strictly on weekends) which I refuse to cut out, so I'd rather give up the junk food then that.

Do you guys tend to eat something specific before a workout? I was led to believe it's best to do exercise on a relatively empty stomach but I'm always RIDICULOUSLY peckish when I finish.
 
DrToffnar said:
Cheers for the advice guys!

I doubt I could do what @garnett does and literally skip breakfast. I have an insatiable metabolism which demands 3 set meals and a few fruit snacks. But yeah, I think I'll just try and attempt to sort my weekends out as all notions of diet go straight out the window come Friday evening. I'm also a big beer lover (strictly on weekends) which I refuse to cut out, so I'd rather give up the junk food then that.

Do you guys tend to eat something specific before a workout? I was led to believe it's best to do exercise on a relatively empty stomach but I'm always RIDICULOUSLY peckish when I finish.
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Training usually involves the damaging of muscle tissue in some way, so in an ideal world you always want some sort of protein being available to be used for the repair process in your digestive system. Pre-workout is a 'it depends' thing to some extent; if you've had a big meal a couple of hours before training, you don't really need anything immediately pre-workout and the importance of post-workout nutrition diminishes (although you should still eat something in the hours after). If it's been a fair old while since you've eaten then the typical modus operandi for pre-workout is a serving of protein and carbohydrates that can be digested relatively quickly, mainly so they don't sit on your stomach, and once training is over you eat again within the next couple of hours.

For me a quick pre-workout meal can be something like a protein shake and kids cereal or fruit - nothing stodgy basically. Depending on the length of the endurance exercise you might even consider intra-workout carbohydrates but that's really for longer bouts. It's worth noting that studies have shown no real advantage to fasted cardio in terms of fat loss either, so if you care about preserving lean mass it's better to err on the side of caution.
 
Really didn't fancy the gym yesterday, instead of doing a full on back session thought I'd do 1RM testing on my deadlift.

I use a trap bar, so its sort of cheating however...

I've not really been working my deadlift much at all, but figured I would have made some gains.

Previous 1RM - 135kg.

This session

135kg - 4 reps
150kg - 4 reps
160kg - 1 rep
170kg - 1 rep

and then I died.

Really pleased though, 35kg since I last tried my 1RM, thats a decent gain!
 
Closer to 200kg than before! It's less 'cheating' than sumo as well and anyway, there's more to life than low squats, comp. style bench and barbell deadlifts anyway; if you don't compete in powerlifting, get good at whatever movements you enjoy doing. :)
 
mrthingyx said:
Post of a video of your squat and we can help.. if you want. ;) :D
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Thanks, but not at the mo. I know the form's poor (and, yeah, I'm at 130) and I want to work at some constituent parts before I give it another go... What's the best angle for video - sideways-on?

In other news, bought a load of supplements, and I'm gonna give 'em a go for a month, and see what they can do... Caffeine, Creatine, BCAAs, L-Glutamine, Beta Alanine and L-Citrulline in a pre-workout shake, and Protein, HMB, some carbs and more creatine for post-.
 
So, cut for ~month and a half, was really good with it. Went on holiday, beach, dwarfed by some of the adonis's walking about..... I'll blame genetics ;)
First day back and squats properly hit me in the hamstrings, wasn't expecting that!
 
garnett said:
Thanks, but not at the mo. I know the form's poor (and, yeah, I'm at 130) and I want to work at some constituent parts before I give it another go... What's the best angle for video - sideways-on?

In other news, bought a load of supplements, and I'm gonna give 'em a go for a month, and see what they can do... Caffeine, Creatine, BCAAs, L-Glutamine, Beta Alanine and L-Citrulline in a pre-workout shake, and Protein, HMB, some carbs and more creatine for post-.
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Side on as well as somewhere in-between straight on and 45 degrees, just because from the side you can't see things like knee valgus, stance width and things like that as clearly.

Of your supplement list - without getting preachy and ignoring protein/carbs as they're food - caffeine and creatine are the only ones with any evidence behind their efficacy. Beta Alanine shows some promise but only in more prolonged endurance activities (far longer bouts of effort than any set in the gym). Everything else is just a waste of money, especially BCAAs.
 
Somnambulist said:
Side on as well as somewhere in-between straight on and 45 degrees, just because from the side you can't see things like knee valgus, stance width and things like that as clearly.

Of your supplement list - without getting preachy and ignoring protein/carbs as they're food - caffeine and creatine are the only ones with any evidence behind their efficacy. Beta Alanine shows some promise but only in more prolonged endurance activities (far longer bouts of effort than any set in the gym). Everything else is just a waste of money, especially BCAAs.
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Beta alanine and citrulline malate won't help in the gym (both have *some* effect for cardeeyo), and none of them (aside from caffeine) will do very much over the course of a month... :(
 
@Somnambulist and @mrthingyx - thanks a lot for the guidance.

Glutamine is the only one that on reflection I'm thinking of shelving.

Apart from the BCAAs everything else is at worse harmless, or possibly offers some other benefit, just not the thing I want - better 6/7 minute exercise performance.

Im not sure where I read my reasoning to get the bcaas now. I had thought they might offer some "mid-performance" recovery benefit - if that's even a thing - and I had thought they'd not cause digestational issues even if taken shortly before exercise. Is that completely wrong?

(Much of the supplementation comes in a blend I've bought - MyPre from Myprotein - but I'll admit to having paid extra for some bcaas, hmb and glutamine - :rolleyes:).
 
Rids said:
Really didn't fancy the gym yesterday, instead of doing a full on back session thought I'd do 1RM testing on my deadlift.

I use a trap bar, so its sort of cheating however...

I've not really been working my deadlift much at all, but figured I would have made some gains.

Previous 1RM - 135kg.

This session

135kg - 4 reps
150kg - 4 reps
160kg - 1 rep
170kg - 1 rep

and then I died.

Really pleased though, 35kg since I last tried my 1RM, thats a decent gain!
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Rids! I didn't know you were swole, I thought Fifa was your sport! :p
Congrats on the numbers though! :D
 
What sort of straps or wraps do you all use for back/pulling exercises? I'm finding my grip gives out before the muscle area does. Deadlifts are a good example.
 
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mrthingyx said:
Straps for secondary lifts (RDLs, snatch pulls): primary lifts, nothing.
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Same, although I will use straps or mixed grip for the highest 1RM percentage lifts.

arc@css said:
I appreciate that straps are used but what ones would you recommend? A particular design/quality that is worth considering? :)
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RDX Weight Lifting Gym Straps Crossfit Wrist Support Wraps Hand Bar Bodybuilding Training Workout https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B008S97BUW/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_tai_fgDDBbJ3K28H6

I never used to use cushioned straps, but they are much more comfortable as the weight goes up.
 
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