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How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

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Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#31

Post by nathanbarry »

antidaily wrote: post #20
bialecki wrote: post #11

It's been said many times before, but getting exercise while doing a startup is a must. It's like saying you should use LESS/SASS instead of coding CSS. You just won't believe how much better it is until you actually try it for a while. For the last three months I've forced myself to go for a jog every morning, no excuses, even if it means I'll get started on stuff a little later, so be it. It's an amazing complement…

Forcing myself to use LESS is actually harder than exercise for me. Any tips?

Just setup LESS when you start the project. Though if you are having a hard time using it that means you aren't getting much value from it. Using more, better mixins will make a huge difference. Checkout Bootstrap's mixins.less file for a starting point.

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#32

Post by fourmii »

XLcommerce wrote: post #17
mattmanser wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's just dropping carbs. You're a sample size of 1. All the people on loseit are a much bigger sample and low carbs works, just not quite as fast as the more extreme keto or paleo. All the dairy you could have kept. I lost 25lbs while still drinking 7 cups of tea a day for example by moving to a very similar diet to yours. Cheese was one of my snacks in fact. The problem is that for actually both dairy and nuts…

could you give more details of your diet please?

Try the South Beach Diet. It's pretty much focused on lowering carb intake, especially at the beginning. I tried it a few years back and lost around 25 pounds too. I had to cut out all of my carbs (at least initially), but you can eat all the dairy you like.

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#33

Post by spking »

Tichy wrote: post #26

Is there really no other way than going Paelo? As a former vegetarian, I find that hard to stomach. Also I was slim for 16 years as a vegetarian, and vegetarian diets used to be considered healthy. Gained weight in the last three years, though - but I eat lots of sweets...

It's very difficult to get enough protein with a strict vegetarian diet, but not impossible (there's an entire chapter on this in http://www.amazon.com/Power-Eating-2nd-Edition-Susan-Kleiner...). Paleo isn't the only way to get results. Traditional bodybuilding diets have a ton of carbs that get used to fuel intense workouts. Check out http://swole.me/.

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#34

Post by Stwerner »

spking wrote: post #25
Stwerner wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, it is refreshing to see people posting results from these predominantly weight lifting programs. Helps keep me motivated on what I'm doing. If anyone is interested in starting, but lacks the money for a personal trainer, I've found Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe ( http://www.amazon.com/By-Mark-Rippetoe-Lon-Kilgore/dp/B005PI... ) to be a huge help in learning all the lifts. The first chapter is almost 60 pag…

Looks interesting. I know a lot of beginners have had solid results with 5x5 as well: http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-tra... There's a free iOS app for tracking progress too: http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-app/

Yeah, I'm actually doing the stronglifts 5x5 program. The Starting Strength book is still really useful for learning the lifts and getting all of the detail. With stronglifts you're going to get high in weight quick - so knowing form well is kind of important.

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#35

Post by omgsean »

XLcommerce wrote: post #17
mattmanser wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, it's just dropping carbs. You're a sample size of 1. All the people on loseit are a much bigger sample and low carbs works, just not quite as fast as the more extreme keto or paleo. All the dairy you could have kept. I lost 25lbs while still drinking 7 cups of tea a day for example by moving to a very similar diet to yours. Cheese was one of my snacks in fact. The problem is that for actually both dairy and nuts…

could you give more details of your diet please?

It sounds like his diet is probably similar to mine. Last summer I dropped about 20lbs from ~155 at my highest to ~135 at my lowest. I've been less strict about it since then but the general idea was to keep my carbohydrate intake between 20 and 30 grams a day. It's actually not that hard at all and you get to eat a lot of really great foods. The best part is that it's non-restrictive. Low carb foods are very filling so for the most part if you're eating the right things you just don't have to count calories at all, your body does it for you.

For breakfast I eat eggs almost every day. Hard boiled eggs are a good breakfast because you can keep them in the fridge at work but however you like them is fine.

Lunch is usually either a breadless sandwich (a plate of cold cuts and cheese) or a salad with a lot of meat in it with a tasty, high-fat dressing (because I can). In a pinch you can grab a fast food burger and eat around the bun, but I don't recommend it because the bun is there to mask how bad the meat is.

Dinner is pretty easy, just increase your meat and vegetable portion and remove the starch component. I end up eating a lot of what I affectionately refer to as "slop bowls" which is just the ingredients of something like a fajita but without the wrap.

For snacks I eat nuts (almonds are my favourite, pistachios are great too but a bit higher in carbs), cheese, cold cuts, cut up veggies with high-fat dip (because I can), dark chocolate, and more cheese.

For drinks, anything low-carb is fine. I like black coffee or green tea during the day and whisky at night. Dry wines are also fairly low carb, and a few brands of beer as well. Oh, and water!

The best thing about this diet (and I hesitate to call it that, I'm never going to stop) is that you can eat really good food every day. I used to be like most people and try to restrict fat when I was trying to eat well. I would end up eating stuff like rice cakes or salad with very little dressing. Now my diet food is bacon, steak, rich cheese, butter, sausage, salami, and so on. I can practically gorge myself on this stuff and the weight still comes off.

I highly recommend going low-carb for anyone that's had problems sticking to traditional diets. And I also recommend watching this video if you're wondering why the hell people think we need so much starch http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vr-c8GeT34

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#36

Post by jenius »

antidaily wrote: post #20
bialecki wrote: post #11

It's been said many times before, but getting exercise while doing a startup is a must. It's like saying you should use LESS/SASS instead of coding CSS. You just won't believe how much better it is until you actually try it for a while. For the last three months I've forced myself to go for a jog every morning, no excuses, even if it means I'll get started on stuff a little later, so be it. It's an amazing complement…

Forcing myself to use LESS is actually harder than exercise for me. Any tips?

Do yourself an additional favor and don't use less - it nowhere near as powerful as alternatives. go with sass or stylus and I absolutely promise you it will pay off. gem install sass then run sass --watch /path/to/sass_file.sass and you're good to go.

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#37

Post by omgsean »

Tichy wrote: post #26

Is there really no other way than going Paelo? As a former vegetarian, I find that hard to stomach. Also I was slim for 16 years as a vegetarian, and vegetarian diets used to be considered healthy. Gained weight in the last three years, though - but I eat lots of sweets...

There are people who do low-carb vegetarian diets but it's difficult. Eggs, cheese, and nuts should comprise a huge part of your diet.

If you're vegetarian for health reasons it might be time to reevaluate. If it's for ethical reasons it just means you really need to sit down and look at the macronutrient composition of the foods you eat. Not eating meat isn't a license to eat starch and sugar.

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#38

Post by yummyfajitas »

spking wrote: post #2

It looks like no cardio to speak of in your routine. So many people kill themselves doing an hour a day of running or riding a stationary bike and then wonder why they don't get better results. It's really 80% or more about diet and lifting weights. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn throughout the day. You just don't need that much cardio if you train intensely enough when lifting weights. Nice…

If you want to be a bodybuilder and look big, go ahead and skip cardio. On the other hand, if you do any sports that last more than about 30 seconds, you might want to spend a little time working your heart (which is also a muscle).

This is what happens if you skip the cardio: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HghbpgHNxC0

(Sorry for the crappy music video, it's the only one I could find.)

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#39

Post by nickbarnwell »

mpm wrote: post #15
ticks wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I imagine that running and riding (on a real bicycle) is more beneficial when you are overweight because there's more to carry around.

Maybe, but you you are far more likely to give yourself an overuse injury which then becomes a reason to stop your regimen.

Unless your bike fit is horrid it's very difficult to injure yourself just riding around, especially for a casual rider.

Re: How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids)

#40

Post by andrewingram »

Given that a big part of the dietary changes is getting rid of as many carbs as possible, does anyone have any advice for eating out at lunch on this kind of diet?

Going out and grabbing some food is a rewarding part of my day, but I'm struggling to think of any options for low carb, almost everywhere seems to focus on bread, pasta or rice.

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