Exercising without a gym

[Chickenbackside]

Old news for old birds like me, but since there are some newbies among us, it's a good reminder...

 

http://www.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites...tter-eating.csp

 

 

EAT FAT, BE THIN

Much of what you have been told about losing weight and eating healthfully is just wrong

 

BY LINDA PROUT

For The Register-Guard

Appeared in print: Monday, Aug 30, 2010

 

Eating fat actually may help you get thin. An honest look at the research shows fat is not a villain in the war on obesity, diabetes or other diseases of aging. It’s actually the cure.

 

As a nutritionist, I had a hard time believing this at first. But in my own battle with weight, one of the biggest mistakes I made was to cut out fats. I eliminated all the butter, oil, fatty meats, nuts, cheeses and sauces I could.

 

My metabolism ground to a halt, my blood pressure went up, I grew fat and all I could think about was getting to my next sweet fix. Only by adding back beneficial fats did I find relief.

 

About 30 years ago, the National Institutes of Health declared fat the single most unhealthy component of our diet. University professors lectured us on its perils and insisted we cut back even further than the recommended limit that fat provide 30 percent of our calories.

 

The research, they promised, was coming, but the government wasted no time launching a full-scale assault to get Americans to back off the butter.

 

I took the bait. Most of us did. Americans reduced dietary fat intake by nearly 25 percent. We should be thinner, but 30 years later obesity and diabetes rates have tripled. During the very period we cut back on fat, we grew more obese! Sixty-five percent of the population is overweight, and there has been no change in heart disease rates.

 

Years of fat reduction also have been met with increased rates of asthma, allergies and Alzheimer’s disease. The National Academy of Sciences now says obesity is not related to fat intake in humans. (It is in rats, just not in us.)

 

The promised proof that fat is fattening and harmful never came. Government researchers finally abandoned the mission, and now we learn fat actually has health benefits.

 

Harvard’s Women’s Health Initiative, an eight-year study of 49,000 women, found low-fat diets do nothing for weight loss, nor do they prevent heart attacks, breast or colon cancers, or strokes. In fact, women with heart disease who switched to low-fat eating experienced a 26 percent increase in heart disease deaths. According to Harvard University’s website, this is “the final nail in the coffin” for low-fat diets.

 

Why fat isn’t fattening

 

Although it seems logical that fat would make us fat, it doesn’t. Butter and lard don’t turn to thigh bulges. The body is more complicated than that. It turns out to be the original suspect — carbohydrates — especially sugars, that turn the body into a fat-making machine. If you’re old enough, you remember diet plates of burgers, sans bun and cottage cheese.

 

To get fat, you need the fat-storing hormone insulin. Without insulin, fat just doesn’t get into fat cells, even though you may be eating loads of it. Ask any diabetic what happens when their insulin shuts down: The pounds fall off, even on a diet of Big Macs and fries! When they start taking insulin, the body fattens up again.

 

Insulin spikes when we drink soda or eat bread, pasta, cookies, candy and other carbs, not fat.

 

Storing fat also requires a special glycerol molecule, which you can only get from carbohydrates. Without glycerol, you just can’t get fat. Despite eating ladles of beurre blanc sauce on your marbled T-bone, you can’t get fat to store in your thighs — unless you eat the potato.

 

Bottom line? A steady diet of sweets may beef you up faster than drinking melted butter.

 

This is not another article on Atkins-style low-carb, high-protein eating. Plant foods, especially leafy greens, thme broccoli family, onions, mushrooms and legumes contain nutrients that prevent inflammation and help manage insulin, weight and even aging.

 

Which fats burn fat best?

 

Some fats are better for health than others. Research shows a regular intake of nuts protects us from heart disease and keeps us lean. I add ground-up hazel nuts to salads, walnuts to whole yogurt and almonds into my oatmeal.

 

Omega-3 fats — from fish, leafy greens, flax seeds and walnuts — are particularly helpful for boosting metabolism and health. and for getting you back into your tight jeans.

 

Other fats are outright harmful. Hydrogenated fats from margarine, shortening and many processed foods are the, worst offenders. These are what has given saturated fats a bad name.

 

Early studies combined these two fats, leading researchers to think disease was being caused by saturated fats. The real culprit was partially hydrogenated oil.

 

Vegetable oils — such as safflower, soybean and corn oils — also contribute to obesity, inflammation and disease. They are over-processed and loaded with omega-6 fats, the kind of fat we get too much of.

 

Brace yourself. Here’s another shocker: Coconut oil, butter and other saturates are not “bad” fats. Saturated fats have health benefits.

 

Unlike vegetable oils, saturated fats don’t oxidize or turn rancid easily, so they are safer and make more healthful cooking fats. Saturated fats give our cell walls structure and enable us to absorb fat-soluble nutrients. Butter and coconut oil are rich in medium chain triglycerides (MCTs), fats readily burned for energy, not easily stored like vegetable oils.

 

Harvard research reported that in a group of postmenopausal women with heart disease, those who consumed the most saturated fat had the least narrowing of the arteries and least progression of atherosclerosis.

 

A high intake of polyunsaturated fats (vegetable oils) was associated with increased plaque. The study was published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition in 2004.

 

The French, famously lean and among the longest-lived people in the world, invented lardons, chewy bits of fatty pork simmered in more pork fat, and sprinkled on quiches.

 

They also use generous quantities of butter and duck fat. Heart disease rates there are a fraction of what they are here.

 

If all this is just too much to digest, remember that fat is a natural part of whole foods. There’s no controversy around benefits there. What could be more whole that whole milk or yogurt? How about whole eggs? There’s nothing whole about egg whites or Egg Beaters.

 

Including dark poultry meat and skin is part of whole foods eating, and whole pork means lard and meat.

 

I hesitated the first time I instructed a client to eat more eggs, lard and butter, but she came back leaner and her cholesterol level dropped enough to keep her off drugs. For me, enjoying extra fat helps me stay lean and energized. It keeps my skin soft, and I’m free of health issues that plague other women in their 50s.

 

I don’t hesitate in saying this anymore: Eat fat!

Edited September 7, 2010 by Chickenbackside

[Bighappyjer]

That's great bro! Most effective thing ever is to be doing something you love. It means you can keep doing it.

 

About the squat, if I add up the weight, it's 45+45+25+25+20kg including the bar. So that's 150kg. No wonder can't move for more than a week!

 

what?! your first time squatting in gym and you went 5x15 with 150kg???

 

you're not human.

[Aristotle]

Hi bros. Does anyone knows where to go for the HbA1c test? Looking for the those cheap ones. Dun want to burn a hole in my pocket for those >$100 health screening packages

[Chickenbackside]

what?! your first time squatting in gym and you went 5x15 with 150kg???

 

you're not human.

I like to push to the max when I work out. I didn't think it was impossibly heavy. All I did was load the bar to a weight that was challenging but manageable. The 1st 3 sets were ok, but the last 2 were a struggle, especially when I superset the squats with pull ups, push ups and single leg split squats with 16kg dumbbells in each hand.

 

But boy oh boy did I pay for it!

 

Still nothing compared with the guy in the next rack who was physically smaller than me "squatting" 3x45kg plates on each side of the bar!

 

 

[Chickenbackside]

Hi bros. Does anyone knows where to go for the HbA1c test? Looking for the those cheap ones. Dun want to burn a hole in my pocket for those >$100 health screening packages

Just go to a place like Quest and ask for the cheapest package that includes an A1c. I remember seeing packages that were <$100. Or just ask if they can design a package around your needs.

 

The thing is, since you take all the trouble to go down and draw blood, it wouldn't make sense to not also test for the common markers, hence the packages.

[Mazdaowner]

Some won't take on the bar weight, negligible. I feel if given the chance, I believe I can

have you doing 170-180kgs. Easy. Ai Mai?

 

That's great bro! Most effective thing ever is to be doing something you love. It means you can keep doing it.

 

About the squat, if I add up the weight, it's 45+45+25+25+20kg including the bar. So that's 150kg. No wonder can't move for more than a week!

 

[Mazdaowner]

CBS, you're the "Hero"

The other guy is the "Champion" [laugh]

The growth song boh? Wahahaha....

I like to push to the max when I work out. I didn't think it was impossibly heavy. All I did was load the bar to a weight that was challenging but manageable. The 1st 3 sets were ok, but the last 2 were a struggle, especially when I superset the squats with pull ups, push ups and single leg split squats with 16kg dumbbells in each hand.

 

But boy oh boy did I pay for it!

 

Still nothing compared with the guy in the next rack who was physically smaller than me "squatting" 3x45kg plates on each side of the bar!

 

[Crystal_tiong]

CBS

 

Thanks for sharing the article .

When i was having my dinner , roast duck meat, chicken thigh , my sis says my heart are wrapped with oil liao !

I hope i can prove them soon that eat FAT to be thin and healthy!

 

Btw , I finally bought a tin 800g of ghee liao! tml should try to cook it for dinner

[Skunk]

Fry some prawns in ghee, lightly salt n pepper. Damn shiok wan :)

[Chickenbackside]

Growth sibei song man!

 

Basket, pang sai also song. After that, anything that involved bending my knees felt like squatting 200kg!

 

But seriously, I know my quads actually grew from that 1 workout. I have this pair of slim fitting bermudas, and it is actually tighter around my thighs this week.

 

Hence my dilemma about my workouts now, as you know...

 

I don't think the <20kg dumbbells in the condo gym are going to cut it judging by my session today. Ok for arms, and maybe shoulders for a little while, but for everything else, don't think so. Better off with body weight stuff. 30 reps of bench press with the 20kg dumbells doesn't feel half as hard as 20 reps of dips with my backpack full of books.

Edited September 7, 2010 by Chickenbackside

[Chickenbackside]

CBS

 

Thanks for sharing the article .

When i was having my dinner , roast duck meat, chicken thigh , my sis says my heart are wrapped with oil liao !

I hope i can prove them soon that eat FAT to be thin and healthy!

 

Btw , I finally bought a tin 800g of ghee liao! tml should try to cook it for dinner

Seriously, go and get a blood panel done. It takes 10 mins and about $100.

 

That way, you can prove to everyone, and most importantly yourself, of the improvements...

 

It's money well spent.

[Mazdaowner]

Bro. Bench press 20kg is too little lah, biceps yes, I thot I saw sala, 20kgs bicep curl boh kow?

I lift 20kgs per arm already shack. Yes, bench press cannot, you need AT LEAST 60-80kgs if you can, more of course. Bro. Bench press boh koh leng 20kgs lah, bicep/hammer curls, I think you should, aga aga handle say 12-15kgs.

 

If you don't have a bar to do bench press, lie on your back (on a bench) and lift the backpack of books up and down, 2" from your chest, and arms straighten again to perfect form.

 

the "khek" power part very important, next day sure go pang sai also.

Growth sibei song man!

 

Basket, pang sai also song. After that, anything that involved bending my knees felt like squatting 200kg!

 

But seriously, I know my quads actually grew from that 1 workout. I have this pair of slim fitting bermudas, and it is actually tighter around my thighs this week.

 

Hence my dilemma about my workouts now, as you know...

 

I don't think the <20kg dumbbells in the condo gym are going to cut it judging by my session today. Ok for arms, and maybe shoulders for a little while, but for everything else, don't think so. Better off with body weight stuff. 30 reps of bench press with the 20kg dumbells doesn't feel half as hard as 20 reps of dips with my backpack full of books.

 

[Chickenbackside]

Ok, today was like a testing session for the weight I can handle for exercises.

 

Basically it's:

 

1) seated bicep curl - 18kg for 10 good reps.

 

2) standing dumbbell shoulder press - 18kg in each hand for 8 good reps

 

3) lateral raise/bent over lateral raise - 18kg for 8 good reps one side at a time

 

4) incline dumbbell bench press - 20kg (no more heavier weight than that in the stupid gym) for > 30 reps, stopped at 30 cos was feeling quite pointless

 

5) dumbbell squats - 20kg in each hand, stopped after 40 reps although it was getting difficult.

 

6) Bulgarian split squat - 16kg in each hand for 20 good reps

 

That's all the testing I did today. Really frustrated that there is no barbell in the gym.

 

The backpack of books too light for bench press lah bro! Max I guess is 18-20kg only.

[Skunk]

Bro CBS, heard of plate curls? I read that they can produce large gains with less weights. For me they sure made my forearms real thick lol

[Ithunk]

Some won't take on the bar weight, negligible. I feel if given the chance, I believe I can

have you doing 170-180kgs. Easy. Ai Mai?

 

i dun normally count the bar

[Chickenbackside]

Bro CBS, heard of plate curls? I read that they can produce large gains with less weights. For me they sure made my forearms real thick lol

No access to plates unfortunately. Only got dumbbells from 2kg to 20kg in 2kg increments in the condo gym. Seems to be designed for ladies...

[Mazdaowner]

Then bro. You have to revert to my two options listed for you.

Besides going the last route of getting membership, which I don't really advise, since it's only once weekly.

Ok, today was like a testing session for the weight I can handle for exercises.

 

Basically it's:

 

1) seated bicep curl - 18kg for 10 good reps.

 

2) standing dumbbell shoulder press - 18kg in each hand for 8 good reps

 

3) lateral raise/bent over lateral raise - 18kg for 8 good reps one side at a time

 

4) incline dumbbell bench press - 20kg (no more heavier weight than that in the stupid gym) for > 30 reps, stopped at 30 cos was feeling quite pointless

 

5) dumbbell squats - 20kg in each hand, stopped after 40 reps although it was getting difficult.

 

6) Bulgarian split squat - 16kg in each hand for 20 good reps

 

That's all the testing I did today. Really frustrated that there is no barbell in the gym.

 

The backpack of books too light for bench press lah bro! Max I guess is 18-20kg only.

 

[Mazdaowner]

Skunk, plate curls can only do so much, CBS needs

Heavier sets, more reps will not produce growth.

 

 

Bro CBS, heard of plate curls? I read that they can produce large gains with less weights. For me they sure made my forearms real thick lol