Well first let me start off that I'm a 27 year old male and I live in the U.S.
When I was in high school, I tipped the scale at a 191LBS, which you may think is not a lot, but at 5'7", it’s heavy!
I had a horrible unmotivated lifestyle, bad diet, and then combine that with the fact that I am lactose intolerant and suffer from IBS, well lets just say it is not a good combo.
It wasn't until after high school that I dropped down to 143lbs and then since then have put on 15lbs of muscle. I'm always within 7-13% body fat and have kept within 7lbs of 157lbs for the last 7 year. Hey you have to enjoy the holidays
Don't listen to people when they say weight loss takes time and a lot of effort and that it's soo stressful. Of course dieting is stressful, you are basically holding back and torturing your mind just for the sake of dropping a few pounds. Thats like saying you have to hold it in 2 days to go to the bathroom. Why torture yourself? Why deny your brain or body of the nutrients and enjoyment that it needs.
In the last 7 years I have learned a lot about my body and eating and exercise. There are three basic steps, motivation, eating quality foods, and movement (exercise, walking, etc.) I have basically debunked a lot of myths and products on my own and have found the ones that really work and don’t work.
1. Everyone needs motivation, but the truth is that it doesn’t take much. Don’t be negative and don’t procrastinate and wait until Jan 1st for new years resolution. Just enjoy life and don’t worry about the weight, because you know it will never be an issue. Workout and eat healthy because it makes your body feel good, not because of the looks. The looks, energy, and increased confidence come with a healthy lifestyle, not the other way around. It’s amazing how my stress levels and my Ibs have become so much better since working out and eating healthy. I don’t get sick as much and I have a lot more energy and focus. Seriously, just go online and shop around for a gym.
2. First step, either join a gym or learn how to walk or run. I'm not kidding. I lost 48lbs in 4 months just by running the treadmill every day. I don't recommend this because It wasn't the right way to lose weight, but that’s how I initially did it. I did because I had a crush on this girl and guess what? Hey it got me motivated! No, in all honesty it’s great to go to the mall and just walk around. Gyms are more than just workout areas, they are places where you can get some laughs in with the guys or girls and get some exercise in. It’s so motivating to see people lose 5lbs here and tone up there.
We have trails by my house and sometimes when I have free time I will run, walk, or cycle for 15mins just to get some nice exercise in. The key is that you need to have fun while you workout, so try to convince your friends to join in and workout with you. Remember it’s a lifestyle change and not one “diet” can ever used for the rest of your life. I workout 4-5x a week, early morning, and it’s a place that I can hang out with my buddies and friends and just kick butt in the gym. Even if you workout 2x a week, its fine, as long as you are getting some exercise in. I personally don’t think at home exercise is worthwhile. You are alone and if you are doing an exercise the wrong way, nobody can give you advice or tell you otherwise. You can also injure yourself. Unless it’s stretching or MAYBE just doing some cardio on a treadmill or elliptical, I really think exercising at home is so boring and just monotonous. My advice to people at the gym, try different exercises, stretch a lot, ask people a lot of questions, and save your money and don’t get a trainer! A lot of my friends are trainers and guess where they get advice from
I don’t want to hear the excuse that you don’t have enough time. Go early morning and take a shower there before work or go on the weekends. It just takes 30mins-1hour to workout. You also don’t need to be sweating up a storm or killing yourself on the weights. Remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Going heavy builds a lot of muscle and going lighter on the weighs cuts up your muscle (toning)
3. Eating healthy. I think we should just stop talking about carbs and weight fads and diet pills. Most diet pills are just water reducers, that just make you go the bathroom a lot, which is fine if you are in a muscle competition and need to reduce your water levels right before your shows, but 99.9999999% of us are not there yet
My mornings consist of a delicious homemade chocolate protein shake, a banana, and a redbull before I workout. I also love granola bars, oatmeal plain or flavored, and peanut butter and oatbread. If you are eating regular bread, switch it to anything that has nuts or oats. Tea, Coffee, anything of those things are fine. Sugar is moderation is good. There are some healthy cereals that you can mix in with fat free milk. DON’T eat meat in the mornings and don’t eat lots of bread and oily foods. Why start off your day all weighed down, especially if you are headed to the gym.. wink wink
For lunch, I will have a sandwich, like a chicken sandwich combined with a soup or salad, depending on how hungry I am. When eating sandwiches, don’t use butter, mayo, or bbq sauce, just keep it simple and stack on the vegetables and use ketchup. A Grilled chicken breast sandwich loaded with vegetables is just about the healthiest thing someone can eat. Turkey is healthy and low fat meats are good once in a while, like salami. You want protein, but you want to eat everything in moderation. Eat lots of colored vegetables, like red peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes. If you want to snack, buy granola bars, unsalted peanuts (preferably not from the can) fruit, and health chips or snacks that they sell that have less sodium and more nutrients in them. I won’t say give up chips and candy, but only eat them if someone has it at there house and gives you some in moderation, just don’t buy them for the home!
I drink lots of water, diet pepsi, redbull, protein shakes (hence the chocolate soy milk) coffee, tea, and orange juice. Cutting non diet soda from the body is a must because it has A LOT of sugar and crap inside of it. After drinking Diet Pepsi for so many years, I would prefer it over regular.
For Dinner I will eat anything that has not a lot of oil in it or isn’t fried. Olive oil is extremely healthy. Burgers, vegetables, salads, Chicken Stir Frys, very small portions of pasta, seafood, protein shakes, and anything else that I feel like. I eat this 4-5x a week and then 1-2x a week that I go out to dinner and change it up. I will have something that I absolutely love, like Mexican food, or middle eastern, but will not over indulge or bust my belly. Nor will I order something extremely unhealthy. Fast food is bad and even if you don’t gain weight from it, you will have high cholesterol and will sufferer internally. If you have to eat fast food, you might as well get something somewhat healthy, but just don’t order fried and saucy foods.
I do take a few supplements that I really believe work for me. I drink redbull before I workout, because of the caffeine and vitamins (specifically vitamin c) I used to get bad sore throats and cough a lot in the winters, but since I have been drinking redbull, I haven’t gotten any fevers, sore throats, or anything. Vitamin C is truly our friend
I also like protein shakes, but because I’m allergic to milk, so I mix in a little bit of protein powder with silk soy chocolate milk and man is it absolutely delicious and really good for you. Most aftermarket protein tastes like garbage and is mixed in with a lot of additives. Also, most protein is horrible on the stomach. I can’t tell you how much my friends complain about how they are so gassy from their shakes. I use an awesome protein called isagenix isalean, I have been using it for 4 years and then I realized I should be distributing it.
I haven’t used any of their other products, but I will swear on my life by this shake. What I do is mix in only 2 teaspoons of the powder with chocolate soy milk. They recommend a lot more, but it’s pointless since who needs a huge amount of protein per day. Our body is only naturally supposed to get 60-80g. Anyone who says you need 2g per pound of muscle is either lying or going to the bathroom 5x a day! The taste is the best I’ve ever had. I have tried the kind at our local gym, designer protein, and a few others, and I think I would rather eat dirt. I sometimes mix it in with peanut butter or a banana, but it tastes great as is. I actually crave it during the day. I haven’t tried the vanilla powder with soy milk, but it does taste really good with ice/water. The chocolate powder tastes great with chocolate soy milk.
A whole 30oz can, if you make 2 shakes a day, should last a whole month. Other than that I recommend good multivitamin, lots of vitamin c, and if you are sick try airborne.
Well that’s pretty much my lifestyle and my daily eating habits and I’ll tell you that I’m as fit as can be. I run, I jog, I workout, and I’m more fit at 27 than I was at 16.
The key is moderation, exercise and movement, a healthy lifestyle, and to not torture your body with stupid diet programs and countless gimmicks.
Please feel free to contact me if you need advice on getting healthy and staying healthy. I’ll post a link to my isagenix site, not to spam! But because I think it’s worth checking out. I don’t know about any of their other products besides the isagenix isalean shakes (chocolate, vanilla), but I will say those 2 are awesome
Sincerely,
Eddie Raff
When I was in high school, I tipped the scale at a 191LBS, which you may think is not a lot, but at 5'7", it’s heavy!
I had a horrible unmotivated lifestyle, bad diet, and then combine that with the fact that I am lactose intolerant and suffer from IBS, well lets just say it is not a good combo.
It wasn't until after high school that I dropped down to 143lbs and then since then have put on 15lbs of muscle. I'm always within 7-13% body fat and have kept within 7lbs of 157lbs for the last 7 year. Hey you have to enjoy the holidays
Don't listen to people when they say weight loss takes time and a lot of effort and that it's soo stressful. Of course dieting is stressful, you are basically holding back and torturing your mind just for the sake of dropping a few pounds. Thats like saying you have to hold it in 2 days to go to the bathroom. Why torture yourself? Why deny your brain or body of the nutrients and enjoyment that it needs.
In the last 7 years I have learned a lot about my body and eating and exercise. There are three basic steps, motivation, eating quality foods, and movement (exercise, walking, etc.) I have basically debunked a lot of myths and products on my own and have found the ones that really work and don’t work.
1. Everyone needs motivation, but the truth is that it doesn’t take much. Don’t be negative and don’t procrastinate and wait until Jan 1st for new years resolution. Just enjoy life and don’t worry about the weight, because you know it will never be an issue. Workout and eat healthy because it makes your body feel good, not because of the looks. The looks, energy, and increased confidence come with a healthy lifestyle, not the other way around. It’s amazing how my stress levels and my Ibs have become so much better since working out and eating healthy. I don’t get sick as much and I have a lot more energy and focus. Seriously, just go online and shop around for a gym.
2. First step, either join a gym or learn how to walk or run. I'm not kidding. I lost 48lbs in 4 months just by running the treadmill every day. I don't recommend this because It wasn't the right way to lose weight, but that’s how I initially did it. I did because I had a crush on this girl and guess what? Hey it got me motivated! No, in all honesty it’s great to go to the mall and just walk around. Gyms are more than just workout areas, they are places where you can get some laughs in with the guys or girls and get some exercise in. It’s so motivating to see people lose 5lbs here and tone up there.
We have trails by my house and sometimes when I have free time I will run, walk, or cycle for 15mins just to get some nice exercise in. The key is that you need to have fun while you workout, so try to convince your friends to join in and workout with you. Remember it’s a lifestyle change and not one “diet” can ever used for the rest of your life. I workout 4-5x a week, early morning, and it’s a place that I can hang out with my buddies and friends and just kick butt in the gym. Even if you workout 2x a week, its fine, as long as you are getting some exercise in. I personally don’t think at home exercise is worthwhile. You are alone and if you are doing an exercise the wrong way, nobody can give you advice or tell you otherwise. You can also injure yourself. Unless it’s stretching or MAYBE just doing some cardio on a treadmill or elliptical, I really think exercising at home is so boring and just monotonous. My advice to people at the gym, try different exercises, stretch a lot, ask people a lot of questions, and save your money and don’t get a trainer! A lot of my friends are trainers and guess where they get advice from
I don’t want to hear the excuse that you don’t have enough time. Go early morning and take a shower there before work or go on the weekends. It just takes 30mins-1hour to workout. You also don’t need to be sweating up a storm or killing yourself on the weights. Remember!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Going heavy builds a lot of muscle and going lighter on the weighs cuts up your muscle (toning)
3. Eating healthy. I think we should just stop talking about carbs and weight fads and diet pills. Most diet pills are just water reducers, that just make you go the bathroom a lot, which is fine if you are in a muscle competition and need to reduce your water levels right before your shows, but 99.9999999% of us are not there yet
My mornings consist of a delicious homemade chocolate protein shake, a banana, and a redbull before I workout. I also love granola bars, oatmeal plain or flavored, and peanut butter and oatbread. If you are eating regular bread, switch it to anything that has nuts or oats. Tea, Coffee, anything of those things are fine. Sugar is moderation is good. There are some healthy cereals that you can mix in with fat free milk. DON’T eat meat in the mornings and don’t eat lots of bread and oily foods. Why start off your day all weighed down, especially if you are headed to the gym.. wink wink
For lunch, I will have a sandwich, like a chicken sandwich combined with a soup or salad, depending on how hungry I am. When eating sandwiches, don’t use butter, mayo, or bbq sauce, just keep it simple and stack on the vegetables and use ketchup. A Grilled chicken breast sandwich loaded with vegetables is just about the healthiest thing someone can eat. Turkey is healthy and low fat meats are good once in a while, like salami. You want protein, but you want to eat everything in moderation. Eat lots of colored vegetables, like red peppers, yellow peppers, tomatoes. If you want to snack, buy granola bars, unsalted peanuts (preferably not from the can) fruit, and health chips or snacks that they sell that have less sodium and more nutrients in them. I won’t say give up chips and candy, but only eat them if someone has it at there house and gives you some in moderation, just don’t buy them for the home!
I drink lots of water, diet pepsi, redbull, protein shakes (hence the chocolate soy milk) coffee, tea, and orange juice. Cutting non diet soda from the body is a must because it has A LOT of sugar and crap inside of it. After drinking Diet Pepsi for so many years, I would prefer it over regular.
For Dinner I will eat anything that has not a lot of oil in it or isn’t fried. Olive oil is extremely healthy. Burgers, vegetables, salads, Chicken Stir Frys, very small portions of pasta, seafood, protein shakes, and anything else that I feel like. I eat this 4-5x a week and then 1-2x a week that I go out to dinner and change it up. I will have something that I absolutely love, like Mexican food, or middle eastern, but will not over indulge or bust my belly. Nor will I order something extremely unhealthy. Fast food is bad and even if you don’t gain weight from it, you will have high cholesterol and will sufferer internally. If you have to eat fast food, you might as well get something somewhat healthy, but just don’t order fried and saucy foods.
I do take a few supplements that I really believe work for me. I drink redbull before I workout, because of the caffeine and vitamins (specifically vitamin c) I used to get bad sore throats and cough a lot in the winters, but since I have been drinking redbull, I haven’t gotten any fevers, sore throats, or anything. Vitamin C is truly our friend
I also like protein shakes, but because I’m allergic to milk, so I mix in a little bit of protein powder with silk soy chocolate milk and man is it absolutely delicious and really good for you. Most aftermarket protein tastes like garbage and is mixed in with a lot of additives. Also, most protein is horrible on the stomach. I can’t tell you how much my friends complain about how they are so gassy from their shakes. I use an awesome protein called isagenix isalean, I have been using it for 4 years and then I realized I should be distributing it.
I haven’t used any of their other products, but I will swear on my life by this shake. What I do is mix in only 2 teaspoons of the powder with chocolate soy milk. They recommend a lot more, but it’s pointless since who needs a huge amount of protein per day. Our body is only naturally supposed to get 60-80g. Anyone who says you need 2g per pound of muscle is either lying or going to the bathroom 5x a day! The taste is the best I’ve ever had. I have tried the kind at our local gym, designer protein, and a few others, and I think I would rather eat dirt. I sometimes mix it in with peanut butter or a banana, but it tastes great as is. I actually crave it during the day. I haven’t tried the vanilla powder with soy milk, but it does taste really good with ice/water. The chocolate powder tastes great with chocolate soy milk.
A whole 30oz can, if you make 2 shakes a day, should last a whole month. Other than that I recommend good multivitamin, lots of vitamin c, and if you are sick try airborne.
Well that’s pretty much my lifestyle and my daily eating habits and I’ll tell you that I’m as fit as can be. I run, I jog, I workout, and I’m more fit at 27 than I was at 16.
The key is moderation, exercise and movement, a healthy lifestyle, and to not torture your body with stupid diet programs and countless gimmicks.
Please feel free to contact me if you need advice on getting healthy and staying healthy. I’ll post a link to my isagenix site, not to spam! But because I think it’s worth checking out. I don’t know about any of their other products besides the isagenix isalean shakes (chocolate, vanilla), but I will say those 2 are awesome
Sincerely,
Eddie Raff
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