Getting into Spartan IV Shape

GeekGuardianDee said:

And then I decided to see what my TDEE is with the calculator you included in your post, Wanderer. Well, my Total Daily Energy Expenditure is 2116 calories, which I can pretty much guarantee I do not get in a day. So I guess I will have to try to ramp that up so I can actually get some muscles starting to build.

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Just so you know, the most accurate method is the one that requires you knowing your body fat percentage when calculating your TDEE.

This isn't bad for finding out what it is: http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator
But it also isn't that great.
It wouldn't let me input decimals or fractions.
In any regard, taking measurements by hand is still inferior compared to the method where you go somewhere and you get in a tank of water (I think) and they measure how much water is displaced in order to determine your body fat.

My TDEE turned out to be 2111 or so.

Oh, and if you scroll down on the page that the TDEE calculator is on, it does give some information worth reading about your intake.

Oh, and I totally forgot to mention that I use My Fitness Pal (MFP for short) to track my calorie intake, it's an app that you can download onto your phone, which also has an in-browser form as well, so you can look at your stats on a computer if you want. I also use it to record the calories I burn when I walk.
MFP is really nice because it has a database of nutrition information that you can search from. If you can't find something, I always try to find the closest thing to it. What I mean is, there is a local pizza place here, and they aren't in the database, so when I eat there, I try to use the closest big name company I would compare my pizza to when I list the item in the app.
The more you try to break your food down when you can't find what you are looking for the better.
No S&B's burgers in the app? ....or rather maybe you made a custom burger? Well, when I do that, I'll search for "beef burger fried egg american cheese bacon" or whatever and I'll pick the closest option to it that appears in the results.
Mexican food is hard to compare since a burrito from one place could be small while burritos from other places could be as big as your thigh.

Oh and in terms of body fat, women tend to have about 10-15% more than men, and that's totally okay.
Guys look best at 10-12% while women look best at around 20%.
Maybe "best" isn't the right word, but when you see people at those body fat levels, they are the ones that you would look at and thing that the individual is healthy looking.

Sad thing for me is, my body doesn't have much fats naturally... I think mine is like 5% but I don't know... I'm very thin.

Azsendi said:

Sad thing for me is, my body doesn't have much fats naturally... I think mine is like 5% but I don't know... I'm very thin.

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You can die if you go below 4%.
I would say that you could ask Bruce Lee what happens if you go that far down, but he kinda had a brain aneurism and died... because his fat was so low. He made it down to 2%.

I would die if my fat went below 20%.

WandererTJ said:

You die if you go below 4%.
I would say that you could ask Bruce Lee what happens if you go that far down, but he kinda had a brain aneurism and died... because his fat was so low.

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Well, I'm actually not sure. My fat level is very low as I don't seem to have any...

http://www.dreammoviecast.com/wp-co...n-alex-cross-photos.jpg&h=360&w=600&zc=1&q=80
This is what it looks like to be below 8%.

I said it in the post right before yours, but I'll link to it again:
http://www.healthstatus.com/calculate/body-fat-percentage-calculator
Maybe you should use it before claiming that you have a really low body fat level.

Cheers :cheers

Hmmm, 26.25%, healthy women should be 22%, athletic women 15-20%. Well now I know what to aim for.

Easy-peasy, right?

GeekGuardianDee said:

Hmmm, 26.25%, healthy women should be 22%, athletic women 15-20%. Well now I know what to aim for.

Easy-peasy, right?

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Definitely easy, especially if you keep track of your calories. You can probably find a fairly cheap $5-$7 food scale at Walmart (Canada has Walmart, right?).
There are more expensive options, but I feel like when other people see me using my little cheap scale, they are less likely to view me as a health nut lol.

Other than my food scale, I mostly only take measurements by the cup or by Tbsp. Having 1/2, 1/3, 1/4th cups are nice obviously, but I don't use them nearly as frequently as the 1-Cup I have. If anything, I mostly use the smaller cups to measure cheese. The 1-Cup is better for fruit and shredded chicken in my opinion.

Azsendi said:

Sad thing for me is, my body doesn't have much fats naturally... I think mine is like 5% but I don't know... I'm very thin.

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Maybe you should check out the article I posted above, here's the link again: A Beginner’s Guide to Getting Bigger

It's focused on skinny guys (and girls) trying to bulk up a bit. I used to be ultra thin (like bean pole skinny, see photo - I'm the one on the right) but that all changed as I got old, and had my daughter. So don't fret too much if the article doesn't ring true for you, maybe just let time flush your metabolic rate down the toilet.

WandererTJ said:

Definitely easy, especially if you keep track of your calories. You can probably find a fairly cheap $5-$7 food scale at Walmart (Canada has Walmart, right?).
There are more expensive options, but I feel like when other people see me using my little cheap scale, they are less likely to view me as a health nut lol.

Other than my food scale, I mostly only take measurements by the cup or by Tbsp. Having 1/2, 1/3, 1/4th cups are nice obviously, but I don't use them nearly as frequently as the 1-Cup I have. If anything, I mostly use the smaller cups to measure cheese. The 1-Cup is better for fruit and shredded chicken in my opinion.

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Yep cheap food scale is great for calorie tracking. My husband and I did a 6 month trial of a vegan diet to try to help him lose weight, definitely needed the scale to make sure we got enough calories and protein. FYI, being vegan with a fast metabolism, busy life, and lots of stress is CRAY-CRAY! But that's just my humble opinion.

I made myself a nice big batch of 'Bulks R Us' (ie. protein source, vegetables, grain, and some sauce) to get this caloric intake going; and then failed horribly at getting 700 calories worth down my gullet. I am definitely going to have to work on this, in fact eating more in order to get fit might be the biggest challenge with my regime.

At my most healthy, I was 6’4”, weighed 225, and was at 10% BFI. I was working out and working in a gym about 10 hours a day. 15 minutes on each resistance machine at the second or third weight bar and an hour on a treadmill, with an occasional bokken/sword fitness class that I taught, and two hours every other day in martial arts. I was downing about 4000-5000 calories a day. I actually lost muscle mass in Basic Training due to reduction in both physical activity and caloric intake.

One of my friends was trying to diet while exercising to get in shape for the Marine Corps. She kept plateauing and didn’t know why. Her recruiter told her to keep up on her diet so she could lose the last little weight before she shipped, but I was able to talk some sense into her and got her to start eating like an athlete. This happened three months before she left to Parris Island. She passed with the highest P.T. scores in her class.

Just to let you know, I’m not a certified fitness expert. I was Master Fitness Trainer qualified in the Army, a fitness instructor at a gymnasium, a second-degree black belt in Aikido, and a coach for Beachbody.com. So, I know a little, but am far from a professional. Take these suggestions however you wish. They work for me, but you need to find what works for you.

1) HYDRATE! Keep a bottle of water with you and drink from it whenever you are thirsty. Remember: Water is life!

2) HAVE FUN! Exercise is for fun, not a chore. You need to view it as something you can enjoy rather than obsessing about your next routine or meal. If you can convince yourself it is something to be excited for, then you will be excited for it.

3) EAT! Eating too few calories can be more detrimental to a good workout routine than eating too many. If you eat too many, it just means one more lap on the track, too few and you are eating into what you need to stay healthy.

4) GOALS! Set yourself a 3 month goal. In three months, set another one. Don’t worry about what happens one year from now. Worry about what is right in front of you. A series of short-term goals are better than anything that may seem too far out of reach and long-term.

5) CONTROL, DON’T CUT! Don’t cut anything out of your diet, especially if you love it. If you love double-fudge covered oreo cheesecake, but you cut it out of your life, you are more likely to binge on it in a moment of weakness. Instead, have a small piece once a week.

6) HYDRATE! If you want to buy store-bought water, read the ingredients. If it has anything that a fifth-grader can’t understand, then it’s a chemical sh*tstorm and should be avoided. If you want something sweeter, mash up some fresh fruit and toss it in a normal bottle of water. Shake, drink, enjoy.

7) STOCKHOLM SYNDRONE! I mean… um… PEER PRESSURE! no, that’s not right, either… BUDDY SYSTEM! Get a workout buddy that will keep you honest and that you can help keep honest. Nothing motivates you like helping to motivate others.

8) BREAK THE MONOTONY! Add music to your workout to keep you motivated. Don’t always schedule A, B, C; sometimes schedule B, C, A. If you fall into a set schedule day-in and day-out, you will get bored.

9) DO IT DAILY! Do something for exercise every day. This includes on your rest day. For that, 30 minutes of walking is still a good day’s work of light exercise.

10) VITAMINS HELP! If you know or think you are missing something in your diet, take a multi-vitamin to supplement it. It’s not difficult and you will just ‘leak’ out anything your body doesn’t use.

11) DON’T COMPARE! You are you, they are they. You look different from them. So, unless you have an identical twin who is an Olympic athlete, don’t make comparisons between you and others. (If you do have a twin who is an Olympic athlete, then that just means you have the right genes to get up to that level of fitness, kill them, and take their place for the fortune and glory.)

12) HYDRATE! I prefer ice tea over the barely processed sewage line that is my city water supply. I use 1 part white tea, 1 part green tea, and 1 part flavored black tea. Sweeten it with a little honey or fruit mash while it is brewing, and you are good to go!

13) SCHEDULE! Write up an exercise schedule and stick to it. If you can squeeze in two workouts a couple of times a week, that’s cool, but try to do at least once block of workout every day.

14) DON’T MEASURE! A scale is a great demotivational tool. You should only step on it once a month, no more. Measure your success by the amount of money you need to spend when your clothes stop fitting.

15) SLEEP! It shouldn’t be that hard with the amount you will be exercising, but you still need to schedule at least 6 to 7 hours a night.

16) LIMIT! Limit your intake of caffeine and alcohol. You don’t need to stop drinking coffee (I’d have a body to bury if someone told me I couldn’t drink coffee anymore), but cut back.

17) DIVERSIFY! Workouts are more than just calisthenics. Throw in some yoga. Throw in some resistance band work. Throw in some light weight work. If you only do one thing, then your body will only adapt to doing that one thing and you will plateau.

18) HYDRATE! Have I mentioned that proper hydration helps with muscle growth, healing, and gives you an overall sense of health? It also helps to flush out all the toxins that your body may produce, such as lactic acid which contributes to muscle soreness.

19) ACCESSORIZE! You need the right tools for the right job. Running shoes are key, not cross trainers or basketball shoes or those strange ankle-breaking step-up things. Get a new-fangled portable 8-track player.

20) STRETCH! I’ve told people for a while now that you should do light stretching before your workout that is specific to what you are doing. If you are doing a resistance machine, then stretch using the machine without weights through the entire movement. After a workout, you are going to want to do some deep elastic stretches. Those are the kind we are all used to from school and whatnot. Oh, and don’t forget rotations!

Thanks for the tips guys, I'll get started on mine soon

Today's exercises:

• 3 X 3 minute intervals while taking my daughter to daycare in the morning, then
• 3 X 3 Overhead Press Lunge (with dumbbell), and
• 3 X 3 Chest Presses (with dumbbells), and
• 3 X 3 Split Stance deadlifts (with dumbbells), and
• 3 X 3 Static Squat Curls (with dumbbell), and
• 3 X 3 Push-ups.

And I did this one in super record time, no painful muscles or anything!

Once finished cooldown I sat and had a smoothie with my daughter, It had:

• banana, and
• strawberries, and
• frozen blueberries, and
• water, and
• flax seeds, and
• oats.

Dinner tonight:

So delicious.

If you are microwaving something or simply waiting on something in the oven, its the perfect time to do some situps or pushups.

French Bread Pepperoni Pizza is really just 2:10 of let's see how many situps I can do.



Also, great tips Jason!
Making sure your body has water is like making sure your car has oil. Your body needs water to function just the same as an engine needs oil to run.

my work out is straight from the books and I got say It's hard at six in the morning to noon so yeah I was like you but then I got heavy.

Today's Workout:

• 3X3 Push-ups
• 3X3 T-Reach Squats
• 3X3 Skydive Extensions
• 3X3 Kneeling Pretzel Kick
• 3X3 V-Pulls

No cardio today.

Today's Workout:
3X3 Overhead Press Lunge with DB
3X3 Chest Press with DB
3X3 Split-stance deadlift with DB
3X3 Static Squat curl with DB
3X3 Push-ups

Just finished today's workout:

• 3X3 Overhead Press Lunge with DB
• 4X3 Chest Press with DB
• 3X3 Split-stance deadlift with DB
• 3X3 Static Squat curl with DB
• 3X3 Push-ups

And Yesterday's was:

• 3X3 Push-ups
• 3X3 T-Reach Squats
• 3X3 Skydive Extensions
• 3X3 Kneeling Pretzel Kick
• 3X3 V-Pulls

Time for a good snack then off to bed. Goodnight folks!

I've raised my intake from 1650 calories to trying to get between 1900-1980 each day so that I can get the adequate protein I need.

You need 0.82g of Protein per every 1 pound that you weigh. Some people say you need 1g:1lb, and it doesn't hurt to go for that, but scientifically, 0.82g:1-lb is what you need.

That being said, at 162.5-lbs, I'm now getting close to the 133g of protein each day. In the two days since I've raised my intake, I've gotten 130g and 135g. It isn't easy though, and I think I will probably have to try out some Whey Protein powder, because eating 7 protein bars in a day just feels dumb and expensive.

Yeah upping the protein content of my diet is always hard too. I hate protein powder as I was basically force fed the stuff in order to maintain weight through high school. My tips:
Switch up all grains in your diet for quinoa.
Add beans to everything possible, use canned or keep a sealed container of pre soaked black beans in the fridge for this.
Eat an egg or two everyday.
Double the portion size of lean meat in your meals.
Add canned fish or diced chicken to salads.