Getting in Shape & Eating Healthier

[ZeldaFan]

I want to start this thread to inspire others (including myself) to work out and eat healthier, share workout tips, recipes, routines, generally talk about being healthy, share resolutions and goals, post progress, etc. I may be alone here, but since we haven't had a thread like this before (that I know of), I figured I'd start one.
So here we go.

I made myself a goal that I would exercise at least 3 times a week and eat less processed and fast food.

So far, I am unsuccessful.

People tell me "You're so skinny, why do you need to work out?" Well I won't be skinny forever unless I get into the habit of exercising. My problem is that I feel I don't need to work out, so I just don't. I'm so lazy -__- I want to get in better shape but I'm just not inspired to do so. Anyone have any help or tips for this?
I really just want to get my body toned - I definitely don't need to lose weight. (In fact according to my BMI, I'm considered underweight.)

If anyone can help, some inspiration would be appreciated 

[Roz~]

^Going to the gym with a friend helps out a lot. I never go on my own, but if I have someone to go with... eh sure, why not.
It's hard to get motivated but the way you feel after working out is worth it imho.

[SuperFireKirby]

Tips from someone who went from never working out to going to the gym 5 times a week:

I found the easiest way to get into an exercise routine is to first define what that routine is going to be. Best way to start this is a simple google search for "Exercise Routines for ________", like building muscle, losing weight, whatever your goals are. Find something that looks interesting and effective, give it a whirl. If you like it, keep it. If you find it's too easy/difficult/whatevs, find a new routine. Even when you find one you like, you'll end up swapping out some exercises for others, and morphing to routine to fit your lifestyle and your goals. But a predefined routine is the best way to start.

Also, I recommend not working out in your own home. There's too many distractions that will keep you from exercising. When you go to a gym, you are there to work out, nothing else. That's is probably the greatest benefit of a gym membership. Having a gym buddy helps a lot too, cuz it gives you a support system and someone to yell at you if you start getting lazy. Also, working out is definitely more fun with a friend.

And for exercising specifics, I'd recommend against having cardio as the bulk of your workout, because while cardio burns lots of calories short-term, it's terrible for long-term goals. Weight lifting is the best way to stay in shape. Cardio should be viewed as a secondary exercise routine. Also, exercises that use only your body weight, such a pushups, are fantastic and are less stressful on your body than free weights.

[mikey]

Hey, I've been thinking about getting a semester pass to my school's weight room, only 35 bucks
I feel like getting a membership would be a good idea because it pressures you into actually going to not waste your money.
At the moment I've pretty much got fake muscle but I'm not particularly strong, and I'd really like abs too.
Now I just have to find someone in one of my new classes who likes to play video games, has a membership, and is super buff to motivate me!

[Xaoz]

[shittonOfText]
lol I just came from work out like 2 minutes ago and thought about starting this kind of thread... Then I was like... I would probably be the only one who would contribute
Nice to see some other people also do this.

If anyone wants to start off and wants a routine or nutrition help, feel free to ask.
You should ABSOLUTELY NOT
A) google for a plan!
B) ask a teacher/coach/trainer at your school/gym about this!
C) FOR THE LOVE OF JESUS CHRIST, THE SAVIOR, DO NOT THINK THE GUYS WITH BIG MUSCLES IN YOUR LOCAL GYM KNOW WHAT HE IS DOING! He might know, but chances are, he has no fucking idea!

When you are new to this, you have no idea what you are doing. And no one expects you to! You will make mistakes. Lots of mistakes! Especially if you goal is to get some muscles and not only lose fat!
The real problem is when you want to do bodybuilding. There is literally a bazillion (Is that a number? Let's just say graham's number for fuck's sake!) of threads/posts/articles on the internet and in magazines and 99,999% of people have NO idea what they are talking about. Listen to those guys, and you not only run the risk of having a completely useless workout-routine, but also fucking up your body forever!
If you REALLY want to start bodybuilding, don't rush it... Start slowly...
Even though this might sound a bit arrogant, but: You should probably ask me, if you are beginner and want to start. I will take the time to answer most of your questions and give advice.

tl;dr: Working out is a good choice, but if you rush it and ask the wrong people, you run the chance of fucking shit up irreparably.
[/shittonOfText]

[Xaoz]

I want to start this thread to inspire others (including myself) to work out and eat healthier, share workout tips, recipes, routines, generally talk about being healthy, share resolutions and goals, post progress, etc. I may be alone here, but since we haven't had a thread like this before (that I know of), I figured I'd start one.
So here we go.

I made myself a goal that I would exercise at least 3 times a week and eat less processed and fast food.

So far, I am unsuccessful.

People tell me "You're so skinny, why do you need to work out?" Well I won't be skinny forever unless I get into the habit of exercising. My problem is that I feel I don't need to work out, so I just don't. I'm so lazy -__- I want to get in better shape but I'm just not inspired to do so. Anyone have any help or tips for this?
I really just want to get my body toned - I definitely don't need to lose weight. (In fact according to my BMI, I'm considered underweight.)

If anyone can help, some inspiration would be appreciated 

Ok, let me just write my thoughts and see where this is going:
When you talk about adding weight... Do you want to add only muscles, only fat or both? Building up muscles is a really loooooong looooooooooong process, that takes years. You might work out for months without seeing any success. You will feel it, though! It always depends on genetics, how fast you can really see results.
Let's just pretend you take this shit serious. You are like "Fuck this shit, I wanna look like Ronnie Coleman!"
The real thing and problem about working out is: People usually go to gym and that's it. It is not! Planning meals and cooking will take way more time. But even more time you will need to invest into learning! Yes, that's right: Learning. If you take this serious, you will have to read a shitton of stuff. I plan every single one of my meals and eat 6-7 times a day. I never leave the house without 2-3 meals and enough water.
Ok, sounds pretty scary and like a lot of work, but you will get used to it, if you keep it up!
If you really want some in-depth advice, we should talk about your goals and where you are at the moment. How much weight you wanna add or cardio goals like running a marathon or shit. To do that, we need some more information like bodyweight, size, your phonenumber(I thought I could atleast give it a try!) and maybe even your % of body fat, if you happen to know it. If not... Doesn't matter. Just saying: The more we know, the more we can help and go into detail.
Another shitton of text...

Oh and for the inspiration:
WUUU, YOU CAN DO IT!

[Maelstrom]

If you think this is a lot of text, you have never seen FierceDeity's longer posts.

[Xaoz]

If you think this is a lot of text, you have never seen FierceDeity's longer posts.

Actually I stopped at some point, since bodybuilding is like one of my top 3 topics that make me rage so hard when people talk shit about it.

[mikey]

lol bodybuilding is 4 noobz
rel men plai gamz

[Xaoz]

lol bodybuilding is 4 noobz
rel men plai gamz

Just quoting the guy that runs to his mom, when his little brother takes his laptop....

[Dudeman]

*airhorn noises*

[mikey]

for the record I was asleep while he took my laptop
and I can beat up my brother I just don't want to deal with what follows
plus I'm too nice

[SuperFireKirby]

First off, completely throwing away forums and fitness websites as trash is bad advice. Especially in the age of the Internet. There is TONS of helpful information out there. Yes, you should be completely aware of how an exercise is performed to prevent injury, but it is also very difficult to fuck up a lot of basic exercises. Yes, you should know whether or not an exercise will be helpful, but that's called research. Google, believe or not, is pretty good for researching shit. Secondly, I doubt anyone on this website is looking to become a bodybuilder(except you, maybe) so eating 7 meals a day is 100% unnecessary.

Basics: Research what will help you achieve your goals. Build a routine, or find one that fits your needs. Make sure you know how to do every exercise in your routine correctly to avoid injury. Probably get a gym membership. Eat right: Lots of lean proteins and veggies, try to avoid saturated fats and processed shit. Eggs and peanut butter are your best friends. Try to avoid dairy, because it's bad for you. Get plenty of sleep, sleep=recovery. And remember, safety third.

[Xaoz]

First off, completely throwing away forums and fitness websites as trash is bad advice. Especially in the age of the Internet. There is TONS of helpful information out there.

I do not! Do not get me wrong! There is tons of usefull and correct information on the internet and it is one of the best sources of information. However... If you are just about to start, you CANNOT tell which ones are good and which ones are 100% crap. And there is way more harmful information than there is useful!

Yes, you should be completely aware of how an exercise is performed to prevent injury, but it is also very difficult to fuck up a lot of basic exercises.

This is just completely wrong. In any way. As a beginner, you CANNOT know how to do an exercise correctly. 99% of people do not know how to do their exercises correctly! If you just do biceps curls, fine... Not much to fuck up there... Do bad deadlifts or squats -> Fucked up for life. You need time to understand and feel how to do these exercise correctly! Period!
Just to mention a few basic exercises:
Deadlift, Squat, Benchpress, Pull-/Chinup, Dips, (Military)press, Clean and Rows. I hope I got the names correctly....
Btw: The exercises I just mentioned are already more than a beginner workout should contain! With these few exercises you can workout for years!
Do not do isolation-exercises, please, except if you have a really good reason and know what you are doing.

Secondly, I doubt anyone on this website is looking to become a bodybuilder(except you, maybe) so eating 7 meals a day is 100% unnecessary.

It is just the most efficient way to eat and necessary to achieve specific goals. You can do it, if you want to take things seriously, but of course you don't need to! As I said: Completely depends on your goals! I cannot know who wants to become a bodybuilder, sorry if I just provide details for people who are interested...

Eat right: Lots of lean proteins and veggies, try to avoid saturated fats and processed shit. Eggs and peanut butter are your best friends. Try to avoid dairy, because it's bad for you. Get plenty of sleep, sleep=recovery. And remember, safety third.

Veggies: Yes! They help against feeling hungry (if you have problems with that) and also add so many important vitamins and so on and so on! Veggies always good!
Lots of lean protein: Depends on your goals! Of course protein is the basic stuff to build muscles, but many people take WAY too much protein. How much you really need depends on your bodyweight. This cannot be generalized. Everyone needs different amounts of it. Like calories.

Peanut butter: I don't know what peanut butter is for you, but over here it is this sugar stuff that you put on your bread. However! Peanut paste (I don't know if that is a difference in America) is a really good source of fat. It has no sugar added or whatsoever. BUT: Keep in mind: Peanuts are no "real" nuts! Their Omega-3 level is pretty low compared to walnuts (One of the best nuts to get!)! Always keep in mind that nuts have a high chance of allergic reaction! If you try out a new one, always do it slowly!

Dairy: Dairy==Milk products? Low fat curd cheese (did I translate this right?) is one of the best protein(casein) sources you can get! Generally you should always prefer herbal fats over animal fat. Regarding protein, it is just the other way round (usually!).

Plenty of sleep: YES! Sleep is very important for your regeneration. Muscles do not build during workout. During workout you destroy your muscles. That is the reason why you never work out two days in a row as a beginner. Muscles build during that regeneration phase! If you make it too short, they have no time to regenerate and you will not get any results.

Safety: Not only as a beginner, but for everyone: Safety comes first! Talking about safety is a topic on it's own, so I am not gonna get into this too much. Just one advice: If you have a power-rack, use it! Doing basic exercises without a partner and a power-rack == suicide!

I hope I picked up everything... Duh...

I would really like to put up a list of good food for eating healthy and one for building up some muscle, but it would take me so long to translate all the stuff :/ I suck at English, especially when it comes to nutrition. Sorry. Will still do so, if someone requests it!

[SuperFireKirby]

Pretty much everything is generalized as peanut butter here in the States. But yeah, you want the no-sugar added kind. High in protein and good fats. Also, milk products may be a good source of casein, but they are terrible for your body as a whole.

Further more, the 3 rules of doing anything:

1. Look cool
2. Only fuck up when no one is watching
3. Safety

Safety third.