Nutrition, Diet, and Exercise: Notes, Goals, and Resources (these people just keep talking about crossfit)

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Whey has too much cholesterol. Not against it as a protein source at all, I actually like that it's an easy-to-process protein (I have a smol tub for post workout when I sometimes want something creamy and/or if it's an intense session). And I'm not actively trying to restrict cholesterol but if I don't really need to eat it, then I don't. Iono, not a nutrition nerd and I don't need every meal/experience to be a billion percent optimized or anything, haha! Not training for Olympics ova hea. Just need to eat n move on with my day.

Edit: Jumping on @JayKay PE's point about food. I'm with you. Food is primary macro source and shakes n stuff are just for backup/convenience/"topping off". Also, it's expensive.
Yeah, I think the extra cholesterol is...not needed in my diet. I do think I might buy a little tub of plant-based protein for super hard sessions, or something with peanut butter, but most of the time I end up drinking my protein powder as breakfast and not particularly after working out.

I def want to be more 'realistic' with my meal planning and actually try and do it the night before or on Sundays actually get everything together. I'm just super lazy and because my 'meal' tray containers are hiding somewhere, and my normal tupperware is a bit difficult to use for lunch because I never have the right size, I tend to just throw stuff together. I am going to be doing a 'freezer/pantry' challenge for the next couple of weeks (just bought some apples and eggs to get through it), so I'm hoping I can go through some of that and lower waste and be more aware of prepping.

Gym last night: back squats, max reps without a pause (aiming for 15-20 reps) in 1:30. I was sharing with someone, so I only did 99lb back squats. It was super hard because the gym ventilation was being crappy (it's been hot, so AC kicked on, but then it got cooler due to rain, but was super muggy, and the AC turned off), so I had to kinda keep doing a mini-pause just to get a deep enough breath around the 12-13 rep area. Not my max back squat at all, but it was a killer because it was a super fast-paced back squatting. Accessory round was four rounds of: DB bent over rows (did two rounds with 25 lbs, two rounds with 30lbs), lat pulldowns (did this with the green band, so 65lb resistance), and 16 heel taps (I fucking love these). Conditioning...was not fun. We had to do 2-4-6-8-10...etc. for 12 minutes of the following: dumbbell lunge (total), dumbbell shoulder to overhead (total), and mountain climbers (each side). I...foolishly grabbed a blue kettlebell because there were no 20lb dumbbells able for me to grab. The first two rounds were fine, but once I hit 6...Doing 3 lunges on each side was...okay. The 3 S2OH were...getting much harder...and I wanted to die. But I got to, and completed, 14 reps before the time ran out. Other people got to 18+, but they looked totally wrecked because they didn't realize this was and on-going exercise/it didn't end at 18.
 
Last nights workout starting out okay...ended in hell.

Strength was strict press. 7 rounds of 4. Because of how many rounds, I played it safe and stuck at around 68lbs. I tend to overarch my back when I press, so I wanted to focus on that a little bit. Last round I did 73lbs and it wasn't horrible. Accessory was 4 rounds of inverted rows (which I will forever suck at), dumbbell stepups (I used the 25lb dumbbells that were there), and banded pallof hold (I used the blue band, so 50lbs of resistance). Saving grace for this is that the rounds were timed, :30/:30, so there was some rest and everyone completed at the same time.

Conditioning...was not fun. It was supposed to be 5 rounds, but the trainer knocked it down to 4 rounds, due to the morning class not finishing (the other trainer told him), and then nearer to the end of class he was like "just finish whatever set you're doing". I did finish 4 rounds, but it was a killer. 1 lap of plate push (the worst), 12 wallballs (I'm surprisingly getting better), and 8 burpee + box jump. Wall balls I didn't have to take a break when completing the set, or I could take a short pause. The plate push...Is so hard. You need to go up in weight so that the plate is slightly higher, which means your legs aren't dying, but then the weight is heavier...so your legs are dying. Then the burpee/box jump combo. I had to just do the box jumps all in a row and then do burpees (though by the third round I had switched to squat thrusters because I just couldn't do the pushups and actually get up off the floor). I am happy I finished the four rounds but...woo. Everyone was dead and did not want to move at all.
 
When you say you're overarching your back, do you mean lower or upper? If lower, you may want to consider something like a soft belt, which doesn't really offer support, but has plastic inserts that will keep you from arching your lower back too much. If it's your upper back, there's really no such thing as far as I'm concerned.

Friday training session scheduled with my gym owner to get to the root of my lower back issues!
 
@Supe, I'm overarching my lower back/leaning back when I press instead of moving my head/shoulders forward under the bar. I got better the more I practiced (the position with push press is the same as strict press, but push press I never have to worry about getting it up whereas with strict press...I tend to overthink/worry about getting it overhead and then forget all about form.)
 
As a conditioning exercise for OHP, try a Z press, which is a barbell overhead press (though you can do it with dumbbells too), but sitting on the ground. It really forces you to fight to stay upright during the press, since any arching or leaning back will make you feel like you're going to fall over backwards.
 
FDA's stance on dairy free vs non-dairy

We do not have a definition for the term [nondairy]in our regulations for food labeling. However, we do not consider the terms “nondairy” and “dairy free” to be equivalent. We have interpreted the term “dairy free” as meaning the complete absence of all dairy ingredients including lactose, etc. The term “nondairy” refers to products, such as nondairy whipped topping and nondairy creamers, that may contain a caseinate milk derivative.
 
As a conditioning exercise for OHP, try a Z press, which is a barbell overhead press (though you can do it with dumbbells too), but sitting on the ground. It really forces you to fight to stay upright during the press, since any arching or leaning back will make you feel like you're going to fall over backwards.
Oh yeah, we actually do a ton of z-presses. I just haven't done a strict press in forever and was being lazy (though I was told my front rack position looked amazing, so I'll take what I can).
 
Oh yeah, we actually do a ton of z-presses. I just haven't done a strict press in forever and was being lazy (though I was told my front rack position looked amazing, so I'll take what I can).
That's something I need to work on... my front rack position. Getting my elbow up is extremely difficult, and I experience pretty bad wrist pain. I had been working on wrist and shoulder mobility, but it wasn't helping. Right before the pandemic one of the trainers had me do lat stretches and that was actually helping a lot. I guess my lats are very tight and don't have enough flexibility, so I end up compensating by over extending my wrists. Then COVID happened and I stopped everything. Gotta get back on that.
 
If its stopping you from doing the exercise, cheat for a bit and use wrist straps around the bar to hold on to. That's the only way I can get into a "front rack" - with my arms buried into my ribs and short upper arms, my palms/fingertips don't go below chin height, so I go elbows up with straps.
 
Duuuuude. The only protein powder I will buy is from True Nutrition, where you can (and I have) create your own custom blend. My blend uses mostly pea protein powder but also a small percentage of rice protein powder. Actually, the exact breakdown of the percentages of ingredients are 70% pea protein, 10% rice protein, and 20% Highly Branched Cyclic Dextrin. Plus flavoring.

I like being able to control exactly what goes into my protein powder, and prefer vegan protein powder. True Nutrition’s marketing (or lack thereof) got me too, I think their prices are great.

They offer a lot of other stuff to, but I have only stuck with the protein powder.
 
Gym write up from yesterday! We did deadlifts, yay! I haven't done normal deadlifts in a while. We were doing 4 rounds of 8, so...we could go heavy, I guess, but not too heavy because of the reps. I started at 119lbs...which actually made my form horrible, because my hamstrings weren't engaging at all. Popped up to 165lbs, normal grip, and finished out 2 rounds fairly easily. Nudged up to 170lbs, still normal grip, and really felt the burn on the last round of 8. I think I could have gone up a little bit more but I also was not looking forward to the accessory round...which was bulgarian split squats + jumping lunges (I did normal lunges because of my ankle) + dead bugs. 8 each leg (so 16 total each exercise) for 4 rounds. Every single person who was there on Tuesday and did the plate push? We all died. Our quads were so dead from the push that we would get to like 6 in a row and then the last two we'd kinda crumble and have to get through it. I did do them holding weights, which none of the other girls did, only 10lb dumbbells. I don't know if that means I'm getting strong or if I was just doing the movement wrong the whole time...

Conditioning = not that bad. 15 kettlebell swings + 1 length front rack carry + 10 1-sided deadlift + 1 length front rack carry. I actually chose a yellow kettlebell instead of my usual blue since this was timed AMRAP vs. doing a specific number of rounds. I finish 5 rounds in 12 minutes. The single arm front rack carry wasn't bad. Kettlebell swings only got bad near the end of the time (but my back isn't hurting as much anymore/I think I'm doing way better at hinging versus a weird squat thing I was doing before that all the trainers noticed and made me practice to stop doing). The 1-sided deadlift was weird with the kettlebell because I didn't know where to put my other hand? Idk. Got through it!

@civilrobot I have no idea how you can do a CICO of 1200. I can barely maintain a 1750 CICO. I mean, I'm not really trying to lose crazy weight, and I'm really just tracking right now, but if I think of what I'd have to cut to get to 1200...Woooo. If you can do it, get it, lady!
 
@JayKay PE yeah it's actually not that hard with intermittent fasting. I start eating around 12 PM and I stop by 8 PM (usually earlier because of our family's routine - dinner is always around 5 PM). If I ate breakfast, it would be impossible or just miserable.

I'm working from home and my energy needs are pretty low, so that helps too. I figure I'll take advantage of working from home and cut the calories down. I also complete my daily workouts as fasting workouts and I'm pretty used to it. It took a few weeks to get used to overall, but now I prefer it.

And yes, I'm working on losing 40 lbs. I've lost 20 so far. I'm working on getting back to the best weight that worked best for me and shape that I was in 9 years ago. I was training for a full marathon, a triathlon, and using half marathons for long runs 9 years ago. My life looks completely different now with a family, a home that requires more upkeep (tidying, cooking, and gardening) and more responsibility at work. So I had to try something different. Nutrition is running the show right now. Fitness plays a part but definitely not like how it used to.
 
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