Lifestyle

[Andrew Breecher]

Or you can take some cold weather MRE's with you. I think they go at about 6000 calories a meal.

According to this page the calories are 4,500 per day - three meals - which weighs 3.75lbs per day. I can get 4,000 calories for 2lbs with Liptons sides and instant mashed potatoes, and not have to have a friend pick them up from the Quartermaster.

Andrew.

[Manu]

Jethuth!!! I went a little over board on that one...thats what I get for listening to a grunt...from now on Ill only pay attention when they talk about combat.

[Southern Breeze]

Off Topic Intermission.
Those of us who are as addicted to hiking as we are to kilts are fanatics about how much weight we carry.

[Andrew Breecher]

Off Topic Intermission.
Those of us who are as addicted to hiking as we are to kilts are fanatics about how much weight we carry.

'Struth!

Andrew.

[Norbydog]

Okay, I'm late. I drove over 900 miles on Thursday to take my wife to see her favorite comedian, Lewis Black. Great show.

Anyway, I am 5'9" and 190 lbs. I am like a teenage girl about my weight. I wrestled at 160 lbs in High School, 142 lbs in College, and I competed in groundfighting at 173 lbs. So now, I feel like a blimp. Look at my pic...what do you think?

And, according to BMI, I am way overweight.

I tried diets, working out more (was told I work out too much to lose weight by a fitness expert), and asked my doctor recently for Phendermene (sp). My doctor said there was no medical reason for it. Damn.

I have not had a drink of alcohol since October 26th, 2005 (thought that was the problem) and drink about 2 cans of soda a month.

In all that, I have decided this: Genetics play a HUGE role (all my family is overweight), and if I eat like I should, and workout like I should, my body will naturally find where I need to be.

[UmAnOnion]

Anyway, I am 5'9" and 190 lbs. I am like a teenage girl about my weight. I wrestled at 160 lbs in High School, 142 lbs in College, and I competed in groundfighting at 173 lbs. So now, I feel like a blimp. Look at my pic...what do you think?
<snip>

In all that, I have decided this: Genetics play a HUGE role (all my family is overweight), and if I eat like I should, and workout like I should, my body will naturally find where I need to be.

You have hit the nail on the head Norby, Genetics and your body type play a ENORMOUS role in determining what tyope of body you will have. Some people are born encoded to be naturally thin - and no matter what they do they will never carry much weight - others are predestined to have more mass , be it muscle of fat. its just mother nature's way of mixing things up (actually its more evolution's way but will save that topic for another day)
If you are naturally thin (an ectomorph) you are likely to stay that way all your life (think your typical basket ball player r). your larger guys (endomorphs) will always carry more weight (think sumo wrestler .) This is a VERY simplified version - for more indepth dissertation CLICK HERE
Once you recognize what body type you are and learn to work with your body instead of against it life becomes much much easier.

As for ther feeling like the teenage girls thing - that is becoming more & more prevalanety as society continues its onjectification of the male body. as the fashion & corporate world realise that women have significant influence over what men wear & buy more attention is being put on men & the pursuit of the ideal body type (think calvin kilen ads & the like that are much more prevalent currently than in years gone by) more pressure is being put on guys to match what they see on TV & Billboards & more are falling victim to BODY DYSMORPHIA which has been widespread in teh emale world for far too long.

The best thing fr everyone is a growing trend towards body acceptance - no matter what size you are , as long as you are healthy, and happy, so be it.

[MacSimoin]

Weight loss has been something I’ve been struggling with for the past few years, but it’s due to my gaining weight after an injury to my back and legs. Norbydog mentions genetics and rightly so since it plays a major role in how your physical body develops over time. My own family is by no means overweight but there are several men much larger than the average: I have an uncle who’s 6’8” and my older brother is 6’6” but niether are "fat"; they're both just really big guys (like most of the guys are on my dad's side of the family).

And speaking of my father and weight issues, he used to lift weights and held a black belt in Jiu Jitsu (he also practiced Wing Chun Kung Fu and Judo) when he was in his twenties; for man with 20” biceps he was incredibly agile and quick (at the time he was 6’2” and 255 lbs). Regardless, he’s now a shade of his former youthful self and weighs about 190 pounds (he’s intentionally lost weight due to health concerns).

Personally, I’m 5’11” (one of the smallest guys in my family) and normally weigh a rock-solid 190 pounds; but due to my injury and surgery, I ballooned up to 260 pounds over the past three-and-a-half years. Expectedly, there's a serious decline in physical activity that has taken its toll on my body. I’m used to being very physically active but now it almost seems as if I'm beginning to forget what it's like: No more football, baseball, softball, golf, swimming, running, rock climbing, tennis, hiking, and anything else I’d be game for (I boxed for 13 years but haven’t stepped into a ring since I was 19). I feel like such a slug these days and yes, I sometimes feel I look like one but a bit of depression is to be expected with weight gain; unfortunately it's quite common for those folks who are genetically pre-dispositioned to being over-weight.

Gaining weight has been rough on me but I finally had enough and went to my doctor in December 2005 and we talked about the situation in depth. He put me through a battery of tests and we found that other than the extra baggage I’m carrying, I’m still in good health (okay, I’ll admit I still smoke). He then decided to put me on a 6-month low-calorie, low-fat diet; I insisted I was capable of adhering to something more stringent so he also prescribed Xenical (a non-ephedrine fat blocker). In addition, I’ve been eating Weight Watcher meals since the beginning of the year (January 2, 2006) and by doing this, it helps keep my caloric intake around 1,200 a day. I know I’ve lost more than 10 pounds but I decided to stop weighing myself after the first few weeks; I’m going to wait until the diet is over before I have a look at the scale again.

Losing weight is far more important for health reasons but if I look good (better) in a kilt then that’s just icing on the cake. Oops, now I want cake. Damn.

Best of luck to everyone else trying to improve their health by losing weight: Keep up the good work.

[Pleater]

I've been regarded as overweight all my life - as a baby my parents lived with my mother's family and to keep me quiet at night they would give me undiluted gripe water - basically sugar syrup, mint and dill extracted in alcohol - so I looked like the Mitchellin man, all folds of fat, in a nappy.

I tried all sorts of diets as an adult, low calorie and low fat had a limited effect, but I couldn't exist on them for more than a few weeks before my metabolism shut down. I thought I would just go on getting fatter and fatter.

Then I found Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution. There is so much rubbish written about it, but basically it works where nothing else does for some types.

It is 'media-d' as all fried meat, eggs and cheese - but what it actually is is a lot of vegetables low in carbs, and - (horrors) - fat is necessary. Just as we Humans have been eating for the last several tens of millions of years, healthy ordinary meat with fat in it and fish with oil in it.

The regime is not only good for losing inches and weight, not always the same thing, but it seems to alter the mood as well - certainly when I recently took the advice of the dietician at the local health centre to eat whole grain I felt terrible both physically and mentally after just one and a half days, my waist expanded about three inches and my gut felt as though it had been sandpapered from the inside.

A week of salads and vege omelets restored order, but after over a year without grains its impact was very revealing.

Humans didn't evolve eating grain and stopping has been a good idea for me.

I have lost 10 inches off my waistline in a year, but don't bother to weigh myself. If I still weighed the same but have become so much thinner and happier than a year ago, I can't see the problem.

[Sherry]

It will be nice when the medical community recognizes that there are different metabolic types. One person needs more red & organ meats, & becomes lethargic & slow-to-heal on a carb diet, even if it's complex carbs. Another person, who needs the carbs, gets the same way when he switches to a high protein diet. This helps explain why rain forest tribes on their natural diet are just as healthy as Inuits on a no veggie diet.

The Metabolic Typing Diet: Customize Your Diet to Your Own Unique Body Chemistry by William Wolcott may be helpful.

[646guy]

My doctor told me to ignore those height/weight charts. He told me what weight range I would be healthy at and...well...I'm working on it. I was diagnosed with Diabetes 2 a few years ago so I try to be pretty good abotu what I eat, take my meds, and of course try to get in as much exercise as I can....