Nice to meet you all!

[jebleroyr]

I found this site just a few days ago and have been reading a few of the articles on my breaks and I figured it was about time to try to get myself going. So here I am, and hello to all of you. Just going to start off by saying I am really shy and nervous about this, so sorry if I rant.

 

I have recently been neglecting my physical health and it is starting to take its toll. Off and on I start to think "Man I should really try to get in shape. . ." but something always comes up and I have to put it aside. After finding this site and reading a few articles it has been a real kick in the butt that I need to really get started. I am still tentative on where to start so I was hoping that by opening up and coming here I could get some help and get myself over that first hurdle.

 

A couple things about myself.

 

I love anime, manga, role playing, video games, computers (Hell, I even work at a microchip manufaturer), biking, tabletop gaming, my Jeep, and parkour.

 

I am tall and skinny. . . REALLY SKINNY. I am 5'11" (Last time I measured about a year ago) and 125 pounds, at best. Its not that I don't eat, I eat food all day long and sit on my butt playing video games or watching movies or tv, my job is even sitting at a computer or at a tool. I just can't seem to put on any amount of weight, I have stayed relatively the same weight for over 3 years or so.

 

I love to ride bikes, mainly BMX racing, but recently I have neither the energy or the drive to go out and ride. And when I did, I have no fat on me, so any muscle I was trying to build at the same time was the only thing I was burning, and was getting nowhere.

 

My main dilemma, I want to strength train, but I hear so much about how when you strength train you lose endurance and flexibility, and I want to still be able to ride my bike for extended periods and still be flexible for parkour or other activities. But if I ride my bike too much, I feel like I am just burning muscle since I have no fat.

 

I also have bad knees, which I would assume is just from not using them and I just need to get up and start doing something. As well as scoliosis, so I am worried if I do start weight training I will just strain my back and cause more back pain than I am already in. Which is another thing that has always put me off of starting to work out.

 

A lot of what I eat is fast food, simply because I work 12.5 hour days 3-4 days a week and stopping for a quick meal before or after work is easier to do than make a meal at home, espeially since I don't have time.

 

So there is my mini-rant, I would love to hear back from you guys, with any tips/pointers/suggestions/or anything else you have.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

Welcome! I'm a newbie too, so take any advice I give with a grain of salt. (And a glass of water so you don't get dehydrated.)

 

I don't see why strength training should have to negatively impact endurance and flexibility too much. Maybe when some people focus on strength training they don't work on endurance or flexibility anymore? Or maybe there's a limit to how stretchy a muscle can be and still pull X amount, but I'm guessing that maybe you have to hit the higher levels of one before you have to start sacrificing the other.

 

I think I CAN offer some competent advice for food! If you've got one or two days a week that it IS feasible to cook, make something in large amounts and divide it up into meal-sized portions so that you can just grab it out of the fridge and go. There are some recipes that taste as good left over as they do fresh. The recipe for slumpie in my Discworld cookbook is one of those--this recipe looks pretty close. I leave out the mushrooms and add carrots. Things like casseroles in the oven can also require minimal prep time and cleanup since you throw everything together in one pan. Slow-cooker recipes are also good for that, and you can come home to hot food waiting for you.

 

The downside there is that you eat the same thing every day, but that doesn't bother me since I like what I'm cooking.

[jebleroyr]

Thank you for the recipe, it looks good, I will have to give it a try. Once of my concerns about food when cooking in bulk is I don't know how much to prepare for 1-2 weeks in advance. My eating varies day to day and I don't want to be wasting food or going hungry because I made too much or too little.

 

Also for exercises I don't know what ones I should steer clear from, with scoliosis I heard deadlifts can be bad for your back. But a lot of strength training focuses around deadlifts. Is there something I can do in its place? What about any other exercises that would be hard on my back?

 

And what about workout routine? For strength training heavy and low reps is supposed to be the best, but endurance you want extended periods. And what weight do I start at? So many questions, I wish I had more time to look around here but I only really get time while on my breaks at work, which I should really use to be doing some exercise but don't know where to start.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

You could freeze it! Make however much a recipe says, fill some containers for individual lunches, then stick the rest in the freezer. If you run out of not-frozen food, let the frozen food thaw in the refrigerator overnight or during a work day. And if you run out of home-cooked food, go ahead and get fast food or whatever you usually do now for the remaining meals until you can cook again. That'll at least be less fast food each week than you're currently doing, and you'll start to develop frame of reference for how much food you need to cook at once.

 

My flatmate has taught me that many foods freeze much better than I would have expected. Mind blown!

[jebleroyr]

Thanks for some of the tips. Time to start digging into the forums to start my journey. I have already started with dropping soda. A quick and easy first fix, but a good first one to make. Now time to learn some recipes and change my meals over to healthier options. I downloaded the app on my phone so next time in the store I will make my shopping a little more healthy.

 

Are there any recipes you would recommend I start with? mainly for breakfast since I am having a hard time with that.

[Lalie Fanyarendil]

I think that scrambled eggs by themselves are lousy left over and reheated but pretty good if they have other things in them. I like diced avocado and fresh spinach, sometimes tomato depending on my mood. Ricotta cheese in scrambled eggs requires less prep time, but that's a recipe that's been handed down through the family and therefore I have never actually measured the ingredients. I'd guess maybe one part ricotta to two parts eggs? Adjust as desired. Store-bought ricotta is a bit too moist for this (I make my own and drain it extra) so dry it out by cooking it a bit in the frying pan before you add the eggs.

 

Oatmeal reheats well. I prefer the texture of steel-cut oats to rolled oats, and supposedly steel-cut is better for you anyway. Oatmeal is also pretty easy to make more interesting by throwing in fruit or nuts or spices. Or chocolate chips. I've seen slow-cooker recipes for steel-cut oats--put everything in and turn it on before you go to bed, you have oatmeal ready for you in the morning. (I haven't tried this yet, but if you use a slow-cooker liner you could just tie the rest shut and stick it in the fridge when you're done--no cleanup!)

 

Pancakes and waffles freeze well, and if you put parchment paper between them you don't even have to thaw them. Just pop one off the stack and stick it in the microwave. If you add other flavors (spices, fruit, PUMPKIN, cocoa powder, nuts) then they're pretty pleasant to just roll up and eat out of your hand on the go. (As opposed to having to sit down with a plate and syrup.) I like Alton Brown's pancake mix recipe.

 

I've also been working on trying breaking the cultural beliefs I've been taught that lunch and dinner foods should not be eaten for breakfast and that breakfast foods should not be eaten for lunch or dinner. I can't think of a medical reason why I shouldn't have curry for breakfast or an omelet for dinner.