Fitness Bottom Line – Get Healthy and Fit
Diet/food is 80% of your fitness so prioritize accordingly – that’s the fitness bottom line. Check out ProjectSamson.com for details on P90X/HIT/Body by Science/Primal Blueprint/etc.
Fitness Bottom Line
So the bottom line is: you are what you eat. Something like that. Eat good (veg, lean protein, fruit, whole grains) and be active/workout (run around, jump, lift (heavy) things).
No magic formula or pill. No shortcut. But also no gimmicks or crazy programs necessary. Eat good (and less if you want to lose weight) and move around.
Details
Calories are a measurement of energy in food. Eat more for more energy. If you don’t use that energy your body efficiently stores it as fat. If you want to lose weight, eat fewer calories. The best way to do that is to cut out the high-calorie items: sugars and (bad) fats. It’s hard to eat too many calories in vegetables.
Working out burns calories and builds muscle. Steady-state exercise (running, biking, etc.) burns a good bit of calories. Lifting weights builds more muscle. That’s the general concept.
However, steady-state can also cause your body to catabolize muscle but don’t worry too much about that. Again, if you’re eating right you should be fine based on the fitness bottom line.
Like your body stores extra ‘energy’ as fat, I believe it (to some degree) stores extra protein as muscle. Other factors need to be in place (lifting weights particularly), but that’s one of the next projects I hope to do: eating large amounts of good protein to see what happens.
The food pyramid was a joke and the latest version of it isn’t much better. The ‘plate’ system is a better method, but I’m not sure about the numbers. Basic guidelines for the fitness bottom line…
Example Diet for the Fitness Bottom Line:
– Eat some protein (eggs), fruit and whole grains (oatmeal, granola, bread) at breakfast.
– Snack of protein bar or fruit for snack
– Turkey or chicken sandwich w/ veg (carrots) for lunch
– Snack of protein bar or veg
– Salad w/ chicken or similar for dinner
The above is assuming you’re working out. If you aren’t, eat smaller portions. I’m no doctor or anything like that so take the above as my opinion and consult your doctor before doing anything, caveat, disclaimer, etc.
Also, if you’re lifting weights, you might want to add a protein shake in there before or after your workout depending on when you workout. I’d recommend a protein shake before your workout and breakfast after.
Weights for the Fitness Bottom Line:
For your workout, lift weights 2-3 times a week. Focus on 2 muscle groups (maybe 3 w/ legs or abs as one) that complement each other: back/biceps, chest/triceps, etc.
I’d recommend doing super-sets (two moves one right after the other). 8-10 reps to serious fatigue/failure. 2-3 sets of each. So maybe…
– Pull-ups/Concentration Curls
– Rows/Standing Curls
Here’s some good examples of super-sets w/ Hugh Jackman’s workout.
Then do steady state 3-4 times per week or on the other days or however it works for you. Mainly just get out there and move: walk, run, bike, hike, swim, etc.
That’s the fitness bottom line – it’s not as complicated as everyone makes it out to be.