How do you stay fit and healthy?
Since we're usually sitting (or standing) at desks all day, mouse or tablet pen in hand, there may be some bad habits developing in terms of keeping your body in good shape. My question to you guys is, as artists, what do you do to stay healthy?
To start this thread off, I run every day except Saturdays, usually about 6k. I also try to keep a balanced diet; lots of fruits, vegetables (always try and eat at least one of each color fruit/veggie I have) and nuts with an appropriate amount of grains and meats. I feel like an area where I'm lacking is ergonomics though, I may need to invest in a standing desk and an ergonomic mouse.
So what does everyone else do? Do you have any tips or pointers you'd like to share?
To start this thread off, I run every day except Saturdays, usually about 6k. I also try to keep a balanced diet; lots of fruits, vegetables (always try and eat at least one of each color fruit/veggie I have) and nuts with an appropriate amount of grains and meats. I feel like an area where I'm lacking is ergonomics though, I may need to invest in a standing desk and an ergonomic mouse.
So what does everyone else do? Do you have any tips or pointers you'd like to share?
Replies
Now I just eat food for no reason other than to get nutrients and energy because it can turn into a distraction, and as a result, I have more time for personal work.
I also recently got into the habit of drinking fruit and vegetable blends. I basically take every fruit and vegetable I can find, stuff it into a blender, and turn it into a drink with some ice. It will look and smell like rotting garbage but it's healthy, I think! They're hard to drink at first, especially if you aren't used to eating a lot of fruits and vegetables, but after a week or two you get used to the taste and it isn't so bad.
I also just make sure to do at least 10 minutes of pushups/situps/pullups/squats each day, and I ride a bike to most nearby places rather than take my car.
Its better to graze throughout the day than to eat large portion meals. It actually increases metabolism.
And not to pick this out specifically, but there's also a ton of anecdotal or "I read this somewhere once" type information. This one is widely believed by a lot of people but just as many will tell you that intermittent fasting is the way to go.
It's all very personal so, unfortunately, the only way to figure out what works for you is to try different things. Give them a few months. Not working? Try something else. Repeat.
Your physiology is your own. What works for me probably won't work for you. Or maybe it will. There's no way of knowing outside of experimentation...
https://www.facebook.com/groups/641497755919093/
While I work I drink my coffee black and try to have healthy lunches and run a few miles multiple times a week. I grew up playing a lot of sports and working out. Now I wouldn't have time to do those things no matter how determined I was..
only other thing I do is read comics on my stationary bike only place I will read them so it gets me on my bike more.
In addition, I try to stretch for at least 10-20 minutes on my off days. I find that really helps with sitting in a chair for 10+ hours a day.
If there are specific muscles are are hurting you throughout the day (lower back and hamstrings for me), take a look at this website and see if there are any stretches that really get into the problem areas.
http://www.bodybuilding.com/exercises/finder/lookup/filter/exercisetype/id/3/exercisetype/stretching
Making changes in your eating habits is crucial and counting those calories. To lose weight you have to be in a calaoric deficit at the end of the day. The deficit depends again on your workout routine. It is a lot to talk about but the best advice is to eat based on your life, your daily activities because food is energy. The energy you don't need goes into those fat cells.
One more thing IMO is to stop saying burning fat. Your body will use fat for energy when other sources are not available. The so called burning fat wording is so often used by gimmicky marketing of useless pills and other stuff, like fat burning belts and plastic suits and so on.
The Cola thing... They haven't used real sugar in a veryyy long time. They even used corn syrup at one time.
I personally go to the gym and workout with weights with a regime in tune with my body and a slow walk after for 20 min or less and with separate real cardio days.
The biggest rule of thumb is to just steer clear of sugar and empty calories. Meaning try not to eat food high in calories but low in nutrition quality. You'll get more bang for your buck (or calorie) so to speak if you do this.
If you're into building muscle keep a high protein diet, lots of eggs/chicken and other meats. Any amount of protein you don't get through food you can supplement.
As far as cardio goes for health 20 minutes 3 times a week is sufficient I remember reading. If you're doing cardio for fat loss/marathons feel free to do it much longer. HIIT cardio is also going to be much more effective than your standard treadmill jog
Yeep. While I'm not sure if "grazing" helps with metabolism, it does help from overeating throughout the day, especially at dinner before bed. The easiest way to go about this would be to cut every meal in half. For example, instead of a entire 10-12" sandwich, eat 4-6", and then eat the other 6" maybe 2-3 hours later or whenever you're hungry.
Also eat these, followers of Brodin. 3g of Net Carbs? Yea I'll take 100 boxes.
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Creating protein shakes afterwards. So far my favorite is Peanutbutter, Bananas, Chocolate Almond Milk, and of course protein!
And yeah ErichWK is super right! Confidence and Productivity seems to be through dah roof.
I just wish I knew more and more types of workouts involving a bench and weights / bars.
Only eat sugar occasionally. Drink at least 1 litre of water a day. Avoid soft drink like the plague.
I spend so much time making sweet buff sculpts I feel like I should spend at least some time working on my own topology.
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An easy solution to weight loss / better health is to wake up an hour early, eat no breakfast and go outside for an hour long walk.
Breakfast (lately) has been fruit and soy milk.
Lunch is 0.5kg/1kg of grilled chicken with fruit and veggies, water to drink.
Dinner is soymilk and a fruit, weekends I eat grilled chicken with some sauce I made, or Thai/Japanese curry. I try to alternate chicken with tuna/eggs, so I would just eat tuna/eggs with celery. I hate celery, but I have to eat it.
No rice for now, very little breads. Some weekends I eat random stuff, like a big Kobe beef hamburger with fries and a yogurt drink, sometimes two of them in one sitting because I like eating
Either lifting or interval cardio sessions.
And my diet consists of high protein, low carbs, lots of water (a gallon to a gallon an a half), & coffee.
It's amazing that how much more focused you can feel when you keep yourself healthy.
Even if you're not seeing the results you want instantly, I feel like exercising helps keep you from feeling groggy all the time.
As dumb as it may sound, I do youtube workout videos. Jillian Michaels 30 day shred and what not. I felt kinda silly at first. I couldnt even finish them at first. But over the past month, Ive really seen my weight drop and my strength increase. The key is consistency. Even if you`re tired, just force yourself to do it. I'm working the longest hours i have in my life, but Im losing weight and getting more fit. Just gotta make it a priority.
Lots of cigarettes and coffee.
I agree with you that everyone is different and will respond differently, but the truth is every diet works. Some work better than others, but the term "diet" specifically refers to limiting ones self to certain things. Bottom line is, every real diet will have you taking in less calories than you are burning, thus you loose weight. In other words I can put someone on a mcdonalds diet and they loose weight, if there goal is to simply drop pounds. Now if you have specific goals absolutely you want to follow certain diets above others. Most of the diets out there are gimmicks and make your chances of success very low. Look up a bodybuilder type diet and make sure you get your calories and macro nutrients in order and you can't go wrong. I'm only pointing this out because I don't want people to get the idea that "diets don't work for them". Maybe you chose a diet that is miserable and not practical but if you follow a sensible diet it WILL work. You have to take responsibility for your actions and follow thru. If you make excuses and throw in the towel at the first bump in the road you are likely to fall into a vicious cycle of loosing and gaining weight. Just my 2 cents on the topic.
I hate running.