***** All things Fitness *****

[penguinz]

2022 getting and staying fit thread!

[PAChiefsGuy]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Thats what people that gain weight easily like to say. Back then (in my 20s) I was consuming three weight gainer shakes a day and eating 5 or 6 meals a day. 4k to 5.5k calories a day. There really just wasn't enough time in the day unless I wanted to eat complete garbage like donuts and gug soda. Nowadays I would not have a real difficult problem gaining weight it just would be way more ratio or fat instead of muscle.

Damn that's a lot! What were your goals consuming that much? Were you trying to compete or become as big as you possibly could? Fast metabolism?

Just curious because that's like insane to me. I go for the Greg Plitt/Zyzz look.

[ToxSocks]

Originally Posted by BWillie

Thats what people that gain weight easily like to say. Back then (in my 20s) I was consuming three weight gainer shakes a day and eating 5 or 6 meals a day. 4k to 5.5k calories a day. There really just wasn't enough time in the day unless I wanted to eat complete garbage like donuts and gug soda. Nowadays I would not have a real difficult problem gaining weight it just would be way more ratio or fat instead of muscle.

Im currently about 5lbs heavier than my HS weight.....at 39 years old. That's not a brag. It sucks.

Now granted, my body looks very different, despite the minor weight difference. And i was wearing a small size shirt in HS, and now i wear a large. When i see old pictures of 19 year old me, i'm a thicker person these days.

But the point being, ive struggled to gain weight my entire life.

And yeah, i know that i could do a better job with consistently eating more. But the fact that ive only gained 5lbs in 20 years.....and im talking 20 years of eating high calorie CRAP food...you'd think i'd have gained more weight by now.

Ive gained more mass, just not more weight.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by PAChiefsGuy

Damn that's a lot! What were your goals consuming that much? Were you trying to compete or become as big as you possibly could? Fast metabolism?

Just curious because that's like insane to me. I go for the Greg Plitt/Zyzz look.

To bang chicks and psychological. When I was a kid everyone always made fun of me for how skinny I was. I just wanted to show them you know. But it was unhealthy imo and my body is not designed to weigh that much.

Never wanted to compete, really just be as big as I could. My genes are nowhere near good enough. I legit did no cardio but I still looked good due to just how I was gaining weight.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by ToxSocks

What are you using to track your VO2 Max?

And what the **** even is it exactly. My fitbit gives me my VO2 Max score and it seems kinda unbelievably high, so im not sure how accurate it is or what it truly means.

I just use my Garmin watch. What's your Fitbit telling you?

I don't know exactly how it calculates, but apparently it's based on your pace and heart rate. Mine has gone up as I've lost weight, but my watch doesn't know my weight. However, my pace and probably heart rate have improved as I've lost weight, so that's not a huge mystery.

Whether it's accurate or not, it'll still be good for showing fitness trends. But if you're not making big changes, it mostly stays constant in my experience.

I've also wondered if there's an elevation effect. Being in Denver, I'm going to be taking in a bit less oxygen with each breath, which is going to impact my pace and heart rate. But I've run races at sea level and my VO2 Max didn't spike up in those races, which befuddles me. It seems like I should see an impact. We all run faster at sea level than in Denver.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by Marcellus

I must accelerate quickly.

[BWillie]

Originally Posted by Rain Man

I just use my Garmin watch. What's your Fitbit telling you?

I don't know exactly how it calculates, but apparently it's based on your pace and heart rate. Mine has gone up as I've lost weight, but my watch doesn't know my weight. However, my pace and probably heart rate have improved as I've lost weight, so that's not a huge mystery.

I've also wondered if there's an elevation effect. Being in Denver, I'm going to be taking in a bit less oxygen with each breath, which is going to impact my pace and heart rate. But I've run races at sea level and my VO2 Max didn't spike up in those races, which befuddles me. It seems like I should see an impact. We all run faster at sea level than in Denver.

What is your resting heartbeat and VO2 max? I wonder if my VO2 max is any good since I've been inadvertently running with too high of a heartbeat for some time now, at least for endurance.

[Rain Man]

Originally Posted by BWillie

What is your resting heartbeat and VO2 max? I wonder if my VO2 max is any good since I've been inadvertently running with too high of a heartbeat for some time now, at least for endurance.

I'm at 53 and 36 on heartbeat and VO2 Max. Apparently VO2 Max declines a lot with age, so google "VO2 Max by age" to get a better comparison point.

It's almost impossible for me to not run at too high a heartbeat. If I'm making any time at all, I'll be over 150.

[headsnap]

Originally Posted by ToxSocks

Im currently about 5lbs heavier than my HS weight.....at 39 years old. That's not a brag. It sucks.

Now granted, my body looks very different, despite the minor weight difference. And i was wearing a small size shirt in HS, and now i wear a large. When i see old pictures of 19 year old me, i'm a thicker person these days.

But the point being, ive struggled to gain weight my entire life.

And yeah, i know that i could do a better job with consistently eating more. But the fact that ive only gained 5lbs in 20 years.....and im talking 20 years of eating high calorie CRAP food...you'd think i'd have gained more weight by now.

Ive gained more mass, just not more weight.

Protein Protein Protein...

I'm the same... at 57 I'm still hovering around the 165lbs I was in college. I've always been skinny at 5'11" but recently I have been loading up on protein and the fat has gone down and the muscle mass is increasing... wish I knew this earlier.

[penguinz]

FYI, weight gainer shakes are a waste of $. Almost all the extra nutrients just get shit out.

Three big keys to gaining healthy muscle mass.

1. Get your macros optimized.
2. Lift weights, with a plan not just showing up and doing whatever you feel like that day.
3. Sleep! Sleep is by far one of the most important PEDs.


I was 120lbs when graduating HS. 30+ years later I am just over 190lbs with a much lower bf% than HS.

Want to get to 200-210.

If you want to gain mass the only way is to eat to the level to support your goal weight. Force feeding when not hungry is one of the worst feelings.

One way to prevent this is to get 10-15 minutes of aerobic exercise after eating. No crazy effort. Enough to get heart rate up but also be able to have conversation without being out of breath.

This will help you digest so that you can be hungry at next meal plus it also helps control blood sugar spikes. If you had more sugar than you shuld have during the meal your body will use the excess blood sugar for energy vs converting and storing as fat.