What a strange, buzz kill of a chart!
It’s like I’m sub-optimal, in 2 different ways. And if I stay on my present course, things are only likely to get worse!
Now I understand how wrist and clavicle measuring dudes feel.
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Oh no, I’m sorry! Are you pigeonholed as a drinker or an abstainer, based on your metrics?
I’m not part of this thread, but wanted to chime in because I think FlatsFarmer is very insightful.
When I was going to school for personal training, we had to do a final presentation, more than one person admitted that they drank after their workouts.
When I worked at a gym, drinking culture was huge among trainers - get a bunch of Horney muscular humans together and that’s what you do.
When I started TRT, I couldn’t feel drunk anymore. I shudder to think what my BAP was since it was just trying to feel.
Also @EmilyQ I’m in the top categories of income and education - seems pretty spot on to me.
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A drinker.
And even though the chart doesn’t say Anything about number of drinks, looking at it, I felt like I went to college to get my tolerance up and increased my income to buy more booze.
Weird sensation.
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Lots to catch up on here and a great discussion!
For my part, I like drinking beer. I’m under no delusions that it’s doing anything directly beneficial for my health, but I like having a couple. Even when I was a bigger drinker, my line was it couldn’t impact my next day: so no matter how crappy I felt, I had to go do my run or whatever.
Now my days are work and/ or my kids. The line to not being impacted is a lot lower, and I’m a lot wussier, so I might have two really light American beers a couple times a week. If I have a big goal (like prepping for a competition, not losing 10 lbs), I am probably just cutting it out for 12 weeks.
In terms of how to treat it, it’s more of a cheat meal for me. I’ve seen the folks that just count the calories as carbs trade it off, but I don’t think that works with the way alcohol is metabolized. I do better to just pack my “non-beneficial” decisions together.
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Much of the low income, non-drinkers are due to those in the bible belt that tend to not drink for religious reasons. Also, this group often includes ex-alcohols/drug addicts and those with health conditions, all of which often lead to a non-drinking lifestyle. I also note that for the younger generation (in their 20’s), not drinking is much more accepted. When I was in college in the early 90’s, I never even considered I could choose to not drink. Getting pitchers of beer or going to a keg party was so ingrained in the culture. But today, many young adults choose to simply avoid it and opt for healthier options (same with food choices, I’ve noticed).
I have drank beer throughout my life, much in the ways you mention. Go for a hard run, have a beer. Play a tough soccer match or do some boxing, have a beer. Meet friends at the pub after a race or competition. But rarely do people that are in shape, and over, say 35-40ish, “drink” in the sense that they have drinking sessions of multiple strong drinks with any regularity. No way to do that and maintain the consistency needed to train in a meaningful way.
As I’ve gotten to be in my 50’s, I have replaced most of my beer with NA beer or hop water. It’s delicious, allows me to still “have a beer” after training/hanging with friends, and doesn’t impact me. I still have the occasional beer or glass of wine, but probably no more than 1-2/week on average, and I no longer have the strong IPA’s that I used to have in the past.
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I fueled my yardwork yesterday with ginger beer and blackstrap rum. I could pretend there’s some digestive and anti-microbial benefits from the ginger and this:
In fact, ounce for ounce, blackstrap molasses contains more iron than eggs, more calcium than milk, and more potassium than any other food.
But mostly it tasted good and I burned the sugars.
As far as “novelty”, I rarely drink the same thing twice. We’ll stop by and buy a box or two of interesting seasonal release beers every few months. (Mexican chocolate stout?) An interesting cocktail or glass of wine out at dinner. But if there’s nothing interesting, water is good too.
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How is everyone measuring weight changes when there’s so much daily fluctuation from digestion and hydration?
I lose roughly 2 pounds overnight, every night, and I fluctuate +/- 2 pounds day to day.
I’ve tried comparing 5-day averages, and I’ve also used trendlines over 10, 15, 20 day periods, but I haven’t trusted any of the numbers enough to say more than “it seems like I’m probably…”.
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7-day average for me
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I lose that in the morning when I go to the bathroom.
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Another booze reply while we’re on the subject, a homebrewer here since uni days (25 years ago), 10 years ago I started my own brewery/label, and had a taproom for 3 years - all on a fairly small scale.
Still have the brewery label - but have downsized significantly (covid ‘helped’ in that respect, seeing sales and visitor numbers drop significantly).
Life evolves and changes, more time I want to spend at home with my wife & daughter. More focus on longevity, health, and less socialising = less alcohol consumption.
Similar to @antiquity’s post, defo some consumption after sport with mates etc, along with friday night drinks after work in younger years, etc.
I might have 1-2 drinks every 2-3 weeks. Had a very enjoyable lunch with the inlaws this Saturday, and water with a bit of lemon juice was all I partook in. This challenge gives another good reason to cut out the booze re liquid calories.
Overall for me, more education on booze and it’s affects on the body, maturity and being a little bit wiser, have all had led to my current situation. 2c and all that jazz…
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I weigh most mornings, and when I get a new low, record it, which is approximately once a week. Monday is my “official” day, but I’m not paying as much attention to that as fresh lows. Generally it goes back up for a day or two (fluctuation) but eventually comes down and is a new set point. If I’ve screwed around and believe the gains are real, I record those, too, but otherwise don’t bother until it’s a week of higher weight. I’m going on vacation on Wednesday and will probably be immoderate, so next Tuesday will record the presumed gain. (I switched to MFP mid-January, so weekly logged weights are on the right.)
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I like the Rod Dixon mentality. I’m here to drink beer and train like an animal.
I love a few beers or whiskeys, I do not like being hungover however, so I rarely drink for than a few OR I’ve found a few mid/light brands that are good drinking that don’t punish me the next day.
Back in my 20s I used to party hard regularly due to working in hospitality, but as my training ramped up my parting went down accordingly
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Do you follow his Animal Based diet? I’ve been eating that way for quite some time and really enjoy it. I mainly eat eggs, red meat, honey, fruit, and dairy (not raw).
Close, that’s where I started back in November after having a kidney stone. The biggest difference is this diet is much higher in carbs and lower in protein. And not all veggies are demonized depending on the context. I eat mainly the foods you listed with the addition of carrots.
Basic structure is the same: avoid PUFA and grains, eat easily digested carbs with minimal fiber that could encourage endotoxin/lipopolysaccharide production.
I think Salidino has had both Mike Fave and Jay Feldman on his show at separate times. They cohost a show and I base most of my diet off the mechanisms and research they discuss. Will have some bloodwork done in July so it’ll be intersting to see what changes and how it changes.
If nothing else, I do feel good on this diet. Body weight is going down and weight in the gym keeps going up. I’m also not hungry very often and still eating pretty large portions of food which is nice
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I’ve never heard of them I’ll have to check them out.
What’s the label mate? Might have to send a few froths
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As we closely approach the halfway point here, I thought I’d share a rant with ya’ll that may help with nutritional vectoring/compliance.
Ever notice how much junkfood is in your workspace? And when I say “junkfood”, I mean it in two senses. One, in the traditional sense of junkfood: food that is devoid of redeeming nutritional quality and simply there to taste yummy. But, in addition to that, it’s also “junk food”: it’s BAD junkfood.
What do I mean? At my office, someone brings in 3 packages of iced oatmeal cookies twice a week and leaves them out there for everyone to eat. Already, that’s junkfood…but these are the Walmart “Great Value” brand iced oatmeal cookies. It’s not even GOOD junkfood! It’s like the bottom of the barrel junkfood. It’s not even the Keebler ones, with the adorable elves on it: “Great Value” won’t even bother to put a pretty drawing or a cartoon character on it. It’s the “Malt o Meal” of cookies to the rest of the world’s Kellogs or Post.
Or what about the litany of candy dishes stocked with generic and off brand chocolates and sweets. Has anyone EVER been excited about a tootsie roll? I am fairly certain they are made of the same material they are wrapped in.
The generic box of donuts from god knows where? A dollar a dozen, and worth every penny.
Folks, if you’re going to deviate from your plan, WHY would you deviate with junk junkfood? Why would you let THIS tempt you to stray? If you’re going to stray, at LEAST do it on something worthwhile. If chocolate is your weakspot, don’t eat a tootsie roll: get some Godiva or Sees (my California roots are showing). If you’re going to have a cookie, at LEAST get in from the venerable Mrs. Fields, but ideally have it homebaked from someone who knows what they are doing. Get a gourmet donut that is ridiculously decadent. Falling for this junk junkfood in your office space simply because it’s there is like eating a hot dog from a street vendor using the 99 cent white bread buns when you’re standing outside a Costco that can at LEAST get you the time honored $1.50 hot dog combo (which has been DEMONSTRATED to result in weight loss!)
I used to fall for this trap as well. I used to eat “junk junkfood”. I’d tell myself it was part of my weekly carbloading, and I’d binge on all manner of gastrointestinal monstrosities. Fast food burgers and tacos, storebought bagged “goodies”, packaged candy, etc etc. Meanwhile, my wife is a phenomenal cook and baker, and in our home we’d only eat “on diet” stuff…it was SO backwards. These days, if I’m going to eat “junkfood”, it’s going to be amazing! Homemade cookies, cakes and bread, fantastic pasta dishes and casseroles, grilled cheese sandwiches on homemade sourdough with gourmet cheese and grassfed butter: REAL good junkfood. In turn, when I walk through my work space, none of this junk junkfood even registers to me as a temptation…or really, even as “food”. It’s just there.
If you’re going to deviate from your plan, MAKE IT WORTH IT. You don’t want to be kicking yourself over a stale 60 cent donut that you absent-mindedly munched on simply because it was physically within your presence: take the time to find some GOOD junkfood, sit down, enjoy it, and then get back on point.
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i like this rant and it is something I have talked about before. My neighbor and best mate is a triathlon coach, he used to compete ironman triathlons so is generally a healthy person. He used to work for a supplement company called Musashi and would always complain to the directors about this exact issue. They used to put out plates of cookies and bowls of lollies in meetings or just in the kitchen. He could never understand why a ‘health’ brand would not have healthy options. Heck even their own protein bars and cookies would have been better.
At any of the sites I manage at work, I organise fruit boxes that get delivered weekly and go in all the team rooms. Its a little more expensive than cheap biscuits but the staff seem genuinely happy to eat a piece of fruit when then need a snack,
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There is so much to love in this post. I don’t know how much value I can add to it, but this stood out.
This. I used to deviate from my diet every time I would try to cut, and it was for trash restaurant food that wasn’t worth it. It was for convenience sake, and I could have made it better at home. There is something to be said for the care and knowledge of making your own treats. You know what goes into the food you make.
For instance, my hubby’s birthday is next month. I asked him what kind of cake he would like. He requested a that I make my French Silk Pie. Is that bugger likely 800 calories per tiny slice? Probably. But THAT, is worth it.
I personally love planning those “cheat meals” and make them part of a special occasion. You wouldn’t eat Walmart treats on your birthday would you? No. You are going for the steakhouse with the insanely good molten lava cake. Make the treats birthday worthy. Ideally, homemade. I could rant all day about the value of cooking a good Tortellini Soup vs. going to Olive Garden.
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