TIME TO LEVEL UP MY HEALTH!

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Lately, I've been feeling very drowsy and have been getting frequent headahces, not to mention I've just felt genuinely unhealthy in the past few months. My diet is very...not good, to put it simply; the food served in my college's cafeteria is somewhat, I feel, part of the cause. Of course, I generally make poor meal choices despite healthier choices being readily available. Not only that, but my fitness/exercise habits have pretty much been non-existent, which probably contributes to my frequent headaches, too.

I feel like I need to remedy this to avoid future health problems, as to avoid any health-related complications down the road--like heart-attack, stroke, etc.--since the possibility of that kind of stuff happening to me scares me, anyway. I also started what I'd probably consider the first serious relationship in my entire life a few weeks ago, so I want to maintain my health for not only my sake, but for her's, too.

I made this topic because I want some health advice in terms of diet and exercise:
-What kinds of food should I start eating, other than salads, and how often is it okay to eat unhealthy foods like pizza and whatnot?
-What's a good exercise routine to follow? Is it okay to just do stuff like aerobics and cardio...like jogging once a week or something? And how often should I exercise?
-Is my body going to have to adjust to these new lifestyle changes? Like, hypothetically, if I'm exercising and I just pass out of throw my guts up, should I be VERY worried, or...what?


Such a lifestyle is completely foreign to me, but, since I'm an adult now, I feel I should start considering making a change like this for the better. I'm just curious if any of you guys or girls live a lifestyle like this already and have any personal advice for me.
chana
(Socrates would certainly not contadict me!)
1584
I would start with a complete check up, to know exactly where you're at.
You pretty much know I'm going to jump in this. I will give you the really really in depth scoop a bit later but I just want to put this out there for now.

author=Mitsu
like jogging once a week or something?

Aww gee dude, really? My great grandma jogged once a week. A grown man, any adult, really, should be exercising every other day, and you can jog pretty much 6 days out of the week. I understand allowances that you have to ease yourself into it, though, but I'm just saying for later down the line. If you've been eating shitty and you're skinny as a twig I seriously recommend weight training.

I know people like to go *sob baww but it's so hard* and all that nonsense but part of being healthy is actually having a framework of muscle because you know it's not like your muscular system is just for decoration or optional or something; that has to be maintained just like any other part of the body. The whole 'I don't want to be bulky' excuse is stupid too because a grand majority of people don't even get 'bulky' when they try, that actually takes concentrated effort, months and years worth and it's just not like *walk into a gym* "Aww gee I look like Mr. Olympia" no you moron.

I'll jump down your throat about diet and lifestyle choices a bit later. All of the above means nothing if you don't eat right.
Nightowl
Remember when I actually used to make games? Me neither.
1577
Just asking quickly something that might cause your frequent headaches, Mitsu, are your teeth messed up or has a dentist ever said you might need dental braces? Why I'm asking this is because if you have problems with malocclusion, crossbite, overbite adadadsdfc, those can cause hell of headaches especially later.

Otherwise nevermind.
As long as your end goal is just to be a healthy, functional human being and not some bodybuilder or triathalon hero, it's really easy. Just eat right and work out.

For eating right, learn to cook. Know how to take basic ingredients such as cabbage and carrot and make something other than salad (nothing wrong with salad though). As a rule of thumb, the more processed a food is, the worse it is for you.
Also, cooking is getting to be a valuable skill in the western world these days. Ask any 20 or 30-something to cook something beyond a fried egg sandwich or leftover stew. Might as well roll a 1d20. You could actually become a hero just for knowing how to make thanksgiving dinner.
Some shit (pizza, fries) once in awhile won't hurt. I personally believe you should have a little of the bad with the good. Keeps your system aware of all the bad shit in the world.

For exercise, it depends on the person. I can't run because the impact roughs up my knees and ankles, so I cycle or swim instead. Know your body and listen to it, don't fight it. If you do a curl and your elbow starts hurting, stop. That type of stuff.
3 days of exercise per week, 45 minutes each, should be an absolute minimum. Like "Damn, I only got out 3 times".
Since you're starting at ground zero for physical exercise (does a flight of steps make you breath faster?), you'll want to ease in. That doesn't mean make excuses and be a sissy. It means don't pull a muscle just because you really want to get a 10th rep since you only got 9 two days ago.
But focus on eating right first like Feld said. Exercise won't help you if one of your main meals is a Hungry Man Dinner or a bag of potato chips.

edit : Oh, btw. Your headaches are probably caused by poor posture. Too much sitting at the comp is usually the culprit, but it can be rectified with exercise and a conscious effort to 'correct' yourself. I still wake up with those once in awhile... ._.
They say that the baby steps can work out nicely too. Of course I'm not very healthy. At all.

But in terms of exercise there's always the whole everyday thing. If you go only a short distance, why not walk or take the bike instead of the car? (Assuming you don't already) I'm not a big fan of jogging and walking probably isn't "as good for you" but it's pretty much the only exercies I tend to go for. Walking around for a couple of hours (I explain it away by having podcasts to listen to) is something I tend to enjoy. (sometimes walking in a town, sometimes out in the woods. It all works)

And the thing they tend to say a lot about not using elevators. I'm not even sure I know how to use an elevator.

On eating I hear making your own food is generally better than anything pre-made that you heat up. Of course I find this to be an excuse to fry a lot of bacon. (hmm... liver casserole? Surely it can be improved by adding bacon!)


Also if you're afraid of passing out and throwing up and stuff like that then you could do one of two things. Do like chana says and do some checkups. Or do the whole thing slowly. Nothing is worse than a sudden change from not moving at all to taking hour-long jogs every day. Baby steps, join some kind of led scheduled physical activity. (Some kind of team sport or dancing/aerobics or whathaveyou) Then slowly increase the amount of... moving around you do until you're in a comfortable spot.

Of course I'm probably not the right person to listen to in this case :) Because my moving around habits are pretty much nonexistant too.
KingArthur
( ̄▽ ̄)ノ De-facto operator of the unofficial RMN IRC channel.
1217
walking probably isn't "as good for you"

Though I have no scientific sources on hand to link to, I've heard repeatedly that the simple act of taking a walk on a daily basis does wonders to improving one's health.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Feeling generally lousy and having minor headaches is not necessarily a symptom of poor health. It's often a symptom of being bored, or of being annoyed or stressed, or just of being a human being who is mortal. Most people feel lousy some of the time. Deal with it.
Being a very small skinny guy back in the day I can give you tips to help you using my experience. It did make me to be quite passionate when it comes to building muscle mass and looking after my body.

First of all you need to be getting your vitamins from your fruit and veg and take a multivitamin everyday, they help but that doesn't mean you can stop eating your fruit and veg and start taking multivitamins to get your nutrients, it just doesn't work like that.

Drink 2.5 litres of water
Eat more protein than carbohydrates, the ratio is like 3:1. So if you weight like 140lb you need to get 140g of protein EVERYDAY or at least try to, somewhere near that region is good for optimal building of muscle mass.

Do some compound exercises like pull-ups, chin-ups, dips, squats.

Combine some free weights like dumbell curls, lateral raise, Dumbell kickbacks/rows, forearm curls, push ups, sit-ups.

Combine that with swimming 3-4 times a week and you will start feeling better within a few weeks and notice some improvement in your physique.

Heres a routine I follow if you need inspiration in building your own, my exercises I do are mostly body weight exercises but thats because I have different goals for my body, but it would help to take some exercises and add them to your routine.

The best way to do this is to do different body parts, every day of the week.
So for me Monday is upper body, which includes, biceps, triceps, latissimus dorsi/lats, pecs/chest, back.

Tuesday is lower body like core, abs, legs.

Wednesday and other days I don't train using weights since I need to recover but I go swimming on those days.

So for example your plan could be:

Monday

Bicep Curls
Target Area: Biceps

12 Reps – 3 Sets (includes Left and Right Arm) = 36 Reps in Total

Lateral Raises
Target Area: Shoulders

12 Reps – 2 Sets (includes Left and Right Arm) = 24 Reps in Total

Dumbell Kickbacks/Rows
Target Area: Triceps

12 Reps – 3 Sets (includes Left and Right Arm) = 36 Reps in Total

Forearm Curls
Target Area: Forearm

12 Reps – 3 Sets (Both Arms) = 36 Reps in Total

Pull-Ups - Compound Exercise
Target Area Latissimus Dorsi, Back

10 Reps – 2 Sets = 20 Reps in Total

Chin-ups - Compound Exercise
Target Area: Back, Biceps, Triceps

12 Reps – 2 sets = 24 Reps in Total

Declined Push-Ups
Target Area: Upper Pecs

10 Reps – 4 Sets = 40 Reps in Total

Tuesday

Hanging Leg Raises - Compound Exercise
Target Area: Abdominal

10 Reps – 3 Sets = 30 Reps in Total

Crunches
Target Area: Abdominal

12 Reps – 3 Sets = 36 Reps in Total

Squats - Compound Exercise
Target Area: Calf, Gluteus Maximus, Core

10 Reps – 2 Sets (Both Legs)

Now your diet, eat:
- Chicken Breast
- Turkey
- Beef
- Tuna
- Peanut Butter
- Fruits
- Vegetables
- Cashew Nuts(Snack)
- Cereal
- Oatmeal
- Eggs

Take a multivitamin everyday.
Drink water, juice and milk.

Stay away from junk food, you can eat a bit but don't let your whole day of food be made up of junk.

You should be eating like every 2-3 hours.
Example:

Breakfast 9am
Snack 11am
Lunch 1pm
Snack 3pm
Supper 5pm
Snack 8pm

Go bed at like 10-11pm.

I'll give you some ideas, for your lunch make a grilled chicken breast sandwich, with cheese, salad, tomatoes and any other vegetables.

Breakfast
2 Boiled Eggs or you can scramble them in a frying pan.
Small bowl of Oatmeal.
All washed down with water, juice or milk.

Lunch
Grilled chicken breast sandwich, with cheese, salad, tomatoes and any other vegetables.
1 Apple/Banana/Pear/other fruit

Drink that down with 500 ml of juice or water.
author=LockeZ
Feeling generally lousy and having minor headaches is not necessarily a symptom of poor health. It's often a symptom of being bored, or of being annoyed or stressed, or just of being a human being who is mortal. Most people feel lousy some of the time. Deal with it.

From his description, headaches or no, it sounds like he's living a pretty unhealthy lifestyle and he should be getting major kudos for recognizing this and not only asking for advice on living a healthy lifestyle, but willing to follow up on it. A person should not feel lousy and getting headaches, even a little bit of the time unless they've been living unhealthily for so long they don't know any better. Shut up, Locke.
Many people will tell you, do this do that, this will help that will help. But to tell you the truth, its all about willpower and patience. I could write you a long boring speech about willpower. So to sum it up, you must push the limits, you must go beyond your borders and mainly overcome yourself. You wouldn't believe from what kind of cripples, scrawny scrunts became athletic monsters, so using excuses as "I will never be athletic" or " I dont have the body for it" is bullshit, its like with talent, some people have talent, but whats it good for if they dont sharpen it. It just gives them a quickstart.

You wouldnt believe how much daily exercises may change your life, not only you will be healthier, you will look better, you will have higher self esteem, you will meet new people be generally stronger and be able to handle situations better. There are many diets, exercises etc. etc. but it depends on what kind of goal you have. Do you want to be fit, do you want to be athletic, do you want to be muscular or abs of steel, do you want to be bulk or ripped or just pure strength etc. its your choice. I will give you some tips etc., not whole routine, I believe people here will post them and its your choice,Internet is full of them and mainly im no expert...but I know a thing or two.


-What kinds of food should I start eating, other than salads, and how often is it okay to eat unhealthy foods like pizza and whatnot?
The truth is, salads may be more unhealthy than a pizza or whatnot. Its just really easy, calories acquired<calories burned. Because when you are daily exercising, you don't have to worry about fat and all that shit.I advise you to buy a weighting scale, because believe me you will be using it alot since you will adopt this new lifestyle. Ofcourse you cant just eat chips all day, you will need different food types full of vitamins, minerals etc. so have wide spectrum of different foods, try new foods or just find some diets on internet. Mainly leave half-prepared foods, microwave foods etc. so start cooking as someone mentioned it earlier. Watch ingredients of bought food, avoid food with a lot of chemicals, conservatives and all that stuff. Be prepared that you will pay hefty money for food, because food is most important. Mainly start drinking fresh water, leave all that coca cola, pepsi and flavored crap, drink pure fresh water, it does wonders. A little tip, drink some milk before and after exercise, it will help you regenerate muscles faster, or you can buy protein bars, tuna,egg or such stuff, but milk comparing to them is pretty cheap and effective.
Try to buy top quality milk, because those cheap "colored waters" are full of chemicals and have almost no nutritional value.

-What's a good exercise routine to follow? Is it okay to just do stuff like aerobics and cardio...like jogging once a week or something? And how often should I exercise?
This is hard to describe, there are tons of different goals as I mentioned before. So first choose what are you aiming for, then find a routine on internet. But if you want general routine then buy a pair of dumbells, high quality running shoes, pull up bar, arm weights and you are good to go. These are essential if you dont want to hit the gym. http://www.muscleandstrength.com/workouts/beginner.html
Here are some basic routines so go nuts, choose the ones that fit you most but aim for whole body first. Jogging is best everyday, find a nice track trough a park or whatever floats your boat, math the distance or time and go, best time is right after you wake up, you will fell like shit, but you will loose alot of weight. Some nifty tricks i adopted, if you want to bulk up, try to exercise before sleeping or at night. If you want to loose weight, exercise in the morning. Pull up bar is excellent tool for general strength, from start do as much as you can overhand and underhand, then when you can do about 8 in one shot, divide it into series, like first do 8 pull ups, wait 30 sec, do 6 pull ups, wait 30 sec, do 4 pull ups and end. Increase the numbers as you feel .Arm weights are great for general workout, just put them on and do your daily things or exercise with them, your strength will rise greatly.Then, there is swimming wich is one of the best exercises available.There are tons of nutritional supplements, so go nuts, but from start buy proteins or you can go all natural, like me. But be you must have nerves of steel, because it will take alot more time to see results.

-Is my body going to have to adjust to these new lifestyle changes? Like, hypothetically, if I'm exercising and I just pass out of throw my guts up, should I be VERY worried, or...what?
From my experience, at first you will feel like throwing your guts out, you will loose weight rapidly. If you were extremelly unhealthy, be prepared for hard times, you may throw up, get diarrhea, fevers, some diseases, but this just means your body is getting rid of toxins, nasty parasites etc. after that, you will feel like a god. You wont believe how much human body can endure, you will fall in love with that feeling, you will feel like you can move mountains, self esteem will jump sky high, you will want more. So don't be worried, but if you have cardiac problems, be careful with exercises, start very gently and slowly, you may even cure your cardiac problems. For instance my friend had back problems, he started exercising hyper extension, at start he thought he will die, but after that he felt like a new man. But be very carefull, don't overdo it, your body may not be adapted to such stress. You must push your limits, but if you are pushing too hard, you may seriously injure yourself, so moderation is the key. But with basic home exercises and jogging, you shouldn't worry about yourself too much. Some say, that if you don't have muscle ache on another day, you are doing something wrong.

@Feldschlacht IV
This. But sometimes having headaches and not feeling good may be symptom of some disease or bad living conditions. You may be healthy as you want, but if your house for instance has asbestos, well...have fun.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
author=Feldschlacht IV
author=LockeZ
Feeling generally lousy and having minor headaches is not necessarily a symptom of poor health. It's often a symptom of being bored, or of being annoyed or stressed, or just of being a human being who is mortal. Most people feel lousy some of the time. Deal with it.
From his description, headaches or no, it sounds like he's living a pretty unhealthy lifestyle and he should be getting major kudos for recognizing this and not only asking for advice on living a healthy lifestyle, but willing to follow up on it. A person should not feel lousy and getting headaches, even a little bit of the time unless they've been living unhealthily for so long they don't know any better. Shut up, Locke.

oh maybe I should see a doctor

AVATAR IRONY
chana
(Socrates would certainly not contadict me!)
1584
It could also be psycosomatic, that's where a check up is useful, also. (You're a guy, right, right, otherwise..)

Mitsu, I share Feld's opinion and encourage you to follow supremewarrior's and Bonehead's advice and tips. I myself have been living a very healthy lifestyle since childhood and can't thank my family enough for the education provided about that. I am seldom sick or suffering from things like headaches or sores thanks to such a lifestyle, and last time I visited a doctor was like 10 years ago when I got a bad cut from a ski accident. And when you're healthier you really are full of energy, feel light inside and feel stronger.
Congrats on making that decision and I hope you'll soon get to work on it and taste the benefits ^^ You'll never regret it.
Last time I was sick was March 2009 and before that, 2004. I can't even pinpoint the last time I had a headache. I don't consider my lifestyle particularly healthy, but I do get a tremendous amount of sleep, so I hypothesize that's a probable cause.
LockeZ
I'd really like to get rid of LockeZ. His play style is way too unpredictable. He's always like this too. If he ran a country, he'd just kill and imprison people at random until crime stopped.
5958
Last time I was sick was probably about two or three years ago. Of course, last time I had a headache was about two days--

ow, ow, ow

Okay, scratch that, less than two days ago. That's the caffeine, though, I think. I drink two or three liters of pepsi a day.
Shadow boxing is fun, add that to the mix
I have joined a Biggest Losers contest at work. The winners (determined by % weight lost) will split a pot of about $500.

We'll see how it goes! Perhaps I will track my status here. The first weigh in is tomorrow.
EDIT:
or maybe I'll just start my own thread.

EDIT2:
Just wait until you have a kid in daycare. Then you'll be sick every other month. Ugh.
author=Mitsuhide_The_Vagrant
-What's a good exercise routine to follow? Is it okay to just do stuff like aerobics and cardio...like jogging once a week or something? And how often should I exercise?


While I wish I exercised more often (7am-11pm days of school and work combined really sucks down my time for sleep and exercise), I've experimented with what works best for me. I try to keep it as simple as possible. The workouts I like to do are simple bodyweight, complex exercises. Pushups, pullups, chinups, squats etc.

Then everything I do, I do perfect style. Which is:

1st set = 1 rep,
2nd set = 2 reps,
3rd set = 3 reps, etc. You're just increasing by one every set until you can't complete your latest set anymore. You want to apply a lot of stress, but don't overwork. As for me, I've gotten up to doing 20 sets on pushups (210 pushups total) and every time I've worked out like this I've felt anywhere between kinda sore and really sore.

Although, I only recommend perfect style when it's body weight. I definitely prefer weights, but considering the lack of space/time, the only weight I lift now is myself and a 20lb weight vest. If you think you're going to lift weights, then I don't recommend doing the perfect style. This is just something you can do on the floor in your room or hanging off a bar. Just experiment with what you like, not everyone works out the same way.

Also, this is a pretty cool site Click here for abs.
Definitely shift some of your carb intake to protein and fat. I've noticed an effect just switching to diet soda and starting to eat eggs again.
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