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2010/01/02, 04:09 PM
Hey everyone.
A little about me. 27 year old firefighter/emt, photographer, cyclist, and hazmat technician. Two years ago I was 240 pounds (5ft 8-9in ish) and decided to lose weight. I bought a mountain bike and started riding five or more days a week and changed my diet. I ended up getting down to 195 pounds when I was unable to keep biking the same amount I was and went to shift work, which screwed up my diet. Over the last year or so I have put back on 15 or so pounds and I am looking to get rid of that and another fifteen at least on top of it, while building some muscle. I would say food is my main problem. I love to cook and eat, but I am really not a huge fan of veggies. I am here to work on that by tracking what I eat as well as for the workouts. Wish me luck!
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2010/01/02, 04:11 PM
Good luck and welcome to the site. Unfortunately we have to do some sacrifices to get rid of those final pounds. Yours might be to start eating those complex carbs and more fiber. When you cook tdo you keep fat and sodium to a minimum?
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Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.
Ivan (GO HABS GO!)
Montreal Canada (City of Festivals)
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2010/01/02, 04:21 PM
I have been trying to cook more lately, like I did when I lost weight initially, but now that I am on shift work, and have picked up a part time job on top of that, it is hard to do so.
That being said, when I do cook, I at least pay attention to fat and I really don't salt anything unless I make fries in the oven (which is rare). Whether or not pre-made stuff or other ingredients have a lot of sodium hasn't been a concern. I primarily watch fat and calories.
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2010/01/03, 07:49 AM
Drink milk shakes man. Have you ever watched "End of Days"? Well there is on part in there where Arnold Mixes himself a breakfast shake,. milk, pizza what every he could find.. I haven't tried pizza.. But for lunch that's all I have is a milk shake.. been doing it for the last 3 years..
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2010/01/03, 02:22 PM
I was doing a shake a day for lunch on my off days for awhile, but I ended up getting off of that for a few reasons. The way I was doing it didn't really fill me up (figure out it was because I didn't have any protien in them, I have some strawberry powder now that I havent tried out) and I can't bring a blender into work.
Here is an example of the ingredients I was putting into a typical shake
One banana
frozen strawberries
frozen blueberries
frozen raspberries
fat free plain yogurt
lite plain soy milk
wheat germ
baby spinach
frozen carrotts
frozen broccoli
ice
I have played around with kale, honeydew, sprouts, OJ concentrate, apples, grapes, and other fruits. I am going to try and substitute some of the strawberries with the protien powder and see if I can make a smaller smoothie that will fill me up and I wont feel like eating again ~2hrs after I finish it.
One thing I do need are healthy meals that I can fix fast. On days that I work I either leave the house at 5:30am and dont get home till 8pm or I leave at 5:30pm and I don't get home till 8am (12 hour shifts, two weeks of days and two weeks of nights, 14ish days a month). My diet has suffered because some days I lack the motivation to cook or work out.
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2010/01/03, 04:46 PM
If you can grill enough chicken for the week ou can make sandwiches and also eat with a healthy side salad.
Hard boiled eggs, make a great snack. If you have a micro wave at your disposal, bring somed steel cut oats, also grill some salmon at home for the week, tere are plenty of good healthy foods for us. I wouldn't concentrate on what you can't have but be creative. Good quality meal replacement shakes are valuable at times.
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Patience, persistence and perspiration make an unbeatable combination for success.
Ivan (GO HABS GO!)
Montreal Canada (City of Festivals)
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2010/01/03, 10:27 PM
cooking huh.. go with eggs and you should be good to go. I got creative a few years ago.. boiled, fried, scrambled all is good. before I would crack 3 eggs in the skillet add cheese diced ham, onion and scramble it all together like an omlet. or sub the ham with tuna.. put it in a lock tight and off to work on the the side i would usually eat lettuce. instead of bread.
Milk shakes:: right now I'm having one it's 500mil.total .. 2 small bananas, 2 eggs, tsp. of peanut butter topped off with milk.. It'll last me most of the day... I snack on bananas right before dinner... I eat 4-5 bananas everyday for the past 3 years. Bananas seem to keep me going. even have a special garbage can just for banana peels. I eat apples too after dinner mostly..
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2010/01/10, 11:12 AM
Shift work is tough on the diet, I can totally relate. I am a trauma flight nurse on a helicopter and I work 48hr shifts. As you know when the adrenaline hits you're on Big Time and when you're waiting for that call you are waiting and eating! I make a huge green salad with lots of vegies, roasted chicken, and a no sugar-lite balsamic vinegrette dressing. I also make something low calorie in the crock pot and freeze single serving portions and add that to my salad and chicken if I am really hungry or want something hot.
We EMS types are prone to eating high carb (sugary treats) foods, drinking too much coffee and not getting the real nutrition that we need to do our jobs well.
Plan your meals ahead of time and try to work out on your down time while waiting for your next call, good luck!
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