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Diet & Exercise

Owned by Nathan Wailes
Last updated: Sept 14, 2024
3 min read

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  • In order to lose weight or maintain a healthy weight, you need to understand the reasons people are overweight:

    • the incentives they feel for maintaining a healthy weight (younger & dating-->more careful about what you're eating)

    • the food they're eating

    • the food choices of the people around them

    • the amount of sleep they're getting (less sleep-->more stress / cortisol-->more eating)

    • the amount of physical activity they do in a day (office job-->less physical activity)

  • also, talking about "going on a diet" is absurd if your goal is to keep the weight off. In order to maintain a healthy weight you need to permanently change the foods you are eating.

  • Here's an interesting experience I had:

    • One time I was in a super-market and on a whim bought a package of Oreos and three pints of Haagen-Dazs. I ate all that stuff over the course of two days. Before I bought the Oreos/ice-cream I was very, very good at telling what my body wanted when I felt a particular craving. But in the days after I ate the cookies/ice-cream, my ability to detect what my body needed was a little messed up: for example, I would go a few hours without drinking water, and my body would need water and start to go "HEY WE NEED SOMETHING", but I would find myself craving ice cream instead. I think the problem is that our brains have a limited number of ways to go "Ahhhh that's good" or "Hey! Do something!", so when we get a feeling that says "Hey! Do something!" we have this tendency to think of whatever made us feel good in the past. Or something like that.

  • Thought: One thing that may keep people from eating fruits and vegetables is that, to have a good experience, you need to know how to choose the specimens that are going to taste good. There's a lot of variability, and if you don't know what you're doing, you're very likely to choose something that you won't like the taste of.  This idea also applies to knowing how to prepare and eat the fruit.  If you cook broccoli correctly it can taste great, but if you don't do it correctly (which is easier than doing it correctly), it won't taste good and you're not likely to want to prepare it again.

Intermittent Fasting

 

 

 

 

 

Habits of models / athletes / public figures

Models

Victoria's Secret Models

[Miranda] Kerr told Harper's Bazaar, "I drink warm water and lemon every morning and I also drink lots of good quality purified and preferably alkaline water throughout the day." She is also known for maintaining a strict diet of fish, fresh food and steamed vegetables and consuming coconut oil to maintain flawless skin. Meanwhile, fellow Victoria's Secret model Adriana Lima also reportedly stays in top form with twice daily workouts and liquid diets of protein shakes before runway shows.

Source: http://articles.nydailynews.com/2012-11 ... trict-diet

 

Lily Aldridge:
“I am a mommy and I have a 4-month-old, so having a healthy diet is important. Nothing crazy. I definitely dieted, though. I ate a lot of organic salmon and vegetables. I couldn’t have worked harder—maybe I’m not as tiny as I used to be, but I’m womanly now and I’m proud of that.”

Source: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2 ... ining.html

Instagram models

  • Alexis Ren

    • 2016.11.02 - Spoon University - 7 Dos and Don'ts to Dieting, According to Instagram's Alexis Ren

      • Summary:

        • She works out "5-7 days a week for 1-2 hours [each session]".

          • That's basically exactly what the student I met said: she just runs for an hour, ~6 days a week.

        • Don'ts:

          • No bread.

          • No fast food.

          • No alcohol.

          • No red meat.

          • No eating after 7pm. (What time does she go to sleep?)

          • Not a lot of sugar.

          • No fruit after lunch.

        • Do's

          • Fruit: "Lots of pineapple, strawberries, watermelon, papaya, and mango for endless smoothies and acai bowls".

          • Kale chips.

          • Vegan protein powder.

          • Trail mix (without M&Ms).

          • Banana ice cream.

          • Salad (with lemon and pepper).

          • Veggie burgers (wrapped in lettuce with avocado).

  • Rachel Cook

    • 2017.06.30 - YouTube - Rachel Cook - Q&A: The TRUTH About Modeling, Photoshop & My Teeth!

      • 6:54 - Q: Do you count calories?

        • A: I do not count calories. However, I did, for like a week, just to see what my diet was really like. And it actually was a good thing. So I highly recommend doing it for a couple days, just because, for example, I realized that the smoothie I was making every day was like way too much, it was adding up to be a lot of calories and a lot of fat. And just becoming conscious of that was actually really good for me.

      • 7:39 - Q: How often do you work out? How do you have such killer abs?

        • A: She says her abs are "100%" based on how clean she's eating. She also says that sprinting seems to make her abs pop. She says she aims to work out every day, and if she misses a day it's not a big deal.

    • 2017.07.07 - YouTube - Rachel Cook - VLOG: HEALTHY LIFE ISN'T EASY! Hardest Hike Ever & Grocery Haul

      • 1:16 - She gets "white coffee" from an unspecified coffee shop. It's iced and almost milk-colored.

      • 8:31 - She eats a sandwich after her hike.

      • 9:03 - She stresses that she has found it counterproductive to beat yourself up over not being where you want to be (in terms of body goals, but presumably also for other goals).

      • 9:30 - She talks about what she bought at the health food store:

        • A mango, banana chips, raspberries and blackberries, dates, hummus, "Hilary's Mediterranean bites", "Sweet drops" stevia sweetener, a calorie-free dressing, a bag of frozen vegetables

    • 2018.04.18 - YouTube - Rachel Cook - Super Simple Meal Ideas! (Vegan)

      • 3:33 - She explains how she makes the smoothie she drinks every morning. It's a banana, almond milk, frozen blueberries, spinach, and a scoop to a scoop and a half of SunWarrior vanilla protein powder.

 

Athletes

Olympic Athletes

  • Rowing

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v6PhNNPCnYA&t=2m

      • So, most days I wake up around 6am, [have] a quick breakfast, then head down to the boathouse and usually do about an hour row, come back and have a second breakfast, and then go back down to the boathouse for maybe a two-hour row, and then the afternoon you eat, you take a nap, but you're kind of too tired to do anything productive, and then in the afternoon you go back down to the boathouse and usually have like another two hour session of rowing or cross training.

Body builders

Arnold Schwarzenegger
Joe Delaney

  • Entire 10 Year Physique Transformation: The Natural Path

    • Exercises shown:

      • 2:21 - Barbell bicep curl

      • 6:04 - Raised push-ups

      • 7:23 - Weighted dips

      • 7:39 - Deadlift

      • 13:44 - Bench press

      • 14:32 - Back squat

      • 14:53 - Dips

      • 15:28 - Long bar row

      • 15:40 - High cable fly

      • 16:31 - Dumbbell lateral raise

      • 16:38 - Dumbbell curl

      • 18:11 - Back squat

      • 18:20 - Standing barbell overhead press (military press)

      • 18:30 - Wide-grip pull-ups1

      • 18:46 - Bent over barbell row

      • 19:35 - Seated dumbbell lateral raise

      • 23:12 - EZ bar curl

      • 23:21 - Seated dual-handle wide lat pulldown

      • 23:26 - Pull-ups

      • 28:18 - Cable flys (back to an inclined bench)

      • 29:08 - Cable flys

      • 29:15 - Bent over barbell row

      • 30:10 - Punching bag

    • Food shown:

      • 4:50 - He worked at McDonald's but didn't eat there, instead going to Asda (a grocery store) and buy cooked chicken legs and chicken wings.

      • 9:00 - Frozen chicken breast fillets, shrimp, salmon, tilapia, lean beef, fresh skinless chicken breasts, canned tuna, jalapeno peppers

  • 2015.04.15 - Leg Day Routine

  • Ibiza Prep Ep 2: Full Training Routine, Leg Day Walkthrough & Flat Party

    • 9:27 - Calf raise using a smith machine.

    • 4 sets of 10-12 reps. It looks like he's doing ~235#.

    • 10:06 - Alternate leg extensions.

    • 10:55 - He does one of his leg workouts each week as a one-leg-at-a-time workout to identify weaknesses that are making his squats uneven.

    • 10:58 - Glute machine (one leg at a time).

    • 11:30 - Stop when the weaker side fails, because if you keep going with the stronger side you'll make the problem worse.

    • 11:38 - Dumbbell lunges. 15 reps per leg, with 3 sets.

    • 12:35 - He uses straps while doing the lunges so that he doesn't use energy gripping the dumbbells.

    • 13:02 - Bulgarian split squats

    • 14:50 - He starts talking about his full training routine: it's a 6-day split, push-pull-legs-push-pull-legs

    • Push workouts:

      • Push A: Flat barbell press, cable flies, overhead press, dumbbell lateral raise, and an optional tricep isolation.

      • Push B: swap the position of 3 & 4 with the position of 1 & 2 to give the other exercises priority (so he isn't as tired when he does them).

      • He chooses the tricep exercise when he goes to the gym but recently it's been dumbbell skullcrushers.

      • He also does dips to failure as another optional exercise.

      • For the flat bb press / OHP he does 8-6-4/5-6-8

      • For all other exercises he does 4 sets of 10-12 reps.

      • For the triceps he does 3 sets of 10-12 and then 1 drop set. He says he doesn't like drop sets in the middle of a workout because it can affect your other exercises.

    • 17:50 - Pull workout with his injury (always the same)

      1. Wide lat pulldown (3x10-12)

      2. Narrow lat pulldown (3x10-12)

      3. T-bar row (4x10-12)

      4. Lat prayer (3x10-12)

      5. Optional rear delt fly (usually DBs) (3x10-12)

      6. Optional bicep isolation (usually DB hammer curls) (3x10-12)

    • Normal pull workout:

      1. Vertical pull (weighted pull-ups)

      2. Horizontal pull

      3. Deadlift

      4. Rear delt isolation

      5. Bicep isolation

    • With A and B he'd switch the order of #1 and #2.

    • 19:04 - Leg workouts:

    • A:

      1. Squat

      2. Sumo deadlift

        • (for the two above, it's 8-6-4-6-8)

      3. Leg extensions

      4. Leg curl

        • (the two above are 3x10-12)

      5. Calf isolation 4x10-12

      6. Glute isolation 3x-10-12

    • B: (one-leg-at-a-time-workout)

      1. Calf iso

      2. Leg ext

      3. Leg curl

      4. Weighted lunges

      5. Split squats

         

Carb Cycling

Carb Loading

Actors

The Rock

  • 2016.07.30 - Bodybuilding.com - Train Like Dwayne ''The Rock'' Johnson

    • Depending on the role I'm training for or playing at the time, I usually smash out about 30-50 minutes on the elliptical cross trainer first thing in the morning, whether I'm at home or at a hotel, after drinking a cup of coffee.

    • Usually I start off my day with some dead cow and oatmeal for breakfast. The other staples in my diet include chicken, steak fillets, egg whites, oatmeal, broccoli, halibut, rice, asparagus, baked potato, leafy salads, peppers, mushrooms, and onions, and then also some casein protein.

    • I work out six days a week, and usually in the morning. But depending on my schedule, I may also [train] in the evening. But I definitely prefer the morning. With the iron, I separate body parts: legs, back, shoulders, chest, biceps, and triceps. I mix up dumbbells, cables, barbells, and machines.

    • My workout is constantly changing and adapting, but for the most part, I do 4 sets of 12 reps with a 60-90-second rest.

    • Routine:

      • Day 1: Legs

        • Elliptical 30-50 mins

        • Barbell Walking Lunge 4x25

        • Leg Press 4x25

        • Leg Extensions 3x20

        • Barbell Squar 4x12

        • Hack Squat 4x12

        • Romanian Deadlift 4x10

        • Seated Leg Curl 3x20

        • Thigh Abductor 4x12

      • Day 2: Back

        • Elliptical 30-50 mins

        • Wide-Grip Lat Pulldown 4x12

        • Bent Over Barbell Row 4x12

        • One-Arm Dumbbell Row 4x12

        • Barbell Deadlift 3x10

        • Pullups 3 sets to failure

        • Dumbbell Shrug 4x12

        • Inverted Row 3 sets to failure

        • Hyperextensions (Back Extensions) 4x12

      • Day 3: Shoulders

        • Elliptical 30-50 mins

        • Dumbbell Shoulder Press 4x12

        • Standing Military Press 4x12

        • Front Dumbbell Raise 4x12

        • Side Lateral Raise 4x12

        • Reverse Machine Flyes 4x15

        • Seated Bent-Over Rear Delt Raise 4x12

      • Day 4: Arms/Abs

        • Elliptical 30-50 mins

        • Dumbbell Bicep Curl 4x15

        • Hammer Curls 4x15

        • Spider Curl 4 sets to failure

        • Triceps Pushdown 4x15

        • Overhead Triceps 3x15

        • Hanging Leg Raise 4x20

        • Rope Crunch 4x20

        • Russian Twist 4x20

      • Day 5: Legs

        • Same as above

      • Day 6: Chest

        • Elliptical 30-50 mins

        • Barbell Bench Press - Medium Grip 4x12

        • Incline Dumbbell Press 4x12

        • Dumbbell Bench Press 4x12

        • Flat Bench Cable Flyes 4 sets to failure

        • Incline Hammer Curls 4x12

        • Dips - Chest Version 4 sets to failure

      • Day 7: Rest

  • 2016.10.13 - Men's Fitness - The Rock is sharing his kickass bodybuilding workouts for the world to try

Public Figures

Female-specific advice

My advice

  • The best-looking women I’ve seen have often been smokers. I think if a woman can’t motivate herself to track calories with something like MyFitnessPal (and most people can’t), then her best option is vaping and not bothering to go to the gym. In fact I think all the attention that exercise/cardio gets when discussing female health may be net harmful if it is resulting in fewer women losing weight (because, for example, they try cardio, it doesn’t work, and they give up).

    • For some reason some people seem to strongly prefer cigarettes to vaping, I don’t know why, but I’ve noticed it.

  • Another thing I’ve noticed in good-looking women is healthier food choices. So, they eat vegetables instead of bread/rice, they eat soup, they eat seafood. They sometimes cook for themselves. They normally don’t eat fried food / fast food / ice cream / etc. I’ve seen women who are slim like smokers purely through healthy food choices.

Others' advice

  • 2011.11.14 - YouTube - Scooby - Women's beginning home workout

  • 2011.11.28 - YouTube - Scooby - Alyssa's motivational fat loss transformation.

 

Fiber

Attractive proportions

I'm putting this topic under "weight" because people can control their proportions via their weight.

Men's Proportions

I think a lot of guys have a screwed up view of what kind of body women find attractive, just like a lot of women have a screwed up view of what kind of body men find attractive.

One thing I remember reading was that Barack Obama's slim figure makes him look taller. That made me wonder if a guy might actually make himself look shorter if he bulked up.

Women's Proportions

  • Victoria's Secret models don't really have the most attractive proportions (although dif. guys have dif. preferences). The models do look good in photographs, but it you need to factor in the effect of make-up, clothing, camera, photographer, etc. When you see them in unfancy YouTube videos you get a different view of what their proportions look like than when you see them professionally presented in a magazine spread or runway:

  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M_o7qEF0eeo

    • In this video, Cara seems to have a very low hip-to-waist ratio, which isn't seen as very attractive by most men. If you look at pictures from the event, though, she doesn't quite look as curveless; but that's because the photos were taken when she was doing poses that would emphasize curves. And the dress she was wearing flared out in a way to artificially create a curve. Notice also that her make-up, hair, etc. look way better in the photos than in the video. All of that stuff is orchestrated to enhance her appearance.

  • But you also have to consider that Victoria's Secret models DO take care of their sleep / diet / bodies, and so they don't have a lot of excess body fat (eg cellulite) or bad skin. Getting those things right is really hard, and so it will get a guy's attention if a girl has gotten it right, even if the girl's proportions aren't the guy's ideal. Girls think the same way when evaluating guys (as far as I can tell). The point is, you shouldn't take a guy's paying attention to a model as a sign that he prefers her body proportions over all others.

Main Takeaway re: Proportions

If you make the most of what you've got, you'll generally be fine. There have been men and women of all different body proportions who've been seen as extremely attractive.

 

Advice from other people

Women

Scooby

  • I was introduced to Scooby's website by my friend John I. in my junior or senior year of college, and have become a big fan.

  • Bodybuilding Nutrition Made Simple

  • Quick Healthy Meals

  • Calorie Calculator

  • Caffeine

    • MI: Use caffeine to help yourself stay motivated, and to help yourself put out a bigger effort when you work out.

  • Getting Rid Of Stomach Bloat

  • Exercise

  • His advice to me about late-night cravings:

    • Quote:

    • a1d2m3i4n
      July 20, 2015 - 17:49 UTC - 5:49 pm
      @nathanwailes: Nighttime munchies are the WORST! I solve that by making sure nothing tasty is in the house. Its a nighttime ritual. I go to the fridge, open it ... nothing good there. I go to the pantry, open it .. nothing good there. I know damn well there is nothing there to munch on but yet I look every night anyway. If it was there it would be HISTORY so its good its not.

      seanerikson
      July 20, 2015 - 17:52 UTC - 5:52 pm
      @nathanwailes that's a great point...tracking your intake is really important. I used to say TRACK your calories, but now I say PLAN your meals before hand...I use MyFitnessPal and PLAN my meals the night before based on what I have going on the next day...then it's just a matter of following the plan! 

      MichaelJ85
      July 20, 2015 - 17:53 UTC - 5:53 pm
      @nathanwailes: judging from the posts within this forum, MyFitnessPal is a good tool to use to overview and observe your intake however if you're tracking macros (how much protein, carbs and fat) you're consuming it's quite wide of the mark.

      a1d2m3i4n
      July 20, 2015 - 17:58 UTC - 5:58 pm
      @nathanwailes: Suggestion. You need to try low carb. Be religious for an entire month and I am willing to bet that your cravings disapper - they did for me and I have a HORRIBLE sweet tooth:http://custommealplanner.com/low-carb/

      a1d2m3i4n
      July 20, 2015 - 17:58 UTC - 5:58 pm
      @nathanwailes: http://custommealplanner.com/low-carb/ will make sure that you are NEVER hungry despite being at a 25% caloric deficit, and YES, you MUST eat all the vegetables it recommends - no substituting.

    • The next day I think I discovered that the cravings may have been caused by not taking in enough protein. I'd only been taking maybe ~100g of protein (at most) the previous days. The next day I took in ~160g+ and felt much less craving than I had before.

    • 2018.02.16 - These cravings may also have been caused by not getting enough carbs. This was before I discovered that broccoli and carrots are great low-calorie sources of carbs that will remove any craving for cookies or other high-calorie carb sources. So Scooby was totally right.

Dev

  • "Long story short I isolate body parts (Tris Chest, Biceps Back, Hamstrings + Rowing, Quads and Abs etc.)" 

  • When I worked out with him he would:

    • do three sets for each exercise, aiming to do 10 reps, then 8, then 6, increasing the weight each time so that at the end of each set he felt tired.

    • In between each set he would do some other lighter exercise, like box push-ups or ball slams.

    • He did ~4 different exercises / lifts when I was with him: leg press, hip abduction, hip adduction, and weighted leg lifts.

    • The in-between exercises he did were box push-ups, ball slams, and assisted pull-ups (on a machine)

  • On another occasion he said that in college he got his inclined leg press up to 540#, doing 3 sets of 10. I believe that's roughly six 45# plates on either side of the machine.

  • In an email he said that in college he would work out "every weekday".

Jack Dorsey

  • 2013.10.25 - Jack Dorsey at YCombinator's Startup School

    • He's on the Paleo diet

    • Don't eat/drink anything with sugar.

    • Only drink lemon water and red wine.

    • Don't drink hard liquor or beer during the week.

    • Every day:

      • run 3 miles

      • Over the course of the day, do six sets each of:

        • 20 squats

        • 20 push-ups

        • 30-sec planks

Chung

  • Diet:

    • He used to have a strict diet of Costco chicken or beans, but he stopped doing that.

    • Now he eats stuff from MyEatClub (which he says "isn't really that healthy"), and he eats whatever his wife cooks, which is usually some kind of stir fry(?) with beef

    • He doesn't snack (which he defines as eating the junk we have in the cabinets). He mentioned that he thinks about how much he'll need to work out to work off the calories from some snack he eats.

    • He doesn't really get low-blood-sugar cravings, and if he does he just eats a banana. [Later: I've realized my low-blood-sugar cravings were from not getting enough carbs, and I wasn't getting enough carbs because I wasn't eating vegetables and I knew I should avoid fruit!]

    • IIRC he said he just doesn't eat a lot. IIRC he said it gets easier over time to eat less; you get used to it.

  • Exercise:

    • He works out every day for ~30-45mins (just like Mitch, the Equinox swim trainer, see below).

    • He doesn't have time to go to the gym anymore b/c of his baby, so he just does bodyweight exercises.

    • He says "there's a lot you can do with a pull-up bar"

    • He used to do CrossFit and found that fun.

    • He doesn't have a set goal of reps / sets. Instead his goal is to just max out / finish completely exhausted.

Bryan R

Swimmer-trainer @ Equinox (Mitch)

  • He works out 6 days a week, usually for ~40-45 minutes, where the whole time is high-intensity.

  • He doesn't watch what he eats that carefully (which is common in my experience among people who exercise a lot).

  • He's started doing something called Crosswim, which is basically Crossfit with a focus on swimming.

  • When he lifts he usually does high-weight low-reps.

  • He likes to do leg presses after his long runs to "reset" his "motor neurons" (or something like that)

  • He said he's ~6'1", ~180 lbs, ~7% bodyfat.

James 'Hitch' Furlow (YouTuber)

  • Hitch's diet:

    • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QGiijVHYXXA

    • Summary:

      • chicken, egg whites, vegetables, fruit, peanut butter, almonds, lots of water, and a couple golden oreos

    • Breakfast:

      • scrambled egg whites with chicken

      • 16oz of water

      • a bowl of oatmeal

      • almonds

      • fruit

    • Snack:

      • peanut butter sandwich (wheat bread)

    • Lunch:

      • chicken sandwich (wheat bread)

      • fruit

      • almonds

      • 2 golden oreos

      • 16oz water

    • Snack:

      • peanut butter sandwich (wheat bread)

      • Dinner:

      • two chicken sandwiches (wheat bread)

      • vegetables

      • almonds

      • fruit

      • 5 golden oreos

Misc people

  • 2016.09 - College sophomore I met in an airport who had what is in my opinion a perfect body

    • She said she just runs ~6 days a week, an hour at a time. I vaguely remember she said she runs six miles a day (which would work out to about an hour).

  • 2016.11.07 - Medium - I’ve Been Fat And I’ve Been Skinny. Here’s What I’ve Learned About That.

    1. In 2008, I developed a crush on a girl and that was a pretty good motivator for me to shed some pounds.

    2. [I had an unreliable car, so] I started to walk everywhere. Sometimes five, sometimes ten miles a day. I was walking so much and [listening to music].

    3. She said that she had seen an ex-boyfriend of hers earlier in the day and couldn’t help but notice that he’d gained some weight. It wasn’t even a particularly hateful statement. There was no scorn in her voice and it was more of an observation than it was a criticism. Still, when we broke up that September, I was reminded of it and was absolutely horrified. What if we walk by each other and she thinks that about me?!

    4. I went from two meals a day to one, and then I thought to myself, “Do I really even need that one meal?” So I started eating once every two days instead. Sometimes, I’d go three whole days before putting a single bit of food in my mouth and even when I did, it was hardly anything nutritional. I’d eat a rice cake, or half of a grilled chicken sandwich without the bread, or a baked potato with absolutely no seasoning, butter, or salt. Weight started to fall off of my body at an alarming rate.

    5. Girls were suddenly paying attention to me.

    6. [His friend recommended Adderall to help focus, and when he took them he noticed:] I was no longer capable of eating a full meal. It robbed me of any hunger I would have otherwise felt almost in its entirety.

      • When I wanted Adderall, all I had to do was fill out a sheet that hinted that I might have Attention Deficit Disorder. When I wanted Xanax, I just had to tell a doctor that I was a little tense. When I wanted Vyvanse, I just had to see a different doctor and tell him the Adderall wasn’t working anymore

    7. He started getting seizures. [in 2012? So...~1-2yrs after starting with the Adderall]

  • 2018.08 - Young woman in the gym who had a beautiful body

    • She did cycling at ~200 strokes per minute (each foot being a different stroke).

      • She did that for maybe 15-20 mins.

    • I saw her doing squats with 1 25lb weight on each end.

Sleep & Weight Loss

 

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