What are /r/BTFC's favorite Products & Services?

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I use the app Jefit on my phone. They have a website too, http://www.jefit.com

I opted for the paid version, but the free version is good too. It helps me keep track, and there are tons of routines already made. Not sure if that's what this thread is for, but figured more variety will help people!

13 days without cheating on my food. My twice weekly calorie spike is helping squats, deadlifts, and myself mentally. My first free-for-all cheat meal is in 3 weeks (after I max out my bench press post-Smolov Jr. cycle #1). Weight is fluctuating a bit and I'm either down 1 or 2 lbs this week, so that's good, should make next week pretty nice. As always, I'm on Fitocracy under the same name.

• fitocracy profile
• intro thread

QOTW:

• Starting Strength, the version with pull-ups and no power cleans.
• I lift M/W/F, and I also go rock climbing indoors about 2-3x per week. Occasional long-distance cycling.
• No classes, just internet instructional books / vids
• I normally work out with my gf and another friend, both of whom are also doing SS.
• Eating approximately maintenance calories on average (with lots of prot), while Intermittently Fasting. (food window: 12 - 8pm)

I've been doing SS for about 4 weeks, but before that I'd been doing some bodyweight exercises regularly at home. Now that I look back at my notes, I can see that on August 14th I tried some barbell shoulder presses at 65lbs and I could only just barely crank out 3 reps. Today I did 3x5 at 100lbs, and then did 1x10 at 65lbs after, so things have sure changed in 6 weeks. I'm really hoping that over the next 7 weeks I can go up at least 5 lbs per week to hit 135, ie two "big boy plates" on the bar.

Amazingly, I now have noticeable muscles, which is something new. After leaving the gym today with a good pump and a tight shirt, I noticed that I got looks from several people, which just totally blows my mind because I've always been the scrawny nerd.

My Squats are still lagging, though. I didn't make my 150 3x5 attempt on saturday, and barely managed 3x4 150 today, and this is while benching 135 3x5. Until very recently I was squatting the same as my bench.

Anyway, I'm really happy with my progress so far, with only 4 weeks in a real gym. I'm really eager to see what I can do by my November 18th finish date.

No, sorry. From the forums...

There are aspects of fitness that don't necessarily have to do with exercise. For example, maintaining a good diet, and getting a healthy amount of sleep every night. This is an exercise website. Please do not request for a diet aspect to be added to the game, there are plenty of online diet trackers that already exist.

Just look me up as RandomHero and you will see me over there. Best of luck to everyone! There are a lot of entries but I will be going for the gold!!!

My profile

Cutting/Female/5'6"/136lbs: I finally got back to my completion weight, so I can say I'm back on track. I also bought some skin calipers off amazon. SO MUCH FRIGGEN CHEAPER THAN OTHER BODY FAT MEASURES. My body fat is about 23.5%. Prior to the competition it was 24.3% (based on an electrical impedance scale so take that for whatever it's worth). It's really motivating to see the change. I love me some data.

Of course now I'm online trying to find some examples of what 24%, 23%, and 22% body fat looks like on women. Strangely enough, I mainly get pictures which are either 20-21% or 25% guesstimates. Not much in between.

Oh well. I should take more progress pictures.

EDIT: It's this one: https://www.amazon.com/Creative-Health-6575XXXX-Skinfold-Caliper/dp/B000NN9SDO/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1526929211&sr=8-4&keywords=skin+calipers+body+fat

MyFitnessPal profile.

Fitocracy profile.

Feel free to follow me on either of those. Hopefully we can all keep each other motivated! :)

Your traps are not at all unattractive. I think a slight reduction in body fat may have just revealed them a bit? As zahrada said above, it's very unlikely that they will dominate your appearance unless you train them really hard and deliberately. You're totally fine! Nothing to worry about =)

Are we following each other on fitocracy? If we are, we're both using a different alias. This is my fitocracy profile. We can keep each other in check!

High five, girl! Your lifts are really great, very inspiring. I'm 5'3" / 140 and I have very similar body comp; lifting seriously since July, and I'm very jealous of your numbers :)

Good luck, and I'm totally friending you so I can see how your BTFC goes!

PS if you end up on fitocracy I'm here

Recently started back with Strength training after about a 6 week, work induced, hiatus from the Gym. Back to the basics with SL 5x5, although I started the program from week 6. Moving along at the right pace I believe since my shoulders and upper body in general need a lot more work. Here's my Fitocracy account. Feel free to friend me - motivation and kind words are welcome. Until I post form check videos that is.

I workout with a partner which helps me make it to the gym. Goal is just 3 days a week (MWF) to keep in line with the program until probably December and then switch to a different workout.
I have recently started running in the morning, to break up cardio and lifting but also to minimize time in the gym after work. Tough as hell for a night owl like me to do but it has been working fine so far.

I can't seem to get below 220 no matter what I do. I have been hovering around that weight for the last few years (even though I started lifting in January) so it's more of a mental anchor point and I can't get away from it. It is mostly due to my eating habits - 6 days of the week I behave - oatmeal (steel cut, homemade) and eggs for bfast, purchased sandwich/salad for lunch, protein shake, cooked chicken breasts for dinner with salad/pasta/Sriracha. That one extra day just kills me though - pizza and wings and beer now that football is on or home-cooked meal at home.
My success and failure for this week was a beer run - 5K in about 30 min (YAY) and then quite a few beers, followed by some pumpkin beers, followed by phillies and beer.
Apologies for the rant. TL;DR SL 5x5, eating mostly ok but overindulging once a week, working to have more successes than failures.

• I binged really hard Sunday/Monday and I'm trying to come back and recover from it.
• I dominated Smolov Jr for bench ... the only rep I missed in the 3 week cycle was after going out for my roommate's birthday and getting < 6 hours of sleep, and that was during week 2. Looking to max out my bench this coming week, hoping for a 230 bench @ 125.
• My cardio has been a bit shit lately, so since I'll be off of benching this week, I plan to add lots of LISS in the morning where benching would normally be.
• This is week 4 on my training plan and it will suck. Planned work sets are 2x330 squat, 2x420 squat, and 1x230 bench (possibly more). All while cutting weight :-(
• As always, I'm on Fitocracy

Even easier - just join the BTFC group on Fitocracy. When you go to the group page, you'll see the latest messages and workouts of all of the group members.

BTW - I'm nox over there.

From wikipedia's article on 'Middle age':

>According to Collins Dictionary, this is "... usually considered to occur approximately between the ages of 40 and 60". > >The Oxford English Dictionary gives a similar definition but with a later start point "... the period between early adulthood and old age, usually considered as the years from about 45 to 65". > >The US Census lists middle age as including both the age categories 35 to 44 and 45 to 50, while prominent social scientist, Erik Erikson, sees it ending a little later and defines middle adulthood as between 40 and 65.

I'm turning 35 in a few months. TIL that the US Census will consider me middle aged!

At any rate, good luck in this competition!

edit: I decided to start a fitocracy group for 30-something redditors.

Yeah, zombies! You should join us on fitocracy.com in the "I Kill Zombies" group. I mean, unless you actually like zombies. If that is the case then you might not like our group.

Good luck to you and I hope you reach your goals!

If you want to run, look at this app. I promise you won't be bored :D.

Unfortunately, your proof picture needs to contain your torso, so let me know when you have that updated so I can approve your post. Thanks!

Nice job! I can see a difference too, especially from the side (although the front and back look a bit smoother too). I use http://www.picnik.com/ to make my progress pics - you can do collages and resize at the same place, so it's terribly convenient.

I'm a huge fan of the EatSmart brand on Amazon. Their customer service is unparalleled, and their bathroom scale is sleek and modern. Also, it's quite accurate (and has a light).

It's about $30, so I don't know if that's what you would consider cheap, but I thought it was a great investment. I've had mine for about 6 months now.

http://www.amazon.com/EatSmart-Precision-Bathroom-Capacity-Technology/dp/B001KXZ808

I'm sorry, I wasn't very clear or descriptive of my diet in my little post (honestly didn't think anyone would pay much attention to it, haha). Sunday "cheat day" still has the 1600 calories restriction, I am just not worrying about how much protein/fat/carbs I am taking in, which I am watching pretty closely all other days. Here's a more in-depth look at my diet if you're interested, I'd love some feedback. Doing this right is really important to me.

And I picked 1600 calories specifically so I could go lower when I plateau or weight loss starts to slow down. This diet is going to last me probably a good 18 months before I am close to my long-term goal weight, so I didn't want to start out too low. Unless it's better to start super low and raise it later when the person is as heavy as I am starting out? Thanks for the feedback, it is much appreciated :)

That’s kinda what I’m doing as well, not focusing on cutting out as much as incorporating more vegetables into my diet and playing with flavor to keep it interesting. I’m enjoying it so far, I got Ottolenghi Flavor on Kindle and it has been such a fantastic read. It’s a cookbook that is entirely vegetable based but focuses on developing and pairing the vegetables with acidity, sweetness, chili spice, or even charring to get the most out of them. I made the potato salad with Thai basil for my household and had to keep myself from eating it all by myself, it was incredibly fresh and flavorful.

As for lifting consistently, I do suggest finding a routine and sticking to it consistently along with tracking your weight lifting to progress every week. R/xxfitness is a good place to start for finding a regimen, the people there are super helpful. Good luck!

LL Cool J - Ripper Strikes Back

The Crystal Method - Murder

Nirvana - Breed

Mike Awesome ECW Theme

Cheeseburger - Winner <-----Personal Fav

The Prodigy - Invaders must die

The Prodigy - Smack my bitch up

Kanye West-The Glory

Wham - Wake me up before you go go

Daft Punk - One more time

The Rolling Stones - Paint it black

The Nyan Cat song

Yep, there are easier ways. If you're interested (and it does require learning code), look up how to build a web crawler. You would make it scrape every link it finds, extract the data you want and toss it in a .csv file. Then import into Excel and away you go. http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/build-basic-web-crawler-pull-information-website/

>I do have Fitocracy, although I am not sure what to do with it.

Enter you workouts into it daily and start leveling up. Gives you motivation too as you see others stick to their weekly workouts. Add me

Right now I'm following stronglifts but I'm doing 3x5 (I wasn't recovering from 5x5 fast enough). So an example week:

Mon: Squat / Bench / Rows Wed: Squat / OHP / Deadlift Fri: Squat / Bench / Rows

You can see my past lifts for the last month on Fitocracy too: http://www.fitocracy.com/profile/MrTomSawyer/

If you want a more social aspect to working out, if you have not already, you should check out fitocracy.com.

Have you thought of any resistance training? As building muscle (don't worry, you will not bulk up) helps to burn energy more efficiently so your fat goes away more quickly. Just a thought.

Good luck and I hope you reach your goal!

For anyone interested, you track my diet and eating habits, the password is "reddit". Motivation is very much appreciated. Still trying to figure out a workout routine that I can stick to.

Just FYI, Jan 14th-Apr 14th is about 13 weeks.

Good Luck in the competition!

I'm so sorry you're having a hard time with that. If you can identify your cue, then maybe you can break the binge eating habit. This guy Charles Duhigg wrote some really interesting things about habit formation. You can read some about it here and here. Or you could buy his book, The Power of Habit if you're really interested. Reading this helped me to get going on a number of things I had wanted to do but just couldn't make happen- like doing yoga every morning.

i suggest getting a body fat scale, not as cheap as the regular scales, but weight is nothing without composition imho

i have a similar one like that http://www.amazon.ca/Omron-HBF-510W-Composition-Monitor-Scale/dp/B001IV61J4/ and its been the best investment i have made. just measure everyday in the morning after going to the toilet for a consistent result and you will have a reliable trend for your body composition. (dont take one measurement as absolute, there might be a certain error. but compared to measurements over time the trend doesn't lie)

Same price in Canada, if you're interested:

http://www.amazon.ca/EatSmart-Precision-Bathroom-3-5-Inch-Technology/dp/B001KXZ808/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1430963252&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=eatsmart

Best pull up bar for the money. Have one and recommend http://www.amazon.com/Iron-Gym-Total-Upper-Workout/dp/B001EJMS6K/ref=sr_1_1?s=exercise-and-fitness&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1414032671&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=pull+up+bar

Non-mobile: this

^That's ^why ^I'm ^here, ^I ^don't ^judge ^you. ^PM ^/u/xl0 ^if ^I'm ^causing ^any ^trouble. ^WUT?

As a nutrition major, I was recommended this book and it had changed my life and perspective on diets completely.

I HIGHLY recommend it to anyone who wants to change up their lifestyle and needs that extra motivation. To answer your question, I'll be following a WFPB diet.

Good luck to everyone!

I use this: http://www.amazon.com/Sunwarrior-Warrior-Blend-Protein-Vanilla/dp/B005WLY4L8/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1400766715&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=sunwarrior

I also use a Walgreens Brand Soy Protein (Vanilla).

I make a smoothie with two scoops of protein, some almond milk/water, a handful of spinach, a handful of strawberries, a spoon of almond butter, a banana and some ice. It's magnificent.

I have this measuring tape: Myotape.

My carb intake was pretty low before I started Keto. I had a piece of toast with PB and eggs in the morning and rarely had pasta. The hardest part was cutting out everything that has even little amounts of sugar in it like milk. I didn't really get any of the Keto flu, on the third morning my stomach didn't really feel that great but once I got some food/water into me I was better! I think people that are really overweight and have a high dependency on carbs experience symptoms of withdrawal like quitting smoking or drugs. I read Wheat Belly by William Davis last summer and he said that when people eat wheat endorphins get released. Endorphins make you feel good and increase your appetite which is why anyone can mow through a bag of chips. I found by day 3 I started craving a bit but it went away, on day 8-9 in the evening I couldn't satisfy my hunger. I think this was a last ditch effort of my brain/body trying to get me eat carbs. I'm feeling great now and I'm only almost 2 weeks into Keto. I gave all my bread/fruits/cereal to my buddies so there is no temptations staring at me every time I go to the kitchen. Here's a Grocery List that I used this week. Having the right stuff in your fridge is the best key for success on Keto. I suggest using the myfitnesspro website/app to make sure you are reaching your fat/protein/carb goals and see which foods may be putting you over (peanut butter was doing it for me, god I could eat a whole container haha). Get some multivitamins, drink lots of water and stay strong!

If you're looking to start with weights, lots of us over at /r/fitness swear by a beginners' guide, Starting Strength.

Here's a post by a woman that recently had success with weights.

For 10 of the 12 weeks I followed The Body Sculpting Bible for Men and focused on only the Mass workouts. I really love this book and if I would have actually been able to eat more I know I would have had better results. To be on the safe side, I didn't do any of the cardio/abs days in the book just so I didnt burn any calories. Looking back I should have done more abs. :P The plus side to this was that I didn't gain any fat and I did retain my shape of being lean. Next time I will aim to eat even more healthy calories each day because I would get lazy on the weekends and only have a coffee for breakfast and then a dinner...(which was stupid of me). A quick nutshell of my nutrition was that everyday I went to the gym I would have a shake first thing in the morning, right after my workout, and right before bed.

tl;dr buy the book and eat a crap ton and drink them shakes.

Yeah, I understand. I use this to measure my fat and other stats, but most people probably have a simple one that doesn't do such measurements.

I like this idea though, it will be interesting watching how people progress with their weight loss goals.

I can't praise pilates enough. It seems like a silly exercise until you try, and you realize how challenging it is. Then the instructor comes along and comments "actually, on this hip flexor movement, you are not supposed to roll over your hip to the side, to isolate the muscle. Try not rolling and keeping your pelvis looking to the front all the time" (or something along the lines) and she corrects your form.

And then you try the corrected form with all the focus you can muster: and you discover a whole new level of challenge and awesomeness and complete just one or two more rep and discover a muscle you never had is being worked out with incredible intensity and focus.

You finish your session, and you walk out of the room taller than tall, with the straighter and stronger back you never knew you had!

To sum it up: You step into your car after Pilates, and have to readjust your mirrors to see the road. That's how upright tall you are now!

For those who like to train at home, I recommend this DVD: Lindsey Jackson's: Pilates Essentials. She explains very well technique and is very clear.

Anyone else any other recommendation for Pilates or DVDs?

Thanks so much! I did this before I found this community belly-dance class... and honestly that dvd and doing shimmies when I'm working and rib circles when I'm driving etc... really makes a difference. I'm glad I got into the dvds before I ever did it in front of people. I still make a fool of myself but I get much more out of the class. Netflix has the dvds :)

Thanks!

I've printed out the 12-week workout program of &quot;The Female Training Bible&quot; from BodyBuilding.com

Afterwards and/or during that plan (depending on how I'm feeling), I'm going to go with the exercises found in the book, &quot;The New Rules of Lifting for Women&quot;

I've had success with both of the programs in the past -- it's just a matter of keeping at it! :)

Yea, I know what you mean. I was working part time at the beginning of the challenge and I could barely afford to feed myself. I really need a lot of food. But eating healthy IS cheaper, thankfully. Since you're skinny like me here's a tip for your future training - for 34 bucks you can subscribe on amazon to &quot;BSN True Mass&quot; and have it delivered to your door once a month. It sells for 70 bucks at the mall where I live normally. Add 2 cups of milk with three scoops of powder and you are looking at 1,000 calories that can be taken in 30 seconds (strawberry is the best flavor). Occasionally I take two full servings if I can't find time to make enough meals in the day. Also when I'm out and about or even home whole wheat bagels with peanut butter. I eat two at a time which is = 5-600 calories. Simple easy and can be made anywhere.

Good for you! The great thing about this is that you'll make a lot of progress very quickly, it'll hurt of course, but it'll be quick as well.

I hope part of your plan involves lifting weights. I recommend kettlebell excercises such as the ones listed in the 4-hour body

I strongly suggest workouts from this book, it basically says that the most you can workout to build muscle effectively and efficiently is once per week, give or take. So even if you don't have a lot of time you can just go to the gym for about 20 minutes a week and build some good muscle.

Myself and my brother have seen tremendous gains in strength and hypertrophy (muscle size) from this program.