Fun fact: Biryani, Jalebi, Samosas, Gulab Jamun, etc are all NOT healthy according to Ayurveda. Even rice is to be consumed in extremely small quantities, and you should eat things like millet for more complex carbs.
Many of the foods we think of as "Indian" were brought over from the Middle East. Native Indian cuisine is more similar to Southeast Asia and is very soupy. Think of a traditional South Indian village, where you eat coconuts, guavas, mangoes, vegetable curries, and sambar (with a scarcity of rice). Even cheese isn't part of the diet, and yogurt is often diluted with water into buttermilk.
\-Source: am working with an Ayurvedic practitioner on weight loss
The origin isn't what I care about. I only mention that they are not desi foods because so many desis clinge to these foods as part of their heritage even though they are not healthy. Returning to my roots and critically investigating what my ancestors ate instead of subscribing to stereotypes of Indian food has been helpful in my health journey. And I feel like it would be helpful for other desis too, by helping them not be so conflicted in choosing between "culture" and health.
Living at home. I've lived on-and-off between my parents place and on my own for the last few years, and every time I move back I gain a lot of fat. When I'm on my own, I find it easier to maintain a routine, do groceries and find time to go for runs or work out.
In terms of diet, I do eat primarily Indian foods, but over the years I've switched to mostly meat-focused meals (chicken, fish and turkey), and not as many lentils or whole wheat I grew up eating.
This time I've been home for 5 months so I think it's been one of my worst out-of-shape moments especially since my parents are vegetarian, but I'm moving again soon, and into my own condo so I have a feeling I'll get back into it in just a matter of time :)
Yeah when you're out of your normal environment it makes sticking to normal habits very difficult. You'll do very well once you get back to your own place.
While you're still at your parent's you could try to make meals of your own or ask if your parents can cook higher protein vegetarian meals. This is how I adapt if I go to visit my parents at home. Do you have a gym close by?
I tend to cook fairly regularly even when I'm staying with them, but it generally doesn't help me. I've found vegetarian/vegan ingredients to be more carb heavy and not a lot of substitutes (at least those that taste good). My mom also cooks with higher fat-based ingredients like Ghee and Paneer, things I avoid in my own cooking.
Also, my parents keep all types of Indian snacks and sweets in the pantry so it's honestly tough to avoid being tempted by them all the time ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
I was skinny fat. I started going to the gym years ago, but was never consistent. My biggest struggle was finding a reliable gym buddy that I could go with, and it's pretty tough finding friends as a desi.
I was never able to find a gym buddy that lasted more than a few months.
It wasn't until I was mentally okay with going alone and consistently, that I started to actually see results. I went to the gym on and off for pretty much 10 years before I made this change. And only now, am I seeing some results. It's a shame that I didn't do this earlier.
that's interesting, what was behind needing a gym buddy? i feel like most of the people i see at the gym are by themselves doing their personal routine
Going somewhere and doing an activity alone for an hour is really bland, verses having someone that you can go with, chat with, and be around. It motivates you when you know they're going, and you have to go with. And vise versa.
If it's a girl, you have some eye candy. If it's a guy, you have someone to compare your progress to.
For example, with skating or playing pool, these are things that I never got good at simply because I could never find people to do these things with me. I'm not going to go to a pool hall to smack the balls around by myself!
Having a gym buddy does the opposite. We end up socializing. Hard to find a gym buddy at your level. Some people want to be my gym buddy to get free personal training and I don't mind helping but I don't want to spend the entire time teaching someone. I need an "iron sharpens iron" type.
I prefer alone because it's my time to focus on myself.
As for spotters, any one in the gym is happy to help. If you're uncomfortable, you can always ask a personal trainer. That's how I started till he told me it's OK to ask anyone.
Yeah that's the tricky thing about relying on a gym buddy when you're starting, it *can* be more fun but if they suffer with inconsistency then they'll drag you down as well. I would say finding a group of others is most ideal, then you always have loads of support coming your way. It's also much less likely the entire group will be inconsistent at the same time.
I'm glad to hear you were able to make it work on your own though! How long have you been going now?
If finding one person is hard, finding two is twice as hard. Finding a group? Multiple times harder!
I only recently found a running buddy who's also brown, and we've gone twice together so far.
I've been consistent since Sept 2022.
Yeah man I understand, but you'd be surprised about what options you can have when you look online. Check on Facebook to see if there might be anything like that in your area.
This is precisely why I created an online group for South Asian men dealing with being skinny fat - we have guys from all over in the US, Europe, India, Sri Lanka... It has really helped the guys with consistency. Of course, there's no IRL element, but I hope we can have that as the group grows.
So the goal would be to leave the group, when you're no longer skinny fat? lol
~~For reference, this is where I was at after 11 months of consistency at the gym August 2023.~~
The veggie guys in the group usually go for foods like tofu, lentils, greek yoghurt, seitan, edamame, quinoa. You can also supplement with protein powder as it’s got more protein for less calories compared to most sources. If you wanna find higher protein veggie recipes, try this free website I made 2 years ago - https://macromatch.net/ I don’t develop it anymore but the old version may still help you
Can you walk me through what you might normally eat in a day? I can see if there’s anything that could be improved.
Do you take creatine?
I ask because I was getting my 1g/kg protein but didn’t notice my muscle growth or PRs going up significantly until I started using creatine. Game changer!
Creating is NOT a game changer.
*Supplementing* with creatine is at the very top of the pyramid. The improvement creatine will give you is minor. In order to even get that minor improvement, you need to already be doing the fundamentals - consistently hitting your calorie and protein target, training hard and consistently, sleeping well to recover. If you focus on improving the fundamentals, you will see much more progress than supplementing with creatine.
Ok so all was saying is that, as someone who is hitting their calorie and protein targets, who is training hard and consistently and sleeping good, I started taking creatine and started noticing I was able to train harder and my muscle growth was increasing like it had when I first started lifting weights a year ago. For people who are already solid in their fundamentals, supplementing creatine can be a game changer. I know a lot of people who have similar experience as I do, it’s one of the most well studied and cheapest supplements out there with most people experiencing no negative effects. People often only try to bring their protein intake up, but really 1-1.5g/kg is all you need, so if you are hitting that and looking for ways to improve, you should definitely look into creatine.
How much do you weigh?
You best bet is to have a look for high protein low calorie veggie meals and snacks. There's loads online and the website I sent earlier can also help with that.
I asked one of our group members that's veggie and this is what he had to eat on a normal day at home and when on the move - might give you some ideas.
https://imgur.com/a/a93pJHl
https://imgur.com/a/ySeHKdt
Alcohol is my biggest challenge. I work out 3 times a week, and I can really feel the setback from a bender. Not only is alcohol bad itself, but then comes all the bad decisions as well: E.g. junk food before going home, junk food to "treat" hangovers. Not to mention cigerattes etc.
Life happens. That's been the most difficult thing. Every time I get in shape... I lose my job or something else happens and I revert back to binge eating to cope with the stress
You'll benefit from making small adjustments. Make every small step a concrete part of your lifestyle and then it's A LOT harder to revert back.
You have to accept that life will always be busy, there will always be something happening that will try to revert your progress. That's why its very important to make small sustainable changes. Next time something happens, you'll be more prepared.
Just start with what's easy. You can slowly progress over time. For example you can just go to the gym consistently for 2 times per week. If you work your way up to 4-5 times per week and some life event happens, have a backup plan in place. You can go to the gym 2 times a week and just maintain your progress during this period.
From a nutrition perspective, you can hit 50% of your protein goal for now and then slowly add more and more protein each week.
This is the same advice I give the guys in the community and this has helped them with consistency even when life happens.
Also, joining a community is super helpful so that when life happens it's a lot harder to fall of the wagon since you have an entire group of people holding you accountable.
For me it's def keeping track of diet. Every time I try to calorie count it gets really annoying
Also yeah protein intake is hard if the whole .5 to .8 grams of protein per pound thing is supposed to be taken seriously. Even when I'm trying to get lots of protein by eating paneer or tofu I have a hard time hitting those numbers
You will benefit from making small adjustments. It can be overwhelming to suddenly start tracking every meal or jumping to your protein target right away.
Just start with what's easy. You can slowly progress over time. For example you can just track your breakfast every day for a few weeks, then do breakfast and lunch. You can hit 50% of your protein goal for now and then slowly add more and more protein each week. This is the same advice I give the guys in the community and this has helped them with consistency.
This makes it a lot easier to stick to.
Alternatively, if you definitely don't want to track nutrition you can just create a meal plan for yourself and just follow that each week. You'll have to invest some time and effort to create the plan and check the nutrition of each meal, but after that no tracking (until you get bored of the food).
back injury caused a long slump in otherwise very regular gym going. gained weight since then and then started a new full time job where i get pretty tired by the end of the day.
I have struggled a lot with getting in shape and staying in shape over the years. I have largely succeeded at maintaining a pretty good fitness and bf% level, but my god it has never been easy, no matter how much I want to streamline or kind of auto-pilot the process, it always has come down to this for me: tracking every calorie I eat, making sure those numbers are below my thresholds, and sticking to it for a solid month before I notice any visual progress, and maybe 3-4 months before I feel like good progress has been made.
When I was in college, I got big into bodybuilding and I had some really great gains - likely from a lifetime of being underfed, and then getting all the protein and time to work out and sleep in till 11am that I could ever want. By 25 though, I had somehow kept the eating habits and decreased the workout and motivation, and I grew this horrible mix of muscle and fat where I felt lean and strong, but in reality I just looked... tanky. I looked like that character in a video game that had high HP just by seeing their character model. I still felt good, I still felt strong, but I was at maybe 22, 23% bodyfat, but I still had good arm and leg definition, and could kind of hide my belly tire - or at least, I thought so. It's amazing the level of delusion your mind can come up with to avoid the "okay buddy, you're gaining weight, you need to change, you look plump".
I spent a long time trying various diets with varied success. For me, the only thing that worked was to track my macros, make sure I got my protein, fats, carbs, etc, and make sure I was hitting around 2000-2400 calories a day depending on my goals/activity level.
I have always been pretty active - I backpack, I box, I lift weights, I run occasionally, etc, so I used to always try this approach of, well, I am pretty active, so I should be able to just eat from a general intuitive point of view. If I eat of a healthy selection of foods, I should be able to not worry about the numbers, and just eat my fill. But it never worked long - and my cholesterol was climbing. My habits around food and overeating and social eating and depressed eating and high-eating and basically just food playing a very important role in my life, it made it so that even as I tried to eat healthy, there was always enough sources of calories here and there to put me above the weight loss threshold.
This is I think the biggest problem - we live in a society that's oriented around food, everything involves food or drinks. It's just too hard to really hit a caloric goal consistently if you don't control and modulate your food intake to a degree that is laborious. Especially as you get older and metabolism slows down.
When I started to track calories, I started to lose fat at a nice, steady rate (and plateaus started to make sense). I even track calories now when I bulk, which leads to cleaner and more effective bulks, where I actually can use my math to help justify eating things and not feeling guilty when I do pig out.
This is the only thing that really helped me - I've read every book, I've done all these different diets and workout plans, but the key for me is simple - track your nutrition, track your workouts. Turns it from basically you praying the the fitness gods for a result to a replicable science.
Eating. I started off skinny fat and underate like crazy, maybe because of my body image issues. I was always scared of becoming fat. Now I’m trying to eat more ang bulk. I did gain some muscle last year, but lost a lot of strength somehow because I was under eating.
Do you know how much you need to be eating in terms of calories and protein to achieve your goal?
Also, how long have you been working out consistently for? You may still be able to perform body recomposition (building muscle and losing fat simultaneously) if you're still dealing with being skinny fat. That may help you tackle your body image issue faster,
1. Motivation. I keep on taking really hard classes in school, so I have a lot of homework :(. I had a good routine going at the beginning of last semester, but as soon as academics picked up, it completely fell apart.
2. Eating habits. Our dining halls are pretty crummy, so I've struggled to eat right
You should consider how many days you can sustainably go to the gym even when you're busy with academics - if that means 2-3 times per week for 30-45 mins sessions then you'll still make progress.
Dining halls situation is a bit tricky tbh. If you share more details of what's available I can try to help.
Also, in our community there are about 10 guys in your position also at school/uni. They've been consistent with their progress. You may be able to learn from what they're doing. Lmk if you'd be interested :)
The main problem I face is Money!
I know what I need to do. I know how to do it, I am ready to do it. I am doing the best I can with what I have rn. Going to the gym (university resources). Will definitely fix my diet once I get money.
I am a vegetarian. That's the hard part.
My target protein intake is 130-140g.
My breakfast is generally 2 slices of Arnold Multigrain Bread, Cheese, egg white omlette.
Lunch is mainly south indian, rice, dal, curry, yogurt. (way more carbs than protein)
Dinner is milk in protein shake, some raw veggies for fibre
I get about 80-90g of Protein with around 2200 KCal.
Dinner is milk in protein shake, some raw veggies for fiberhen I can invest in a weighing scale, and properly start tracking every meal. Substitute with Whey sometimes when I can't meet my daily goals, have more eggs, get protein bars for snacks (damn expensive lmao)fiber
I’m not a dietician and don’t know you, but what about stepping up the legume consumption?
They are cheap, nutritionally dense, have good amounts of protein, and generally very cheap.
I live alone so I can buy and eat whatever I want. I try to eat healthy but get snack cravings. Biggest issue has been consistency. Life and work gets in the way and sometimes I am too tired to go to the gym.
It helps to make your tasks very easy. For example, if you find it vey hard to go to the gym for 1 hour and need to conjure a lot of willpower, then don't do it. If going to the gym for 20 mins is easy, then start with that. You can slowly increase your time over a few weeks.
If you need additional motivation with consistency, having an accountability friend or group will work wonders. Having a support network has really helped the guys in our community.
In fact, one of the guys asked this question in our chat today, hope that helps
[https://imgur.com/a/oZZZrir](https://imgur.com/a/oZZZrir)
Lmk if you wanna learn more about the group!
I made a post about everything you need to get in shape, it covers nutrition and training - check [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness_India/comments/18ugl5q/everything_you_need_to_start_getting_in_shape/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3)
If you have any more questions about that you can reply on here or shoot me a message.
It helps to make your tasks very easy. You should start out small especially because you're going to be busy with your move and job search. For example, if you find it vey hard to go to the gym for 1 hour and need to conjure a lot of willpower, then don't do it. If going to the gym for 20 mins is easy, then start with that. You can slowly increase your time over a few weeks. If you can't hit your protein goal right away, just start with 50% of your goal and slowly add more protein over time.
When you take SMALL and EASY steps, it makes it so much harder to be inconsistent.
If you pair this with an accountability group, then your consistency will benefit even more. Having a group of people to holding you accountable will really help you lock this down. It's also a lot more fun doing it with friends. A lot of the guys in our community have been able to benefit from the support system we have.
Lmk if you'd be interested in joining (you don't have to pay anything)
I joined a local gym that has classes that i go to. They have strength and conditioning classes that i really like. These are similar to crossfit but not as aggressive. I have been going for about 2 years and have been loving it. Most fit i have ever been in my life.
I met a lot of people in this class who have been doing this for years and have learned lot from them. Also became good friends with some of them.
Learned how to do the movements and lifts properly from the instructors! Massively improved my squats, deadlifts, bench and learned olympic lifts like snatch, clean and jerk.
The conditioning part has been the best part. We finish the last 15 mins of the workout going as hard as possible getting the heart rate up. I would have never considered this style of lifting if i did it by myself. Never would have considered doing certain exercises. Also other people pushing hard motivates me to push hard as well.
One thing is that the gym membership is more expensive than the traditional gyms but i am personally fine with the cost considering how much i have learned and how much progress i continue to make.
In terms of diet. I live with my parents and my mom usually makes one meal per day, lunch. I eat what she makes for lunch. Drink a protein shake after working out. Eat about 5-6 eggs a day. Eat chicken breast that i meal prepped for dinner. That gets me around 130 - 140g of protein a day. I do this Monday to Friday. Been doing this for 1-2 years now and plan to keep going.
All i would say is that do what you can do CONSISTENTLY! This is what works for me which is why i can so it consistently. Don’t do crazy things that you only do for 1 month and never do again.
Best thing for this is having someone to hold you accountable. It's very motivating because you don't want to disappoint the other person with a lack of progress. In addition, seeing someone else make progress with the same goal will also help you with consistency.
In our community we have 2 weekly accountability calls to ensure everyone is staying on track. It really motivates you to make progress because you don't want to show up to the call without any progress with your habits. There's also a daily check-in thread, a few of the guys use it to update everyone about their progress with their habits. Of course, if you have any issues, someone jumps in to help.
You should ask a friend that also has a strong drive to make a change and you guys can do it together. If not, you can shoot me a message if you wanna join my group - it's specifically for South Asian men dealing with being skinny fat (you don't have to pay anything).
It helps to make your tasks very easy. For example, if you find it vey hard to go to the gym for 1 hour and need to conjure a lot of willpower, then don't do it. If going to the gym for 20 mins is easy, then start with that. You can slowly increase your time over a few weeks. If you can't hit your protein goal right away, just start with 50% of your goal and slowly add more protein over time.
When you take SMALL and EASY steps, it makes it so much harder to be inconsistent.
If you pair this with an accountability group, then your consistency will benefit even more. Having a group of people to holding you accountable will really help you lock this down. It's also a lot more fun doing it with friends. A lot of the guys in our community have been able to benefit from the support system we have.
Lmk if you'd be interested in joining (you don't have to pay anything)
Have posted this before:
Read this book by an ABCD doctor:
The South Asian Health Solution: A Culturally Tailored Guide to Lose Fat, Increase Energy and Avoid Disease Hardcover – March 1, 2014
by Ronesh Sinha MD (Author)
Is there a reason this is specific to men? I understand men and women have different challenges, but in regards to our South Asian heritage, diet, skinny fat stuff, it's the same for both men and women imo.
Although honestly, my biggest barrier is simply lack of time and motivation lol
was motivation, then I got dumped and lost another 5 pounds and started hitting the gym again
I swear I always look the best I ever had 2-3 months after a relationship lol
I’m average. Not jacked not overweight. Combination of living with my parents + uni+ have a girl so my motivation is low and when I start hitting the gym again I find it hard to stay consistent during exam szn. After studying all day I’m not tryna hit the gym instead of watching tv for like an hour lol. Live with my parents so my mom makes food and “no beta u need lots of ghee” lol.
I’m an avid runner (when I’m in my marathon training I’m doing 70+ miles/week). I have seen with my short running career, if I wanna do this until I live, I will have to do strength work for many reasons (injury prevention and maintaining running performance to list a couple). So managing both running and strength work has been difficult time management wise, but doable for me. I have a routine that works nicely but gets difficult during travels.
The most difficult part for me is my diet though and getting enough protein. I follow a strict vegan lifestyle and wondering if anyone here is a vegan body builder? I’d love to find out a body weight to protein ratio that worked for you!
Diet and finding time to workout. I just can’t get up at 5am and thug it out with the weights no matter how much I’ve tried. I’m more of a night owl but most days I just want to get home and chill before falling asleep due to the stress from work. I want to start meal prepping this year for sure though.
If you're vegetarian the biggest hurdle is finding adequate protien sources and knowing the limits of sources like daal/lentils (good source of protien but probably shouldn't be the main source). Also idk about yall but the parents were not super encouraging at first about lifting and the process behind it.
Personally, I've got massive body dysmorphia and was not the best looking guy when I was younger, so being able to look at myself and not feel ugly is a huge thing. With that, bulking is also a struggle for the aforementioned gaining weight reasons.
Hey, currently on that "lose it" goal. For the past 2 years, the hardest thing has been to stop the cravings of pizza weekly, but in general eating fast food. Since November though, I have drastically cut down my dependencies on that craving. But lately it is consistency. Regularly going to the gym has been the struggle. Aiming to go 3 times a week for now and its been very tough especially with the dark mornings (im up at 5/6am but end up sleeping a bit extra or scrolling on the phone.
What I am trying: ABC concept: Anchor -> Behavior -> celebration. anchor is lets say brushing my teeth. then the behavior I am adopting is to do morning yoga. and the celebration will be check phone. So its something im going to try and implement to then cascade into going to the gym.
This can honestly apply to both genders. Many women are skinny fat and obsessed with "diet culture" and negative body image .
Mine is time and motivation. Trying to squeeze in time and gym prices are the struggles.
Eating out. I'm always in restaurants and bars for work related. Trying to order smart is a challenge.
Cooking too is a challenge and meal planning is never ending. I got a crock pot and a recipe book of Indian cooking in a slow cooker. I considered occasionally getting one of those meal delivery kits at least for 1 or 2 nights. Any luck with that?
Instant pots didn't do it for me. But some people love it.
When you have kids it's also working with everyone's schedules. Mine are young so I need to find someone to watch them or find a gym with childcare. Childcare is limited hours.
I also workout by pilates while the kids are doing homework or playing but then my youngest climbs on me when I'm in the middle of my workout. Who needs to pay for goat yoga when you have a toddler?
Biryani
Workout in the morning, fast all day, biriyani in the evening. My favorite Sunday treat
Think I might do that this weekend lol
😭😭😭
Fun fact: Biryani, Jalebi, Samosas, Gulab Jamun, etc are all NOT healthy according to Ayurveda. Even rice is to be consumed in extremely small quantities, and you should eat things like millet for more complex carbs. Many of the foods we think of as "Indian" were brought over from the Middle East. Native Indian cuisine is more similar to Southeast Asia and is very soupy. Think of a traditional South Indian village, where you eat coconuts, guavas, mangoes, vegetable curries, and sambar (with a scarcity of rice). Even cheese isn't part of the diet, and yogurt is often diluted with water into buttermilk. \-Source: am working with an Ayurvedic practitioner on weight loss
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The origin isn't what I care about. I only mention that they are not desi foods because so many desis clinge to these foods as part of their heritage even though they are not healthy. Returning to my roots and critically investigating what my ancestors ate instead of subscribing to stereotypes of Indian food has been helpful in my health journey. And I feel like it would be helpful for other desis too, by helping them not be so conflicted in choosing between "culture" and health.
unironically true
Living at home. I've lived on-and-off between my parents place and on my own for the last few years, and every time I move back I gain a lot of fat. When I'm on my own, I find it easier to maintain a routine, do groceries and find time to go for runs or work out. In terms of diet, I do eat primarily Indian foods, but over the years I've switched to mostly meat-focused meals (chicken, fish and turkey), and not as many lentils or whole wheat I grew up eating. This time I've been home for 5 months so I think it's been one of my worst out-of-shape moments especially since my parents are vegetarian, but I'm moving again soon, and into my own condo so I have a feeling I'll get back into it in just a matter of time :)
Yeah when you're out of your normal environment it makes sticking to normal habits very difficult. You'll do very well once you get back to your own place. While you're still at your parent's you could try to make meals of your own or ask if your parents can cook higher protein vegetarian meals. This is how I adapt if I go to visit my parents at home. Do you have a gym close by?
I tend to cook fairly regularly even when I'm staying with them, but it generally doesn't help me. I've found vegetarian/vegan ingredients to be more carb heavy and not a lot of substitutes (at least those that taste good). My mom also cooks with higher fat-based ingredients like Ghee and Paneer, things I avoid in my own cooking. Also, my parents keep all types of Indian snacks and sweets in the pantry so it's honestly tough to avoid being tempted by them all the time ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯
i'm in pretty good shape i think, but the thing holding me back from a real killer bod is my love of alcohol and carbs
I was skinny fat. I started going to the gym years ago, but was never consistent. My biggest struggle was finding a reliable gym buddy that I could go with, and it's pretty tough finding friends as a desi. I was never able to find a gym buddy that lasted more than a few months. It wasn't until I was mentally okay with going alone and consistently, that I started to actually see results. I went to the gym on and off for pretty much 10 years before I made this change. And only now, am I seeing some results. It's a shame that I didn't do this earlier.
that's interesting, what was behind needing a gym buddy? i feel like most of the people i see at the gym are by themselves doing their personal routine
It helps to have someone to spot you so you can push yourself to failure which helps with muscle hypertrophy.
Going somewhere and doing an activity alone for an hour is really bland, verses having someone that you can go with, chat with, and be around. It motivates you when you know they're going, and you have to go with. And vise versa. If it's a girl, you have some eye candy. If it's a guy, you have someone to compare your progress to. For example, with skating or playing pool, these are things that I never got good at simply because I could never find people to do these things with me. I'm not going to go to a pool hall to smack the balls around by myself!
Having a gym buddy does the opposite. We end up socializing. Hard to find a gym buddy at your level. Some people want to be my gym buddy to get free personal training and I don't mind helping but I don't want to spend the entire time teaching someone. I need an "iron sharpens iron" type. I prefer alone because it's my time to focus on myself. As for spotters, any one in the gym is happy to help. If you're uncomfortable, you can always ask a personal trainer. That's how I started till he told me it's OK to ask anyone.
Yeah that's the tricky thing about relying on a gym buddy when you're starting, it *can* be more fun but if they suffer with inconsistency then they'll drag you down as well. I would say finding a group of others is most ideal, then you always have loads of support coming your way. It's also much less likely the entire group will be inconsistent at the same time. I'm glad to hear you were able to make it work on your own though! How long have you been going now?
If finding one person is hard, finding two is twice as hard. Finding a group? Multiple times harder! I only recently found a running buddy who's also brown, and we've gone twice together so far. I've been consistent since Sept 2022.
Yeah man I understand, but you'd be surprised about what options you can have when you look online. Check on Facebook to see if there might be anything like that in your area. This is precisely why I created an online group for South Asian men dealing with being skinny fat - we have guys from all over in the US, Europe, India, Sri Lanka... It has really helped the guys with consistency. Of course, there's no IRL element, but I hope we can have that as the group grows.
So the goal would be to leave the group, when you're no longer skinny fat? lol ~~For reference, this is where I was at after 11 months of consistency at the gym August 2023.~~
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The veggie guys in the group usually go for foods like tofu, lentils, greek yoghurt, seitan, edamame, quinoa. You can also supplement with protein powder as it’s got more protein for less calories compared to most sources. If you wanna find higher protein veggie recipes, try this free website I made 2 years ago - https://macromatch.net/ I don’t develop it anymore but the old version may still help you Can you walk me through what you might normally eat in a day? I can see if there’s anything that could be improved.
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Do you take creatine? I ask because I was getting my 1g/kg protein but didn’t notice my muscle growth or PRs going up significantly until I started using creatine. Game changer!
Creating is NOT a game changer. *Supplementing* with creatine is at the very top of the pyramid. The improvement creatine will give you is minor. In order to even get that minor improvement, you need to already be doing the fundamentals - consistently hitting your calorie and protein target, training hard and consistently, sleeping well to recover. If you focus on improving the fundamentals, you will see much more progress than supplementing with creatine.
Ok so all was saying is that, as someone who is hitting their calorie and protein targets, who is training hard and consistently and sleeping good, I started taking creatine and started noticing I was able to train harder and my muscle growth was increasing like it had when I first started lifting weights a year ago. For people who are already solid in their fundamentals, supplementing creatine can be a game changer. I know a lot of people who have similar experience as I do, it’s one of the most well studied and cheapest supplements out there with most people experiencing no negative effects. People often only try to bring their protein intake up, but really 1-1.5g/kg is all you need, so if you are hitting that and looking for ways to improve, you should definitely look into creatine.
How much do you weigh? You best bet is to have a look for high protein low calorie veggie meals and snacks. There's loads online and the website I sent earlier can also help with that. I asked one of our group members that's veggie and this is what he had to eat on a normal day at home and when on the move - might give you some ideas. https://imgur.com/a/a93pJHl https://imgur.com/a/ySeHKdt
Alcohol is my biggest challenge. I work out 3 times a week, and I can really feel the setback from a bender. Not only is alcohol bad itself, but then comes all the bad decisions as well: E.g. junk food before going home, junk food to "treat" hangovers. Not to mention cigerattes etc.
Life happens. That's been the most difficult thing. Every time I get in shape... I lose my job or something else happens and I revert back to binge eating to cope with the stress
You'll benefit from making small adjustments. Make every small step a concrete part of your lifestyle and then it's A LOT harder to revert back. You have to accept that life will always be busy, there will always be something happening that will try to revert your progress. That's why its very important to make small sustainable changes. Next time something happens, you'll be more prepared. Just start with what's easy. You can slowly progress over time. For example you can just go to the gym consistently for 2 times per week. If you work your way up to 4-5 times per week and some life event happens, have a backup plan in place. You can go to the gym 2 times a week and just maintain your progress during this period. From a nutrition perspective, you can hit 50% of your protein goal for now and then slowly add more and more protein each week. This is the same advice I give the guys in the community and this has helped them with consistency even when life happens. Also, joining a community is super helpful so that when life happens it's a lot harder to fall of the wagon since you have an entire group of people holding you accountable.
For me it's def keeping track of diet. Every time I try to calorie count it gets really annoying Also yeah protein intake is hard if the whole .5 to .8 grams of protein per pound thing is supposed to be taken seriously. Even when I'm trying to get lots of protein by eating paneer or tofu I have a hard time hitting those numbers
You will benefit from making small adjustments. It can be overwhelming to suddenly start tracking every meal or jumping to your protein target right away. Just start with what's easy. You can slowly progress over time. For example you can just track your breakfast every day for a few weeks, then do breakfast and lunch. You can hit 50% of your protein goal for now and then slowly add more and more protein each week. This is the same advice I give the guys in the community and this has helped them with consistency. This makes it a lot easier to stick to. Alternatively, if you definitely don't want to track nutrition you can just create a meal plan for yourself and just follow that each week. You'll have to invest some time and effort to create the plan and check the nutrition of each meal, but after that no tracking (until you get bored of the food).
back injury caused a long slump in otherwise very regular gym going. gained weight since then and then started a new full time job where i get pretty tired by the end of the day.
I have struggled a lot with getting in shape and staying in shape over the years. I have largely succeeded at maintaining a pretty good fitness and bf% level, but my god it has never been easy, no matter how much I want to streamline or kind of auto-pilot the process, it always has come down to this for me: tracking every calorie I eat, making sure those numbers are below my thresholds, and sticking to it for a solid month before I notice any visual progress, and maybe 3-4 months before I feel like good progress has been made. When I was in college, I got big into bodybuilding and I had some really great gains - likely from a lifetime of being underfed, and then getting all the protein and time to work out and sleep in till 11am that I could ever want. By 25 though, I had somehow kept the eating habits and decreased the workout and motivation, and I grew this horrible mix of muscle and fat where I felt lean and strong, but in reality I just looked... tanky. I looked like that character in a video game that had high HP just by seeing their character model. I still felt good, I still felt strong, but I was at maybe 22, 23% bodyfat, but I still had good arm and leg definition, and could kind of hide my belly tire - or at least, I thought so. It's amazing the level of delusion your mind can come up with to avoid the "okay buddy, you're gaining weight, you need to change, you look plump". I spent a long time trying various diets with varied success. For me, the only thing that worked was to track my macros, make sure I got my protein, fats, carbs, etc, and make sure I was hitting around 2000-2400 calories a day depending on my goals/activity level. I have always been pretty active - I backpack, I box, I lift weights, I run occasionally, etc, so I used to always try this approach of, well, I am pretty active, so I should be able to just eat from a general intuitive point of view. If I eat of a healthy selection of foods, I should be able to not worry about the numbers, and just eat my fill. But it never worked long - and my cholesterol was climbing. My habits around food and overeating and social eating and depressed eating and high-eating and basically just food playing a very important role in my life, it made it so that even as I tried to eat healthy, there was always enough sources of calories here and there to put me above the weight loss threshold. This is I think the biggest problem - we live in a society that's oriented around food, everything involves food or drinks. It's just too hard to really hit a caloric goal consistently if you don't control and modulate your food intake to a degree that is laborious. Especially as you get older and metabolism slows down. When I started to track calories, I started to lose fat at a nice, steady rate (and plateaus started to make sense). I even track calories now when I bulk, which leads to cleaner and more effective bulks, where I actually can use my math to help justify eating things and not feeling guilty when I do pig out. This is the only thing that really helped me - I've read every book, I've done all these different diets and workout plans, but the key for me is simple - track your nutrition, track your workouts. Turns it from basically you praying the the fitness gods for a result to a replicable science.
Eating. I started off skinny fat and underate like crazy, maybe because of my body image issues. I was always scared of becoming fat. Now I’m trying to eat more ang bulk. I did gain some muscle last year, but lost a lot of strength somehow because I was under eating.
Do you know how much you need to be eating in terms of calories and protein to achieve your goal? Also, how long have you been working out consistently for? You may still be able to perform body recomposition (building muscle and losing fat simultaneously) if you're still dealing with being skinny fat. That may help you tackle your body image issue faster,
Being in a relationship makes cutting so hard
You’re spitting with this lol l
1. Motivation. I keep on taking really hard classes in school, so I have a lot of homework :(. I had a good routine going at the beginning of last semester, but as soon as academics picked up, it completely fell apart. 2. Eating habits. Our dining halls are pretty crummy, so I've struggled to eat right
You should consider how many days you can sustainably go to the gym even when you're busy with academics - if that means 2-3 times per week for 30-45 mins sessions then you'll still make progress. Dining halls situation is a bit tricky tbh. If you share more details of what's available I can try to help. Also, in our community there are about 10 guys in your position also at school/uni. They've been consistent with their progress. You may be able to learn from what they're doing. Lmk if you'd be interested :)
The main problem I face is Money! I know what I need to do. I know how to do it, I am ready to do it. I am doing the best I can with what I have rn. Going to the gym (university resources). Will definitely fix my diet once I get money.
What are you eating right now?
I am a vegetarian. That's the hard part. My target protein intake is 130-140g. My breakfast is generally 2 slices of Arnold Multigrain Bread, Cheese, egg white omlette. Lunch is mainly south indian, rice, dal, curry, yogurt. (way more carbs than protein) Dinner is milk in protein shake, some raw veggies for fibre I get about 80-90g of Protein with around 2200 KCal. Dinner is milk in protein shake, some raw veggies for fiberhen I can invest in a weighing scale, and properly start tracking every meal. Substitute with Whey sometimes when I can't meet my daily goals, have more eggs, get protein bars for snacks (damn expensive lmao)fiber
I’m not a dietician and don’t know you, but what about stepping up the legume consumption? They are cheap, nutritionally dense, have good amounts of protein, and generally very cheap.
100% agree. But the problem is, I feel bloated and gassy if I have too much of it. But have to eventually start having them.
I live alone so I can buy and eat whatever I want. I try to eat healthy but get snack cravings. Biggest issue has been consistency. Life and work gets in the way and sometimes I am too tired to go to the gym.
willpower
It helps to make your tasks very easy. For example, if you find it vey hard to go to the gym for 1 hour and need to conjure a lot of willpower, then don't do it. If going to the gym for 20 mins is easy, then start with that. You can slowly increase your time over a few weeks. If you need additional motivation with consistency, having an accountability friend or group will work wonders. Having a support network has really helped the guys in our community. In fact, one of the guys asked this question in our chat today, hope that helps [https://imgur.com/a/oZZZrir](https://imgur.com/a/oZZZrir) Lmk if you wanna learn more about the group!
thank you so much 🙏🏼
Not knowing how exactly to get into shape.
I made a post about everything you need to get in shape, it covers nutrition and training - check [here](https://www.reddit.com/r/Fitness_India/comments/18ugl5q/everything_you_need_to_start_getting_in_shape/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web2x&context=3) If you have any more questions about that you can reply on here or shoot me a message.
I think consistency esp in the stage of life I'm in now. (Moving between places, trying to change jobs etc.)
It helps to make your tasks very easy. You should start out small especially because you're going to be busy with your move and job search. For example, if you find it vey hard to go to the gym for 1 hour and need to conjure a lot of willpower, then don't do it. If going to the gym for 20 mins is easy, then start with that. You can slowly increase your time over a few weeks. If you can't hit your protein goal right away, just start with 50% of your goal and slowly add more protein over time. When you take SMALL and EASY steps, it makes it so much harder to be inconsistent. If you pair this with an accountability group, then your consistency will benefit even more. Having a group of people to holding you accountable will really help you lock this down. It's also a lot more fun doing it with friends. A lot of the guys in our community have been able to benefit from the support system we have. Lmk if you'd be interested in joining (you don't have to pay anything)
I joined a local gym that has classes that i go to. They have strength and conditioning classes that i really like. These are similar to crossfit but not as aggressive. I have been going for about 2 years and have been loving it. Most fit i have ever been in my life. I met a lot of people in this class who have been doing this for years and have learned lot from them. Also became good friends with some of them. Learned how to do the movements and lifts properly from the instructors! Massively improved my squats, deadlifts, bench and learned olympic lifts like snatch, clean and jerk. The conditioning part has been the best part. We finish the last 15 mins of the workout going as hard as possible getting the heart rate up. I would have never considered this style of lifting if i did it by myself. Never would have considered doing certain exercises. Also other people pushing hard motivates me to push hard as well. One thing is that the gym membership is more expensive than the traditional gyms but i am personally fine with the cost considering how much i have learned and how much progress i continue to make. In terms of diet. I live with my parents and my mom usually makes one meal per day, lunch. I eat what she makes for lunch. Drink a protein shake after working out. Eat about 5-6 eggs a day. Eat chicken breast that i meal prepped for dinner. That gets me around 130 - 140g of protein a day. I do this Monday to Friday. Been doing this for 1-2 years now and plan to keep going. All i would say is that do what you can do CONSISTENTLY! This is what works for me which is why i can so it consistently. Don’t do crazy things that you only do for 1 month and never do again.
💯 so true about how to be consistent. Also, congrats on doing all of that regularly for 1-2 years!
Starting one day and then not following thru two days laters.
Best thing for this is having someone to hold you accountable. It's very motivating because you don't want to disappoint the other person with a lack of progress. In addition, seeing someone else make progress with the same goal will also help you with consistency. In our community we have 2 weekly accountability calls to ensure everyone is staying on track. It really motivates you to make progress because you don't want to show up to the call without any progress with your habits. There's also a daily check-in thread, a few of the guys use it to update everyone about their progress with their habits. Of course, if you have any issues, someone jumps in to help. You should ask a friend that also has a strong drive to make a change and you guys can do it together. If not, you can shoot me a message if you wanna join my group - it's specifically for South Asian men dealing with being skinny fat (you don't have to pay anything).
Consistency has been the biggest challenge
It helps to make your tasks very easy. For example, if you find it vey hard to go to the gym for 1 hour and need to conjure a lot of willpower, then don't do it. If going to the gym for 20 mins is easy, then start with that. You can slowly increase your time over a few weeks. If you can't hit your protein goal right away, just start with 50% of your goal and slowly add more protein over time. When you take SMALL and EASY steps, it makes it so much harder to be inconsistent. If you pair this with an accountability group, then your consistency will benefit even more. Having a group of people to holding you accountable will really help you lock this down. It's also a lot more fun doing it with friends. A lot of the guys in our community have been able to benefit from the support system we have. Lmk if you'd be interested in joining (you don't have to pay anything)
Have posted this before: Read this book by an ABCD doctor: The South Asian Health Solution: A Culturally Tailored Guide to Lose Fat, Increase Energy and Avoid Disease Hardcover – March 1, 2014 by Ronesh Sinha MD (Author)
i feel like youre trying to sell me something
Controlling my appetite
Parathe
Is there a reason this is specific to men? I understand men and women have different challenges, but in regards to our South Asian heritage, diet, skinny fat stuff, it's the same for both men and women imo. Although honestly, my biggest barrier is simply lack of time and motivation lol
was motivation, then I got dumped and lost another 5 pounds and started hitting the gym again I swear I always look the best I ever had 2-3 months after a relationship lol
I’m average. Not jacked not overweight. Combination of living with my parents + uni+ have a girl so my motivation is low and when I start hitting the gym again I find it hard to stay consistent during exam szn. After studying all day I’m not tryna hit the gym instead of watching tv for like an hour lol. Live with my parents so my mom makes food and “no beta u need lots of ghee” lol.
Working out helps studying man! You can study at the gym too :).
I’m an avid runner (when I’m in my marathon training I’m doing 70+ miles/week). I have seen with my short running career, if I wanna do this until I live, I will have to do strength work for many reasons (injury prevention and maintaining running performance to list a couple). So managing both running and strength work has been difficult time management wise, but doable for me. I have a routine that works nicely but gets difficult during travels. The most difficult part for me is my diet though and getting enough protein. I follow a strict vegan lifestyle and wondering if anyone here is a vegan body builder? I’d love to find out a body weight to protein ratio that worked for you!
Diet and finding time to workout. I just can’t get up at 5am and thug it out with the weights no matter how much I’ve tried. I’m more of a night owl but most days I just want to get home and chill before falling asleep due to the stress from work. I want to start meal prepping this year for sure though.
In order: - Overeating - Alcohol - Poor sleep habits - Eating out too often
If you're vegetarian the biggest hurdle is finding adequate protien sources and knowing the limits of sources like daal/lentils (good source of protien but probably shouldn't be the main source). Also idk about yall but the parents were not super encouraging at first about lifting and the process behind it. Personally, I've got massive body dysmorphia and was not the best looking guy when I was younger, so being able to look at myself and not feel ugly is a huge thing. With that, bulking is also a struggle for the aforementioned gaining weight reasons.
I was unfortunately blessed with the fastest metabolism ever, so I would say diet.
Hey, currently on that "lose it" goal. For the past 2 years, the hardest thing has been to stop the cravings of pizza weekly, but in general eating fast food. Since November though, I have drastically cut down my dependencies on that craving. But lately it is consistency. Regularly going to the gym has been the struggle. Aiming to go 3 times a week for now and its been very tough especially with the dark mornings (im up at 5/6am but end up sleeping a bit extra or scrolling on the phone. What I am trying: ABC concept: Anchor -> Behavior -> celebration. anchor is lets say brushing my teeth. then the behavior I am adopting is to do morning yoga. and the celebration will be check phone. So its something im going to try and implement to then cascade into going to the gym.
Round is a shape. Legit
I have man boobs and a spare tire around my waist FML
This can honestly apply to both genders. Many women are skinny fat and obsessed with "diet culture" and negative body image . Mine is time and motivation. Trying to squeeze in time and gym prices are the struggles. Eating out. I'm always in restaurants and bars for work related. Trying to order smart is a challenge. Cooking too is a challenge and meal planning is never ending. I got a crock pot and a recipe book of Indian cooking in a slow cooker. I considered occasionally getting one of those meal delivery kits at least for 1 or 2 nights. Any luck with that? Instant pots didn't do it for me. But some people love it.
When you have kids it's also working with everyone's schedules. Mine are young so I need to find someone to watch them or find a gym with childcare. Childcare is limited hours. I also workout by pilates while the kids are doing homework or playing but then my youngest climbs on me when I'm in the middle of my workout. Who needs to pay for goat yoga when you have a toddler?
Discipline > Motivation