Someone explain to me if this is healthy...

[CableLight]

I'm not a big health freak, but I'd like some input on my situation here.

1) I do minimal working-out at school. Homework and whatnot takes up a lot of time, and I don't feel like taking extra showers in the middle of the day. When I do work out, it's "maintenance" lifting. i.e. keeping at a fairly contstant level. I've got a 6-pack, strong leg strength, and pretty decent arm definition, so that's good enough for me.

2) My metabolism is insane. I don't know if it's extremely fast or extremely slow, but I do not gain weight - Ever. I'll even eat Burger King twice a week in addition to beer on the weekend and random junk food throughout the day, but I wont gain sh!t. I've stayed around 160-165 for basically this whole year. In going with #1, I'm fairly sure muscle mass isn't being lost because I've kept it pretty constant all year.

3) Caffiene intake is fairly high...Soda in the morning, one after class, one with each meal (~2 a day), maybe one at night. More on the weekends simply because I'm not worried about what time I go to bed.

4) On the topic of sleep, I'll get about 7-9 hours any given night. I think this is healthy, no?

5) I'll take multivitamins fairly regularly. Just throwing this in there.

But anyways....Like I said, I'm not trying to get into "top physical condition" or anything, and I'm only 20 years old, so I'm just wondering if this is at all detrimental to myself

 

[earthshyne]

Originally posted by CableLight
I'm not a big health freak, but I'd like some input on my situation here.

1) I do minimal working-out at school. Homework and whatnot takes up a lot of time, and I don't feel like taking extra showers in the middle of the day. When I do work out, it's "maintenance" lifting. i.e. keeping at a fairly contstant level. I've got a 6-pack, strong leg strength, and pretty decent arm definition, so that's good enough for me.

If you're ok with the way you are, and it's not causing you any grief, then there's no problem here as far as I can see.

Originally posted by CableLight
2) My metabolism is insane. I don't know if it's extremely fast or extremely slow, but I do not gain weight - Ever. I'll even eat Burger King twice a week in addition to beer on the weekend and random junk food throughout the day, but I wont gain sh!t. I've stayed around 160-165 for basically this whole year. In going with #1, I'm fairly sure muscle mass isn't being lost because I've kept it pretty constant all year.

Alas, I was once as you are. But anything you can do to reduce the amount of fat and salt in your diet is a good thing. As long as you maintain a healthy diet - lots a veggies, fruits, quality proteins, etc - then you can have a greaseburger once in a while. Just don't overdo it on the junk.

Originally posted by CableLight 3) Caffiene intake is fairly high...Soda in the morning, one after class, one with each meal (~2 a day), maybe one at night. More on the weekends simply because I'm not worried about what time I go to bed.

Worry less about the caffeine and more about the sugar intake.

Originally posted by CableLight 4) On the topic of sleep, I'll get about 7-9 hours any given night. I think this is healthy, no?

Seems cool.

Originally posted by CableLight 5) I'll take multivitamins fairly regularly. Just throwing this in there.

If you are eating properly, then they're a waste of time. Even if your diet is out of whack a bit, they're still a waste. The March 18, 2003 issue of JournalWatch (basically, a compendium of medical journals) reported that clinical trials offer only mixed results. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/451579. Research continues.

 

[CableLight]

Thanks for that link and for the reply.

On the topic of sodas, I drink mostly diet ones...No sugar, no carbs, no calories, no nothin - Just that sweet, sweet caffiene

I don't eat a lot of salt except for when I'm just munchin' out on snack food. Usually in the form of Cheez-It or Ramen Noodles (which have an insane amount of sodium, so I don't eat many of them). Also, I'll grab a banana or apple (maybe both) in addition to Orange Juice or milk with every meal. My college has bush league food, so turning to fruits and such is almost mandatory.

I basically made this post out of curiosity...Like, I wanna be healthy and all that, and I rarely get sick, but I look at my day-to-day activities with a dubious sense that something might be outta whack. After reading your reply, I feel a bit better about it.

The vitamins might not be really beneficiary, but I don't think they'd hurt, do you?

 

[7 Virtues]

Continue taking the vitamins; one journal article (peer reviewed? No idea, I can't see it) is not proof of effectiveness either way.

How the vitamins are absorbed depends on the contents of your stomach, and which vitamins have to compete for the same reception. Minerals are not absorbed readily from multivitamins.

 

[CableLight]

Would my metabolism rate have an effect on how fast vitamins and such are distributed, too? Like, would it speed up how fast they reach their "destination" (or whatever), and would this be a positive thing?

 

[Heizen]

Metabolism relates more to calories and energy then vitamin uptake.

I havn't had a soda in weeks, barely touch the stuff anymore so saying you have 5 a day just makes me cring. Caffine constricts the blood vessels, raises blood pressure, ect ect. But I will admit that soda is some damn good stuff

Cablelight, greaseburgers and fast food have ALOT of sodium in it as well. I wouldn't worry about it so long as you are geting enough water; the sodium in the sodas and the food might leave you slightly dehydrated. Thats what I would think about.

Personally, I would stay away from sugar and the fastfood. Neither are good for you.

 

[Julian]

Do you have any goals health-wise? If you are ok the way you are then keep doin what your doin. Its always good to cut back on junkfood and pop tho.

 

[CableLight]

Well, the Burger King is more out of necessity based on my class schedule...I didn't know it when I signed up for classes, but Tuesday and Thursday I have classes that run right through lunch and into what's known here as Meal Exchange. It's from 2-4:30 in the afternoon and basically lets you use your current meal plan to get either Pizza Hut, BK, or some oriental stuff without having to pay for it. Kinda like trading a lunch for a lunch.

Water intake is pretty high, too...

As for health goals - Not really, I guess. I'm not really a jock or big sports guy, so I don't have any real performance thing in mind when I work out. I mostly do it to keep sexy

 

[Blue Phoenix]

Be careful with Soda, otherwise you can end up developing Diabetes!

 

[CableLight]

One more thing on the soda topic...I didn't clarify this very well, but when I said I have one with each meal, most of the time at least one of those will be the "after class" soda. I'd say on most given days I'll have 3-4 (cans). Is that bad?

The scary thing is, when I was a kid (12-17ish) I'd drink like 6-8 a day! I got tired of the dentist, so I cut down and switched to diet sodas.

Just for my own curiosity, I assume the whole diabetes thing is related to sugar-heavy soda, right? I'm no doctor, but I can't see a correlation between that and soda without sugar...?

 

[semag]

Re: your burger king.

Chicken whopper w/ no mayo. Eat that all the time.

 

[dastal]

this sounds wierd, but I only started to gain weight after I cut out ALL junk food. I think its because the Cheez-its and Coke just take up roomfrom the other foods, like meats, vegetables, and breads. I definitely ate more at mealtimes.

 

[earthshyne]

About the vitamins...

Yes, the article I referenced is peer reviewed. You may have to subscribe (it's free) through the website to see it.

There are arguments about over-the-counter multivitamins on both sides. For me personally, I'd be less concerned about the vitamin content of the pills themselves than I would about the binding agents, colourings and sugars they use so the pills look pretty and taste reasonable.

IMO, just eat healthy, and you won't need to worry about taking vitamins.