
How I lost 10% body fat, while launching a startup (and raising kids) - ryancarson
http://ryanleecarson.tumblr.com/post/21845066920/get-healthy
======
bialecki
It's been said many times before, but getting exercise while doing a startup
is a must. It's like saying you should use LESS/SASS instead of coding CSS.
You just won't believe how much better it is until you actually try it for a
while.

For the last three months I've forced myself to go for a jog every morning, no
excuses, even if it means I'll get started on stuff a little later, so be it.
It's an amazing complement to the uncertainty and mental challenges of a
startup.

~~~
antidaily
Forcing myself to use LESS is actually harder than exercise for me. Any tips?

~~~
jenius
Do yourself an additional favor and don't use less - it nowhere near as
powerful as alternatives. go with sass or stylus and I absolutely promise you
it will pay off. gem install sass then run sass --watch
/path/to/sass_file.sass and you're good to go.

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spking
It looks like no cardio to speak of in your routine. So many people kill
themselves doing an hour a day of running or riding a stationary bike and then
wonder why they don't get better results. It's really 80% or more about diet
and lifting weights. The more muscle you have the more calories you will burn
throughout the day. You just don't need that much cardio if you train
intensely enough when lifting weights.

Nice work Ryan.

~~~
Stwerner
Yeah, it is refreshing to see people posting results from these predominantly
weight lifting programs. Helps keep me motivated on what I'm doing.

If anyone is interested in starting, but lacks the money for a personal
trainer, I've found Starting Strength by Mark Rippetoe
([http://www.amazon.com/By-Mark-Rippetoe-Lon-
Kilgore/dp/B005PI...](http://www.amazon.com/By-Mark-Rippetoe-Lon-
Kilgore/dp/B005PITS1E/)) to be a huge help in learning all the lifts. The
first chapter is almost 60 pages just on squats going over everything from
foot position to hand position, along with an explanation of why.

~~~
spking
Looks interesting. I know a lot of beginners have had solid results with 5x5
as well:

[http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-
tra...](http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-beginner-strength-training-
program/)

There's a free iOS app for tracking progress too:
<http://stronglifts.com/stronglifts-5x5-app/>

~~~
Stwerner
Yeah, I'm actually doing the stronglifts 5x5 program. The Starting Strength
book is still really useful for learning the lifts and getting all of the
detail. With stronglifts you're going to get high in weight quick - so knowing
form well is kind of important.

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ocirion
I think its great that you accomplished this, and I guess seeing as its hit
the front page of HN you may inspire a few tech folk to believe they can too.
But I still find nothing new to take from this that you can't find on just
about any Paleo, low carb, excercise site (i.e Mark's Daily Apple).

You changed to Paleo. You worked out 3 times a week. You took some
supplements. You saw some results. You did this with a day job (albeit 4 day a
week job) and a family.

What new obstacle did you overcome ? what breakthrough did you achieve ?

I think your achievement is commendable, just not sure what its doing on the
front page of HN.

~~~
ryancarson
The hard part was achieving this during a tremendously stressful period of my
life (raising money and launching a company).

Also, I was never able to achieve success before, even though I tried multiple
times.

~~~
madaxe
Good on you, dude - thought you were looking rather more trim the last time I
spied you in town. Did the same, and dropped from 18.5 stone to 13 over 9
months. Eat food, not too much, mostly leaves. Run. Done. Oh, and withings
scales. Can't be without them.

That said, I still need to lose the final, irksome bit of gut. _pulls finger
out, decides to get some new running shoes_

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Sproutworx
This may get a down voted because I'm new to commenting, but I figured adding
a comment was better than starting a "Show HN" thread.

My buddy and I created a web/iPhone app that is great for people trying to get
fit but struggle doing it because they can't find the motivation. So for those
who are motivated by Ryan's story and are looking for additional tools, maybe
give it a try.

<http://1upfit.com> allows you to compete against friends in simple workout
challenges. Pushups, pull-ups, running, swimming, etc. We are actually in beta
testing right now for tracking a weight loss challenge similar to what Ryan
did above. (We both recently completed a slow carb diet, which is very
similar.)

Training by yourself or changing dietary habits by yourself can be hard and
sometimes you don't have the people around to properly motivate you. My
brother is an Ironman but lives in Colorado (I'm in Portland) so it's hard to
say "Hey let's go for a run". By using the app though, I can see every time he
runs and it motivates me to go out and do it too, for fear of losing a
competition to my brother.

~~~
AznHisoka
I highly recommend you start a Show HN thread for this.

------
summerville
I signed up for a marathon right before founding a startup last summer. Having
a training plan and something to train for was great because it forced me to
stop working and exercise on a routine basis. The running itself was great
stress relief, gave me "big picture" think time and actually made me more
productive when I worked.

------
idan
I started rising a bike to and from my startup (also raising kids.) One hour
of very pleasurable cardio a day, lost a lot of weight.

------
ryanaAM
This is inspiring Ryan. I was specifically looking for examples of busy dads
that have successfully launched their own business when I came across your
post. Too bad you're in the UK, I'd love to take you out for a pint.

~~~
ryancarson
Cheers :) I'm moving to Portland if that's any closer.

------
dave1619
Very inspiring story of losing 10% body fat - gaining muscle and losing fat.
I've read elsewhere of this 3-day per week workout plan focusing on muscle
mass. It seems like it gets great results. Also, working with a personal
trainer makes a lot of sense.

The only thing I'm skeptical about is all the meat in your diet. If you watch
Forks Over Knives and read the China Study, it talks about meat and animal
products directly leading to the growth of cancer cells. Have you heard about
that and what's your take?

~~~
hadriagh
I enjoyed Forks Over Knives but as with any documentary there is always a
bias. I would recommend taking a look at this write-up in response to the
film: [http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/09/22/forks-over-knives-is-the-
sc...](http://rawfoodsos.com/2011/09/22/forks-over-knives-is-the-science-
legit-a-review-and-critique/)

------
andrewingram
Given that a big part of the dietary changes is getting rid of as many carbs
as possible, does anyone have any advice for eating out at lunch on this kind
of diet?

Going out and grabbing some food is a rewarding part of my day, but I'm
struggling to think of any options for low carb, almost everywhere seems to
focus on bread, pasta or rice.

~~~
Sproutworx
Mexican, even Chipotle will work. Get a burrito bowl. Substitute the rice for
more veggies. No tortilla. Beans, veggies, meat, and fresh salsa. It's right
in line with most of the diets. Pretty low carbs. I just completed a month of
the Slow Carb diet by doing this. Lost 20 lbs.

~~~
March_Hare
The salads at Chipotle are also a good choice.

------
SkyMarshal
_> All day: Three litres of water, two coffees (with soy milk)_

Some research has shown that soy decreases testosterone in men. It does not
seem to be a decided question, though a nutritional epidemiologist I trust
believes it is. You might replace with rice milk to be on the safe side.

------
manuelflara
Congrats on the change! I'm on the middle of something similar myself. One
question: you say your work out sessions were 60 minutes and for Tuesday you
write "Tuesday - Shoulders: Military press, side-arm raises". You did only
that for 60 minutes? How many series and reps?

~~~
antinitro
I thought the same. It makes more sense to me to split up back and chest to
different days and do shoulders on the chest day. I believe the 3 largest
muscle groups are legs, back and chest and I split my workouts into a day for
each of those.

------
Tichy
Is there really no other way than going Paelo? As a former vegetarian, I find
that hard to stomach.

Also I was slim for 16 years as a vegetarian, and vegetarian diets used to be
considered healthy. Gained weight in the last three years, though - but I eat
lots of sweets...

~~~
mhd
The "nice" thing about pre-fab diets like Paleo is that you'll find lots of
like-minded people sharing recipes and generally giving each other support -
just like every "moment". There are certainly other diets that are effective,
and paleo doesn't even seem to have a solid scientific foundation…

Basically pick anything that reduces your caloric intake. Yes, some diets
might get you more rapid results, but in the end most people fare better with
something they can actually live with, especially if it's not just sprinting
towards a goal, but keeping that dietary change for a long time (permanently,
even). I'd be wary of picking any extreme as your first stop, in any endeavor.

For me, just training yourself of snacks and sweets worked out quite well
(I've got one hell of a sweet tooth). I did this mainly by picking 24
consecutive hours in a week where I didn't eat anything (and neither made up
for it before or after that). That alone saves you some calories, but for me
the main benefit wasn't this fasting, but teaching yourself that you don't
_have_ to eat all the time.

~~~
ksmith
Regarding the paleo science, or lack thereof, I enjoyed this talk from Robb
Wolf: [http://robbwolf.com/2012/03/07/darwinian-medicine-talk-
suny-...](http://robbwolf.com/2012/03/07/darwinian-medicine-talk-suny-paltz/)

I'm sure some see 'paleo' as pseudoscience, but there are definitely people in
the community trying to pin down the science.

~~~
mhd
I'd be more interested if people _outside_ the community -- people who don't
have a stake in it -- would work on it, but for this discussion, whether it's
bro science or not doesn't really matter, as long as it works for people.
(Until someone discovers long-time ill effects, of course, but I'm not aware
of that right now)

Although I do guess that the "sole true human diet" factor is contributing to
the effectiveness, as people who accept that are more likely to stick with it.

------
Ecio78
Ryan, have you done blood exams before and after to check if everything is ok?

------
antidaily
Where's the before pic, man?

------
TomGullen
Shame you didn't talk more about your diet in the regards that what you
actually did was cut out all the carbohydrates! This to me would appear to be
the #1 reason to your success, a low carb diet.

~~~
driverdan
Macronutrients are secondary to cutting calories. Once you get enough protein
to maintain or build muscle and enough fat to fit dietary requirements you can
eat as many carbs as you want so long as your calories come in lower than what
you burn.

That said, many people find it easier to control their food intake by
eliminating simple carbs. Swings in blood sugar can create cravings and
eliminating or reducing carbs will reducing or eliminate such cravings.

~~~
pdubs
Low-carb diets can be unsustainable depending on individual preferences too.
Cutting calories and portion control generally makes it easier to maintain
weight when your target weight is met.

