Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

3 years ago, i was in pretty decent shape. After the discovery of poker, I pretty much played poker 10 hours a day in the casinos and on the internet.

I want to continue playing poker but I find myself not working out and eating tons of junk food and drinking soda and beer.

Since coming home to spend the holidays with my parents in Oregon, I've developed what looks to be the early stages of Male Pectoral Disfunction....or "Man Boobs" as you guys would say.

I'm embarrassed to leave the house without heavy clothing on and it's even progressed to the point where I'm considering wearing something for support.

Women look at me like I'm homeless these days and my self esteem has sunk a new low.

I dont really want to work out, I want to devote all my time to playing poker.


Is there anything I can do? Can someone help me?

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

dont eat crap and work out. this is truely the only answer.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

There is no excuse for this.

Millions of people who have "real jobs" manage to stay in shape. If you have the flexibility of being a professional poker player, you have no one but yourself to blame for being out of shape.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

If you truly want to lose weight, you need to do two things: start working out and start eating right.

To get the first done, get a gym membership. Don't get a cheap one, get an expensive one. This will get you to start going at least in the beginning (which is the toughest part) cause you'll hate to see your money flushing down the drain. If you still have some self-respect left, make a pact with yourself that you will go to the gym every single day for at least an hour for two weeks straight. Every single day! If you accomplish that for two weeks, exercising on a regular basis will have become part of your routine and getting yourself to the gym will no longer be a problem.

Next, start eating right. This means no more junk food. None. Don't try to wean yourself off it, just cut it off completely. And again, make a pact with yourself to cook decent meals and not eat any junk food for 2 weeks. When it comes to soda, switch to diet stuff. It'll taste like crap for the first couple days, but you'll quickly get used to it. After a week, you'll really like the taste and normal sugary soda will start to seem nasty. Same goes with beer. Switch to light beer and cut down your consumption to no more than 7 per week.

If you're a real man and have respect for yourself, you'll do all this and thank me later. And the best part is that unless you're morbidly obese already, you'll start seeing results very quickly. Good luck!

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Working out helps you play better poker, since you mind focuses better. Even if you play 10 hours a day you still have plenty of time to work out.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

A couple of guys come into my mind: Robert Williamson III, Howard Lederer and Greg Raymer. If you sit on your butt doing nothing but eating and playing poker, it will show sooner or later. I hope it's not too late to pull the breaks and counter it by working out each day. Otherwise you would have to resort to gastric bypass surgery which is supposed to work wonders.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

take up smoking?

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

I skipped most of that post when i saw a few things.

"Don't get a cheap one, get an expensive one." & "None. Don't try to wean yourself off it, just cut it off completely".


Thats just bad advice. Sugar levels would drop dead and he'd feel like crap. He'd have huge urges to eat junk food.

Its like saying to a druggy "Ah just quit, who cares about cold turkey its only a bit of shaking and cold sweats... easy".

You've got to want to lose weight and if you want it, you shall suceed.

Sign up to a forum, i'd recommend www.muscletalk.co.uk where you can ask for advice from bodybuilders and "normal"(lol) blokes just wanting to get fitter.

Its xmas season... Don't be fooled by gym adverts... paying £100 a month wont motivate you to work out... it will just make you feel stupid like you've wasted your cash and in affect make you feel even worse about yourself. Infact if you just want to lose weight you only need to do pressups and lift bags full of tinned beans and whatever else then go for jogs in the FRESH AIR.

Getting fit DOES NOT COST MONEY, its only the stupid people whom think it does.

Sign up to the forum, Post in diet section and get advice then Post in workout section and ask for a workout/routine. Most will recommend a gym as it is better, but definatly not required.

Start on a cutting diet that you will slowly adjust to, removing your junk food and replacing it with good foods gradually.

Switch to sugar free drinks gradually and let your body adjust.

I post at muscletalk, its a great place. I lost about 50lbs and my added about 2" to my arms in the first 4months-5months of training.

I've been slacking recently, but i will return mid january where i shall lose about 5-8lbs more(will take around a month) and have my abs [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img].

Good luck.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

I dont know if the OP is a hox or not. If it isnt a joke it's pretty damn gross.

-try doing any aerobic exercise(swim,walk,run,cross-country ski etc) a minimum 45 minutes a day 5-6 days a week.

-cut out eating drinking anything with alot of sugar,corn syrup, anthing hydrogenated.

-eat less saturated fat

-drink alot of water thruout the day.

-eat smaller portions. Americans are pigs and eat double the size portions that are recommended for healthy eating habits.

-dont eat until you are 100% full or over-full in other words dont be a pig eat till you are 80% full.

-find exercise you like to do -one that feels good to your body and mind-for me that is watersports-swimming,surfing etc sometimes biking or jogging. Also a weight-training program will help you with weight problems. I would focus on regular aerobic exercise w/some weight-training regimen and re-think your diet and eating habits from scratch.

No excuse for young people ..poker players or not to be out of shape.

2/3 of Americans are overweight. Americans are pigs..cut out the crap that makes us sick people..ie sodas,snacks-chips,high saturated fat quick foods pizza, burgers etc.

with time you will feel much better.
-Focus on fruit,vegetables,nuts,fish and leaner meats.

-if you have a sweet tooth fruit are a great subsitute ie pears,peaches,any melon bananas,strawberries-yum.

-if you cook add spices to your food ie lots of garlic,onions-which is also good for you. I grew up in a family of italian cooks so thats easy for me.

-use virgin olive oil over butter..fast and easy to cook for yourself. Cut excess fat off meats,chiken etc

-eat less dairy-cheeses,whole milk etc. I drink non-fat vanilla soymilk..I love it and I'm used to it.

Believe me I love meat-t-bones, porterhouses, greasy yummy fried chicken,burgers, bbq but I just try and limit the damage by not eating it too often..

Do aerobic exercise almost everyday and eat smaller portions. Your poker results will get much better-you will be able to play longer sessions with more focus. The main edge I gain is that I seem to get less frustrated from badbeats when I'm in good shape..

be disciplined with your exercise regime.it's easy to take one day off and it easily turns into 2 or 3. You must be disciplined and get in your exrcise no matter what unless you are just too sick and your body's immune system is low.

If you force yourself to exercise regularly you will have more energy than you ever had before to do what you want to do poker or not. Also your sex-life and senses-should also benefit.

sorry for rambling. I think it's disgusting that Americans are in such hideous health. It costs the country billions of dollars. We are living longer but are in worse shape.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

I was in the same boat as you. Used to be athletic and in shape, then my new job started and I was trapped behind a desk, never moving. I lost 15 lbs. in the past month by doing a few very easy things (which is great considering optimal weght loss should be about 2 lbs per week.)

I go to the gym 5 times a week (mon-fri) take weekends off. (do at least a half an hour of cardio and do strength training 2 to 3 times a week.
I eat something healthy and small every two hours to promote metabolism (Apple, 100 calorie granola bar, etc.)
I eat two meals a day that consist of either baked chicken, broiled steak, or baked fish with some veggies. (1 serving should be some carbs, like a potato with dinner.)
I don't snack on crap!! (no chips or candy)
Don't drink soda at all!!!!!!!! (no diet soda because it's loaded with sodium that makes you do what.....drink more soda!) Drink close to a half gallon of water per day (you should never be without a bottle of water in your hand)

Follow those guidelines and I guarantee that you lose weight the healthy way and fairly quickly. I don't know how big you are now, but remember that the more fat you have on your body, the more fat you burn in a month period. So I went from 190 to 175 in a month. If you are 250, you would reach the 15 lb. mark faster than I did.

Oh ps- switch to 2% or skim milk, switch to whole grain bread and pasta, and be sure to eat breakfast everyday to fire up you metabolism.

Good Luck

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

goodguy gives good advice here.

I'm not exactly in the best of shape myself and haven't been for awhile...but I'm eating better...and still play on a couple of rec-league soccer teams against players 10-15 years younger than me (even though I suck) so I could certainly be doing worse.



Here's the part of the original post that really bothered me:

[ QUOTE ]

I dont really want to work out, I want to devote all my time to playing poker.

[/ QUOTE ]


Did anyone else notice this?? (I only skimmed some of the replies).
You want to devote ALL your time to playing poker??


Look....work-out or don't work-out...whatever you want. You know you'll possibly just get fatter and fatter if you don't and then your self-esteem will get worse and worse.

If your looks are bad and your self-esteem is low you don't have to go anywhere to work-out...you can still do aerobic stuff at home.

but this bit about wanting to devote ALL your time to playing poker is just disgusting.

There's so much more to life than poker...and I suspect that poker is the 'escape'. You are drowning your self-esteem issues in poker (something like that...I'm not a psychologist so what do i know).


Back to the esteem and working-out, etc.
It's the New Year. Lots of fat people will make resolutions and will sign-up at health-clubs. You won't be the only WAY out-of-shape person there.
So if you can muster the strength to get a membership then do that.
Or work-out at home.
You'll need to find your own reason and motivation....or you can just keep playing poker all freaking day long and let your body deteriorate.


You need to find a reason.


I just recently won a trip on the party-poker cruise (to Jamaica and Grand Cayman in March) and the GF and I are using it as our motivation. We were both getting in better shape, but we are both a bit chubbier after Thanksgiving and XMas. It happens.
We want our cruise pics this year to be a little less-chubby then they were last year. And we have about 10 weeks to do that...so we're going to support each other in eating better and working out, etc etc.


But I also think you really need to think about your general life-attitude and this whole bit about "all I want to do is play poker" because that's kind of scary if you ask me.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

You've received some good advice. On the diet side of things, you should and can cut out all refined sugars. When you want to sweeten something, use splenda, equal, or small amounts of honey. Store-bought/vending machine junk foods are usually loaded with refined sugar, unhealthy fats, refined starches or a combination of all three. Cut them out cold turkey. Diet sodas will work well as a replacement for your normal pop. I have yet to see any that contained a significant amount of sodium. Some good replacements for your normal junk food snacks are various types of vegetables such as baby carrots, celery, broccoli, or cauliflower dipped in light salad dressing. Celery dipped in NATURAL peanut butter is also good. Fruits are also a good junk food snack replacement, and they should be eaten with the skin when at all practical (bananas would be an exception, for example) to ensure you're getting the fiber for satiety and slowed gastric emptying purposes. When I'm going to be at the poker room for hours, I take some of this stuff in an igloo container and leave it in my car. When I'm hungry, I'm not at the mercy of the ridiculously overpriced/unhealthy garbage they sell at the casino, and just make a quick trip out to my car.

For your main meals, you want to make sure you're getting plenty of quality protein as well as plenty of fiber. Protein spares muscle tissue from being used for energy as well as having the most significant thermic effect (increased metabolic efficiency) of any of the macronutrients. The fiber helps you to feel fuller on less food and for longer while helping to stabilize energy levels following your meals. Lean meats, lean seafood and lean dairy products should be your mainstays along with sides of vegetables and fruits. You should strive to get at least two good servings of lean dairy products a day due to the calcium. Something in dairy products promotes the body's absorption/utilization of calcium, and a number of recent studies have shown dietary calcium to accelerate fat loss. Good choices in dairy products would include skim milk, lowfat cheeses, and lowfat plain yogurt with your choice of fruit mixed in.

On the workout side of things, resistance training along with a healthy level of protein intake is what will allow you to lose fat without an almost equal level of muscle loss (very common). Misguided attempts by certain authorities have led to the emphasis being on losing weight rather than losing FAT. Unless you want the Subway Jared look, you need to be at least as serious about the weights at the gym or your home as you are about your choice of cardiovascular exercise. As far as cardio goes, try a lot of different exercises. You will be more likely to find something you enjoy and hence, more likely to stick with it long-term.

One more thing that will help is to have one meal a week where you get to treat yourself to whatever entree, side and drink you've been craving all week. That's the time for the porterhouse, baked potato slothered with butter and sour cream, and the full-flavored stout beer. Just don't overdo things. As long as you avoid totally pigging out by keeping your portions during this meal within reason, it will actually be beneficial to you both from a psychological and metabolic standpoint. Good luck.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

"Diet sodas will work well as a replacement for your normal pop. I have yet to see any that contained a significant amount of sodium."

Average cola drink- 15 g sodium
Average diet cola drink- 57g sodium
Amount per serving in 12oz can- 2.5
Average soda drinker drinks 3.5 sodas per day

Diet soda is better for you in that it contains less fatty acids and such, but it just creates a whole other problem. Lots of water is good because it will energize your muscles when it's time to work out.

Yes you need sodium to help retain fluid, but there are better, healthier places to get it.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

eat some fruit!

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

2 words: gastric bypass (ala Lederer & Brunson)

I wouldn't want to go through that, looks pretty violent. But if you're really too lazy/undisciplined to work out and eat right...

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Thanks for all for all of the replies. I actually went to the doctors and we dicsussed diet and stuff. We took "pictures of me also." He perscribed some mild steriods for me.

I went to the gym for a membership, but where are all the fat people? Everyone in there is already toned and muscular.

Do you know how stupid I will look in there?

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

http://www.lowstakes.com/picture.jpg

Thats the picture the doctor took of me today.

He actually states that eating better and working out will make me a better poker player because I will have the endurance and focus to endure the long marathon sessions I have.

He said, DIET and EXERCISE! LOL

By the way, feel free to insult my picture up above, it will just be used to motivate me! Thanks for all the responses above. I will post pictures monthly to keep you guys on the progress so I cant slack off.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Lay off the chicken, it has too many hormones.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]

I went to the gym for a membership, but where are all the fat people? Everyone in there is already toned and muscular.

Do you know how stupid I will look in there?

[/ QUOTE ]

The fat people are at home on the couch.... If you are really out of shape, start by just walking. 30 mins of brisk walking will help a lot and get you ready for a more serious program.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

I think that both Pocketducks and yeahihateworking have given great advice. I decided at the end of the summer that I needed to do something about my body. I was at about 250 pounds in August. I had heard about the Body-for-Life program a few years earlier, but never tried it. I decided to commit to the challenge and change my ways. The BFL program consists of a 12 week "challenge" during which you commit to following the guidelines of the program. One thing that I liked about this approach is that, while you obviously need to continue eating well and exercising to maintain your results, there was a distinct end in sight. It provides a goal to strive for rather than just a vague commitment to eat "better" and exercise "more." I finished my first challenge about 2 weeks ago and I plan to start another in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm not working out much, but I am trying to eat somewhat well, even though I am not on a very strict diet at the moment. I managed to average about 3 pounds/week of scale weight loss over the 12 week challenge. I don't have BF% measurements before and after, so I can't say how much fat I lost and how much muscle I gained, but I have seen visible muscle gain and clear strength increases as well. Overall, I've lost about 40 to 45 pounds since August. I hope to lose another 30 pounds of fat this semester and to continue to gain muscle, which will put me below 10% body fat.

As I mentioned, the BFL program is a 12 week challenge. Each week includes 6 days of eating right and working out, along with one "free day" where you don't work out and you can eat whatever you've been craving for the rest of the week. I think the free day concept makes the program much easier to follow during the rest of the week because any time I want something that isn't exactly healthy, it's easy to tell myself that I can't have it now, but I can eat it Saturday. It would be much harder to tell myself I can't eat it for 11 more weeks. Also, the challenge involves taking before and after pics. I just took them at home with my digital camera since I didn't plan to enter the official challenge (which is free to enter and has a $1,000,000 top prize). I strongly recommend taking the pics. It's fun to compare pics every few weeks to see the progress, and it also provides good motivation to improve. There is no cost associated with the challenge other than the cost of a gym membership (which isn't 100% necessary; you can make do at home if necessary), the cost of food (healthy food is cheaper than what I was eating), and the cost of the book if you buy it. All of the information is available on their website (www.bodyforlife.com), but I got the book anyway. It has some information about the "why" behind the principles of the program, along with some motivational material about others who have taken the challenge. I also use some of the BFL brand meal replacement products for quick meals on campus or at home when I'm short on time.

The workout portion of the program requires relatively little time each day. 3 days/week are cardio and the other 3 are weight training days. Cardio days only take 20 minutes using a high intensity interval training routine that gets your metabolism really cranked up so that you continue to burn higher levels of energy for quite a while after the workout, which is something that you don't necessarily get out of a long moderate intensity workout. The weight training days take me about 45 mintues to an hour. I do upper body one day, lower body 2 days later, etc., alternating each weight training day. The website and book both have the specifics of the workouts. It's worth noting that even if you're primary goal is to lose fat, you should still incorporate strength training. It burns a lot of calories, but more importantly, the muscle that you will gain will burn more calories at rest between workouts.

The diet portion of the program involves eating 5-6 small meals each day (about every 2.5-3 hours). Each meal consists of a portion of carbs and a portion of proteins. There is no calorie counting or anything like that, but I've figured that an average day for me is around 1500-1800 calories (around 250-300/meal). A portion of carbs is about the size of your fist and a portion of protein is about the size of your palm. Eating this often requires lots of meal preparation time if you aren't using meal replacements, but you can cook 2 or 3 meals at once and refrigerate some for later. I also drink a lot of water throughout the day. In fact, it's just about all I drink through the week. I drink a small glass of milk sometimes, but I don't drink any soft drinks, tea, beer, etc. except on my free day. This takes a little bit of adjustment, but now I don't even care that I'm not drinking those things. They just don't taste as good to me now, and water does. Soft drinks add a lot of unnecessary calories to your diet (among other things). By drinking water instead of Pepsi, I was able to cut 600+ calories/day out of my diet. 3500 calories~1 pound of fat, so just by not drinking Pepsi, I am able to burn an extra pound each week, roughly. Also, eating the right foods and eating them often helps stabilize energy levels and keep your metabolism working consistently throughout the day. I've told several people that the hardest part of my "diet" was eating often enough. It has nothing to do with starving yourself, and in fact, if you get hungry before your next meal, you didn't eat enough.

BFL produces results, and does it in a very healthy way. I am convinced that if I can do it, anyone can. It really is quite a bit easier than I would have expected. Even though it requires some work, it is a lot of fun to watch the weight come off, and the comments from people I haven't seen in a while are a lot of fun too. I also really enjoy seeing the small improvements each week in my workouts. As for going to the gym, I can relate to your concerns. The gym I use is on campus, so the mix of people will be different from a typical gym, but I was still self-concious at first when I went to work out. It helped me to remember that they didn't get to look the way to look without going to the gym themselves. Everyone has to start somewhere. I promise that after a few visits, you'll stop worrying about what others think. I think that if they even notice you at all, their thoughts will be more in line with respecting your commitment to improving your health than about whether or not you look like a fish out of water.

Even though I highly recommend BFL, the important thing is that you just do something. You've spoken to your doctor, which is always a smart move before starting on any new nutritional or exercise program. BFL worked for me, but pick it or any other program that seems logical and practical and run it by your doctor to get his opinion. Keep in mind that you won't be able to get something for nothing, and there are many useless gimmick programs out there, but your doctor will be able to steer you in the right direction. Any increase in physical activity and any improvement in your diet will help you to lose weight or to stop gaining it (whatever the case may be), so the first step is to just decide to put forth the effort to change. You'll thank yourself for it.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]
Thanks for all for all of the replies. I actually went to the doctors and we dicsussed diet and stuff. We took "pictures of me also." He perscribed some mild steriods for me.

I went to the gym for a membership, but where are all the fat people? Everyone in there is already toned and muscular.

Do you know how stupid I will look in there?

[/ QUOTE ]

It was courageous that you took the step of seeing your doctor and visiting a gym. I find it kind of curious that he prescribed you any steroids. I'm thinking it had to be Anavar, perhaps?

As far as feeling subconscious at the gym, you really shouldn't have much to worry about. Most of the people at the gym have not always been lean and muscular; they had to progress towards their current bodies from a lesser state as well and are usually sympathetic towards others in the transition stages. At the very least, most people just mind their own business. If you feel you have trouble finding others in a similar situation at the gym, just zone everyone out and focus on your business at hand when you go to the gym. A CD or MP3 player with headphones helps with that. If it really continues to be a problem being around all the fit people or if you do come across the anomalous rude [censored] who refuses to mind his own business, you can just purchase some used/cheap freeweights and get every bit as good of total body workouts in the privacy of your own home.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Anyone mastered working out while playing online?

Any methods?

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

touchscreens on the treadmill. easy

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Problem with proper training and good card playing is that the two really don't go together. If you want to play full time you must restrict your exercise to 3 days a week and moderate exercise. If your fatigued and sore there is no way you can beat tough online games or have the patience to lay beaten hands down. Cut back the crap you eat. If you go to a casino to play eat carb bars or protein bars. Drink water or diet sodas, or fruit juice. If you want to body build just play cards part time ie 10 hours a week........

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

OOT has a fit club discussion going on...Might be a good place to bounce ideas and form a peer support group

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]
If you want to play full time you must restrict your exercise to 3 days a week and moderate exercise.

[/ QUOTE ]


why?

there are 24 hours a day and it's not THAT tough if you want to do it.

Obviously you have to get into it gradually or your muscles will be really sore...but I think that saying you can't get in more than 3 days a week of exericse if you want to play full-time is a bit extreme.


Goodguy_1 plays full-time and I'm pretty sure he is surfing and swimming, etc etc more than 3 days out of the week. And he's in his 40's.


Some people with full-time jobs are able to find time to work out or go running almost every day. Full-time poker player should be no different. In fact, it should be easier due to your total schedule flexibility.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Well if you want exercise properly you need a minimum of 9 hours a day of sleep. I would take about 10 add travel time to the gym, showering and crap like this your hours are less and less. Plus the best games are whacko hours if you live in the EST, its hard to play a 1am game after benching 2 plates aside earlier that day. Trust me I was hardcore weightlifter and I could never play on workout days if I wanted to win any money at best I was bust even or very marginal winning. This was at the total fish fest games at Pokerroom when 1/2 was their lowest game back in 02......

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Quit playing at the casino or only play there once a week. Why play 40 hands an hour when you can play 400+ w/out having to drive, dress, etc.?

Weirdly, I have the opposite problem. I eat less and sometimes skip meals b/c of poker.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]
3 years ago, i was in pretty decent shape. After the discovery of poker, I pretty much played poker 10 hours a day in the casinos and on the internet.

I want to continue playing poker but I find myself not working out and eating tons of junk food and drinking soda and beer.

Since coming home to spend the holidays with my parents in Oregon, I've developed what looks to be the early stages of Male Pectoral Disfunction....or "Man Boobs" as you guys would say.

I'm embarrassed to leave the house without heavy clothing on and it's even progressed to the point where I'm considering wearing something for support.

Women look at me like I'm homeless these days and my self esteem has sunk a new low.

I dont really want to work out, I want to devote all my time to playing poker.


Is there anything I can do? Can someone help me?

[/ QUOTE ]

I don't get out much but have lost 23 pounds in the last 3 months on the South Beach Diet. Goal for 2006 is to lose 40 pounds.

Couple tips, if it's white and isn't classified as a vegetable or a protein, don't eat it. Second, drink diet sodas. The new Coke Zero is as good as it gets if you like Coke. Also the diet cherry sodas, pepsi and coke, are very good as are the two flavors of diet mountain dew. You'd be surprised how quickly you'll get used to drinking diet soda. Even the sugar free energy drinks aren't too bad.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]

Quit playing at the casino or only play there once a week. Why play 40 hands an hour when you can play 400+ w/out having to drive, dress, etc.?

[/ QUOTE ]


For this reason I actually feel guilty when i drive down to Tunica to play live.
It is not using my time as efficiently...and I basically play live for entertainment reasons ONLY. I don't pretend that it's also part of my job.

I'm not blown away by playing live anyway.,..only about once every 6 weeks or so.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]
Anyone mastered working out while playing online?

Any methods?

[/ QUOTE ]

i bought a 54" TV, hooked up my computer to it, bought a joystick, got a program that lets you use your joystick as a mouse, attached the joystick to the treadmill, put the treadmill in front of the TV, and put poker tables on the big screen. so i can run on the treadmill while playing. it's not that hard to control the joystick while running.

seriously.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

what kind of screen-res does your TV have? the tables are really big aren't they (probably difficult to play more than 1 or 2 tables while on the treadmill anyway)

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

2 tables even has quite a bit of overlap... i'm still home for the holidays and i can't remember exactly what resolution it gets, but yeah more than 2 tables would be pretty bad. and no, i don't think i want to play on more than that anyway.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]
touchscreens on the treadmill. easy

[/ QUOTE ]

tell me more about this

i wish there was voice activation for poker sometimes

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

actually ive seen somewere that diet sodas make you more hungry after you drink then just stick to water it will do you wonders.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

I have a recumbant exercise bike set up by my computer. If you don't put the resistance up to a difficult level, you can go forever.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

[ QUOTE ]
I dont really want to work out, I want to devote all my time to playing poker.



[/ QUOTE ]

You can stick in a nice little workout in less than an hour including shower time. Start with that three days a week (ie run, pushups and situps) and see what the results are. On top of that, no one at the casinos forces you to drink soda or beer rather than bottled water. The food situation is tough with the crap they serve in poker rooms, however they'll usualy have a fairly healthy option such as simple sandwiches etc. Either way, keeping your body healthy will help your play. You'll sleep better, have more endurance etc.

Good luck,
Matt

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

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Obviously you have to get into it gradually or your muscles will be really sore...

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The only supplement I use (besides meal replacement products) is glutamine. It really seems to help a lot with soreness. If I get in a good workout, I still may be very slightly sore the next day, but there was a noticible decrease after I started using glutamine. I only use it on weight training days, and I usually take one serving with my pre-workout meal.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

Blind leading the blind, Sign up to muscletalk.co.uk or another decent bodybuilding board you can find.

Building muscle has many advantages and even if you do it for 3 months you're beginner gains will increase metabolic requirements and you may get the bug for it.

You'll also look a hell of alot better.

Welcome to the world of hardwork, Slow results and self motivation. Time to get off that comfy seat and move away from your 2 monitors and lose the XXlb's you've gained.

Being the richest guy in the grave yard after death cause by bad health isn't to awesome.

Good luck, I've seen alot of bad advice in this thread though but dont have time to question and debate it all.

Good luck all,
POKhER.

Re: Getting Overweight from playing live poker and internet poker
 

I don't know diddly about supplements and what-not...but my legs are sometimes insanely sore the day after soccer. And I mean Can-barely-walk sore.

Since I'm going to be on 2 teams again this spring (and thus twice as many practices and games) and will also be running to try to build up some endurace to attempt to keep up with all these young guys I will probably look into that glutamine you recommended.

Thanks for the tip.