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oblig (?) http://images.t-nation.com/forum_images/6/e/6ea45_ORIG-1025_You_found_the_chink_in_my_armor.jpg

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Biggest reason for the yoyoeffect is probably people looking for a quick fix, and therefor losing weight so fast they also lose muscle and on the scale a huge part of the supposed "fat" they have lost will be water weight. So then they are happy they start eating again but now they will regain the water weight, have less muscle and therefor lower metabolism, and the metabolism at large may have went down for their previous "starvation" mode.. And back goes the weight, and eventually some more.

Of course you'll have a problem in your current position if you want to be able to eat and live as you did when you moved around a bit more.

Some people manages to squeeze in time for the gym even on a tight schedule, me myself I'm quite lazy so maybe I'd say "I have no time" and skip it.

Anyway, on a tight schedule what I'd do and suggest you to do is to get a bar, a squat rack and a bench if you live in a house or have some place where you can fit it. If you live in a tempered area but don't have place for a "home gym" you could get kettlebells and work out outside, or you search youtube for things like "ghetto workout" and find people doing bench presses with tables, pullups in playgrounds, people throwing stones or sand bags, pushing cars or whatever. Get a pulley and take it for a walk, do tire flips, or something such.

Personally I liked the sandbag exercises from:
http://www.t-nation.com/article/most_recent/third_world_workouts

Specifics:
* Consume less energy than you burn.
* Eat plenty of protein, shoot for 2 gram / kg bodyweight or maybe even more.
* Eat fish oil.
* More fats seem to be better for weight loss, so eat enough carbohydrates to have energy to train but preferably eat more fat .
* Eat clean food for your nutrition, that means fat isn't cream or other milk products or oils, it's things like nuts and avocado or fat fish. Choose vegetables over fruit, fruit over grains, full grains over white flour, white flour over refined sugars. More fibre vs juice/softdrinks to get some stomach fill.
* Do weight lifting to limit muscle loss. (And do heavy compound exercises, not isolated arm work in machines and such crap.)
* Let it take time to minimise muscle loss and risk of weight gain when you goes of from the diet.
* Feel free to use stimulants, for instance caffeine, yohimbine, tyrosine or ephedrine if you live in a country where it's available to lower cravings and raise metabolism.
* Do cardio if it makes you feel better / you want to be able to eat more / not limit your food intake as much.

"I have always been thin but all the sitting in front of the PC is taking its toll now that I'm getting older. I have begun to get a little heavier around the waist. I don't eat a lot but the weight seems to stay on these days. Most of the time I don't have the luxury of just getting out of the house/office. And being an introvert, I'm not enamored of the idea of exercising in full view of *shudder* people. I regularly do press-ups (60 per night) and sit-ups (30 per night) and some fetching and carrying, but that is all and these days it isn't enough. I need a solid and effective routine that will tone all my muscle groups efficiently. Do any Slashdotters have a regular workout routine that can be performed in the privacy of the home to stave off those pounds?"

If you insist on not joining a gym, or can't afford to build your own home gym (most people can't), there is still a way to do what you want.

Google: "Death by bodyweight"

This is a great starting place: Death by bodyweight

You may find that you'll start to really enjoy working out...in which case I'd highly recommend joining a gym. I've been doing a MWF split at my gym the past 18 months and it's really been fun. Learning what works, what doesn't, seeing progress etc.

Also, I'm as introverted as they come...I have paranoid schizophrenia. Going to the gym has been great for me because I can be in public (i.e. around people) but not be obligated to interact with them at all. I just put on my headphones and lift, no problem. It's fun, and it's healthy for me both mentally and physically to get out and exercise.

Btw, here's a great resource for beginner bodybuilders: Bodybuilding.com forums

Good Luck.

Agreed. This is why HIIT (High Intensity Interval Training) is getting so much attention now. You can get a motabolism boost up to 24 hours after performing the exercise, and burn a LOT of calories after the session. It's quick (15 minutes plus pre and post-stretching) and very good for you - changing up between aerobic and anaerobic exercise..

This site has a bit more than I mentioned here... http://musclemedia.com/training/hiit.asp .. Lots of other resources too. http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=1756065

I personally do 5 minute warmup followed by a couple minute stretch. Then run for 1 minute on a decent running pace, spiking it up for 15-30 seconds and aim for 90-95% of my MHR (max heart rate) and then bringing it back down to the pace I started with for another minute.. Repeating this for 15 or so minutes, followed by a 5 minutes cool down and then some more stretching. By the 10 minute mark you seriously feel like you're done but you got to push though it.

These are exactly the principles (*) by which bodybuilders and weightlifters organize their diets. See for yourself:

http://t-nation.com/

Right you are.

To add to your point of "the disease makes companies billions", it's worth a mention that a lot of companies try and perpetuate this disease -- with food additives, the most common being sugar and of course monosodium glutamate (MSG). Most people who suffer from obesity do so due to excessive consumption of calorically dense, but nutritionally poor foods, some even "enhanced" with the insulin response inducing agent MSG, which AFAIK is the only substance currently used to make lab rats overeat and become obese.

However on the original topic of lowered testosteron levels, I personally believe xenoestrogens, plastic and soy derived specifically, are among the top candidates for this reason. Another very possible reason could be the current (hopefully declining) trend of fat avoidance. A good balanced diet should contain a healthy amount of saturated, monounsatured, and polyunsaturated fats, while staying strictly away from trans-saturated fats (such as can be found in abundance in all hydrogenated vegetable oils). A reasonable healthy fat intake is apparently one of the factors involved in keeping a healthy hormone profile. I reccommend reading the following:
Xenoestrogens: the naked truth
fats lipid hypothesis

I'm sure this isn't news to many here, but the battle for our health, and even our masculanity still rages on -- we need to curb the food industry, and support regulations to reevaluate common ingredients as new research becomes available.

I recently discovered a supplement that goes by the name of ZMA. It is a non-hormonal (plain magnesium and vitamin B6) and gives an substantial testosterone boost. I cannot recommend it enough. Side effects include wild vivid dreams along with a propensity to wet yourself at night.

In case you wanna know more http://www.t-nation.com/readTopic.do?id=459250

Umm... that's not muscle-bound, this is muscle-bound. There's a few mostly uncovered non-muscle-bound women in there too. Those guys are, well... "cute" I suppose, and I'm sure some of them are excellent swimming atheletes. I'm just taking issue with your definition of "muscle bound."

It's just too bad that the public stance of many is governed more by political correctness and a fear of being labeled a bigot or racist. The notion that all groups of people are created "equally" is naive and unsupported empirically and scientifically; and only when we can admit that, can we have a truly honest discussion concerning race and athletic performance.