following. good stuff.
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Great to have you along, sir, thanks for joining us!
I’ve finally found a topless fat-pic for comparison’s sake…
On left: Dec 2013, weight unknown, 225ish?. On right: April 2017 ~208lbs
I’ve dropped another ~20lbs(!) since April
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Even your beard/jawline looks stronger now, lmao. Great before/after. Anticipating the third (2018) comparison slot, should be serious.
pc!
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That’s a huge thing. I’ve noticed it with myself quite a bit. I generally have a pretty substantial beard, but sometimes I shave it just to see how much my face has changed. Particularly when I’m in a really lean state.
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Saw T Nation post this to twitter and had to come read through your log.
Great job man!
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Thank you, Sir! I wouldn’t have found that if it weren’t for you bringing it to my attention. I’m honestly stunned. Tell that guy in the 2013 pic that he would be featured by T-Nation… He would’ve laughed at you. Couldn’t have done it without everyone’s help. Thanks Again T Nation!
This lifter is losing fat and gaining strength w/ steady work. Check his training/diet log: https://t.co/MJVgKNI0Ne pic.twitter.com/ZSc2MiWt8I
— T NATION (@T_Nation) September 15, 2017
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It’s good to see you have gotten better with holding kids as well. The benefits of losing a gut is endless!
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Finally hit over my “high carb diet” goal yesterday: 252P, 52F, 300C. 2565 kCal.
Stayed up late watching the Olympia. had a quick workout last night consisting of all assistance work. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed. Had ZERO energy. I dont know if it’s because of the low fat, low sleep (less than 6 hours), if I’m fighting a cold, or what.
I’m going to give this High carb thing another few days, maybe cycle a little betwen 150-300g and see how I feel. Super busy with yard/housework before the rains come, so no time to log lifts or food 
I’ll do it as soon as possible.
Yesterday was a bit crazy for me. I woke up feeling like 
(Poop!). Felt like looooow test; felt defeated, easily annoyed, tired, crabby, no motivation, etc. I tried to push through, started with 2 kodiak power waffles. Went out and ran 1/4 mile with 2x 35lb Dumbbells (half uphill). Ran another 1/2 mile at decent pace. Roto-tilled a 20x5 plot in the garden. Dug out an extensive stump from an old rhododendron. Brought a few wheelbarrow loads of dirt up the hill to amend the soil. Beat on some tired with my sledge a couple times. Then crashed. I fell asleep on my hardwood floor until my son woke from his nap.
In the afternoon I went to a friend’s bday party. Big pizza spread:
I ran the numbers, which was easy since it was “name brand” pizza, and I factored it in to my nutrition plan. I left myself a lot of leeway in case I had an issue exercising self-control. Fortunately I did not have an issue, and I derived a lot of strength from my exercising control, only eating one slice. First time I’ve had pizza in 2+ years (my poor kids never get pizza!) No cake. No ice cream. No cheese-chunks. I was the only person at the party with a somewhat respectable physique (besides my wife, of course, who eats whatever, whenever!?!?)
The house was open and the party was mostly on the back deck. There was a TON of smoke from nearby wildfires. I don’t know what it was, maybe smoke related, but I got a headache from hades. It was so bad that I couldn’t watch the Olympia finals. I barely got my pre-bed shake (2 scoops protein, 48gP + 40g oats, 10g rice flour, 25g potato starch, 6g cinnamon) made before I crashed. I slept well, but woke with the same headache, albeit a bit milder. I took an ibuprofen for the first time in 1.75yrs (HATE meds) and washed it down with green tea and MK677.
This morning I saw that we had run out of eggs, so I went for 1 cup siggis Skyr, 1kodiak power waffle, 2 slices bacon, and 80g (2 servings) oatmeal. 2 more cups of green tea and I’m finally feeling a little more right.
I have to finish our yard project before the rains come tomorrow. I am going easy on legs because I am expecting a day or two on the glacier coming up this week, and I want to be 110%.
Any feedback is appreciated:
I am sweating like crazy every night. Middle of the night. Smells like ammonia. I have tried upping carbs (from under 100g up to 300g yesterday) with no change. This morning my urine (or maybe feces) smelled like ammonia too. It’s starting to worry me a bit. I’m tracking my oral temp throughout the day in an effort to eliminate thyroid from the basket of possible explanations.
9:30 98.8, 99.1, 99.2
I unexpectedly had to go in to work yesterday, which threw off my lifting plan (intended to work out after lunch). So I took the day off from weights.
I hit my 300g carb goal. I also decided to lower protein to see if it had any effect on my ammonia smell. Lo and behold! It did! I cut back from 300gP to 225gP, and for the first time in months, I woke up not smelling like awful-foul-evil-decaying-chemicals. I always have a protein+(either fat or carbs, depending on diet)-shake before bed, and I always put 2 scoops of protein (48gP). Last night I only did 1. I also cut down on my portions of meat, consuming about 2/3 of my standard portion each meal. I’m stoked to see what my body can do with other nutrients. I also woke up fresher than I’ve felt in a long time, despite only getting 6.5hrs sleep.
My weight has settled down to 189.5, even after the addition of MK677, so I believe I have found my new Maintenence kcal # (2550). I am going to hang here for a while, and slowly reintroduce more cals while watching for fat gain.
I plan to get a good workout in today, then rest tomorrow before a HYUGE day on the glacier in fresh snow and sunshine. Can’t. Fkin. wait.
My wife and I decided on a timeline for a huge life/home-move (to another state!) last night, so I have another goal to shoot for. I decided to not purchase a ski pass at the resort this year (first time in 10 yrs, I ski 40+days/yr), and hike for all my turns. It’s gonna be glorious.
Yesterday’s nutrition snapshot:
After bfast:
I want to put on MOAR size, but I’m scared to lose leanness. Anyone wants to chime in on the efficacy of my plan, or any pointers on not putting on fat? No gear.
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187 this morning. That’s the lowest I’ve weighed since 7th grade. And just when I thought I was stalling…
Lifting took a backseat this week. I managed a quick press session last night:
Pec deck: 20x10, 20x10, 30x10 supersetted with
Incline BB bench: 85x12, 95x10, 95x10 mTor set
Db ohp: 15’sx12, 25x10, 25x10
Trirope pushdown: 30x12, 70x10, 50x10 mTor set
I have cut back on pushing for ever-heavier lifts, and I am really focusing on form, MMC, and effectiveness. I’m really working on contracting the target muscle group, and not compensating for weakness by transferring to stronger groups (i.e. On pec deck, I’m trying to not let triceps get involved, etc)
I have found the cure to the ammonia sweats. Cutting down on protein by 25-30% has COMPLETELY ELIMINATED THE STANK! This was a nightly occurrence for 6+ months in varying intensity. I have had 3 mornings in a row with zero ammonia smell, or even BO, period. My daily goal is now 220gP. That means more room for carbs, yippee!
Interestingly cutting down on protein has required THE MOST effort (of all the macros) for me… I “Instinctivly” overeat protein in the form of meat. I’ve had to make quite the concerted effort to limit it.
Tomorrow will be a “high” day, as it will be my first day of the new season, on FRESH SNOW! We shall see how much more efficiently I move through the mountains after shedding more than 10% of my body weight.
Happy Wednesday Tnation!
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That is plenty of protein. You could knock it down a bit more and still see gains. If keeping it high is working for your diet though, than keep it up.
Good progress mate!
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You’re going to have to sacrifice a little leanness for size brother, as a natural. It’s just the harsh reality of life. Just make sure it’s not too rapid a gain in weight and I’m sure you’ll be fine. You can even just monitor your ‘problem’ areas with callipers and not let your sum of skinfold get too high. Don’t worry about converting it to bf% but if it goes up by 10mm then you’re getting fatter not bigger, you know what I mean?
Use the mirror as a guide first and foremost. Remember having more muscle will increase your metabolic rate anyway so leaning back out shouldn’t be too hard provided you keep a tight ship on the way up.
Also, do not, ever, dirty bulk.
Rice, potatoes, sweet potato are your friends.
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IWent to the DR today (haven’t seen one in…15 yrs?) because I had Serious scare this morning: I had 1 and a half cups of coffee, I usually have one, and then I had breakfast. Bfast consisted of a kodiak power waffle, 2 eggs, and 3 slices of bacon. About 20 mins after I ate I was sitting on the floor, teaching my daughter how not to get her ass beat by her little brother, when I started to feel very hot in my legs. I stood up and stripped-off my sweatpants, and my legs were wet from sweat. Within 30 seconds I was dripping sweat from my entire body. I mean pouring sweat. Hot as hell. I was leaving puddles on the wood floor. It looked like I went in the shower. I felt decent, certainly didn’t feel “bad”. After 4-5 minutes I stopped sweating. Then my now-wet body started feeling cold because it was 68F in the house. After that I just felt, wierd. My wife freaked me out because google told her I was having a heart attack. Which caused me to get very stressed and full of anxiety that I was about to die. Of course I had to go to work immediately, so I spent the next few hours alternating between scaring the piss out of myself with symptoms checking (Parkinson’s? Diabetes? Hypothyroidism? Cardiovascular disease? Panic attack? Early-onset menopause? Just kidding) and trying to not think about it. I finally made an appointment at an urgent care place and went to get my first physical since high school.
Things I learned:
- my home scale is off. Way off. They measured me at 187.4 with shoes, jeans, and full stomach & pockets. When I weigh at home I do so with undies only, pre bfast, post BM. This morning I was 187 on my scale. For comparisons sake, I got home after the dr and checked: 193.5. So my scale is measuring heavier. That means I am more like 183? Holy fuck that’s light.
- according to the medical establishment: I am OVERWEIGHT. I flashed the dr my six pack and asked her if I needed to diet. She laughed, but my chart still says overweight (bmi 25.4)
Things I will learn by the end of day tomorrow:
- TSH
- lipids
- if I have an infection of some sort
- hemoglobin
I asked for a complete panel including all hormones, but she said they would only do that if my TSH came back normal.
Hopefully everything comes back normal and I am just stressed. Quitting cannabis has really put the anxiety on me and I have a hard time not being totally “in” my feelings as they occur. I used to have a slight delay with which to observe and examine my feelings; just enough “distance” to work with. Now I am emotionally “all-in”.
187 (on my busted-ass-scale, so probably 183?) this morning. Made it to the mountain for sunrise:
Climbed a total of 2000 ft vert, and did 5 laps on the lower-mountain in 3 feet of fresh:
Feeling alright after my scare yesterday (see previous post)… Maybe I’m just fighting a cold? I get blood work back today. Tracker shows 2350kcals burned. I ate a pack of Brevita biscuits, 4 raspberry fig bars, 2 epic meat bars, and a chocolate + honey candy. Good to be back in the snow!
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Blegh hopefully it was just a one time thing without any consequences. Some nice views you got there!
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That’s very scary; sending well wishes to you from Canada! Hope all comes back as normal and it was just some freak episode.
My scale must be busted too, it keeps telling me I’m heavier than I want to be…
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Well that is nuts… Judging from the awesome photos in your next post, seems like you’re good, but that’s definitely quite a scare. The only thing that makes sense to me is “infection” (but i’m no doc) or from stories i’ve read online, someone taking DNP & getting cooked from the inside out - eek. I’m assuming it was the former.
My scale is off too I think, gives me back heavier measurements, which is great news for me 
As for MOAR size: for me personally, I like to step up the frequency of compound lifts & minimize noise from most accessory lifts. I’ve put on some decent muscle on specific muscle groups (thighs/glutes) while actually losing weight elsewhere. I find it to be much easier if i’m lifting full body (push/pull/squat), abbreviated training sessions, pretty much every day, and just pushing it/backing off based on how I feel. In my experience, the high frequency stimulus is potent, especially with volume squatting thrown in. That’s just the route I like to take.
So given your current measurements, you could probably put on considerably more size without resorting to anything drastic. Just pushing those lifts up safely & patiently, and you’ll see more size gains.
You seem to be in a great rhythm right now.
my 2 cents.
peace!
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Annnnnd I’m back! Thanks for checking in with me. The blood work has all come back normal. Slightly high cholesterol, I’ll post the #s when I can log in to the health-portal. TSH was right in the middle of the range. I felt like shite for 2 days-post-test: lightheaded; swollen tongue; unmotivated; depression; and a general sense of crappiness. Really atypical for me. I believe I had some kind of infection (agreed, @adarqui) . I went camping with family and friends, and day/night 1 was awful. By afternoon day 2 I was returning to my usual vigor; i.e. Moving the heaviest stones I could find (200lb+) thanks for the idea @littlesleeper! Pics to prove it shall follow. I am Nice and sore two days-later. On Sunday I was jogging around the campground and doing sets of monkey-bars, which is a new-found talent that I probably haven’t been able to do since elementary school. I ate with little regard to my diet… Well, not really. I ate clean, but HYUGE. No s’mores, no alcohol, maybe 5 potato chips. Tons of Thai chicken breast (seasonings, not the actual chickens), tri-tip salad, pasta with braised-pork, and zucchini bread. I was pleased to see that the scale was still at 187 upon my return. I followed up that gluttony with some more: a big feast for an old-friend. He and his GF remarked: “holy shit, you are ripped!” As soon as they saw me. They last saw me in April. Thanks C for some more motivation to continue this journey!
I made 3" pork rib chops with all the fixins, and had 6oz of wine, which is my first alcohol since July 13th. I had a terrible night’s sleep (woke up every hour or more, tough to get back to sleep), and it solidified my conviction that alcohol is no longer my friend… Hey, more for everyone else! Now what to do with my collection of nice cognac?
This morning: 188 and the love handles seem to have retreated further:
Comparison with one week ago:
I figure I had a couple “high days” over the weekend, so now it’s time to buckle down and have a low day or two. I intend to osscislate between 2400 and 2850 for the next week and see how my body responds. On a 2550 day Carbs are around 200g/day. Fats: 85g, protein 215g.
I’ve picked up a new training partner, he will be over at 5am tomorrow to lift in the garage. He claims to have put on 20lbs of flub in two months on a strict barley/hops diet; I tried to make a bet that he could have a six-pack by xmas but he refused. Looking forward to getting back in the lifting-groove; it’s been rough not-having my bro around.
Also: I bought 2 pairs of 32x32 jeans, and they fit. I tried these same jeans a year ago and had to return them (I was at about the same scale weight). Hoo-rah!
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