How Do YOU Know You're About To Grow?

[quote]Artem wrote:
Am I the only one who doesn’t have a crazy appetite, or much appetite at all actually? I’m never hungry. I sometimes start feeling a bit hungry right before lunch if I haven’t eaten in a few hours.

It could be because I never go long without eating, but eating is a chore for me, even junk. I still eat a lot and am growing, but I like lifting a lot more than eating.[/quote]

maybe try eating less meals but making them bigger

more food per meal = stretched out stomache, that combined with more time between meals = more food eaten.

[quote]Artem wrote:
Am I the only one who doesn’t have a crazy appetite, or much appetite at all actually? I’m never hungry. I sometimes start feeling a bit hungry right before lunch if I haven’t eaten in a few hours.

It could be because I never go long without eating, but eating is a chore for me, even junk. I still eat a lot and am growing, but I like lifting a lot more than eating.[/quote]

i hate eating too. its more a chore than anything and the worst part is im always hungry. sometimes i dont even think of my body as just being part of me, but rather some other thing i have to keep taking care of constantly.

anyway as i mentioned earlier i think if you increase your intensity you will increase your appetite.

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
Artem wrote:
Am I the only one who doesn’t have a crazy appetite, or much appetite at all actually? I’m never hungry. I sometimes start feeling a bit hungry right before lunch if I haven’t eaten in a few hours.

It could be because I never go long without eating, but eating is a chore for me, even junk. I still eat a lot and am growing, but I like lifting a lot more than eating.

i hate eating too. its more a chore than anything and the worst part is im always hungry. sometimes i dont even think of my body as just being part of me, but rather some other thing i have to keep taking care of constantly.

anyway as i mentioned earlier i think if you increase your intensity you will increase your appetite.[/quote]

This is true, to a degree, but eating still becomes just another thing you have to deal with in this game. Some tricks are to add calories easier with fats, like peanut butter or olive oil in your food.

Ive noticed similar things. Mainly, as you say, my appetite goes through the roof. I also tend to get some spots.

I’ve measured and taken logs consistently, there’s a good amount of predictability to the body, it grows at regular intervals as long as you’re consistent in eating and training you’ll see consistent and predictable growth.

I gained 1/8" on my arms when I first began, then my body got past that stage and went to 1/8" a month, now it’s getting even harder the longer I go, yet it is predictable through each of these stages.

I grow fast whenever I have periods of fast strength gain in the bb rep-ranges.

I grow slowly when strength in said rep-ranges comes slowly.

I stagnate whenever that strength doesn’t improve.

I lose muscle whenever said I lose strength in the bb-zones.

Simple.

its not just as simple as that though.

obviously youre going to be increasing the weights/reps because a muscle building process is taking place.

but theres hormonal changes too and you feel them. theres appetite changes and you feel them. even my mentality changes a bit.

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
its not just as simple as that though.

obviously youre going to be increasing the weights/reps because a muscle building process is taking place.

but theres hormonal changes too and you feel them. theres appetite changes and you feel them. even my mentality changes a bit.[/quote]

Weight/reps increase is the reason for your system to build muscle.
Everything else you’ve mentioned merely influences your ability to increase weight in the hypertrophy zone and is thus factored in already.

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
its not just as simple as that though.

obviously youre going to be increasing the weights/reps because a muscle building process is taking place.

but theres hormonal changes too and you feel them. theres appetite changes and you feel them. even my mentality changes a bit.

Weight/reps increase is the reason for your system to build muscle.
Everything else you’ve mentioned merely influences your ability to increase weight in the hypertrophy zone and is thus factored in already.
[/quote]

indeed. but i just dont like condensing/confining it to as little as “when your weights and reps increase you get bigger”. because theres so much more that actually goes on you dont just lift weights and wake up noticeably bigger the next day, theres a whole process which takes place. i just think the aforementioned way of describing the process is frankly, bland.

[quote]Cephalic_Carnage wrote:
LiveFromThe781 wrote:
its not just as simple as that though.

obviously youre going to be increasing the weights/reps because a muscle building process is taking place.

but theres hormonal changes too and you feel them. theres appetite changes and you feel them. even my mentality changes a bit.

Weight/reps increase is the reason for your system to build muscle.
Everything else you’ve mentioned merely influences your ability to increase weight in the hypertrophy zone and is thus factored in already.
[/quote]

Yea maybe the carriage is pulling the horse there, the increased stimulus is the reason for the adaptation… which will then make the previously heavy weights feel lighter.

Anyway i’m in a spurt right now, and I just feel pumped to go lift every day, i feel pumped to eat all day (no longer a chore), i feel pumped to go to sleep, and it’s all the reason i’ll keep hitting everything hard after it slows down.

It’s kinda like when you’re having a shitty game of golf, and you’re sayin to yourself that you’ll quit the game because you’re fucking shit at it then you hit a couple magic shots on the last hole and it keeps you comin back.
…Except that i do love lifting

[quote]BARBUDA wrote:
Ive noticed similar things. Mainly, as you say, my appetite goes through the roof. I also tend to get some spots.[/quote]

hah, I get a ton of spots as well. on my shoulders and back mostly… whatever, they’ll go and the muscle will stay

ive always had acne so i dont even care at this point. my face is cleared up but i get them on my forearms a lot and my back looks like shit. always in the same places too.

Shit.

I know I’m growing when my stretch marks get bigger.

yeah getting more stretch marks is also a giveaway.

would it be accurate to say that eating thousands of calories and 100’s of protein grams would and not shitting would be a sign too?

cause in one sitting i had a gainer shake, 600 something calories, 60 grams of protein and 3 or 4 cups of milk. yea thats like 1200 calories right there. then i was still hungry so i ate one of the protein packets that came with my order, another 18 grams protein + 2 cups milk (16 grams protein) and then 3-4 hours later at work i had turkey tips and mashed potatoes, now im at home 4 hours after that drinking some muscle milk+ milk. which was free and kinda cool cause theyre like protein rice crispies…idk but theyre fluffy things that disengrate and pop in the milk lol.

wow i cant believe i actually have 3-4 hour intervals of not eating, holy shit. my job SUCKS

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
yeah getting more stretch marks is also a giveaway.

would it be accurate to say that eating thousands of calories and 100’s of protein grams would and not shitting would be a sign too?

cause in one sitting i had a gainer shake, 600 something calories, 60 grams of protein and 3 or 4 cups of milk. yea thats like 1200 calories right there. then i was still hungry so i ate one of the protein packets that came with my order, another 18 grams protein + 2 cups milk (16 grams protein) and then 3-4 hours later at work i had turkey tips and mashed potatoes, now im at home 4 hours after that drinking some muscle milk+ milk. which was free and kinda cool cause theyre like protein rice crispies…idk but theyre fluffy things that disengrate and pop in the milk lol.

wow i cant believe i actually have 3-4 hour intervals of not eating, holy shit. my job SUCKS[/quote]

wait…you’re not…shitting?

true progress is when 100% of your calories get used to build muscle and you dont need to shit anymore.

[quote]Tumbles wrote:
true progress is when 100% of your calories get used to build muscle and you dont need to shit anymore.[/quote]

lol indeed.

nah dude i shit. its the 2nd thing i do every morning, if i told you about the first thing id have to kill you.

but last time i drank one of those gainer shakes i shit it out 10 minutes later…and it shit stains were the same color/context of the shake.

[quote]LiveFromThe781 wrote:
Tumbles wrote:
true progress is when 100% of your calories get used to build muscle and you dont need to shit anymore.

lol indeed.

nah dude i shit. its the 2nd thing i do every morning, if i told you about the first thing id have to kill you.

but last time i drank one of those gainer shakes i shit it out 10 minutes later…and it shit stains were the same color/context of the shake.[/quote]

Lack of fiber? That was my issue, anyway.
Though if I drink a shake in the morning, I still get that.

(or an allergy or crappy protein… )

can’t hate the poo poo, this one time, it looked like abraham lincoln, true story. But i’d take a michael phelps looking one ftw.