I told my wife that I got a new notebook to use a training log last night (because I’m a nerd and excited about it). My current one is too damn small. I’ve been doing so much lately that I can’t squeeze everything onto the page. It’s a small one so I found an 8x12" one that starts with July. This caused her to ask me why I care and track every detail. I told her because I enjoyed it and tracking it helped me make sure I was moving forward. Again, she asked “why does it matter?” She pointed out that I don’t compete so why put so much effort into it. Why isn’t living a healthy lifestyle enough; why obsess? I really don’t have an answer for this other than “because I want to.”
I played the cop card and said I want to be big and strong because someone might try to kill me at work. She said “yeah but you’d still do it even if you weren’t a cop, right?” And she’s right. I trained hard and tracked my work long before getting into law enforcement. I tried to appease her by saying “aren’t you glad I have goals?” That didn’t work. I think she’s looking at it from the perspective of why does it matter if you can do (fill in the blank). It’s actually similar to something I recently read by Lee Boyce. Pulling 300 pounds on deads is a great feat for overall health and fitness. Pulling 500 pounds isn’t really going to increase your quality of life all that much but comes at a significantly higher risk. He’s right. But still, until I reach my goals I’ll continue to be a little crazy (even though it appears it’s for no reason).
Update on my goals I pulled 5 plates so I can check that one off the list. The remaining two might take a while (squat 4, bench 3 plates). Once I achieve those things the next goal is to be able to walk into the gym and do it at any given time.
My wife asks similar questions of me. I incessantly track things. I’ve got an app that I write copious notes of everything that happened each day.
Really, my goals are very similar to yours. 5/4/3 on the big lifts, dunk a basketball through my 20s and 30s, still play baseball with the 18 y/o’s and be able to hike a mountain without training.
Woke at 221.4 lbs. Not bad considering how much chocolate cake I had yesterday.
##Training
Not much to talk about here. I’m going to attempt to let my body heal/recover and hopefully get a decent number on bench next Monday. I did 3/2/1 waves today and then basically a couple Jokers.
Bench:
135 x 5
155 x 5
175 x 5
195 x 3
215 x 3
245 x 3
255 x 2
265 x 1
255 x 3
265 x 2
275 x 1
265 x 2 + a miss so that ends the wave loading
285 x 1
295 x 0
295 was a miss as soon as I unracked it. I had no confidence that I’d get it. 315 sure seems like a long ways away. I ran Layers training (for bench only) for six weeks and this is week three of doing the wave loading. I expected to feel a bit stronger by now. 275 is always there (which isn’t anything I’m too happy about) so to only be getting 285 is disappointing. I’m not expecting to add 20 lbs to my bench in eight weeks but I’ve been expecting to regain my strength with a focus on bench. My max used to be 295-300. I guess this quest for 3 plates is more like a five year plan…
In an effort to actually be rested and ready for bench next Monday I’m doing very little this week. I’ll be doing the Training Maximally deload for deadlift on Wednesday and then push press or seated overhead press Thursday. That’ll probably be it for the week. I actually feel pretty lazy with this approach but it’s one week. I’ll be playing basketball today and possibly tomorrow and Wednesday. I don’t think that’ll hurt my bench max next week because I’ll do basically nothing for four days after that.
I wouldn’t call today’s work my Max. I didn’t do anything to prepare for it or make it different from a regular Training Day. My disappointment comes from how hard 265 and 275 feel. If I’m going to get 300 or anything higher then I think I need to be able to do 275 for 2 or 3 reps. I don’t feel like that’s there right now.
I might have to settle for 295 or 300 this time around. I will switch to the training maximally program and run that for quite a while. I actually really like how it feels working up to a heavy single each day. On the good days I will just keep going and see what happens. It worked for Deadlift.
I didn’t eat much before playing basketball and was behind all day. I managed to stay way under my usual calories while eating junk. I was surprised my weight stayed in the 221’s but I guess not too surprised considering I ate late (to get some protein) and didn’t really nourish my body.
Today’s training will consist of basketball again. I forgot to mention that I started yesterday off by falling down the stairs. We have about five steps leading down to a landing and side door. I think a closet was converted to a bathroom. My daughter ran out of toilet paper so I headed down to help her out. I was wearing socks. We have hardwood floors and these stairs and the landing are tile. It turns out the top of the steps is slightly tilting downward. My foot hit that and slipped. I bounced down all five stairs and hit my right foot/ankle on a nice solid piece of wood trim that makes and outside corner of a wall at the bottom. The outside of my foot and pinky toe are red and swollen. My ankle feels like I have a very mild sprain to the lateral ligaments and there’s a cut on the bottom of that bony part of the fibula.
I still played basketball after this and it hurt for the first game or two and then I didn’t notice it. I managed to hit the inside of my ankle the corner of a wooden chair after we got home from the Y and it’s noticeable this morning as well. I’m still going to attempt to play basketball but I’m hurting. I don’t think my foot is broken. I’m sure I’d feel a whole lot worse if it was. And even if it is, what can they do?
Gotta appreciate the stupid things in life, right @littlesleeper?
I tracked my food til dinner and then have up. We had cake and ice cream for my son’s birthday. I ate a lot.
Training
Pick up basketball. Played 3 games. As much as I enjoy playing basketball I think I’m done for awhile. There have been 20-30 people and it sucks. I spent two hours at the gym the last two days and played 4 games each day. We play to 10 by 1’s or 12 by 1’s and 2’s. I was there for 90 minutes today.
I’m over it. I can do a lot more with my time than play one game and then sit two or three and then play one and repeat (because I keep getting picked up by losing teams).
Deadlift:
135 x 5
165 x 5
195 x 5
235 x 5
275 x 3
315 x 3
355 x 1
390 x 2
Seated Shoulder Press:
bar x 10
65 x 5
85 x 5
105 x 5
125 x 3
145 x 3
165 x 3
These were a combo set. I alternated from one to the other. The only rest was whatever time it took to change the weights… which could have been 1-2 minutes because I had to steal weights from one bar to use on the other.
That’s about it for the week. Bench max on Monday. Hopefully I don’t suck too bad.
Woke at 222.4 lbs. I put on my uniform (clothes only) and weight 225.2 lbs. That tells me that I was between 221 and 222 yesterday instead of 224. I’m surprised by yesterday’s weight and today’s due to my poor eating this week. The cake and ice cream binge Tuesday, and last night we went to a steakhouse and I had chicken fried chicken, mashed potatoes (both covered in gravy), green beans, and 6 dinner rolls (at least they were small). Fortunately I barely ate all day so my estimated overall calories for the day ended up being low. I used KFC’s original recipe for my chicken fried chicken estimate.
I think I pinpointed my cholesterol problem! I guess it should’ve been more obvious to me but I missed it. EGGS! I got in the habit of eating 6-12 eggs Mon-Wed and occasionally I’d throw in some more throughout the week. Well 6 eggs is 990mg of cholesterol. My physical is next week and I’ll discuss my blood results then. To prepare I looked at a report on My Fitness Pal to see if I’ve done any good at decreasing my dietary cholesterol. I had days where I consumed over 2500mg of cholesterol! The recommended dose is 300mg. I know those recommendations are for a 2000 calorie diet so my goal is 600mg of cholesterol or less each day since I’m not a bird (and therefore more than 170 lbs). It looks like I’ll be eating more egg whites and less whole eggs which is disappointing. I guess I’ll survive though.
I’m not trying to be a dick here, but when I scroll past like ~10 posts here I see this
So while the eggs may be a part of the problem, I’d say it’s a sum of things. (Those really add up fast)
Best thing to do here would probably be just cleaning up the diet, looking at every food item individually and thinking: “could this contribute toy problem? Does it do any good for me apart from tasting good?”
(By the way, I think having cake on your child’s birthday is absolutely essential. Not that I had children, but I’m not going to turn down a birthday cake, I’m not that obsessed with this)
According to the nutritional information Bud Select has 0 cholesterol.
The past two weeks have had a lot of special occasions with treats that I only get once or twice a year. On Memorial Day my grandma made homemade ice cream. We had a family reunion last weekend and my mom made her chocolate sheet cake and then two days later was my son’s birthday. His chocolate cake was vegan. Does that count for anything LOL.
And since learning my cholesterol was high I’ve kept my intake around 500-600mg a day on average. I looked back at a 90 day period and had lots of days over 1000mg. I don’t think my problem is from a splurge or bad week or two of eating. I’m guessing it’s the culmination of eating too much over a long period of time. I get blood work done every year and I’ve never even been close to high on cholesterol. The only changes I’ve made in the past six months is that I began to eat more chicken (went from 5-6 lbs a week to 8-10 lbs) and I fell into the habit of having two egg sandwiches on Mon, Tues, and Wed. Each sandwich has three eggs and a slice of processed pepperjack cheese. That’s 1010mg of cholesterol in that meal alone.
And for what it’s worth, a slice of my mom’s sheet cake has 308 calories, 42.4g carbs, 14.7g fat, and 4.4g protein. Saturated fat is 7.4g, polyunsaturated is 2.7g, and monounsaturated is 2.7g. Sodium is 86.6mg and cholesterol is 36.8mg. Those are estimates based on entering all of the raw ingredients as a meal in My Fitness Pal. Four pieces of cake (which would be 1/6 of the cake) would be over 1200 calories but still not have as much cholesterol as one egg.
So while the recent weeks have been rough (I’m still under 221 lbs today though), it’s not my regular eating. And my problems started long ago. I doubt I had a bad week or month and suddenly the cholesterol shot up. I’m guessing it’s been a slow process.
95% of the time that I eat junk or drink it’s accounted for in my day so that I’m still within my calories. I know I’m taking out some good stuff and replacing it with junk but I’m still not consuming an excess of much of anything…except carbs. I’ve been consistently high on carbs and low on fat since increasing my veggie consumption and decreasing meat consumption. And until my glucose numbers climb I’m not worried about that.
We’re basically out of food at home and out of money for the month. We have a set budget and when the money is gone, it’s gone. We have more in the bank but it’s more about being discipline and staying within the planned budget. It’s the reason that the only debt we have is our house and we’re able to replace things like the air conditioner without using credit cards or loans. So the refrigerator went from being packed full of fruits and veggies to being empty in a hurry. For that reason I haven’t packed my lunch for work the last two days and the result is that I’ve come up short on calories, and lost weight.
I will probably overeat again tonight because we’re going out for our anniversary. My wife and I will have been married for nine years on Wednesday and tonight is our best shot to celebrate. We’re leaving the kids with my parents for the night and heading to Old Town. That’s our entertainment district or whatever you’d like to call it. Bars and restaurants everywhere. We’re going to pretend we’re young and childless for a few hours and then take an Uber or cab home. Another special occasion, @danteism!
No training again today. I see the doctor Tuesday so I’ll see what she has to say about my cholesterol. Hopefully I’ll get another blood test and see if it’s still high.
I’m still doubting that it’s the eggs but only time (or science) will tell. If you have a condition, the eggs are likely one of the main contributors to your cholesterol levels. (It may just be that you don’t know you have a condition)
But for reals, compared to a doctor I don’t know jack shit about what’s going on there, so listening to them would be your best bet
Through what info I’ve gathered, dietary cholesterol is typically not the reason for high blood cholesterol.
Trying to justify beer, cake, ice cream and fried chicken with gravy to eggs because of their cholesterol/macro content does not compute. You are just doing IIFYM, and are an example of why that isn’t the optimal nutrition strategy.
I’m all for pigging out and eating unhealthy, so I’m not critiquing you there…but that’s more likely the culprit for high cholesterol, not the 6 eggs. (I’ve been eating 4-6 whole eggs/day for YEARS and have family history of high cholesterol and my cholesterol is damn near perfect). Everyone is different though, eggs might be your weakness…but it would surprise me if that was the case.
I hear you guys saying dietary cholesterol doesn’t really impact blood cholesterol, but the part that doesn’t make sense is why every person with high cholesterol is told to avoid dietary cholesterol. How does that work?
If it doesn’t affect blood cholesterol before there’s a condition then why does it suddenly have an impact after there’s a known condition?
I don’t understand how it can only work one way.
And why is it that the majority of people on meds for cholesterol are obese? There has to be a connection.
I’ve checked with my family members and haven’t found a single person with any cholesterol issues… and I have some unhealthy individuals in the family tree.
I’m going to guess that my diet has played a factor. I haven’t looked back at dietary cholesterol levels from a year ago; I just know I’ve never had any issues with my blood tests in the past. Suddenly I have high cholesterol so I finally pay attention to my levels and it appears they’ve been pretty high compared to the RDA’s (I know those aren’t that great but it’s a guide). The obvious hypothesis is that high dietary cholesterol lead to high blood cholesterol.
I’d actually prefer this be the case than being the lucky winner of some random-ass condition that’s out of my control. And I’m pretty certain the doctor is going to tell me to control my dietary cholesterol for awhile and see if that helps. No reason to jump straight to medications (I wouldn’t do that anyway). So, again, dietary changes are the first response regardless of the cause (I think).
And @littlesleeper, on my binges I can get into an IIFYM approach. I don’t really pay much attention to my micronutrients but even when I eat shit my macros stay pretty balanced. And with the exception of the recent two to four weeks I typically only have a binge meal every couple weeks. Using My Fitness Pal I’ll check my weekly averages and even with my binge meals I stay where I’m supposed to be on average. So I think in the big picture I’m still in a good place. One day of eating clean one give you a six pack and one day of shit won’t give you diabetes, high cholesterol, high blood pressure, etc.
