Thanks!
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While Iām here, I want to give an update on week one of my dry January. It wasnāt easy but I survived my first weekend in an embarrassingly long time without a drink - especially since I watched a decent amount of football.
My sleep is better - Iām finally getting close to 90 minutes of deep sleep according to my Garmin watch. I havenāt achieved more than an hour on any of the nights Iāve worn my watch. The exception to that is the last two nights where I combined for 51 minutes, but I know the variable causing it - our 70+ pit bull mix. I let him stay in the bed because weāre all sad about losing Elaine (the older dog), but heās clingy. 70+ lbs on your hip or legs makes it tough to move. Combine that with his dreaming, kicking, pushing, twitching, and noises and it makes for a poor quality night of sleep. Heās getting the boot tonight.
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How did you do that? I need to do that.
Iām going to tag @T3hPwnisher here because this is a post based on his log, but Iām being selfish and itās about me. I thought Iād post it here instead of talking about myself over in his log.
I need to lose weight. Iām in the t-ransformation challenge as an actual competitor instead of supporting cast. Iāve allowed myself to become addicted to the poison that is the American diet. I LOVE Doritos. I really like eating them with cheddar cheese. And sometimes Iāll add some meat to that like my own version of a meat, cheese, cracker tray. These are the things that make me fat. Too many extra calories from the cheese because theyāre mixed with the crap calories of the Doritos. And thatās just one example.
In my attempt to sober up for at least a month, Iāve been drinking more pop. Actually, I think Iām drinking the same amount; Iām just not putting rum with it. Iāve created bad habits and bad āconditioningā (the psychological kind) and those are as tough to overcome as cravings. I know the fake sugar in the diet sodas isnāt helping, but as Morgan Wallen says, āIām only quitting one thing at a time.ā And for now thatās going to be alcohol.
Luckily, I have the discipline to manage my food as long as I plan ahead and have a good enough reason to do so - and I do. My difficulty with my brief run of the Steak & Egg diet is the cost of the meat and my carb cravings. I also want to avoid meats that arenāt grown well - hogs from overcrowded environments and infections, beef thatās full of garbage, chicken thatās so full of steroids that it canāt walk. I can get 20 lbs of chicken breasts locally for $120. I picked up a 1/4 beef for about $500 last year, but it doesnāt last long if Iām eating that every day. There are sources for bulk purchasing, but it takes a bit of planning.
I donāt even know where Iām going with this. Guess Iām thinking āout loudā via my log. I did have a point for one thing that @T3hPwnisher shared with me about fasting. āItās easier to fast after eating an amount that makes you not want to eat againā (paraphrasing and simplifying). I ate 5.5 large slices of pizza Sunday evening to treat myself and keep my sanity. I fasted yesterday with a kind of PSMF method from The Velocity Diet and felt fine all day. I had a protein shake around 10 am and another around 1:30-2:00pm, trained after school and didnāt eat until after 5pm. It wasnāt a struggle at all. I have to be careful not to overdo it when I start eating after fasting, but I think I did okay last night. Could have been better, but could have been worse, too.
Again, no organized thoughts hereā¦ just thinking about the benefits of trying something like the carnivore diet. I like my dairy products - well, mostly cheese - and that allows me to have that while Iād be ācheatingā on the steak and egg diet if I had it. But then again Iād cheat on the carnivore diet because I like that carb meal every 72 hours or so. Itās like a cheat meal on a regular diet - it gives you hope. 
Itās much easier to hold on for another day or two and then treat yourself compared to trying to hold out forever and failing miserably.
First, there will be no changes this week because Iāve already meal prepped my own burrito bowls inspired by Chipotle (beans, rice, and chicken). Second, regardless of how I go about it, I will reach my goal of weighing 225 or less again.
Hereās the goal! Me from 5.5 years ago. Figured Iād stick to the Navy Seal version of hiding my identity so you could appreciate my Covid hairstyle. And, yes, those are the same shorts in my t-ransformation pics. I donāt wear them much so theyāre still going strong and they work well for these check-ins.
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Since you tagged me, I hope you donāt mind me sharing some thoughts on what you posted.
So quickest kill: you can most definitely combine a carnivore diet with a carb meal every 2-3 days. This is known as a ācyclical ketogenic dietā. There is a fair amount of conversation out there on the topic. Some argue itās superior way to approach a ketogenic diet, as it allows for āmetabolic flexibilityā by being able to efficiently utilize both fuel substrates of glucose and ketones. Those in favor of carbs in diets will also point out that regular inclusion of them is supposed to help with thyroid health and control of corotisol and other sex hormones. So if youāre sitting there saying āI wish I could primarily eat meat and cheese but occasionally have a carby mealā and thatās the only thing holding you back from your ādream dietā: itās out there.
Regarding Doritos, meat and cheese: Iād consider employing something akin to what is employed in food aversion therapy ala gradual exposure/systematic desensitization. Layout a typical boat of Doritos, meat and cheese and see what a standard serving of Doritos looks like to you. Over time, try to reduce the Doritos while increasing the meat and cheese. Thereās nothing fundamentally wrong with meat and cheese, while the hyperpalatability of the Doritos can certainly lead to some poor decisions.
But itās also worth looking at WHY weāre eating this snack. This appears like ādopamine stackingā. Meat is pleasurable to eat, cheese even moreso (some argue due to the casomoprhins) and Doritos exist in a level of delicious that simply cannot be obtained in nature. Weāre most likely not eating this because weāre hungry, but, instead, to get an incredible dopamine hit. What can ALSO give us that hit? Can we get the same thing from reading a favorite book, playing a video game, listening to a podcast on a walk, etc?
Regarding fasting and feasting: along with meal volume, another thing to consider is meal composition. Often, hunger in modern diets is the result of the āblood sugar roller coasterā. We eat foods that are high in simple carbs and low in protein and fiber. This results in a blood sugar spike, and then a crash. And because our bodies are primarily running on glucose in this state, it interprets the crash as an energy crisis and sends signals saying āI need MORE foodā. This is how people get hangry. Junk food companies have mastered this by specifically engineering foods to NOT have fiber and low protein in them, along with pairing them with cheap fats and salt to compel us to continue snacking on them.
So another avenue to make fasting more sustainable is to select foods that are absent of these simple carbs OR, if present, come along with fiber (ala fruit). My approach is eliminate ALL carbs and just use fats and proteins, because there is no blood sugar spike there, but in the case of the pizza, something we could do to make it even MORE satiating is include a protein shake with it to help blunt some of the spike alongside some manner of fiber, as thereās already plenty of fat to go with the pizza.
And just as an aside: in my own experience, black coffee is also an excellent fasting aid.
Whole lot to nug through there, but hopefully some help. Iād love the idea of reducing carbs to help with hunger/satiety signaling, and always happy to talk shop. Fully understand the cost concerns/desire to eat quality sources.
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I definitely tagged you because I love hearing your two cents. Youāre an abundance of knowledge and experience and I love it.
I think youāre right about the carnivore plus refeed. Keto allows for some carbs so my cheese and a couple condiments wouldnāt kill me. I think itās still stays close to the intended purpose of the diet.
I think you hit the nail on the head with how my snack makes me feel. I definitely get that happy warm dump of dopamine with that combo. My key to success is to not have Doritos in the house. Believe it or not, I can control portions if I want. Iāll count out the 11 chips that is one serving, put some on a sandwich to get that crunch and eat the rest. My problem is when I donāt care or Iāve convinced myself I deserve a treat. And the truth is that the excessive calories come from the sharp cheddar. Eat a Dorito (or three stacked), take a bite of cheese, repeat.
As for coffee, I already use that with my fasting. I drink 1 to 3 cups to get started each day and go from there. The caffeine does nothing for me; I just like it. I donāt even drink fancy stuff. Iām currently enjoying the Samās brand of French Roast.
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1.13.26
Warm-Up
7 minutes on the bike
45 Deg Back Ext
BW x 10
40 x 12 x 3 sets
Side Crunch
BW x 10 as warm-up
Windshield Wipers + Flutter Kicks
10 each + 15 ea x 2 sets
OHP
95 x 8
110 x 6
125 x 4
140 x 2
150 x 4
Feeling strong on pressing. Hoping I can keep it going despite cutting.
Machine Row
220 x 10
235 x 8
245 x 6
255 x 6
Machine Rev Fly
160 x 12, 10
Machine Fly
175 x 12
190 x 7, 4
Box Step Down
20" x 5
20" Box Jumps
x 10
20" Depth Jumps
6, 6
Bounding
1 set of 20 total steps
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I drink 1 to 3 cups to get started each day and go from there. The caffeine does nothing for me;
The most immediate question Iāll ask here is how is your sleep? This could actually be the closest wolf to the sled, and tackling it could have significant downstream effects on everything else. Stan Efferding, among others, have had fat loss client that were waking up an hour earlier to get in an hour of cardio, and when they had them stop the cardio and get the extra hour of sleep, fat loss stalls were broken. Hormones be crazy like that.
Regarding carnivore and keto diets, I feel like itās good to have an understanding of intent and application. Weight loss CAN happen on a carnivore diet, but so can weight gain. Ultimately, itās an anti-inflammation and elimination diet. Itās what sold me on it: I was tired of my guts constantly being on fire. And, in turn, Iāve used it to lose and gain weight. It technically doesnāt even have to be a ketogenic diet: you can overconsume protein OR animal carb sources via diary and get out of a state of ketosis.
Which, in turn, leads to the ketogenic diet. Ketogenic diets arenāt NECESSARILY low carb diets: theyāre diets that result in body producing/relying on ketones as a fuel substrate. The most effective way to accomplish that is by EATING low carbs and high fats, because you eliminate the ability of the body to rely on glucose for fuel and force it to employ fat as a fuel source, which puts you in a ketogenic state. But you can ALSO get there while eating more than 20-50g of carbs a day by burning OFF all your glucose and forcing your body to use fat as a fuel source, and you can also aid the process through the use of exogenous ketones.
Why do I bring all that up? Because again: itās not necessarily a weight loss diet. Robert Sykes is a ketogenic bodybuilder who never breaks ketosis, yet is able to gain up to a bodyweight of 190+ in the off season and diet down to 155 in competition season. Heās always in a state of ketosis: his body is producing and relying on ketones. But heās consuming enough energy to be able to still put on weight.
How these diets āworkā is primarily because the foods are so satiating AND being fat adapted makes it such that itās easy to achieve a caloric deficit. Iāve never used GLP-1 agonist before, but from what everyone describes, it sounds like a natural way to do it, because, for me, it shuts off food noise and makes prolonged fasting painless. But it also means that carnivore and keto arenāt magic, in the sense that, you can eat an infinite amount of meat, eggs, cheese, butter, etc and, so long as your carbs are low, you wonāt gain fat. Theyāre just a tool to make it possible to not eat so much.
All THAT said, I think theyāre wonderful tools, and keto has quite a wide world of variations to explore. Along with a cyclical ketogenic diet (CKD), there are Targeted Ketogenic Diets (TKD), which also allow for carb consumption, but timed around hard physical training. Reference what I wrote earlier about burning off all your carbs and getting into ketosis. These folks will consume a small amount of carbs around the training window, use that to fuel the training, and then return to ketosis. Rob Goodwin has demonstrated the use of this, as have many other athletes. Another viable approach if youāre looking to keep carbs in the diet in some manner.
EDIT: Oh yeah, also: avoid keto junkfood. Just because it says ācertified ketoā on the label, doesnāt mean itās good for you. In fact, the fact is HAS a label is probably already a bad sign. I fell HARD for that trap. Whole foods.
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Better since Iāve cut the alcohol. Similar to when I take Nyquil, if I drank alcohol then Iād sleep hard til about 3am and then lie there wide awake. I fell for a clickbait trap on social media about a fancy pillow, but what caught my attention was the deep sleep quality metric. I wore my watch to bed a couple times and i was getting less than an hour of deep sleep per night. Iāve worn it since cutting the booze and Iāve been hitting close to 90 minutes of deep sleep per night.
My stomach health is fine, but I think I have some other things that could be better by eliminating some junk. I kind of view myself as Iām not in bad shape, but Iām also 41 and it would be easier to clean things up now and maintain them compared to slipping further as I age. Maintenance is easier/better than recovery. Dan John said it in his book - the best weight loss method is to not get fat in the first place. I believe this applies to our health as well. The best hypertension treatment is to not get hypertension. I know there are some variables outside of our control, but I think I should control what I can control to improve my health.
I like the idea of this.
And this. Feeling satiated is huge for me. I can tough out hunger, but if I can eat in a way that I donāt have to do it as much then Iām all for it.
This is ultimately the correct answer regardless of the ratios. I tried the steak & eggs diet for a couple weeks. I cramped more and experienced some dull burning in my legs more than usual, but training didnāt seem to be impacted. And Iām honestly craving a plate full of beef and eggs right now, but I didnāt prepare one so I just ate a beans/rice/chicken burrito bowl instead.
If I evaluate my undisciplined eating carb sources - they arenāt great. Mostly bread and tortillas to make sandwiches, burgers, and wraps. I guess I like handheld foods. The rest of it was chips or crackers and not even a lot. I talk about my Doritos snack but I didnāt even eat that every day - it was a couple times a week and usually when I fasted through the work day.
This is tough for me to really say, but accountability wonāt hurt. Plus, if I donāt like it I can just log off the site! Cutting alcohol alone can and should result in weight loss. The problem is that if Iām not drinking then I want to eat. If Iām drinking then I donāt want to eat because it limits or cuts off the buzz. And then if I drink too much, I raid the kitchen to try to bring the buzz back down. Thatās the worst case scenario - too much booze and too much food.
My drinking is a problem. I havenāt had a drink since January 4th and I donāt seem to have any physical dependence on it (Thank God!). But I was drinking 3-4 rum and diet cokes a night. And I usually used a blender bottle so my drinks were 20ish ounces with plenty of rum - probably 4 to 5 ounces each. Some nights Iād cut myself off after two and then switch to light beer. Iād drink anywhere from 4 to 6 of those. So if youāre counting calories, I was drinking a minimum of 600 calories a night but usually closer to 1000+ unless I was doing something that prevented me from starting at 5pm like kidsā practices or my security side gig.
Those are the horrible facts. I could do that seven nights a week with limited side effects. I was mostly just tired in the mornings from poor sleep, but rarely hung over. I took an AA quiz a while back and didnāt quite fail, but I definitely havenāt been winning. I hate that I like to drink. My kids deserve better. My body deserves better. And itās definitely not what God wants for my life. Iām not sure what Iām supposed to accomplish while Iām here, but I know itās not sitting on my rear drunk all the time.
Itās not really New Yearās Resolution, but Iām using the start of the year and the T-ransformation Challenge as my launching point to fix things. Iām also reading my bible more and starting a bible study provided by our church where we focus on one book per month and meet the 2nd Wednesday of the month. They gave us a binder with a sort of workbook to go through each book which should help me process and retain the information better.
New Year - Better Me! or some corny cliche like that.
Iāve already been tested by the death of my dog on my third day of sobriety. It was a rough few days, but I survived that. No reason I canāt keep it up.
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Iām super excited for your journey on this. It sounds like you have a solid foundation moving forward.
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God I hate that feeling. I got to the point where 2 drinks did that to me. My heart would race and I would be wide awake. Finally I would just go watch TV since I couldnāt sleep anyway. My sleep is way better since I quit. I hope it works out for you. You really will feel better in the long run.
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1.15.26
Warm-up
5 minutes on the bike
Sled
Tank M4 Sled L3 + 45 lbs
Push/pull 25m x 5 each
Time: 12:35
Not my best session. My rest periods were too long. Guess the extra 45 lbs made a difference.
Squat Test
355 x 1 solid and moved well
I say test because I didnāt push to max. I worked up to a solid single that was in line with my progress (last workout was on the row with a 345 max). Itās also worth noting I did this after the sled workout. Not a great choice if youāre looking to set PRs but okay if youāre taking it slow for the sake of your back.
Hang Power Clean
185 x 2
205 x 2
215 x 2
225 x 2
235 x 2
245 x 1, 1
255 x 1
45 Deg Back Ext
BW x 15 x 2
Side Crunch
BW x 10 x 2
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Just to throw my story/thoughts out there (if youād rather them not be here Iām happy to delete).
I havenāt drank since February 2013. I was a heavy drinker, I sound similar to you, heavy and consistent, and I loved to drink, not an alcoholic not dependent but just really enjoyed it. Loved the taste (whiskey, wine, cider, ale) loved the way it made me feel, and itās such a massive part of culture (particularly in the UK).
I recognised in 2012 that I was drinking way to often, way to much, so decided to take the year off.
It was hard to start with probably the first 6 months, maybe more, because youād be fine for a while then a social event would make you wonder why you couldnāt just have a few drinks with everyone else, cos whatās the harm right? Or itās summer and BBQ time, and cider is perfect for hot weather and BBQs. Or Iāve had a stressful day and a glass of red just really helps me relax.
Anyway I got to October of 2012 and ended up becoming a Christian. Then I got to 1st Jan 2013 and had my first drink as soon as it turned midnight. I knew as a Christian that being drunk was wrong, but theologically Iām not against drinking, so I drank throughout January, not getting drunk, but got through 3 bottles of whiskey amongst other things.
Got to the end of January and realised that while I may not be theologically opposed to alcohol, personally I canāt control myself enough to just be an occasional or moderate drinker. Alcohol is insidious, itās everywhere and it always just starts as just one, or two but then the self control slips and the poor decisions start stacking, more drinks, bad food, other bad choices.
Alcohol has caused me a stomach ulcer, a night in the cells, innumerous fights physical and verbal. Itās a carcinogen, itās toxic, it inebriates, itās addictive, it causes so much damage on an individual and societal level, itās crazy that itās still legal whilst less harmful drugs arenāt (Iād actually make all drugs legal, but thatās a discussion for another time).
I had a colleague tell me that he was wished he could quit drinking in the summer a couple of years ago, young guy, young family, great career, by the end of that year he nearly lost his job, ended up demoted, because of some poor decision making think it had a fairly big impact on his family life as well.
Quitting alcohol would be a decision I would count as probably one of the wisest Iāve ever made.
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Judgement free zone here so yāall canāt say anything - I love country music. And 2 out of 3 songs talk about beer or whiskey. I grew up in a small town and we backed our pickup trucks up to a bonfire and drank beer. I lived some of the life they sing about so I relate very well. I was at the gym yesterday doing my workout and noticed the song was about whiskey again, so I decided to change it to my Zach Williams station. In that moment, I realized I might have to do a complete overhaul. I guess my music is similar to a group of friends who continue to drink and just wouldnāt be a good influence right now. Itās kind of sad.
This is the next battle. I feel pretty solid right now at 1.5 weeks into it. Iām not thinking about it every day in terms of how badly I want a drink. Iām talking about it, but not craving ya know? As a teacher, the entire summer is a weekend. Some people can drink on the weekend. I used to be one of them. But every night is Friday night during summer break and itās dangerous.
The other major trigger is going to be the lake. Itās pretty common practice to jump off the swim dock and float and drink a beer. Next thing you know, itās been five hours and youāve hadā¦ a lot. Drinking is what I do in that moment. What the heck am I going to do instead? I donāt think Iāll want to float for hours on end while without the booze. But on the other hand, perhaps Iāll get out of the water and do something constructive like chores around my parentsā lake house or play with my kids (although they swim and play with other kids the whole time so itās not like theyāre missing out).
And that brings me to why I came here. I weighed 235 this morning - down 10 lbs from January 1st and back to my original starting weight for when I thought āI need to lose weightā. Itās probably a blip because Iāve had a couple low calorie days, but Iāll take it. This would be quite tough if I cut booze and food and didnāt see progress soon. If I only cut the booze then I would understand slower movement on the scale but things are going well. I think itās mostly bloat and junk. My stomach looked much flatter this morning. And now itās time for me to go teach my freshmen something useful about nutritionā¦
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Following.
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1.18.25
Warm-up/Cardio
20 minutes on the the Precor Adaptive Motion elliptical while I watched football. I went to a different branch of my gym and while the weight lifting section is cool, the rest of it sucked. This was the only elliptical that let me watch the NFL playoff game. They have brand new ones but they didnāt hook them up to the cable. I guess expect me to log in to all my apps on a public machineā¦ Anyway, this elliptical forces you to control the path. You can go up and down like youāre stomping or you can really get it going like a running stride, but itās tough. My least favorite option for ellipticals but I wanted to watch the game. I thought about just walking on a treadmill but they had the same setup and no cable. First world problems.
Bench Day!
starting back over at week 1
135 x 10
170 x 8
205 x 6
240 x 4
270 x 2
Did 1x10 on Jefferson Curls after set 2.
Close-Grip Cable Row
200 x 10
210 x 8
220 x 6
230 x 5
240 x 5
Seated DB OHP
65 x 10, 6, 6
Seated Calf Raise
125 x 15 controlled tempo
125 x 20 fast reps
Chin-Ups
BW x 10, 7, 5
crashed fast today, but I usually do these before any other back work.
Back Ext. Machine
220 x 15
Could not find a 45 degree or any other type of back extension apparatus. Had to settle for the pin selector machine and didnāt like it.
Cable Twist - low to high wood chopper motion
20 x 10 ea x 2 sets
Did this during my daughterās softball practice. The indoor facility is basically someoneās barn that they rent out for baseball and softball (great idea by the way). They practice for two hours most Sundays so I decided to drop her off and drive back to the nearest YMCA. This might be my new Sunday routine so Iām going to have to account for the differences in cardio and core equipment and plan ahead. If Iād lifted yesterday like I should then I would have been doing deadlifts today and wouldnāt have worried about the back extension stuff.
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1.19.26
I forgot MLK was today so today is a bonus day off that I wasnāt anticipating.
Warm-Up
PT stretches
Sled
Tank M4 Level 3 + 45 lbs
Alternate push 25m / pull 25m x 5 ea
Total time: 10:21 (shaved 2 minutes off my time from 1/15)
Deadlift
Week 6 on the progression
135 x 5
225 x 5
285 x 4
330 x 4
365 x 2 (way harder than Iād like, but what can ya do?)
Clean Pull from Rack
Week 2
135 x 5
175 x 5
205 x 4
235 x 4
260 x 2
Front Foot Elevated Split Squat
100 x 8 ea x 4 sets
70 lbs + 30 lb DB, made sure to do even sets with the heavy weight on each side.
Side Crunch
20 lbs x 10 ea x 2 sets
45 Deg Back Ext
45 lbs x 15 x 2 sets
I hate it when I type this all out feeling like Iāve done a lot and then it doesnāt look like muchā¦
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I thought Iād posted this, but I just scrolled back to May and didnāt see it. This is the magical Step Progression Chart Iām following. I couldnāt snip more than this without making it super tiny, but hereās a sample. Iāll also share a link to my Google Sheet in case you want to see the whole thing. @alex_uk I thought you might like this for your two presses since youāre undecided. Iāve made progress but it doesnāt beat me up so I feel fresh every workout.
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1.20.26
(Posting 1.21.26)
OHP
95 x 8
110 x 5
125 x 3
140 x 1
155 x 3
superset with
Pull-Ups
BW x 6 x 5 sets
Bench Press
185 x 5
225 x 5 x 3 sets
Pendlay Row
155 x 10 x 3 sets
Curl Machine
125 x 10
125 x 8
110 x 6
Press-Down
130 x 20
140 x 10
140 x 8
Treadmill
Walk for 15 minutes
My brain has been frantic for a few days. I grew up outside the city limits and I miss it. I wish I lived on about 5 acres of land, but I donāt. I browse online enough to get email updates when land sales change or post. I looked at one and the location is great, and it looked like it had potential. The Mrs. actually wanted to go look so I skipped my usual after-school training window to do that. Well, the property was a disappointment. They want too much money for land that needs a lot of work. One lot has a house built in 1900 that you wouldnāt want to fix up and the other lot has multiple barns and silos that are useless to us. It would be expensive just to clear everything out, let alone build. But that still has my mind going. I just finished dinner and Iām sitting here thinking āCan we even afford to build a house?ā And the more I thin about it, the more I think the answer is āNo.ā Itās still kind of my dream so Iāll keep kicking it around. We have quite a bit of equity in our house and a rental house, but everything is so expensive these days that something like $200k might not get you much (and that used to be a darn nice new home).
My son had basketball practice for 90 minutes so I decided to go lift instead of sitting around. No cardio or lower body exercises let it work because I had a full stomach. I usually donāt like to do anything until Iām on empty. Knowing that, I didnāt really push pace. I just did a set, rested 90ish seconds (45 between pull-ups and OHP sets), and just did the work. It was kind of nice not doing anything to get my heart pumping. I figured this type of workout was better than no workout.
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