I think it’s a question that, like you suggest, it’s difficult if not impossible to know the answer to because of all the variables involved. I think about it and talk about it because it helps me frame my progress mentally, and also to remind someone who is a relative newcomer to my log that my current progress has to be taken in context, and continuing to build strength while losing close to 20 lbs isn’t happening in a vacuum.
Ultimately what I need to do is continue working to achieve one primary goal at a time, which until June 1st is weight loss/body recomposition. I let myself go on a little tangent last week to get a 1RM press and a 20RM squat because @bonoboschimp 's formula intrigued me and I wanted to see what sort of number I could hit on that ratio calculation. Now it’s time to buckle back down nutrition-wise and get back to focused, quality dieting, and if my strength takes a little bit of a hit it’s okay.
3/31/19 morning weigh-in 188.0# I ate a lot yesterday, and got extra protein in at bedtime just to fuel recovery from yesterday’s 20 rep squats. I’m sore today in the hamstrings, glutes, lats, core and traps, but especially glutes. Quads are only slightly sore. No worse than normal DOMS, so I’m pretty pleased overall. Time to get back on track with my eating habits.
You’ve mentioned multiple times that once June 1st arrives that you’ll be bumping up your calories and pursuing strength. I know I asked you about this last week. Does it mean maintenance or surplus? And you answered that already.
But I have the impression, based on how you talk regularly about this cut, that you associate strength gains with a caloric surplus. It may not be how you view it but it’s coming off that way (it could also be a problem with how I read and interpret written thoughts and statements).
The reason I keep bringing this up is that I’m afraid you might flip the switch and start eating for strength gains and start reacquiring the fat you’ve worked so hard to lose.
I just want to encourage you to try to maintain your June 1st weight for the rest of the year. Train for strength on maintenance and see how it goes. I know that my strength went up last year as I gained weight, but it appears that it was mostly fat. I have to ask myself if adding weight to the bar is worth being fatter. For me, it’s not. No one really cares if my bench goes up 20 lbs. I’m not a competitor and I’m not setting world records. I will be better off maintaining a lower weight. I’ll perform better, feel better, and it’ll probably be better for my long term health (both organs and joints).
I may not have stated it clearly, but my intention is to first take some weeks to figure out exactly where maintenance is for me. After that, it depends on where my weight ends up on June 1st. I don’t want my weight to climb back above 180# this year, after I achieve that goal. I want to compete at 180# for strongman, and maybe do a PL meet at 181# class, without having to do a cut to compete. So, if I manage to get my weight down into the mid 170’s, then after some time to arrive at an accurate maintenance caloric intake, I want to go on a very slight surplus to get my weight back to about 180#, but I don’t want any of the weight gain to be fat, so we’re talking maybe .5 lb/month weight gain, so not much surplus at all. If I just manage to clear 180# by June 1st, I’ll probably just go with maintenance, and try to continue to recomp while maintaining weight.
This is my plan as well. I’d love to add muscle but it’s not happening fast. I’m actually not going to eat at a surplus at all. I figure I’ll have enough treats or cheat meals throughout the year to take care of that so I don’t need to do it intentionally ever again.
Long term surplus is trouble. You will eventually wind up fat again. It’s a surplus, after all.
I like the long-term maintenance plan, with bouts of strength training and bouts of muscle building. The body will adapt with more muscle at maintenance.
Yeah, you make a good point. I don’t know if I’ll need to actively try to get above maintenance. Like you say, it will probably be easy to let it happen naturally through cheat meals and such.
As another old dude around here, I gained 22 lbs during last year, now I’ve lost it all, and I actually feel I’m not as lean as I was last year at the same weight.
I’m going to stay around where I’m at now. Maybe go a tad lower, and then I’ll try to keep at maintenance, and slooooowly shift a little fat for a little muscle. I’m pretty sure I can’t gain 5 pounds of muscle a month.
So I’m all with J about keeping the nutrition on maintenance and let the ups and downs during the year be the surplus.
Yeah, we’ll see where I end up at the end of the challenge. I’m happy with my progress so far, but I definitely want to keep building my strength after the challenge is over. I think it’s totally doable without pigging out like I’ve done in the past.
3/31/19 food for today
Breakfast: Shake = 1/2 cup whole milk, 1 scoop quick oats, 1 1/2 scoop protein powder.
Lunch: 1 piece French toast with light syrup. 4 pieces of bacon.
Snack: 4.5 oz. pork rib.
Dinner: 7 oz. KC strip steak w/gorgonzola sauce. 3 oz. green beans almondine. 3 oz. rice. 1 small piece of garlic bread. 1 12 oz. can Irish Blessing coffee stout.
Bedtime: creatine.
Totals for today 1870 calories, 163g protein, 121g carbs, 70g fat. 20 calories under target today, and I ate well. Fat was a little high, but carbs were low to balance it. Back on track.
I was definitely sore today, so I stretched a couple of times and took the dogs on a 45 minute walk. I could really use a massage, but the soreness didn’t slow me down at all, just let me know it was there. Also did some yard work, picked up several wheelbarrow loads of deadfall branches, and burned them along with some trash. Tomorrow is bench primary/deadlift secondary day, I should be fine for that. After that, 3’s week, so no more high rep stuff for a while.
You mentioned in an earlier thread that you recently started TRT. Am I correct or did I conjure this? I’d be curious to know how you feel it’s helped your recovery.
No, you’re correct, I started it about 2 years ago, didn’t really talk about it on here because I didn’t want to get into the ‘natty or not’ debates. Honestly, the only effect I’ve seen is an improvement in ED-related issues, which is why I asked my doctor about it in the first place. My test came back at 134, and it was maintaining around 800 with the dose I’m on last time it was checked. Of course, the Dr. I had who is actually a leading expert in KS on test replacement left last year to start his own clinic up in Kansas City, and the Dr. I have now has just kept me on the same dose, and hasn’t even had my blood checked in the last year. I don’t think he knows much about TRT one way or the other, but I really need to make an appointment and talk to him about it and get my blood run again.
I’ve noticed a lot more impact on recovery since I started taking Rez-V and Curcumin the first of this year, but I also started out really light again, and only doing the 3 days/week training, so it may be a correlation/causation thing and it may be back to normal as my working weights go up, or if I increase my training frequency.
Are you allowed to self administer your shots or do you have to go in? What dosage and injection protocol does he have you on? Yeah probably would be prudent to get bloods done soon. For some TRT can have a negative impact on HCT which I turn can cause blood pressure issues. Also I simply like the peace of mind I get from seeing my lab work every six months. I take 125 mg twice weekly. Monday mornings and Thursday evenings. This keeps me in the 7-800 range although last labs after adding boron to my supplement list came back at 1180! Could be lab error. Guess we’ll see. I was just curious if the change in recovery and progress was substantial for you. I know for mecit was night and day difference. I immediately started putting on muscle, shedding fat, and feeling tremendously better. Wish I wouldn’t have waited until 37 lol
I do it myself, 100 mg once weekly Monday night, IM. He started me at 120 mg and my blood came back over 1100 on that, so he backed me off. I started boron supplementation a few weeks ago as well after reading the thread on here, so I wonder if that’s had any effect on my levels?
I was checking back, and it’s actually been 3 years since I started it, not 2. The last few years, with my dad passing away, me getting divorced and getting remarried, and transferring jobs, have sort of gotten away from me.
When I started taking it I was in the middle of a long run of 5/3/1, on my 10th straight cycle, and I did 2 more cycles after starting it and performance stayed about the same until I did a layoff because of life drama going on, and I didn’t notice any difference in performance at that time. I was a little stronger then than I am now, but I ought to have been after a year of consistent lifting with 5/3/1.
Oh, almost forgot:
4/1/19 morning weigh-in 188.4# Weight is still stubbornly refusing to go down.
What!? You’ve been holding out on us (and yourself). If I ever have to go on hormone replacement therapy then I’m going all in. I’d be blasting like @jackolee!
You could’ve made this cut a lot easier with some intelligently designed injections
If I still had my old Dr. I would have considered that, but like I said, he has a private clinic in KC now, and I’d have to pay out of pocket to see him. I’m sure he could weigh in on the best way to manage that. I still might make an appointment with him some time in the near future just to make sure I get the full blood panel done, and see if I need to make any adjustments. My current Dr. keeps my prescription going, but that’s about it.
@Frank_C@OTHSteve optimized test levels make a big difference in the muscle gaining/trimming up process but the trump card for me was sermorelin acetate (GH therapy)
I’m getting many of the benefits of taking exogenous GH without the risks associated or the absurd cost. Within three months of taking it my body fat specifically on my belly decreased drastically. It encourages your body to make more of its own GH so your not at risk of shutting your pituitary down. You do need a prescription, but it’s not a controlled substance like Test. Look into it if your interested. I love it
No… since your body is producing it, it is self regulatory. So basically you can’t take too much of it. I’ve been taking it for 18 months with absolutely no issues.
Did you have your IGF-1 levels tested at any point? Curious about your experience. I was near the low range then only got on Semorelin for a few months prior to TRT. My IGF-1 increased to just over the high range but still ended up getting on TRT then stopped. IGF-1 remained high for 2 years on TRT then plummeted to mid range when I temporarily got of TRT.
