Yeah totally agree.
Strictly meat & dairy for me is the easiest, most sustainable. Any meat, any dairy. High speed, low drag!
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3/20/25 weight 236
Meal 1: 9 grams roast beef deli meat 23
Meal 2: biotest superfood, smoked oysters, herring 320
Snacks: 2 fiber bars (wifeâs), 2 cereal bar (kidsâ), 2 nigiri sushi, 3 strawberries. (Fân starving) 682
Meal 3: beef and rice 1242
Total calories 2267
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3/21/25 weight 235
Workout 1
Bench 255 10x1
Meal 1: protein, steak, rice 316
Meal 2: biotest superfood herring 150
Snack: protein, blueberry cereal bar 297
Workout 2
Skull crushers 71 3x12 (elbows feel crunchy)
Tri pressdowns 35 3x25
Bicep curls 35 3x15
Meal 3: 6 eggs, 4 bacon, 4 ramen 2104
Total calories 2867
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3/22/25 weight 233
Workout
Squats 275 5x4
Meal 1: protein, corned beef hash, 4 eggs 1088
Meal 2: 9 oz reverse seared tritip 511
snacks: 3 blue berry ceral bar, protein bar, chocalote chip/peanutbutter bar 731
Meal 3: 9 oz smoked brisket 396
Total calories 2726
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3/23/25 weight 235
Workout
Press 105 10x3
Side delt raise 20 5x18
Rear delt raise 20 5x15
Shrugs
365 5x12
(Does lifting with a Texas Power Bar make you stronger? Maybe not. But it does give me a workout boner every time)
Facepulls 30 3x25
Meal 1: protein, 10 oz smoked brisket 610
20 min fast paced walk
Meal 2: 6 oz smoked brisket 264
Meal 3: 6 oz smoked brisket, 2 smoked beef ribs 544
Meal 4: chicken and rice 808
Meal 5: 3 
690
Total calories 2926
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Were these back ribs? I canât imagine so few calories from short/plate ribs.
Dunno. I smoked the brisket and tritip. I just ate a few ribs. I may have miscalculated
These are back ribs
These are chuck bone in short ribs
These are beef plate ribs
If it was in latter 2 categories, I canât imagine those calculations are right. Ribs get a little tricky to measure in general: you basically have to weigh them before you eat them, then weigh the bones when youâre done to figure out how much meat you ate.
Yeah. just the back ribs. Not the dinosaur ribs
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Yeah. I was definitely thinking weighing before and after would be the way. I was at a memorial for a fallen coworker, though, so no scale. But they were pretty small.
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3/24/25 weight 236
Workout 1
Deadlift 425..wife busted in and started a fight⊠Didnt get to do the 475..
Meal 1: chicken breast, oysters, sardines 611
Workout 2
Wide grip pullups 50x
Bent over rows 185 5x8
Protein
Meal 2: 7 hot dogs. 1610
Total calories 2221
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3/25/25 weight 233
Workout 1
Press 140 5x5
(The caloric restriction is taking a toll on the power. My favorite thing about this workout was last couple setsâŠthat 5th rep is a grind.
You wonder excitedly while it is moving at the speed of dick if you are going to be able to maintain consciousness or if you will drop this motherfucker down on your head)
Meal 1: protein, 2 eggs, 2 bacon 454
Meal 2: chicken, herring, oyesters 520
Workout 2
Side delt raise 20 5x20
Rear delt. 20 5x20
Rear delt shrigs 45 x burnout
Facepulls 35 5x25
Meal 3: sliced beef, 4 hotdogs ( dont worry, this is the last of them. Just didnt want to waste them.) post workout protein 1775
Total calories 2749
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I let out an audible âWhat the f**Kâ when I read this. Dude: this is like the Babe Ruth/Tony Galento diet. I donât think itâs the reduced calories that are impacting your training so much: I think itâs the SOURCE of those calories.
I am curious which hot dog buns youâre using that are only 9-10g of carbs though, in order to total out your day at 69g of carbs after 7 hot dogs. But looking at your fats vs proteins and you can see the tradeoff being made there. A traditional hot dog is really a whole lotta fat and not much protein (and most have some sorta sugars mixed in as well). When your food intake is limited, you need to maximize nutrient density.
Justin Harris had a great allegory for this. If you have a red solo cup and you spray it with a firehose, itâs going to get full. If you take that same cup and try to hit it with a squirt gun, itâs going to take some precision. Dudes that are on the seefood gaining diet donât need to worry about nutrients (micro and macro) because theyâre eating so much goddamn food in general that theyâre BOUND to get in what they need. But when you cut the food quantity down, now you need more precision in order to be able to hit your goals. If youâre taking in 5000 calories, 7 hot dogs can fit in âthe programâ, but when itâs down to 2000, we gotta trade in the hot dogs for steak.
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I get it. Man, i am going through a tough time. I dont mean to make excuses, but I am having success at calorie restriction for the first time in my life. I get that the source and my diet is shit. I think i did pretty decent on weekend when i had time to smoke some beef and stuffâŠ
I guess i need to get some lean hamburger meat and start making more monster mash. I was able to turn a bad bout of stomach flu into a positive and not eat my way back up to the weight i was before, and i am trying to get down to i think 225-215 before i go to maybe a 500 caloric surplus to start gaining muscle in more controlled way. Does this sound like a good plan? Or am I just fucking dumb?
Dont take this response to mean i dont agree with you, hear you, and appreciate the advice
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I see bodyWEIGHT being the big focus here. Are you looking to compete in a specific weight class? If not, Iâd honestly stop fixating at the scale and start looking at bodyCOMP. That bout of stomach flu had you drop weight by depleting your water and glycogen stores, but it wasnât going to give you a significant drop in adipose tissue (if anything, itâd mirror up with the loss of lean tissue).
Youâre a big man at your bodyweight. Iâm not sure of your height, but itâs a question of just how muscular can you get/be at your height (assuming drug free). Your lifts right now would be decent lifts for a 181lb powerlifter at a local level. It may be necessary to get significantly lean in order to grow from there.
DONâT anticipate strength loss/regression during this time. Right now, this is a matter of cutting out excess fluff. You arenât dieting down to bodybuilder levels of leanness. If youâre eating quality foods and staying on top of electrolytes, you should be fine. Iâve been slowly losing weight in my own log and my lifts are going UP.
Your meal prep idea is a good one. Set yourself up for success. You can see in my own log: I bought 3 legs of lamb at Costco this weekend, spent 10 minutes cutting them into 8oz steaks, and I throw them in the air fryer while I take my shower in the morning so I can have them at breakfast. Itâs stupidly convenient and very high quality nutrition. I hard boiled eggs for the same reason: now I have eggs ready whenever I need them. I can definitely help brainstorm some strategies for you, and someone like @s.gentz or @QuadQueen would be great assets as well, as they approach nutrition from a far more well rounded manner than I do with my carnivore approach.
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Iâm happy to help, but need to know what your ideal diet approach is. My general recs are definitely to move away from the processed foods/meats. Focus on easy prep simple stuff. Quick and easy protein options include: canned tuna, chicken breast and/or sardines packed in water, cottage cheese, plain Greek yogurt, eggs, and as @T3hPwnisher suggested, plain meats that have been prepped in advance. For good carbs rely on baked potatoes and/or sweet potatoes (bake ahead or microwave to cook quickly), oats, quinoa, rice, corn tortillas. For veggies, buy a bunch of the frozen steam-in-bag type and/or pre-washed and cut salads and fresh options. Throw in a little healthy fat from avocado, olive oil and/or moderate amounts of nuts and call it day.
Donât overthink it. Do the same thing every day if that makes it easier. Always have a plan and a back-up plan in case it falls through. Put more focus on nutrients and less focus on calories and stay consistent.
If you have any questions or if thereâs any information I can provide to help you, just let me know! Iâm in here and Iâm watching you!! lol
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I cannot tell you how much I appreciate you all being patient with me and guiding me.
I have a bit of brain damage, so short term memory is not my strong suit. The advice here keeps me on track and keeps me from repeating past mistakes.
My goal is to look âgoodâ in a bathing suit. That is a very loose term because I am old and realistically, I dont harbor any notions that I am going to be 20 again, just because I get in shape.
A year and a half ago, I began using a sleep machine, and I have made great strides in strength training and body recomposition for obvious reasons. I have had less injuries as well that can stop progress.
To reward myself for this, i went on a dirty bulk, lol. I got strong and got up to around 270. I breathed heavy going up stairs, but I could run through a brick wall.
I am never going to be impressive with strength or aeshthetics, but I want to be the strongest version of me I can. And I dont want to look like an absolute slob while doing so. Also wouldnt mind being in decent cardio shape.
All that said, I am not a muscular guy. Right now, i have lost a ton of fat on neck, face, and stomach. So my goal is not a number, it is an image in the mirror. 225 is what we could call a loose goal. If i get there and dont like what i see, 215.
Your advice helped me to see that maybe it is close to time to stop worrying about losing all the fat and slowly recomp. I tried to find a pic of when i was 270. But i have deletedâŠ
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I appreciate you being so candid.
I donât think thereâs anything wrong with wanting to lose fat as a goal. But a great quote from Dan John is âThe goal is to keep the goal the goal.â When fat loss is the goal, make that the goal, and donât sweat what happens to the lifts. Do your best to progress them, yeah, train hard, but fat loss is the goal. Keep in mind: as you lose weight, you become a different athlete. Youâre lighter, so the weights you lift scale as such. This is why powerlifting employs a coefficient to measure âbest lifterâ in a meet: itâs not a linear scale. Your lifts may slide down a little, but if theyâre staying in proportion to your bodyweight, youâre good.
Improving cardio health is also a great goal as well, and can be done with something as simple as those regular walks youâre engaging in. Dan Johnâs âEasy Strength for Fat Lossâ prioritizes going for a walk after heavy lifting, and is an excellent way to put this all together. The Tactical Barbell series of programs also do an excellent job, as does 5/3/1.
I think a dedicated and focused period of time to lean out and establish a baseline to build upon is more than fine. The big thing Iâd focus on at this point is nutrient QUALITY over quantity. Just build the habits of good eating FIRST and THEN it will be really easy to scale intake as needed. Going from 8 pop tarts a day to 2 IS a form of progression, sure, but it also tends to mean weâre just starving and set up to binge later in the diet. When our baseline is steak and eggs, we can just eat more or less of those things as needed.
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3/26/25 weight 232 6-0"
Workout
Hatfield 265 3x8 (as much as i love the locked in feeling of low bar, ass bumping the achilles is so nice!)
Stepups 265 3x20 (no knee pain!)
Meal 1: 8 oz sliced beef, protein powder 710
Meal 2: biotest superfood, herring, oysters 320
Meal 3: chicken breast, white and wild rice 1710
Total calories 2740
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Now for a question. I am doing press twice a week, and bench once a week.
I want to do a bench workout tommorrow that is fun. Being on a calorie deficit, which workout should I do:
10x10 165
5x10. 205
5x8. 215
10x3 245
My current official max is 275
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