What were the cals?
Averaged around 2500. I have a really slow metabolism, man. Iām super active but easily put on fat if I eat 2500-3000.
Hereās what I got for increasing calories this fall/winterā¦same physique, but with a bunch of added belly fat. I think I have the āget shreddedā thing down at this point but have yet to figure out how to add lean tissue. I have a good base, but pretty wild this is all I have to show for 10 years of consistent resistance training.
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Well stress will always be a factor and 2500 cals with low stress is def different than 2500 cals stressed out. Something to be managed for sure. At least you are tracking and can adjust from there.
Youāre right about stress. For now, I plan to just maintain a general weight rangeā¦as long as Iām staying lean and am happy with my physique, I wonāt worry about tracking to the letter. Iāve tracked so religiously that I have a good idea of how many calories and grams of protein Iām eating, anyway, and it can distract me from appreciating the day-to-day beauty of life.
Tracking will be an intermittent tool I use, not something I use all the time ā as I have for a couple years now.
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Itās funny because I feel I canāt enjoy the day-to-day beauty of life if I am NOT tracking my calories and am worried about the food I am consuming. āWhat have I eaten? Am I eating too much?ā
Iāve been at least 30 pounds overweight for most of my life so FINALLY things are working for me so I am trying to stay cognizant, positive, and in a forward motion. That being said I was on vacation two weeks ago and didnt track a thing and I was fine and rarely thought about it. I ate crap at least 75% of the time and ice cream probably every day. I gained zero pounds and dropped the water weight bloat after 2 days of proper eating and was down a pound by the end of the following week at 2500 cals. Its funny how different vacation is when you arenāt consuming booze. I used to be good for at least a 5 pound gain for the weekā¦usually more.
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Gotta know yourself, brother. It sounds like weāre both trending in a positive direction! Tracking is such a useful tool but, IMO, not something to use all the time, for years on end.
Sometimes eating crap is good for your mental and social/emotional health. Most people ā especially in America ā donāt need that advice, but some of us do.
High achievers always underestimate how much we need a reprieve. A break? I donāt need a fucking break! Yes we do. Thatās why we burn out, get anxiety, etc.
We had family in town this weekend and went out to eat 2X a day 4 days straight, usually to seafood places. I didnāt go nuts and order decadent dishes, but I did eat āless healthyā than normal. I also tried bites of other peopleās (unhealthy) dishes, ate dessert in moderation (even had coffee cake for breakfast one day), etc ā all things I wouldnāt normally do.
I just ate intuitively and accepted that Iād gain a few pounds from all the socialization and burn it in a couple weeks after getting home.
Today was my first normal day back. I was 4 lbs lighter. We get in our heads too much 
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Fuck yeah we do. What a great break you hadā¦are you SURE you have a slow metabolism 
Ha! I always have, man. It blows my mind when I see these YouTubers eating 3500-4000 calories and staying lean.
To be fair, I kept an eye on my calories and was mindful of portion sizes. For example, when I had coffee cake, it was just a small piece ā so breakfast ended up being like 300 calories. I probably did end up in a deficit, though that wasnāt the goal.
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Watching Lone Survivor and thought, in light of our recent conversation, this monologue was funny:
Been around the world twice. Talked to everyone once. Seen two whales fuck, been to three world faires. And I even know a man in Thailand with a wooden cock. I pushed more peeter, more sweeter and more completer than any other peter pusher around. Iām a hard bodied, hairy chested, rootinā tootinā shootinā, parachutinā demolition double cap crimpinā frogman. There aināt nothinā I canāt do. No sky too high, no sea too rough, no muff too tough. Been a lot of lessons in my life. Never shoot a large caliber man with a small caliber bullet. Drove all kinds of trucks. 2byās, 4byās , 6byās and those big mother fuckers that bend and go āShhh Shhhā when you step on the brakes. Anything in life worth doing is worth overdoing. Moderation is for cowards. Iām a lover, Iām a fighter, Iām a UDT Navy SEAL diver. Iāll wine, dine, intertwine, and sneak out the back door when the refueling is done. So if youāre feeling froggy, then you better jump, because this frogmanās been there, done that and is going back for more. Cheers boys.
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Thatās awesome. I might watch the movie just for that.
Itās an epic movie, highly recommend. Love learning more about the military. In another life, I wouldāve gone that route (flirted with the Marines as a teen) ā just like the surgeon thing we were talking about earlierā¦so many different interesting paths our lives couldāve gone down! Fascinating to think about.
Yeah, itās really crazy to think about. One decision to enlist at 18 and your life is changed entirely forever. One pregnant girlfriendā¦ life is changed forever. One bad car wreckā¦ One getting into an awesome school you shouldnāt have gotten intoā¦ You get the point. Itās crazy how much one thing at that age can change things hugely either way.
I see it more on the side of when people first start their real jobs. Itās crazy, I could have started in something related to IT and be in IT sales right now but my family had a company that was an automotive parts manufacturer so I went that way and now Iām up to my eyeballs in the automotive world and have zero contacts or resume stuff for IT (which is huge where I live now and I canāt even get a callback anywhere). Iād love to get out of it but itās pretty hard to switch industries once youāre in oneā¦ Iām either over qualified for the low level jobs or donāt have any IT experience for the real sales jobs.
Iām still kicking myself for not jumping at a job that was about 2 hours away about 9 months ago. Itās a company that makes antimicrobial stuffā¦ I can only imagine how much money theyāre printing right now with everyone wanting it now that COVID has happened. We didnāt want to move though and obviously had no idea this was going to happen or I would have been all over it. With COVIDās impact on it Iām sure it would have been $200K+ without a doubt. Oh well, canāt change it now.
Anyways. Iām rambling.
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Youāre right, my man. Canāt change it now. Maybe a better opportunity will come along soon! Obviously seems unfortunate that you missed that one, but we always just have to work hard and trust the process. Things will work out, Iām certain.
Question for the real estate gang, including @hardartery and others:
We have a nice place that we love but itās a rental in an expensive area. Iām starting to think about our first purchase.
Would you recommend:
A. Going for a lower-cost house (which would be a downgrade from our current place), living in it for a few years, then moving on to a nicer place and renting it out.
B. Going for a higher-cost house with immediate rental potential, like a multi-family home that we could share, gaining renters immediately.
C. Going for a lower-cost house that we could rent out immediately, and continuing to rent our nice place.
Leaning toward A, but would love to hear thoughts.
Iād also love any book recommendations. I have a ton to learn on the subject, of course.
Iāve been doing a little bit of variations lately and have found a technique that truly has kick started gains in the ass end. If youāre interested, itās pretty easy to throw into your existing routine, or you could devise a separate routine for this setup. The caveat is that youāll either need the equipment to incorporate a safety factor (power rack etc) or a partner for spots.
Hereās what Iāve foundā¦
Work only one muscle group per day (4-6 exercises) with the exception of arms and legs. My schedule is
Monday - chest
Tuesday - back
Wednesday- off
Thursday - biceps / triceps
Friday - quads / hams / calves I usually throw in a shoulder superset on leg day. Shoulders donāt need much because they get so much indirect supplemental work with everything else.
Saturday / Sunday - off
This split coupled with the following setup for each exercise
Set 1 - warmup (10 reps light weight)
Set 2 - 10-12 reps medium weight
Set 3 - go heavier than you think you can go. Have a partner or safety bar in place. I donāt care if you only get 3 reps by yourself, then have the partner spot you for at least 2 more reps and hold the negatives as long as you can. If you donāt have a spotter and have to use a safety device, then just go until you barely get the last positive, and then static hold for two reps.
Set 4 - 20-25 reps light medium weight (complete fail at high reps)
Give this a shot if you want to shock the growth factor.
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Never a good idea unless you are a college student lol.
Multiple families under the same roof for anything other than very short term never ends well.
Keep in mind when looking for a place to buy, if your end game is renting it out, that a lot of nicer areas / neighborhoods have rules / covenants against buying homes and renting them out. Rentals in a subdivided space can sometimes bring down overall property values in the area.
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I would lean toward A for several reasons. The biggest being the privacy of your family. Personal space for the family is very nice, lack of privacy can be hard on anyone first-world. You could also consider that whatever you buy has no capital gains tax burden if you have lived in it for at least two of the previous 5 years. So, whatever house you buy can be sold with no taxes on the gain in value. Not a lot of tax-free investment opportunities exist. This gives you the option of selling and purchasing other property if that works out better later. Say, for instance, you can sell the house and purchase a separate rental outright AND get into your next family home with a mortgage there while using the proceeds.
Buying a duplex or triplex is great for ROI as it combines maintenance into one structure (Although the maintenance itself will be higher than a typical home it will be cheaper than 2 or 3 separate homes), but they can be tough to find at a good price and being right on top of your tenants all the time has pluses and negatives. You would know whatās going on, but that can stress both you and the tenants out.
I would not consider paying rent while collecting rent. Financially this is dangerous. As a landlord you can never cut it close with finances, a surprise big repair at your rental could wipe you out. You need some cushion - even if that cushion is room for an equity line on the house to cover something. Your best investment is owning the house that you live in. Eliminating the expense of a mortgage or rent from your life relieves a lot of pressure. A mortgage on a rental property is a lot easier to deal with - especially when your personal home has no mortgage or a small mortgage.
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I like it, man! Iām digging my current program, but Iām keeping that one on file to try down the road. Looks like fun!
Honestly, I donāt think training is my issue. I hit the gym hard and consistently, and Iāve tried every kind of split you can imagine. Iāve bounced between programs, stuck with programs for long stretches, etc.
I think my bigger issues have been poor nutrition for my first 7-8 years of lifting (particularly not getting enough protein), hormonal imbalances (until recently, and still not squared away), and excessive stress. Maybe under-recovery, too.
I think if I can get the hormones in better balance and reduce stress (limit my work addiction), Iāll start making some real gains.
This is such a good point. It wouldnāt particularly bother me, but the wife wouldnāt enjoy sharing our space. Appreciate your wisdom, sir.
Fascinating. Does this mean that the goal should be to sell whatever house we move into within 3 years of moving out (if we do plan to sell it)? For example, say we buy a house in 2021, then move out in 2026 ā should we then aim to sell by 2029?
This was actually what I was thinking of when I mentioned multi-family homes. But like you said, not many of those on the market around here (in NH/MA). Seems it could be a good option if a deal surfaces, though.