Rebirth of the Juggernaut: Brute Force and Ignorance (Part 1)

Training Training Logs
5734

Which brings us to another point: setting the schedule.

Animals are inherently selfish — it’s just a survival instinct. If they’re in the bed with you, eventually they think, “Hey, I’m bored/hungry/whatever, I’ll do things to get the human’s attention so they’ll cater to me.”

Now the animal is setting the schedule, which means they’re the boss. This is no bueno. YOU are the boss, YOU decide when it’s time to wake up, feed, walk, sleep, everything. Not them. Kennel your pets, then when you decide to wake up and let them out, you’re deciding when life happens.

This is also why feeding schedules are a good thing: breakfast and dinner, with a specific window of time to finish your food. Coincidentally, it helps with pets losing weight too (which is a HUGE thing for dogs like pugs, as being too heavy is very bad for them with their breathing issues).

5735

I am not disagreeing here man: it’s just not in my power.

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5736

I know, dude. I getcha. It’s the husband’s curse.

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5737

Do you have a log with more exhaustive info? It’d be really interesting to get some more detail about your carnivore experience. Do you avoid avocado, nut, and olives because of the carbs and opt for oils instead? Do you avoid dairy because carbohydrates? Cheese too? Any thoughts to pre- and probiotics? Polyphenols? Antioxidants? Fiber? Nutrient timing? Active only around meals or generally active but with intense bouts preceded/followed by meals? If you had carbs, how long before you’d return to ketosis?

5738

seeing this post just made me realize that I bought a crock pot for christmas two years ago and I never made much use out of it. I would like to remedy this winter. I’ll have plenty of time to cook my meals with the online classes, but why not take advantage of a tool i have?

I looked up what a pot roast is, and it looks absolutely delicious. So just to make sure we’re on the same page, you sear the meat, throw it in the cooker, add stock, carrots, onions, and potatoes, and let it cook for 8 hours or so? I’d like to try it out one of these days. I also love chili but never tried to make it using the slow cooker, so I guess I need to try that too. Do you have any suggestions for good meals I can make wit that?

Two extra questions on the matter too: how do you store the leftovers? I assume you usually make several portions at once, judging by the capacity of the pot. Do you just store it in the fridge for up to a few days and it stays good?

Also, one thing I’ve been considering buying is a rice cooker. I guess you’re not big on rice so you won’t recommend it, but I have lots of carbs and sometimes I wish I could just have an uncomplicated way of cooking everything I need and then just eat it throughout the day. I’ve seen certain rice cookers that allow you to steam vegetables or sweet potatoes too while you cook the rice, which would be a huge plus.

5739

I never bother searing my meat. I use a slow-cooker every week. You can easily toss in an entire chicken too. Just add a little bit of water (like a dl). You can also cook sweet potatoes whole in it. Just give them a rinse in cold water and run it. No need to add any water. If you do while chickens you can then put the bones back and run them in the slow cooker over night to get a nice broth.

Chili is easy. Add mince. Beans. Spices. Vegetables.

If I make chunks of meat I normally pull it apart afterwards and chill it. By pulling it apart it gets easier getting out of the container later. Portioning out is of course an option it just takes less space in the fridge to use a big container than multiple small ones. Holds for 7 days.

I highly recommend a rice cooker. Hamilton Beach
Digital Simplicity is the one I have. It has a steaming basket but I rarely use it. It’s meant for families, so the lines on the inside for portioning water are of no use to me but it comes with a special measuring cup for rice. Here’s how to calculate how much water you need,

  1. Take X amounts of rice as measured via the cup (the cup holds 160g of rice, and half a cup — there’s a marking — is one serving)
  2. The amount of water you want is 2X+1 where the measuring unit is the cup that comes with the rice cooker.

Example 1: to make on portion X=0.5 therefor the amount of of water is 2 measuring cups (2X+1)
Example 2: to make two portions X=1, therefore the amount of water is three measuring cups of (2X+1)

The rice cooker has a delay setting, granularity is hour increments. So, you can set the delay to one hour and it’ll start cooking an hour later. The cooking time is 45 minutes after which it flips to keep warm which it’ll do for above an hour (haven’t checked how long).

You can batch prepare rice for the week obviously, then I recommend you take the rice and put it in a glas food container(s) and surround the containers with cold water in the sink to cool them down quickly before putting them in the fridge.

Rice is fickle and prone to generate gnarliness if kept out in room temperature for more than an hour so I’d surround with cold water for ten minutes, replace the water and let sit for another ten minutes before putting it in the fridge where it’ll hold for 3-5 days. It’s possible to put it in the fridge directly without the sink submersion but that’ll make your fridge warmer and might negatively affect other stuff in your fridge.

The rice can also be frozen. Think it lasts for months, can’t remember how many. 1-3.

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5740

thank you for the input, much appreciated

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5741

I realise the chilli bit wasn’t too helpful but with chili I find that it’s best to go for what you like and with your upset stomach I don’t know if legumes are an option for you or how spicy you can get. I’ll happily use a can of harissa for a chili but that could bury someone.

5742

interestingly enough, legumes don’t seem to give me significant issues. I don’t go too spicy though: I’ll usually add just a few spices because I don’t like it when it’s so spicy that it covers the flavor of the whole meal.

I realize chili is not complicated in and of itself: I’ve made it several times in a pan, and it doesn’t go much beyond throwing everything together and letting it cook.

5743

There’s just two things you can’t really cook in a slow cooker as far as I’m aware. Eggs and fish. So, have fun exploring!

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5744

I actually made hard boiled eggs in them while stuck in a hotel. It can do the trick in a pinch.

On phone right now: will do a bigger response later.

5745

That part is not from experience but what it says in the manual to my model

5746

Probably pasta and rice too, if I had to guess?

5747

Yeah, didn’t feel I had to specify that ^^

5748

If we’re talking a pork shoulder or something you don’t have to sear it.

But a big piece of chuck in a pot roast, you are going to want to sear. It will lock in flavor and have a much, much better texture at the end. I do my pot roasts in a Dutch oven, but I’ve done them in a crock pot and the sear is equally important there.

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5749

So much discussion. I’m gonna log some training and rack out so I can do some AM training, but be happy to get in on this.

LUNCHTIME WORKOUT

(6) Mat Pulls
5x135+Chains
5x225+chains
3x315+chains
1x405+chains
12+4+3x495+chains

GIANT SETS (dead-row-chin-neck)

(3) Deficit 2 count pause deadlift 315
3x10

T-bar rows 155
3x10

NG chins (various grips)
3x8

Ironmind Neck Harness 55
2x10
1x8

CONDITIONING

Bartos power keg (155lbs) carry for distance w/turns
1x216’
1 minute rest
1x144’

Notes: 2 minutes between giant sets. It felt great to be back to this protocol. The music was perfect (Burning Bright/Field on Fire by Nine Inch Nails: look up the lyrics, they’re spot on for this), and I had an old benchmark that was usually something I managed at about 15lbs higher bodyweight. I couldn’t be more pleased. Also got the “deadlift hangover” from this today. Missed that feeling.

Arms were still dead from blackjack, so some lackluster performance in the rows.

Bumped up the pre-workout carbs a little more. I also asked my wife if she’s made me some rice crispie treats sometime, since our grocer store carries pumpkin spice marshmallows, and she made them that day, so I’ll be using those on my next pre-lower body nutrition. As much as I said I wasn’t going to use junk food, you have to appreciate moments and gestures like these. I like Rice Crispie treats because they’re practically pure carbs, so easy to slot in with my mentality.

Discussing nutrition, way forward (assuming weight gain is a go) idea is to add post workout carbs back on the days I also have pre-workout carbs so that I’m really capping out reserves there, and then go higher fat on my upper body days and then low fat/low carb/high protein on non-lifting days. I scored a CRAZY deal on grass fed 93% lean beef, and I want to bring red meat back into the diet but still keep it controlled, so I’m thinking of implementing the “meat and nut breakfast” I’ve read about before on my non high carb days, going with some grass fed beef and some sort of nut pairing.

I’ll admit I’m a bit miffed that I went through all of this weight loss without ever using cheat meals/refeeds like all the cool kids do and I missed out on that opportunity, but since this was weight loss while also pursuing improved health markers, it seemed the right call. If everything is good, I DO want to employ cheat meals, but since cheat meals make little sense when you’re gaining weight, I’ll most likely have to employ some manner of fasting/calorie restriction on my cheat meal days.

Training plan skeleton is going to stay the same: just going to make use of intensity modifiers to really start pushing the body to grow. As time goes on, I may change to something more deliberate.

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5750

Have you stopped losing weight? If not, you can totally still do this. If don’t have access to the refeed guide from the Get Jacked bootcamp I did anymore but crudely it was 25-50% extra clean carbs (rehashing from memory). It was a nice mental break, that’s it.

I do, however, still have my copy of Scott Abel’s Cycle Diet which is based around dirty cheats and I could crack it open to get more details for you if you’d like. This, when done right, gets you into what the author calls supercompensation where you’d get to experience what it’s like for your body to turn into a furnace and have what feels like infinite energy. Can only really be achieved if one was indeed losing weight successfully for weeks and weeks and weeks. (12 or so). Then the idea is that once that point is reached 5 days are in a deficit and two days per week are cheat days, even if deciding to gain. Its just that the gaining days will have to be aggressive enough to create a weekly energy surplus overall.

5751

No. I charted weight, blood glucose and ketones; worked out macros and a food list.

I avoid them on carnivore because they are not animal products. I was a nut addict previously but practical experience has shown me they were likely a major contributor to the excess belly fat I had.

A life without cheese is not a life worth living! That said, if I want to lose weight I avoid it otherwise I can easily put away 600-1000 kcals in a night.

Your microbiome adapts on carnivore so there is no need to supplement here (same goes with fiber). One of the core beliefs around carnivore is not just that meat is good for you but that veggies can be detrimental. For example, antioxidants in plant foods are actually pro-oxidants, i.e. they trigger an anti-oxidant defence mechanism within the body.

I mainly trained fasted because my goal was fat loss (there is also some research that it enhances MPS post-workout). That usually equated to IF that looked something like 20/4, or OMAD. I worked up to a stage where I was doing morning time cardio, i.e. jogging for 20-30 mins; then weights or an HIIT session around 6pm.

I didn’t really have carbs throughout the initial trial (best part of 2 months). On previous keto-type diets, I could get back into light ketosis pretty quickly. However, this was often forced via fasting.

I am currently on my 2nd carnivore experiment, where I plan to run it as strictly as possible for the month of September in a bid to determine how much fat I can lose in the shortest possible time. In preparation for this, I dirty bulked up to 191 lbs through August (at my peak, I was 167 lbs in mid-July). Yesterday, I weighed in at 180 lbs ( - 11 lbs in 8 days) which has been done using alternate day fasting and carnivore on eating days.

5752

If you ever post the macros and food list somewhere my curiosity would appreciate an @!

Avoiding spices too?

Thanks for the reply!

Edit: any thought given to body pH? Meat should be acidic, and I reckon you have no bases coming in or do you supplement with sodium bicarbonate?

5753

It’s old fashioned pencil and paper for me! Generally, my best fasting glucose is around 3.4 mmol; and highest ketones 1.8 mmol. At the extreme end, I have tested as high as 5.4 fasting glucose (usually after an 8 hour overnight fast following a 250-300 PRO dinner); and almost 3 mmol ketones after a 48-72 hour fast.

Same with macros: I write up a list of mainly fresh packaged meats, e.g. 500g pack of 20% beef mince; 275g pack of rump steak, etc. Takes the guess work out of it.

I didn’t avoid them but tried to cut back on their use. In short, like a lot of ‘diets’, carnivore is a sliding scale. At one end, it is meat-based but folks will allow themselves moderate amounts of plant-based foods, e.g. salads, spices, coffee. At the other end of the spectrum, it is meat and water (including no dairy). So at the moment, for the September challenge, I’m more towards the extreme end - beef (ground, steak, liver), maybe some chicken liver, eggs, cooking in ghee or beef fat. Seasoning is salt only. I do take a hydrolysed collagen supplement; as well as fish/krill oil caps. I also use unflavoured hydrolysed whey post workout. (And I still drink coffee!) Of course, if roast chicken presents itself I will eat it, same with other meats. But while at home, it’s going to be more or less the same dinner each night comprising of beef, liver and eggs.

It doesn’t bother me per se but I have supplemented with SB for many years and continue to do so (5g each morning).