I bought a few cans of cold brew to give a try sometime.
I find cold brew to be absolutely disgusting. It’s cold coffee. It’s gross. It’s like cold hot chocolate. That stuff doesn’t turn into chocolate milk; it needs to be warm. Same with coffee.
Ha!
Just black coffee? Yeah, I’ve never acquired the taste. Almost zero cals so I wouldn’t feel bad for drinking it but I just don’t want to develop a dependance to stay awake during the day, haha. Maybe it’ll become necessary as my life progresses though.
If you find yourself becoming a fan, I would like to plug Big Watt, a Minnesota based company that a cousin works for. As a non coffee drinker, I find a few flavors tolerable. Zero idea if the taste or price makes it worth it (I’m a good advertiser) but just throwing it out there.
Also, random question for you. I’ve seen you say a few times recently that if you can make a muscle bigger/stronger, you would train it. Curls, neck work, etc (“isolation” stuff). I don’t think I’ve ever seen you mention any type of calf work. Have you ever specifically trained them? Just curious.
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I don’t enjoy warm beverages. Never have.
I’ll give them a look. My plan is to stick with black, and maybe flavor it with something zero carb, but we’ll see.
Regarding calves, I’ve trained them directly before, but it’s been a long time. Juice hasn’t been worth the squeeze for a bit. Same with my traps. Set-up for isolation training for both just eats up so much time.
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Also, calf DOMS are the absolute worst and seem to last forever.
Throwing my two cents into the coffee conversation @jshaving, similarly to beer and wine, I didn’t think I liked coffee until I experimented with a bunch of different brands and flavours. Eventually I found a brand that completely changed my opinion of coffee. Now I just drink coffee because I genuinely enjoy the flavour.
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So I’ve been trying to lose weight for a while. Things are going okay, as well as I expect when considering what I’ve actually done to make it happen.
I’ve been working on accepting the feeling of being hungry and dealing with it, and I’m also getting into the habit of eating until I’m “satisfied” or whatever, not until I’m full. This hasn’t been that hard. Not enjoyable, but not that difficult.
Lately though (past 2 weeks or so), I’ve had zero appetite. I’ll wake up, train, do my stuff all day, and not feel hungry at all until 3-4pm. I eat a pretty small meal, and then eat dinner (small portion, not that hungry at this point) a few hours later with my family.
Is this “bad”? I mean at first, I thought, “Sweet, I lost my appetite while trying to lose weight. Easy.” Then I was scrolling through a few old threads and realizing (I knew this, just seeing other people say it reminded me) that drastically cutting calories can just lead to muscle loss and messed up hormones.
I’m probably eating 1k cals a day or so. (I don’t normally count, I just have been curious lately.) Way less than I’ve ever eaten. Weight loss is happening for now, I feel okay, and I’m not purposefully starving myself, I just genuinely don’t want to eat (stressed, depressed, etc.).
Is this a problem or am I just overthinking things (completely possible). Should I be forcing more food down to continue on a slow and steady decrease of daily cals or can I just really drop things for a while if I’m feeling fine?
@T3hPwnisher - just read the latest blog post. Any input? I know you’re not a nutritionist or anything, but you’re helpful.
@Frank_C - Ditto ^.
Means a lot you sent me a tag for this. When you do it, what do you eat? The big thing I focus on with reduced calories is keeping protein sky high to hold onto muscle. I have low carb days and low fat days, but never low protein days.
Since this “started” my first meal is some eggs and veggies. Usually spinach and cherry tomatoes.
I have an African relative in town who’s been doing all the cooking, so while I’m not sure what the meals are called, dinner has usually been some type of stew or something beef-centered. So there’s a little protein there - my servings are small though, so not as much as I should have.
Trying to eat any veggies and meat first, then seeing if I care to go for the carb parts of the meal.
I’d consider getting some sort of protein supplement. Even in the absence of appetite, they can be consumed quickly. I’m big on doing it first thing in the morning upon waking. Break the fast and get the protein started. A gram of protein per pound of bodyweight is a pretty standard protocol for people that lift weights, and I feel like that’d be tough to accomplish with your current intake, but starting the day with 2 scoops of a protein powder would get you headed in the right direction.
That’s kinda what I was thinking. Someone (maybe Flap?) said something about reading that we don’t absorb as much protein from powder vs. real food, which sort of turned me off from it, but either way, it’s still better than nothing.
What brand do you use? Didn’t pay attention in that picture you posted of your shake ingredients the other day. Metabolic Drive’s not always affordable so something I could just walk into a store and get would be cool.
Anyway, thanks as usual!
Food will always be better than supplements, sure, but in turn supplements tend to deliver so much of something that it can overcome the lack of absorption. If I get 7 grams of protein from 1 egg and absorb 6 of it, I’ll need to eat 7 eggs to get 42 grams of protein. If I take in 50 grams of protein powder and only absorb 42 grams of it, that was at least easier than eating 6 eggs.
I always just buy whatever is a good deal at Sam’s/Costco. I’ve got no brand loyalty. Right now it’s Dymatize 100% Whey Isolate, but I’ve used everything from MusclePharm’s Combat series to Optimum Nutrition to Vitamin Shoppe to MuscleTech etc etc. About the only thing I like about Dymatize right now is that there’s no saturated fat in it, since I’m trying to keep that as low as possible until my next round of labs, but it’s the difference between 1 gram per serving with the other stuff.
I’d avoid the stuff they sell at Walmart. My understanding is companies are able to sell cheaper at Walmart by producing a lower quality supplement, so you get the “Walmart version” of whatever it is that you would buy anywhere else. Something about amino spiking, and being able to claim more protein than is actually in the product. It’s too complicated for me, but I figure I can just buy from other sources. Amazon can hook you up too.
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If this is true then, yeah, I’d avoid that.
I like Allmax. My choices are typically made based on price per serving. I start most days with two scoops. It’s how I’ve been getting protein and limiting calories.
I find it’s pretty easy to get my meals up to 700 calories. 1/3 lb cheeseburger on a low cal bun is close to 600 cals. Use a good bun like a sweet Hawaiian roll and it’ll be close to 700 without any sides.
Do that for lunch, eat your stew for dinner, and add a double shake and you’ll be between 1500-2000 easily.
Still doing stuff, but just haven’t been on here much.
School and work have me very busy. Classes require a lot of reading and writing research papers, which isn’t bad, but takes up time. Working as much as I can to save money for the new addition this winter.
Honestly trying to step back because I didn’t feel like I was embodying the T-Nation attitude. I was half assing a lot of the things I was doing, and not accomplishing much. I will probably pop back in here and there over the fall and winter, and then I plan on having actually created significant change within myself when I make a full appearance (I know my large audience will struggle to wait for that, haha).
Not feeling like I “shouldn’t” be here, just really trying to become a better version of myself than I was/am and I’m trying to temporarily avoid the things that I used to use to procrastinate with.
See you soon!
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December 2020 update:
1). School went well. Finished the semester on 12/02. Have yet to receive my final grades, but I expect all A’s. I don’t care a whole lot about my GPA but my scholarships depend on it and why not put in enough effort to do well?
2). Health/gains are going okay. They are improving, but slowly. Life’s been hitting me hard lately. Spent most of the past couple months pretty depressed. Not entirely sure why, it just comes and goes, but when it comes I rarely make healthy decisions. But I’m still here and I’m still working to achieve my goals.
3). My girlfriend and I had our baby! I now have a son! (We waited to find out the gender.) He was due on 12/12 but showed up on 12/03. Everything went well, and it all went pretty fast. Besides being 9 days early, he was born only 3 hours after we arrived at the hospital. Pretty quick for a first time mom. He is perfectly healthy as far as we can tell, a little on the small side - 7lbs, 6oz and 19.5in, but that’s fine. I was honestly really hoping for a daughter so I could name her after my aunt who passed away this summer but I can’t be upset with a healthy son.
Just been hanging out at home with him and his mom. I still have a month before school starts back up again so I’m enjoying and being thankful for the time I have. It’s pretty awesome - when all my siblings were born my mom came home to take care of an infant and all her other kids while my dad worked all day. It’s a blessing to have this time together. I’ve already played some Bone Thugs-N-Harmony around him, so his taste in music should be great. We can listen to that Baby Beethoven CD later.
I think I saw some threads a while back about being a good dad/parent and how to model healthy eating behavior…I’ll have to dig those up, see what you guys have to say.
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Don’t worry dude. You’ll never know when you’ll need to show good grades on paper. It’s always nice to have, should you find yourself needing it in the future.
Congrats dude! Lots of good dads here on the site, so you can always ask for advice
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Congrats and welcome to true adulthood! You had great timing in that you get to start being a dad during a break from school. Your sleep will get crazy for a bit.
And 7 lbs 6 oz and 19.5" isn’t small. Think of his mother - it’s better for them when they’re not gigantic. 
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True! Better safe than sorry.
My reference comes from myself and my brothers - over 9lbs and 20-24". We must’ve been abnormally large. Sorry mom, haha.
Thanks though, dudes! I’m pretty pumped for him to be a little older and to do things with him. Teach him how to skateboard, lift weights, watch 80s action movies, etc. It’ll be sweet.
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I think I was either 8 lbs 9 oz or 9 lbs 8 oz. My brother was one of those and I was the other.
My kids were right at 7 lbs and 8 lbs. I think they were 20-22 inches. Both are big for their age.
I think the birth size is somewhat irrelevant. If the baby is early then it’ll be small. If it’s late then it’ll be big. If you think about it, they’re the same “age”. It’s just that we start counting at birth. I guess if we started at conception then the pro choice people would have to accept the reality of what they’re doing. But that’s another topic for never lol
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Way to go man! A little son, that’s awesome!
Great job with the baby and the good grades. School have been wild with all the uncertainty and schedule issues and a pregnant gf. Keep up the solid work!
I hope you start feeling more upbeat and positive soon. The last month or two of pregnancy had me feeling a little Emo too. I think it’s just from all the hormones in the air.
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Good to see you around dude, and congrats on becoming a dad!
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