Weightlifting: I spent the last year lifting regularly. From January 2019 until beginning of July 2019 I missed no days at the gym. I took all of July 2019 off as I was in Peru backpacking. I lifted regularly from August 2019 until October 2019 with minimal missed days.
From October 2019 to December 2019 I missed 3-4 weeks as I was taking a week or so off after each tattoo session. I know this was probably overkill, but I did not want it to get infected or damaged before it finished healing. Tattoo is now completely done and I don’t plan on getting anymore.
I was on the 3 day split I mentioned above from January 2019 to August 2019. Then from September 2019 to December 2019 I was on a 5-6 day bro split from a Bodybuilding coach.
DexaScans show that I gained some muscle (was up 5.5 pounds over baseline at one point). However, its possible I was not lifting with enough intensity. I am not a morning person, yet I force myself to lift in the mornings - afternoons after work I am too tired and gym is packed as hell.
Diet: From January 2019 until about October 2019 I cycled through several chefs and meal delivery services. I eventually realized that they were Expensive as Hell and Macros were likely not accurate enough. I started cooking myself in October 2019.
I was bulking from about March 2019 until October 2019. I decided to cut after discussion with BB coach - I made a mistake for a few weeks while cooking on my own and my calorie intake was WAY too high! Unfortunately the BB coach lowered calories too much, and while I lost a lot of fat, I also lost the majority of the muscle I gained (see DexaScan + graph history in post above).
I know DexaScans aren’t 100% accurate, and I plan to only run them every 6-12 months from now on.
Moving Forward I have learned a lot in past year despite extreme lack of progress. I am now cooking on my own. I plan on doing either a 3- or a 4-day split and changing routines every few months (from what I understand, changing routines every 3-4 months stops the body from adapting fully to the specific program - I am oversimplifying it). My goal is to Reverse Diet (add 100-150 calories per week) back up to 3000 calories per day or so (Maintenance / slight bulk) and go up VERY SLOWLY - after 3200 cals or so I start to gain weight rapidly.
I also plan to try Keto for 2-3 months after I return from Mexico at the end of January 2020. I know several people who have had great success building muscle while remaining lean on Keto - I figure its worth trialing for a few months.
I also recently figured out that Dairy is a no go for me - I took a few weeks off with no dairy or cheese. When I re-added cheese to my diet earlier this week (two 1/4 cup servings of Sharp Cheddar cheese from Walmart), I started getting acne again, constipation, feeling like shit in the mornings, etc. I will still eat dairy, but only as a rare treat or cheat meal.
LASTLY, I was Planning To Cycle, but am holding off on these plans until I make better progress on my TRT. There are more details of the past year in the first cycle hyperlink if you’re interested.