Thanks.
Yeah it’s even deceiving to me until I see a picture of myself next too someone more “average” sized. I usually don’t realize how big I am.
Most folks don’t believe I way 280.
100% natural too. I got lucky in the genes department though I don’t know how. My grandfathers were 5’8 and 5’11, my dad and brother are 5’10 (and both skinny builds). Closest person to me in my extended family is my cousin at 6’ but I don’t think he even weighs 200.
Totally unrelated, but does your parents old milkman happen to be a behemoth of a man?
No because my grandfather was the local milkman…
True story - he was one of the last delivery milkmen when he retired in 2000. Wisconsin held onto those guys as long as we could (dairy and beer kind of define the state).
In the event you decide not to roll with the V-Diet, maybe look at your macro distribution. Get your carbs from veggies - not grains, choose leaner proteins, etc. - little things can make a big difference!
That was absolutely not the direction I expected your response to be, but also way cooler than anything I expected lol.
It’s cool to see a guy who worked a lifetime in an honest profession that just straight up doesn’t exist anymore. A sign of the times for sure, and a cool family legacy to have
Progress?
Couldn’t find the related ‘before’ pic but this defo gets me in the feels…
Coffinworm 531 Anchor Cycle - currently 1 week in, following 2x Leader cycles. Have hit PR’s across all main lifts this week. Finally hit 1x plate OHP, and 5kg from a 3x plate DL. BW steady.
Here’s me today. I have recently had a few people ask if I’m bulking. Too bad I had to answer “Not intentionally”. I have started taking creatine for the first time in years and years, though. I don’t know if that makes much of a visual difference. To me, I feel like I look the same no matter what changes I make.
I’ve failed, gone really off piece with my cut and ended up doing a mini gaining phase as cutting was too much (with everything else going on in my life).
I have a feeling i’m going to post a picture that has me looking nearly exactly the same with maybe slightly more muscle. Really disappointed with myself but I’ve learned a lot about my motivation and how crappy i feel when i drop fats too much. I will attempt another cut after 3 more weeks or so of gaining and hopefully i’ll use the lessons I’ve learned but my hormones seem to drop off a cliff when i start cutting so i was definitely doing something wrong there!
Thank you for the reply. Looking at macros, using leaner proteins is a really good suggestion and something I probably should’ve already considered. But I didn’t.
For reasons I don’t understand, it’s hard for me to be calm, calculated, and rational when thinking about myself and my situation–I tend to err on the side of losing my mind.
I’ll trial making some small changes over the next week and see what happens, the V-Diet waiting in the wings.
Tagged 176lb the other day. Lowest in many years. Loss had clearly slowed/stopped but i want to eke out one more pound to set a new PR of 175lbs, making that my new reference weight. Up to now its always been 178, which i got to a few years ago prepping for a beach vacation.
Training now is a sandwich, wherein the bread is a pair of mile runs and the meat is an EMOM or similar S&C session.
This is new for me but i intend to keep it up through May, except for an international trip coming up in a few days.
Persistent elbow pain has ne keeping away from pullups but i need to bring them back soon. Have started on fish oil.
2 days out from my show. Carbin’ up!!!
These are from yesterday after 4 meals.
1/4/2023 211lbs
4/5/2023 165.4lbs
@antiquity - I think you look jackeder!
@rugby_lifting it doesn’t sound like you’ve “failed” at all. I don’t know how any of us could fail in this game if we’re giving it what we’ve got, anyway.
You said you’ve added some muscle - that’s a huge win! That’s really difficult, especially as we’ve been doing this awhile. I’ve recently really come around to the idea that when those spurts decide to happen, I’m just leaning into them… regardless of whether I thought I wanted to cut or anything else (this would obviously change if I had some sort of competition goal).
You’ve learned what works for, or at least what doesn’t, diet-wise. That’s a huge victory itself. As we’ve seen with @QuadQueen helping us, most of us still have no idea what eating works best for us.
I also know what all is going on in your life. Sticking with this, all the while keeping it in perspective and keeping your family number one, is role modeling for all of us.
Let us know how it goes and if you have any questions or there’s anything I can help with, just let me know!
“Sometimes it’s easy to be hard and hard to be smart”
But alongside that: extreme is honestly easier than moderate. Extreme is 0 or 100. Moderate requires nuance. And I’m speaking as an individual that is absolutely living in extremes and struggling for moderation. It’s a very difficult path to walk. But those small changes you’re discussing are awesome, and they eventually build into habits.
I’m curious what methods you’re using to evaluate that. I absolutely believe you: I totally tanked when I got to my all time leannest, but it also took some extensive doing to get there.
The only way you can fail here is if you don’t learn from the experience. I’ve undertaken SO many physical ventures that resulted in catastrophe but NOT failure. I was on my way to a 700lb deadlift when I ruptured my ACL in a strongman competition. I’m fairly certain I’ll never pull that 700lbs at this point. BUT, I learned a LOT from that injury. There was no failure there.
You’re already taking the time to analyze and evaluate. You aren’t failing.
I guess i can’t know for sure my hormones dropped off but i noticed some key signs that look like they may have. It was almost instantly fixed when i started eating normally again. I definitely think that i was not getting enough fats at all for a start. But i suffered with mood swings, sort on patience, struggle sleeping, loss of libido and depression. The only variable i can see was food although can’t remember when life stress really kicked in (or if its just always there).
Considering how much I’ve learned about training in the last 5 years, i know relatively little in comparison about nutrition and especially what works for me.
Thank you for the nice words people, it really is a great community to pull you up.
That IS one of the reasons I’m so big on dietary fats: they play such a crucial role in hormone health. I can definitely see dropping them screwing around with stuff. I feel my best when fats are high and humming.
If you’re in a deficit, chances are that your hormones suffered. Even if nothing else was changed - the inherent rise in coritsol a la caloric deficit, will cause most of what you mentioned. Elevated carbs tends to help if you are cortisol sensitive (Thibbs Neurotype Test can help with identifying if this is you).
If you keep fats to 0.3g/lb BW, your biggest hormones should be supported - or at least not lacking unnecessarily because of your diet.
You could always keep diet the same and just cardio your way out of it, but that is a LOT of cardio to be done. Either way, cutting combined with any elevated life stress can be miserable.
I respect the level of honesty you’re bringing to the table here.
True - and as I know you know, the fat type matters BIG TIME. Not all fats are created equal, some will hurt more than help. The omega-3’s and monos are where it’s at. Super processed, hydrogenated and/or a butt-load of saturated and you’re gonna have a bad time from both hormonal and overall health standpoints.
It’s like saying, “I eat a lot of vegetables”, and the vegetables are potato chips and french fries… Selection and preparation/processing matters.
So very true! It’s amazing how the quality of fats can have such an impact. It’s why the whole “If It Fits Your Macros” thing drives me absolutely bonkers. It’s great to be thinking at least a little about nutrition by looking at macros, but it’s SO surface level to the point that you can end up going in a terrible direction. I’ve been so open about the many “keto traps” I’ve fallen for, thinking as long as there’s no carbs it’s good. Just a small degree of the “sniff test” can solve that.
