I’ll never be a bodybuilder that’s for sure, but my back is pretty gnarly for a little fella
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@simo74 how do you want to do this?
Things I’ve tried (and where I could potentially offer advice):
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Training-focused. Basically ramping up all your training to be giant sets, explosive work, sprints, etc. CT’s “Superhero” program is a fantastic example. Apparently this is impossible and doesn’t work, but it has actually been pretty successful for me in the past! The positives are you get to eat more and the training is fun. The downsides are that it never took me all the way as lean as I wanted, so eventually you have to cut calories, which, in turn, made the training too hard. I’m thinking it could be an awesome way to kick off the first phase of a diet. Although see @kleinhound for some jerk that really makes this work.
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Tons of low-intensity cardio. It definitely works, but I hate it and it’s impractical for many of us in the real world. You’ll still have to watch your diet. I see cardio as a secondary tool, unless you can just walk for 10 hours a day.
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Strict meal plan. This is where you figure out your macros, split it up into exact meals, make them all and do your little Tupperware and go. My wife loves eating this way; like actually prefers it (she also might be a serial killer). It’s been super successful for me. The key for me here was to not get too hungry, or I’d blow off what I was supposed to eat and eat a cheeseburger instead. I think the strengths here are how easy it is to adjust up and down, and you can pretty much mathematically guarantee success. The negative is you really can become a slave to the routine of it, such that it’s actually stressful if you’re on a plane or out with your kids and the meal timing isn’t working out; that lack of control for ridiculous for me.
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Macro-counting. Similar to the above, but you don’t have to pack the same things every day. You have your macro budget and you can make every day’s menu fit that. I don’t really call it “IIFYM,” because that’s too trendy, but I guess it is. This is, by far, where I’ve had the most consistent success. I do think it requires you to weigh/ measure your food for a couple weeks, but after that you can eyeball pretty well. I think this method gives you a great balance of control and life, but it can seem really overwhelming and tedious to get rolling. If you let perfect get in the way of good (I’m 6g fat over and 15g carbs under - oh no!), this one’s not a fit for you.
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Eat the same thing every day. Similar to meal planning, but you don’t really try to count out the macros. You just take what you want to eat over, say, the last 3 days. Make that consistent and track your weight. When it stops going down, you remove a little something and that’s your new daily menu. I think this is an incredible starting point for folks to dial in nutrition habits, it starts putting them in tune with what is satiating, and it gets them eating mindfully. I don’t think it’s a perfect fit to maximize your gym performance and it can be a little difficult to stay consistent depending on your lifestyle.
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Food-focused diets. I’m just going to bucket all the low-insulin, low-processed food diets here. Typically I’d gravitate toward eating that way just to meet macro requirements without eating my arm. I’m experimenting with this as a plan, lately, but I don’t have any real successful experience yet to speak on. @T3hPwnisher and @hillbillyk will be smarter than me.
Anyway, depending on what sounds least terrible, that’s where I could offer my $0.02 (I think the conversion rate makes it worth less than that). @QuadQueen could definitely give real help.
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5 dozen eggs challenge?
Though, I have to up my volume before I am ready to take that on. Conveniently, Sam’s club sells 60 packs of eggs…
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I’m still sort of on track. Weight gain has slowed down and/or stalled a bit since the beginning of the month.
I changed up some of my training and didn’t realize it would have as much impact on recovery. Heavier and more volume closer to failure. Still trying to get my eating ramped up to match.
More of an observation than a problem though.
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My wife IS going to be out of town in a few weeks…perfect time to do something stupid, haha.
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So for me, my performance is definitely improving and I’m trying to up my calories too. I don’t see much of a physique change the past bit…although I’d say my arms are definitely coming along lol. I know I need to bring my back up so I’m gonna start hitting that twice a week. That said…my roommate said that I’m looking fairly jacked so that’s good lol. My bw isn’t really changing much…kinda floating in the 195-200lbs range.
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Lots of great suggestions here already!
If you give us a run down of what a current day of eating looks like for you - including portions - I can make some pointed suggestions from there!
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Just caught up on this thread. Lots of great stuff here!
Hopefully next year I can commit to getting involved myself. I’ve managed to lose 40lbs of mostly fat since being at my biggest and strongest whilst training through some pretty shitty injuries. Just about to enter maintainance for a few weeks before bulking for the first time in a long while. Hoping I’ll be able to continue to lean out even more at maintainence whilst getting the last 20-30% of strength back. If a small surplus needs to happen it will.
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That’s incredible, man! Great job!
she’ll never know if you’ve cleared out the eggs 
She will know by being around me when I eat them, haha. It’s why I have to wait until she’s gone.
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that’s what I meant.
you buy insane quantity, consume insane quantity when she’s gone, she comes back and there’s no evidence
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You have absolutely identified my plan 
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If I remember correctly–please forgive me if I don’t–you were leaning out last year and kinda ran into a wall where fat loss became increasingly difficult?
What have you changed since then?
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Yes. I was eating 1700cals deficit daily and not losing weight. I was stuck here for about 2 months and said fuck it.
I’m eating exactly the same thing from day to day. Timing all my carbs to be pre workout only. Putting fats down to like 30g daily. Also taking different steroids.
Macros:
P: 250-300g
F: 30g
C: 125g
Deficit is about the same and though i should be losing 3+ pounds per week, it’s more like 1lb per. Last time i did this, i felt like death. I actually feel healthy doing it this way.
My head space is a lot better now, too.
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Damn sir that was a whole lot of information. Really appreciate you taking the time to lay that all out.
In terms of how, I will lay out the approach that fits both my current training plans and how I have done this before (albeit with mixed success)
This is NO, just coming out of a hypertrophy block and moving into a strength block, reps will go down on the big movements as weight goes up. I can maybe make up for it a little in the accessory work but I don’t see approach fitting with the current plan.
Errr NO I gave up running a long time ago. LOL I basically do little to no low intensity cardio, so this is something I can increase but finding time to do Tons is going to be hard.
This is probably the approach that would be easier for me to follow. Now given I am not trying to get stage ready, the term strict may need to soften slightly. I am very consistent with 3 of my 5 meals a day, so making a change to these and fixing it, should not be hard.
This would probably work but I am not sure how much real counting and logging I would do.
This is pretty much me already, Well this and all the snacks !!
Not sure how this would work around the family and with my sons issue with eating right now, I dont want him to see me doing anything extreme around dinner time. This could still work depending on how extreme it is. I know @T3hPwnisher loves meat and eggs (which is 3 of my 5 meals anyway), but not sure If I can make that fit right now.
OK QQ here it goes.
Breakfast -
4-6 large whole eggs scrambled (P-36 C-2 F-30) (macros based off 6 eggs)
When protein shake 2 scoops in full fat milk - (P-54 C-12 F-8)
Lunch - I eat 2 lunches every day and they are the same (have been for 5 years)
Lunch 1 - Chilli with Rice - chilli is made with pork and beef mince usually the lower fat mince. Has tin of tomatoes, kidney beans and jar of passata in it. I use 2kg of meat when I make it and then split this into 10 meals. So each meal had 200g of meat (uncooked weight) plus the sauce.
Lunch 1 - Chilli and Rice (250g of basmati rice) (P-54 C-70 F-20)
Lunch 2 - Chilli and Rice (250g of basmati rice) (P-54 C-70 F-20)
Dinner - This is the only meal I have with the family so it is different every day. Usually is meat with rice, pasta or potatoes and veggies. We dont eat much takeaway or fried food. The occasional pizza. This is the hardest meal for me to control without impacting on the family meal dynamic. I can of course play with portion size or exclude things like no carbs. Estimate dinner macros to be (P-50 C-50 F-20)
Pre bed meal - Greek Yogurt 200g. I sometimes add whey protein powder to this to increase my overall protein for the day. (P-55 C-10 F-20)
I drink 2-3 black coffees per day, usually 2 back to back in the morning and then 1 later in the day.
I have a cup of tea in the evening.
The rest of the day I only drink water, other than when I am training when I have water with some electrolytes / sugars i.e. Gatorade or something similar.
Totals
P - 305 C - 214 F - 116 Calories 3138
Now This diet is my Monday to Friday diet. Weekends are not quite as consistent as this. This doesn’t mean I fall apart and eat chocolate all weekend but it does mean I will probably eat less protein and less food overall on the weekends. If I am having a day where the meals are lower in protein I will just add in more whey shakes.
One thing I would note it is that I am very good with rules and control generally but I am not that good at moderation. If someone has biscuits at work, I always politely decline because if I have one I will eat the entire packet.
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I’d personally probably just start by taking the rice away from whichever lunch is further away from training. If you’re that dialed in, this will be simple!
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Yeah, that’s kinda what I remember. I paid attention because, around the same time, I was eating, like 1300 cals/day for the last eight weeks of the challenge and dropped very little weight, felt terrible, and probably ended up looking worse overall.
Survival mechanisms are a bitch.
Glad to hear it’s working out better this time around. I’ve gone the low fat route lately, too, and am shocked how much better I feel. Way less stressed… almost sedated.
Keeping this in the back pocket… just in case.
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I was thinking about only having carbs on training days. Or at least really reducing them on non training days. I have never tried any kind of carb cycling before, Thoughts ?
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