I’ve really stagnated after my first 7kg weight loss. I’ve got another month fully dialled in though so will hopefully repeat the process and results.
Few keys points from my journey:
I can’t arrange a fat loss phase around bit social events and expect to see fantastic results
When i diet down and then drop protein too much i don’t recover and feel terrible. Just not eating to make up for blowing my calories the day before isn’t an option.
Carbs are important at certain times in the day for my energy levels
When work pay for my lunches i need to act like a grown up and not a kid at a buffet
My wife will get annoyed as no one is eating all the leftovers up when i’m cutting
Overall i’ve learned some lessons again which is good and i’m excited to start a summer bulk with a real plan and a much better idea of calories and how to manage food and social events etc.
Am i going to win? Nope, if i didn’t have so many social events i could have made a lot more progress but then being lean isn’t as important to me as social life i guess.
I just hit the halfway mark of my 10,000 KB swing challenge. I’m 90% sure I will live through the next half. The only thing I’m winning is the pride I have in sticking to the plan and putting in the work.
I think this is a big derailer for a lot of dieters. We just have to accept that you have to stick with these habits, daily, for a good bit of time. All the stuff about weekly averages and all that, which is mathematically true, tends to fail folks in the real world.
I see this with folks at the bar (usually career-limiting decisions rather than physique ones). Like, dude, you can afford beer on your own… let’s not go scorched earth here just because it’s on a different credit card.
My wife will get annoyed as no one is eating all the leftovers up when i’m cutting
Vacuum sealer and a freezer. I have SO many leftovers ready to go for when food emergencies happen.
The paid meals thing is real too. It took me quite a bit of time to realize that food is ALWAYS going to be there and I don’t need to eat ALL of it just because it’s there right now.
Weighed in at about 100kg today, the heaviest I’ve been at 6’4". Achieved my desired OHP & squat PRs, still ironing out my form on a few exercises. The bulk has been harder than anticipated, but I’ve been keeping it clean and consistent.
Things are going solid on my end. Tightening up the screws a little more on the diet side for the last bit of this thing. It’s turned into more towards a recomposition phase than cutting for me which I’m cool with for sure.
I definitely understand this. I’ve been fortunate to be able to delegate a lot of these to my team. When I am, I’ve been drinking soda water and meat only.
I’ve found that KB swings first thing in the morning, after blowing calories the day before, along with fasting to around 2pm. I do have a ‘good’ habit of drinking lots of Core Power protein shakes.
Man… I became aware of this about 7 years ago and it wasn’t until last year that I finally made the decision that weekends were justification for drinks and holidays/events don’t necessitate gluttony. I’ve always had a problem with not feeling full, so I would become an endless pit with trays full of snack or dessert plates.
Man.. this has been the death of me in the past. The 9pm Door Dash pizza/sushi/etc, after I’ve come in 500 under maintenance and feeling good. Then blow it because I’m guilted into it. I was finally pretty clear with my goals this time around.. approaching 40 and not interested in ‘taking a night off’ until I hit my goal. It’s a weird thing, in my mind, but you S/O really needs to buy in to your health goals, in order for full success.
8 weeks is a lot of time tho. Can reasonably lose 15lbs.
EDIT: I’ve mentioned this before in the past.. but, a pint of Ben and Jerries was the death of me. Sometimes two back to back. I don’t even know that I tasted it. Just long days of traveling, getting to company house around 11p and eating my stress away, while I pass out do Netflix.
You have to stop copying me! I’ve been 228-230 for about six weeks. I thought I might see 227 on the scale this morning but I blew it by eating brisket before bed. To be fair, it didn’t finish cooking until about 8:30 and I had to try some.
Work pays for my food about once a year so I don’t hold back. It’s usually lunch right before Christmas Break.
My wife and I don’t eat out much so I struggle with self-control sometimes. If it’s a buffet style place, I’m going all-in. But I guess it’s survivable since it happens less than five times a year.
I think I revealed my problem with this in the lines above. It’s like I don’t acknowledge the fact that I could go buy more of the food on my own at a later date.
I don’t even know that I tasted it. Just long days of traveling, getting to company house around 11p and eating my stress away, while I pass out do Netflix.
I’ve heard this called “dopamine stacking”. We take the yummy food and pair it with the electronic brain poison and the relaxation so we can totally flood the system. And as you note: we’re not even enjoying ANY of it when we do it. We’ve set it at our baseline.
In a similar regard, at another spot, I offered the advice to someone seeking weight loss to eat only unprocessed foods, and I was met with resistance by someone else saying that it was “eating disorder” advice to tell someone to “stop eating everything they love”, and I was aghast at the notion that someone could ONLY love eating processed foods, and that there was not ONE single unprocessed food in the world they didn’t enjoy eating. Which, in turn, speaks to just how much these foods really jack up our dopamine receptors. In theory, fresh fruit, honey and fatty meat should be INCREDIBLY enjoyable, and if you allow yourself to go “minimally processed”, butter, cheese, greek yogurt (I suppose pretty much all dairy) is otherworldly. But if you’ve been slamming Oreos every night before bed, the idea of eating any of this “stuff” seems like a sacrifice.
Just while I’m ranting: yesterday, I saw someone at work reheating leftover Taco Bell for lunch. That just blew my mind. Taco Bell is already a “bad decision”, but to save the leftovers, bring them to work and THEN eat them is prolonging the bad decision. Dude had a house full of food to choose from and picked the Taco Bell…
I’m still in it… possible to win it given what I’m reading above haha
I hit another sticking point at 186, so I’ve started doing 12 min of cardio with every session in March, goes up to 16 minutes in April. Hopefully that’s enough to get things moving
there’s still a bit dietary transgressions I was making, but those are going to be a thing of the past as both my wife and I “lock in” for April (she’s not on here but she’s down 10 pounds which is pretty huge for her)
Overall I’m still confident of my 180lb goal for the contest (which is 19 pounds from where I started in December, and 16 from when I officially started with pictures in January)
depending on if I hit that early I may even shoot for 176 and just call it 20 pounds even
Wow… just wow. This has never once crossed my mind. I used (in college) get Blizzards. When they handed me the receipt I always threw it away, I didn’t want to be reminded of my bad decision the next time I wore those jeans. Similarly, if I eat bad fast food I’m chucking what’s leftover. No need to carryover a bad choice.
I had to almost forgive myself for this. Once I became aware of it, it was no longer acceptable to continue.
I really don’t like fruit.. except when I’m in another country. I hate pineapple, but when I was on a boat in Thailand and it was handed to me, it was the best tasting thing I had ever had. Similarly, while in Israel or Mexico, I loved the fruit. Not the same here.. My wife has started making her own butter and ricotta cheese. That with the half cow we just got has made life so much better.
haha! if you read my log going back to September, 227 was my sticking point too. Now I’m down to low 220s. I could not get passed that stupid number for a long time. Now I just want to see sub 220.
Performance goals chugging along over here. I’ve had a 10k and mile PRs over the last month. Accidentally to boot, they were part of a regular training session, not shooting for any marker.
I am sticking in 3ish pound weight range for over a month. Aesthetics are holding steady as well (verified with photos). Which means I may have found maintenance, while improving performance. Big win for me.
I’ve switched to a 3 day, full body 5/3/1 template for lifting. Enjoying it so far. The novel stimulus of not doing an upper/lower split for the first time in months has me looking forward to the gym again. Also so, so, very sore.
My first tune-up race is an 18 miler next weekend. I’m not planning on “racing” as much as it is a paid, supported, long run with strangers. It’s a point to point race, that cruises by five waterfalls. So I get to spend a few hours practicing eating and running in the forest while looking at amazing scenery. I love my hobby.
I am still in it, doubtful to win anything but I am down 12 pounds. I should be down 15 to 20 by Memorial Day weigh in landing me firmly in the mid 240s. Hopefully. Depends on if I hit any additional sticking points. I will be happy to break 250 though.
I am enjoying running Dan John’s ABF program. Been fun playing with kettlebells and it has been a fun new challenge learning some basic KB moves. I found ABF to be more difficult than it looks on paper. Currently only using 22KG bells, as that is what I have.
This is actually a crime in several states. Or at least it should be. Poor fellow. I hope you gave him a hug and told him life will get better.
I used double 22’s as well for my ABF training. I went to the gym and used double 24’s for the testing weeks, though. For me, the double 22’s were actually the perfect weight for daily training. Heavy enough to be challenging, but doable enough to keep the workouts consistent and “workman-like”. Glad to see the ABF love on these forums. It’s a great program, and KB training in general - when done correctly - is an overlooked approach.
Maybe I’m too cheap and frugal (or have unresolved trauma around money ) but I’m absolutely eating that food if it’s left over.
My wife had the most brilliant cognitive reframe on this, since we’re all STILL suffering the scars of the “clean plate club” despite the Great Depression being nearly 100 years ago.
You go out to eat, you order something decadent, and they serve you a HUGE portion. You PAID for that food! It’s a WASTE to throw it away! Ok, acknowledge. So now we eat the food and take in too many calories and get fatter. How much money would we be willing to spend to lose the fat now? Whether it be from a meal prep service, personal trainer, consulting a dietician, buying a book on fat loss, etc etc. There’s a fair chance it exceeds whatever money was “saved” by eating the food. We actually save ourselves money AND effort by being willing to enjoy the food at the time of the meal and letting the rest go to waste.
Our nutritional environment is a battlefield. These restaurants know it’s an arms-race, and if they “underserve” us by serving reasonable portions, we’re going to complain about it…even if we don’t actually WANT to eat all that food in the first place. I knew I was an adult when I complained about how big of a scoop of ice cream you get at Cold Stone when you only want a single scoop. Whereas, when I was a kid, I’d like the bowl so clean it was like I was trying to erase DNA evidence from a crime scene.
Consequently, we’ve raised our kid with NO knowledge of the “clean plate club”, and I watch them eat half a cupcake, say “I’m full”, and walk away like it’s the world’s greatest magic trick that I’m too stupid to figure out.
It’s funny how we rationalize things, but logic doesn’t always apply to all facets. Like going to Disney Land, would you stay passed the time your kids are screaming from eating too much, over stimulation and missed naps just so you could maximize time in the park, or do you leave because continuing to stay in park is worse than missing out on full value?
It’s interesting that the affordable options for most Americans (casual restaurants like Applebees, Chili’s, etc… and the fast foods spots) advertise and serve huge portions to the masses. That’s basically their commercials: “Come eat with us and get bottomless fries, three fried appetizers, and a giant entree for $19.99”. Compare that to fine dining that costs 3-4x more and serves signficantly smaller portions of much higher quality food. I guess that’s why obesity is linked to income which is linked to education.
But the obesity angle is worth observing as well. As you noted, the tie there with income and, in turn, to achieve that same consistent dopamine hit, quite often one needs to keep upping the dose. You buy the cheap junkfood because you can’t afford the quality stuff, and now you’re hammering sleeves of Oreos because a serving just doesn’t give you the same buzz it used to.
@dchris Seen it many a times: maximized misery in an attempt to maximize fun. It’s actually something we’ve figured out here. We have a really baller “Pumpkin Patch”, which is honestly underselling it, because it’s like a state fair that runs in the autumn. They offer annual passes: unlimited visits while they’re open in the fall. We used to spend ALL day there each time we went, and by the time we were done we were all grumpy. The adults because it meant we STILL had to get all those weekend obligations knocked out, and the kiddo just because they were exhausted from being there all day. We learned to just do multiple short visits, have fun until we stop, and then leave to come back some other time. I think, in total, we spend the same amount of time there, but it’s all quality time.
Honestly, that’s a parallel to training. You can go to the gym and try to do a 3 hour workout, and after the first hour you’re just sending in garbage sets with no quality. Take that same workout, chunk it into 3-4 small sessions, and each set is going to be a much higher quality stimulus.
) but I’m absolutely eating that food if it’s left over.