Just wanted to rant a tiny bit about this–I’ve put on fat recently and people seem to have noticed. I already had at least 4 people tell me that I’m starting to have a gut. That’s certainly influenced by my posture (I have some ATP) but there’s fat for sure. I feel like a fat ass and not muscular at all, so I’m a little unsure as to what to do now. I don’t want to cut as I want more muscle, but keeping eating 4,000 kcal a day I’m afraid will get me even fatter. Ah good Lord, that’s about the third time I find myself in this situation. I’ll probably go on another one-month training cycle at high calories then drop some fat for four weeks.
Btw, I started to put some of the tips in this topic into practice with what I had at home today.
I added tomatoes browned with olive oil and onions to my rice with tuna and had a fruit smoothie made of orange juice (homemade), a banana, frozen berries, banana whey protein, and ice.
(This looks better than it tastes but I’ll eventually find the right ingredients and ratios)
As soon as I buy the groceries I’ll make that veggie sauce. @strongmangoals have you tried it yourself? How long will it probably last if refrigerated?
When I make it, I pre wilt the spinach, use coconut oil and only enough water to combine it. Usually this is very little if the tomatoes are ripe. I also like a chilli in there.
I’ll have a fry pan with chicken, peppers, green beans and potato on the go. The whole lot gets thrown in the pan with some greek yoghurt.
I have half that night and half the next day. I’ve never kept it longer than that. So can’t answer it but my rule of thumb for cut veggies is 3 days.
Every time we converse it feels like it goes around in circles.
Fuck what people think, most people just want to feel better about themselves so put negativity your way.
You want everything now, you want to be lean and muscular and you want it right now. 1 month building and 1 month cutting is getting you neither. But again we have spoke about this before and yet again you go back to wanting to cut. Round and round in circles.
At this stage of your development as a person you are not cut out for this, you may need to find another hobby that makes you happy because this one clearly doesn’t.
Maybe try changing your mindset about the time and effort required to get “big” (naturally). Just for perspective, it took me about 11 years, from 24 to 35 to go from 145 lbs. to 170 lbs. I’m not saying that I’m the standard by which others should be measured, that’s just what it took for me.
In that time I was also working my ass off starting a company (cutting trees) then running it, And lifting weights at night before bed- which brings me to the next point- calories.
I needed usually 5-7000 cals a day to run 12 to 16 hrs. of heavy labor plus lifting to gain some muscle and as a result of a Very High activity level, be relatively lean ( 10-12%).
I’d earnestly urge you to adjust your perspective on time, and the calories required to support your activity levels plus an increase in actual muscle mass. If 4000 cals. puts noticeable fat on you, either cut the cals or increase your activity level.
And ease up on the time frames. Keep working hard, but realize that this takes years, not month to month.
Is there actually a non-medical way to do this? I did some research months ago and most articles were taking fancy drills and stretches. I should probably give it a try.
Yeah. Different ways to skin a cat, but what they mainly come down to is strengthening the abs/core and limbering up the hip flexors and quads, which allows the pelvis and lumbar spine to get into a stronger and more stable position, which allows for better activation and recruitment of the glutes and hams.
Its actually a big structural thing that will cause a myriad of problems.
Actually, sorry, but no. It was a combination of ART and guidance from a friend/lifting partner/sports medicine MD. One of the few periods in which I just hit auto pilot and did what I was told.
Glancing at his stuff for the past couple years, I’d bet John Rusin has some adequate solutions to it.
Why do these have to be your only options? Take your calories down to 3500. If you’re still recovering from your workouts and getting stronger then you’ll be getting bigger without putting on fat like you did at 4000 cals.
It doesn’t have to be either a mega bulk or starvation diet. Little shifts in each direction over the long term make a huge difference.
I can’t imagine eating plain rice/meat. I definitely need some vegetables to flavor it.
Pasta sauce counts as a serving of vegetable, so some pre and post workout pasta gets you 2 servings right there.
I also like eating fruit first thing in the morning and before bed. I think dried fruit is also good throughout the day, and a good addition to yogurt and such, plus its good for snacking on the go.
Just tried this. I can see it has potential for tasting pretty good, but I made the mistake of putting way too much water so I had to add a ton of salt to make it taste like anything at all.
I’ll try with more veggies and less liquid.
A fun way to get veggies in nevertheless, and rice tasted awesome with some of it on.
